Life as a Rogue Cultivator

Chapter 289: Rumors & Odd Tales

Back in the Miscellaneous cavern hall, Liu Xiaolou walked slowly, thinking about the people he had talked to at each spot earlier. He finally stopped in front of a stone stalagmite.A man was sitting cross-legged beside it. He looked up at Liu Xiaolou and asked, “What kind of information are you looking for, friend?”

Liu Xiaolou sat down. “Earlier you mentioned that you know which sects can make Foundation Establishment Pills.”

The man smiled. “That’s right. I figured you would come back.”

“How many sects do you have information on?”

“Jing-Xiang, Jiangnan, Lingnan, Huaibei, and Heluo. I won’t claim to know everything, but I have news on at least half the sects in those regions.”

“How do you sell your information?”

“It depends on which sects you want. Different sects have different prices.”

“Information can’t be that simple. You can’t just tell me something like, ‘The Chicheng Sect plans to make two Foundation Establishment Pills this year,’ and call it a day. That’s not enough.”

“Don’t worry, friend. I… I deal honestly with everyone. One spirit stone for one sect. I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

“Goodbye.”

“Hey, wait! One spirit stone will get you information on two sects!”

“Make it three.”

“Deal!”

Liu Xiaolou turned back. He reached into his storage pouch and pulled out a dried, ancient tree root. It had a strange shape. The branches on one end merged into something like a palm that curled slightly inward... almost like a dragon’s claw.

“Dragon-Claw Golden Locust Wood. Do you recognize it?”

The man’s eyes lit up. “A spiritual wood from the Hundred Thousand Mountains in the south. They say spirit snakes shed their skins on it.”

Liu Xiaolou nodded. “You really do know your stuff. Since you can recognize its value, why don’t you name a price? How many spirit stones is this piece of spiritual wood worth?”

The man gritted his teeth. “Three spirit stones!”

It was a fair price. Liu Xiaolou added a condition. “It’s yours. In return, you give me information on twelve sects that are making Foundation Establishment Pills. But there’s one thing. I already know the details for two of those sects. I’m not telling you which ones. We’ll see if what you say matches what I know. So don’t make anything up.”

The man nodded. “You can count on me.”

“Start with Chicheng,” Liu Xiaolou said.

He answered right away. “As I told you before, the Chicheng Sect plans to refine two Foundation Establishment Pills. The alchemists are Sang Leizi, Daoist Luoye, and the Wu couple. The ones preparing to take the pills are two brothers from the sect’s third branch, Liang Hai and Liang Shan, who are about to enter the inner sect. Rumor has it the brothers are Sang Leizi’s illegitimate sons, and their mother is Elder Liang, a female elder of the Wu branch...”

The mix of solid information and juicy insider stories immediately caught Liu Xiaolou’s interest.

After hearing about the Chicheng Sect, he asked about the Jinting Sect next.

“The Jinting Sect usually refines one Foundation Establishment Pill a year, and they haven’t changed that. But this year the alchemist isn’t from the main peak. They shifted the task to Fangle Peak, and Elder Zhao Yongchun is in charge. As for who will take the pill, nothing has been decided. Rumor has it they’re planning a sword trial for the outer disciples…”

The moment Liu Xiaolou heard Zhao Yongchun’s name, a familiar face surfaced in his mind. He remembered standing at the foot Fangle Peak years ago, delivering formation disks alongside Tang Song and a group of formation masters.

Back then, he had spent months running errands around Fangle Peak, so he knew a bit about the Jinting Sect. He couldn’t help asking, “Doesn’t the Jinting Sect usually have the main peak handle the refining of Foundation Establishment Pills?”

Having the main peak refine the pills and distribute them according to each peak’s needs was an important way for the main peak to win loyalty and keep the others in line.

The man explained, “I’ve heard Zhao Yongchun has made huge strides in his cultivation... and is about to be promoted to the rank of Grand Elder.”

