Chapter 39: The Rogue Cultivator Liu Kai

  Lin Feng had been recklessly burning spirit stones since he improved the refining method of the Qi Gathering Pill, and his mindset was indeed a bit explosive. So when he saw Liu Kai being so precious with the Blood of the Panther that was only worth a few spirit stones, he was taken aback for a moment. But thinking back to when he first started cultivating, wasn't he also struggling to gather materials for just one furnace of pills? Many times, he had to repeatedly ask his Master Uncle for loans because he lacked just a little bit of material. In short, this Liu Kai was just like his former self - poor, or else he wouldn't be so precious with that Blood of the Panther worth only a few spirit stones.

  Lin Feng couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration, then looked at Liu Kai peeling off the leopard skin, and was also full of praise for his craftsmanship. The entire leopard skin, except for the head, didn't have a single tear or hole, clearly he was an old hand in this area.

  "Lin Shixiong, this leopard skin can sell for a few taels of silver, and this leopard blood, although not much was collected, it's still worth three or four pieces of spiritual stone. You take it. Although great kindness doesn't need to be thanked, I still want to say thank you. Without you, little brother might have really lost his life today. It's just that... you also saw it, little brother is a wandering cultivator, and my pockets are empty..." By the end of this, Liu Kai's face had turned red.

  Lin Feng hastily said: "Brother Liu, what are you saying? We're both cultivators, meeting here is fate, it's just a small effort, don't mention thanks again. I see Brother Liu is covered in blood, shouldn't we bandage him first? It looks quite frightening, haha!" Actually, Lin Feng saw that he peeled the skin so smoothly, and knew that he shouldn't have any major problems, but asking after his well-being was always good.

  "It's nothing serious, just that beast scratched me twice. The wound isn't deep, but it bled a lot. I've already taken a healing pill earlier and the bleeding has stopped. Still, thank you, my spiritual energy was almost depleted at the time, if not for you..." Liu Kai started thanking him again.

  "Never mind, don't mention it again, or I'll get angry, haha. Anyway, I have a question to ask, since this leopard skin can't be sold for spirit stones, why do we cultivators still need it? Isn't everything in the cultivation world bought with spirit stones?" Lin Feng asked, not wanting Liu Kai to feel embarrassed, and also to divert his attention from the matter.

  Liu Kai was taken aback, looked up and down at Lin Feng, then smiled as if he understood something: "Brother Lin must have been in closed-door training for many years, I'm afraid you're not very familiar with the real cultivation world."

  Lin Feng's face turned red, his own cultivation was only at the fourth layer of Qi refining, what kind of door was he talking about? Liu Kai said this to save his own face, it was clear that he had just asked a foolish question.

  "This, Liu Shixiong, our cultivation should be about the same, right?" Lin Feng suddenly asked.

  "Ah, you've cultivated your Qi to the fourth layer, while I'm only at the third layer, which is lower than yours... How is it that Fellow Lin doesn't know the art of sensing aura?" Liu Kai suddenly asked.

  "What's this fortune-telling stuff? I've never learned it before!"

  "Oh, I see. So this 'Wang Qi' technique is actually a small trick used to observe the level of someone's cultivation. It's very simple, just gather your spiritual energy in your eyes..." Liu Kai taught Lin Feng the Wang Qi technique in just a few words, and indeed it was easy to learn. Lin Feng focused his mind on Liu Kai, and sure enough, he could clearly see that Liu Kai's cultivation level was at the third layer of Qi Refining.

  Learning a new spell, Lin Feng was both excited and depressed. He knew that he had been in the Yang family for five years because he didn't have a master, and indeed missed out on a lot of basic knowledge. Such a simple spell, probably for most people with a master, it's just a matter of saying it out loud, but for himself, without a master, being cut off from information, practicing for five years without knowing, it's also quite tragic to say the least.

  It's actually a bit unfair to Yang's master uncle, in the cultivation world, many large sects don't teach magic when cultivating disciples at first. One reason is that the spiritual energy of new disciples is not pure and their spiritual power is not high, so learning magic would be useless. Another reason is that they are afraid that if disciples learn magic from the start, they will become distracted and their foundation won't be solid, which would greatly hinder their progress in cultivation. Therefore, large families or sects generally don't teach magic to disciples until they reach the 8th or 9th level of Qi Refining. The Yang family, although a small one, is the same as those big families in this regard, and basically doesn't teach magic to disciples during the Qi Refining stage.

  But Liu Kai was different as a loose cultivator, they often traveled outside for many years and would frequently encounter various dangers. The more skills one learned, the more security one had. Therefore, many seemingly useless techniques that might be useful but didn't cost much time or spiritual stones and elixirs were all worth learning. This "Wang Qi" technique wasn't expensive, almost every cultivator who traveled outside knew it, so he had already learned it long ago.

  Although he was depressed because he didn't understand the reason, Lin Feng still learned a new spell with great enthusiasm. Moreover, due to teaching him the art of sensing aura, Lin Feng and Liu Kai became much closer. Lin Feng no longer felt ashamed of his initial ignorance, and Liu Kai also stopped feeling embarrassed about not being able to repay Lin Feng for saving his life. After chatting and laughing together, they no longer addressed each other as "younger brother" or "older brother" in a distant manner, but instead called each other by name, appearing much more intimate.

