Volcanic Age

Zhou Xuchuan experienced going on the cultivation journey either. In his previous life, he was just an ordinary disciple and had never managed to join the Lotus Pavilion. He only fulfilled the requirements for the cultivation journey when he turned twenty.

However, by then, the Seven Swords War had already ended, ushering in the Era of War and Chaos. Dispatched to the battlefield, he was greeted with scenes of blood and screams of pain and agony the first time he left the sect.

That was his first time in the outside world, not on a journey of cultivation but off to war.

"It looks like I won't be able to keep the promise I made to junior sister Luo."

Luo Xiaoyue had seen him off before he descended the mountain.

"Senior brother, see you in a year."

Her voice lingered in his mind. Although she looked slightly sad, she still smiled him off. It was good that they promised to reunite in the future, but the problem was that the Seven Swords War would start in a year.

During the war, some of the fourth-generation members on their cultivation Journeys were recalled to the sect. As for those who were about to set off, they were naturally held back as well. The sect could not afford to send out its members when a war involving the entire Orthodox Faction could break out.

No stipends were provided for the cultivation journey. The disciples had to fend for themselves, whether through heroic deeds or undertaking escort missions. Most of the disciples would look for missions to take or seek their senior brothers or sisters who were already out in the world.

"Good work."

Zhou Xuchuan, however, had no need to worry about such things. The first thing he did after descending the mountain was to go to the bank to take out the money under his name. He put pouches full of gold and silver coins in his bosom and left light-heartedly.

He had requested Li Yicai to prepare some money for this day. Thanks to that, he didn't need to worry about money.

The Gold Will Merchants had grown rapidly during the past four years. Although they weren't world-famous yet, they were getting there, and many people knew about them.

"There's half a year left until the Ominous Demon's tomb is discovered."

He'd already decided years ago where he needed to go.

"The Ten Millennia Fire Carp in Sichuan, The Seven-horned Serpent in Yunnan, and Millennium Snow Ginseng in Tibet."

He needed more power since catching the Dark Heavens Association's attention meant that it was hard to guarantee his survival without it and because he wanted to thwart their plans.

In order to acquire power as fast as possible, he dug into memories from his previous life and formulated a decent plan. However, he had a time limit of just half a year, so he couldn't do everything, so he had to focus on the three mentioned earlier.

His first target was the Ten Millennia Fire Carp in Sichuan. He would consume its inner core in order to attain Hundred Poisons Immunity and Extreme Temperature Immunity. After that, he would go down to Yunnan to hunt the Seven-horned Serpent, which was a spiritual beast and also a poison beast, to improve his immunity to poison, attaining Thousand Poisons Immunity by consuming its inner core.

His final objective was to head to the great snowy mountains of Tibet to consume the Millenium Snow Ginseng and greatly increase his qi and also immunity against temperatures.

This was the most optimal route to gain as much power as possible within the short span of half a year.

"I've prepared grain pills as well. That's reassuring."

After double-checking his attire to ensure none of his belongings would slip out, Zhou Xuchuan performed a lightness art to its limits. Seventy-five years worth of internal qi surged from the acupoints of his feet.

Thanks to his full mastery of the Shadow Scattering Art, he executed it with maximum efficiency, moving like the wind. He did not need to ride a horse either, considering full mastery of the lightness art meant he was faster than one.

The downside was that the qi consumption was high, but he could still cover great distances with it. Once he reached his limit, he would eat and sleep to recover for about four hours. His meals didn't take long since he only consumed grain pills, and he fully recovered his qi after four hours of light sleep.

The only drawback of this method was that it was boring, but apart from that, it was perfect.

"I might not feel bored if I had someone else with me, but traveling the world is best done alone!"

Even before his regression, he was always by himself. To someone like him, solitude and loneliness were things he was used to. He eased his boredom by thinking about his future plans, as well as Luo Xiaoyue's pretty smile and voice.

Thanks to his efficient traveling method, he managed to reach Shiquan County in the Shaanxi province in just three days. Considering that reaching Shaanxi by foot or by horse would usually take a week to half a month, he had significantly reduced the travel time.

*

There weren't many places in the southern regions of the Shaanxi province that could be considered larger than a village. Shiquan, however, was an exception.

Sichuan was about two or three days away by foot to the South-west, while Chongqing was located in the South, and Hubei to the North. The distance to each of them was about the same, which meant that it was a transportation hub.

Due to its location at the crossroads between Sichuan, Chongqing, and Hubei, the floating population, and consequently, the town itself, was very large.

Arriving in Shiquan at 11 at night, Zhou Xuchuan found the streets still bright and bustling, unlike other places where people would be asleep by then.

Drunk men could be seen everywhere, singing songs or vomiting. Some men could also be seen visiting brothels, and prostitutes could be seen waving their hands by the window.

Zhou Xuchuan walked past the night streets of Shiquan. He could hear prostitutes' seductive voices from above.

"Lord Daoist~"

Despite being clothed like a Daoist, the people present paid little mind to it. Young Daoists out in the world for the first time were easily seduced, having suppressed their sexual urges throughout their sect training. A simple seductive gesture was often enough to allure them now that they had freedom.

