Yuxian

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Heading straight to the forging hall to trade materials, Yu Xian’s gaze paused slightly. From afar, at the counter where materials were traded, it wasn’t Xu Haocheng standing there anymore, but a young man instead.

After a moment of thought, Yu Xian still walked over and asked with some curiosity, “Senior Brother, do you know why Senior Brother Xu isn’t here today?”

“Oh, Senior Brother Xu entered closed-door cultivation five days ago. He’s attempting to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage. You must be Yu Xian, right?” The young man looked at Yu Xian and smiled. “Senior Brother Xu told me before he went into seclusion—if you came by, I should treat you well.”

“Closed-door cultivation to break through Foundation Establishment…” Yu Xian’s expression didn’t change, but he was indeed surprised. Just a few days of absence, and that guy was already attempting a breakthrough? Once one reaches Foundation Establishment, it’s a world of difference.

Yu Xian had no idea how much his supply of Fiery Sun Essence Jades and so many Fiery Sun Essence Stones had helped Xu Haocheng. Hopefully, it worked out. Though Yu Xian didn’t think Xu Haocheng was a good person, he was at least a reliable trading partner for now.

Nodding, Yu Xian said, “Yes, I’m Yu Xian. Senior Brother, I’m here to exchange for spirit stones.”

“No need to be so formal, just call me Li Youmao,” the young man waved his hand eagerly, his eyes lighting up. “How many Fiery Sun Essence Stones do you have, Junior Brother?”

Clearly, Xu Haocheng had told him that Yu Xian was a little rich man.

Every time Yu Xian came to exchange, middlemen like Li Youmao could make a nice profit, so of course, his attitude was excellent.

Yu Xian didn’t refuse and called him by name. This Li Youmao looked around twenty-one or twenty-two, older than Yu Xian, so calling him senior brother wasn’t wrong.

He took out his storage pouch and said, “I have one hundred Fiery Sun Essence Stones. Hand me your storage pouch and I’ll transfer them.”

“One hundred!?” Li Youmao blurted out in shock, then quickly covered his mouth. His face lit up with excitement as he nodded. “Good, good, good!”

This wasn’t just a little rich man—this was a gold mine!

One hundred Fiery Sun Essence Stones… he could flip them into nearly two hundred lower-grade spirit stones! And that was even leaving half the profit to Senior Brother Xu!

Just this one deal would earn him ten days’ worth of spirit stones!

Hands trembling slightly, he handed over his storage pouch. Once Yu Xian transferred the essence stones, Li Youmao quickly took it back and, with just a glance inside, his whole face lit up like a blooming chrysanthemum.

“One hundred stones, shining inside the pouch…”

“G-Great… Junior Brother, wait a moment, I’ll get your spirit stones right away!”

Li Youmao, visibly trembling with excitement, quickly stored away the essence stones. Then he placed 1,200 lower-grade spirit stones into the pouch and handed it to Yu Xian. “Please verify the amount.”

Yu Xian glanced inside, confirmed the number, transferred it into his own pouch, and smiled, “Perfect.”

Li Youmao grinned, “If you get more Fiery Sun Essence Stones, just come to me! We can negotiate a better price too. After all, once Senior Brother Xu reaches Foundation Establishment, he’ll move to the inner sect and won’t be here anymore.”

“Sounds good,” Yu Xian nodded with a smile and turned to leave.

After leaving the Mining Hall, he headed straight to the Alchemy Hall.

From the 1,200 spirit stones, he set aside 200 for cultivation. With the remaining 1,000, he exchanged for two Earth Spirit Pills, then turned to leave.

But as he stepped out of the Alchemy Hall, a booming voice echoed like a great bell:

“The Grand Elder has issued a decree: limiting inner sect entry to only Foundation Establishment disciples is too harsh and hinders sect growth. To give outer sect disciples a chance—to ensure those with talent and potential are not overlooked—starting this year, six additional disciples will be chosen annually from the outer sect to be nurtured within the inner sect!”

The voice was loud and resonant, projected by a late Foundation Establishment cultivator and echoed all around.

“What!?”

“What does that mean!?”

“Nurtured… does that mean Qi Condensation disciples from the outer sect can also enter the inner sect!?”

