May 18, 2017, Clear skies after rain.
Humans are a peculiar species of inferior beings, possessing unpredictable emotional fluctuations, yet their nature still follows certain patterns.
For instance, Wang Jiu didn't know why Li Qingming would get angry. This fourteen-year-old girl was like a berserk demon, igniting with the slightest provocation. However, no matter how moody she was, one thing was certain: her anger gauge was limited.
As long as she's given excessive stimulation all at once, causing her to repeatedly get angry, her anger would quickly deplete, entering a void-like sage time.
This was quite like the human arousal principle that Rakugo had explained to him before — humans are one of the few creatures in nature without a fixed mating season, capable of entering an aroused state anytime, anywhere due to various stimuli. But no matter how frantic a human is, continuous release would result in a void state.
So, when Wang Jiu informed Li Qingming that he directly requisitioned her inheritance and ordered a large number of goods, Li Qingming was furious. And when she checked the shopping manual and found Wang Jiu had ordered mostly overpriced items due to his ignorance of market trends, she was furious again. As she read through the manual, discovering a tiny, almost unnoticeable line: Goods sold from this manual are non-refundable, her anger peaked. When Wang Jiu told her he also read her parents' love letters, Li Qingming's anger slightly subsided instead. The rule for striking while the iron is hot was reflected in this — the little girl was far behind those who could rage seven times in one night.
After dealing with this irritable yet not long-lasting mount, Wang Jiu began diligently tinkering with his package.
He placed a total of thirteen orders, with only six concerning materials for mechanical traps, the other seven were for himself to rebuild Sword World.
The shopping manual contained no high-end goods. The Vortex Gold Wang Jiu wanted wasn't found even in the luxury section, nor was the lower-tiered Vortex Copper.
Perhaps due to changes over time, the Heavenly and Earthly Treasures of the past have changed names, or the overall power level of the new world has diminished, even the Vortex Copper has become a rare treasure. In any case, Wang Jiu regrettably found he couldn't directly collect the most crucial items he wanted.
But it wasn't really a big issue.
The current Sword World is almost a blank slate, only two basic arrays silently operating, with the Divine Sword's quality still at Whiteboard Level. With such weak foundations, even if he collected all the treasures in the world at once, restoration to its peak would be impossible. The reconstruction of Sword World needs to proceed methodically, laying the groundwork before discussing upper structures, and this process will be quite lengthy.
So, even if important tools can't be prepared in advance, at least basic materials can be collected to complete fundamental structures, both to prepare for the future and to meet current needs.
Having been cooped up in the small courtyard for so long, he's grown a bit tired.
But going out independently isn't a simple matter.
Strengthening mobility alone isn't difficult. Just add a few more Shape Manipulation Arrays, converge them into an Operation Tower, and the Divine Sword would have several times its current mobility — although limited by the lack of a Wind Gathering Array and other energy cores, alternative solutions are needed, causing endurance concerns, but at least it can freely move within QingCyan Cloud City.
The problem lies in what identity he would freely move?
A strange Whiteboard Long Sword that can freely fly, clearly without any sacrificial refining?
Or put a label on it: "I am the master of Cyan Cloud Li Family's daughter Li Qingming"?
No matter how it's handled, in this era where no one remembers the Immortal Demon War of Jiuzhou, there's a hint of courting death. Of course, Li Qingming did suggest a rather sinister plan: put a label "Li Family private property, stealing will be pursued", yet even she said this while laughing!
To solve this problem, Wang Jiu had no choice but to go through the trouble of constructing a white wall in Sword World, then seriously painting his Sword Spirit form on it with various colors.
Wang Jiu's painting skills were inherited from Rakugo Immortal Venerable, the most skilled in the mystical arts among Jiu Immortal Venerables. It's Green Province technique walking on the cutting edge of fashion, emphasizing lifelike imitation. Once Wang Jiu finished painting, the figure on the wall instantly came to life.
Meanwhile, the Divine Sword body outside Sword World gradually underwent changes. The Whiteboard Long Sword slowly became foggy and blurred, while a semi-transparent figure emerged in its place.
After about a cup of tea's time, the Whiteboard Long Sword vanished completely, turning into a realistic figure identical to the painting on the white wall within Sword World!
Basic Technique: Illusion Sword Technique… most basic application, Illusionary Form.
For the Celestial Divine Sword, this is not even considered a Divine Technique, rather a minor trick. However, in this Whiteboard era, this technique consumed most of Wang Jiu's hard-earned resources in the order— that white wall, in Sword World, was an ordinary wall, yet building it consumed over a hundred pounds of Basic White Jade; converted into silver taels…
Wang Jiu did the math, thinking it was enough for Li Qingming's fury to erupt from her feet, propelling her around the city one-and-a-half times. Fortunately, her fury waned after repeated eruptions, leaving her too exhausted to scrutinize Wang Jiu's detailed accounts, accepting reality weakly. Thus, Wang Jiu lost the chance to witness his mount take flight.
With this illusionary appearance, he was approximately ready to move freely. Although the illusion was shallow, it was still crafted by the Celestial Divine Sword, making it hard to see through without specialized Insight Techniques. The only flaw remained the endurance, as Wang Jiu couldn't build a Wind Gathering Array, lacking an internal energy cycle, any technique's consumption could not be effectively replenished, hence its duration was very short.
