Chapter 47 – The Hidden Fortune

Lynn Naya was living a very comfortable life in her secluded home.

She would wake up early and spar with Zhou Yuan and the two others, practice her martial skills in the morning, study talismans in the afternoon, and meditate in the evening. Her days were perfectly planned out. In her free time, she would train the younger ones or tell them stories.

Because the rabbits were communal property—and while they were close enough that such a thing didn’t matter—she still paid Scarface Qing to replace the ones she had used. She also drew each of the four children an Exorcism Talisman as an apology.

The four children, other than Zhou Yuan’s daughter who was still too young to understand, had been a little afraid of her due to the training. Now, because she had given them gifts, they were a bit closer. Later, when they found out she was telling them stories they had never heard before, they became extremely clingy.

Lynn Naya was a little unaccustomed to being clung to by children at first, but she got used to it over time. She found that being with children was more comfortable than being with adults.

Time gradually passed in her cultivation, and the weather slowly grew colder. Occasionally, people would come to visit and tell Lynn Naya about the things happening outside.

For example, the number of talisman masters in the Talisman Academy had increased, Auntie Feng had opened the first eatery next to the Academy, the market was expanding, and the number of mortal cultivators had reportedly reached thirty thousand.

Lynn Naya welcomed all this news from the outside world. She was very happy to hear about these changes.

The fact that everyone who couldn’t even get enough to eat before now had money to spend was a very good start in itself. Maybe by the time she went out again, the street by the Talisman Academy would have become a business district.

Things were changing, and so was Lynn Naya’s cultivation.

It had been a year since she had broken through to the fifth layer of Qi Condensation. Now, her experience bar for the sixth layer was two-thirds full. She estimated that she would be able to break through to the sixth layer by next summer at the latest.

She had thought about those fire ginsengs in between. Maybe if she took one, she could skip two layers and become a late-stage Qi Condensation cultivator. But she had read all the herb books she borrowed from the Library and couldn’t find any information on those fire ginsengs. She had even asked Yun Xian to help her borrow an herb manual from the mountain, but there was no information about them either.

What kind of great treasure is this fire ginseng that it’s so rare?

Lynn Naya, who craved the fire ginsengs twice a day, had no choice but to endure. When it came to things you consumed, you had to be careful. What if something went wrong and her body exploded?

Time quickly came to the annual New Year’s Eve. That morning, Lynn Naya was sparring with her three neighbors in the yard as usual.

The four of them were all using the Green Spirit Sword Technique. Before, Lynn Naya’s combat experience was sparse, so even with her cultivation at the first layer of Qi Condensation, her sword art had the most flaws, and her sword was often sent flying by her neighbors. But after three months of sparring, her sword art was becoming more and more proficient. Even Lin Qingwan, who had the best sword art of the three, was finding it difficult to suppress her.

With a hum of the sword, Lynn Naya’s sword point struck and sent Lin Qingwan’s sword flying. The sword point plunged into the ground not far away, and the blade was still vibrating slightly.

“Naya, your sword art is improving so fast.” Lin Qingwan said, rubbing her numb hand. As the one sparring with her, she knew Lynn Naya’s level best. The most important thing was that she felt as if Lynn Naya was holding back her strength. Otherwise, her sword would have been cut in half instead of just being sent flying.

“That’s because you taught me so well.” Lynn Naya was in a great mood. Just now, her sword art had finally progressed from Beginner to Initiated on her status panel.

[Name: Lynn Naya]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation Level 5 (67/100)]

[Martial Arts: Finger Flick: Pinnacle (8/100), Breath-Concealing Technique: Initiated (64/100), Green Spirit Sword Technique: Initiated (0/100)]

[Cultivation Method: Supreme Spirit-Guiding Art: Beginner (45/100)]

[Skills: Medicinal Farming: Initiated (46/100), Healing: Beginner (9/100), Talisman Crafting: 1st Grade (7/100)]

[Exclusive Trait: Everlasting Life]

Practice really does make perfect. Before, she had been practicing on her own and her progress had been slow. She didn’t gain any experience points for days. But after sparring with her neighbors, her experience points went up rapidly.

After her Green Spirit Sword Technique reached Initiated, Lynn Naya felt like she had a deeper understanding of the sword art. She wanted to try it again, so she invited Lin Qingwan, “Want to go another round?”

“Of course.” Lin Qingwan replied. She had the same thought.

She retrieved her sword, and the two of them started sparring in the same spot again.

On the sidelines, Scarface Qing and Xue Yong were watching. Scarface Qing looked at Xue Yong with satisfaction. “I heard you can’t beat your wife?”

Xue Yong: “…”

He was a little embarrassed, but it was true. It was only after they started cultivating that he realized his wife’s talent was better than his. Every time they practiced swordplay, he was the one who lost. Now, his wife was showing signs of breaking through to the second layer of Qi Condensation. She just needed to save up money to buy a beast core.

Seeing his friend’s face turn red, Scarface Qing was amused. He comforted him, “Don’t worry, I can’t beat my wife either.”

In the time it took for those two sentences to be spoken, the spar had already ended.

“That fast?”

Not just the three onlookers, but even Lin Qingwan herself was a little dazed. Although she had guessed that Lynn Nayahad been holding back, her neck was already held at sword-point after only a few moves.

“Just lucky.” After advancing, she saw flaws everywhere in Lin Qingwan’s sword art. “Do you want to continue?”

“Continue!” Lin Qingwan’s competitive spirit was roused. She grabbed her sword and was the first to attack.

But this round also ended quickly. However, Lin Qingwan gradually began to feel something different in Lynn Naya’ssword art, so she asked to go again.

Since she asked to go again, Lynn Naya naturally didn’t refuse.

