Chapter 95: Declining Arts of Magic
【Repair Points: 16】
【Both arms are fractured and can be repaired. 10 Repair Points are required. Repair them?】
Looking at the information in his mind, Su Xiaofan felt somewhat conflicted.
He had only sixteen Repair Points left. Spending ten of them at once would leave him with just six. He still needed five points to nurture his jade pendant magical artifact.
That would truly leave him completely broke.
“Forget it. I’d better nurture the jade pendant.”
Su Xiaofan chose not to repair the injuries to his arms.
His master had said that as long as he didn't engage in strenuous activity, he would be able to fully recover after about a month of rest.
According to Su Xiaofan's way of calculating things, ten Repair Points were equivalent to four or five million yuan.
Keeping them was basically the same as making money.
【Repair Points: 16!】
【Dragon-Shaped Jade Pendant: Mid-Grade Damaged Magical Artifact. Can be repaired. 50 Repair Points required. Insufficient Repair Points!】
【Nurturing the Dragon-Shaped Jade Pendant requires 5 Repair Points. Deduct them?】
“Deduct them. Nurture the Dragon-Shaped Jade Pendant!”
Su Xiaofan chose to nurture the jade pendant.
Today, he had truly experienced the power of magical artifacts.
Not to mention the magical artifact's ability to isolate the mist, the Vajra Bodhi bracelet that had been completely destroyed today had saved Su Xiaofan's life.
Originally, Su Xiaofan had thought that he had managed to withstand the giant python's strike himself.
But after seeing the tiger cat's corpse, that thought disappeared completely.
Even a tiger cat, which was itself a supernatural creature, had been unable to withstand a single attack from the giant python.
Yet Su Xiaofan had only suffered fractures in both arms.
It was obvious that the magical artifact had protected him and helped him survive that calamity.
Su Xiaofan glanced at the little tiger cat sleeping on the bed before getting up to take a shower.
Fortunately, as long as he didn't exert too much force, his injured arms didn't affect him very much.
He had gone nearly forty hours without closing his eyes.
Combined with the tension he had been under throughout the previous night, Su Xiaofan was now extremely exhausted.
For once, he didn't cultivate or meditate. He simply fell onto the bed and went straight to sleep.
“Meow…”
A faint meow sounded beside Su Xiaofan's ear.
He opened his eyes and happened to see the little tiger cat's bright, jet-black eyes.
Seeing that Su Xiaofan had awakened, the little tiger cat affectionately licked his face with its tongue before pressing its tiny body against his neck.
“Oh, you've opened your eyes.”
Su Xiaofan happily reached out and gently stroked the little tiger cat.
He could tell that the little fellow had probably already come to regard him as family.
“Meow.”
The little tiger cat rolled comfortably across Su Xiaofan's chest, exposing its belly.
“Stay with me from now on.”
Having raised cats and dogs before, Su Xiaofan knew that when they exposed their bellies in front of someone, it represented absolute trust.
“Wait here. I'll make you some food.”
Su Xiaofan sprang up from the bed.
He immediately felt that the true qi he had completely exhausted the previous day had already gathered considerably in his dantian.
His arms, however, were still unable to exert any strength.
He opened the refrigerator and took out two pieces of giant python meat he had stored inside the previous day.
Then he found a small dish and poured some milk into it before bringing the little tiger cat its breakfast.
The little fellow must have been extremely hungry.
It devoured two pieces of giant python meat in succession and drank nearly half a kilogram of milk before contentedly burping and going back to sleep.
It wasn't just the little tiger cat.
Humans were the same.
At lunchtime, Su Xiaofan witnessed Uncle Jing's appetite for the first time.
Each steak weighed three hundred grams, and Uncle Jing ate a full twenty of them.
Clearly, his qi and blood had been severely depleted the previous day, and he needed to replenish them through food.
Su Xiaofan was almost the same.
The two men's appetites seemed like bottomless pits, and the amount they ate even caused the five-star hotel's servers to change expressions.
“Uncle Jing, are we going to Shuangmen Village today?”
After lunch, Tong Dongjie also followed Su Xiaofan and his master back to their room.
The supernatural creature had been dealt with, but the problem at Shuangmen Village still remained.
