Chapter 19: Extremely Calm Chen Mo
Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Extremely Calm Chen Mo
Chen Mo wondered, "An old fool?"
He didn’t need to listen closely to know that the snobby woman from last year had returned.
But who was the "old fool" she was talking about?
Judging by the direction they were coming from, they must have just left Xiao Changhua’s place.
"Junior Sister Si, to me, it was just a matter of a few words," Li Shangxian said with a faint smile. "Do you think advancing one grade every two years is easy?"
"It’s very easy. It only took me half a year to go from the Qi Refining Third Layer to the Qi Refining Fourth Layer." Si Yu’s eyes widened, a somewhat smug expression on her face.
"Ahem... That’s just you and me. For someone who has already been eliminated by the Sect, advancing one grade in two years is as difficult as ascending to the heavens!" With that, Li Shangxian turned to look at the Pavilion Master of the Ancient Dust Marketplace. "If I remember correctly, Master Niu took two years to advance a grade."
Chen Mo wondered, "Master Niu?"
He discreetly glanced at the middle-aged Cultivator, who was dressed in yellowish-green hemp clothes with a Daoist bun coiled at the back of his head.
He looked completely ordinary. To think that this man was actually the Pavilion Master of the Ancient Dust Marketplace!
Didn’t that mean Niu’s Shop was this man’s family business?
"Senior Brother Li certainly has a good memory!" Master Niu praised.
"My memory is good too!" Si Yu suddenly pouted, grumbling in dissatisfaction. She then pointed abruptly at Chen Mo, who was watching the spectacle from the sidelines. "Him. I remember him. He was the one practicing the Flaming Palm last year."
The relationship between Si Yu and Li Shangxian was highly subtle.
Many Female Cultivators on Purple Cloud Peak wanted to become Senior Brother Li’s Dao Companion, but none of them could even catch his eye.
As the Peak Master’s youngest disciple, Si Yu’s Talent was in no way inferior to Li Shangxian’s. Her youthful heart would occasionally skip a beat for him.
However, she also felt an urgent need to catch up to his footsteps.
Thus, the relationship between the two grew increasingly elusive.
"Junior Sister has a good memory!" Li Shangxian teased.
It was meant as a joke, but it took on a different flavor when it reached Si Yu.
"Come, perform the Flaming Palm for me again," she ordered.
Chen Mo didn’t refuse. He could hear the odd tone in their conversation; it sounded more like flirting than anything else.
But that wasn’t his concern.
Right now, he only hoped these people would quickly collect their grain and scram so they wouldn’t delay his Cultivation!
With a WHOOSH, blazing flames instantly ignited over both of Chen Mo’s palms.
Of course, it was still thirty percent weaker than his normal Cultivation level!
But how could this discrepancy escape Si Yu’s eyes?
She demanded angrily, "Use your full strength!"
Chen Mo furrowed his brows slightly. At her words, the flames in his hands flared brighter.
"Strike!"
In the next instant, a Mastery Realm Flaming Palm shot forth from his hands.
Although Si Yu looked down on the Flaming Palm—she wouldn’t even cast a second glance at such low-level Magic, let alone practice it—her lack of practice didn’t mean she lacked an eye for it!
"Mastery Realm?"
At this, Li Shangxian also grew interested.
Of course, he couldn’t quite remember what Realm the other party had been at before. After all, there were tens of thousands of Spirit Plant Cultivators on Purple Cloud Peak; it was impossible for him to remember all of them.
"Yes," Chen Mo replied.
"What Realm were you at last year?" Si Yu asked again.
"Skillful Perfection," Chen Mo spouted nonsense.
Hearing this, both Li Shangxian and Niu Youliang nodded in understanding.
Going from Skillful Perfection to Mastery in a year was considered normal. There was no need to pay it too much mind.
However, the instigator of this entire affair grew excited. "Your Talent is quite good. If you can cultivate the Flaming Palm to Minor Achievement within two years, I’ll take you as my disciple!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Niu Youliang and Li Shangxian both turned to look at her.
