Seeing Yu Mi’s complexion wasn’t great, Bao Gu asked, “Senior Sister, what did the little monkey say?”
Yu Mi replied, “It asked to brew Monkey Wine, demanding a large amount of spiritual fruits and medicines of at least the sixth or seventh grade, and said it needs a hundred years to age it.”
Bao Gu said, “Don’t be annoyed with the little monkey, Senior Sister. If it’s top-quality Monkey Wine, it wouldn’t fetch such an astonishing price otherwise. Rarity adds value; no matter how good something is, it’s worthless if it’s everywhere. We don’t necessarily need wine aged for a hundred years; we can sell some with less aging. It’s like selling grain; although fine grain is good, not everyone can afford it, and most people will choose to buy cheaper, coarser grain.”
Seeing Bao Gu talk about business as if she were a different person, Yu Mi couldn’t help but laugh, saying, “I didn’t see you as the business type.” With Bao Gu so adept at business, she had nothing to worry about. The Duobao Spirit Monkey chose Bao Gu over her, so it wasn’t her place to interfere too much. She handed Bao Gu a jade slip, saying, “This is for you!”
Bao Gu took the jade slip and pressed it to his forehead to read it with his mind, finding it contained information about various spiritual beasts.
Yu Mi said, “Bao Gu, the Duobao Spirit Monkey has chosen you, so you must treat it well. Top-grade spiritual stones are rare and precious, only produced by top-grade spiritual veins, and the output of top-grade spiritual stones is only between dozens to hundreds. Even the entire Xuantian Sect couldn’t produce so many spiritual stones. But with your Five Elements Root, it’s probably only enough for your initial use.”
Bao Gu listened to Yu Mi’s words without saying anything, just nodding vigorously.
Yu Mi said, “While we have some time now, let me tell you about the common knowledge of the cultivation world and teach you a few commonly used formations.” She sat down on a chair nearby and started from the most common and useful spiritual stones, spiritual wines, spiritual pills, and treasures in the cultivation world, all the way to cultivation weapons and spells, and finally taught Bao Gu a few commonly used formations and minor spells.
Searching for spiritual mines, brewing spiritual wine, refining spiritual pills and treasures, crafting cultivation weapons, practicing spells, and formations are all necessary auxiliary skills for cultivation, essential basic skills that every cultivator must learn and master.
It’s not something that can be achieved overnight; she could only give Bao Gu a preliminary introduction to these basics and pass on the secrets for Bao Gu to study slowly in the future. She brought Bao Gu down the mountain to Yun City, so she had to teach Bao Gu a few self-defense skills, thus teaching a few commonly used formations and spells, and gave Bao Gu two weapons.
One was a treasure sword refined by her little aunt, a Golden Core period magical weapon. The other was a battle axe she bought from a spiritual treasure shop according to Bao Gu’s preference, also a Golden Core period magical weapon.
Yu Mi gave both weapons to Bao Gu, saying, “I know you’re used to axes, so I prepared one for you. The sword is the king of weapons, used by most cultivators. Also, you’re very likely to inherit from our ancestor, and perhaps his Xuantian Sword is with you. Whether to use a sword or an axe, it’s up to you to decide. Both are Golden Core period magical weapons. With your current strength, you can’t activate their power, but having Golden Core period magical weapons in hand gives you a better chance of survival when facing enemies.”
Bao Gu accepted the sword and battle axe, saying, “Thank you, Senior Sister.”
Yu Mi said solemnly, “Any disciple from a cultivation sect or a cultivator family receives far less resources than you. This is Lingyun Peak pooling all its resources to cultivate you; Lingyun Peak’s last assets are all on us now. You and I are Lingyun Peak’s last hope. Do you understand?”
Bao Gu nodded vigorously, saying, “Senior Sister, I understand.”
Yu Mi smiled again, saying, “I’ve made it sound too serious; you’re only at the third level of Qi cultivation.”
Bao Gu said, “I will cultivate diligently.”
Yu Mi said, “I thought I would be Lingyun Peak’s hope for rising, but this damned monkey made me realize that perhaps you are Lingyun Peak’s hope for rising.”
As she spoke, she saw the damned monkey she mentioned poke its head out from behind Bao Gu’s hair, staring at her with big round eyes and even baring its teeth at her. Yu Mi glared back at the Duobao Spirit Monkey, saying, “You still dare to bare your teeth? If it weren’t for you eating all the medicinal fields, how could Lingyun Peak have fallen to such a state!”
The Duobao Spirit Monkey shrank its head back and hid in Bao Gu’s hair again.
Bao Gu said, “Senior Sister, don’t we have so many top-grade spiritual stones? Just buy some spiritual medicines to plant!”
Yu Mi laughed wryly, saying, “You make it sound so easy! Most of the spiritual medicines in the cultivation world are controlled by the various forces to cultivate their own disciples and successors, almost none are sold. Lingyun Peak is so poor, I wouldn’t sell Lingyun Peak’s spiritual medicines, let alone those large cultivation forces with many disciples and huge demand? What’s available on the market are usually low-grade spiritual medicines that are easy to plant and harvest, and those occasionally picked by rogue cultivators, and basically, they’ve lost all vitality and can only be used for pill refining, not for planting. The medicines in Lingyun Peak’s back mountain are the accumulation of over thirty thousand years, some of which have even gone extinct outside!”
Mentioning the spiritual medicines, she was so angry that tears welled up in her eyes, her heart bleeding.
