Chapter 63: Hall of Xuan Skills
Translator: Panda_Penn Editor: Chrissy
"Thank God I took the carriage, or I would be in so much trouble!"
Lu Li secretly exhaled with emotion while running around in the county. If it was not for the carriage, the scouts would have caught sight of him much earlier. Zhao Family had sent three warriors of the Spirit Sea Realm. Lu Li wouldn’t have been able to make it into the county.
Three warriors at the Spirit Sea Realm at one gate, that meant 12 altogether at four gates. The Zhao Family must hate Lu Li’s guts, yet it was understandable that the Zhao Family was so furious on account of Lu Li killing two Patriarchs of the Zhao Family and Uncle Scar.
On the thought of this, Lu Li sped up and looked around. Even though the odds of the Zhao Family doing anything in the county were small, but what if they risked danger in desperation and tried to take his life by force? Would the Liu Family really suddenly turn hostile towards the Zhao Family just because of a Guest Warrior?
Lu Li started running desperately. He ran his way through the streets like a wind, carrying a few big jute bags on his back. Many pedestrians were actually startled. All they saw was a black shadow that vanished into the crowds.
Within the time it took for two incense sticks to burn, Lu Li had made it to the outside of the west gate of the Liu Family. When he saw the guards outside the west gate, he felt completely relieved.
So it would seem that the Zhao Family hadn’t been in an open fight with the Liu Family yet, or the Zhao Family did not deploy any warriors in the county. Lu Li ran directly towards the Guest Clan after he entered the Liu Family. When he saw Lu Ling sitting in their yard quietly reading a book and sunbathing, he smiled. His eyes became misty.
He hadn’t gone out for long, just less than 10 days. But to Lu Li, it was like a century. Throughout his journey, he had been pursued. On several occasions, it felt like his life would end. It was bliss from heaven to let him see Lu Ling again.
"Sis…"
Lu Li called her, choking. Lu Ling stood up. Her expressions suggested she was worried. She nodded heavily and said, "You are back. It’s okay now. It’s okay!"
Lu Li walked over, put the jute bags down and reached out and hugged Lu Ling. Lu Ling hugged him as well. Even though he said nothing, Lu Ling already knew he must have suffered endless sufferings and misery. She said nothing but patted Lu Li’s shoulder, comforting him.
After a moment, Lu Li regained his composure. He pointed to the jute bags and said, "Sis, take a look. See how many eggs I got."
Lu Ling glanced over and she noticed the long spear and the long sword in the jute bags. She carefully observed them and asked, "Have you killed warriors at the Spirit Sea Realms?"
The long spear and the long sword were not Xuan Artifacts of low ranks. Regular warriors at the Xuan Wu Realm weren’t qualified for these Xuan Artifacts. Lu Ling was so smart that she saw it through immediately.
"Yes!" Lu Li said with excitement, "Three. Sis, I also killed Di Huo."
"Good!"
Lu Ling smiled. She looked so proud of him. Lu Ling considered it and said, "Go and hide the weapons. Don’t let others see it."
Lu Li went in, hid the weapons and then let Little White out. He threw Little White some abandoned Xuan Artifacts and then told Lu Ling his experience along the way.
"Nicely done!"
Lu Ling quietly heard all about it and praised him, "My brother has grown up. You know to think before your move. From now on, you must remember, fighting is not only about combat ability. Strategies are more important. When used properly, strategies can make you win against people more powerful than you."
Lu Ling continued after a short pause, "7500 contribution points should be enough for Little White’s food for a while now. You cannot go out any more. The Liu Family and the Zhao Family are now mutually antagonistic. Your power remains to be enhanced. If you go out know, the Zhao Family will do whatever it takes to kill you. You report back your achievement now and see along the way if there are any suitable Xuan Skills. The herbs and pellets for condensing Spirit Sea Realm can be put aside now. You don’t have enough contribution points for these."
Lu Li nodded, picked up the jute bags and went out. Seeing Lu Li was about to leave, Little White sneaked into Lu Li’s sleeve with a "whoosh" sound. Lu Li had to take Little White with him.