As long as the mist leaking from the spatial rift didn't disappear, normal construction would be impossible.
“Not today. We'll rest for three days and go back after that.”
Jing Shizhen shook his head.
Seeing the worried look on Tong Dongjie's face, he couldn't help smiling.
“I've already found that spatial rift. However, I have no way to seal it permanently. At most, I can suppress and seal it temporarily.”
“Seal it? How long can it last?”
Tong Dongjie was stunned.
This seemed somewhat different from what they had expected.
Permanently closing it would solve the problem once and for all, but a temporary seal was another matter.
“Five years. I'll use a mid-grade magical artifact to seal it. Five years is the maximum.”
Jing Shizhen thought for a moment before saying, “If you can provide a high-grade magical artifact, then it can be sealed for twenty years. I'll also reduce the fee by fifty million yuan this time!”
Jing Shizhen had taken this job at a considerable price, but he was responsible for both the labor and the materials.
According to his calculations, to seal the spatial rift, he would need at least three low-grade magical artifacts and one mid-grade magical artifact.
Mid-grade magical artifacts were extremely expensive.
Even the poorest-quality ones cost more than ten million yuan.
Adding the three low-grade magical artifacts, he actually wouldn't make even one hundred million yuan from this job.
“A high-grade magical artifact? We do have one in the clan, but there's no way we could use it here.”
Hearing Jing Shizhen's words, Tong Dongjie couldn't help smiling bitterly.
A high-grade magical artifact could be considered a clan's treasured possession.
They were normally kept in the ancestral hall, and even the clan leader couldn't casually use one.
How could they possibly waste one here for the sake of a business deal?
“Then there's nothing I can do. Or you can choose to give up on this project.”
In truth, Jing Shizhen really hoped Tong Dongjie would abandon the project.
The supernatural creatures in that place had already been eliminated.
Perhaps after a few years, another creature might mutate into a supernatural creature.
If that happened, he could return and harvest another batch.
Compared with supernatural creatures, money was practically worthless.
Just the giant python they had obtained this time could easily fetch one or two hundred million yuan if Jing Shizhen were willing to sell everything.
“Uncle Jing, what happens after the five-year seal expires?”
Tong Dongjie asked.
He had already spent five or six years working on the Shuangmen Village project and invested nearly one billion yuan into it.
If the project failed, his position within the family might not even be secure.
Although he had no cultivation aptitude and wasn't highly regarded within the clan, he enjoyed being surrounded by people and living in splendor in the secular world.
That was also a pretty good option.
Having been the boss for so long, Tong Dongjie was unwilling to have someone from the clan come and replace him.
“We put several more magical artifacts inside and seal it again.”
Jing Shizhen explained, “A mid-grade magical artifact can maintain the seal for at most five years. Once the time limit expires, it will lose its effect. You'll have to find another mid-grade magical artifact and put it inside. That will extend the seal for another five years.”
One mid-grade magical artifact and three low-grade magical artifacts could only maintain the seal for five years.
Even Tong Dongjie had to carefully weigh the costs and benefits at this point.
The four magical artifacts together would cost roughly twenty to thirty million yuan.
When calculated this way, it seemed that the expense was still affordable.
“Uncle Jing, can I buy magical artifacts from you when the time comes?”
Tong Dongjie had made up his mind.
He would seal the place for five years first.
When the time came, he could invest another few hundred million yuan into it. The old men in his family wouldn't simply abandon a project of this scale.
“Of course. I run a business, so naturally I'd welcome you to buy things from me.”
Jing Shizhen nodded with a smile.
“However, let's make one thing clear first. I always have low-grade magical artifacts available, but I may not necessarily have mid-grade ones.
“At the very least, you'll need to place your order with me three years in advance.”
Although Jing Shizhen had several high-grade magical artifacts in the secret chamber of his villa in Yanjing, those had been passed down through their lineage for thousands of years.
They were not for sale.
The mutton-fat white jade gourd that Jing Shizhen had brought this time was his personal collection.
He had the right to decide what to do with it, but it was the only one.
Therefore, if Tong Dongjie wanted to purchase a mid-grade magical artifact, he had to notify Jing Shizhen in advance.
