Chapter 58, Half a Year of Peace

Translator: StarReader

 

Su Chen noted down the eight talismans recorded on the jade slips, tucking the immortal jade slip scroll against his body. He then set out from the deep mountains with a small medicine basket, heading to the neighboring county to fulfill his errand.

 

As he journeyed, his thoughts drifted to how he would locate these spiritual materials. The jade slip mentioned that making talismans was supposedly simple—merely requiring the four spiritual materials: ink, brush, paper, and inkstone. There were no other restrictions mentioned.

 

However, when Su Chen considered gathering spiritual materials, he encountered a puzzling challenge. In the Wu Region, most mundane materials were non-spiritual in nature. It was unlikely that one could discern whether an item was a spiritual material with the naked eye. The question of how to identify such materials weighed heavily on his mind.

 

Su Chen’s fingers brushed against the immortal jade slip scroll he carried, pondering deeply.

 

He used his extraordinary perception to delve into it, revealing a faint, misty green aura that enveloped countless characters. It was truly miraculous.

 

“Is the jade slip scroll a spiritual material that only this kind of perception can discover? Does that mean I have to touch everything to check if it’s normal or spiritual?”

 

Su Chen felt overwhelmed. With the vast world around, he couldn’t just go around touching every item—people might start rumors about him having some sort of fetish.

 

After completing his latest task in the county, he returned to Medicine King Estate, resuming his daily chores as an errand disciple. His attempts to understand spiritual materials led nowhere; he had no idea where to find such treasures and could only rely on chance encounters. The information about them within the jade slip scroll even included several items he’d never heard of before.

 

Time dragged on, and before he knew it, half a year had passed.

 

Su Chen had been cultivating The Mayfly Chapter’s first stage, Dormancy, for six months already.

 

The technique involved absorbing the floating spiritual energy from the heavens, refining it into essence, and storing it in his Upper Dantian. Half of this energy would strengthen his soul, while the other half would be stored away.

 

For six months, Su Chen had dedicated himself to this practice, meditating each night for an hour, focusing intently on Dormancy’s instructions.

 

His extraordinary perception allowed him to vaguely sense the faint floating spiritual energy in the air, something he hadn’t been aware of before. The spiritual energy particles were incredibly scarce.

 

He only detected tens of particles in thirty meters around him. Even if he were to absorb every single one, it would be like a drop in the ocean.

 

The sensation was likened to a fish swimming hundreds of miles through the sea just to find a single grain of rice—savoring it briefly before it was gone, leaving only emptiness and the need to continue searching ever onward.

 

This rate of absorbing spiritual energy was too slow. Su Chen had been cultivating Wanderer’s Journey: The Mayfly Chapter for half a year now, yet his Upper Dantian showed no reaction, nor did his body exhibit any changes. Unable to employ inner vision to observe the Upper Dantian or gauge any progress in his soul, he could only focus on his Middle Dantian. There, his True Qi remained unchanged, retaining its pristine white hue with no indication it might transform into spiritual power.

 

“Is this immortal cultivation method that slow?” Su Chen wondered aloud. “I can’t help but wonder what level Daoist Han Shan has reached. At well over seventy years old, if he were truly a Grandmaster—supposedly the top-tier expert in the martial world—he might have attained immortal status by now… But I highly doubt it. If he had indeed become an Immortal Master, wouldn’t the martial community already revere him as the Supreme Immortal Lord? Instead, they still address him merely as Daoist Han Shan, a title reserved for mortal Daoists.

 

“As for Daoist Qinghe and the other four disciples, all in their late fifties or sixties, having spent decades in the martial world yet still holding only the title of first-rate expert without reaching Daoist Han Shan’s level, I suspect they hadn’t even scratched the surface of cultivation. They were likely stuck at the pinnacle of mortal martial prowess, with attaining the Grandmaster realm a pipe dream for their lifetimes.”

 

Su Chen frowned and pursed his mouth. While he was cultivating The Mayfly Chapter, he naturally hadn’t neglected his own Middle Dantian training either. Every day, for at least two hours, he would continue to cultivate without fail.

 

After all, compared to the mysterious and elusive methods of becoming an immortal cultivator—results that could take years to materialize—he found far more tangible assurance in his progress with the Middle Dantian. He was confident that it could rapidly boost his abilities, allowing him to become a top-tier martial artist within just a few years. This kind of immediate improvement, something he could literally grasp and feel, was undeniably tempting.

 

Over these past six months, he had often concocted his own formulas for supplements to aid his Middle Dantian training. The results were nothing short of remarkable—his progress was clearly speeding up. Of course, this required a plentiful supply of medicinal herbs.

 

Su Chen no longer used bluestones to create blue water for growing plants, as the number of bluestones he possessed was too few. Using them for herb cultivation felt like a waste.

 

Su Chen remained as cautious and low-key as ever. He broke a ten-tael ingot of gold into over a hundred pieces, each around the value of half or one tael of silver. When he traveled to the thirteen counties in the Wu Region to perform his menial duties, he occasionally used the gold to buy a few low-grade herbs from pharmacies or exchanged it for one tael of silver at roadside stores, slipping the money out without anyone noticing.

