Chapter 146 - 101: Cangfeng Temple, Sparring

Chapter 146: Chapter 101: Cangfeng Temple, Sparring

After staying at Zulu Temple for another month, Li Yinsheng bid farewell, taking Mu Xiaoyu and Shangguan Ling’er with him.

With only a month left until the Shifeng Conference, he needed to take Mu Xiaoyu to Cangfeng Temple—the event’s host—to register. In addition to registering, he also needed to make a trip to Jade Altar Temple to acquire some Array Books. Otherwise, after the Shifeng Conference, when his martial sister cultivated her Sword Intent and he claimed his reward, the Chess Soul would have no new knowledge to deduce, which would be a tremendous waste. Moreover, since they had lived at Zulu Temple for two whole months, it was time to go back and check on their Martial Uncle. Although he had previously spent time away hunting demons or searching for medicinal herbs, he had never gone two consecutive months without returning. This was truly the longest he had ever been away from home.

Before they left, Yanyu gave Li Yinsheng a Qiankun Bag. Inside the Qiankun Bag were two piles of items: one pile of books, and another pile of books. The difference was that one pile was massive. Stacked as high as a small mountain, it contained hundreds of volumes. Yanyu had ordered someone to copy more than half of the Artifact Refining Manuals in Zulu Temple. The other pile was small, consisting of merely a dozen or so books. These contained the personal Artifact Refining insights of Yanyu and three other Daoists. With these two stacks of books, Li Yinsheng figured he wouldn’t need to worry about his martial sister’s Artifact Refining teaching materials for a very long time. The insights of the four Daoists even recorded a considerable amount of knowledge related to refining Magical Treasures. They had essentially held nothing back.

As a return gift, Li Yinsheng gave Yanyu all the Withering and Flourishing Spiritual Breath he had recovered during his two previous cultivation sessions in the Grotto Heaven, aiming to extend his lifespan. He had originally wanted to distribute some to the other three Daoists, but they unanimously insisted that it all go to Yanyu. After all, for a Daoist Temple of Zulu Temple’s scale, the three Daoists living a few extra years wouldn’t carry much significance or utility. However, allowing a Grand Daoist like Yanyu to live a few more years would bring immense, tangible benefits to Zulu Temple.

It was worth noting that before leaving, Shangguan Ling’er had commissioned a custom-made Magical Treasure from Zulu Temple. The girl’s financial resources were truly formidable. Li Yinsheng felt that commissioning a Magical Treasure was easier for her than it was for him to commission an Upper Grade Magical Artifact. Since Yanyu had previously waived all their expenses, Li Yinsheng felt a bit embarrassed about not spending a single talismanic coin. Thus, he placed an order as well. He asked the Artifact Refiners of Zulu Temple to help repair the fist imprint he had previously left on the Brass Incense Burner.

After the Brass Incense Burner was repaired, its grade was restored. Although both were Upper Grade Magical Artifacts, it was clearly superior to the Cold Bright Sword. With these two Magical Artifacts in her possession, his martial sister would basically be fully equipped for the Lesser Yang Dao Examination. According to Shangguan Ling’er anyway, very few of the A Class geniuses at the Lesser Yang Dao Examination could produce Quasi-Magical Treasures; the vast majority still used Upper Grade Magical Artifacts. His Cultivation Aspiration only required an "A Class" evaluation. As long as she achieved A Class, it made no difference whether she ranked at the bottom or the top of that tier.

"There’s no need to be nervous about the Lesser Yang Dao Examination. It’s really just engaging in Magical Combat with fellow Daoists. If you win, you naturally advance," Shangguan Ling’er said casually, rubbing Mu Xiaoyu’s head aboard the Qiluo Dian. "I participated in the Lesser Yang Dao Examination back in the day too. It’s nothing to stress over."

"You participated too, Shangguan?" Mu Xiaoyu’s eyes lit up. "Then what place did you get?"

"First place, of course. What else could it be?" Shangguan Ling’er asked in reply.

"Wow! You’re so amazing, Shangguan!" Mu Xiaoyu’s face instantly filled with admiration.

"It was alright," Shangguan Ling’er said without any arrogance, merely glancing at Li Yinsheng. "It’s just that your martial brother never participated, otherwise he definitely would have taken first place too."

When she first arrived, it was autumn, and Li Yinsheng was only twenty-two years old. He had spent five months at Xuanzhen Temple and another two months at Zulu Temple. Now, it was the spring of the following year, and Li Yinsheng was twenty-three. A twenty-three-year-old Grand Daoist... That meant when he was twenty, he must have been at least a Daoist, right? She didn’t even dare to imagine what kind of utter bloodbath the arena would have been if Li Yinsheng had participated in a Lesser Yang Dao Examination at the age of twenty. It would have been utter devastation.

Hearing Shangguan Ling’er’s words, Li Yinsheng just smiled and didn’t say anything.

"Martial Brother is just too low-key!" Mu Xiaoyu said, placing her hands on her hips. As she struck the pose, her sleeves pulled up slightly, revealing a silver bracelet on her wrist.

Shangguan Ling’er swept her gaze over it, her expression turning somewhat peculiar. That silver bracelet was the Inferior Defensive Magical Artifact Mu Xiaoyu had refined for herself. It looked remarkably similar to Li Yinsheng’s Magical Artifact. More accurately, aside from the colors being inverted and it being one size smaller to better fit Mu Xiaoyu’s wrist, the two bracelets were practically identical. Li Yinsheng’s bracelet had a solid black base, slowly shimmering with bright silver starlight. Mu Xiaoyu’s own bracelet had a solid silver base, dotted with specks of black.

Shangguan Ling’er had previously asked Mu Xiaoyu why she refined a bracelet so similar to his. Mu Xiaoyu’s response was entirely unapologetic: since she had already refined it before, directly replicating the original design saved much more effort than coming up with a new one. Although there didn’t seem to be anything inherently wrong with this answer—many Inferior Magical Artifacts were indeed standard issue and looked largely the same—seeing Li Yinsheng and Mu Xiaoyu wearing virtually identical bracelets still made her feel rather strange.

A short time later, piloting the Qiluo Dian, Shangguan Ling’er arrived with Li Yinsheng and Mu Xiaoyu at the front of Cangfeng Temple.

The registration fee for the Shifeng Conference was exorbitant. Although it varied depending on the age group of the participating Cultivators, it cost at least tens of thousands of talismanic coins. Therefore, no one would register just to join in the fun, unless they simply had too many talismanic coins to burn.

"Miss Shangguan, Sword Cultivators generally have rather poor tempers. Please don’t act like you did when we went to Zulu Temple..."