Ch176 Movement in the Hidden Mist

2 full weeks pass by.

The collection of four nearby outer sect peaks has begun its preparations for the yearly Combat Peak tournament.

The Alchemy, Beast Mastery, and Forging Peaks have all sent representatives over to begin setting up for their side competitions around the main Combat Peak’s base.

Higher up the peak, the Combat Peak uses the runoff fractures of the main tier 2 vein on many cliff sides to set up enough infrastructure areas for all of the incoming competitors and visitors here to watch the many shows.

All of the peak elders will be showing up, and some members of the Inner Sect often come out to attend and scout for young cultivators with great potential to bring to their inner peaks.

Some of the busiest peaks are actually not any of these four.

It is the Recruitment Peak and the Law Enforcement Hall that are sending out many cultivators. The Law Enforcement Hall mostly surveys the Combat Peak to make sure all of the event arrays are being set up safely, and visits the other outer peaks to get a head count to know how many cultivators will be attending on the day of the event.

The Recruitment Peak’s disciples patrol the outer perimeter of the sect’s controlled land.

Deeper into the Hidden Mist, and bordering the Black Marsh, there are many unknown forces that may be enemies of the sect or clan members partaking in the event.

There will be a lot of important sect members all pushed together in a single place, an easy target for a force to attack if preventive measures aren’t followed through.

A certain outer sect Recruitment Peak disciple named Gu Shan patrols his selected route, making his way around the outer border of the Alchemy Peak where the deforestation servant camps have spread over a kilometer past the ravine.

He has tried to follow through with his grandfather’s orders, to find connections and information on Li Hao, but nothing of interest comes up.

He visited the old farming village he originally came from and found the surviving mortal villagers who fled from the Martial Warriors’ attack, but none of them shared any information.

Li Hao was a slave used for planting and harvesting the fields. None of them even remember his presence before the immortals came and took him away.

No one knows if he had any family, and the records of where he was bought from before were all burned in the fires.

Gu Shan tries to reach out to Qin Yue, who was present the day they took him in, but none of his messages to the Inner Sect are returned.

The middle-aged man has grown tired and almost given up on his search for more information.

That is, until he flies over the ravine today.

A young boy, no more than 15 or 16 years old, is riding on top of a large brown boar with thick tusks.

The boar leaves a trail of elemental earth qi behind it, very reminiscent of the Heavy Mountain physique many of the foundational clans of the Hidden Mist use.

He watches from the air in his flying vessel for a few minutes, and his shock only grows when the kid hops off the boar and starts punching a tree with all of his strength.

Very faint brown fluctuations are left behind in the broken bark.

Gu Shan flies down to stop in front of the boy and hops off his vessel holding a black disk.

“I am Gu Shan of the Outer Sect Recruitment Peak. State your name, steward.”

The boy stops training, the wide smile leaving his face and turning to fear.

He instinctively hides behind the young boar, and it protects its master.

Then, he whispers, “M-My name is Wei Ping, Senior.”

The boar keeps grunting, then runs forward in anger.

The square-jawed mid-stage qi refiner puts a single hand forward and stops the charging boar, placing the spirit testing disk on its forehead.

“A single 6th grade earth root… It’s only at the 1st level of qi refinement too… A beast like this would sell for over 25,000 spirit stones to the right buyer. Where did you possibly get such a thing?”

The kid gulps but doesn’t say a word.

Gu Shan looks at him even closer, then presses the disk to his head.

“8th grade roots, four of them. You must be a Wei Clan branch family reject… am I right?”

Wei Ping nods, but the Outer Disciple shakes his head.

“They would never give resources like this to a kid with roots like you. How’d you manage to reach the 3rd level of qi refinement so fast?”

The young kid stays silent.

He’s been extremely cautious, never revealing his spirit beast to any of the other stewards, and only training his Heavy Mountain physique booklet in the ravine under the cover of the trees.

Gu Shan turns around to look up at the furthest ridge, then recognizes this portion of land.

He turns to the boy. “Do you know the name Li Hao?”

Wei Ping’s eyes widen, and he tries to back away.

Gu Shan grins and puts his hands up in the air.

“You’re in no trouble, kid… I am simply curious about this disciple. You know, I was the one manning the recruitment ship that brought him to the sect. Maybe you’d be interested in a better position than these dead-end wood-chopping camps? There is always room at the Recruitment Peak.”

