Chapter 037: Short on Funds

With a single encounter, two vicious fiends were slain. Xu Xuan’s figure remained rooted where he stood, his chest heaving, breath unsteady. The light in his eyes, previously deep and still as stagnant water, gradually returned to normal; his face bore traces of lingering fear and shock. His body slackened, and he collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.

Had he not merged with the essence of the “Stillness” technique, elevating his mental state to an unimaginable level and confronting his foes in the most peak, steady condition, then the outcome—the matter of life and death—would have remained uncertain. In those final moments, he dispatched the two men in a flash of thunder, seemingly with ease, like a sharp blade slicing through tangled threads. Yet every detail, every angle of his final strike, was calculated with absolute rationality, almost mechanical precision. The slightest miscalculation could have spelled disaster.

Only in that perfect, rational, peak state bestowed by the “Stillness” technique could he accomplish such a perilous feat. Any emotional restraint, hesitation, or deviation might have led to failure.

Sitting cross-legged for a while, Xu Xuan’s strength gradually returned. He gazed at the two corpses before him, his expression stern. With his current status as a disciple of an immortal sect, slaying a couple of common body cultivators was beyond the reach of mundane laws. However, one of the two was a member of the Blood Spirit Thieves, which forced Xu Xuan to weigh his options carefully.

After some thought, he approached the bodies and searched them, finding various items such as spirit coins. Soon, on the corpse of Cao Fei—the Blood Spirit Thief—he discovered a blood-red skull crafted from unknown cultivation materials. Upon touching it, he sensed a sinister aura, cold yet tinged with the scent of blood.

Xu Xuan’s expression changed abruptly.

This object was surely the identity token of the Blood Spirit Thieves.

Relying on his memories from his previous life, he knew that if any immortal among the Blood Spirit Thieves existed, they might be able to sense the general location of this item through mysterious arts. Even the instant their member died, a faint reaction might occur.

Without hesitation, Xu Xuan secured the blood-red skull and the peculiar curved blade, then swiftly employed the “Soaring” technique, darting across rooftops like a light swallow, leaving the village behind. In just half an hour, he traveled dozens of miles, tossing the two objects into a lake deep within the wild mountains and forests.

Once this was done, Xu Xuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He retraced his steps, returning to Xu Da Hu’s home, threw the two corpses into a pit trap, set them aflame until only ashes remained, and then buried them beneath a layer of earth.

“Xu Da Hu is dead, the hidden threat in the village is eliminated, and the remaining Xu Xiao Hu has surely fled far away. With his crippled spiritual roots and lack of cultivation, he poses no threat. Even if someone suspects, no one would dare provoke me, a disciple within an immortal sect.”

Xu Xuan’s thoughts raced. Now his only worry was the enigmatic and dangerous Blood Spirit Thieves.

Yet, remembering that the “stolen goods” had been discarded far from the village, even deliberately toward the direction of the Wind Feather Immortal Sect, he reasoned that it should not bring disaster to Yangmu Village. No matter how savage the Blood Spirit Thieves, they would never dare invade an immortal sect.

Returning home at night, Xu Xuan collapsed into bed, yet the fact that he had killed two men still left him with lingering fear and unease.

Even with the memories of his previous life, he was still a teenager. This was his first time killing, and two at once. Naturally, his heart remained unsettled.

As night fell, he drifted into dreamland, unsurprisingly entering the “Sea of Memory Stars.”

Now, within that dim and desolate star sea, a region five or six miles across had become a bright starry sky, encompassing two small stars and surrounding floating star sand.

The rest of the sea remained cold, barren, indistinct, endless—memories from his previous life yet to be restored, sealed and dormant.

Only the illuminated region contained memories Xu Xuan could perceive and absorb, gradually assimilating them until they became fully his own.

Yet compared to the vast, endless dark sea, the bright area he had unlocked was but a drop in the ocean—merely the portion of memories from before his sixteenth year in his previous life.

“Is it that the stronger I become, the more memories I can recover—even all from my previous life?” Xu Xuan asked aloud.

“In theory, yes,” the remnant soul of his former self emerged from the bright region of the star sea. “The restoration of memory is tied to the strength of your soul. If you can acquire cultivation minerals like ‘Soul Ink Stone’ that contain pure soul power, you can hasten the repair of your past memories.”

Cultivation minerals containing pure soul power?