  "You haven't told me what you plan to do with the money from selling the leopard skin?" Lin Feng vaguely understood the answer to this question, but for him who had just entered the Cultivation Realm, many things still needed to be figured out, so he still needed Liu Kai to give him a clear answer.

  "It seems like you're really going out for the first time, you don't even understand this."

  "It's because I don't understand, that's why I'm asking you. I think it's definitely used to buy things, but aren't all transactions in the Cultivation Realm done with Spirit Stones? What is silver used for?" Lin Feng had never been in contact with the Cultivation Realm during his training at the Yang family, and what the Cultivation Realm was like, except for occasionally hearing Yang Ze mention it, everything else was just his own imagination.

  "The Cultivation Realm may be able to buy anything with spirit stones, but that refers to necessary items for cultivation. The vast majority of cultivators don't have many spirit stones, so they must save where they can, such as in food and lodging. Generally, they use silver coins more often and live a life similar to ordinary people. Therefore, earning silver coins is also essential for rogue cultivators."

  Liu Kai gave Lin Feng a look as if he was an idiot, then looked him up and down before saying: "You don't have any silver on you, only spirit stones? Well, that's okay. This leopard skin can sell for over ten taels of silver, which should be enough for you to use for a while. Here, take it."

  Lin Feng hastily declined, saying: "No need, no need, I have silver on me." Lin Feng had actually prepared the silver in advance, not for cultivation purposes, but because he thought it was necessary to carry some with him, just in case. He didn't expect that after Liu Kai's words, the silver would become almost as important as spirit stones. Fortunately, during his five years at the Yang family, he had accumulated over a thousand taels of silver, although he had used some and also sent some back home with his master uncle. There were still more than 200 taels left in his storage bag, enough for him to use for a while.

  Actually, Lin Feng was misled by Liu Kai on this point. The spiritual realm is just the spiritual realm, and spirit stones are much more valuable than silver coins. A single low-grade spirit stone can be exchanged for at least a hundred taels of silver. If he refines a furnace of pills, even if he uses mid-grade pills himself, he can earn ten or twenty spirit stones, which can be exchanged for as many silver coins as he wants, so he will never lack them.

  Liu Kai said this because he was poor, and every piece of spiritual stone was too precious to be split into two pieces, let alone used to exchange for silver. So he had no choice but to earn his own silver. In fact, it wasn't just Liu Kai; the vast majority of scattered cultivators who didn't have high cultivation levels or other ways to make money also had to earn some silver to support themselves. Of course, earning silver was still relatively easy for cultivators, after all, ordinary people far outnumbered cultivators, and cultivators were so powerful that whether it was hunting, gathering herbs, or even refining non-spiritual pills, they could earn a lot of silver. So although scattered cultivators were poor, it only referred to their expenses in cultivation; in terms of living expenses, they weren't too strapped for cash. Of course, they didn't have the same level of wealth as rich ordinary people either, after all, everyone was pursuing different things.

  The two of them declined for a while, and Lin Feng firmly refused, even saying that if Liu Kai didn't want it, he could just throw it away. Liu Kai wasn't a sentimental person either, so he just laughed it off and put the leopard skin away himself. However, when he offered the leopard blood to Lin Feng again and was still firmly rejected, Liu Kai realized that Lin Feng might not be a rich man, but he really didn't care about a few pieces of spirit stone. Thinking back to his awkward and inexperienced appearance, Liu Kai suddenly felt that Lin Feng was a bit hard to figure out.

  Is he a young master of a big family? Liu Kai muttered to himself, but still very happily accepted the leopard blood. Maybe Lin Feng didn't care about these three or four pieces of spiritual stone, but for him, it was a considerable income. Thinking that just now he almost lost his life in the beast's mouth, and suddenly not only was he rescued, but also got several pieces of spiritual stone out of thin air, Liu Kai suddenly had a good impression of Lin Feng.

  "Lin Feng, are you preparing to head to Yao Guang City now? If so, we're actually traveling in the same direction." Liu Kai knew that Lin Feng was going out for his first experience and within this area of several thousand miles, there was only one city where cultivators gathered, Yao Guang City. He thought that Lin Feng must also be heading to Yao Guang City to settle down, so he asked.

  "Really! That's just right, I was thinking of going to Yangguang City, but got lost in the end." Lin Feng's face turned red again as he said this. It was his first time out, and it was really embarrassing to get lost and know nothing about the Xiu Zhen continent, like a fool. Fortunately, Liu Kai didn't know that he had almost gone crazy after parting with his masters, or else he really wouldn't have known if he would have died from shame on the spot.

  "Haha! It's normal to get lost the first time you go out, especially in this vast and majestic mountain range. Even I, who have been here for almost five years, still can't tell many places apart and don't dare to venture too deep into the mountains."

  "You've been here for five years now! By the way, I haven't asked you how old you are now?"

  "Guess what, let's go, we can talk while walking, it's still a bit far from the distant light city." Liu Kai said.

  "Alright, let's go... twenty-five?" Lin Feng said as he walked.

  "Am I that old?" Liu Kai touched his own face and looked at Lin Feng again, "But compared to you, he seems older."

  "Haha......! Twenty is enough, right?"

  "Get out of here! I'm only eighteen this year, how about you?"

  "Eighteen! I look so old, don't I? Guess."

  The two of them chatted as they walked and disappeared among the dense forest paths.

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