Life as a Rogue Cultivator

Chapter 272: Miao Feng Mountain

After setting out, the Wan couple carried Liu Xiaolou on their shoulder pole and headed roughly southwest, pushing through a vast, tangled wilderness. But the Ten-Thousand Great Mountains were a strange place. Whether it was tricks of the eye or the land itself bending directions, you couldn’t rely on the sun, moon, or stars to guide you. It was all too easy to get turned around. So Xiaolou made sure to memorize every stretch of the path they were taking.They crossed five ridges, forded two deep ravines, took three turns, then came upon a rushing torrent. They followed the river downstream for seventeen or eighteen li, forded it, then traced a tributary upstream before pressing on for another half day.

Along the way, the couple looped around in several small circles. Xiaolou didn’t understand why, but he kept every detail in mind. Especially the landmarks: a few odd-looking trees, a field of scattered boulders, a sheer cliff face. He figured each of those spots must hide dangers so serious that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator wouldn’t dare walk straight through.

After a day and night on the move, about a hundred and eighty li of mountain trails, they finally saw it: a long, rolling wall of peaks stretching nearly a hundred li ahead, rising like a massive fortress right out of the earth.

A natural fissure split the mountains, just wide enough for a few people to walk side by side. Looking up, the sky narrowed to a single thin line.

At the mouth of the pass sat two cultivators. They wore rough deerskin and sheepskin coats, with tangled hair and unkempt beards. Mountain folk through and through. Their faces were dark from wind and sun, their expressions lazy but their eyes sharp and intimidating.

The two men got to their feet and bowed in greeting. “Respects, Master Wan, Madam Wan.”

“Is your mountain master here?” asked Wan Shangu.

One of the men bowed and gestured for them to follow.

Liu Xiaolou had heard about Miao Feng Mountain years ago, but it wasn’t until today that he finally got to see it for himself.

They followed the narrow sky-slit gorge inward, the path rising gently as they went. After two or three li, the passage suddenly opened up. They stepped onto a high mountain plateau crisscrossed with fields. Birds chirped, flowers bloomed, neat plots of farmland dotted the landscape, and rows of bamboo houses lined a winding stream. Roosters crowed, dogs barked, smoke curled lazily from kitchen fires. An unexpectedly warm and lively little world hidden deep in the mountains.

Still hanging in the net bag, Liu Xiaolou stared hard at the fields below. He’d just realized that they were growing all kinds of rare and unusual herbs.

He wasn’t a pill refiner, and the plants used for alchemy were different from the materials used for formations or magical tools. But he had once robbed Tianmu Mountain of its alchemy stock, and several of the herbs here were ones he recognized. Dog-Blue Leaf, Phoenix Oddflower, Sky-Reaching Triplebloom... he’d sold several of these at Chicheng market.

If they could cultivate a whole herb garden like this, it meant the mountain had a spiritual vein. This place was a blessed land.

He watched everything around him, curious, then suddenly remembered an old face. Yan Sanfei, the guy selling pills at the Tianmen Mountain marketplace. No wonder that fellow’s pills actually worked. Miao Feng Mountain really was a sect of alchemists.

Sitting on this blessed land, the future of Miao Feng Mountain was limitless. Sooner or later, it’s bound to stand among the great sects of the world.

What he don’t understand was what that Wan couple meant when they said they “sold” him here. Sold… how did that work? If the Miao Feng Alchemy Sect was created to gather rogue cultivators from all over, and if they’re trading spirit stones for new members just to grow the sect, then… maybe it wouldn’t hurt to stay here for a few years...

After all, he's already at the tenth layer. Pretty much top-tier among rogue cultivators. They should be eager to have someone like him, right?

While he's still thinking it over, they reached the end of the path, stopping before a cave entrance. Out steps an elderly man with a graying beard, flanked by two middle-aged cultivators. He cups his hands in greeting. “Honored guests, welcome to our humble mountain. Forgive us for not greeting you sooner.”

The Wan couple kept their posture respectfully low as they bowed. “Greetings, Master Zhu.” Then they turned to the two middle-aged cultivators and cupped their hands. “First Young Master, Second Young Master.”

The Wan couple kept a very humble posture, bowing. “Greetings, Mountain Lord Zhu.” Then they cupped their hands to the two middle-aged cultivators. “Eldest Young Master, Second Young Master.”

