Chapter 62: Opera Performance

The red-maned horses whistled across the broad grassland. Beneath the blazing sun, their four hooves struck the ground in neat rhythm, sending out a rumbling vibration. The sudden commotion startled some of the animals on the grassland into fleeing in panic. An opossum migrating with a back full of children shrieked, flung off several of them, and ran. A wild dog that had been foraging barked in terror, tucked its tail between its legs, and hid inside a burrow…

To some wild animals, the commotion caused by a herd of Qi Refining second-level red-maned horses was enough to scare them out of their wits.

Only a cheetah with faintly purple fur, clearly a yao creature, propped itself up from a tree and watched the sudden appearance of the horse herd warily. After confirming that they were merely passing through, it lazily lay back down.

Chi Yixuan’s divine sense swept over the scene before him. The corners of his mouth curved up, revealing a satisfied smile.

“The experiment succeeded!”

[Congratulations. You have given the Teleportation Gate more usage scenarios. Your intelligence and talent are truly unparalleled.]

“Hehe, I think I’m very smart too.” Chi Yixuan happily took out some snacks. “I’m in a good mood today. I’m eating a whole catty.”

Life-bound artifact: …

As early as when he boarded the red-maned horse carriage that morning, Chi Yixuan had already planned to conduct this experiment.

After all, the Teleportation Gate was something he had bought by digging out a precious teleportation array and adding forty thousand points on top. If he could only use it sneakily by himself, that would be far too wasteful.

Another reason was that the life-bound artifact’s earlier comment about “only respecting fine robes, not the person inside them” had affected him. Right now, he was operating under the title of a Golden Core Perfected One. If he could not display some special ability, his identity might be questioned. Although that possibility was extremely slim, he still had to guard against it.

Third, his life-bound artifact was ultimately something that could be taken away. His life-bound artifact was so unique that it absolutely could not be exposed. Now was exactly when he should lay the groundwork for his “life-bound artifact,” and the Teleportation Gate was an excellent prop. If he used it well, not only could he use it openly, he could also mislead certain people with ulterior motives.

Chi Yixuan had always been cautious and careful. Otherwise, he would have long since died beneath the sword seal on the ice silkworm.

So after the red-maned horses had advanced for a while, he began the experiment.

When used normally, the Teleportation Gate was the size of an ordinary single door, two meters tall and one point two meters wide. Chi Yixuan infused it with spiritual power and tried to enlarge it. At first, things went very smoothly, and the Teleportation Gate kept widening. But when it widened to five meters tall and four meters wide, it would no longer move.

Although the Teleportation Gate had no consciousness and could not speak, Chi Yixuan could clearly sense that this was because his Foundation Establishment power was too weak.

Fortunately, this height and width were enough for now.

So Chi Yixuan set the Teleportation Gate’s destination, then projected it from afar not too far ahead. At the same time, he set the entire Teleportation Gate to transparent mode and added an extra illusion spell.

This illusion spell could only deceive people with lower cultivation than his, but that was enough. What Chi Yixuan wanted was to produce spiritual power fluctuations and give people the illusion that he was casting a spell.

Sure enough, Guard Ma at the front keenly sensed the abnormality. But by the time they reacted, the red-maned horse herd had already crossed through the Teleportation Gate without knowing a thing, arriving in the blink of an eye on a plain hundreds of li away.

Chi Yixuan was very satisfied with this result. After finishing a catty of snacks and seeing that another few quarters had passed, he once again projected the Teleportation Gate from afar, and the horse team once again crossed hundreds of li.

Although expanding the Teleportation Gate to its maximum size consumed quite a bit of spiritual power, each teleportation point was only a few hundred li away. The distance was short, so the loss was small. With his current spiritual power reserves, he could still use it another ten times today.

When the horse team once again crossed several hundred li, going from the grassland to the official road of another city in the blink of an eye, Guard Ma and Qian Dingning were already speechless. Yet at this exact moment, Ma Hongxuan rode his horse forward and informed them, “Our employer said he did not wish to waste too much time on the road, so he used a small spell. Please do not panic. Before sunset today, everyone will be able to reach Fengcheng.”

Ma Hongxuan said it as casually as drifting clouds and flowing water. After all, in his eyes, his employer was capable of anything. Right now, making the entire horse team cross hundreds of li in an instant was merely an insignificant stroke among his employer’s divine abilities. Although this stroke was also enough to broaden his horizons, in front of outsiders, one had to have bearing and could not let people think they were ignorant.

