"A Foundation Stage cultivator younger than forty is a rare thing. For them to willingly pass up the chance to obtain the grand opportunities deeper inside the Mysterious Domain to help Spirit Stages instead, it could also mean the Spirit Stages have higher influence and status to be able to control them like that. As for the Spirit Stages who aren't being guarded by Foundation Stages, they're not completely without options. There are some old altars and hidden paths within the mysterious mountains and spirit valleys, but most of them have difficult trials involving restrictions and formations. Although they might not have guardians to protect them, as long as they can pass these trials, they can still enter these other mountains and valleys without worrying about being suppressed by Foundation Stage cultivators…." At the very end, the blue-clothed bandit concluded, "It is definitely fair. It is fairness within seeming unfairness."
Such an argument left Fang Xing completely dumbstruck, and although he didn't particularly like what the blue-clothed bandit had just said, it did have some logic. Although the children he'd fought against when he was younger had called their fathers to bring out their hounds to bite and chase him, in the end he'd still schemed to have the father's leg broken and the black dog carried back to be cooked in a hotpot. If he thought of it this way, it did somewhat feel as though having a powerful clan or background had also been recognized by the Mysterious Domain's rules as being part of someone's battle prowess.
The rules of the Mysterious Domain covered only the very basics, and it was up to the people themselves to try to skirt along the boundaries to their own advantage. Even though he understood this, Fang Xing was still somewhat disdainful and rolled his eyes. "And how do you know this?"
The blue-clothed bandit showed a light smile. "These were all the theories of the previous generations. They're not considered a secret at all, and I imagine it'll soon travel across all of Jambu. Who knows, there might even be other rules discovered by then as well!"
Fang Xing clicked his tongue and lowered his voice. "How am I going to profit if I don't rob others? This area is full of valuables for Spirit Stages, but we can't even do it ourselves. Speaking of Spirit Stage, there's one inside the carriage right now, but that girl is stupid as stupid can get. She's not fully recovered, and sending her inside is simply sending her to her grave!"
The blue-clothed bandit covered his mouth in laughter, which left Fang Xing rather confused. 'Since you're wearing a mask, no one would be able to see your ugly face even if you did open your mouth to laugh, so why do you need to cover it?' Of course, the bandit didn't know what Fang Xing was thinking to himself and laughed while replying, "How dare you badmouth that little sister behind her back! I will tell her and we'll see how you explain yourself then!"
Fang Xing embarrassedly laughed. "You'd be selling me out if you did, and only the most shameless of people would do that. Besides, I'm doing you a favor here by considering your circumstances. Wasn't all of this to help you find those three spirit herbs?"
The blue-clothed bandit laughed. "We've cooperated for three days already. Although you've gotten yourself plenty of good stuff, I've found nothing. This isn't your fault, though, and I've prepared myself for this already…. Shifu said there was only the possibility of these extinct herbs appearing within the Mysterious Domain, so I was sent to try my luck. Since I haven't had any luck in the outer areas, it's time for me to try my luck at that place!"
"What place?" Fang Xing asked with surprise.
The blue-clothed bandit looked towards the sky and asked, "Did you notice anything unusual?"
Fang Xing followed his gaze up towards the sky with creased brows. He didn't see anything unusual, but he knew this blue-clothed bandit wouldn't have said such a thing without a good reason, so he held his breath and began to concentrate. After releasing his spirit sense to improve his senses, a close inspection revealed the unusual thing the bandit had been talking about. It was as though all the Qi surrounding him was gradually flowing in a certain direction.
When the blue-clothed bandit noticed the changes in Fang Xing's expression, he could tell he must have sensed the abnormality and released a soft sigh. "Even I could only notice a small amount of it thanks to what my shifu explained of their experiences, yet you are able to actually sense it—you are indeed extraordinary. Even though the cultivation realm of Jambu is said to be the furthest branch of Videha, it seems tens of thousands of years of growth has brought about its own uniqueness."
"All the Qi is gathering towards one direction. What does that mean?" Fang Xing seriously asked. He'd studied the Script of Revered Sense, so his senses were particularly sensitive and he could sense abnormalities others could not. The movement of Qi like this was as though all the Qi in the air was being lured to a single point, like being pulled into a whirlpool.
The eyes behind the blue-clothed bandit's mask twinkled as he softly spoke, "Wind and clouds are meeting, and the Qi is forming into a whorl. A huge opportunity must be appearing shortly, but we don't know if it's an opportunity for Spirit Stage or Foundation Stage…."
"Huge opportunity?" Fang Xing looked towards that direction as his eyes lit up as well.
The pair exchanged glances, and there was no need to speak—both decided on the same thing. Whether or not it was an opportunity for Spirit Stage or Foundation Stage, since there was already such a sign, it was necessary for them to check it out!
