Fate Trading System – Chapter 258

Plan A

Furnace 9

[Refresher: Qi Refining stage → Foundation Establishment stage → Golden Core stage → Nascent Soul stage → Divine Transformation stage → Void Refining stage → Body Integration stage → Great Accomplishment stage]

Right then, Su Xin sat in Shang Huai’s room, thinking about the future.

Lord Fourteen, there shouldn’t be any problem getting out, right?

【No problem.】

Su Xin planned out her goals. Never mind what would happen after three months; what was she going to do within these three months?

Su Xin thought carefully. Besides reading, there didn’t seem to be much else she could do.

Wei Shuangling’s wish was to become one of the continent’s powerhouses, gain a certain level of fame, and make her parents regret their actions. Taking the path of a pill cultivator seemed very feasible.

Pill cultivators were a rather special type of cultivator because cultivators generally couldn’t do without medicinal pills. Whether for aiding recovery from injuries or ensuring successful advancement in their cultivation, pill cultivators were highly respected. If one could befriend a well-known pill cultivator, it would undoubtedly open up a very good path.

“Pill cultivator” was just a general term for a group. Different pill cultivators might have different cultivation methods and techniques, but they generally needed to have a fire spiritual root.

Since she was going to take this path, building up her knowledge was essential.

【Host, do you want to go out now?】

Su Xin thought for a moment and nodded. Otherwise, she didn’t know what to do just staying there. The situation wasn’t particularly optimistic. Su Xin wasn’t some old monster who had possessed a body; she didn’t have any cultivation techniques or insights. It was questionable whether she could even reach Foundation Establishment within three months. And then there was the matter of refining pills—it was impossible to succeed on the first try. A batch of pills would always have good ones and some not-so-good ones.

Although Su Xin had Fourteen as her cheat¹, ensuring the successful refinement of important pills wouldn’t be a problem. However, Su Xin didn’t want to always trouble Lord Fourteen for ordinary pills; she still needed to learn herself.

Medicinal pills were divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. The pills for Shang Huai needed to be upper-grade. The pill for trade, the one that could awaken someone who had critically fallen, needed to be of the highest grade, which was a great test of skill.

Lord Fourteen broke through the restriction, and Su Xin walked out.

Where to go now? Back to Jing Yueru’s place?

No matter what, she had to let Jing Yueru know she was safe first. Otherwise, Jing Yueru would surely worry herself to death. The way she left yesterday must have made her very sad.

That person seemed quite simple and naive, but she thought too much and worried deeply. People like that would sooner or later drive themselves crazy, constantly getting trapped in strange loops of their own making.

But then came the problem: how was she going to get back?

Use a transportation array again? Go to the snow mountain again?

But Jing Yueru definitely wouldn’t be at the snow mountain. Shang Huai had already left. She currently had no tools to get back. This was so damn frustrating! She had returned empty-handed, with absolutely nothing on her. Jing Yueru hadn’t given her any communication tools because those magical artifacts required spiritual energy to function. Since she had no spiritual energy now, Jing Yueru thought giving them to her would be useless, and that included things like storage rings.

More importantly, she had to get to Jing Yueru’s side within three months, or how else would she tag along into the secret realm?

Regardless, it was better to get out first. Although reporting her safety was important, she decided to just randomly use a transportation array to leave. She wouldn’t go to the previous one.

Following Lord Fourteen’s directions, Su Xin went to another array formation.

The world truly was a dangerous place. Su Xin realized this fact with utmost clarity the moment she stepped out of the “Spring Outing Array².”

She was in the wilderness, with a snake in front and a tiger behind.

That was the scene Su Xin saw as soon as she emerged.

Two wild beasts were fighting, and Su Xin had appeared right in front of them.

The situation became a bit tense, but Su Xin determined that these two were probably just ordinary demonic beasts, because after the tiger glanced at her, it continued to struggle with the snake coiled around its body.

One wouldn’t normally associate a regular tiger and snake fighting like this. Moreover, Su Xin saw deep indifference in the tiger’s eyes.

Lord Fourteen, can I step back through the array?

Her current combat power was really not enough to face them. Even with a dagger, she couldn’t take them on.

【This seems to be a one-way teleportation.】

Su Xin said nothing, lowered her head, and quietly slipped away. The tiger and snake continued their intense fight, really going at it.

A map was transmitted into Su Xin’s mind. After a very long walk, she would reach a place inhabited by humans.

Yan’er³ saw a very beautiful older sister arrive at the village entrance, dressed in white, as beautiful as a celestial fairy.

This news quickly spread throughout the village from Ling’er’s⁴ mouth, and everyone ran over to see.

It was midday, and the sun was scorching.

Su Xin had walked for a day and a night, resting for a while in the forest at night before continuing her journey.

“Little girl, do you have any water to drink here?”

Su Xin had been walking for a long time. Human settlements were very far from where cultivators lived. Cultivators mostly resided in the mountains, separated as if by a different heaven. Trying to send a message from here to the Lancang Sect was almost impossible.

