Martial Sage from the Vajra Skill

Chapter 278: Chapter 160: Refining the Spirit

"Get going! Only lazy animals need so many breaks," someone cursed.

Tian Jing apologized and quickly departed.

Not long after, from a hidden part of the Purple Sun Sect, a small bird took flight from the woods, heading straight for Cyan Yang City at the foot of the mountain.

The Su Family!

Su Qiming was organizing recently received medicinal herbs in his courtyard when his disciple, Su Jie, ran over cupping a small bird. "Master, a message from the mountain! Xu Yang has come down."

Upon hearing this, a murderous glint flashed in Su Qiming’s eyes. "That little bastard finally decided to come down the mountain."

Although his son had been killed by the Blazing Blade, it was because of Xu Yang that he had left the city and met his untimely demise. In his mind, that made Xu Yang a culprit, and he had no intention of letting him go.

More importantly, despite repeatedly increasing the bounty, he hadn’t found the Blazing Blade. He needed to kill someone to vent his rage.

’Good thing he didn’t become a Tributor for the Ding Family, or I really wouldn’t dare to touch him.’

Su Qiming shouted, "Come with me! We’ll avenge your Brother Che."

He dropped the herbs in his hands and left quickly with Su Jie.

The two of them rushed to the entrance of Cyan Yang City and waited for a long time, but Xu Yang never appeared.

Su Jie said, "We must have been too late. Xu Yang has probably already entered the city. Shall I go back and dispatch the family’s scouts to find him?"

Su Qiming gazed in the direction of the Purple Sun Sect. "No need. Even if we find him in the city, it won’t be easy to kill him. He has to return to the Purple Sun Sect eventually. We’ll wait for him on the road."

With that, he strode off in the direction of the Purple Sun Sect.

「...」

"My luck is pretty good!"

Xu Yang hadn’t expected it. He had only asked about it in passing while buying other medicinal herbs, but he’d managed to buy another thirty-year-old Ginseng.

With this, he had gathered enough primary ingredients to refine two batches of Gathering Essence Pills.

This was a pleasant surprise. Two batches of Gathering Essence Pills were enough for him to cultivate for nearly three months. In that time, if he tried his luck at the black market more often, he could probably gather the primary ingredients for another batch.

’The best would be a Bone Marrow Cleansing Elixir, though.’

Unfortunately, Outer Disciples were not qualified to exchange for elixirs that assisted in Marrow Cleansing, and even if he wanted to refine one himself, he didn’t have the Pill Formula.

However, he estimated that even if he got his hands on a Pill Formula for a Bone Marrow Cleansing Elixir, he probably wouldn’t be able to collect the ingredients. The primary ingredients for a Vigorous Qi Elixir were already this hard to buy; those for a Bone Marrow Cleansing Elixir would likely be impossible to find. The Purple Sun Sect must have them under tight control.

After buying all the ingredients for two batches of pills, Xu Yang arrived at his rented courtyard.

It had been vacant for a long time and hadn’t been cleaned. The courtyard was overgrown with weeds and covered in dust.

With a wave of his wide sleeve, Xu Yang swept the dust into a corner and uprooted the weeds.

’I should buy a courtyard and convert a space into an Alchemy Room.’

The thought came to Xu Yang as he entered the room where the Pill Furnace was kept.

With his current wealth, it wouldn’t be difficult to buy his own courtyard in Cyan Yang City.

The main issue was that refining Gathering Essence Pills caused quite a commotion. If a powerful expert lived nearby, it could easily be detected and lead to trouble. The incident with Tian Wenshan was a perfect example.

’If I buy my own courtyard, build and reinforce an Underground Pill Room, it would be difficult for even a powerful expert living nearby to notice the disturbance from my alchemy.’

’After I’m done with this alchemy session, I’ll go ask a broker.’

Cleaning the Pill Furnace and starting the fire, Xu Yang quickly entered his alchemy trance.

The next day, accompanied by a fragrant pill aroma, the furnace lid began to vibrate.

He withdrew the intense fire, stepped forward, and lifted the lid. Ten crimson Gathering Essence Pills lay at the bottom of the furnace. Only ten pills had been refined.

Even though he had used the panel to raise his Gathering Essence Pill skill to Perfection, he couldn’t guarantee that every batch would yield eleven pills.

Xu Yang collected the Elixirs, changed his clothes, and pushed the door open to leave.

To refine the second batch, he had to wait for the Pill Furnace to cool down and be cleaned. Besides, he hadn’t eaten since yesterday; there was no way he could refine another batch on an empty stomach.

’Anyway, I don’t have any missions recently, so there’s no rush.’

「...」

"Damn it, what’s he doing staying in the city?"

Su Qiming was getting frantic.