“Only six people from tens of thousands… it’s like one in ten thousand!”

As the voice faded, a commotion broke out. Countless disciples were shocked and their eyes burned with excitement.

Everyone knew how difficult Foundation Establishment was.

And now, with six extra disciples selected yearly, that meant six more chances! Every outer sect disciple would be thrilled.

Especially those stuck at Qi Condensation completion for years—they were the most excited.

The loud voice continued:

“In four months, selection will begin across all six outer sect districts—forty-six thousand disciples will compete. The top six will be admitted to the inner sect to formally become disciples!”

The echo lingered in the sky.

All the outer sect disciples who heard it were buzzing with excitement and disbelief!

But Yu Xian remained calm. While a part of him longed for it, he was keenly aware of reality: he was only at mid-stage Qi Condensation. Compared to those in late-stage or peak-stage, he was nowhere near strong enough.

His past kills—Zhao Mulin and Zhang Laosan—were surprise attacks.

If the selection was fair and formal, Yu Xian had no chance.

From a young age, he had learned not to chase what was out of reach—it only led to pain or bloodshed.

So, he shook his head and returned to the mining area.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t join the selection—but at the very least, he needed to reach peak Qi Condensation first!

Soon, word of this announcement reached the miners too.

Without exception, everyone—including Liu Xue and Sun Bing—was thrilled!

Four months wasn’t long. Most of them immediately stopped mining, using all their savings to trade for pills and spirit stones, and entered seclusion to cultivate.

Even those who continued working only lasted another month before stopping to train.

Only Yu Xian continued gathering Fiery Sun Essence Stones. Once he had enough, he exchanged them for spirit stones, bought Earth Spirit Pills, and returned to mining—repeating the cycle.

Before he realized it, a month had passed.

Mine #17 was now fully exhausted. Even with his jade pendant’s guidance, he might go days without finding a single stone.

So at the end of the month, Yu Xian took the initiative to go to the supervisor’s residence.

“Sir Overseer, disciple Yu Xian reporting to submit this month’s quota.”

A surprised voice came from inside, and the door opened.

Liu Xue and Sun Bing stood in the doorway, stunned. “What did you say? You’re submitting your monthly quota? You’ve already found two stones?”

“Yep,” Yu Xian smiled. “I was lucky—found three, actually. I’m here to submit two as my quota and gift the third to you two honorable overseers. I’d also like to request a new mine.”

“You found three!?” Liu Xue and Sun Bing looked at each other, their faces filled with disbelief.

That mine was supposed to be barren.

Yet he found three stones in one month? Even a normal mine wouldn’t produce that much!

This kid…

Yu Xian smiled again. “Yep, three.”

He took out the three stones and handed them over. “Two for the quota, one as a respectful gift to you two.”

Liu Xue and Sun Bing looked at each other again.

Senior Brother Huang had ordered them to drive this kid out.

But now he had delivered the quota—how were they supposed to kick him out?

If he stayed, they’d be the ones getting kicked.

Liu Xue suddenly smiled and took the stones. “Good luck you’ve got there! As for the mine transfer—of course, of course.”

Sun Bing also smiled. “Yes, yes. You go back first—we’ll discuss which mine to assign you.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you two,” Yu Xian nodded and left.

As soon as he turned around, the smile disappeared from his face, replaced by calm.

These two overseers definitely had bad intentions.

Another attempt to kill him, perhaps?

But if it wasn’t necessary, Yu Xian really didn’t want to kill anyone…

He exhaled slowly, suppressing the cold glint in his eyes, and returned to his hut.

Inside the overseer’s residence, Liu Xue and Sun Bing were deep in thought.

“How do we get him to leave?” Sun Bing asked first, a cold light in his eyes. “Should we just eliminate him?”

“Kill him? You think he didn’t kill Zhang Laosan? I suspect Zhao Mulin’s disappearance was also his doing!” Liu Xue rolled his eyes. “And Foundation Establishment Senior Brother Huang only saw him at Qi Condensation stage. Who knows how strong he really is?”

“No way! He’s just at mid-stage Qi Condensation!”

“So what? He’s dangerous, that much is clear,” Liu Xue said seriously. “If we underestimate him, we’ll regret it.”