–

Away from the servant camps, closer to the Alchemy Peak, atop one of the shared high grade training veins where many mid-stage alchemists concoct pills and study under named disciples who stop by, there is a disciple, Chen Yilin, hard at work.

Two months ago, his alchemy progress was boosted from inferior and low grade qi gathering pills to consistent mid grade pills and even a high grade pill every once in a while.

He studied alchemy for most of his life, reading books in the Chen Clan library in Lingshi City for two decades before volunteering as a steward for the sect to pay his family’s taxes and look for greater opportunities.

For two more decades, he practiced alchemy on his own as a 3rd level qi refiner.

Then, with a single talisman, he surpassed all of his decades of training. His understanding of many techniques have consolidated, and his concocting methods have been subtly tweaked to their most efficient forms.

Recently, he was granted a second talisman and given a new task from his mysterious master.

He is to enter the alchemy side tournaments and use this opportunity to gain more influence on his peak.

The middle-aged man stays cooped up in his cave for weeks leading up to the tournament, only coming out for more ingredients.

He is secretly concocting batch after batch of high grade pills without a single failure.

Though, he does not show anyone.

Occasionally, mocking voices can be heard through the cave entrance as disciples walk by.

They call him the Eternal Qi Gathering Pill Master, as the rumors about him squandering his family fortune on private lessons from the named disciples have spread to every single person on the peak.

The only pills he ever hands in to trade for more resources are low grade pills. He saves the mid and high grade ones to show his hidden master and eats some himself while concocting. Their impurity content is extremely low, far lower than normal high grade pills.

This is one of the reasons he does not come out of his cave at all to rest.

While the focused effects of this enlightenment talisman are still lingering, he wants to concoct the perfect pill that he sees so clearly in his mind. Yet, his hands and internal energy are not precise and strong enough just yet to create it.

A day before the Combat Peak tournament begins, Chen Yilin decides to take a long rest, as he’s prepared as best he can.

–

Far from the sect, back in Lingshi City, the Wang Clan’s peak has been in a state of peace and quiet for the past 2 weeks.

The mountain-guarding spirit formation has stayed activated, but no attempts to breach it have been made.

Wang Ming and Mu Shulan have taken Li Hao’s advice.

Every day, Wang Ming spars with the elders of the Mu and Wang Clans, receiving help from his wife to heal up faster until both of them are spent.

Then, they take longer times apart.

Sometimes, they visit Lingshi City, and other times, Mu Shulan visits the Mu Peak to help her family tend to some of the gardens.

They spend most evenings and nights on their new WangMu Peak to get used to cultivating on their own vein, separate from the one maintained by Wang Yang.

On the backside of their WangMu Mountain, there is a closed-off cultivation chamber that sometimes gives off far more heat than the rest of the mountain, but none of the protective arrays have been opened on it for 3 weeks straight.

While they were cultivating, Lan Xin often used this peak, and according to Wang Ruze and Mu Zhiheng, that is where she would spend most of her time.

Neither of the young WangMu couple disturbs her. They stick to the center of the main vein and get used to making this place their new home, planning for the future and telling elder clan members what new renovations they’d like done.

Slowly, their inferior vibrations settle, and they can spend many hours apart without much soul instability. It is still a work in progress.

–

The Wang and Mu Patriarchs are both in extremely good moods. They mostly remain on the Wang Peak within the high grade tier 2 formation.

Their souls are stronger than they have ever been in the last century.

Usually, it is the most sensitive and guarded part of a high-level cultivator’s energy sources. Over time, it is inevitable that damage will build up in one’s soul.

Even golden core clans that have access to elixirs that can mend souls often do not use them on their foundational cultivators. It is simply too expensive and not worth it.

On top of this, the economy in Lingshi City has grown a lot.

Not only has Lan Xin’s excessive spending raised the prices, but the buying power of visiting cultivators has risen too.

It is becoming a known trading hub for high grade pills and artifacts in high supply.

Foundational clans attempt to move in, but they’re continuously turned down. The next best option for them is to sell their high grade and perfect grade items to the shops that are present.

The Wang and Mu Clan shops are the most well known shops, and selling off items to them may grant them a stronger connection to mid stage foundational clans. This is where the majority of outside spirit stones are being traded.

The Li General Store, along with the Lin and Wei Clan’s branch family shops are second in line, often visited mid day when the larger storefronts are too crowded for leisurely shopping. These three stores have a variety of generalized items.

One specialized shop in particular gets more traffic than usual, the Meng Clan talisman shop.

