Chapter 24 - Sky Treasure Gold Badge
Panda Novel
“Coincidentally, I also wanted to go to the Sky Treasure Pavilion to trade for something. Where is Cang Lang City? Bring me there, please.” Yao Xue said smilingly.
Su Zimo could tell that Yao Xue was very sensitive and considerate. She was worried that he could not enter the Sky Treasure Pavilion on his own as he was not a Qi Refinement Warrior. As such, she told him that for fear of hurting his self-esteem.
Su Zimo did not expose her lie either. He said, “Let’s go. It is also time that I leave Cang Lang Mountain Range.”
Su Zimo packed up many spirit beast hides. Besides these, he also put away the storage bags and flying swords harvested yesterday in Yao Xue’s storage bag temporarily to avoid appearing too ostentatious.
Outside the cave, the sky was already bright.
The spirit monkey curled himself up in a corner with his back facing the two of them. It seemed to be sound asleep.
“Let’s go. Don’t disturb him.” Yao Xue said softly.
Su Zimo shook his head. He went to the side of the spirit monkey and kicked it without giving any warning. He chided smilingly, “Stop pretending to be dead. Wake up and send me off!”
This kick was very sudden and forceful. Even Yao Xue was taken aback.
Unexpectedly, the spirit monkey who was initially sleeping soundly seemed to be long prepared for this. Swoosh! It dashed up and avoided Su Zimo’s underhanded kick. Teeth gnashing and jaws opened, it waved both arms at Su Zimo with a face full of disdain, and rolled its eyes from time to time.
Su Zimo smiled faintly and said, “If you don’t want to send me off, so be it. Look at you. Damn monkey. Be smarter next time. Don’t foolishly go lose to the cultivators when you meet them.”
“Humph!”
The spirit monkey snorted and waved it’s fists.
“I’m leaving.”
With his back facing the spirit monkey, Su Zimo waved his hands and left the cave with Yao Xue.
Not far away, Su Zimo sensed something and instinctively turned back. He saw the spirit monkey standing at the cave entrance and watching him from afar. Under the reflection of the morning glow, the tall and big figure looked a little lonely and desolate.
At the sight of Su Zimo turning back, the spirit monkey felt that he could no longer stifle his expression. Lifting its head proudly, it turned and wriggled back into the cave, disappearing from sight.
Yao Xue noticed this and said softly, “In the end, it came out to send you off.”
Su Zimo hung his head silently.
Yao Xue said, “Since you can’t bear to leave it. Bring it along?”
After a moment of silence, Su Zimo looked up and smiled. Pretending to be casual, he said, “It’s okay. Don’t need to bother about him. This monkey has great ambitions. It wants to be the lord of Cang Lang Mountain Range, a happy and carefree king of the mountains.”
Yao Xue found a flying sword from the storage bag and suspended it in the air. She jumped onto it. She then turned to Su Zimo and said, “Come up. It’ll be faster in this way.”
Su Zimo did not decline. He leaped onto the flying sword immediately.
Swoosh!
Lights from the sword flashed. The two had already disappeared from the place that they were at at lighting speed.
Sword Kinesis Flight was as graceful and swift as a startled swan. It was breezy, carefree and indescribable. Su Zimo would be lying to himself if he were to say that he was not envious.
However, he was on the path of demon cultivation. He would have to cultivate the Core Formation section to rise from the ground and fly in the air.
After Tendons Transformation, there were four major realms – Bones Strengthening, Marrow Cleansing, Organs Refinement, and Orifice Clearing. He did not know how long it would take.
…
After one and a half years, he felt completely different upon returning to Cang Lang City.
Looking at Cang Lang City from the heights while on Yao Xue’s sword, Su Zimo discovered that this city was much bigger than he had thought it to be.
The two landed in a quiet and deep small alley. There was a wall at the end of the small alley.
Before Yao Xue reached the wall, she pointed with her finger and release a flow of spirit qi. Before hitting the wall, it had turned as clear as a water curtain at that instant.
Yao Xue explained, “This is a kind of array formation. It has the effect of a visual bulwark. Mortals without spirit qi will not be able to discover this place. There are two ways to enter the Sky Treasure Pavilion. First, become a cultivator. Second, possess the Sky Treasure Badge.”
Su Zimo nodded and followed Yao Xue in crossing the wall. It was spacious and bright on the other side. A sparkling and glittering palace appeared right in front of them.
Three words ‘Sky Treasure Pavilion’ was written on the plaque.
Under the bottom right corner of the Sky Treasure Pavilion, there was an exquisite and small word ‘branch’, representing that this was a store branch of the Sky Treasure Pavilion.
