Chapter Thirteen: Broadening One's Horizons

  "Master's younger brother will understand at a glance." Xiao Shusheng smiled slightly and sold a pass.

  Li Muran was puzzled and flipped through the books introduced by Xiao Shusheng.

  It wasn't long before Li Muran understood the meaning behind the other's words.

  It turns out that these classics did mention many monks who were active at night, but they all had one thing in common - they were all thieves.

  So-called thieves are specifically robbers, murderers and treasure snatchers. This type of cultivator usually has a certain amount of power and means, is good at lurking, ruthless and cruel, once there are lone or low-powered cultivators who are ambushed by them, it's mostly bad luck.

  Perhaps most of the thieves were untraceable and unknown, but those mentioned in the classics with names and surnames were naturally caught and punished by the authorities, ending up very miserably.

  Li Muran was speechless and lost his smile, he had tried every means to find clues, but ended up finding these completely unrelated contents. However, the stories recorded in these classics made Li Muran feel the mysterious and unpredictable nature of the Xianxia world ahead of time.

  The day passed quickly, and after dark, the library had to close. Li Muran reluctantly bid farewell and left.

  Li Muran rested for more than half of the night and went to the library again early next morning.

  Li Muran spent three days reading books, and he didn't hesitate to spend three spiritual stones in the library to browse through a large number of classics, but still couldn't find the information he wanted most.

  He even found several books that specifically introduced various kinds of ancestral orifices and divine lights, but not a single book mentioned his kind of divine light - weak during the day, but shining like the entire night sky at night.

  However, he still gained a lot of other information related to cultivation, so these three spiritual stones were not wasted.

  The three spiritual stones exchanged with Xiao Shusheng have been used up, and Li Muran had to consider going to the market for a trip to exchange more spiritual stones.

  "Are you going to Pingnan Valley Market?" Li Muran asked as he was handling the mountain gate entry and exit procedures with Qingfengzi. Qingfengzi was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said: "It's good to see the world, but with your family background, I'm afraid you won't be able to buy anything."

  Qingfengzi didn't make things difficult and readily handed Li Muran a token, with which he could leave the mountain gate to go to the market town, but had to return within one day.

  Before leaving, Qingfengzi reminded him: "Zhao Shidi, come back early, don't forget the time, there are many people and troubles in the nearby streets, after dark, there will be a lot of trouble."

  "Yes, thank you for reminding me, Brother Qingfeng!" Li Muran bowed and quickly descended the mountain.

  ……

  "Kuanglu Mountain stretches for thousands of miles, with four major immortal sects located here, collectively known as the Kuanglu Four Sects. Speaking of the Kuanglu Four Sects, one cannot help but mention the legendary Kuanglu Four Saints from over a thousand years ago!"

  On the way to Pingnan Valley, two young men in Taoist robes walked together. The younger one was Li Muran; the other was a fellow disciple he had met at the mountain gate, named Qingyuanzi.

  Both of them were going to Pingnanfang Market, so they naturally traveled together. Qingyuanzi was also familiar with the place and started chatting with Li Muran about the origin of Pingnangong Market on the way.

  "Zhoa Shidi, do you know who the four saints of Kuanglu are?" Qing Yuansu asked with a smile.

  A few days ago, Li Muran was still unable to answer this question, but in the past few days, he had read many classics in the Cangshu Pavilion and saw the four saints of Kuanglu more than once.

  Li Muran replied: "It seems to be referring to Dan Sheng, Jian Sheng, Fu Sheng and the four seniors of Sheng Seng."

  "Not bad," Qing Yuansu nodded and said: "It's indeed these four seniors. Among them, the Sword Saint is a Confucian scholar; the Dan Saint is an absolutely beautiful female cultivator; the Fu Saint is a Taoist priest, who is also the founder of our Yuanfu Sect; and the Sheng Seng is naturally a highly accomplished Buddhist monk. The four major immortal sects in Kuanglu are: Jianling Gate, Danxin Sect, Yuanfu Sect, and Daming Temple, which were founded by the Four Saints of Kuanglu."

  "In those days, this place was still plagued by ferocious beasts and was known as the Southern Wilderness. The Four Saints led their disciples to hunt down and slay the monsters, pacifying the South and establishing the Four Sects, laying the foundation for a thousand years of greatness. The mountain valley where countless great battles had once taken place was named 'Pacify the South', and later the market town was also built here."

  "These four originally only separately accepted Confucian scholars, Taoist priests, female Daoist adepts and Buddhist monks, later gradually also accepting lay disciples..."

  Qing Yuanzi was quite talkative, he and Li Muran chatted and laughed as they walked, their footsteps not slowing down. After one or two hours, they finally arrived at Pingnan Valley.

  "There is the market!" Qing Yuansu pointed to the layered buildings not far away and said, Li Muran followed his pointing direction and looked over, but inadvertently saw a light flashing on top of his head.

