Mortal Mirror

Li Ergou looked at Liu Zhiyu's enjoying expression and chuckled inwardly, thinking, "Even if I told you, you couldn't make it without the nourishment of the copper mirror."

However, he still said, "This is stewed with a five-hundred-year-old turtle and the spiritual herbs you configured for me. How is it, flavorful enough?"

"What!" Liu Zhiyu was silent for a moment, then smiled bitterly, "Unexpected, truly unexpected. You are really something, a five-hundred-year-old giant turtle."

"Wait, that's not right."

"I heard that half a year ago, the yamen killed a turtle demon. Could it be that one? I heard it was taken to Fish City and divided up by those big shots. How did you get it?"

With hesitation, Liu Zhiyu looked at Li Ergou, who didn't hide anything and vaguely told Liu Zhiyu that he had also participated in the demon hunt, and in the end, he was rewarded with some turtle meat. The specific details were still inconvenient to reveal.

After listening, Liu Zhiyu couldn't help but sigh at Li Ergou's prowess.

When he learned that the turtle jelly was scarce, he gave up the idea of buying it, but he felt sorry that if this item were sold, it would definitely fetch a large sum of money.

At this moment, he remembered the matter of buying a chicken. Li Ergou had long forgotten about it, but after being reminded, he promised to bring a chicken next time he came.

After a satisfying meal, the two bid farewell, and Li Ergou headed to the market. Now that the New Year was approaching, he wanted to have a good celebration.

But before he could reach the market, he heard a burst of firecrackers in front of him, releasing so much smoke. He didn't know whose house it was or what they were celebrating so grandly.

After inquiring, he learned that it was the local branch of the Vermilion Bird Academy, which was officially opening its doors to accept disciples today.

The Vermilion Bird Academy was one of the four major academies of the Great Xia Kingdom, a presence comparable to the three major sects. He was truly envious of those disciples who could enter this academy.

Standing at the gate, he looked enviously for a while, when suddenly a palm-sized piece of paper flew from the side and happened to fly in front of Li Ergou, swirling around in front of him.

Curious, Li Ergou reached out and grabbed the paper, and saw that some words were engraved on it. The front was written with the three large characters "Ancient Sword Sect."

The back had some smaller words, clearly written, as long as you spend one hundred taels, you can learn the most authentic sword cultivation method of the Ancient Sword Sect.

One hundred taels won't get you a loss, won't get you fooled, come to the Ancient Sword Sect, this is the beginning of your hope.

Seeing this paper, Li Ergou only felt a wave of scammer vibes slowly coming over him. His biggest doubt was that he had never heard of sects charging money to learn cultivation methods. Isn't this only something academies do?

With curiosity, he looked forward. The first shop on the left of the Vermilion Bird Academy's gate was a restaurant, the second was a blind massage parlor, and the third, with a smaller storefront, had the three characters "General Store" written on it.

And next to the three characters "General Store", there were three smaller characters, Ancient Sword Sect.

Li Ergou's mind exploded, thinking, are sects so casual now? Could it be that this sect has some unspeakable secrets and needs to use a general store to cover it up?

With curiosity and doubt, he came to the general store. The storefront was not large, with only one room. On two walls of the room, there were two cabinets, displaying many things to eat and use.

A counter was placed across the entrance, and behind the counter, a short-haired man was lying on a rattan chair, snoring. It could be seen that half a cooked egg was covering each of his eyes.

He felt familiar with these eggs, as if they were the eggs of his first-generation chicken.

Looking again at the person holding a picture book on his chest, the picture book clearly had a line of words written on it, "The Biography of Golden Lotus."

Seeing these words, Li Ergou's heart stirred, feeling a sense of deja vu.

His heart moved, and he gently tapped the table with his finger, making a dong dong sound. The man suddenly sat up, vaguely shouting, "The store has everything, complete styles, from eating and drinking to excretion, from firewood, rice, oil, and salt, what do you want, customer?"

The man removed the eggs from his eyes, then threw them into his mouth, eating while looking at Li Ergou, with a flattering smile on his face.