“Then what do you suggest? If we don’t handle it, and Senior Brother Huang finds him still here, we’re dead meat.”

“There is a way.” Liu Xue sneered. “We may not be able to move him, but someone else can.”

“Someone else?”

“Remember that Firefang Wolf we found while surveying the mountain?”

“Oh! That beast? Haha, brilliant! Even late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators can die to that thing. If he steps into its territory, he’s wolf food.”

Liu Xue smirked. “We’ll assign him to that mountain. Once he enters, there’s no escape!”

“Genius move! Damn, you really have read more books than me—your brain works like a charm!”

“Well, obviously better than you, a former pig butcher.”

“Hahaha!”

Their laughter echoed inside the room, as the trap silently closed in on Yu Xian.

The spiritual energy was becoming increasingly dense. Once it grew thick like liquid mercury, Yu Xian stepped into the late stage of Qi Condensation.

Over the span of a month, Yu Xian devoured five Earth Spirit Pills and more than a dozen bottles of Small Spirit Pills like a wealthy man burning through cash. His cultivation advanced at a tremendous pace. In just one short month, his Qi Sea expanded by another twofold. The spiritual energy within him had become rich and substantial—his cultivation was almost at the peak of the mid-stage of Qi Condensation.

However, while relying on pills advanced his cultivation quickly, the downside was…

His body had developed a resistance to the medicine!

Now, for Small Spirit Pills, he needed to consume four or five in a row just to get the same effect that one used to give. Even the Earth Spirit Pills required two at a time to barely expand his Qi Sea a little and densify the spiritual energy within.

This change made Yu Xian smile bitterly.

It seemed that if he wanted his cultivation realm to advance rapidly again, he would need to consume even more potent, more domineering, and far more expensive pills.

But those pills were very expensive…

Even with the guidance of the jade pendant to locate ore veins, mining was exhausting! For pills that cost one to two thousand—or even several thousand—low-grade spirit stones each, Yu Xian could only shake his head and sigh.

“Eventually, I’ll have to learn alchemy… Gathering raw ingredients would be way cheaper,” he murmured to himself.

As dawn broke and he finished his cultivation session, Yu Xian opened his eyes and muttered quietly. Then, his eyes flickered as he glanced toward the door.

He could hear footsteps approaching from a distance.

After reaching the mid-stage of Qi Condensation, Yu Xian’s perception had grown much sharper—he could sense footsteps and even breathing from dozens of meters away.

Knock knock knock.

Sure enough, a knock soon came.

A cheerful voice followed: “Yu Xian? Are you cultivating? Or resting?”

“Oh, it’s Steward Liu?”

Yu Xian opened the door, a look of delight on his face. “Steward Liu, are you here to assign me a new mining cave?”

“Haha, you’re quite clever,” Liu Xue chuckled dryly and nodded. “I am here to reassign you, but think about it—the nearby mines are all occupied. If I let you mine there, what about the others? They’d definitely have objections.”

“Then… what are you saying, Steward?” Yu Xian asked with a puzzled expression.

Liu Xue’s face turned serious. “So, I’ve decided to send you to a newly discovered, untapped mining mountain!”

“A new mine, tsk tsk, filled with rich resources. You could just dig a little and come up with something good. Get dozens of stones in a month—wouldn’t that be amazing!?” said Sun Pingcheng, who stood nearby with a greedy smile, as if Yu Xian had just struck gold.

“A new mining mountain…” Yu Xian went silent, deep in thought.

“If you don’t want to go, forget it,” Liu Xue quickly added, “I was only offering it to you because you’re smart and know how to show respect.”

Liu gave a meaningful glance to Sun Pingcheng.

Sun Pingcheng immediately raised his voice, “Hey, Old Liu, if he doesn’t want to go, then let it be. Let’s go find someone else. I’m sure plenty of people would love to open up a new mine!”

“Forget it, let’s go,” Liu Xue sighed, shaking his head as he turned to leave.

“Wait! Steward Liu, Steward Sun—I’ll go!”

Just then, Yu Xian’s voice rang out.

Both Liu Xue and Sun Pingcheng turned back with triumphant smiles.

They looked at Yu Xian.

His expression was calm. He looked at the two stewards and nodded. “I’m willing to go.”