"Brother Liu, farewell!"
At the small courtyard gate, Gu Han cupped his hands in farewell to Liu Ling, his typically aloof face surprisingly wearing a trace of a smile.
This expression made Ka Long feel as if he had seen a ghost.
What on earth had happened during the short time he wasn't present!?
"Brother Gu... farewell." Liu Ling's smile was strained, but he mustered his spirits to respond.
Anyone who had been sweet-talked into agreeing to gift a Grade Four Pill would wear the same expression.
The only consolation was that Gu Han hadn't asked for an overly precious pill, merely requesting a single Grade Four Clarity Pill.
He happened to have one on him, casually refined by his master Gu He.
"No need to see me out." Gu Han entered the courtyard and closed the gate.
Liu Ling turned and left, only sighing after walking quite a distance: "How did I end up agreeing to this?"
"Junior Brother Liu, what did you promise Gu Han?" Ka Long took the opportunity to probe carefully.
"Nothing major, just giving him a Grade Four Clarity Pill." Liu Ling replied offhandedly.
Ka Long: ?
You came here first thing in the morning full of bluster, appearing ready to demand answers and confront him.
Yet in less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea, not only was the matter unresolved, but you also gave away a Grade Four Pill.
Is Gu Han really that strange, or are you just too easily swayed?
"Why?" Ka Long asked.
Why?
Liu Ling was asking himself the same question.
Was it because Gu Han said: "I see that Brother Liu is handsome and dashing, with first-rate strength and talent, studying under Pill King Gu He, a third-grade Alchemist with Dou Master cultivation, soon to win Senior Sister Nalan's affection."
Or was it because Gu Han said: "Not to mention the Cloud Mist Sect, but throughout the entire Jia Ma Empire, in terms of comprehensive background and connections, talent and future prospects, who can compare to Brother Liu? Who can compete with you for Miss Nalan's freedom?"
No, it was because he himself had called Gu Han a sworn brother from different parents.
To a brother, one must naturally be generous.
"It's nothing major. He and Miss Nalan are merely acquaintances who nod to each other, and he helped me with something, so I'm just repaying him slightly." Liu Ling waved his hand dismissively.
But Ka Long felt things weren't that simple, secretly noting to investigate in detail.
When news gets back to the sect, it all counts as merit, allowing him to obtain generous Merit Points to exchange for desired treasures.
"Simp, simp."
"Not only do women cheat you out of money, but men do too."
Looking at the Clarity Pill in his hand, Gu Han felt a moment of shame.
Even he hadn't expected this Grade Four Pill to come so easily.
Thus, he only needed to investigate further, and if no problems arose, he would find a suitable opportunity to give it to Zhang Chuchen, thereby gaining a Dou Spirit enforcer.
"Train, train, keep training."
Putting away the pill, Gu Han returned to the secret room inside the house, entered the Black Tortoise Mystic Realm holding the Ice Jade, and continued his cultivation.
In the blink of an eye, several more hours passed.
Shortly after midnight, Gu Han felt his four-star Dou Fighter level completely stabilize and slowly opened his eyes.
[Mo Qing successfully broke through to Dou Fighter with the help of Qi Gathering Powder. In his joyful mood, he decided to seek entertainment in the Cloud Mist Town at the mountain's base. At noon, he purchased a Fighting Skill Ancient Scroll from a one-armed man's stall in the West Street market, which originated from a Dou Spirit Tomb. After careful examination, he believed he had bought a fake. In a fit of anger, he threw it into a brazier, unexpectedly obtaining the Mystic Low-Rank Agility Fighting Skill "Serpentine Nine Steps."]
After Ka Long reported to the outpost, he received the Mystic High-Rank Flight Fighting Skill "Sky Goose Six-Line Wings" from his contact (a Seven-Star Dou Grand Master) in exchange for ten years of accumulated Merit Points. This skill evolved from the "Sky Goose Nine-Line Wings," with a speed rating approaching Earth Rank. It requires the transplantation of a sixth-tier Magical Beast's wings to master and continuously consumes Dou Qi during flight, far surpassing the efficiency of conventional Qi Transformation Wings.