Jing Shizhen would need to spend time and effort searching for one.
Unlike low-grade magical artifacts, mid-grade magical artifacts were already considered genuine treasures in the cultivation world.
Many people kept such artifacts completely secret and would never sell them.
“Okay, Uncle Jing. Then it's settled. We'll come back in three days.”
Tong Dongjie nodded in agreement.
The matter of replacing the magical artifacts every five years was important, and he still had to convince the elders of his clan.
Otherwise, there was no way to implement this plan.
“Master, is sealing the rift difficult? And what about those movement techniques? You haven't taught me those yet.”
After Tong Dongjie left, Su Xiaofan grabbed hold of Jing Shizhen.
When he had first opened up his Great Heavenly Circuit, Su Xiaofan had been quite full of himself.
But after witnessing the battle between the giant python and the tiger cat, he realized that his actual combat strength was basically garbage.
Palm Thunder wasn't effective enough, his movement techniques were too slow, and he didn't even have a suitable weapon.
Whether he faced the giant python or the tiger cat, he would probably be killed instantly.
“Your cultivation wasn't sufficient before, so you couldn't learn them.”
It wasn't that Jing Shizhen didn't want to teach his disciple.
He wasn't the type to selfishly keep his knowledge to himself.
The key was that he hadn't expected Su Xiaofan to break through so quickly, far exceeding his expectations.
Back when Jing Shizhen had first begun learning cultivation, he hadn't even come into contact with magical techniques during his first five years.
It was only after opening his Great Heavenly Circuit that he gradually began learning thunder techniques and escape techniques.
Even then, Jing Shizhen had already been considered a genius of his generation.
Someone with ordinary aptitude would need at least ten years of hard cultivation to open their Great Heavenly Circuit.
Therefore, according to Jing Shizhen's calculations, Su Xiaofan would need at least three years to open his Great Heavenly Circuit.
Only then would he qualify to learn magical techniques.
Who could have imagined that this freak would not only open his Great Heavenly Circuit, but also master Palm Thunder in just one night?
“What about now? Can I cultivate those techniques now?”
Su Xiaofan asked expectantly.
“Yes. However, your arms are injured right now, so you can't circulate qi through the meridians in your upper limbs.
“I'll teach you Thousand-Mile Divine Movement and Shrinking the Earth to an Inch first.”
Jing Shizhen thought for a moment before continuing.
“Once your arms have healed, I'll teach you talismans and formations.
“If you're capable enough, then learn everything I've got to teach you.”
Su Xiaofan's cultivation speed was simply unreasonable.
Jing Shizhen had no choice but to adjust his teaching plan.
In truth, Jing Shizhen also hoped to have someone to inherit his legacy.
For all these years, he had handled everything personally.
Compared with those old friends of his who had established flourishing lineages and passed down their teachings, Jing Shizhen never said it aloud, but he was deeply envious of them.
“Master, can I really learn Thousand-Mile Divine Movement and Shrinking the Earth to an Inch?”
Su Xiaofan's eyes immediately lit up.
What young man hadn't dreamed of flying through the sky and traversing the earth?
Although he couldn't fly right now, being able to travel underground was pretty good too.
“Mm. As long as your true qi doesn't run dry, running a thousand li a day won't be a problem.”
Jing Shizhen glanced sideways at his disciple and said irritably, “Shrinking the Earth to an Inch is a bit exaggerated, but turning ten meters into one should be possible.
“It's a technique for explosive bursts of speed over short distances.”
“Thousand-Mile Divine Movement doesn't seem worth it.”
Su Xiaofan calculated it in his head.
If he drove at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, he could travel a thousand li in just five hours.
Why bother running the whole distance on his own legs?
This was precisely one of the reasons cultivation had declined in modern times.
In ancient times, being able to travel a thousand li in a single day would have been considered an immortal-like feat.
But nowadays, an airplane could cover four or five thousand li in just three hours.
Naturally, hardly anyone would bother cultivating something as impractical as Thousand-Mile Divine Movement.
(End of Chapter)
✨ Love this novel?
Visit my Patreon for fast access and advanced chapters! patreon.com/BbingTranslations Thank you for your support.❤️
Comments
Post a Comment