The two of them went back and forth, sparring for a whole morning. In the end, it was Lin Qingwan who ran out of spiritual energy, and that was how their sparring session ended for the day.

In the afternoon, the neighbors went to get their spiritual roots checked as usual, but they came back with a notice. It stated that after the Lantern Festival, the Dao Palace required all cultivators at the first layer of Qi Condensation and above to clear land in the wilderness. Pregnant women were exempt. Everyone was to prepare themselves.

“Clear land?” They had done it once last year. The fields they had cultivated in the wilderness at the beginning of this year were from that time. But Lynn Naya didn’t know if this time would be the same as last year’s.

“Yes, it’s to clear even more land on the outskirts. I heard that next year, there won’t be any farmland at the foot of the mountain anymore. It will all be replaced with spirit fields. Everyone will have to grow their food in the wilderness,” XueYong said, his brow furrowed. “And I also heard them say that clearing the land is just the beginning. We might have to do all the planting and harvesting afterward as well. It makes sense, though. It’s so dangerous out there. If ordinary people encounter an evil cultivator, they can only wait for death. We, on the other hand, can at least come back alive. It’s just that we don’t have much time, so we need to prepare now.”

Scarface Qing had gone to the market the moment he heard the news. They also had to hurry up and get ready.

“Naya, you’ve also broken through to the first layer of Qi Condensation, so you should prepare early,” Zhou Yuan reminded her. “I heard that the talisman masters at the Talisman Academy also have to participate. You probably can’t stay in seclusion anymore. It’s a shame that Lady Yun didn’t come back for New Year’s Eve this year. If she was here, you might be able to ask her for a favor.”

“Yeah.” Lynn Naya naturally didn’t want to go out, but since the Dao Palace had already ordered everyone at the first layer of Qi Condensation and above to clear land, she couldn’t avoid it. If she didn’t go now, it would be even more trouble later. “Alright, I’ll go prepare as well. Don’t worry about preparing any talismans. I have extra. You can just pay me back with beast hides later.”

It was safe to assume that the prices at the market were soaring right now.

Her words made her think of the weapons and damaged magical artifacts in her storage bag. It had been three months since the evil cultivator incident. It was time for her to deal with these things. Those weapons were still better than ordinary refined iron. At a time like this, it was good to get some of them out there.

After inquiring from various sources, Lynn Naya finally confirmed the location of the black market in the mortal district.

The black market was in an underground space, and it was only open for two hour at midnight. The entrance fee was one spirit stone, and there were no other conditions.

After confirming the black market’s location, Lynn Naya disguised herself as a man, wore a mask, and then put on a veil to cover her entire face before heading to the black market.

At the entrance, she first used her spiritual sense to scan the inside. When she saw that there were indeed many people with similar disguises buying and selling, she paid the spirit stone and went in.

Perhaps because of the Dao Palace’s new notice, the underground black market was quite lively today. The sounds of people buying and selling pills and weapons were loud. Lynn Naya walked around for a bit and didn’t see anything she wanted, so she chose a dark corner and took out a weapon from her storage bag and placed it on the ground.

It was a worn-out ax. Although it was a bit damaged, the material was clearly better than that of ordinary weapons.

In just a moment, two people came to ask for the price at the same time.

“Fifty spirit stones. No haggling.” Lynn Naya said in a rough voice and didn’t say anything more.

“Fifty spirit stones? That’s too expensive. Can you make it a little cheaper?” The person on the left had a cloth over his face, but it was clear from his voice that he really wanted it.

The person on the right also tried to haggle.

Hearing this, Lynn Naya simply closed her eyes and remained silent.

After a while, the person on the right left. The person on the left tried to haggle for a bit longer but saw that she wasn’t going to move, so he gritted his teeth and took out a bag of spirit stones.

Lynn Naya counted them and, seeing that the number was correct, let him take the ax.

As soon as the ax was sold, she took out a broken saber.

Because of the severe damage, the saber was sold for ten spirit stones.

After selling these two items, Lynn Naya didn’t linger and left the black market through another door.

After she came out, she sensed that someone was following her. Without a word, she activated two Light Body Talismans and shook them off. It wasn’t until she couldn’t feel anyone behind her that she went around in circles and found a chance to return to her home.

From then on, Lynn Naya would go to the black market every one or two days to sell some goods. Sometimes she would be a woman, sometimes a man, and sometimes an old man. She would never sell too much, only two or three items before leaving.

Because there were also a number of sellers selling weapons in the black market, her quantity wasn’t too large. Although it did attract some people’s attention, the value of the goods wasn’t high enough to attract a particularly powerful person. On top of that, there were patrol squads nearby, so even if someone wanted to ambush her, she was able to get away smoothly.

By the time the Lantern Festival passed, Lynn Naya had already sold over five hundred spirit stones worth of weapons. At the same time, because she had been selling a lot of weapons in the black market, rumors of it being a good place to find weapons began to spread. She took this opportunity to take out the magical sword she had kept for herself and told everyone that she had been lucky enough to find it in the black market.

After openly replacing her weapon, Lynn Naya hurried to prepare Light Body Talismans, Spring Recovery Talismans, and Spiritual Fire Talismans for her neighbors—a complete package for escaping.

When they were all ready, a Dao Palace disciple came to their door that night to register them and let them choose between a patrolling or land-clearing mission.

Lynn Naya and her neighbors all chose to clear land. Xue Yong had wanted to choose the patrolling mission, which offered more rewards, because he wanted to save up more spirit stones to buy a beast core for his wife to break through. But Scarface Qing persuaded him against it, telling him to borrow from him if he needed to and not to risk his life. Only then did Xue Yong choose to clear land.

After everyone had signed, Lynn Naya looked at the boundless night outside. This time, she would face the wilderness head-on.