Then, the once-in-a-millennium genius of Purple Cloud Peak couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh. He hadn’t expected his Junior Sister to be so competitive even in this regard.
"Thank you, Immortal!" Chen Mo cupped his fists and bowed.
Inwardly, however, he was completely uninterested.
He thought, "Two years? Why would I need two years! In at most thirty-three days, my Flaming Palm will reach Minor Achievement! But would I actually acknowledge her as my master?"
Although Chen Mo didn’t know the full context, such casual verbal promises made in private were definitely not as simple as they sounded!
Moreover, his Golden Finger was tied to the land, and his roots were in the land.
He was dead set on being a Spirit Plant Cultivator!
"Junior Sister, stop fooling around," Li Shangxian said as he collected all the grain piled on the ground, not even bothering to ask how many pounds there were.
"How am I fooling around?"
"Alright, let’s go."
Without giving Si Yu a chance to retort, his Flying Sword took to the sky, and they disappeared from Chen Mo’s sight.
"Junior Sister Si, what you said earlier was somewhat inappropriate," Li Shangxian remarked.
"How was it inappropriate? Is advancing a Realm in two years easy? It took me three whole years to take my Nine Heavens Profound Sword Technique from Mastery to Minor Achievement!"
Niu Youliang burst out laughing.
"What kind of Magic is that? And what kind of Magic is the Flaming Palm? Can their Cultivation difficulties even be compared?" Li Shangxian asked.
"Well, it’s impossible for a lowly Spirit Plant Cultivator like him to reach Minor Achievement in two years anyway," Si Yu muttered, blushing.
"That’s true," Li Shangxian nodded.
Although Junior Sister Si was indeed fooling around a bit, what might be a breeze for them would be as difficult as ascending to the heavens for a Spirit Plant Cultivator.
Even cultivating low-level Magic like the Flaming Palm required a considerable amount of resources.
In a bountiful year, it wasn’t impossible for one to halt their Cultivation and focus solely on practicing Magic.
But as for whether there would be bountiful harvests for three consecutive years?
That was hard to say!
"Besides, if he really came to me shamelessly asking to be my disciple, I’d just kill him!"
The word "kill" came out of Si Yu’s mouth as calmly as if she were talking about slaughtering a chicken or a sheep.
As for the two men listening?
They didn’t feel there was anything wrong with it either.
***
After sending off the three gods of plague, Chen Mo finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The thousand-odd pounds of grain buried underground hadn’t been discovered, meaning he could splurge wildly next year.
Afterward, he went to the fields. Holding a piece of Spiritual Sand in one hand, he began his breathing exercises.
For the past few days, his life consisted of a simple two-point routine.
During the day, he continuously consumed Spiritual Sand, practiced his Qi Cultivation Technique, and communed with heaven and earth to nurture the five acres of Spirit Fields he had contracted.
When evening fell, he would return to his house and practice the Flaming Palm over and over again.
Right now, Chen Mo’s eyes were only fixed on his incrementally increasing experience points. Before reaching the Qi Refining Second Layer, he absolutely wouldn’t consider selling his grain!
As for Niu’s Shop’s rent?
Since they held a monopoly on seeds, they weren’t afraid that the Spirit Plant Cultivators wouldn’t come to hand over their grain!
They could wait a month; they could wait two months.
Chen Mo could wait, and Niu’s Shop could wait, but there were some who couldn’t.
On the desolate main road leading to the Ancient Dust Marketplace, the masked Tribulation Cultivators who had made a killing last year were back to their old trade.
"Boss, it’s been over half a month. That guy still hasn’t shown up."
Last year, they had robbed more than twenty Spirit Plant Cultivators, failing only once. They originally thought that dealing with an old lady, even if she was also at the Qi Refining Third Layer, would definitely be a sure thing. Who would have thought her Flaming Palm would be so powerful!
They had wanted to settle for the next best thing and make a small profit instead.
But the old lady wouldn’t even give them that shred of face!
Of course, they were fortunate enough to hear that she had died, so they absolutely had to reclaim their lost dignity from that kid this year!