Far more high grade talismans are being created, and occasional perfect grade talismans make their way onto the shelves.

There are no talisman crafters in the city that can replicate such products. They have to be sourced from elsewhere, making none of their margins as profitable.

Meng Ruo only took 5 days to enchant the tier 2 copper spike talisman with her initial stage harmony enchantment for Li Hao.

The use of a second enlightenment talisman cemented her understanding of enchantments and her entire talisman legacy much deeper.

Using the perception-expanding jade during her practice, her perception was that of a foundational cultivator, allowing her to pick up and understand far more than during the first attempt with the Azure Lightning Attack Talisman.

Non-enchanted high grade tier 1 talismans used to take up the majority of her concentration and effort for a day, while perfect grade ones would be an ordeal she’d have to plan out ahead of time.

Now, a high grade talisman can be completed in a matter of hours without heavy mental strain. She can manage to create two perfect grade talismans a day now and still be capable of running the shop at night, not needing immediate rest.

Using some of the profits from her weekly spirit stone collections, she recharges the perception expanding jade, and practices her enchantments on perfect grade talismans a few times, but never places them for sale. She keeps them for herself.

Another portion of her new free stream of spirit stone income goes straight into high grade pills.

She distributes a far larger amount of resources to the rest of her Meng Clan, mostly to her younger brother’s children, as they are the youngest growing generation of the clan.

There are now well over 2 million spirit stones resting in containment cases in the back of her shop, in storage for Li Hao to pick up whenever he returns.

Meng Ruo has been stuck at the 8th level of qi refinement for a number of years, and finally, with the use of more high grade pills and spirit fruits, paired with the progression of her physique has begun to loosen her 9th level bottleneck.

The older woman walks through the streets of Lingshi City with the confidence any foundational clan heiress should have.

Now that Mu Shulan is married and Lan Xin has stopped making appearances in the city, she is the hottest prospect. Many of the newer late and perfected stage qi refining patriarchs who have moved in from other regions in the Hidden Mist often linger around her shop and try to make as much small talk as they can when she takes the night shift.

It is beyond their reach to get close to the stronger foundational clans.

She does not give any attention to their advances but takes advantage of their strength to spread rumors that her shop has a higher quality customer base. It becomes a great meeting place for mid-stage qi refiners to linger as well, attempting to make connections with the powerful clan elders who buy her goods.

Meng Ruo prices her Talisman’s lower than the market value that the other shops try to charge, and it is known that her quality is more exquisite.

Whenever a new high grade or perfect grade batch is put on sale, she markets the high grade as her personal crafts and the perfect grades as her patriarch's.

They are always sold out in a matter of hours.

The constant income from collecting spirit stones from the mines allows her to care less for direct profits, and focus more on building prestige.

Today, the day before the Combat Peak’s event, she walks down Jade Market Alley toward a small but popular store, the Lin Clan’s general shop.

Her presence is noticed well before entering, and the usual staff does not greet her.

Instead, an old man named Lin Shubai stands behind the counter when she walks in.

His eyes are calm and sharp, and none of his 3rd level Foundation Establishment aura pours out.

The Lin Clan’s branch family patriarch shows a polite smile.

“Welcome, Meng Ruo. What can we do for you today?”

She walks over to the counter and pulls out three foundational crystals, the very three that Li Hao used to buy her spirit contract.

“I’d like an inferior tier 2 talisman to study. Anything you have in stock would be appreciated.”

The old man nods and taps his storage ring. “That can be arranged.”

–

A few minutes later, Meng Ruo walks out of the Lin Clan shop satisfied with her purchase. Her mind races, as she’s excited to test if she’s now capable of enchanting tier 2 talismans herself, without help from the focus of an enlightenment talisman.

Lin Shubai crosses his arms and walks out of his shop, not caring much for the small sale he’s just made with a small foundational clan.

His attention stays put on the Wang Clan Peak far away, towering over the city.

He pulls an old bottle of wine from his storage. It is one of the over one hundred he purchased on the resale market through various anonymous sources, attempting to buy up the entire supply for himself.

After a large gulp, he savors the taste and closes his eyes, focusing on the dull golden glow that rests in his sea of consciousness after every sip.

It is a sensation he has never felt so clearly and with such purity.

Lin Shubai pulls out a communication talisman and directly calls a named disciple of the Recruitment Peak.

“Junior Lin Fang, I have a task for you.”