Chapter 97: Loose Cultivator Crosses the Sea

  Bai Qi turned his head and saw a red-robed Taoist standing dozens of feet behind him, smiling faintly.

  That red-robed Taoist had three long whiskers, a ruddy complexion, long eyebrows and fine eyes, with an otherworldly air about him. Bai Qi also knew how to gauge the level of a cultivator, and this Taoist seemed similar to himself - both were in the initial or middle stages of Nascent Soul. Yet he had approached within dozens of feet without being detected.

  Although it's dozens of feet away, for a cultivator in the Nascent Soul stage, the law enforcement is almost instantaneous.

  There were also those like Zi Hong who came from a prestigious family and made rapid progress, cultivating swordsmanship to the point of being able to split light and shadows. In a sneak attack from behind, Bai Qi was already dead.

  Bai Qi realized that he was being overly cautious, suspecting danger everywhere. In Zhongzhou, the competition among cultivators had already begun, but it was still far from as intense as in the other eight major states. Even with the Night Emperor Sect's expansion, they hadn't completely eliminated the smaller sects.

  "I am indeed going to cross the sea." Bai Qi didn't speak idly, this red-robed Taoist was unfamiliar even to himself, and he had never shown his face among the people of Luo Fu Men, unless the Luo Fu immortal came before him, he could still detect the remaining evil energy on his body.

  "Where does fellow Taoist wish to go?"

  "Just searching for immortals, if there's no opportunity, go to Shen Zhou and take a look. I heard that the refining Qi door is prosperous there, with countless trading venues, where you can buy cultivation incantations." Bai Qi disguised himself as an unaffiliated refiner, he knew that many such refiners left Zhongzhou, crossed the sea, wanting to obtain true immortal cultivation methods.

  The red-robed Taoist said, "Fellow Taoist, from Zhongzhou to Shen Zhou, there are a hundred million miles of distance. Although there are islands in the middle of the road where you can rest your feet, most of the islands above are inhabited by demons and monsters. The demons and monsters in the vast ocean, even the weaker ones, have the power of Jindan cultivators."

  "Oh?" Bai Qi looked at the red-clothed Taoist with a smile. He was neither hurried nor impatient, but that red-clothed Taoist felt somewhat embarrassed and had to speak straightforwardly.

  "Fellow Taoist, you're a loose cultivator, aren't you?"

  "Hmm, exactly." Bai Qi lost his school gate, and it's not an exaggeration to say that he was a loose cultivator.

  "Fellow Taoist, why don't we cross the sea together and seek opportunities in the Divine State? In this Middle State, the Night Emperor's Gate is rampant, and those four major sects also turn a blind eye to us scattered cultivators. Only in a place like the Divine State can scattered cultivators have a chance to rise."

  Bai furrowed his brow, and the red-robed Taoist said: "It's not just you and me, there are many of us Qi-refining masters. In the town ahead, several people have already gathered, making a total of twenty. With more people, it's generally safer."

  "How should I address you, fellow Taoist?" Bai Qi didn't respond directly, instead walking closer to the red-robed Taoist, no longer using their Taoist techniques to communicate with each other. At a distance of several dozen zhang, ordinary people's conversation would have been blown away by the sea breeze long ago.

  "No sect, no school, and no Taoist name; commonly known as Zhan Bu, with a courtesy name of Feng Xian."

  "Feng Xian?" Bai Qi was puzzled, this Taoist priest looked majestic and dignified, why did he choose a courtesy name that sounded like a woman's?

  The Taoist smiled wryly and said, "Just call me to unfold it, the great Jin dynasty has been destroyed, that Confucian school's moral integrity, no one cares about it anymore."

  Bai Qi thought he had guessed correctly and laughed, saying: "Brother Bai Qi, just call me Little White, we're loose cultivators, no need for so much etiquette."

  He wouldn't dare use the name Qing Yu Zi again, and people from Ye Di Men might still be looking for him. On the other hand, the name Bai Qi is completely unknown among cultivators, no one would associate it with the son of a national duke of Great Jin Dynasty.

  That exhibition also laughed, Bai Qi started to get nervous, and then relaxed, which is also a characteristic of loose cultivation.

  "Then follow me," Zhang Bu said, his feet moving swiftly as he headed towards the small town in the south. This Zhang Bu's Taoist skill was clearly inferior to Bai Qi's, with his feet barely touching the ground; this kind of skill was much weaker than any of Bai Qi's flying Taoist skills. It was all thanks to Zhang Bu having the powerful strength of the Hua Shen stage that he could keep up, otherwise he would have been left far behind.

  Bai Qi hesitated for a moment, then used the Sword Teleportation Technique to follow him. This technique was not very subtle, and his gaze was not particularly low. If he had used the Lotus Step or the Wind Riding Technique, he would have definitely been seen as having a powerful master or obtaining a mysterious inheritance.

  His sword evasion technique was fast, but his swordsmanship was only at the level of transforming into a rainbow boundary and had not yet reached the level of cutting through the divine.

  The display looks in the eyes, and it is believed that this Bai Qi is a loose cultivator. Among the loose cultivators, the most used are sword escapes, because they are fast enough, even if they consume some yuanqi, but at critical moments, they can save their lives.

  The town was not far away, and even if they were scattered, it would only take a moment to arrive. What Bai Qi saw made his mood more peaceful. In a dilapidated inn, five cultivators sat in the main hall drinking tea together.

  These cultivators don't even have a single decent magical artifact on them. They're all dressed in plain, high-quality equipment. Moreover, only Xian Bu is a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, the rest are just peak Foundation Establishment.

  The exhibition brought a person, these people stood up and exchanged pleasantries with Bai Qi, looking like a group of businessmen.