Intelligence Details: Sky Goose Nine-Line Wings (Earth Mid-Rank Flight Fighting Skill crafting method, contains special spatial power, requires high-tier flying Magical Beast materials for refinement, speed rating approaches Heaven Rank, paired with Earth Mid-Rank movement technique "Goose Sky Walk").
Seeing these two pieces of intelligence, Gu Han's heart surged with immense waves.
In the original trajectory, Mo Qing should have consumed the Jade Spirit Fruit to break through to Dou Fighter earlier and naturally wouldn't have obtained this "Serpentine Nine Steps"—truly fortunate.
But what unsettled him more was the Sky Goose Six-Line Wings, derived from the Sky Goose Nine-Line Wings.
That Sky Goose Nine-Line Wings, after Xiao Yan successfully crafted it using the Heavenly Demon Phoenix Bone Wings, allowed him to achieve flight speed surpassing ordinary Aura Ancestors at the Five-Star Dou Emperor level, and he dared to compete with Dou Venerables in speed at the Aura Ancestor stage.
Although the Sky Goose Six-Line Wings is considerably weaker, only Mystic High-Rank, it is undoubtedly much stronger than the Purple Cloud Wings.
Most importantly, it is a ready-made Flight Fighting Skill.
"Then it's mine."
Gu Han closed his eyes and immersed himself back into cultivation.
Time flew like an arrow, and it was soon half past noon.
Under the scorching sun, the streets of Cloud Mist Town at the foot of Cloud Mist Mountain were bustling with people.
Though called a town, Cloud Mist Town likely had a larger population than some ordinary cities.
However, the Cloud Mist Sect refused to expand it, keeping it confined to a certain scale.
In the West Street market, countless vendors set up stalls and hawked their wares.
Gu Han, dressed in the attire of an outer sect disciple, moved through the crowd, drawing envious, curious, and reverent gazes.
"How much for this?"
Gu Han stopped at a stall run by a one-armed middle-aged man and picked out the only ancient booklet.
Glancing at the sleeves of Gu Han's robe, the man replied cautiously, "This item was obtained by me and my friends from a Dou Spirit Tomb. We suffered heavy losses for it, and I lost an arm. Though it appears to only record secrets, I..."
"Price!" Gu Han interrupted coldly.
"Uh." The man's eyes flickered. "Two thousand... no, one thousand. One thousand gold coins and it's yours."
In truth, they had already made several copies of the booklet's contents. It recorded the experiences and insights of that Dou Spirit expert before death from his perspective, containing much useful knowledge, but that was all.
The ancient material and its origin from a Dou Spirit ancient tomb were just gimmicks, so he displayed it to swindle some unsuspecting buyer.
But he dared not cheat a Cloud Mist Sect disciple too blatantly.
"Deal."
Gu Han tucked the ancient booklet into his Storage Ring and tossed a bag to the middle-aged man.
The man weighed it in his hand, opened the bag to check, and said, "The amount is correct. Transaction complete."
Gu Han turned and walked away.
"Cloud Mist Sect disciples—young, talented, but poor judgment."
Once Gu Han was out of sight, the one-armed man took a notebook from his Storage Ring and placed it on the stall.
This notebook wasn't an ancient booklet; he wouldn't mind selling it for over a hundred gold coins, nor would he complain if it fetched just a few dozen.
With a Cloud Mist Sect disciple acting as an easy mark, he could boast about it and fetch a good price.
Before long, another Cloud Mist Sect disciple approached his stall, examined the items briefly, then shook his head and left.
"Seems not every Cloud Mist Sect disciple is easy to fool," the one-armed man thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Gu Han found a secluded spot to enter the Black Tortoise Mystic Realm. Using a prepared furnace, he began burning the ancient booklet.
Soon, the booklet underwent a strange transformation—reduced by the flames to just three thin golden foils, inscribed with a recorded Dou Skill.
Mystic Low-Rank Agility Fighting Skill: Serpentine Nine Steps