Anti-fraud manual for the cultivation world

Zhang Yi spoke up: "We can help with this, but I really can't guarantee whether Lord Hong will agree."

Cai Xinzi was overjoyed: "Just a word from you would be enough. It would be great if it worked out, but even if it doesn't, I'll still be grateful. Oh dear! Oh dear! You have no idea how long I've been thinking about this, but as a lowly constable on contract, I really don't dare to speak up in front of Lord Hong."

Judging from his tone, he made Honglin sound very fierce.

But the Hong Lin that Li Gu knew was clearly easy to talk to, and even a little mischievous.

He recalled the night he broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage. When he woke up, he found Hong Lin sitting beside him, pouting as if she wanted to kiss him. He still found it inexplicable and didn't know what she was up to.

How is this strange woman fierce?

Forget it, now is not the time to think about this.

Li Gu seized on the key point: "Chief Constable, last time when we arrested the Hankou gang members, I saw you using your belt to defend yourself. Was that your magical weapon?"

Cai Xinzi nodded: "Yes! That's my flying artifact, and also a weapon for combat. Our Cai family is poor, so we can only use the flying artifact and the weapon together. Tsk tsk, those rich guys have flying artifacts, combat artifacts, protective artifacts, storage artifacts, communication artifacts... Rich people are so annoying, they're infuriating. When I'm rich, I'll get two of each of these artifacts, use one and throw the other away!"

Li Gu said, "Oh dear, I also want to get a magical artifact for use during my Foundation Establishment stage. Can the imperial court make such a thing?"

Cai Xinzi chuckled, "What can't the imperial court do? The entire world belongs to the imperial court! The imperial court has more craftsmen capable of making magical artifacts than any other sect. It's incredibly troublesome for ordinary people to make a magical artifact, but you are family members of disciples who have entered the mortal world, so it's much simpler for you. A 50% discount, no, at most a 40% discount, I'll do the math... about 400 low-grade spirit stones. Prepare your spirit stones and go to the workshop to ask."

The workshop is one of the six workshops.

All prefectural government offices (regardless of whether they were directly governed or subordinate) had six offices on either side of the main hall: Personnel, Revenue, Rites, Military, Justice, and Works. The last office on the west side was the Works Office, and one of the most important responsibilities of the Works Office was to procure kitchen utensils, ironware, and timber for the government offices, and to supervise the manufacture of torture instruments and city defense equipment.

Ritual implements are one of them.

When Zhang Yi heard the number "400 low-grade spirit stones," she froze. It was clear that she couldn't afford it.

The reward she received for taking down the Hankou Gang last time was only 20 low-grade spirit stones. Even with the bet she won on not surviving more than a month, she only had 40 or 50 low-grade spirit stones left, which was far from enough.

A constable's monthly salary is 5 low-grade spirit stones plus 5 taels of silver. If she were to save up her salary, it would take her a full 80 months to save enough. And that's after a 40% discount? Ordinary people don't get discounts. How difficult would it be to get a magic artifact?

This made Zhang Yi a little dizzy.

"Senior Sister Zhang, come with me." Li Gu pulled her out the door. There was no one in the corridor, so Li Gu reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of mid-grade spirit stones. One mid-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for 100 low-grade spirit stones. He had at least ten mid-grade spirit stones in his hand, more than enough for the two of them to make magical artifacts. "Here, take five mid-grade spirit stones and put them in your pocket. You can take the money out yourself when we get to the workshop. It would feel strange if you took it all from me."

Zhang Yi stared in disbelief: "Junior Brother Li, where did you get so much money?"

Li Gu, of course, earned his money from the gambling dens in Ghost City. Each time he went, he would only win about two mid-grade spirit stones before running away, never greedy. Occasionally, he would even deliberately lose for a day, and Ghost City hadn't discovered his little tricks yet. Li Gu didn't want to have Ghost City chasing him again before he had even dealt with the Demonic Sect.

In just over a month, he had saved up about ten mid-grade spirit stones.

Li Lao honestly confessed: "Didn't I tell you last time that I found a corpse puppet at the entrance of the Ghost City gambling den? Actually, I went there to gamble, and all this money was won through gambling."

Zhang Yi: "..."

Speechless for a moment!

After several seconds, Zhang Yi managed to utter a sentence with difficulty: "Using money won through gambling to buy magical artifacts just feels a bit unacceptable."