  He focused his attention, and it was a white-robed man treading on a slender sword flying with the sword, drawing a silver sword light all the way. The speed of this person was extremely fast, and Li Muran had not looked carefully, that person had already fallen in front of the distant market with a sword light, probably entering the market.

  "That's a senior from Jianling Gate!" Qing Yuansi said, also with a face full of admiration and envy.

  The two continued on their way, and as they approached the market town, Li Muran saw several people descending from the sky again. They were not flying with imperial swords, but riding a paper crane that was about ten feet in size.

  After they fall down, the paper crane will be transformed into a talisman and put back in his sleeve.

  "These must be the paper cranes mentioned multiple times in the classics." Li Muran was quite interested and took a few more glances.

  "Those are Symbol Paper Cranes, essentially a high-quality symbol paper used for flight, unfortunately the price is not cheap. My senior brother and I are saving up spirit stones, once we have enough, we'll also buy one!" Qing Yuansu muttered to himself.

  Li Muran's heart moved slightly as he asked: "A talisman paper crane, how many spirit stones does it require?"

  "The worst would be at least 100 spirit stones, and the better quality ones that fly faster would be around 150 spirit stones or even more expensive."

  "So expensive!" Li Muran was shocked.

  "Of course it's expensive! This talisman can only be drawn by the seniors of our sect, such as Master Uncle and Master Aunt. The paper used is also third-grade talisman paper, one sheet costs ten spirit stones." Qing Yuansu said, then took Li Muran into the market.

  It's called a street market, but it's actually just a few not-too-wide streets with shops and buildings lining both sides, bustling with people coming and going.

  "In the streets of Fang City, there are talismans, ritual instruments, elixirs, and scriptures. All kinds of materials are available. Zhao Shidi, take your time to look around, I'll go to the tea pavilion to taste a cup of spiritual tea." Qingyuanzi said goodbye and left.

  In front of each shop, there were enthusiastic clerks and apprentices soliciting business. Some even took out treasures to demonstrate various magical skills on the spot, either spewing flames or condensing ice, attracting many onlookers. Li Muran watched from a distance, feeling his eyes widening in amazement.

  However, Li Muran looked young and his cultivation was unimpressive. At first glance, he seemed like a new disciple who had just entered the sect. People like him came to Fang City mostly to watch the excitement, not to do business with spirit stones. The shopkeepers took one look at him and shifted their attention to other customers, completely ignoring him.

  On the contrary, those extraordinary disciples of the four sects with higher cultivation levels would receive enthusiastic hospitality from various shops once they appeared in the market, and were vigorously sold all kinds of treasures.

  Li Muran was embarrassed and didn't dare to go forward to play with or ask the price of the various treasures mentioned in many classics, but just looked at them from a distance.

  As he walked and looked around, a familiar scent suddenly wafted into Li Muran's nose, invigorating him.

  "Long Dao Xuan!" Li Muran's heart moved: "It is a shop that sells Gong Fa classics."

  Li Muran really wanted to go in and take a look, but unfortunately, the sign above the entrance of this shop read "Ten spirit stones upon entry", which made him hesitant.

  After strolling around the market for half a day, Li Muran came to a shop that specialized in selling talismans and charms. Several young disciples were haggling with the shopkeeper over the price of a crane-shaped charm.

  After they finished their transaction, Li Muran stepped forward and asked somewhat timidly: "Excuse me, shopkeeper, do you accept yuanqi tokens here?"

  "Heh heh, received." The plump middle-aged shopkeeper was quite amiable and smiled, saying: "Our store buys and sells yuanqi symbols at the same price, without taking any difference in price, just accumulating some popularity. Little brother, how many yuanqi symbols do you have? Take them all out, the price of a one-star yuanqi symbol is one ling stone per piece."

  "I have four." Li Muran took out all the remaining yuanqi symbols and said, "Please exchange the four pieces of ling stone for first-class symbol paper."

  "No problem!" The shopkeeper smiled slightly and took out two stacks of talismans from a counter, handing them to Li Muran, saying: "Two stacks of first-class talismans have twenty pieces, exactly four spirit stones."

  The shopkeeper suddenly took out two talismans from the counter and handed them to Li Muran, saying: "Young brother, this is your first visit to our store. These two talismans are a gift. If you need anything in the future, feel free to come back!"

  "Thank you, boss!" Li Muran carefully wrapped up these talismans and put them in his bosom.

  He was reluctant to leave, however, as he noticed that the talisman shop sold all sorts of talismans and many precious materials needed for making talismans, which dazzled his eyes.

  The shopkeeper didn't intend to drive Li Muran away either, so he let him take a look around casually, anyway there were no other customers at the moment.

  Li Muran's gaze suddenly stopped on a row of brocade pouches, which were the size of a palm and looked ordinary. This kind of thing was what Li Muran had seen the most in ancient books, almost every book would mention one or two.

  "Little brother wants to buy a storage bag?" The shopkeeper smiled slightly: "This low-grade storage bag, only ten spirit stones for one piece, can hold objects that are 100 times larger."