Xu Xuan mused. Back at the Xu family’s mining site, the explosion of the Soul Ink Stone had released soul energy, part of which was absorbed by the Sea of Memory Stars—thus unlocking a fragment of his past memories.

Yet with just that tiny fragment, that speck of land, his domain in the star sea had expanded to five or six miles, and the volume of information had grown dozens of times.

“This Sea of Memory Stars is an inexhaustible treasure. What I have now is but a single drop from the sea, yet it has brought such achievement. If I work hard to expand my power, and develop even half—no, even one percent, or a thousandth—of this treasure, the result would be unimaginable…”

The thought made Xu Xuan so excited he could not sleep.

The Sea of Memory Stars was more valuable than any treasure or artifact, for all those material things were external, while this endless knowledge, memory, and experience could be wholly transformed into his own.

“You must strive to strengthen yourself. When your power reaches a certain level, you can find and inherit the legacy your former self left behind.”

The remnant soul carried a hint of expectation.

“The legacy of my former self?” Xu Xuan’s eyes shone.

A mighty, unfathomable past life—what kind of legacy could it have left? Heavenly treasures? Immortal pills and elixirs? Legendary artifacts of the immortals? Perhaps even secret vaults and estates? With such power, surely there were many beautiful companions—like the ethereal Li, his junior sister in the immortal sect. Maybe he could…

With these thoughts, Xu Xuan’s anticipation soared.

The next morning, Xu Xuan took out pen and paper. His brush flew across the page, recording basic body cultivation techniques and much knowledge of formations from his former immortal sect.

“In my previous life, I had perfect recall—how enviable that is,” Xu Xuan sighed, handing these notes to his sister. He then hurried to the town; he had only three days left to settle his affairs.

Arriving in town, he visited various shops selling spiritual materials and medicines.

He calculated his funds—about four thousand spirit coins in total.

First, he bought some low-grade, inexpensive formation materials, spending over two thousand coins at once. Even low-grade formation materials, used by cultivators, were costly.

Then, with the remaining funds, he purchased two bottles of ordinary medicinal powder for body tempering. These powders, dissolved in water for full-body soaking, could promote cultivation growth.

Just these two types of items exhausted his funds.

Xu Xuan felt keenly the importance of “money.” In cultivation society, especially for low-level body cultivators, and even some lesser immortal practitioners, money was always tight.

Yet spirit coins and stones greatly aided cultivation. If one had enough capital—ten, even hundreds of thousands of coins—one could buy a “Marrow Cleansing Pill” and quickly raise one’s power to the fifth or sixth level of body cultivation, even the seventh, becoming a quasi-immortal practitioner.

Xu Xuan dared not hope for such luxury. Even the Xu family, prosperous rural landowners, could not afford such resources.

Before leaving Pinghua Town, Xu Xuan inquired about land and housing prices.

Pinghua Town sat atop a spiritual vein, its aura twice as pure as ordinary areas. If he could afford a house in town and move his family in, it would be greatly beneficial.

However, the prices were staggering.

Xu Xuan asked about a remote two-story pavilion.

“A flat price: thirty-six thousand spirit coins,” the owner said coolly.

Xu Xuan drew a sharp breath, tongue-tied. With spiritual veins monopolized by powerful interests, town land was worth its weight in gold. The annual income of ordinary families would not even buy an outhouse.

“Money, oh money…” Xu Xuan sighed, though his heart remained calm. With memories of his past life, earning spirit coins would not be too difficult, but his priority was still to strengthen himself and establish his position within the immortal sect. With enough power, gaining spirit stones and wealth would be easy.

Returning home, Xu Xuan handed the formation materials to his sister.

Seeing the materials, Xu Hui Lan’s face flushed with excitement, pure as morning glow, and she jumped into her brother’s arms with joy.

After calming down, she said gently, “Brother, these materials must have cost a lot of spirit coins.”

Xu Xuan smiled. “Once you reach the level of a formation master, you’ll be in high demand anywhere in the cultivation world. These spirit coins are nothing.”

His memories from his previous life taught him that professions like alchemist, smith, and formation master were highly sought after and well-paid, honored by powerful families and sects.

With his sister’s evident talent for formations, a little guidance would ensure her eventual mastery of the craft.

(Two chapters released. The recommendation vote count is rising nicely—thank you all! Will strive to release more!)