Danwu Refining Spirit

Chapter Sixty-Four: Go on a trip? Find Tuniu

The Southern Wilderness, located in the far south of the Tianyun Continent, gets its name from its desolate and uninhabited state. It is said that the Southern Wilderness is extremely vast, with a hundred thousand mountains, and various wild beasts inhabiting the depths of these mountains.

These wild beasts are extremely powerful, and the deeper one goes into the mountains, the stronger the beasts become. The so-called exploration of the Southern Wilderness actually refers to the outer perimeter of the Ten Thousand Mountains, while even cultivators at the Grandmaster level dare not easily venture into the very core of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

Fortunately, these wild beasts each have their own activity range. Wild beasts deep in the Southern Wilderness generally do not wander outwards, which is why many small forces dare to explore mineral veins and even secretly hunt some weaker wild beasts to obtain their cores.

The giant cloud boat dispatched by the Xiao family this time was mainly for transporting goods, so it was not fast and could only fly about a thousand miles a day.

Feiyue City is located in the north of Tianyun Continent, while Nanhuang is located in the south of Tianyun Continent. The distance between them is at least 100,000 miles. Even with full-speed flight, it would still take nearly 100 days to reach each other.

Fortunately, the cloud boat was fully equipped with all kinds of daily necessities, so there was no need to stop frequently to resupply. With nothing to do, Xiao Chong began to cultivate on the cloud boat.

As Xiao Chong's position in Xiao Kai's heart grew more and more important, the treatment he received in the Xiao family also improved accordingly, with all kinds of cultivation resources readily available to him.

What? Absorbing the energy of the weather is too slow? You can use spirit stones, right? How many can a Martial Apprentice disciple like you use?

What? Not enough pills? Shall we pack you a few sacks? As long as you don't eat them as food, the clan can afford to provide them.

What? The pills don't taste good? Don't be so picky! You know, although Flying Moon City has declined, it was once glorious, and its alchemy skills were among the best on the entire continent. Pills, well, since they have the word "medicine" in them, how good can they taste?

Therefore, Xiao Chong's cultivation always seemed so comical. While others were lucky to have a single spirit stone during cultivation, Xiao Chong had one in each hand, and even one on his head.

What's most infuriating is that he would occasionally pull out a pill from his pocket, pop it into his mouth, and chew it with a loud crunching sound.

To others, Xiao Chong was wasting spirit stones and elixirs, but little did they know that Xiao Chong had his own unspeakable suffering.

Now I'm a true wage earner. Most of the Yuan Power and Psychic Power I've cultivated have been drained by that vampire, the Cauldron Spirit. Although I don't have to hand over 99% like when I was in seclusion, half of it is still unbearable.

Have you ever experienced the feeling of being in ecstasy when your dantian's vital energy is suddenly drained? Have you ever experienced the feeling of suddenly becoming exhausted and drowsy when your mental energy is full and you are full of energy?

As for the Yuan Stone on his head, it was only for nourishing that cauldron spirit and had nothing to do with him.

Moreover, after consuming the four pills that Fatty Old Man had someone refine for him, all the other pills in the clan really tasted awful. If it were just a bad taste, that would be one thing, but why weren't the impurities removed properly? They were so gritty to eat!

Xiao Chong said that cultivation was very hard, and everyone looked on with envy.

Although the pills tasted bad, the quantity was plentiful. After consuming them like a drug addict, several more acupoints in Xiao Chong's body were forcibly opened. His cultivation as a second-grade Mind Master also gradually solidified.

More than a month later, Xiao Chong was cultivating to the point of wishing he were dead when the fat man came up to him and interrupted him, saying, "Young Master Chong, we didn't bring enough supplies when we set off. Do you think we should find a place to replenish them?"

"Didn't we agree that you were in charge of logistics? Why are you asking me about such a small thing?" Xiao Chong stopped, rolled his eyes at the fat man, and said, "You can handle it yourself from now on. Anyway, I'm not hungry. I can take pills."

Despite being rebuked, the fat man wasn't bothered at all; instead, he was rather smug: "In that case, I'll take charge."

"Then hurry up and go! To be honest, I've been feeling nauseous at the sight of pills these days." Xiao Chong swallowed hard, swallowing the sour liquid that had risen to his throat, and glared at the fat man without saying a word.

The fat man felt a little uneasy under their gaze, so he quickly turned around and left, humming some obscene tunes he had picked up from who-knows-where, and began to give orders for low-speed flight.

As darkness fell, a small town came into view ahead. Under the fat man's arrangement, the five cloud boats flew lower and lower, slowly landing next to a huge camp outside the town.

Because cloud boats are prevalent on the Tianyun Continent, almost every city, regardless of size, has a dedicated camp for passing cloud boats to dock and for supplies, just like the airports Xiao Chong had seen in his previous life.

These campsites cover a vast area and are set up by operators. For a certain fee, any cloud boat can dock here.

Xiao Chong and his group of twelve disembarked from the cloud boat and headed towards the camp. The other hundred-man mining team didn't need to disembark; they could stay on the cloud boat. They could eat and sleep on the boat, and also keep an eye on their belongings.

After walking a few steps, a middle-aged man with a round head and a fat belly ran over from the camp in the distance.

The middle-aged man hurriedly approached Xiao Chong and the others, smiling before speaking. He then bowed deeply to everyone and said, "Welcome to Tuniu Cloud Boat Camp. My surname is Zhou, and I am the manager here. Are you all planning to stay at our Cloud Boat Camp?"

"Going on a trip? Look for Tuniu, what a great name!" Xiao Chong thought to himself, then gestured to the fat man with his lip, signaling him to go and strike up a conversation.

The fat man, true to his reputation as a good steward, possessed the demeanor of a chief eunuch. Upon hearing this, he stepped forward with measured steps and replied, "That's right, we are from Flying Moon City and are on our way to the Southern Wilderness to take care of some business."

We're passing through this place and, due to insufficient supplies on board, would like to purchase some daily necessities and rest for the night. What are the fees?

“You distinguished guests have come to the right place. Our company has been operating here for many years and our prices are always very fair. We only charge two hundred taels of silver per day for docking fees for each cloud boat, and supplies are extra.”

At this point, Manager Zhou seemed to have something difficult to say, rubbing his hands together as he said, "But..."

"But is there a problem?" the fat man asked.

Manager Zhou hesitated for a while, then smiled apologetically and said, "It's just a bit unfortunate today. The last campsite in the small area was booked by a group of guests earlier, so... if you only want supplies, that's fine, but if you want to stay here for the night, it might be a bit troublesome."

"It's not easy being away from home, so please think of a solution, Steward." The fat man had the potential to be a good steward. He smiled and shook hands with Steward Zhou, then slipped a silver ingot into the other man's hand.

Manager Zhou immediately beamed with joy, quietly slipping the silver ingot into his sleeve, and said warmly, "Please wait a moment, gentlemen, while I go and talk to those guests again. Actually, they only have three cloud boats, while that camp can accommodate at least ten."

As expected, money makes the world go round. The fat man laughed and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you, manager."

"No problem, no problem. Please rest for a bit, I'll be right back."

Manager Zhou turned and left with a smile, but the silver in his sleeve was too heavy, causing one sleeve to flutter in the wind while the other remained vertically still, like a scarecrow stuck in a field.