He had been waiting here for Xu Yang since yesterday morning, but who would have thought that Xu Yang wouldn’t return to the Purple Sun Sect? He had wasted a whole day and night waiting here, not to mention the discomfort he had to endure.

"Perhaps he went to a brothel. I’ve heard that those disciples from the Purple Sun Sect are quite unrestrained, spending a night at the brothels every two or three months," Su Jie said.

’I’ve already waited this long. If I give up now, this whole day and night of suffering will have been for nothing.’

With a dark expression, Su Qiming said, "When I get my hands on him, I’ll tear him limb from limb.

You go back and tell the family that I’m still busy with something and won’t be back today. When you return, bring me some food.

Remember, don’t mention any of this."

Ambushing a Ten Heroes Genius of the Purple Sun Sect was not something that could be made public. Large families had many wagging tongues, not to mention spies planted by other families.

If word got out, even with his high status in the Su Family, the family wouldn’t be able to protect him.

He didn’t need the family’s help to ambush Xu Yang anyway, so he had no intention of telling the Su Family about it.

"I understand," Su Jie said. He rose from their hiding spot and quickly left.

「...」

"Sir, please have a look. This is the courtyard I was telling you about."

Xu Yang and the broker’s young attendant arrived outside a courtyard.

After eating, he had gone to a broker to ask about properties. Unexpectedly, there was a courtyard for sale that suited his requirements perfectly, so he immediately came with the broker’s attendant to see it.

This courtyard was only a few streets away from his rented one, not far at all.

It was a small, single-entry courtyard. The outside looked decent; likely in preparation for the sale, the outer wall and main gate had been freshly painted, and there was still a faint smell of paint.

The attendant took out a key, stepped forward to open the gate, and a reasonably spacious courtyard came into view.

The yard was paved with thick bluestone slabs, with no flowers or plants. A weapons rack stood in the corner; the previous owner had clearly used this space as a Martial Arts Arena.

"The previous owner’s family had a Martial Artist who had achieved Qi Cultivation Gang, so they also converted a quiet room for cultivation," Zhu Xun introduced.

Xu Yang examined the walls of the house; they weren’t severely weathered. He asked, "Can this house be modified?"

He was buying this place mainly for alchemy, so he wasn’t too particular about many things. He wouldn’t be living here anyway.

"How would you like to modify it, Sir?" Zhu Xun asked, not too surprised.

Many people renovated their courtyards after buying them.

"I want to dig a basement and turn it into a sealed, quiet room," Xu Yang said.

He didn’t directly say he wanted to build a Pill Room. As long as it could insulate sound, he could just move the Pill Furnace in later.

Zhu Xun smiled. "The original owner already dug a basement. If you want to make it a quiet room, Sir, you can just hire someone to reinforce and modify it."

Xu Yang nodded. "I don’t have time to manage all that. Can your brokerage help?"

"Of course. Just tell me your requirements, Sir, and the brokerage will help find a craftsman to do the work. Once you’ve inspected it and are satisfied, you just have to pay."

Xu Yang nodded. After looking through all the rooms with Zhu Xun, they began to discuss the price.

"The owner’s asking price is one thousand five hundred taels. If you’re serious about buying, Sir, I can negotiate for you. I should be able to get it down by a hundred or two," Zhu Xun said with a smile.

He was confident about this. As a broker, he naturally understood that a price of fifteen hundred was a bit high.

Xu Yang shook his head. "No need. If we can sign the contract tomorrow, I’ll take it at this price."

He could probably negotiate the price down, but the back-and-forth haggling would take at least a few days, and he didn’t have the leisure to wait.

’The sooner I buy the courtyard and start the renovations, the sooner I can do my alchemy here next time.’

"That should be possible!" Zhu Xun was delighted. Brokers loved generous clients like this.

After setting a time to meet the next day and asking Zhu Xun to find a mason, Xu Yang left.

The next day, after finishing his alchemy, he met the owner of the courtyard here. He paid the money and smoothly received the deed.

He no longer needed to worry about the remaining registration matters, as the brokerage would handle them. After conveying his requirements for the quiet room to the mason and entrusting the payment to the brokerage, Xu Yang went back, collected his two batches of Gathering Essence Pills, and set off for the Purple Sun Sect.

"Damn it! Does that little bastard want to die on a woman’s belly?"

On the main road to the Purple Sun Sect, in a spot with a clear view, Su Qiming was growing impatient.

He couldn’t believe he had waited another whole day and night, yet Xu Yang still hadn’t appeared.

Although with his Cultivation, enduring the elements was nothing, as a respected Pill Master, when had he ever been in such a state? He was used to having a host of people attending to his daily needs.

If he didn’t want to personally avenge his son, he would have given up long ago.

"He’s coming, Master!" Su Jie, who was on lookout duty, suddenly let out a low growl, suppressing his excitement.

On the mountain path, a figure could be seen slowly approaching, a bundle in his hand.