Early morning of the next day, they began making their way towards where the Qi had gathered. They accompanied each other to rob others while traveling towards the center, and according to the blue-clothed bandit, they were already one third of the way into the Mysterious Domain and were slowly drawing closer to some of the opportunities of the inner areas.
Aside from the mysterious mountains and spirit valleys that had been open from the beginning, there were also secret opportunities that would only appear at a specific time after the Mysterious Domain had opened. Whenever such opportunities arrived, Qi would start to gather around it, meaning the gathering of Qi would become more and more obvious the closer the time came for the opportunity to show itself. All the cultivators within the Mysterious Domain had started moving towards that direction, and Fang Xing had already met a large number of groups, including groups clearly composed of some of the larger clans.
Six hours later, the horse carriage covered in black smoke managed to arrive at a border area. In front of them was a large basin, and above that basin the sun and sky was being covered by the gathering Qi. It truly looked as though the wind and clouds had met, and the instability made it obvious this was where a grand opportunity would appear.
"We're here! Hurry, let's go let's go!" Fang Xing urged the Peng King to drive faster while looking on in excitement.
The blue-clothed bandit let out a soft laugh. "There's no need to be in such a rush; the dragon's eye hasn't yet released the spirit cloud. It's going to be a while before it arrives!"
Although that might have been the case, Fang Xing was still impatient and hurried the carriage to arrive at the border of the basin. A large number of cultivators who'd arrived earlier were all in front of them, and they'd all claimed an area for themselves to take over the basin's perimeter. Just as Fang Xing was about to order the Peng King to continue straight ahead, he heard the neighing of a horse and saw a rather handsome black horse dashing forward from not too far away.
The horse was ten feet tall with closely-knit black scales all over its body. Although it was a horse, a single horn grew from its head and its mouth was filled with sharp fangs. A young silver-plated cultivator sat on its back with a ten-foot-long lance, which he pointed straight ahead while leaning against the horse's back. Suddenly, he dashed forward so quickly his white cape was pulled taut into a straight line against the wind as he headed straight for Fang Xing's carriage.
Fang Xing folded up his sleeves while looking towards that silver-plated rider. "Nn? Looking for trouble?" The rider didn't look back at him, however, and once he was around three hundred feet away, he suddenly jerked the horse's reins, causing it to release a long neigh and leap into the air. Suddenly, two large scales on its stomach opened up and turned into two giant wings that thrust him towards the basin's border.
Such a sight left left many of the surrounding cultivators surprised. "It's a dragon-horse? This person is actually riding a real dragon-horse, one that can fly in the sky and swim in the water—a famous mythical beast of Jambu…!" They looked at the rider as he flew towards the basin's border, and there were a few clear signs of envy alongside astonishment that a rider owned such a mystical beast with such a special bloodline. Some of the soldiers who'd contributed greatly to the Beast Exhausting Battle and left their name behind had ridden on beasts like this.
"He wears silver plate with a long lance, rides a handsome horse, prefers to be alone…. Is he the son of the Han clan, one of the four top elites of the western deserts?" some muttered amongst themselves, trying to guess who this was. Originally, many cultivators had been dissatisfied to have a horse fly over their heads, but no one dared to say anything directly after hearing his name—all they dared to do was quietly discuss his identity while giving him cautious glances.
Angered, Fang Xing rolled up his sleeves and prepared to pick a fight with the rider. "What's so great about being one of the four top elites of the western desert? How dare he fly over his little grandpa's head! I even saw the sex of that horse!" Before he'd completed his rant, however, a crisp bell-like laugh rose from the east and a pink cloud began to arrive from afar.
As it drew closer, the pink cloud was dispersed by the wind and the people inside were revealed. Three young women with very little clothing over their chests could be seen, each one appearing dainty and beautiful, enough so that a single glance could cause anyone to go weak in the knees. The three of them rode a large millstone-sized butterfly with vibrant colors that left behind pink smoke in their path.
"Be careful. These are the three fairies of temptation from the northern mountains. Do not touch that pink smoke…." When the cultivators saw those three women, they all started panicking even more and moved aside, clearing a path to avoid being contaminated by the smoke.
The fear on the cultivators' faces caused the three fairies' smiles grew even wider. They recollected their butterflies while the multi-colored ribbons surrounding them lightly drew them forward on their own, and as they flew towards the border of the basin as well, it just so happened they flew over Fang Xing's horse carriage as well.
This left Fang Xing incredibly furious. Was his name still not infamous enough that anyone could simply fly over his head? Angry as he was, Fang Xing wanted to stir up trouble so he raised his head and yelled up to those three women, "I can see your underwear!"
All the cultivators turned his way, their gazes filled with horror.