Life as a Rogue Cultivator

By midday, Liu Xiaolou was back in Wunest Town. He headed straight for the town's grain shop.

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up when he saw the four burlap sacks slung over Liu's shoulder.

"Young Immortal Master Liu," he asked eagerly, "is that spiritual grain?"

Liu Xiaolou set the sacks down with a thud. "Weigh it up," he said.

Beaming, the shopkeeper called over two assistants to handle the scale, chatting as he did: "You're early this year, Young Immortal Liu; first one here! Is this from Ewe Ram Mountain?"

Watching the assistants work, Liu replied, "Where else in western Xian has spiritual fields, besides Ewe Ram?"

The weighing didn't take long; three hundred twenty-eight jin and six liang in total. Six days of hard labor, all for that.

"I'll take the remainder and leave you three hundred jin. Name your price," Liu Xiaolou said.

He didn't need that much for himself. Spiritual rice was a nice treat, sure, but he wasn't from some wealthy cultivation clan. He was on his own. Eating spirit rice like regular rice? It'd take him half a year to finish that much, and just sitting on a mountain chewing through it day after day.... how would he get anything done?

"The usual," the shopkeeper said. "One hundred jin of spirit grain for one hundred sixty taels of silver…"

"I don't want silver," Liu Xiaolou cut in. "I want spiritual stones. I know you've got some stashed away. You've got no use for them; trade them to me instead."

The shopkeeper chuckled. "Heh... Spirit stones aren't easy to come by…"

"Same rate as Ewe Ram Mountain. One spirit stone for every hundred jin of spiritual rice."

The old man gave him a knowing smile. "Trying to take advantage of me just because I'm not a cultivator? I may not know much about cultivation, but I do know the market. That penalty you're talking about from Ewe Ram Mountain? That's not the going rate."

"Then how about this," Liu Xiaolou offered. "Two spirit stones total, and I'll even throw in a hundred taels of silver. This spirit rice is first harvest; fresh as can be!"

"You're joking, Young Immortal Liu. Three hundred jin of spiritual rice goes for one and a half spirit stones on the market. Of course, there's no such thing as 'half a stone.' I'll make up the difference with two hundred taels of silver."

"My teacher just passed on, ascended to the heavens. Now it's just me, all alone in this world, no family, no one left…"

The shopkeeper frowned. "And what does your teacher's passing have to do with our deal...?"

After some back-and-forth, Liu Xiaolou ended up leaving all three hundred jin of spirit grain with the shop. He walked away with two full spirit stones. A very decent price, all things considered.

The shopkeeper glanced at the remaining twenty-some jin of rice in Liu Xiaolou's sack. "Not selling the rest?"

Liu Xiaolou smiled. "I worked hard for this harvest. I should at least taste some for myself. Honestly, I've harvested spiritual rice twice now, but never actually eaten any. I've got no idea what it tastes like. Kind of embarrassing, really."

The shopkeeper nodded. "Fair enough."

Just as they were about to wrap things up, a group of people suddenly pushed their way into the shop, crowding around a richly dressed young man. Liu Xiaolou was shoved off to the side.

He was about to speak up when one of the young man's followers shot him a cold smile, and casually showed him half a drawn sword. The rest of the blade still rested in its sheath, but already a cold, silvery glow shimmered from it like frost.

Liu Xiaolou's anger evaporated instantly. He backed off a little more without a word.

The young man didn't even glance at him. Instead, he turned to the shopkeeper with interest. "Hmm? First harvest spiritual rice? That's a rare find. I didn't know western Xiang produced spirit rice too."

The shopkeeper immediately greeted him with a wide smile. "Such poise, young master! Might I ask where you're from?"

Someone else replied on his behalf, "We're the Ouyang family from Yue Prefecture, just passing through. Don't get any ideas. Just run your business honestly, and you won't miss out on your share."

The shopkeeper's eyes widened in surprise. "So it's the young master from Lianxi Hall! This humble old servant offers his respects. This spiritual rice comes from Ewe Ram Mountain here in western Xiang; known for its strong spiritual roots. Are you interested, young master?"

"Ewe Ram Mountain?" the young man asked.