Li Ergou's biggest feeling at the moment was whether he had come to the wrong place.

He hesitantly asked, "This... is this the Ancient Sword Sect?"

As soon as he said this, the man suddenly widened his eyes, a gleam of light appearing in his eyes. He suddenly pulled the curtain in front of him and said, "Wait a moment."

Li Ergou was hesitant, wondering what was going on, when he saw the curtain being pulled open again. The man in front of him had changed into a light cyan robe, with many golden cloud patterns embroidered on the clothes, and a yellow sword on his back. Instantly, his image became much more impressive.

Seeing Li Ergou's astonished expression, the person suddenly revealed a transcendent and refined smile and said, "This young friend, I am the thirty-first generation successor of the Ancient Sword Sect, known as the Thundering Sword Immortal Yu Tailai."

As soon as he said this, a powerful sword intent suddenly surged in the entire room, and the temperature in the entire room seemed to drop a few degrees, making people feel fearful.

Li Ergou exclaimed and couldn't help but take a step back, exclaiming, "What a strong sword intent, I wonder where the Ancient Sword Sect ranks among all the sects in the Great Xia Dynasty."

Hearing this, Yu Tailai couldn't help but twitch his mouth, and said with some embarrassment, "Well, to tell you the truth, my Ancient Sword Sect has never been in the world for many years, but when it came to my generation, the sect became increasingly desolate, so I came out to seek a destined person, so that I can inherit the mantle of my Ancient Sword Sect."

"To tell you the truth, rankings are just gimmicks, you must not believe them. Only what you see with your own eyes can let you see clearly what real strength is."

At this moment, he put his hands behind his back, held his head high, and looked into the distance, revealing a profound and unpredictable appearance.

Li Ergou didn't know why, but he inexplicably believed him a little, but he still asked, "This... Thundering Sword Immortal, why are you so powerful and still open this general store, and open it next to the Vermilion Bird Academy? Aren't you afraid they will drive you away?"

Yu Tailai revealed a profound smile and said, "This is the meaning of why I want to disguise as a general store, just to pick out a successor who can inherit my ancient sword mantle. Enough nonsense, put out your hand, let me see your root bones."

Li Ergou suddenly thought of something. Everyone talks about root bones, but to this day he still doesn't know what root bones are, so he took this opportunity to ask, "Senior, I really don't know what these root bones are. I wonder if senior can explain."

Yu Tailai was slightly stunned, but then he was relieved and said, "You are young and don't know, it is also reasonable. These root bones do not refer to your physical bones, but the primordial qi that people carry when they are born, which is also called the innate Taoist embryo by us cultivators."

"This thing cannot be seen with ordinary eyes, it is an invisible thing, hidden in the dantian. The secrets of this thing are obscured, and cultivators themselves cannot see their own innate Taoist embryo. Only when the cultivation reaches a certain level can they see what their Taoist embryo looks like."

"Thus, only others can check whether your innate Taoist embryo is good or bad. This is also the primary condition for sects to select disciples."

"The stronger, heavier, and clearer the innate Taoist embryo, the better. A powerful and perfect innate Taoist embryo can even emit innate divine light. Such innate Taoist embryos are rare, and once they cultivate the Tao, they will undoubtedly become top cultivators."

"And the weaker, lighter, and more blurred the innate Taoist embryo, the worse the innate Taoist embryo is, which is what is said to be poor root bones."

After listening to these explanations, Li Ergou understood in his heart and subconsciously stretched out his hand. Yu Tailai smiled and put his hand on his wrist, his face began to become wonderful for a moment, but in a short moment, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he looked at Li Ergou with a strange look.

At this moment, he let go of his hand, his eyes a little complicated.

Li Ergou still looked forward and said, "Senior, how is it?"

Yu Tailai kept shaking his head and said, "Alas, for many years, I have seen such poor root bones for the first time."

Everyone said that his root bones were poor. Li Ergou really wanted to know how poor his root bones were, so he asked, "Senior, how poor are my root bones? Can you tell me?"

Yu Tailai narrowed his eyes, looked at the street, and revealed a profound look.