The cultivation world had long been separated from the human world, becoming two different realms.

However, every few years, some sects would send disciples to the mortal realm to see if any promising talents had appeared. Sometimes, cultivators from various sects would also choose to go to the human world to temper themselves and see if they could break through their bottlenecks.

Cultivating the Dao depended on talent, opportune encounters, and, even more so, on insight.

Su Xin had previously taken a Bigu pill⁵, so she didn’t feel hungry, only thirsty and tired.

“Yes, yes, we do.”

And so, Su Xin temporarily rested in the human village, studying the materials Fourteen gave her every day, trying to learn as much as possible about everything related to pill refining.

“Susu-jiejie⁶, don’t you get bored staying in your room all day?”

“Not at all.”

Su Xin patted the little girl’s head, her eyes curving into a smile.

She had been staying here for a few days, living in this little girl’s home. She told the villagers that she was an injured cultivator who wanted to lodge there for a while, and the villagers welcomed her very warmly.

In the eyes of these villagers, cultivators were like immortals—beings who could fly in the sky. Weren’t they just like gods? Although Su Xin hadn’t shown them any skills, she had taken a Bigu pill and didn’t need to eat, had a beautiful appearance, and carried a hint of spiritual aura, something different from ordinary people. The villagers didn’t doubt her at all.

She planned to set off in a month, find a way to a large human city. Lord Fourteen said that disciples from major sects would be there around that time to look for promising talents. Su Xin could ask them to help pass a message to the Lancang Sect.

“Sister, is being an immortal fun?”

“Yan’er, tell me, what do you think is fun?”

“I heard immortals can fly! Flying around in the sky must be so interesting, so amazing!”

“Yes, it’s amazing. But you can’t just fly all the time, right? Always flying wouldn’t be interesting either, would it?”

“Oh, that’s true too. Then you can fly to different places to play!”

“No, you can’t. You have to stay in one place for a very long time and can’t just run around. If I hadn’t been injured, I wouldn’t have fallen into this place. If one day you really become someone who can cultivate like me, you’ll have to go to another very distant place.”

“Ah, is that so? Then would I have to be separated from my good friends? In that case, I don’t want to cultivate anymore, and I don’t want to fly in the sky either!”

Su Xin patted her cheek. Such a child.

“Sister, will you leave?”

“Yes, I will.”

“Where are you going?”

“To find my friend.”

“A very, very good friend?”

“A very, very good friend.”

“Sister’s friend must also be an immortal, right? And must be very good-looking too.”

“Yes, she is very beautiful.”

Whether it was her dazed, innocent way of looking at her, or her troubled expression when she was trying hard to protect him, they were all very beautiful.

“So, are you more powerful, or is that older brother more powerful?”

“How did you know it was an older brother?” Su Xin raised an eyebrow.

“Because of your smile, Sister! Every time we talk to Cuicui-jiejie⁷ about Er Zhuang-gege⁸, Cuicui-jiejie has the same smile on her face. No, no, I should say, Cuicui-jiejie doesn’t even know she’s smiling, but we just see her smile. Every time she smiles like that, we know she must be thinking about Er Zhuang-gege.”

“Little girl, you guessed wrong this time. My good friend, she’s not an older brother; she’s an older sister too.”

Children had such strange ways of figuring things out, but sometimes, they were actually the most accurate. They often saw things much more clearly than some adults.

After Su Xin had gone through all the information in her mind and memorized it, she prepared to set off for her destination.

When she left, she wore a bracelet on her wrist, woven from a particularly beautiful type of grass.

Yan’er had woven it for her. The technique was very complex, but Su Xin watched it several times and actually learned it. This was thanks to her memory and comprehension skills. Su Xin tried it twice and had already completely mastered the method. Then, she also wove one and gave it to Yan’er.

“Sister, bracelets woven this way have a special meaning here. They represent a prayer for blessings. You can weave one for your best friend, oh.”

“Okay.”

Su Xin trekked all the way. Getting to that place was not easy; the journey was long and arduous⁹, and transportation was inconvenient. Su Xin hitched many rides before finally reaching her destination.

There were quite a few setbacks along the way, as most of those who gave her rides harbored ill intentions. However, there were still good people in this world, though there were also bad ones.

Every person who tried to take advantage of her was taught a lesson by Su Xin. When she thought she might not be able to win a fight, she would slip away first.

After a month of such hardships, Su Xin finally arrived at her destination.

Su Xin didn’t wander around. Instead, she went directly to a place to wait. It was where the disciples of that sect temporarily lodged.

Su Xin still wore the magical artifact Jing Yueru had given her to conceal her cultivation level, which could prevent anyone below the Nascent Soul stage from seeing through her.

Su Xin stood at the entrance of the inn. After seeing a few people walk over, she adjusted her expression.

Not bad, an ‘acquaintance’ of the original owner.

“Wei Shuangling?”

---

---