Rumble...
The stone gate opened.
Song Yan entered the cave mansion as usual.
It was midsummer, and a sudden rainstorm was outside the cave.
The gray gale and the pale torrential rain almost drowned the whole mountain, making visibility narrow.
It was just like the completely unclear situation Song Yan faced.
Yet life had to go on.
Escape was not even an option.
As he entered the cave mansion, Lady Qiu joyfully raised her head, called out "Brother Song," and hurried over with a towel.
Song Yan wiped his slightly wet hair and looked around the cave.
In other cave mansions, the furnace had long been replaced, yet in his, the two women were still lively and energetic.
The strong vitality of the Multi-tailed Fox Race was vividly manifested in the Princess Consort; although she was older, she remained charming and attractive, her skin taut and elastic, even more delightful than Lady Qiu when they were intimate.
Not far away, in the flower bed, the Profound Flowers and Profound Grass had long flourished, prompting Song Yan to walk over and pause, listening to Cao Xuerou's detailed explanation of each flower and each grass.
Cao Xuerou seemed quite skilled at tending these plants and was familiar with them.
Song Yan had asked her about this.
She merely said that when she was a maiden in Western Shu Kingdom, her grandfather had once gotten her a book on Profound Flowers from somewhere unknown that explained these things.
Previously, when she was a Princess Consort, dealing with intrigues, handling royal affairs left her no time and energy to manage these, but surprisingly, now that she was here, she had the time and opportunity.
"Song Lang..."
The Princess Consort spoke, her eyes moist, rising like a small woman to lean closer to Song Yan, her face full of joyful happiness, brought by the "Fanatic Fans and the dual effect of wanting to forget pain."
Song Yan held her waist and suddenly said, "Tomorrow I'll go to the market at the foot of the mountain, is there anything you want?"
"Nothing."
The Princess Consort gently shook her head.
Song Yan suddenly asked again, "Want to drink?"
The Princess Consort hesitated but gently nodded.
Song Yan laughed, "I'll bring you some."
"Song Lang... Thank you," the Princess Consort tightly hugged the man in front of her.
If there's fine wine, then one can better indulge in pleasure, immerse in desires, and not think of other superfluous pains.
Wine and lust certainly harm people.
But if a person is already deeply hurt, wine and lust become the last solace.
...
...
The next day...
Song Yan went down the mountain and went to the low-level market around Shadow Puppet Peak, familiar and unimpeded.
Today he didn't hide but wore the official disciple uniform in profound color.
Over the years, he had figured out one thing: in the sect-run marketplace, you should absolutely not expect to buy any core items, whether it's Skin Masters, Talisman Masters, Pill Masters' magic techniques, or the unique Skin Control Technique of Shadow Puppet Peak.
Items for promoting realms are even more out of the question.
Apart from "Fasting Pills," this place primarily sells a kind of elixir called "Profound Qi Pill."
Profound Qi Pill, to put it bluntly, is an "unsuccessfully refined Little Profound Spirit Pill."
"Little Profound Spirit Pill" is given one each month to Song Yan and other official disciples, used with the "Profound Qi Guiding Technique," better than the furnace.
The inferior so-called "Profound Qi Pill" due to its sparse profound qi can help Jianghu people improve their skills, even directly breakthrough certain bottlenecks.
Even without a breakthrough, this pill can solve many unsolvable strange poisons in Jianghu, making it an "all-purpose elixir."
However, "Profound Qi Pill" can only be purchased with Contribution Points.
This makes "Contribution Points" a "high-end currency" in the eyes of Jianghu people coming here.
Simply put, this is a marketplace deceiving servants and Jianghu people, mainly serving to connect with external mortal forces.
The goods here for trading naturally do not reveal any sect secrets and are all standard items.
The real marketplace is likely the "Qingxi Market where Shadow Puppet Peak goes to purchase beast skins."
But Qingxi Market is a chaotic mix.
If you want to go to such a place, either a major force goes in a group or you are a fierce person with adequate power, otherwise, once you leave the market, you might end up empty-handed.
Nonetheless, Song Yan returned to this market, ostensibly shopping and spending contribution points, but actually he was listening to Jianghu talk to understand the outside situation.
Previously, he understood how Blood Spear Sect was cleaning Great Wei remnants, how they sent the Great Wei Royal Family to Puppet Palace, and how they established a new Dynasty, named "Jin."
But in the past six months, he heard some unusual information.
First was the "Demon Beast tide" invading from the Desolate Wilderness north of Jin Kingdom, and Jin Kingdom's frontier defense army was actually overwhelmed, even the leading general was trampled to death by demon beasts.
Now there was news of "Jin Kingdom planning to relocate its capital."
A new dynasty that has only been established for two years, and it wants to relocate the capital?
What is it hiding from?
Song Yan's information channels are limited.
Yet, because of the Princess Consort, he knew a piece of information early on: King Wei still has contact with the Shanhai Cannibal Demon Country, which is located north of Great Wei.
These pieces of information combined gave him an inexplicable sense of suffocation, a kind of anxiety that creatures like birds in the forests and insects on the ground feel before a great disaster.
Song Yan spent 3 Contribution Points to buy a cart of the finest mortal wines, which Jianghu people would deliver to the mountain gate of the main peak of South Bamboo Peak, conveniently.