 

These extremely small-value gold and silver taels circulated freely in the market, attracting no attention whatsoever. Even among the average disciples, accustomed to seeing people carrying half a tael of gold fragments. Moreover, Su Chen never frequented the same shop twice or allowed the same person to see him more than once during his purchases. If he were spotted multiple times, it would be nothing short of absurd.

 

In just half a year, Su Chen’s cultivation had advanced from early second-rate to mid second-rate, with his True Qi in the Middle Dantian becoming significantly stronger. As for the materials needed for crafting talismans, while Su Chen desired them, he made no deliberate efforts to seek them out. These items were not something that could be rushed; their whereabouts were unknown. It was all a matter of chance—good if they turned up, but by no means essential if they didn’t.

 

The turmoil that shook the entire martial world had only been a few months ago. Su Chen even suspected whether the places in the Wu Region with spiritual materials were being monitored by Han Mountain Daoist Temple’s Daoists. He worried that going there openly might alert them, leading to his downfall. But he wasn’t in a hurry; he had enough time and patience to wait until this incident was forgotten by the martial world.

 

During these past few months, several minor events occurred at Errand Hall. On this particular day, Li Jiao somehow found herself at the Errand Hall, seemingly searching for an unknown errand disciple. This was a huge surprise to the Errand Hall’s disciples, since inner disciples were always arrogant and never willing to set foot in such a dirty and chaotic place. Since Li Jiao wasn’t familiar with anyone here, she felt embarrassed to ask others about that mysterious laborer. Just as she happened to meet Su Chen, who was coming to the Errand Hall for a task, she asked him to help find that elusive laborer for her.

 

Su Chen was puzzled.

 

[How do you find someone unknown?]

 

Li Jiao hesitated, looking conflicted. She couldn’t name him, only describing him as a blue-clad laborer around sixteen or seventeen years old, roughly at the late second-rate realm, and exceptionally skilled.

 

Su Chen suddenly remembered. Half a year ago, he had saved Li Jiao’s entire family. Now she was here looking for him.

 

But Li Jiao wasn’t seeking ‘Su Chen.’ Instead, she was searching for that ‘mysterious laborer.’ Su Chen silently shook his head. Regardless of Li Jiao’s motives, he wouldn’t reveal a thing. It was too troublesome.

 

“Who in our Errand Hall do you think is a master? I’ve been here for over a year and haven’t heard of anyone like that… Senior Sister Li, could it be one of the Swordsmanship Hall’s Senior Brothers disguising himself as a blue-clad laborer to toy with you?”

 

Su Chen spoke in feigned astonishment.

 

Li Jiao left in disappointment after his response. She hadn’t even considered that the blue-clad youth could be Su Chen himself. For she had trained alongside Su Chen for half a year and knew him inside out. In these past couple of years, Su Chen’s status in the Errand Hall was nothing special; he remained a lowly third-rate errand disciple, hardly any match for Ding Shisan, the second-rate pirate chief. Only if a first-rate expert disguised himself as a lowly blue-clad laborer could he effortlessly defeat the second-rate pirate leader Ding Shisan.

 

Li Jiao left without another thought. Meanwhile, Su Chen didn’t give the matter much consideration either.

 

Later on, she heard from Kong Xinqiao, who also became an errand disciple, casually mentioning to Su Chen that Li Jiao’s attitude toward Wang Fugui had grown cold over these past six months; they had even argued a few times. The betrothal arranged between them was called off.

 

Wang Fugui had been depressed over the past half year, often drowning his sorrows in alcohol. This state of affairs shocked many Medicine King Group inner disciples. They couldn’t believe that Senior Brother Wang, once the pride of the Medicine King Group’s inner circle and known for his charm and flamboyance, had turned out to be such a lovesick romantic.

 

It was no secret that Wang Fugui was one of the top-tier inner disciples in the Medicine King Group. Many girls had their sights set on him, eager to tie the knot with this charmer. Yet, Li Jiao, his own junior sister within the sect, had somehow managed to win his affection—though, as others whispered, it was likely due to her convenient position.

 

But things took a sudden turn when Li Jiao herself called off the marriage. To many disciples, this was nothing short of stunning. They couldn’t wrap their heads around how such a promising union could fall apart so spectacularly.

 

Su Chen felt a little sorry for Senior Brother Wang’s misfortune. All of it started during the raid on the Li family’s cargo ship by the pirates, where Wang Fugui’s performance was nothing short of abysmal.

 

Senior Brother Wang had a dashing appearance that usually made him the center of attention among the new disciples at Medicine King Group. He could command respect and obedience with just a glance and was treated as a genius by all the newcomers. But when it came to real crises, he turned out to be no more than a poser—all bark and no bite, completely ineffective.

 

Any woman faced with such a situation would lose hope and be disappointed. It was only natural that Li Jiao would lose all affection. His fail was nothing short of spectacular.

 

As for Su Chen, he couldn’t care less about these matters that were far removed from his own life. Every day, he focused on cultivating in the Errand Hall and improving his Middle Dantian.

 

Based on his estimations, breaking through into the first-rate realm was just a matter of time—maybe within the next year or two. Once he reached that point, he would be a true expert in the martial world, capable of looking down on most other martial disciples.