When he arrived at the Hall of Missions, the one guarding there was still the grey-haired old man. The old man raised his sparse eyebrows when he saw Lu Li came in with jute backs. He asked with surprise, "Kid, this…"
"Eggs of the Red Phosphorus Hawks!"
Lu Li grinned. He opened the jute bags and took the huge Red Phosphorus Hawk eggs out. The shells of the eggs were very hard. None of them even cracked.
In total, there were 15 Red Phosphorus Hawks eggs. Lu Li placed them properly and said with a smile, "Sir, you told me one egg is 500 contribution points."
"…"
The Patriarch of the Hall of Missions was speechless. In the average days, it would be normal to get so many Red Phosphorus Hawks eggs. But at this moment, the Frigid Cloud Mountain was in chaos. Xuan Beasts were up and about everywhere. It was hard to believe that the guy really got Red Phosphorus Hawks eggs, not to mention 15 of them.
In any case, they were authentic eggs for sure. After the grey-haired elder checked them, he gave Lu Li 7500 contribution points. When he questioned Lu Li as how he got his hands on them, Lu Li just said some vague stuff and left. He could not have told the truth.
Lu Li did not go to the Hall of Weapons when he got out of the Hall of Missions. Instead, he directly went towards the "Hall of Xuan Skills." Now that he had some contribution points, he naturally wanted to find means to study a powerful Xuan Skill which could reinforce his combat ability.
The Hall of Xuan Skills was not far. It was much bigger than the Hall of Weapons, being an attic of two floors. There was also an elder in there attending to garrison duty. After he checked Lu Li’s ID Token, he said, "You can browse at your will on the first floor, but you are not qualified to access to the second floor. Also… every Xuan Skill book is marked with its contribution points. If you want to get one, you need to pay double price."
"Double? Why?"
Lu Li was confused. When he traded for the abandoned Xuan Artifacts, he wasn’t told that it would require twice the contribution points. It was not easy for him to earn the contribution points. He risked his life on several occasions to get his hands on these 7500 contribution points.
"You don’t know?"
The elder frowned. Seeing that Lu Li really did not know about it, he explained, "Xuan Artifacts, Xuan Skills, pellets and Cultivation Methods all require double contribution points from Guest Warriors. Warriors of the External Clan can trade at the original price, and warriors of the Internal Clan only have to pay half the price. It is the same way in all the families."
"Oh…"
Lu Li replied poker-faced. The Guest Warriors were really not well-received in the Families. So the reason that he did not pay double price for the abandoned Xuan Artifacts was because they were discarded.
Lu Li walked inside and found four big rooms, on which there were signs, reading "Offense Category", "Speed Category", "Defense Category", and "Special Category" respectively.
Lu Li thought about it and opened the door of the "Offense Category". There were three big bookshelves inside with dozens of booklets. Every booklet faintly glowed. They were all protected with a layer of inhibition against possible vandalism.
There was a note under every booklet to explain the features of the Xuan Skill, its complexity levels and the contribution points required.
Lu Li walked around and looked thoroughly at each Xuan Skill. After an hour, he walked out disappointed. There were many Xuan Skills inside, so many that he felt dizzy. However they were all Xuan Skills of low ranks, so not of particular use to Lu Li.
There were only three Xuan Skills that would be suitable to him. When he managed to cultivate to the greatest level, his combat ability would be increased by a wide margin. However, he could not afford them as each one of the booklet would be equal to 10,000 contribution points…
Since he needed to pay double price, he would have to use 20,000 contribution points to trade for any one of these three Xuan Skills.
But he was unwilling to let it go so easily. Lu Li went into the speed-category Xuan Skill room. This time, he got out even sooner. He was let down again. There was only one Xuan Skill that he found interesting which also cost 10,000 contribution points.
Lu Li did not even have the desire to look at the defense-category Xuan Skills. For him, offense was the strongest defense, so he got into the room of Special Xuan Skills.
There were less Xuan Skills here, only more than 20 kinds. Lu Li glanced over and his eyes were caught by an antique-looking yellowish booklet.
It looked so familiar to him, but it had escaped his memory as where he had seen it before. Then he walked over there and looked at the note. Lu Li was shocked.
He saw the following words – "Rolling Thunder Xuan Skill, Volume 1."
…