The young master laughed as he knew that it was impossible too. Alchemist Masters were a respected occupation. They would never sell herbs at Liberty Street even if they were beginner Alchemists who could only yield Grade-1 elixirs. Moreover, he could tell that the person donning the bamboo-hat was at a young age based on his voice. There must be factions willing to hire and cultivate him If he had become an Alchemist at his age.

 “You must not be an ordinary person even if you are not an Alchemist.” The young master smiled and said. “I’ll have this Nine-Petals Orchid as a symbol of the start of a new friendship. Li Feng, pay for it.”

 The guard who casted the Wind-Mystical-Spirit Snake nodded and took out a small purse. He took out a gold coin piece and placed it onto the bluestone slab.

 “Winged-Tiger Coin!” The merchant of Stall Number 96, Tiger Li, exclaimed at the sight of the coin. He opened his eyes wide and displayed a somewhat terrified face.

 A Winged-Tiger Coin could be exchanged for ten Leopard Coins. It was the same value as one hundred Wolf Coins.

 Xu Yang was surprised. A Winged-Tiger Coin could support a family with one child to live comfortably for one year. The price that the young master paid for the Nine-Petals Orchid was way too high.

 The Nine-Petals Orchid was good but the one he bought from Xu Yang only had three colours. Its grade was too low. If it had one more color, its price would increase by ten to a hundred times.

 “This Nine-Petals Orchid is only valued at fifty Wolf Coins.” Xu Yang looked at him and said placidly. “It is a huge loss for you if you use a Winged-Tiger Coin to buy it.”

 The young master laughed and said, “It doesn’t matter. I just want to be friends with you. My name is Li Wang and I live in the northern city. You don’t have to feel that you owe me anything. It is a fair trade.”

 The young master took his leave as he said so, and the two guards followed close behind.

 Tiger Li, the butcher, had his eyes wide open all this while, as he looked at half of Xu Yang’s face shown under the bamboo hat. He was envious and jealous.

 Xu Yang put away the Winged-Tiger Coin and started to tidy up his stall.

 “Sh*t. What kind of sh*t luck is that.” Tiger Li cursed. He could not even earn a Leopard Coin after having worked hard for one month. This made him feel frustrated.

 That teenager with the bamboo hat had just told him not to be ironic and had stopped acknowledging his presence. He was ashamed as he had been ignored from the beginning up till the end.

 Xu Yang went to the bank and exchanged the Winged-Tiger Coin to one hundred Wolf Coins. The coins made clanging sounds in his purse. This made him feel steady and more assured.

 Xu Yang returned to Liberty Street again and purchased several items that he had decided to buy earlier on. He went home after spending dozens of Wolf Coins.

 “Brother, you’re back.” It was already noon. Xu Yu exclaimed, “It’s time to prepare lunch.”

 “I bought some grains, rice and several kilograms of beast meat.” Xu Yang hummed and answered, “Xu Yu, here are fifty Wolf Coins. You can spend it as you please.” He threw a leather pouch to Xu Yu.

 Xu Yu took the pouch without thinking much about it. When she finally realized that it was not a small amount, after a short silence, she said, “Wha… what? Fifty Wolf Coins?”

 Xu Yu opened the pouch hurriedly and found that there really were fifty coins with a wolf’s head inside. She was surprised. “Where did you get such a large amount of money, Brother?”

 Xu Yang chortled seeing Xu Yu’s frightened facial expression like he had done something bad. However, he was touched by the concern shown by his sister.

 Xu Yang rubbed his nose and turned his back on Xu Yu and said, “What are you thinking of? I got the money after I sold the herbs I brought back from the Python Mountains.”

 Xu Yu believed in his words, but instead of taking the money, she returned the pouch to him. “You need to spend a lot of money on your Mystical Cultivation. You should take the money.”

 Xu Yang sighed hearing the sensible words of his ten-year-old sister. He turned around and held onto Xu Yu’s thin hand. “Take it. I promise to make more money in the future and we will never have to worry about money.”

 Xu Yu stared at Xu Yang with her shiny eyes. She kept the leather pouch under Xu Yang’s insistence.

 “Okay.” Xu Yu took the pouch and hid it in the nightstand. She sat on her bed and mumbled, “I have to go to the Luo Cang Rice Shop to buy a pack of rice. They will give me an adequate amount. Then, I’m going to the fabric shop to make some clothes for my brother…”

 Looking at the ten-year-old Xu Yu planning for the expenses of their small family, Xu Yang’s eyes were moist. He took a long breath and walked out of the room quietly.

 “All of the required materials have been prepared. It’s time to start working… The Fire-Cloud Dojo’s Ascetic Team will return to Lin Yuan City within ten days. The people of Vast-Guard Dojo will find out about the elimination of their ascetic team soon. I must have the ability to protect myself before that.”

 Xu Yang looked somber. He measured the length and width of the ruined mansion with his feet. Next, he calculated the bearings and dug a one-foot deep hole in eight locations respectively.

 “What are you doing, Brother?” Xu Yu walked out of the door and asked when she saw Xu Yang digging holes.