The man who'd shown his sword earlier leaned in and whispered, "Young master, we can't stay long. We have to travel through the night."

The young man nodded. "Then forget going to Ewe Ram Mountain. Just take all of this back with us."

Liu Xiaolou couldn't hold back anymore. "That's my rice!"

The shopkeeper turned to him. "Didn't you just sell it to me?"

"You haven't paid me the spirit stones yet," Liu Xiaolou shot back.

The young master clearly had no patience for their argument. He turned to Liu and asked, "How much was he giving you for it?"

"Two spirit stones," Liu Xiaolou replied. "I was still hesitating."

The young man glanced at the four sacks, gave a small nod. "That's about right."

The shopkeeper quickly added, "You see? My shop is always fair…"

Before he could finish, the young master interrupted, speaking to Liu: "I'll give you three."

With that, he strolled off down the street without another glance.

His attendants lifted the four sacks and followed behind. The sword-wielding retainer came over, tossed Liu Xiaolou three spirit stones, and then went after the rest of the group.

Liu Xiaolou watched them disappear down the street and let out a sigh. "Filthy rich bastards."

The shopkeeper nodded. "The Ouyang clan of Yue Prefecture.... yeah, filthy rich doesn't even begin to cover it…"

Liu Xiaolou patted himself down and finally dug out the last twenty taels of silver he had. He placed them on the counter.

"Thanks for everything."

The shopkeeper grinned. "Just a lucky break, that's all."

Suddenly, Liu Xiaolou looked a little regretful. "Should've kept a couple jin for myself. I've never even tasted my own grain."

"Farmer not eating his own crop? That's the way of the world!" the shopkeeper replied. "Be good and eat regular rice like the rest of us. Here, twenty jin of fresh rice. That should last you a month."

Liu Xiaolou hadn't gotten to try his spirit rice, but he was still in good spirits. He made his way back to Wulong Mountain and stopped by Uncle Tian's house for a bit. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so he headed home to Qianzhu Ridge.

He put a jin of the new rice into the pot and cooked up a big batch of porridge. The smell was rich and comforting.

With a loud flapping of wings, Big White came charging over, tossed a fat fish into the pot, and started circling Liu Xiaolou's feet, excited like it was a holiday.

The guts had been removed. Had it actually learned how to clean fish?

Liu Xiaolou scooped a bowl of fish porridge for the goose, and the two of them, man and bird, sat by the fire, slurping happily away, eating to their hearts' content.

The only slight regret? No spiritual rice. But really, spiritual rice didn't contain much spiritual energy to begin with. Even if you ate a whole pot, only a tiny fraction would convert into true qi, barely enough to help with cultivation. It only had value if you replaced regular food with it over a long period of time, letting the benefits build up gradually.

For someone like Liu Xiaolou, dirt-poor and down on his luck, that was a luxury well out of reach.

So, he wasn't too bothered. In the end, those three spirit stones were what really mattered. That was the path to real cultivation.

A poor man can't afford to sit on wealth; Liu Xiaolou wasn't about to waste a single moment and immediately entered cultivation.

Activating the Three Mysteries Technique, he began slowly drawing out the spiritual energy from the spirit stone in his palm, refining it bit by bit into pure true qi as it flowed through his meridians. Guiding it toward the second acupoint—Tianquan—along the Hand Faint Yin (Pericardium) Meridian, he hammered it repeatedly against the acupoint's gate.

Liu Xiaolou had no idea how other sects went about unlocking their meridians, but in the Sanxuan Sect, this was the way: steady work, like water wearing down stone. Over and over, with unwavering focus. Within that repetition, though, were endless variations. Sometimes light, sometimes heavy; sometimes fast, sometimes slow. At times, the flow was gentle like a trickling stream; at others, fierce like a sudden storm.

It might seem random and without pattern, but it followed a consistent principle of cultivation: all techniques focused on responding to the feedback triggered by striking the acupoint. The sensations that came with each reaction guided how the next wave of force should be applied, adjusting the strategy accordingly.

Because of this, cultivating the Three Mysteries technique wasn't dull at all; on the contrary, it was deeply engaging, even addictive. You could easily lose yourself in it and find it hard to pull away.