After entering the main hall of the Sky Treasure Pavilion, one could see many Qi Refinement Warriors loitering around.
The main hall was filled with plenty of treasures collected in the cultivation world. There were elixirs, spirit items, talismans, cultivation technique secret manuals and so on. It had everything that one wished for.
“Follow me upstairs. These items downstairs are all ordinary ones.” Yao Xue whispered.
Under the envious gaze of many Qi Refinement Warriors, Su Zimo followed Yao Xue upstairs.
These Qi Refinement Warriors were aware that only Foundation Establishment Cultivators or those with the Sky Treasure Badge could be granted access to the second floor of the Sky Treasure Pavilion.
However, it was too difficult to attain a Sky Treasure Badge. Even the most inferior-grade Sky Treasure Bronze Badge required a certain number of spirit stones in exchange for the eligibility.
On the second floor, there were obviously less cultivation world treasures. However, each of the items looked better than those downstairs.
Apart from a few Qi Refinement Warriors who were selling items, no one else was present. It was very quiet.
Yao Xue knocked on the table. She flashed a piece of exquisite, gold badge and said in a low voice, “Get your pavilion manager out!”
The Qi Refinement Warrior was startled instantly. He responded to the rudeness with a flattering smile. “Senior, please wait here for a moment.”
Very soon, a figure dressed like a businessman hurried over. He was rather plump but swift in his movements.
“Selling something.”
Yao Xue went straight to the point. She took out the hundreds of spirit beast hides, various elixirs and the few flying swords.
Su Zimo had already planned to sell everything and exchange them for spirit stones.
“It will be a total of 3,070 pieces of inferior-grade spirit stones.” The manager of Sky Treasure Pavilion calculated before he wiped his sweat and said.
Yao Xue waved her hands and said undoubtedly. “Let’s round it to 3,100.”
“This… okay.” The manager hesitated slightly but agreed thereafter.
Su Zimo suddenly realized that Yao Xue seemed to be born of an extraordinary origin. Every move of hers was filled with a strong aura of elegance.
3,100 pieces of spirit stones. Coupled with the 700 other pieces in the storage bags of the Joyful Seven, Su Zimo had close to 4,000 spirit stones now!
This was also considered a huge wealth amongst the high-level Qi Refinement Warriors.
“How do you intend to use this sum of spirit stones?” Yao Xue asked.
Su Zimo had some plans in his heart. He said in a deep voice, “I want to refine two weapons. One bow and one saber.”
After the battle with Qi Refinement Warriors at Cang Lang Mountain Range, Su Zimo discovered his own weakness. He was unable to leave the ground and fly in the sky.
If he were to encounter Qi Refinement Warriors who used Sword Kinesis Flight in the future, Su Zimo would deal with them with his bow and arrows!
As for the saber, apart from protecting himself and attacking the enemy, it could also block the spirit item of the Qi Refinement Warrior and take the chance to reduce the distance separating them.
Besides inferior-grade, middle-grade, superior-grade, supreme-grade weapons, there was also another type of spirit weapon called pseudo spirit weapon.
The reasons why spirit weapons were powerful were twofold. On one hand, the materials used to refine the weapons were rare spirit items. On the other hand, after numerous hammering and refining by the Weapon Refinement Master, the impurities had been removed. The weapon would not break easily as it was both hard and strong.
Most importantly, one had to look at the spirit pattern condensed on it to analyze the grade of the spirit weapon.
An inferior-grade spirit weapon would have one spirit pattern. Amongst the Joyful Seven, two of them had flying swords of this grade.
The flying sword in Yao Xue’s hands was a middle-grade spirit weapon as it had two spirit patterns.
Weapons with three spirit patterns were superior-grade while those with four spirit patterns were of supreme-grade!
Before the cultivators engaged in a fight, it would inject the spirit qi into the spirit weapon. This would invigorate the spirit pattern to shine. The more lines there were, the more powerful the spirit weapon.
The so-called pseudo spirit weapon was referring to weapons made of the same materials as the real ones. They were also made by the Weapon Refinement Master but there was no spirit pattern condensed on them.
To Su Zimo, whether the weapons had spirit pattern or not did not make a difference. He could not invigorate them at all.
As long as the weapon was strong and hard enough to block the impact of spirit weapons and cause death and injury to the Qi Refinement Warrior, it would suffice.
The manager of the Sky Treasure Pavilion said, “It costs very little to refine two pseudo spirit weapons. Including the costs of materials and hiring the Weapon Refinement Master, a few hundred inferior-grade spirit stones are enough.”
“How long will it take?” Su Zimo could feel that the Su family was going to face a calamity soon. He wanted to improve his ability as soon as possible.