 After putting down the last shovel of dirt, Xu Yang stood up and said, “Xu Yu, please bring me the carving knife.”

 The obedient Xu Yu had no more questions but trotted into the house and brought him the carving knife.

 Xu Yang squatted down and placed eight half-foot long, square, light-yellow peach wood boards on the ground. He used a red pen to draw several fine red lines on them.

 Mysterious patterns were drawn on the eight light-yellow wooden boards within half an hour. Xu Yang breathed a sigh of relief. He took the carving knife and started sculpting according to these marks.

 This was one of the self-protection methods prepared by Xu Yang. It was called the Mystical-Restrictive Array.

 The young master named Li Wang had guessed wrongly about Xu Yang’s identity. Xu Yang not only knew how to produce elixirs but had also acquired deeper knowledge in smithing and rune writing that exceeded that of this era’s.

 Besides the acquisition of knowledge, producing elixirs, smithing and rune writing required an excellent control of Mystical Energy and a strong Mind Power. Xu Yang was used to absorbing Mystical Energy from nature in the era when Mystical Energy was scarce. Thus, he might have the best controlling ability of Mystical Energy among the Mystical Learners, and he might even be better than some of the Mystical Warriors.

 1Mind Power was a kind of mysterious power that Xu Yang did not know much about. However, his Mind Power had become stronger after he had travelled through time to come to this era. This might be credited to the fusion of the souls of the two Xu Yangs.

 Xu Yang was capable of creating the layout for the Mortal-tier array with these conditions although he was only a Mystical Learner.

 The Mystical-Restrictive Array he produced could restrict the use of Mystical Power of Mystical Warriors in the area. Even Mystical Masters could be influenced too.

 Xu Yang remembered the first Mystical Warrior he had killed, Hong Xi. He was killed because he had no Mystical Power at that time.

 Xu Yang launched his Star Ocean and infused Mystical Energy into the tracks of the runes when he was done carving.

 A touch of luster lit up on the eight peach wood boards one by one. It was as if they had been infused by the breath of life. They vibrated and resonated with each other.

 “It is so beautiful.” Xu Yu said in amazement.

 Xu Yang smiled and buried the activated runes into the holes he had dug.

 After the last peach wood board was buried, Xu Yang took out a piece of wood chip carved with the word “Restrict” and infused it with Mystical Energy.

 Suddenly, the entire yard was covered by a faint restriction force. Xu Yang and Xu Yu could not feel the force as they had no Mystical Power. However, if a Mystical Warrior were to come in, he would be shocked to find that he had lost connection with the Mystical Power he was proud of.

 Xu Yang withdrew the Mystical Energy on the wood chip and the restriction force disappeared in a flash. The wood chip was the switch to launch the Mystical-Restrictive Array.

 Xu Yu ate the rice, as well as the fragrant beast meat, with a ravenous appetite during lunch. Her small mouth was greasy, and she rambled on about how delicious the food was.

 “Eat slowly, I will not snatch your food.” Xu Yang was becoming more and more like an older brother. He advised with a smile, “There will be more delicious food in the future. I must feed you till you are fat and round.”

 Xu Yan’s little mouth was full of rice and shredded meat. She mumbled slurrily and then began to clean out her bowl.

 Xu Yang stood up after he was full.

 ‘Although there is a Mystical-Restrictive Array, it is not enough for me to defeat a Mystical Warrior. I could kill Hong Xi last time because he underestimated his opponent.’ Xu Yang’s eyes gleamed, ‘Hence, I must cultivate a body strengthening technique to improve my melee-combating strength.’

 Divine Roc’s Incarnation could boost his speed. Bull’s Vigor could enhance his strength. Elephant Emperor’s Dominance not only further enhances strength but also increases vitality… Xu Yang examined the techniques in his mind. He found that although the techniques were good, they also needed stronger cultivation to cultivate. It was tough for him to cultivate these techniques even for the Bull’s Vigor that required the lowest level of cultivation as his cultivation was at the Intermediate-Tier of a Mystical Learner.

 1Moreover, cultivating Bull’s Vigor could intensify the strength of his fist but it did not help in increasing the defense ability of one’s body. It was not the best choice for Xu Yang who needed to increase his resistance ability.

 Finally, Xu Yang’s mind was focused on a defensive Mystical Technique.

 Rock Body!

 It was a defensive Mystical Technique focused on strengthening one’s body. It required Earth-Extreme Mystical Cultivators to cultivate but it was not a problem for Xu Yang who had Mystical Veins that had eight balanced extremes.

 Although the Rock Body technique was a low-tier Mortal Mystical Technique, it was the opening chapter to a high-tier Divine Mystical Technique—Indestructible Body.

 1However, he would need some herbs as an aid of cultivating the skill. The most important spirit herb was the Red Dragon Root. Although it was not as rare as the Nine-Petals Orchid, it was still a graded spirit herb. It cost at least twenty Wolf Coins.

 Furthermore, it was hard to buy a real graded spirit herb from Liberty Street which had a lot of counterfeit goods. Xu Yang decided to go to the northern city.

 The largest trading centre in Lin Yuan City, Thousand-Treasures Pavilion, was located there.