"Senior Sister Zhang, didn't you decide to become a demon to protect Senior Brother Zheng?" Li Gu said, "You're not even willing to use the money you won gambling, what kind of demon are you?"

Zhang Yi: "..."

He let out a long sigh: "Thank you very much, Junior Brother Li. You've gone to so much trouble."

----

The ritual implements that the two had ordered were completed by the evening of the following day.

The price of 400 low-grade spirit stones is, of course, for the lowest-grade low-grade magic weapon. The imperial court and major sects can mass-produce these things. Skilled weapon refiners can easily forge them in just half a day to a day if they have all the materials.

The two couldn't help but sigh that even being an external employee of the system was much more comfortable than being a freelance cultivator.

A rogue cultivator who makes magical artifacts must find the materials himself, seek out a reliable artifact refiner, or become an artifact refiner himself, using his own spiritual energy to forge the artifact. This whole process takes an unknown amount of time and money.

However, Li and Gu only used a small amount of money and the materials readily available from the imperial court. They did not need to consume their own spiritual energy to refine the materials. They handed everything over to the imperial court's workshop, and the process was completed in just one day.

Both men chose to use an iron ruler to forge their magical artifacts. Zhang Yi did so because his family had an iron ruler as a weapon, and he had loved it since childhood, so naturally he wanted to use it.

Li Gu chose this option simply because it was perfectly normal for a constable to carry an iron ruler on the street; it wouldn't attract attention.

The iron ruler, lacking a handguard and hook, resembles a sword in shape and allows for flexible use of both sword and saber techniques. Although it lacks a blade, Foundation Establishment cultivators don't need to rely on the blade of their weapons to injure enemies, so the presence or absence of a blade makes no difference.

(As shown in the picture above, Li Gu chose the first type of iron ruler, while Zhang Yi chose the third type.)

It's a bit ugly, but it's still not uglier than Cai Xinzi's belt.

With the magical artifact, I can finally practice the "Combined Edge Sword" technique.

The four of them sat in the courtyard, with Zheng Xiaodong and Meng Tingchun in a spectator mode.

Zhang Yi turned to the second page of the manual, starting from the first line, scrutinizing every word and carefully trying to understand it.

Preface:

The sword is a weapon of metal spirit, a vehicle for carrying the Dao. All iron, after being forged, can absorb pure spirit; when a cultivator establishes his foundation and his dantian is full of qi, he can use his own primordial qi as threads to connect with the golden blade, piercing through the air to strike enemies from afar.

This text is specifically written for Foundation Establishment cultivators, without delving into the mysteries of Golden Core and Deity Transformation. It focuses on the three essential principles of guiding Qi to bind the sword, soaring through the air, and slashing from afar. It does not seek the unpredictable transformation of ten thousand swords splitting into light, but rather the harmony of mind and Qi, allowing one to wield the sword with a single thought, soaring through the clouds and sweeping across the land, capturing enemies from ten miles away. Anyone wielding a spirit-refined magical weapon or flying sword, by following this cultivation method, can take to the skies and engage in battle across vast distances.

General outline:

A sword is made of ordinary iron, but it gains its spirit through Qi; a person possesses spiritual essence, guided by their thoughts.

He exhaled from his dantian, his breath flowing through his arms and fingers; a wisp of spiritual energy was tied to the sword.

It draws in the winds from the heavens and cleanses away the dust and grime below; it levitates three feet off the ground.

Part Two, Volume One:

Sit cross-legged and practice breathing exercises, focusing your energy (pure essence) along the Shaoyang meridian of your hand, converging at your index and middle fingers. Close your eyes and visualize: soft, silvery-white threads sprouting from your fingertips, each strand wrapping around the spine and hilt of your sword, like an unbroken golden rope…

Upon reading this, Li Gu couldn't help but exclaim: "Mo Xuanye's writing is truly superb! If you were one of the Five Ancestors of Lotus, the name of this sword technique would surely be much more impressive, certainly not something as simplistic as 'He Feng Sword'."

If I were to name it, what would I choose?

[Soul-Devouring Sword of Shared Path], [Sword of Ten Thousand Edges Returning to One], [Sword of Joint Strike and Mutual Assistance]...

Oh no, I can't think of anything good to say. It seems I'm about the same level as the Fifth Patriarch of Lotus, a semi-illiterate.