Liu Xiaolou nodded. And the man went on, “The rules for the sword trial still haven’t been settled. In the past, the internal competition among disciples of the Jinting Sect was always decided through arena matches, but it seems Zhao Yongchun has something else in mind. No one knows what he’s planning. If you have any connections, you might want to look into that angle.”

Liu Xiaolou didn’t have any connections and didn’t care anyway, so he simply said, “Go on.”

He forced himself to keep listening as the man listed the Siming Sect and the Qingyu Sect. The Siming Sect had no high-level alchemists, so whenever one of their promising disciples needed a Foundation Establishment Pill, they usually bought one from an outside alchemy sect. This year, though, they hadn’t done that. The Qingyu Sect also hadn’t refined any Foundation Establishment Pills, apparently because they hadn’t gathered enough spiritual materials.

The man went on and on, and it all sounded true enough. Then Liu Xiaolou finally heard him mention Tianmu Mountain.

“Tianmu Mountain is a well-known alchemy sect in Jing-Xiang. The Lu family’s alchemy methods are quite unique, and the quality of their Foundation Establishment Pills is excellent. They produce two pills every year, and half of them are sold to other sects. This year they already refined one pill, and it was taken by an inner-sect disciple named Fairy Huang Ye. She was originally a rogue cultivator from Wulong Mountain and was accepted into Tianmu Mountain’s inner sect six years ago. There’s a whole story behind how she managed to get in. Heh….”

“Go on. Tell me about their Foundation Establishment Pills.”

“Alright. About the Foundation Establishment Pill Tianmu Mountain made this year, there were some twists along the way. The pill furnace was moved from the Yuntai Alchemy Room to the Longtan Manor. The fire pits used in those two locations are different, so the pill’s color and potency came out somewhat different as well. Fairy Huang Ye did manage to form her foundation after taking it, but how her cultivation will progress from here is still uncertain. Because of that, the Dongyang Sect and the Zhanglong Sect, who used to buy pills from them regularly, didn’t buy any this year. That might be the reason.”

Liu Xiaolou’s heart was pounding. He took a deep breath. “So why did Tianmu Mountain switch fire pits in the first place?”

The man said, “I’m not too sure about that. I heard that a few months ago something happened to their Foundation Establishment Pill in the Yuntai Alchemy Room. An outer disciple stole it. My guess is that it might be related. Moving to a new location would help prevent something like that from happening again. Ten years ago the Yuntai Alchemy Room had a similar problem, also caused by an outer disciple stealing a pill.”

After he finished, he moved on to the news about Gengsang Cave, the Danxia Sect, the Mirror Lake Sect and so on, just as Liu Xiaolou had asked. Liu Xiaolou sat completely still, but the words were going in one ear and out the other. His thoughts were fixed entirely on the “Longtan Alchemy Room.”

Years ago he had heard Wei Hongqing talk about Tianmu Mountain many times. Later he had even clashed with them for a while, so of course he knew of Longtan.

It was a deep pool on the northeastern slope of Tianmu Mountain, about seven or eight li from the Lu family’s Yuntai compound. There was a stream leading in, and people said a series of waterfalls and pools lay inside, with a fire pit opening near the edge of the pool.

Thinking about that guy in the “Formation” cave hall who wanted to buy a formation diagram, a single thought kept echoing in Liu Xiaolou’s mind:

He finally waited out the man’s explanation of the last sect on the list, then asked, “When do these sects usually refine their pills?”

The man replied, “I’ll throw this piece of information in for free, no spirit stones needed. The Chicheng Sect refines in early summer because their fire pit burns hottest then. The Jinting Sect refines in late autumn, probably because of a certain spiritual ingredient they use.”

Liu Xiaolou listened closely all the way until the man reached Tianmu Mountain. Their second Foundation Establishment Pill of the year was produced in late spring.

Once he had heard everything, Liu Xiaolou didn’t hesitate. He shoved the Dragon-Claw Golden Locust Wood into the man’s hands. “It’s yours. I’m leaving.”