Lu Yang felt that while he might not be strikingly handsome, he certainly didn't look like someone whose gender could be mistaken.
He wanted to say he was a man, but the thought of the other party adoring a senior brother made him hesitate.
He wanted to say he was a woman, but paying such a steep price just to buy a star chart hardly seemed worth it.
Besides, he was only buying it to guess at Eldest Senior Sister's Golden Core for a bit of fun.
Fleeing was the best policy.
The senior brother wanted to slap himself the moment the words left his mouth. What kind of nonsense was that?!
His two lackeys were utterly mortified. This was their senior brother's persistent flaw—whenever he got nervous, his tongue easily slipped.
The bad news was that he got nervous often.
Rumor had it that the Palace Master had even suggested whether he might switch to cultivating Silent Chan.
"No, what I meant to say, Senior Brother, is that this star chart is something needed for the cultivation of a senior brother I admire... Could you part with it?"
He thought about it and decided it was better to collect his thoughts by starting with an introduction.
"I am Gu Qisheng, a disciple of Changhong Palace at the early Foundation Establishment stage, here to take part in the Grand Festival Tournament. Seeing that your age is similar to mine, Brother, you must also be here for the tournament."
Gu Qisheng was not yet eighteen, yet had already attained the early Foundation Establishment stage. Such cultivation speed was enough to rank in the top five in Changhong Palace's history.
Although reaching profound realms of cultivation allowed one to alter their appearance at will, in Gu Qisheng's experience, Golden Core or Nascent Soul old eccentrics wouldn't buy things in a place like this. Those ancient monsters had lived long, possessed rich experience, and had their own procurement channels.
Lu Yang had heard of Changhong Palace—a first-rate sect in Jizhou—though he knew little beyond that.
"I am indeed here for the Grand Festival Tournament. Perhaps we might even face each other on the arena stage. As for this star chart, Junior Brother, please, go ahead." Lu Yang took another step back.
Seeing Lu Yang retreat farther and farther, Gu Qisheng hurriedly explained, "My tongue slipped earlier and I mixed up my words! It's actually a senior sister of mine who needs the star chart for her cultivation."
Hearing this, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou both breathed a sigh of relief. Meng Jingzhou had been so startled that he had nearly unleashed his Bachelor Curse Fist.
Lu Yang smiled. "My interest in the star chart was merely out of curiosity. It's hardly as important as Junior Brother Gu's romantic pursuit."
Gu Qisheng was overjoyed. He pulled out fifteen hundred spirit stones and purchased the chart.
Fifteen hundred was no small sum to him, but to win the favor of the true disciple senior sister, it was well worth it!
He unfolded the star chart with great anticipation, only to find it covered in dried blood, with almost nothing discernible.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Gu Qisheng raged. He had painstakingly bought a star chart, only to end up with a piece of rag used to wipe blood?!
The vendor explained unhurriedly, "Didn't I say so earlier? This star chart was drawn with my heart's blood and sweat. Spitting up a mouthful or two of blood while drawing is completely normal."
Lu Yang: "..."
Why were there pitfalls everywhere in this cultivator market?
Meng Jingzhou sent Lu Yang a sound transmission: "Most items in cultivator markets are fakes. One of the trials in our Meng Family's coming-of-age ceremony is to buy a genuine item in a market."
"I see. Wait, doesn't coming of age happen at sixteen? How come I never heard about you returning to the Meng Family for a coming-of-age ceremony?"
The age limit for entering the Dao Seeking Sect was under sixteen, and Lu Yang had never seen Meng Jingzhou go back to the Meng Family.
Meng Jingzhou replied with utter conviction, "I ran away from home! Why would someone who ran away from home go through a coming-of-age ceremony?!"
Gu Qisheng was still arguing with the vendor. "Even so, couldn't you have just redrawn the star chart?!"
"That only shows you don't know the trade, guest! Great secrets are hidden within the stars. Go ask around these past few hundred years—who has ever successfully drawn a star chart? Even if someone manages to finish one, it always ends up ruined for one reason or another.
"Besides, whoever draws the chart cannot remember the layout of the stars. The fact that a small portion of this star chart isn't stained with blood is already extraordinarily rare; selling it to you for fifteen hundred spirit stones is practically giving it away.
"And the person drawing it cannot remember the stars' layout! That a small section of this chart isn't covered in blood is a miracle in itself, so fifteen hundred spirit stones is a bargain!"
Naturally, Gu Qisheng didn't buy the vendor's nonsense. Yet he recalled that his true disciple senior sister had never possessed a star chart. Given her status, that shouldn't have been the case.
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had never heard of such a thing either. Who would observe the stars and memorize their positions for no good reason? But remembering Eldest Senior Sister's Golden Core, Lu Yang felt the vendor's words held some credibility, so he entered his spiritual space to wake the fairy.
"Huh? You calling me?" Immortal Fairy asked blearily with a yawn.
Lu Yang repeated the vendor's words, catching her attention.
Temporarily borrowing Lu Yang's body, she gazed up at the sky. Though it was daytime, she could still see the stars obscured by the sunlight.
She returned control of Lu Yang's body.
"How is it? Did Eldest Senior Sister's Golden Core set up a barrier so people can't see which star is her Golden Core?"
"Whether little Yun set it up or not, I'm not sure. But there is indeed a barrier concealing cognition, making it impossible for people to remember the positions of the stars unless they personally ascend to the heavens to look."
Lu Yang grew thoughtful. Then nine times out of ten, it was a barrier erected by Eldest Senior Sister, though he had no idea what her purpose was.
Was she worried enemies would pinpoint the location of her Golden Core?
Or was Eldest Senior Sister preventing the world from practicing star cultivation methods?
With the stars having been refined into the continent beneath their feet, star cultivation methods had long since lost the might they possessed in ancient times; after all, their power was drawn from the stars in the heavens.
Yet there were still people who stubbornly believed that ancient things were always good and insisted on practicing star cultivation methods.
"You've reached Qingzhou for the grand festival? Come, come, let this immortal show you an immortal's discerning eye!"
Lu Yang instantly regretted waking Immortal Fairy. Once awake, she was bursting with energy, hopping about and thoroughly restless.
Lu Yang walked past a stall where the vendor had laid out various books, all historical records detailing various secrets of the past.
"Lu Yang, look at that book called Ancient Secrets! Buy one so I can see what's written inside!" Immortal Fairy said excitedly.
"Boss, how many spirit stones for this book?"
"Three thousand spirit stones."
Lu Yang frowned, finding it too expensive. Seizing the chance, the boss chimed in, "Guest, don't think it's expensive! You must know how many untold opportunities are hidden within ancient secrets. If you get lucky and uncover an opportunity from the book that no one else has discovered, you could soar to the heavens and roam the world unhindered!
"Besides, this copy of Ancient Secrets is the latest edition, recording the scholarly world's newest research on the ancient era!"
"Here is three thousand spirit stones."
Lu Yang handed over the money and took the book. Three thousand spirit stones was not much to him. Setting aside his mysteriously vanished patent royalties, the profit split he would receive from the Nine Nether Cult in the future made three thousand spirit stones a mere drop in the bucket.
Meng Jingzhou was also curious about ancient secrets and leaned in to look.
There, the first entry of the book read: The ancient immortal, Immortal Ying Tian, had a fondness for beautiful women, especially married ones, having impregnated countless numbers of them.
Lu Yang was utterly baffled. Entering his spiritual space, he asked, "Was Immortal Ying Tian really like that?"
Immortal Fairy wore an innocent look. "Who on earth is spreading such rumors? Immortal Ying Tian wasn't that kind of person at all!"
Chapter 349