So after Ma Hongxuan finished speaking, he leisurely rode his horse back, leaving behind only Qian Dingning and Guard Ma, whose hands and feet were trembling slightly.

Qian Dingning grabbed Guard Ma’s hand and said, “I’ve heard that cultivators have a spell that shrinks the earth into inches. Is that what that person… used?”

Guard Ma considered himself rather knowledgeable, but even he was momentarily flustered after encountering such an extraordinary event. He said, “Shrinking the earth into inches has always been something only cultivators themselves can use. At most, they can bring along a few mortals. And it merely makes them faster. There is nothing particularly extraordinary about it. That Perfected One’s spell, however, seems more like he cut away the journey in between and directly brought the entire convoy hundreds of li away. Forgive your subordinate’s bluntness, but I have never heard of such a spell.”

Guard Ma was extremely shaken. For such an unheard-of technique, he could only think of one possibility: a life-bound artifact!

If this kind of spell truly existed, why did the cultivators of those Immortal Continents not use it? Why would they still use Kun Boats when traveling? Only this guess could explain it.

But Guard Ma did not dare voice this guess casually.

Cultivators would not casually show their life-bound artifacts in front of others, lest someone discover their flaws and weaknesses. His lord’s mouth had no gate on it. Usually that was one thing, but was a Golden Core Perfected One someone who could be moved by his money?

If they brought upon themselves a fatal disaster…

Guard Ma wisely swallowed all these words back into his stomach and said nothing more along the way.

After that, every so often, their convoy would unknowingly cross several hundred li. After this happened six times, the scenery before their eyes changed once again, and they discovered that they had arrived in the familiar suburbs outside Fengcheng. Before them was a straight official road leading directly to Fengcheng’s city gate.

By time, the letter they had sent out the night before their departure still had not even reached Fengcheng yet!

Guard Ma gazed from afar at the towering city gate and felt an absurd sensation. Just like that… they were back?

“Achoo!” Qian Dingning beside him sneezed. Guard Ma jolted and hurriedly called over a herald. “Quick, enter the city and deliver a message.”

Inside Fengcheng, the officials were still worrying over whether Qian Dingning’s trip could persuade that Golden Core Perfected One far away in the Nameless Desert.

Seeing day after day pass with still no message coming back, different voices began to rise in court, saying that Qian Dingning should never have been sent in the first place.

“With that mouth of Qian Dingning’s, he was never suited to be a special envoy in the first place. If he angers that Perfected One, who knows how much trouble he’ll bring us? Sigh, back then we really shouldn’t have been bought off by Qian Dingning’s money!” The prime minister was sighing in the government hall when he suddenly heard the news.

“That Perfected One has arrived. He’s already at the city gate!”

The prime minister and all the officials panicked at the same time. What? So fast! They had not even prepared the welcoming procession!

…

Zhaoge

The Nameless Desert was a place without winter. It was hot all year round, and Zhaoge was naturally the same. But ever since it had gained a spiritual vein, the weather had gradually cooled. Recently, it looked like winter was about to begin, and each day was colder than the last. Even practitioners who had entered the Dao could not help shivering in the cold wind, let alone ordinary people who had not summoned life-bound artifacts.

Qiu Ping’an had just finished taking inventory of a batch of goods entering storage when he heard the construction site’s steward say that quite a few workers had caught cold from the freezing weather over the past two days.

Qiu Ping’an thought that would not do. How much would that delay the construction progress? During the previous assembly, their employer had instructed that the houses in the west of the city absolutely had to be built before the twelfth lunar month.

He wrote a note and instructed the steward to go to the Medical Workshop to get some Qi-Replenishing Powder, boil it into medicine, and distribute it to every worker. After thinking for a moment, he also went to the Heavenly Garment Workshop.

Fan Huilan, the workshop master of the Heavenly Garment Workshop, was inside the embroidery room speaking with several embroiderers.

A few days ago, the silk produced from the ice silkworm’s thread had been woven into a batch of silk cloth. They were discussing what patterns should be embroidered onto it.

“This bolt of silk is just enough to make our employer a set of inner and outer garments, several pairs of socks, and with the leftover scraps, some handkerchiefs, sweat towels, forehead bands…”

“Since it is being made for our employer, both the patterns and embroidery thread must be chosen carefully. For the embroidery thread, let’s continue using ice silkworm silk and send it to the dyeing workshop to dye it in several more colors. As for the pattern, that’s difficult to decide for the moment…”

“How about embroidering bamboo? Would that be too plain?”