Lord Zhu’s gaze slid toward Liu Xiaolou, who was still trapped in the net. “And this is…?”

Wan Shangu said, “My wife and I caught a rogue cultivator in the Thirty-Thousand Mountains. Calls himself Li Mu, tenth layer of Qi Refinement. We remembered your esteemed Pill Sect buys cultivators, so we brought him over.”

The shorter man beside Lord Zhu stepped forward and grabbed Liu Xiaolou’s wrist. A thread of true qi stabbed in as he examined him. He probed for a moment, stirring Liu Xiaolou so much that sweat broke out across his body. Then he looked back at Lord Zhu and gave a confirming nod.

Lord Zhu reached into his robe and pulled out a handful of spirit stones, handing them to the Wan couple. Madam Wan let out a soft laugh. “Twelve?”

Lord Zhu replied, “Since the two of you delivered him personally, it’s only right to offer a bit more.”

Madam Wan’s smile broadened. “Then we’ll thank the Mountain Lord for his generosity.”

With the deal done, the husband and wife traded a few more polite nothings before taking their leave.

“Eldest, Second, go on, see our guests out.” Lord Zhu instructed, then carried Liu Xiaolou into the cave.

Liu Xiaolou swayed gently in his arms,desperately wanted to shout, “LORD ZHU! I’m willing to join Miao Feng Mountain!” but with his meridians still sealed, he couldn’t force out even half a word.

The cave ran deep. Far inside, it opened into a wide chamber. The walls were carved with niches holding oil lamps that flickered dimly. In the center yawned a ground-fire vent, and over it stood a waist-high pill furnace. Around the walls sat several huge vats filled with some unknown liquid that bubbled and burped.

Then Liu Xiaolou looked up. And stiffened.

Above him, several thick iron chains crossed the ceiling.

Hanging from them were…

A dozen charred, pitch-black corpses.

Suddenly, the water in the huge vat beside them rippled and splashed. A head burst up from beneath the surface. In the dim light, his face looked as pale as snow. His eyes were wide open, but his pupils had shrunk to tiny black pinpricks.

Someone rushed over and pushed him back under the water with an iron fork. The liquid closed over his head again…”

Liu Xiaolou felt his scalp prickle and his heart sink straight to the pit of his stomach.

Mountain Lord Zhu tossed Liu Xiaolou onto the ground, then went to check the other vats. “Add more soap solution…” he ordered.

“Add the venom of the brocade snake. Three drops…”

“Warm it over a wood fire for an hour, low heat…”

“Tonight, toss in that guy at the fifth layer for the soak…”

A dozen people bustled about in the cavern hall, carrying out Mountain Lord Zhu’s orders. Lord Zhu himself went to the large alchemy furnace in the center, sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, and channeled his true qi into the furnace with hand seals.

Three passageways branched off from the hall. Two men hurried over, hauled Liu Xiaolou up, and dragged him down the middle path. They walked dozens of yards under the dim wall lamps until they reached a small side chamber. There, they shoved him into a large wooden tub filled with hot water. Then, they began scrubbing him up and down with their hands and two bristle brushes, scrubbing so hard that Liu Xiaolou yelped in pain.

It hurt, sure it did, but after soaking in hot water for nearly an hour, it honestly felt like a luxury. After two years of washing up with nothing but rainwater, Liu Xiaolou suddenly didn’t want to climb out of the tub.

They went through two buckets of fresh hot water before he was finally clean. The two from Miao Feng Alchemy then helped him into a fresh set of linen clothes and led him further into the cave.

Up ahead was another chamber. This one at the very end of the tunnel and its entrance sealed with an iron-barred gate.

Once the chains were undone, Liu Xiaolou was carried inside and set down against the stone wall. A Eightfold Restriction Cord was looped around him, and only then were his meridians released.

Liu Xiaolou rolled over and tried to stand, but his legs buckled beneath him. Though he could move under the Eightfold Restriction Cord, his true qi couldn’t circulate, leaving him completely powerless.

His legs had no strength at all, but he didn’t care. Using both hands and feet, he scrambled forward, calling out, “I’m at the tenth layer! I can serve the sect; I came to pledge myself! I’m here to help, really!”

The man didn’t pay him any mind. He locked the iron gate and walked away.

Liu Xiaolou sat in a daze for a long while before finally turning his head to take in his surroundings. The cave prison held more than twenty people, each slumped against the walls, staring at him with blank, empty eyes.