Qi Cultivation Starting from the Repair Panel

The information contained within this Divine Ability was quite critical; at the very least, the existence of the Xuan Tian Seal proved that in this world, cultivation was not the only path to follow.

Martial Dao was not merely confined to the secular world, much like his Qi-refining Technique – there must have been a path of martial practice in the past that could lead one to the pinnacle of humanity.

Why the Martial Dao had declined was certainly a big secret.

If Li Mingzhou hadn't thrown that fragment of the Martial Wall into the sea, he might have had the chance to unveil this secret earlier.

Every time he thought of this, Chu Zheng couldn't help but feel sincere heartache.

Broken magic artifacts, most people would choose to melt them down with true fire, erase all traces and then either discard them or stow them away in the bottom of a chest.

Artifacts would more or less retain the traces and aura of the person who used them, which could potentially be cursed or used for tracking from afar by some cultivators with strange and surreptitious methods.

Chu Zheng crouched on the street corner, waiting for nearly two hours and only did two deals, both with the same person.

[Green Spirit Robe (First Order/Incomplete): Carrying the fragrance of recently unearthed earth, you have a discerning eye and can tell at a glance that it was stripped from the dead, recently buried. Can be repaired (0/30)]

[Chasing Cloud Boots (First Order/Incomplete): These boots have traversed countless landscapes, enough to last you a millennium, having gone through five previous owners, the soles are worn through. Can be repaired (0/50)]

If it weren't for the panel indicator, Chu Zheng wouldn't have noticed anything wrong with the Green Spirit Robe.

The robe was washed clean, only a large tear at the chest and the spirit formation stitched above were in tatters.

This disappointed Chu Zheng somewhat; it was too clean, which instead destroyed the traces of the robe's past, losing some of its essence.

The Chasing Cloud Boots were in even worse shape, with only half of the sole remaining, weathered and aged, they were quite to Chu Zheng's liking.

In the eyes of ordinary people, these two items were ridiculously dilapidated, Chu Zheng spent forty spiritual currency on each, totaling less than a single Lower Quality Spirit Stone.

He could bring these two items with him; the mine he was heading to was not within the Phantom Spirit Mountain Range and wasn't checked as strictly. A Storage Bag was definitely not allowable, but two broken magic artifacts would not attract anyone's attention.

Just as Chu Zheng was about to pack up, a voice suddenly came from above:

"Do you take this?"

Chu Zheng looked up at the sound, glanced briefly and couldn't help but be somewhat startled.

A teenager stood in front of him, no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, not far off from Chu Zheng's actual age, seemingly not yet fully grown, rather thin, wearing a washed-out pale blue robe, emitting a rich scholarly aura.

This was the first person since arriving in this world that Chu Zheng could tell at first glance was a scholar.

Moreover, this young man was a mortal, one who had never practiced any martial arts.

For such a person to appear in the eastern part of the city was quite strange.

In this area, aside from cultivators, the rest were mainly martial masters, and mortals were nowhere to be seen.

In the boy's hands was a case over two feet in length, his expression hesitant, seemingly somewhat ambivalent.

"Let me take a look."

Chu Zheng always had a certain fondness for scholars and readily reached out to take the case from the young man and opened it.

Inside the case lay a wooden sword, with only a portion remaining; the tip along with half of the blade was gone, the break covered in scorched lines.

[Heavenly Aura Sword (Sixth Order/Incomplete): Originating from a complete set of the Heavenly Aura Sword Array, one of three hundred and sixty assistant swords, made from Phoenix Blood Wood, with your current abilities, you can only complete preliminary repairs. (Preliminary repairs 0/100)]

Sixth Order!

Chu Zheng involuntarily took a sharp breath, on the same level as the Great Circulatory Qi Guideline, and this sword was merely one of the assistant swords. If he could restore the complete Heavenly Aura Sword Array, its power was simply unimaginable.

Seeing Chu Zheng's expression change, the young man became a bit flustered and quickly explained:

"This was left by my dad, he said it's a rare magic artifact. Despite being made of wood, it's resistant to axes and knives, impervious to water and fire, quite sturdy."

Chu Zheng snapped back to his senses, closed the case lid, and spoke in a deep voice:

"How many spirit stones do you plan to sell it for?"

"Spirit stones?"

The young man paused for a moment, his gaze flickered, and he tentatively stretched out five fingers: "Five lower quality spirit stones."

"Deal."

Chu Zheng had no intention of haggling over the price and nodded in agreement. He took out six lower quality spirit stones and handed them over.

"What does this mean?" The young man looked at the extra spirit stone with some confusion.

"I have some questions I'd like to ask, consider it a payment for information."

Chu Zheng spoke with a hint of urgency, "May I ask where your esteemed father acquired this broken sword from?"

The value of the Great Circulatory Qi Guideline was only sixth order, the worth of this broken sword was self-evident.

"I'm not sure about that," the young man shook his head, his expression a bit dejected:

"My dad left home three years ago, and he still hasn't returned. Nearly everything he left behind was taken by the Phantom Spirit Sect, only this magic artifact remained, it's been in our house for several years now."

"I said five pieces, so it's five. I'm not taking advantage of you."

As he spoke, the young man returned the extra spirit stone.

Chu Zheng raised his eyebrows slightly as he accepted the spirit stone, "How may I address you?"

"My name is Bai Nian."

"If there are anymore such magic artifacts in the future, you can keep them for me, I'll buy them all at the same price."

"Sure," Bai Nian replied, his face showing an unmistakable joy as he turned to leave.

Chu Zheng watched the young man walk away, lost in thought.

From the brief exchange with Bai Nian, he had roughly understood the boy's predicament.

The fact that the Phantom Spirit Sect took away the family's possessions suggested that his father must be a cultivator, perhaps even a disciple of the sect.

From the actions of the Phantom Spirit Sect, it was clear that the father's chances of survival were probably slim.

Without an Immortal Bone and no one to look after him, even lacking martial skills, striving to survive in the Illusory Spirit City was exceedingly difficult.

Chu Zheng glanced at the sky, packed up his stall, found a secluded corner at the street corner, and clasped four spirit stones in each hand, immersing himself in cultivation.

The spiritual energy within the spirit stones was more pure, the only flaw being that the Five Elements Qi was somewhat heavy, requiring Chu Zheng to spend some energy on balancing it.

The locations where spirit stone veins appeared had no fixed pattern, whether submerged under a Magma Sea, lying silently at the bottom of the Myriad Years Cold Pond, buried deep in the core of the earth alongside Immortal Gold and Divine Iron, or hidden in the vault of the heavens, falling together with meteorites.

Over the years, these spirit stones inevitably became tainted with attribute-bearing Qi, returning them to their initial state of clear yin and yang required some time.

However, even so, cultivating with the help of spirit stones was still much faster than drawing in nature's spiritual energy.

During cultivation, one hardly noticed the passing of time, and in the blink of an eye, it was already the next day's afternoon.

Fu Quanliang, with the evening glow underfoot, returned to Chu Zheng's side, his face covered in dust, his hair in disarray, appearing a bit disheveled.