“Bamboo is elegant, but outside, plenty of people embroider plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum…”

Fan Huilan was discussing with them when she saw Qiu Ping’an come in and asked him what he needed.

Qiu Ping’an told her about the workers suffering from the cold. “Most of those willing to do hard labor are ordinary people or first- and second-level practitioners. Their bodies are a bit weaker. I wanted to ask whether the weaving room’s cotton cloth supply can keep up. If it can’t, we’ll have to allocate another sum of money to buy cloth from outside.”

The weather was getting colder and colder. The demand for clothing in the city had exploded. There were also many children, and if they wore thin clothes, they were prone to falling ill.

Hearing this, Fan Huilan said, “Come with me.”

She brought Qiu Ping’an into the weaving room.

After the Heavenly Garment Workshop upgraded, its area had not expanded, but it had gained many more pieces of equipment. For example, the weaving room now had several additional looms. These looms could work day and night without stopping, as long as someone watched from the side. But just like the Artifact Refining Workshop and the Medical Workshop, they consumed one spirit stone every month.

At present, the Heavenly Garment Workshop consumed the most spirit stones among the three workshops. After all, aside from the weaving room, places like the silkworm room and dyeing workshop also consumed spirit stones.

At this moment, the looms in the weaving room were clicking and clacking as they wove cloth. A woman was watching from the side and greeted them when they came in.

Fan Huilan said, “Ever since our employer refined the Heavenly Garment Workshop anew, you still haven’t come to look. You don’t know how magical these looms are.” As she spoke, she said with some regret, “Unfortunately, these looms can only weave ordinary, ungraded cotton cloth. Snow silkworm silk and ice silkworm silk still have to be woven by weaving women.”

Qiu Ping’an personally watched as the loom wove out a foot of cloth in no more than a moment and said happily, “This is already very good. At least we no longer need to go outside to buy it. Right, how should we set the price? Same as before?”

When they had tested the looms before, they had produced some cotton cloth and sold it to the residents in the valley at a cheap price.

Fan Huilan had long since thought this over. “The price won’t change. Spread the word and tell them they can come to the Heavenly Garment Workshop whenever they want. Also, go tell Tao Dacheng to recruit a few more tailors. Their workmanship should be a little better. Ideally, they should be experienced master tailors.”

Qiu Ping’an hesitated. “Master tailors won’t be easy to find.”

Fan Huilan said they were needed to cut and sew new clothes for their employer.

The moment Qiu Ping’an heard this, he clapped his hands. “Then you should have said so earlier! Since they’re making clothes for our employer, ordinary tailors won’t do. Just wait. I’ll ask someone to look into it right now. Even if we have to tie one up, we’ll tie a good master tailor back!”

As Qiu Ping’an spoke, he quickly went to find Tao Dacheng.

Tao Dacheng was currently waiting at the city gate to welcome an opera troupe.

This opera troupe was called the Xingsheng Troupe and came from Fengcheng outside Silver City.

Originally, it had not been called by this name. It was just that business had gradually grown cold, so the troupe leader changed its name to Xingsheng Troupe. Unfortunately, changing the name could not change their luck, and the Xingsheng Troupe still could not prosper.

Even though the troupe leader was a mid-level Qi Refining cultivator, he still could not change the miserable state of “no one watching the opera, no money being earned, and famous performers running away.”

Before leaving Fengcheng, they had gone nearly a month without being able to sell a single ticket.

On the road to Zhaoge, the troupe leader kept encouraging them. “Everyone, lift your spirits. This time, we’re going to a major patron introduced by Boss Luo. He said their place lacks opera performances. If we perform well, they want to keep us there for seven straight days of shows!”

Seven straight days of shows! In the past, this was treatment only seen when a wealthy household held a flowing banquet!

The workers all grew excited. Although they had never heard of a place called Zhaoge, their troupe had not had such a good job in a very long time! For a moment, they were so excited that they forgot to investigate it further.

Only after setting out did they vaguely feel that they might have been deceived. Why did it seem that the farther they walked, the more they were heading toward the Nameless Desert?

Under the questioning gazes of his subordinates, the troupe leader gritted his teeth and said, “Boss Luo’s worker is leading the way for us! We definitely can’t be on the wrong road.” For the sake of this performance, they had already rushed along for several days. If they went back now, wouldn’t everything they had done so far be wasted?

Next Chapter >