Cloudsky City was a prosperous, high-ranking city. It was far safer than Blackwater Town. A cultivator faction was responsible for maintaining order, and anyone caught causing trouble was immediately thrown outside the walls.
As long as a person behaved within the city, they could live there in peace.
Wen Xian walked through the crowded streets. The ordinary sights and sounds of life made her feel safe. After several days of exhausting travel, her troubled mood finally began to improve.
A girl walked beside her. She appeared seventeen or eighteen, about the same age as Wen Xian. At present, she was looking everywhere with wonder, like someone who had never seen the world.
“Oh! What’s that? It’s round and red. It looks delicious!”
The girl stared ahead at something extraordinary.
Wen Xian followed her gaze. The round, red, delicious object was merely a skewer of candied hawthorns.
“Oh, those are candied hawthorns. Do you want some?”
The girl nodded rapidly and gave Wen Xian a hopeful look that shouted, *I really want them!*
No one had ever looked at Wen Xian that way. She felt a little uncomfortable and rubbed her nose before approaching the old man selling the treats.
Soon, she returned with two skewers and handed one to the girl. The girl immediately placed the first candied fruit in her mouth. Her eyes lit up.
“It’s wonderful! Sweet and sour! I’ve never eaten anything so delicious!”
Wen Xian held her own skewer between her lips and watched in amusement. This was only an ordinary snack. If the girl already considered it a rare delicacy, what would she call all the other foods in the city?
The girl swallowed every candied hawthorn in quick succession. Then she licked the remaining sweetness from the corner of her mouth.
To Wen Xian’s alarm, her tongue was long and narrow, with a forked end exactly like a snake’s.
Wen Xian’s heart skipped. She quickly covered the girl’s mouth and looked around. No one seemed to be watching them, so she breathed a sigh of relief.
“You must control your excitement. You still aren’t skilled at taking human form, so you could expose yourself at any time. There are plenty of spirit-beast cultivators here, but you’re not strong enough to protect yourself. Someone might target your spirit core. If they also discover that you’re a White Jade Rouge Python, neither of us will ever have another peaceful day.”
Wen Xian’s expression was grave. At their present cultivation levels, if they met someone stronger, they would not even be able to choose how they died.
The girl nodded. Wen Xian checked their surroundings once more. When everything still appeared normal, she finally removed her hand.
“Master, may I go look over there?” The girl pointed toward a nearby street performance.
Wen Xian nodded. “Don’t watch for too long. The sun will set soon, and we need to find an inn and settle down.”
The girl nodded happily, squeezed through the crowd, and watched the performers with great excitement.
Wen Xian shook her head helplessly. “She really is like a child who knows nothing.”
[Of course she is. This White Jade Rouge Python is still young. She’s only five hundred years old. Spirit beasts don’t enter their growth stage until one thousand, so she has a long way to go.]
The system’s voice sounded in Wen Xian’s mind.
Wen Xian raised a brow. Remembering the ungrateful demoness, she asked, “Do you know how old that fox spirit is?”
[If I remember correctly, the villain already has one foot in the mature stage. Spirit beasts mature at four thousand, so she should be about three thousand five hundred years old.]
“Three thousand five hundred?”
Wen Xian was stunned. She had never imagined that the fox spirit had lived for so long.
[But age does not decide a spirit beast’s strength. Some are more than five thousand years old and still remain far below the villain’s present realm.]
Wen Xian sighed after hearing the explanation. “Talent truly is important for every race.”
Fortunately, she did not have to worry about ordinary talent. She was a sword spirit now. Eating swords raised her cultivation, while meditation helped her stabilize each new realm.
The sky gradually darkened. The girl remained fascinated by the performance.
“Bai Yan, it’s time to go,” Wen Xian called.
Bai Yan gave the performers one final, reluctant glance, then returned to Wen Xian and obediently followed behind her.
At an inn, Wen Xian rented one of the finest rooms and took Bai Yan upstairs.
Cloudsky City’s best rooms were far superior to those in Blackwater Town. The finest room there had contained only a rock-hard wooden bed and a rough table with chairs. This room provided everything a guest could need.
The decorations were pleasing from the moment they entered. Soft bedding covered a fine sandalwood bed. A partition concealed a bathing tub, and delicate smoke curled from an incense burner on the table. Its elegant fragrance filled the room and immediately lifted Wen Xian’s spirits.
Bai Yan threw herself onto the soft bed and rolled from side to side. She became so excited that she changed back into her true form. Her enormous snake body stretched from the far end of the bed all the way to Wen Xian’s feet.
“Bai Yan, hurry and make yourself smaller. You’re too big!” Wen Xian scolded.