If fully maintaining Illusionary Form and Shape Manipulation Array, Wang Jiu estimated he could move for about half an hour each day, enough to travel from this remote courtyard to QingCyan Cloud City's commercial district to play.
Yet, before he could plan his travel route, he found the lower body vanished, the living figure seeming to be sliced at the waist, losing the lower half. Meanwhile, the upper half began to twist and deform, a handsome sunny face seeming to be melted by acid, ruining its appearance.
It turns out, the image on the white wall within Sword World, for some unknown reason, began fading and deforming! Immediately impacting the Illusionary Form outside.
The Sword Spirit was shocked, quickly searching for the root cause, soon realizing the fault: severely unqualified paint! The shopping manual claimed the paint was made from the sap of a century-old Blue Flower Tree, but in reality, the tree wasn't even 50 years old! The paint's effect was vastly inferior to century-old grade!
——
"Hahahahaha!"
On the sickbed, Li Qingming was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe. It took him a lot of effort to calm himself using the Li Family Inner Sect Breathing Technique, and as he turned his head to look at the Sword Spirit almost melting into a mosaic, he couldn't suppress his laughter again.
"That's what you get for ordering takeout! Learned your lesson now, haven't you?!"
"You knew all along?"
Li Qingming said while giggling, "I've lived in Cyan Cloud City for 14 years, moved out of the Li Family Mansion 2 years ago, and have been living alone for 2 years, managing my own life, so I've got rich takeout experience. Do you think I knew or not?"
Before Wang Jiu could speak, Li Qingming laughed again, "Moreover, the Dobao Pavilion that sent the manual is actually a Li Family property. I even met the shopkeeper when I was a kid. Of course, I knew about his tricks long ago!"
"Damn! And you didn't warn me?"
Li Qingming justified, "I told you to just look and not buy. You didn't listen."
"Why should a master listen to a mount!"
"So you turned into this state, and you can't blame me," Li Qingming said with a laugh, "Speaking of which, seeing you like this reminds me of a Divine Skill."
"Divine Skill?"
"Vajra Subduing Demon, hahaha!"
The Sword Spirit, ridiculed as waste by his mount, felt helpless. Now, without the Wind Gathering Array, he couldn't generate energy on his own, and many techniques required assistance from external objects. If the quality of those objects was inadequate, it led to a tragic outcome.
"Before you laugh yourself to death, let me remind you that the materials for your mechanical traps are also ordered from this same shop."
Li Qingming's laughter instantly froze.
"...I'll write a complaint to customer service."
——
After all, she is the Li Family's young mistress.
Although, according to the previous servants' trio, currently Li Qingming's influence isn't even comparable to Li Ping's, she's still Li Fengyun's flesh and blood, and her complaint letter was taken seriously.
All problematic products were returned and compensated.
The only issue was that the pigment made from the century-old Blue Flower Tree sap that Wang Jiu specifically wanted just wasn't available. According to the shop's reply, there hasn't been any century-old Blue Flower Tree sap in Xiangzhou for ages. Ever since the Zhao Family in Golden Jade City improved the Blue Flower Tree species a few centuries ago, the sap from fifty-year-old Blue Flower Trees has sufficed for the majority of needs. Wang Jiu's Illusion Sword Technique is too ancient, with too unique material requirements, outside the business range for merchants. Although there are wild century-old Blue Flower Trees, they aren't within this shop's offering. Consequently, the shop could only compensate with three times the amount of "century-old Blue Flower Tree pigment"...
The problem is, what good is it even if such an inferior product is multiplied tenfold!
"Hahaha, so just contentedly remain as your whiteboard level long sword! Aren't you proud of your Divine Sword identity and disdainful of human form!"
"Nonsense, being human is definitely better than being a Vajra Subduing Demon!"
Wang Jiu felt gloomy, but after all, it wasn't anyone else's fault, so he silently went to set up mechanical traps to help Li Qingming protect the homeland.
After this big event in the afternoon, the girl's waist injury seemed to have improved a lot and she could already walk around, helping Wang Jiu with errands, during which there was naturally no shortage of teasing and taunting, making the experience quite flavorful.
However, on the other hand, while helping Wang Jiu with setups, the girl often marveled at his breadth of knowledge. When it came to mechanical traps, he really seemed to possess endless wisdom. From a simple earth-wood mechanism, he could talk all the way up to the Heaven-Reaching Tower and transcending a heavenly tribulation. From the Qimen Dunjia and the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, he could extend to the Heaven and Earth Dao and the origins of Spirit Wind. Although he claimed to know just a bit about many things, to the girl, it was dreamlike and fantastic.
And amidst this dreamlike time, Wang Jiu casually set up the defensive perimeter around the yard.
"Ha, from now on, forget Wind-Rising Realm novices; even Wind-Rising Peak masters..."
Li Qingming's eyes lit up, "Even Wind-Rising Peak masters can be stopped?"
After some consideration, Wang Jiu said, "No, given the substandard material, they definitely can't be stopped."
"Damn dishonest merchants!"
As the words left their mouths, Li Qingming's expression suddenly changed.
A series of chaotic footsteps came from outside. With her hearing, she could clearly discern their identities.
It was the eternal trio of Li Yuan, Li Li, and Li Peng, accompanied also by their leader, the Wind-Rising Realm cultivator, Li Ping.