Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Artifact Refining Shop

From Yang Hui’s words, Luo Tian could hear the deep reverence he held for the Windcloud Guard, and his curiosity was immediately piqued. “What exactly is the Windcloud Guard?”

“The Windcloud Guard? They’re all true elite Meridian Flow Realm cultivators. Strong too. A normal Meridian Flow Realm cultivator of the same level would have a hard time taking on even two or three of them!”

Yang Hui clicked his tongue, the muscles in his face twitching unnaturally. “They answer directly to the City Lord’s Manor. Every year there’s a selection tournament. The great clans of Myriad Wind City, the five major sects, and even some independent cultivators all go to take part. This tournament isn’t just one-in-a-hundred; after you pass, even harsher training waits for you. No wonder they can take on several opponents at once!”

“So impressive?”

Luo Tian was intrigued as well. If he had the chance, he would not mind trying his hand at it. He just did not know whether the sect had any restrictions in that regard.

Of course, even if there were restrictions, they would not be able to stop him. The Windcloud Guard had the City Lord’s Manor as its backing. If he joined them, even the God Sun Sect would likely have nothing to say.

“Exactly, Senior Brother Luo. They’re all real elites!”

Yang Hui’s face flushed with envy, his eyes shining. “The Windcloud Guard handles the tougher bones to crack. They’re given fine food and drink every day, supplied with top-grade treasure armaments, and each month they receive extremely generous resource rewards. They might even get spirit stones! And that’s not all. Once you become Windcloud Guard, you don’t even have to pay when you go to Myriad Fragrance Tower! Who wouldn’t want to be one of them?”

The earlier remarks had stirred Luo Tian’s interest quite a bit, but that last sentence made him stare.

Myriad Fragrance Tower?

Seeing the puzzled look on Luo Tian’s face, the young man, who was not yet twenty, immediately wore a knowing smile. “Senior Brother Yang, a man understands!”

So Yang Hui wanted to become Windcloud Guard just so he could visit Myriad Fragrance Tower without paying?

Even Luo Tian, usually calm and composed, could not help but have his expression twitch a few times. This Yang Hui was not as honest as he looked.

Still, the presence of brothels and pleasure houses here did not surprise him too much. After all, such things were commonplace. Where there was demand, there would be service. Cultivators were still human, and could not entirely escape worldly desires.

“What do you mean by those tough bones to crack?”

Luo Tian had no intention of going into depth with Yang Hui about Myriad Fragrance Tower.

“They eliminate bandit gangs, mountain brigands, or powerful lone marauders who have committed all kinds of evil. Sometimes they deal with vicious magical beasts that appear out of nowhere, or explore newly discovered secret realms and the like. In short, they go wherever it’s dangerous!”

Yang Hui seemed to have done his homework, otherwise he could not have answered so smoothly.

After hearing this, Luo Tian nodded inwardly. Reward and effort were always proportional. The Windcloud Guard had excellent treatment, but the work was not ordinarily dangerous.

Even so, this did not dampen Luo Tian’s interest in them in the slightest.

Elite.

Meridian Flow Realm cultivators.

To Luo Tian, they were the source of the experience points he would need for his next upgrade of the Divine Eye. The four great clans of the God Sun Sect were all somewhat lacking in ambition, and Luo Tian had no desire to remain cooped up in that sect for long.

“Look, Senior Brother Luo, they’re here!”

Though it was not his first time seeing Windcloud Guard training, Yang Hui was still extremely excited.

This was the ultimate dream of every man!

Aside from certain special figures in Myriad Fragrance Tower, such as the courtesan chief, the Windcloud Guard could stay in any woman’s boudoir for as long as they liked and call however many women they wanted. Wasn’t that life like paradise?

Yang Hui swallowed hard. Even just looking at the Windcloud Guard made him feel as though he had taken another step closer to that kind of life.

“The physical body of a cultivator is of paramount importance! I’ve said it many times before. You must never interrupt your practice of body-refining secret arts. This Hundred Cauldrons Armor can promote body tempering with yuan force, so you must take it seriously!”

A burly, cold-faced middle-aged man strode forward with long, dragon-like steps at the front, occasionally looking back at the Windcloud Guard behind him. “The Crimson Radiance stage of the Meridian Flow Realm is the lowest level. If you cannot quickly adapt to movement under the suppression of ten cauldrons of force, you’ll have a very hard time breaking through to the Orange Radiance stage!”

The twenty Windcloud Guard were all dressed in black armored garments, doing frog jumps. Every one of them had a red face, yet their gazes were firm. Clearly, none of them had any intention of giving up. With every squat and leap, bead-sized droplets of sweat rolled down their faces and splattered onto the ground, where they burst apart at once.

Ten cauldrons of force!

Luo Tian felt his breath catch. One cauldron was a thousand jin; ten cauldrons was ten thousand jin. Under ordinary circumstances, when a cultivator first entered the Meridian Flow Realm, the force unleashed by their power was only about ten thousand jin. Of course, someone like him, whose body tempering had been quite effective and whose meridians were fully opened, could, with sufficient accumulation, strike with thirteen or fourteen thousand jin, even as much as fifteen thousand.

