Chapter 518: Xiulin Wood

Shi Mu heard the discussion behind him and his brows slightly wrinkled.

No good would come from being the limelight. Unfortunately, the Convention Pavilion was the only place where he could accept tasks and only one at a time. Otherwise, he would have taken 10 tasks at a time and it would not be so conspicuous.

Shi Mu was handed over a mission and he went over to the stone table, then left the Convention Pavilion once again.

In the following three or four months, Shi Mu developed a reputation in the Convention Pavilion as the disciple who completed missions with amazing efficiency.

Although he tried to keep a low profile every time and left as soon as he arrived, it did not stop the commotion among disciples every time they saw him.

Some of the older disciples had slowly heard of Shi Mu as the mad man with a one-track mind for missions. They wanted to come over and see who this infamous person was.

However, after completing his tenth task, Shi Mu no longer appeared in the Convention Pavilion, a disappointment to those who wanted to see him.

As the grand championship approached closer each day, the attention gradually shifted to the championship, and the excitement caused by Shi Mu gradually subsided.

After five months in the middle of the hall located in the Heavenly Pavilion, Shi Mu was greeted by the fat manager.

“Sect fellow Shi, it’s been a while since I last saw you!”

“There’s no need for formalities. I’m here to sell some spiritual materials,” Shi Mu said straight off the bat.

The manager’s eyes lit up as soon as he heard Shi Mu’s request.

Shi Mu had no time for small talk. He immediately laid out on the table a glowing green pill, a four-leaf green herb, and three fist-sized red stones.

These were some of the spirit materials that he received from the Convention Pavilion for completing missions over the past half-year.

“That’s all. Let’s discuss the price,” Shi Mu said.

The tubby manager headed over to the table and picked up the items to observe them carefully one by one.

“This is a full set of beast armor and none of the parts are damaged. The highest value is fifteen top-quality spirit stones. This four-leaf dragonfly is rare in the outside world but it’s a standard plant here so it’s only worth five spirit stones. As for this pill, it’s a rare piece in the market so it’s worth twenty-three top-quality spirit stones. Sect fellow Shi, what do you think?”

“I’m fine with what you’re proposing.”

“Great. It’s always refreshing to do business with Sect fellow Shi Mu. I’m going to retrieve the spirit stones for you now,” the manager said with a smile.

“That would be nice. Oh I forgot to ask. When I was on the way here, there weren’t as many people in the city as there used to be. What’s going on?” Shi Mu asked.

“Oh, how long has it been since you came to the current subdivision of the city?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe around seven or eight years if I’m not mistaken.”

“No wonder. Do you remember when the price of the Extreme Yin materials and Xiantian-level beast skyrocketed?”

“Oh, so is it related to that?” Shi Mu was interested but his face showed no sign of it.

“Of course there’s a big deal related to it! I’ve inquired about it as well. It seems that the original soul light which extinguished that year was a prominent man who mastered the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art in the Holy Land of Qinglan. He’s supposed to have been one of the disciples of the elder ancestors! The Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art is one of the three great magical powers. Once learned, one would be infinitely powerful! It’s said if it’s successfully cultivated to the last stage, those who were initially cultivating this technique would perish. All their strength and every technique they possessed would be sucked out, reducing them to nothing,” the manager said in Shi Mu’s ear as if he was worried that someone might overhear.

“Is there such a thing?” Shi Mu pretended to be surprised.

“Yeah! Since the man’s soul had gone out, it opened up the opportunity for others to learn the art, so the demand for the materials related to it are naturally rising. Many hundred-year-old disciples and millennial disciples even went on their own expeditions to gather more materials.”

“Really? Even though this technique is extremely powerful, there aren’t many people capable of learning it. Aren’t they afraid of what would happen if it didn’t work out for them? Is it really true that a lot of disciples are practicing such a technique?” Shi Mu asked once again to reinforce his confirmation.

“Hehe. The Holy Land of Qinglan is the place with the most talented disciples in the Magnum Solis, and many of them are from big families. Naturally, they will not give up on such a great opportunity. Word has it that some of the older disciples have been secretly training this technique for many millennia.” the manager said confidently.

“Oh, I didn’t know about the rumors you mentioned. Do you have any clues on which disciple is practicing this mysterious technique?”

“On that, I’m still not sure,” the manager shook his head in disappointment.

“The Heavenly Pavilion has always been well-informed. If even you don’t know, I’m afraid no one else does either,” Shi Mu said as he held a bag of spirit stones from his storage ring and handed it over.

