“In times of trouble.”

“The daring will profit.”

“This may not be a bad thing.”

Ye Que said as he drank a sip of apricot wine, before turning toward Qian Shuxiao. “Don’t look at me like that. Do you think that cultivation only applies to meditate deep in the mountains?”

“Wrong!”

“You’re hugely mistaken!”

“The real Cultivation World is filled with darkness and filth. Every place in it is filled with lies and violence. Let me tell you, nearly all of the largest sects were created with sword and dagger.”

“Both of you know very well how many herbs we’ve used up in the past month just to get you into the Pre-celestial Realm. Do you think that cultivation alone will bring you all the herbs we need? Breaking into the Post-celestial and Psychic Realms will take more than herbs. If you want to achieve that quickly and become more than other practitioners, you’ll also need Spirit Stones, and many of them.”

“The phrase ‘It’s easy to get a thousand taels of gold, but it’s hard to obtain a Spirit Stone’ speaks for itself.”

“A discovery of a sacred mountain that can produce spirit stones will definitely lead to many sects fighting over it.”

Ye Que said calmly. “Since both of you decided to train with me, you’ll have to remember the Law of Hunger, also known as the First Law of the Three Realms.”

“The law states that any sect or practitioner that can survive is like a lone wolf who is always hungry and searching for food. Such wolves will wander in the bush and forests, using their sharp claws to bash their way through branches while trying their best to tread silently. They even have to breathe carefully.”

Ye Que paused before he lowered his voice and continued, “Even the strongest sects have to act carefully, as there will many other lone wolves wandering in the woods. There are always people stronger than you out there, and no one can guarantee that he or she will remain at the apex.”

“Once you spot your prey, there’s only one way to react- pounce upon it at your greatest speed and snatch it away. Any delay can lead to your destruction.”

“Becuase, danger is everywhere.”

“Because, hunger is everywhere.”

Ye Que squinted slightly as the corner of his lips curled into a seemingly bright, sunny smile. The feeling that it gave, however, was not one of happiness nor warmth but ruthlessness.

A bone-chilling ruthlessness.

It shook the Qian siblings, and they opened their mouths, wanting to speak.

Ye Que interrupted them with a raised arm. “Keep these words in your heart and do not speak of them constantly. There’s no meaning in doing that.”

He then pointed at Qian Shuxiao before continuing, “As for the ‘extraordinary’ events that you spoke of, they’re actually quite common. I can tell you certainly that everyone- either the beasts of the Demon Race or the big sects of the Cultivation World- have gathered at Luoyang to gain control of a Divine Tool. In this case, it’s the food for the lone wolves that I’ve mentioned earlier.”

“Only now the prey has not shown itself, but everyone is already gathered here to plot their next moves.”

“Dark times are upon us, and this is also our chance,” Ye Que said as he turned to look out of the window. “Even though your family is rich, it’ll be impractical to try buying enough Spirit Stones. Now, we don’t have to worry about that anymore. There’ll soon be Spirit Stones appearing in every corner of this huge city.”

Qian Shuhua supported her head on her hands as she listened to Ye Que speak. She frowned and thought hard for a long while, eventually scratching her hair hard as she asked with a perturbed expression on her face, “Where are they?”

Ye Que placed his palm on his forehead as he sighed disappointedly. He gazed at the bright moon hanging outside the window before drinking up the contents of his wine cup.

Qian Shuxiao looked even more dejected. “Sister, my sister, I’m beginning to doubt if you’re really one of us Qians. Think about it, so many Taoist sects and Demons are gathering in Luoyang. Some of them even have to set up emergency branches here, don’t they need resources? Wouldn’t they need Spirit Stones to create defensive magical formations? Don’t they need to train and replenish their True Energy levels?”

“This is our chance.”

“The Law of Hunger!”

“Didn’t Brother Ye speak of the Law of Hunger just now? Those Spirit Stones are our food.”

“If we can’t buy them, why can’t we snatch them for ourselves?”

“Our Divine Sect has officially been set up. Now, there are three of us, but no Spirit Stones in our sect! We’re waiting to be fed!”

Qian Shuxiao cocked his head and leaned in front of his sister. “Sister, do you understand after hearing my explanation?” he asked.

Qian Shuhua slapped her brother out of her way before smacking the table top. “Isn’t this merely robbery? We wouldn’t know if we’ll succeed or not without trying!” she said spiritedly as she placed her hands upon her waist.

“It’s not purely for the sake of robbing them. I imparted archery and spear techniques to both of you this late morning, but understanding how they work is different from mastering them; you’ll have to go through actual combat. This is called killing two birds with one stone,” Ye Que awkwardly tried to supplement her statement after hearing her speaking righteously of robbing others. “Luckily, we’re in a tavern owned by your family. If not, you’d be severely reprimanded for speaking like that,” he thought.

“Have you gone crazy!”

Luoyang City in the fourth month of the year.

It was still chilly, with vague signs of warmth.

It was still bright yesterday, but today the skies were covered with dark clouds.

For one entire day and one entire night, the official path linking Qingzhou Prefecture to Luoyang City was covered in rain and mist. Rain pattered on the tiles covering the roof of the relay station, and it splattered into a puddle as it dripped down onto the ground. Rainwater in the Northern parts was chilling, and it was particularly cold on this night. As one looked out, one’s vision would be obscured by sheets of rain and mist.

Gradually, it grew darker, and as rain continued to fall, the number of people on the road began to dwindle, even though this was the official path to Luoyang City, which was not far away. There would occasionally be horse carriages passing by, but they did so hurriedly without stopping.

With the aid of light, one could still make out the surroundings of the path. It was dark in the forest at the side of the road, however, and it was covered with trees, completely obscuring its interior from sight, and it looked pitch black inside.