But offensive power was one thing. To carry ten thousand jin on one’s back while performing frog jumps was an enormous burden on the body. Luo Tian was not even certain that if he did this now, he could move very far.

“Three more li. Don’t slack off!”

The burly middle-aged man’s voice was incredibly deep and heavy. Every word Luo Tian heard seemed to strike the ground like a stone, resonant and forceful.

“Yes, sir!”

The Windcloud Guard responded in unison.

Watching their retreating figures, Luo Tian could not help but clench his fist. This was the real place to temper a person!

“The Windcloud Guard really is formidable.”

“Well, of course. They’re the gathering place of the most elite Meridian Flow Realm cultivators in all of Myriad Wind City. Aside from the descendants of the great clans within the city who are truly nurtured with all their might, who could compare with them?”

“Alas, comparing yourself to others is enough to drive a man to his grave.”

The middle-aged man’s voice had been audible to everyone nearby. Luo Tian’s mind stirred, and he said casually, “Junior Brother Yang, I feel like our sect doesn’t seem to pay much attention to body-refining secret arts.”

“No matter how much attention it pays, what can it do? For people like us born into ordinary families, are we really supposed to expect some miraculous results?”

Yang Hui curled his lip and said indifferently, “What sort of existence is the Windcloud Guard? And what sort of level are the four great clans of the sect? There’s no way we can compare with them.”

At that, Luo Tian fell silent. No matter how many conditions or limitations there were, without the will to rise higher, how could one advance further?

What others possessed that he did not was not only resources, but also resolve.

“Senior Brother Luo, what do you think? You want to become Windcloud Guard too, don’t you? The girls at Myriad Fragrance Tower just love men like that. I hear this year’s examination is almost here.”

Yang Hui said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Luo Tian did not even bother answering that. “Junior Brother Yang, do you have a map of Myriad Wind City here?”

“Yes, Senior Brother Luo. Here!”

Yang Hui promptly pulled a thickly folded sheet of paper from his storage pouch. “It’s not very detailed, though. It only has a general introduction to the different areas and their functions. If you want specifics, you’ll have to ask around carefully.”

“Good. You head back first. I want to walk around on my own.”

Luo Tian knew that this trip to Myriad Wind City would last only half a month. It would be better to settle the matter of the Broken Jade Sword as early as possible. Besides, his inner armor had been damaged and needed to be repaired.

“Sure!”

Estimating that Liu Neng and Shen Xing were probably about done talking, and if not he could just wait outside for a while, Yang Hui was usually the sort who would go out and wander around a bit anyway, so he was not especially interested in accompanying Luo Tian for a stroll. As soon as he heard he could leave, he agreed at once.

Luo Tian waited for a moment. Once Yang Hui had gone some distance away, he set off toward the artifact-forging shops Yang Hui had just mentioned.

After entering one of the shops at random, a shop assistant immediately came up with great enthusiasm. “Young man, what kind of treasure armament are you looking to buy?”

Looking at the dazzling array of treasure armaments within the store, Luo Tian did not stand on ceremony. “Can you make custom pieces?”

“Heh, sir, you’ve come to the right place. If we’re talking about custom treasure armaments, then among the workshops on Golden Stone Street, if ours ranks second, absolutely no one dares rank first—”

Seeing a big customer, the assistant proudly inflated his own shop without the slightest hesitation.

“If you dare bluff and fool me, then this shop need not open again. I have plenty of money and people.”

Luo Tian knew at a glance that it was all nonsense. He did not bother being polite, either. Narrowing his eyes, he cast an indifferent glance around the store and spoke with a calm but threatening tone, playing the role of a spoiled young master to perfection.

“Haha, hah—”

The assistant could not quite figure out Luo Tian’s identity, and immediately dared not keep spinning tales. He gave an awkward laugh and said, “You’re joking, young master. There’s no random fighting allowed in Myriad Wind City, after all. But if you feel our shop isn’t suitable, you can go two hundred meters ahead, into the alley on the right. Go to the very end. As for the price, if you’re not satisfied, you can always come back!”

“Money is no issue!”

Thinking of the spirit stones in his bracelet, Luo Tian suddenly felt emboldened. How expensive could any treasure armament really be? He was truly wealthy now.

He then tried two more shops at random, and to his surprise they all pointed him in the same direction as the first assistant.

It seemed they really did have some skill.

Luo Tian nodded inwardly and followed the directions of the several shops until he arrived there.

This narrow lane looked somewhat remote, but it was not difficult to find. Once he reached the innermost end, Luo Tian heard a clear clanging sound coming from a small room whose door had not been closed.

Still, the name of this artifact shop had a certain imposing air to it: Divine Armament Pavilion.

He would have to see what gave them the confidence to hang such a sign.

With leisurely steps, Luo Tian entered, his curiosity growing all the while.