Zhou Xuchuan paid no attention to the prostitutes and headed straight to an inn. A middle-aged man dozing off at the counter stirred as he felt his presence

"I'm sorry, sir. We don't have any rooms available at the mo—"

"Gold Will Merchants, Zhou Xuchuan."

Zhou Xuchuan showed him the plum blossoms on his sleeve.

"Ah!" The middle-aged man's eyes snapped open and collected himself. "We've been expecting you, great lord. I oversee the Shiquan branch, and I manage this inn."

"Greetings, Shiquan branch leader."

The Gold Will Merchants no longer worked in Guizhou alone. They now had branches in various parts of the Orthodox Faction territory and Evil Faction territory. This inn was one of the businesses that the Gold Will Merchants ran.

The head merchant really knows how to make things comfortable.

Before embarking on his cultivation journey, he had sent a letter to Li Yicai, telling the latter the route he was going to take during the journey and that he could be found here if anything urgent came up.

After this, Li Yicai gave explicit orders to the branches of the Gold Will Merchants along his route without Zhou Xuchuan having to tell him anything.

"I have ordered all branches to prioritize your convenience, great lord. If you need a false name or an identity, they will have them ready, so please, just give the word."

He was too perfect in preparing to take care of Zhou Xuchuan's needs or taking care of potential issues. He wasn't the Merchant King without reason.

Later, Zhou Xuchuan would ask how he had such foresight, to which he would simply reply, "The basics of any trade is finding out what the partner wants."

Zhou Xuchuan didn't need to hide his identity, so he relayed that he didn't need false names or identities. However, he asked the branch leader to prepare one just in case.

"I don't need any late supper or wine; just prepare some warm water I can use to wash. Breakfast shouldn't be anything grand either."

He was happy at the thought of sleeping on a bed after a long time.

"Yes, I will prepare."

The owner of the inn stole quick glances at Zhou Xuchuan as if he had something to say.

"It is okay, so speak."

Although he was a little tired, listening wasn't a problem.

"Yes!" The inn owner started his story.

Shaanxi was rich in natural mineral resources, with iron being the most abundant and traded. Gold Will Merchants' branches in the Shaanxi province, such as this one in Shiquan, were mostly trading iron from those mines, as well as salt.

Recently, the Shiquan branch had matters to attend to in Sichuan, which was where the problem arose—bandits.

"The Nine Forest Gangs from Chongqing have recently expanded their territory to the southern regions of the Shaanxi region. We, the Gold Will Merchants, once suffered losses due to the excessive toll fees."

It seemed that experts from the Forest Bandits had sometimes appeared, dealing massive damages despite the presence of escorts.

"The head merchant told me to ask you for help, on the condition that it doesn't disrupt your plans, so…" The inn owner looked afraid.

Please, just don't kill me!

Cultivators, regardless of faction, were notorious for their disdainful treatment of ordinary people due to the powers they possessed.

The inn owner was used to that since it was a common occurrence. He just didn't want to provoke Zhou Xuchuan's ire and risk having him go rampant.

He originally didn't want to bring this matter up since asking someone who came to Shiquan all the way from Mount Hua without rest for an escort mission was really disrespectful. However, he was ordered to relay the message because Zhou Xuchuan could leave before hearing their plight.

"Where do these forest bandits appear?"

"They usually lurk at the border to Sichuan."

"I can escort you up to that point. Once you're in Sichuan, you should be safe from the forest bandits."

The Sichuan province was a region that had one of the heaviest influences of the Orthodox Faction. This was thanks to the presence of the Emei sect and the Qingcheng sect, two of the Ten Major Organizations, and even the Tang Family, one of the five major families, taking care of the security.

"Thank you, great lord!"

Matters of the Gold Will Merchant weren't unrelated to him.

Though, the Ten Gale Swordsmen could handle this…

The Ten Gale Swordsmen referred to Wang Yi and his group. As they had earnestly trained in the Agile Sword Art and the Gale Steps, their reputation had spread somewhat.

They're busy taking escort missions in other places. If they come here, that means those places will be left vulnerable.

Although it was a bit of an annoyance, it wasn't a huge issue. The distance wasn't that far either, so he could resolve this for them.

Moreover, he was the one who told Li Yicai that it was okay to ask him for help.

*

The next day, Zhou Xuchuan finished meditating in his room around six and came downstairs.

"Good morning, great lord!"

When he came down, he was greeted by a group of people, who all stood up abruptly and shouted. Four of them seemed to be merchants, while twenty of them seemed to be escorts. They were all very polite to Zhou Xuchuan as if they had been informed beforehand.

Returning their greetings with a wave of his hand, Zhou Xuchuan found a suitable spot to eat breakfast. Breakfast was pretty good.

When he stood up and left, he saw four carriages, each pulled by two horses. Merchants were sitting around with horse drivers, while cultivators were checking the state of the horses.

"Well then. Let's depart, shall we?"