Bai Yan immediately returned to human form. She sat up and stuck out her tongue.
“Sorry, Master. I got excited again…”
Wen Xian sat at the table and poured herself tea. The first small sip made her eyes brighten. A refreshing fragrance spread through her mouth, leaving a wonderful taste that lingered on her tongue.
Excellent tea!
Wen Xian did not care much for tea, yet even she could tell that this was a rare treasure. The cultivation realm that had remained still inside her for so long even showed signs of loosening. Her long search for an inn reserved for cultivators had been worthwhile.
Those two middle-grade spirit stones had been well spent.
For several days, she had slept outdoors and traveled without pause. It had all been for the comfort she enjoyed today. Every hardship had been worth it.
“I suppose I’m a wealthy woman now. Tomorrow, I’ll find an auction house and see what treasures they have. It’s the perfect chance to buy a flying magic artifact.”
Wen Xian relaxed in her chair, drinking tea while one leg bounced happily.
[Swords! Don’t forget the swords! You can only raise your cultivation by eating them!]
The system reminded her frantically, afraid that she would become carried away and forget what mattered most.
Wen Xian set down her cup and became serious.
“I haven’t forgotten. I don’t intend to remain weak forever. I never want someone else to hold my life in their hands again.”
[Good. I shouldn’t have to remind you every time. Also, rescuing you consumed a great deal of my energy. I need to return to the Immor— I mean, return to headquarters and replenish it. You’ll have to depend on yourself for a while. Please don’t be a cold corpse when I come back.]
Wen Xian nodded carelessly. “I understand. Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”
[If you truly knew what you were doing, I could stop worrying eight hundred times over.]
The system clearly did not believe her, but it had no choice but to leave. After repeating several anxious warnings, its voice disappeared. Silence returned to Wen Xian’s mind.
The instant the system left, her careless manner vanished. She sat cross-legged and began to cultivate.
Bai Yan was already snoring on the bed. The day had exhausted her. Her unskilled transformation also consumed large amounts of spiritual energy, so she slept deeply.
That suited Wen Xian. She could attend to her own business without fear of interruption.
She clearly sensed the spiritual energy flowing inside her. She guided it through one complete cycle after another, compressing and refining it repeatedly. An endless current began circulating through her body on its own.
One double-hour later, Wen Xian slowly opened her eyes and raised a hand. Pure-white spiritual energy appeared in her palm, pulsing with a steady rhythm.
Giving spiritual energy a visible form was the sign of reaching the sixth level of Energy Refining. The formless became solid, and the energy gained color. Every cultivator’s spiritual energy had a different color, and the same was true of spirit-beast and demonic energy.
“The sixth level of Energy Refining. I suppressed it for so long that my spiritual energy became even purer when I finally broke through.”
Wen Xian dispersed the energy in her palm.
She had cultivated secretly during this entire period. She had discovered that she could meditate even in sword form, and the system could not detect it. Whenever she became a sword, she cultivated while suppressing the energy that was about to cross the barrier.
She did not want her realm to rise too quickly. She needed more time to observe.
The system was too suspicious. Even though it had saved her from the villain, Wen Xian could not trust it easily.
It had teleported her hundreds of miles in an instant.
A system capable of such a feat naturally invited suspicion. She had to remain careful and slow her advancement as much as possible.
Until she understood what the system truly wanted, she could never lower her guard.
She could not trust another person or object again. She had already experienced the price of giving someone her trust…
Wen Xian pulled herself from those thoughts and touched the ring on her hand.
The three cheat abilities granted by the system were incredibly useful, especially the passive ability called Luck.
She could not control when or where it activated, but it always took effect at the most unexpected moment.
It had activated when the fox spirit attacked her. It had acted again when she met Bai Yan and obtained the ring.
Before entering this world, Wen Xian had suffered terrible luck. Surely she had not suddenly become fortunate merely because she transmigrated.
If even someone as unlucky as her now enjoyed such good fortune, the ability had to be absurdly powerful.
Wen Xian sent her spiritual awareness into the ring. Inside, mountains of spell manuals, internal cultivation methods, and movement techniques greeted her. Tears of happiness almost filled her eyes.
As a sword spirit, she could not practice human cultivation methods. She could only exchange for techniques created for her kind through the system.
But being unable to use these manuals did not mean she could not sell them.
Wen Xian examined several sets. Some manuals formed complete systems containing movement techniques, spells, and internal methods. A cultivator had to practice every part together to achieve the greatest result with the least effort.
She knew little about such things, but her instincts told her that selling an entire set would earn an excellent price.
Wen Xian rubbed her hands together in excitement.
The time to become rich had arrived. Tomorrow, she would make a fortune at the auction house!