“The exact identity of the millennium disciple who’s been secretly training this technique is unknown.”

The pudgy manager looked happy as he took the spirit stones, but seemed embarrassed that he could not give Shi Mu an answer.

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After hearing this, Shi Mu was somewhat disappointed.

“This century-old disciple might know who it is. You might get a clearer answer from him,” the manager suddenly turned around and said.

Hearing those words, Shi Mu was shocked, so shocked that he had unconsciously clenched a fist tightly under the table. He quickly relaxed and composed himself. However, he did not lose his stern expression since the beginning of the conversation.

“Who’s that?” Shi Mu asked.

“To be frank, I am not the only one who knows about this. The man is Zhao Ji. He entered Qinglan the same time you did through the trials.”

“So it’s him.”

“Everyone thought that the entry time limit was too short and the demand for Xuanling points was quite high. It was impossible for a century-old disciple to cultivate the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art. However, no one expected such a genius like Zhao Ji existed and beat the odds.”

“As far as I know, this Zhao Ji is extremely talented but ruthless at times. Cultivating the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art should’ve been kept a secret. How did he let everyone know about it now?”

“This is also a coincidence. Three years ago when Zhao Ji was on a mission, he accidentally encountered a Xiantian-level beast. Under desperate circumstances, he was forced to use the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art to kill it. As a result of the incident, several elder disciples who were originally tracking the beast witnessed it. They said that he already successfully achieved the first phase of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art and is currently in the process of cultivating the second phase.”

“It turns out that it’s not easy to cultivate the second phase.”

“Oh, the so-called Xiulin Wood would be destroyed in the forest wind! Since Zhao Ji was discovered to know the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, he had been attacked by unidentified forces from inside and outside the Holy Land. Although it was thrillingly dangerous, he has survived again and again.”

In Shi Mu’s heart, Zhao Ji had been attacked several times and it was obvious that countless disciples had been secretly practicing the Nine Revolution Mysterious Art within Qinglan.

“I apologize for taking so much of your time. I’ll leave now. Thank you for everything.”

Shi Mu shook the manager’s hand in gratitude and hurriedly left the Heavenly Pavilion with the revenue he earned from selling the materials.

One day after half a month, in a vast expanse of ice in the East Saint region, silver-gray clouds and countless palm-sized snowflakes were everywhere.

A blue-haired man in a gray robe with a tall and thin figure stood in midair.

The man’s facial expression was extremely strange. He had no eyebrows but there was a vertical eye in the middle of his smooth forehead. He had two nostrils without a visible nose bridge under his eyes, and his mouth was full of large sharp teeth.

His entire body was wrapped in dark blue light. As soon as the snowflakes fell into the blue light, they immediately froze into cones of ice and fell to the ground.

“Zhao Ji, you little punk. Don’t even think of hiding from me. Come out and face your death!”

The blue-haired man with a big mouth roared in anger. His voice was identical to a nightingale, unpleasant to the ear.

However, the only reply he received was the sound of the snow falling.

The blue-haired man with a vertical eye suddenly turned around and shot a ray of green light from his body onto the snow-covered ice sheet.

On a low-lying area of the ice sheet, the white snow surface fell down.

“HAHA! I’ve found you!” the blue-haired man turned his eyes and locked onto his target as he laughed.

The blue light skyrocketed and a powerful momentum expanded in all directions.

The falling snow in the sky was swept away by the blue light. It froze everything in its path, turning the snow into a layer of ice as thick as a finger.

At this moment, the blue-haired man grasped his chest with one hand and recited some mysterious curse.

As the cursed charm was activated, countless cyan airflows swirled into his palm.

After a while, the blue-haired man stopped the shackles of the spell and stretched out the hand that was previously on his chest.

“Ouh!”

He made a whistling sound as he loosened his fist, and a dark cyan flow of air shot out from his palm.

As soon as the airflow was shot, it suddenly magnified, forming a cyan dragon shadow in the air that squirmed toward the low-lying area.

Boom!

A loud sound rang and the snow in the low-lying area burst as countless crystal-like snow powder dispersed into the air.

The snow and fog dissipated as a huge hollow appeared after the bombardment of the blue dragon shadow.

An unexpected scene appeared!

At some unknown time, a silver-gray vortex materialized within that hollow. A cyan dragon shadow could be seen struggling as it was swallowed up by the vortex.