At such a time and setting, ordinary folk would normally be found indoors. Those that could still be spotted along the path were definitely not normal civilians.

That night, when it became completely dark, a group of people sped past the end of the path.

They wore grey conical hats, wore grey woven raincoats and rode on grey Liang horses.

Rain splattered onto their hats, and the hooves of their horses sploshed up huge puddles of water.

A figure dressed entirely in black was hiding amongst the shadow of the trees, and his head was covered. The person gave out a strange, low whistle as he observed the riders speed past. He then followed closely behind with nifty footwork. Amazingly, the person’s speed was not much slower than that of the horses, and there was only a gap of fewer than 100 meters between them. His piercing gaze was fixed on the end of the column.

Voices rang out from a spot beside the road that anyone who wanted to travel to Luoyang City had to pass by, after the two groups disappeared from sight.

“Brother Ye, this has already been the seventh group that is traveling toward Luoyang City after nightfall.”

“One group is even tailing the other. Should we follow?”

“There’s demonic aura!”

“What about the Spirit Stones?”

“Where there are demons, there will be Spirit Stones. They’re part dog, and they’ll only act after having picked up a scent.”

The voices were obviously that of Ye Que and the Qian siblings. From what they had just said, it was evident that they were planning to go ahead with robbery, and they were prepared to beat their opponents at their own game.

Seems like everyone needed Spirit Stones urgently now.

The way of cultivation was like that. One would be pushed back further down the food chain if one did not get stronger. There was no chance of staying stagnant.

One day of training was enough to get you hooked on the game for life. It was addictive; once you had seen the amazing view from what lay behind the scenery in front of you, you would want to see what the Heaven and Earth actually looked like. Eventually, you would want to observe all forms of life.

If it took money for scholars to achieve their goals, the price one had to pay for seeking Tao and becoming immortal would be even much higher.

Any practitioner who wanted to improve his or her level of cultivation, create magic treasure or elixirs of immortality, set up magical formations, or rear Spiritual Beasts would require Spirit Stones. In the Cultivation World, and in the larger context of the Three Realms, silver was not the usual form of currency of exchange. It was the Spirit Stones.

The higher one’s level of cultivation was, the more Spirit Stones one needed.

The riders wearing grey conical hats and raincoats halted and got off their horses as they reached the relay station closest to Luoyang City. Their leader struck the bell of the station with his saber twice, and after a while, a soldier walked out slowly. He raised his head to look at the group while remaining silent.

The leader drew out a token from his coat swiftly before showing it to the soldier. “We are traveling on the Second Prince’s top urgent orders and have to reach the capital over the night. The relay stations along our way have to aid us in whatever way they can.”

The soldier glanced sideways at the token before raising his kerosene lamp to take a better look at the face under the hat. He then patted the horses behind the group languidly.

He turned around and rubbed his nose before coughing a little. “Since it’s the orders of the Second Prince, I’ll definitely comply and do my best. No, I’ll do my best to work with you guys,” he said.

The soldier paused before he shrugged and continued helplessly, “However, we have a shortage of horses lately. Just this evening, a high-ranking officer from the army took a huge batch of horses, and those that he left behind haven’t fully recovered yet. I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you, gentlemen.”

He pointed at the grey horses behind them before continuing, “I see that your horses can still continue running. We’re just about 10 kilometers away from the city, and if you go fast enough, you’ll be able to make it.”

“I’m sorry, folks!” the soldier pointed, wanting the riders to leave.

The riders did not expect something like that to happen, and even their leader was stunned.

“Our horses have been running for an entire day. If they could still run, why would I stop to change horses? Who would be responsible for the time we wasted? Let me repeat myself, we’re carrying something that belongs to the Second Prince, and we have orders to travel at least 150 kilometers every single day. How dare you, a lowly soldier in a relay station, hold us back? Be careful, or you’ll be beheaded!”

“Humph, humph.”

“What a joke!”

“I can’t help it if I don’t have any horses to spare. I’m just following the rules, you can report me to the Ministry of War if you have the ability to,” the soldier said, raising his voice. “Who’s trying to frighten who now? Don’t you know what kind of times we’re in now? An item of the Second Prince? Top urgent? Since when isn’t anything that comes through our station not urgent? Whose task isn’t urgent?”

“Let me stop beating around the bush. If you play by the rules, you’ll get your horses!”

“If you don’t, please leave!”

If Ye Que’s analysis was true, more kinds of forces would be gathering in Luoyang City during such dark times. There were so many of them that even the soldier could sense that something was abnormal. The lesser the supply, the higher the value of the item. Since all of them wanted to reach Luoyang fast, horses had become a valuable commodity.

If anyone wanted horses, it was not enough to insist on having them.

There was a brief moment of respite before someone in the middle of the crowd removed his hat, revealing a huge, chubby face. He parted his way out of his companions and took a few steps toward the soldier. “Young brother, please do us a favor. All of us are suffering in this cold weather,” he said cheerfully.

As he spoke, a sack of fragmented silver was stuffed into the sleeves of the soldier without anyone noticing.

The soldier immediately began to smile as he shifted his sleeves.

“Sigh, look at my bad behavior. This is the personal order of the Second Prince we’re talking about; how could I not have any horses for you? Hold on a minute.”

Very quickly, the riders set off to the city again, and all was quiet at the relay station again.

Shortly after the riders had turned away from the path leading to the station, a figure clad in black sneaked into the post.

The moment he stepped in, he could see the soldier, who was still behaving in a high and mighty fashion moments ago, lying on the ground, and his face had turned purplish black. He was clutching the bag of silver in his palm, and a horrifying green glow was emanating from the silver fragments.

At the same time.

The horse of the leader tripped and fell onto the ground after it had only traveled for 500 meters.