“At least three days.” The manager of Sky Treasure Pavilion said. “On a separate note, it is easy to refine the bow but not the bowstring.”
Yao Xue pointed at Su Zimo’s waist and smiled gently. “The python tendon on your waist can be used as a bowstring.”
Su Zimo was still clad in a beast hide and a python tendon was used as a belt. Yao Xue reached out her hands and gently pushed Su Zimo, covering her nose. “Quickly bathe and change your clothes. You can remove the python tendon then.”
Su Zimo coughed lightly to conceal his embarrassment. He quickly followed the two female waiting staff and left the second floor of Sky Treasure Pavilion temporarily.
Not long after, Su Zimo returned to the Sky Treasure Pavilion. When Yao Xue glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, she could not help feeling stunned.
At this moment, Su Zimo was dressed in a green robe. He had shaved away his stubble. Bright, clear eyes and delicate features, he exuded a strong scholarly aura. He was like a different person from before!
“Eh, who is this?” Yao Xue turned both her palms, leaned forward slightly and moved closer to him. She tilted her head and asked with a trace of a smile in her eyes.
Su Zimo’s gaze was bright and clear. He smiled but was silent.
“A young master, indeed. Addressing you as Young Master Su is really not wrong.” Yao Xue smiled and said.
Su Zimo could barely endure this. He cupped his fists and said, “Miss Yao Xue, you’re being humorous.”
“Alright, I’ll not tease you anymore.” Yao Xue waved her hands and asked, “What do you intend to use the remaining spirit stones for?”
“How many spirit stones do I need to hire a Qi Refinement Warrior?” Su Zimo planned to hire one Qi Refinement Warrior to protect the Su family.
The manager of Sky Treasure Pavilion said, “This depends on the level that the Qi Refinement Warrior is at.”
“The higher the better!”
“For a Level 7 Qi Refinement Warrior, five pieces of inferior-grade spirit stones a day will be enough. For a Level 8 Qi Refinement Warrior, you need ten pieces a day. For a Level 9 Qi Refinement Warrior, you need 100 pieces!”
Su Zimo did some mental calculations.
He had a total of over 3,000 pieces of spirit stones left. Of course, it was good to hire a Level 9 Qi Refinement Warrior. However, he only had enough spirit stones to hire one of them for a month.
No one could guarantee when the danger would come.
On the other hand, hiring a Level 8 Qi Refinement Warrior could protect the Su family for an entire year. It was relatively more cost effective.
After pondering deeply for a while, Su Zimo said, “I’ll hire a Level 8 Qi Refinement Warrior for a period of one year.”
“Okay.”
The manager waved his hands. One of the female waiting staff nodded and walked towards the main hall on the first floor of the Sky Treasure Pavilion.
Yao Xue explained. “There are always new missions at the main hall of the Sky Treasure Pavilion. If the Qi Refinement Warriors are interested in them, they will look for the hirers accordingly.”
After pausing for a while, Yao Xue passed the piece of gold badge in her hands to Su Zimo. She said. “This is the Sky Treasure Pavilion Gold Badge. With this badge, you can get half the price for every item of purchase when you come here next time.”
“So much?” Su Zimo was shocked.
The manager of Sky Treasure Pavilion who was standing at the side explained, “There are three types of badges in the Sky Treasure Pavilion. The lowest grade is the bronze badge which will give you a ten percent discount. Next is the silver badge that gives a twenty percent discount, followed by the gold badge.”
“This item is too precious and costly. I can’t accept it.” Upon hearing the manager’s explanation, how could Su Zimo not know how precious this gold badge was?
“Accept it. I still have more of it.”
Not allowing any further deliberations, Yao Xue tucked the item into Su Zimo’s arms and reminded him, “You have to hide it well and don’t let anyone see it. Otherwise, you will attract trouble easily.”
Su Zimo frowned and wanted to decline again. Yao Xue face turned stiff, “You saved my life. Isn’t my life worth this piece of lousy gold badge?”
“… ”
Su Zimo was speechless.
The manager at the side rolled his eyes continuously, muttering in his heart, “Lousy gold badge… there are less than 10 such gold badges in the entire Great Zhou Dynasty! This madam is so generous. I don’t know where this poor lad’s good fortune came from.”
At this moment, Su Zimo was unaware that the Sky Treasure Gold Badge in his hands was not an ordinary one.
Even if he had the ordinary Sky Treasure Gold Badge, he could only get a thirty percent discount at the Sky Treasure Pavilion.
There was only one place with Sky Treasure Gold Badges that could give a fifty percent discount!