Bao Gu remained silent, only gently raising her hand to touch the Duobao Spirit Monkey clutching her collar.
The Duobao Spirit Monkey gently scratched her finger with its little paw, emitting a weak “squeak” sound, almost like a mosquito’s hum.
Yu Mi said, “It’s getting late; let’s go to the auction!” Saying this, she dispelled the formation that isolated them from outside prying and prepared to leave.
The Duobao Spirit Monkey emerged from Bao Gu’s hair and sat on her shoulder, letting out a loud “squeak” and raising a wine gourd high above its head!
Yu Mi turned around abruptly, shocked at the sight of the wine gourd! Damned monkey, didn’t you say there was no more Monkey Wine?
Bao Gu also turned her head in shock, staring at the golden wine gourd right under her eyes! She hadn’t seen any storage-type magical tools on the Duobao Spirit Monkey; where did it get this wine from?
The Duobao Spirit Monkey threw the wine gourd over its head towards Yu Mi, then hid back in Bao Gu’s hair.
Yu Mi caught the wine gourd, pulled the stopper slightly, and found it was indeed a whole gourd of top-quality Monkey Wine! The damned monkey just said there was none left, it actually lied! Yu Mi was actually deceived by a monkey! This thieving monkey, was it trying to make amends for its guilt?
Bao Gu called out, “Senior Sister—”
Yu Mi came back to her senses and stored the Monkey Wine in her storage bracelet. She said to Bao Gu, “Let’s go!”
Bao Gu followed Yu Mi in a daze, asking, “Senior Sister, where did it hide the wine?”
Yu Mi answered, “In its belly’s universe! Don’t be fooled by its palm-sized body; its stomach is more useful than your storage bag.” Otherwise, why call it Duobao Spirit Monkey!
The two left the inn, and outside was bustling with people, no longer discussing.
Yu Mi led Bao Gu to the auction hall of the Treasure Pavilion.
Thanks to Bao Gu’s invitation letter, the two were directly invited into a private room on the second floor.
The maid respectfully seated them, served tea, explained the auction rules, and then withdrew.
The wall directly opposite was made of a formation. Sitting in the private room, they could overlook everything on the first floor, even clearly hearing the outside noise. However, people outside couldn’t detect anything happening inside the private room. Even if someone inside the private room shouted themselves hoarse or killed someone, as long as the formation inside the private room wasn’t broken, those outside wouldn’t notice.
There was an object like a Bagua mirror on the tea table, through which the people in the private room could participate in the auction. Maids and servants were waiting outside the door, ready to be summoned at any time.
This was Yu Mi’s first time in a private room. Because of poverty, she had only attended an auction once before, standing behind the seats on the first floor. She couldn’t afford a magical treasure for two hundred mid-grade spirit stones, unlike now, when she was wealthy and powerful.
She noticed Bao Gu only showed a hint of surprise when she first saw the crystal wall upon entering, then had no other reaction, leisurely enjoying the spiritual tea, not at all like it was her first time at an auction. Yu Mi laughed, “You’re quite composed!”
Bao Gu asked in confusion, “What?”
Yu Mi laughed, “Nothing!”
Bao Gu put down her tea, laughing, “Qing Shan County has an antique auction, which also has such private rooms, but at Qing Shan County’s auction, everything is shouted out loud. Sometimes, when the wealthy merchants get excited, they would stand up, roll up their sleeves, and shout themselves, turning red-faced and thick-necked.”
Yu Mi was taken aback, asking, “You’ve been to auctions in the mortal world?”
“Yeah, I went whenever my dad went. The tea and pastries at the auction were delicious, and watching the wealthy merchants compete was so interesting! Several items in my dowry were bought by my dad at auctions.” Bao Gu’s expression dimmed as she said, “It cost a lot of silver back then, but it all became worthless in the cultivation world.”
Yu Mi said, “Your dad loves you; he would be happy for you if he knew you could enter the cultivation world. My family has many siblings, and it was already not easy for my parents to support us, let alone provide a dowry. My elder sister’s dowry was made from the bride price given by her husband’s family, and her in-laws disliked her for the small dowry, treating her poorly. Seeing my sister’s situation, I didn’t want to get married and suffer that humiliation. Just when I was about to reach the age for marriage and coincidentally heard the old people in the village talking about Yun City, I ran away to Yun City.”
She paused, then asked, “Do you want to get married?”
Bao Gu shook her head repeatedly.
Yu Mi said, “You don’t want to get married but still care about your dowry?”
Bao Gu replied, “The dowry is valuable, of course, I care.”
“Now it’s worthless!”
“It was given by my dad!”
Yu Mi had nothing to say because she also kept the bow made by her dad in her storage bracelet. Many cultivators believe that to cultivate, one must cut off worldly ties to avoid being burdened and affecting their cultivation. However, she always believed that whether cultivating or living, there should be things in the heart that can’t be abandoned. If everything can be abandoned and cut off, what’s left at the end of cultivation? What’s the point of pursuing immortality?
Unintentionally, Yu Mi’s gaze fell on Bao Gu again. She suddenly felt that having Bao Gu with her to manage Lingyun Peak and having Bao Gu as a companion on the path of cultivation was not bad, but she wondered if the seemingly silly Bao Gu, who buried her head in consuming spiritual medicines and cultivating, had her or Lingyun Peak in her heart.
Yu Mi saw the auctioneer walk onto the auction stage and said to Bao Gu, “The auction is starting!” She gathered her thoughts and stopped thinking about other things.