  Wandering in poverty, Bai Qi only gained insight today. The items on the five cultivators' bodies combined are not worth as much as his single dan medicine. Even if each person hid their best equipment, Bai Qi couldn't think of anything these people had that was worth robbing.

  Na Zhuanbu saw these five people and frowned: "Why are there two fewer?"

  One of them, a cultivator wearing linen clothes and carrying a long sword at his waist, said with a bitter face: "He was taken away."

  Embarrassed to show his face, in this small town, there were not just him who went to the Divine State. His core combat power was not strong, some people came and were pulled away by other teams, always unable to gather enough manpower.

  However, he calmly said, "It doesn't matter, this Taoist friend is called Bai Qi, a Xian Tian cultivator. We will be much safer on our way to Shen Zhou."

  Those five Qi Refiners looked at Bai Qi, and their eyes lit up instantly.

  Bai Qi forced a bitter smile, having been pursued relentlessly recently, and for a moment, he couldn't bear the adoring gaze.

  "Third Brother Bai, it's also difficult to recruit loose cultivators. Why don't we wait for two more days? With you here, no one will leave."

  Bai Qi shook his head, he was afraid that Luo Fu's people would come after him.

  "Brother Bai, this magic tool in my hand is only a low-grade magic tool. It can indeed cross the sea, but it consumes a lot of energy. With just these few people, taking turns to use it would be somewhat difficult. If we encounter demons or monsters, I'm afraid we'll be powerless to fight back."

  Bai Qi still shook his head, and Zhan Bu was a bit worried. It wasn't easy to find a companion like Bai Qi. If Bai Qi left, he didn't know when he could set off again. Just then, a young girl of seventeen or eighteen years old walked in from outside the door and rushed straight to Zhan Bu's table. "Are you crossing the sea?" she asked.

  That girl had bright eyes and white teeth, with a beautiful complexion. However, the arrogance in her eyebrows and eyes was somewhat difficult to conceal. She wore a sky blue long dress, with embroidered shoes on her feet. In the cold weather, she only added a jacket over her top, with extremely short sleeves, revealing her snow-white wrists. On one of those wrists, there was an emerald green bangle.

  "Exactly."

  "Count me in." The girl walked to the table, took a glance at the somewhat dirty bench, and still sat down. However, she ultimately didn't dare drink the tea on the table.

  The tea stains in that teapot are already half a finger thick. She was born into a noble family and can't stand this kind of filth.

  Zhan Bu was indeed a man of vision, and after he came to his senses, he looked at the young girl and said with difficulty: "Miss, we are just loose cultivators traveling together across the sea. You have a background that we can't afford to offend."

  The girl didn't expect Zhan Bu to refuse, a flash of anger appeared on her face, and then disappeared.

  "She frowned and said: 'You're afraid of trouble on me, implicating you all?'"

  Spread out and nodded, without thinking of being tactful.

  The girl thought hard, she had no experience traveling outside, but also knew the principle of not showing weakness. Originally with her family background, hiring these Qi Refiners was enough. But in the vast ocean, if these Qi Refiners wanted to take advantage of herself, that wasn't a problem that could be solved by personal strength alone.

  Finally, the girl said: "I just don't want to be pursued by the Night Emperor's Gate because my sect was destroyed. Do you know about Dan Yang Gate?"

  Zhan Bu nodded, and indeed the Dan Yang Gate was small, but the gate master was skilled in alchemy. Although the highest grade of elixirs he could produce were only of the Fa grade, they were still in short supply among scattered cultivators.

  "I have enough Rejuvenating Pellets to keep everyone's strength up during our voyage across the sea."

  The girl's one sentence made it impossible for him to refuse.

  Although the Huiqi Dan is only a precious pill, it can also be taken by cultivators in the Huashen period. The Huiqi Dan of Danyang Gate has an excellent effect, and one pill is enough to restore the yuanqi to a full state.

  This girl obviously had no experience walking outside, she said this to make Xuan Bu think that the most valuable thing on her body was the precious Hui Qi Dan, but such words, even a fool would know it's an excuse.

  However, the young girl was full of energy, her eyes sharp as a knife's edge, clearly having just reached the realm of Hua Shen. The five Qi-refining cultivators in the Qi-forming stage couldn't hide their inferiority and didn't dare to harbor any malicious intentions towards her.

  Although the Dan Yang Gate is small, the master of the gate has a wide range of connections among the scattered cultivators, and the talismans on his body will not be few. Over the years, most of the talismans obtained by the Dan Yang Gate in exchange for elixirs are used for combat. This girl also has the Hui Qi Dan, so using talismans is unlikely to be greatly restricted, which is a kind of powerful deterrent.

  Three Qi-refining stage cultivators, with the Reverted Qi Pellet supply, made Xuan Bu feel that it was worth taking a risk. He agreed to the girl's request to cross the sea, and they exchanged names. The girl's name was Zhu Guo from Dan Yang Sect.

  Zhu Guo joined in and they set off immediately without any delay.

  Eight people in a row, arrived at the seaside, and Zhan Bu took out his magic weapon, transforming into a small boat with the wind. This small boat was of course compared to the large ship sailing on the sea. The small boat was over ten zhang long, with a golden and jade-like exterior, carved with dragons and phoenixes, and it wasn't just an ordinary object, but a genuine low-grade magic weapon.

  After everyone got on the boat, Bai Qi found that the space on this boat was twice as large as it looked outside, enough to accommodate twenty people, each with their own room.

  Zhu Guo didn't hesitate either, as the only female surname Refiner, she chose the topmost room. The awkwardness was palpable, looking at Bai Qi, Bai Qi shook his head and said: "It's nothing, I rarely sleep."

  （）