Afterwards, he continued to stroll, looked up at a small wooden pavilion on the edge of the marketplace with a sign that read "Hidden Skills Tower," and stepped inside.
The "Hidden Skills Tower" is a rather special place in this market.
But this specialty is not that the stuff it sells is good, but that... it is a place in the Immortal Market that deals with Jianghu trades.
What is sold here are all the mortal techniques of the Jianghu.
Of course, the techniques that can be sold here can be considered top techniques in the Jianghu, even exaggerated as "Divine Skills."
But no matter how powerful a divine skill is, it can't withstand a simple "Qi Arrow Technique."
This is the saying "no matter how high your swordsmanship, a single arrow can bring you down"...
Therefore, this "Hidden Skills Tower" could only exist on the edge of the marketplace, and it is rare for any cultivator to visit.
Before Song Yan stepped into the pavilion, he heard various conversations inside.
"The Cyan Blade Manor was exterminated, but its ultimate technique never appeared in the world; I didn't expect it to be hidden in this Immortal Land."
"Here, we don't take gold or silver, only Contribution Points. If you want to buy, go do some business and exchange for Contribution Points first."
"The ultimate technique of the Old Man of the South Mountain, 'Great Hand Seal', only costs 6 Contribution Points."
"The 'Sword Drawing Skill' of the Purple Thunder Saber, 5 Contribution Points, no gold or silver accepted."
These shouts paused slightly due to Song Yan's entrance.
Many eyes were fixed on him, landing on his Official Disciple uniform.
Immediately, someone came out from the inner hall, slightly plump, with a face full of flesh, with a bit of friendliness hidden in his fierce expression—a clear indication of a ruthless character in the outside world.
At this time, however, the person respectfully said: "Sir, what brings you here? What would you like? But in our small shop, we only sell Jianghu techniques."
Song Yan glanced around.
After reaching the second layer of Refining Profound and mastering magic techniques, he clearly understood: the execution of magic is actually environment-dependent. Simply put, if you want to perform magic in a place with very little Profound Qi, you might find that it stops working after a few attempts. After that, you can only rely on the physical strength brought by your realm.
Jianghu skills actually focus on "physical strength."
These are techniques developed utilizing the power of the body, lethal moves.
Song Yan believed that if he lost his magic techniques and purely relied on physical strength, he might not be able to match up to a Jianghu expert skilled in lethal moves. If that Jianghu expert was proficient in some kind of weapon, then he would definitely not be a match.
Therefore, based on the principle that "if you can't improve the ceiling, then lift the shortcoming," he wanted to buy a few Jianghu techniques, practice them to perfection, for unforeseen circumstances.
Just in case... someday he escaped to the Jianghu?
If a natural disaster occurs, a flood surges, who knows where the fish in the water will be swept away by the big wave?
...
...
After picking and choosing.
Song Yan spent 187 Contribution Points and bought 23 Jianghu ultimate techniques, including fist techniques, palm techniques, weapon techniques, hidden weapon techniques, movement techniques, poison techniques, special skills like clever tricks, and an extraordinary technique called "Turtle Breath Technique."
Song Yan glanced at the remaining Contribution Points: 2984 points.
Since Senior Brother Zhang no longer accepted his shadow puppets, his monthly Contribution Points doubled directly, from 160 to 310.
Adding the 2 Contribution Points provided monthly by the two furnaces in the cave mansion, they were quite sufficient.
He packed up the 23 Jianghu ultimate techniques, slung them over his shoulder, and left the Hidden Skills Tower.
...
...
Much later, a young man in red brocade came out of the building. He glanced at the fat man who had greeted Song Yan earlier and frowned, asking: "Laughing Butcher, who was that person who looked about my age?"
The fat man known as Laughing Butcher said, "Young Master, he is the Official Disciple of South Bamboo Peak, named Song Yan."
The one addressed as Young Master is the youngest son of the Blood Spear Sect Leader, named Ma Zhao.
At this moment, Ma Zhao sneered and said, "Buying so many Jianghu ultimate techniques, it seems he's not doing well in the sect."
Laughing Butcher quickly said, "Young Master, this is not something we should concern ourselves with."
Ma Zhao laughed heartily and said, "What's there to be afraid of? Let me tell you a secret; these days, I've sent many furnaces to esteemed figures in the Puppet Sect, and my connections are vast. Mere ordinary disciples are beneath my notice. Furthermore, this Song Yan is a laughingstock of the Puppet Sect."
He then boasted about the incident where Song Yan was spanked three times by Master Shi in Linglong Valley.
Afterwards, he said, "Now that my father has ascended the throne and is the Emperor of Great Jin, if my elder brother, who is in poor health, passes away, then I will be the Crown Prince. These people, having a bit of Profound Root, act superior. In my opinion, he should bow his head and pay his respects to me."
Laughing Butcher was stunned for a moment, his mouth opened a few times, wanting to say something, but he also knew that in recent years, the Young Master had been visiting the Puppet Sect and mingling among cultivators, flaunting his success, arrogance and pride... are also normal.
Whatever he said must be correct, I guess.
"The Young Master is right."
Laughing Butcher responded with a chuckle.