Turning away from those swords, Wu Ying dug into the pile of swords in the barrel. Those swords were similar to the one given to him by Liu Tsong—made of poor steel or iron and forged by an apprentice blacksmith. On the other hand, they had the advantage of being cheap. In truth, Wu Ying was surprised to find such a barrel here—after all, most cultivators would be richer than him, right? Or perhaps not. Cultivation resources were expensive. Spirit cores were expensive. Cultivation manuals were expensive. And weapons from bandits and the like were plentiful and easy to collect, especially if they attacked you.
That thought made Wu Ying’s hands pause as he considered that he might be pawing through a dead person’s belongings. Then the practical youth shrugged. Not as if it was the first or last time he had used someone’s discarded or relieved possessions. And…
“This looks good,” Wu Ying said as he drew a sword fully from its scabbard.
He eyed the weapon along its edge, checking its line, and pursed his lips when he saw the nicks. Nothing a good file and a few hours’ work could not fix. Slapping the flat of the blade a few times, he watched the weapon wobble before he balanced the blade on his finger to find its center. A little too far forward and the steel was poor, having slightly too much of a spring for Wu Ying’s liking. But the scabbard was functional, the hilt tight, and it still held a good edge. Best of all, it only cost nine tael.
Next up was the cultivation manuals and styles. A quick perusal over the various names and the introductions informed Wu Ying of that most important of facts—he just didn’t have enough knowledge to be perusing the information. More time spent learning would be better. As he turned away, Wu Ying saw the title of a familiar style out of the corner of his eye.
“Yellow Emperor’s Cultivation Style—Energy Gathering stage?” Wu Ying muttered as he picked up the book. The cost was only five tael, which was surprising. What was even more surprising was that there were another four copies right underneath the one he’d picked up. He turned to the merchant. “Why is this so cheap?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? It’s the Yellow Emperor’s style. Every family of note has a copy already. Though mine is an exact copy. Guaranteed. I also have cultivation notes from Tsifu Liu and Tsifu Teck in there.”
“Is it still elemental-free?” Wu Ying asked. There were a number of cultivation styles like that, though few decided to pursue that course of cultivation after Body Cleansing. Each stage after Body Cleansing took more and more chi, time, and enlightenment. Sticking to an elemental-free style was hobbling oneself in the long-term. But still…
“Of course. The Yellow Emperor was the emperor of all. How could he be that if he constrained himself to a single element?” the merchant said with a snort.
“Is there a Core cultivation method for this style then?”
“Yes. Though that’s where it stops. To grow your nascent soul, you’ll need to find your own path. The Yellow Emperor famously never left a cultivation manual for that, saying that there could only ever be one emperor.”
Wu Ying nodded slowly. Growing the nascent soul was important, since it basically allowed a human to restart, developing a portion of them that was untainted by the world. With a fully-grown nascent soul inside their body, a cultivator could touch upon the dao, achieving immortality. If there was a stage after one broke through the nascent soul stage, the gods were not speaking. Still, this information made clear that while dithering on what to do for his cultivation was possible in the short-term, it was not possible in the long-term. Still… Wu Ying placed the scroll alongside the sword and moved on.
Potions, pills, and pastes. No poisons—but that kind of thing wouldn’t be sold in a merchant’s shop. Few cultivators would ever want to be known to be a poison user. As for medicines, while there were numerous medicines that were particularly useful for any specific ailment—over-drafting of chi, meridian healing, internal injuries, and more—Wu Ying was no doctor. Better to go with something a little more generic. He picked up the bottle of pills that promised to speed up healing before he turned to the cultivation resources.
The various cultivation resources could roughly be divided into three areas: those that directly helped within any single cultivation grade, like the Meridian Cleansing Pill; those that aided the development of one’s affinity to a specific element; and those that helped with enlightenment. Of course, Wu Ying recalled his father’s derisive tone about those who sought enlightenment via drugs. His father had famously characterized those cultivators as dung-rolling, goat-loving slackers.
With those words ringing in his mind, Wu Ying looked at the cultivation boosters. Even the basic Meridian Cleansing pill by an apprentice alchemist was worth nearly twenty taels for a full bottle. Setting the pills aside, Wu Ying eyed the various jade adornments clustered next to the pills. Those made no sense to him.
“What are the jade pieces for?” Wu Ying asked.
“You know how jade can protect and collects chi? Most of these have been worked to collect ambient chi. When placed on the body, it speeds up cultivation as they provide another source of chi. Of course, in time, you might need to recharge the jade,” the merchant said, walking over and pointing at a pale bracelet. “Take this one for example. This is moon jade, charmed to draw chi from moonlight. When placed out in the open during the full moon, it absorbs and cleanses the chi of the moonlight. When you next cultivate, you will be able to draw that chi into your body, speeding up the process. Of course, it’s more effective for fire-aspected cultivators. Air cultivators find it good too.”
“Thank you. Are there any you could recommend?” Wu Ying said, curiosity aroused.
“For you?” The merchant eyed Wu Ying and the cores before sweeping his gaze over the bottle of healing pills, the sword, and the cultivation manual in Wu Ying’s hand. “Perhaps this bracelet. It’s unaspected and unworked, so it’s only marginally effective. But if you find a charm-maker or blacksmith, you could have it fixed. The quality is quite good after all.”
“Thank you.”
Since Wu Ying looked to be done with asking, the merchant walked back to his counter and continued to clean his wares. Wu Ying browsed through the cultivation aids a little longer, briefly eying the various protective talismans before discarding them and picking up the jade bracelet.
After placing the bottle of healing pills and the bracelet on the table in front of the merchant, Wu Ying unhooked his sword. “I’d like to see if I can trade this in too.”
“May I?” The merchant gestured.
“Of course. It is broken, but the iron could be reused,” Wu Ying warned.
“Ah.” Taking his hand back, the merchant shook his head. “I’m sorry, we don’t deal with broken weapons at all. There are a few blacksmiths you could see about this. But for the rest, we can certainly talk.”
Wu Ying sighed but took back the sword, strapping it back to his belt. He leaned forward, a smile crossing his lips as he got ready to haggle.
A half hour later, Wu Ying walked out of the store with everything he’d wanted and an additional two tael. Whistling, Wu Ying made his way to the recommended blacksmith, where another short period of bargaining commenced. Afterward, Wu Ying walked out with a simple belt knife, one that could be used for cutting bread, chopping meat, or stabbing enemies as needed.
Having completed his errands, Wu Ying made his way back to the inn while musing about the remainder of his free time. A nagging guilt informed Wu Ying that he had placed his training to the side in the last few days in his attempt to hurry to the city. A couple of days of dedicated practice could do wonders. But as Wu Ying walked through the city, he knew that he would be remiss in leaving without seeing some of the sights. There were palatial buildings, temples, cultivated parks, and martial arts centers to see! And, most importantly, new cuisine to taste.