Life as a Rogue Cultivator

Chapter 293: Formation Diagram

Running into the guy buying the diagrams at Hongji Tavern was no coincidence. They're clearly coming after Longtan's Alchemy Room.The real question now was: how many of them were there? And did they manage to buy all seven diagrams?

Even though Liu Xiaolou knew the Longtan formations inside out, he still had no good way to break in. Even with a key, you can’t just unlock the door right in front of the homeowner, can you?

After thinking it over for a long time, he slowly came up with an idea and kept watching.

Later that evening, the same person left Hongji Tavern and headed into the formation shop run by the Pingdu Eight Formations Gate.

Compared to Chicheng Market, the shops in Tianmu Market were far fewer. Take formation shops, for example: there were only two. One was run by the Pingdu Eight Formations Gate, and the other belonged to the Zuo family, an old formation clan from southern Xiang that mainly dealt in personal portable formations and other low-end formations.

Liu Xiaolou watched from a distance for a moment. When he saw the man leave the shop and walk into the Zuo family store across the way, he simply followed him inside.

There were only a few customers scattered around. Just the shopkeeper and a single assistant were there, both hovering around that man. Nobody paid Liu Xiaolou any attention.

From their conversation, the shopkeeper was calling him “Daoist Long.” Most likely a fake name.

This Daoist Long must have visited more than once. The shopkeeper took out a formation diagram they had received in the past couple days and showed it to him. He shook his head, clearly uninterested, and walked out.

The shopkeeper and the assistant saw him out with great politeness, saying they were still sourcing from multiple channels and would have several new formation disks and diagrams arriving in a couple of days. And they invited Daoist Long to return and look them over.

Daoist Long agreed and walked off.

Only then did the shopkeeper turn around to look at Liu Xiaolou. The assistant hurried over to attend to him: “How may we help you, sir?”

Liu Xiaolou shook his head, gave a polite smile, and walked out. He kept trailing after Daoist Long, always keeping his distance.

After shadowing him for three days straight, Liu Xiaolou more or less figured things out. This Daoist Long seemed to be a formation master. His cultivation wasn’t weaker than Liu Xiaolou’s, but it wasn’t anything impressive either.

On the fourth day, though, Liu Xiaolou didn’t dare keep following. He spotted a new stranger at Daoist Long’s side, someone whose cultivation he couldn’t sense at all. Daoist Long treated that person with obvious respect.

That night, Liu Xiaolou showed up at the Zuo family’s formation store. He’d switched into a new outfit, pulled his bamboo hat low over his face, just like always, and started wandering around the place at a leisurely pace.

The shop assistant came over. “Looking for anything in particular, sir?”

Liu Xiaolou replied, “I happened to come across a formation diagram. Do you buy those here?”

“What kind of diagram?” asked the assistant, then added, “Which sect produced it? Is it an illusion formation, a trapping formation, a sealing formation, or a killing formation? A mountain-guarding formation or a personal portable one?”

Liu Xiaolou thought for a moment. “It’s from Siming Mountain. As for what kind it is, I’m not a formation master, so I really can’t say. But I’ve heard your store has an excellent reputation and that the Zuo family is known for honesty, so I came here.”

The assistant smiled. “That’s true. Please follow me.”

Liu Xiaolou followed him into a private room. After he sat for a short while, the shopkeeper entered. Liu Xiaolou tugged his bamboo hat a little lower and handed over a formation diagram he had drawn the night before.

The shopkeeper turned it over again and again, studying it for quite some time before saying, This is a mountain-guarding formation plate, and it does have the Siming Sect’s style... but Emberfire? That’s odd. What kind of formation is this? And how much are you offering for it?”

Liu Xiaolou wanted to quote fifty spirit stones right away. That was the starting price Daoist Long had used back in the Chicheng black market. But using that price here would ruin the deal. So he added, “To be honest, I’m not a formation master, so I’m not really sure.”

The shopkeeper smiled, nodded, and stroked his beard. “Five spirit stones. What do you think of that price?”

Normally, a basic set of mountain-guarding formation diagrams doesn't fetch much. Once a diagram is drawn up, the actual refining of the formation disk tends to differ in countless ways. Things can change at any moment, so no one can follow a design sketch to the letter.

The price the shopkeeper offered wasn’t especially good or bad. It all depended on how much the buyer wanted it.

Liu Xiaolou didn’t want to make things harder for himself. He asked for eight spirit stones. The shopkeeper bargained it down to seven. And Liu handed over the core data for the Emberfire Formation diagram.

After selling a diagram at the Zuo family’s store, his next stop was the black market.

There was a black market in the Tianmu Market too, but it was small and nowhere near the size of the one in Chicheng. Liu Xiaolou had been there twice before and never managed to find anything worth buying.

This time, he paid five taels of silver, then headed up the mountain from the northwest side of the market. He entered a rocky little ravine filled with jagged stones. And picked a big boulder a bit off the beaten path, sat down, and set up his little stall just like he’d seen others do.

He didn’t really have a stall. He just used a tree branch to scratch the words “Formation Diagrams” into the sandy ground by his knees.

The black market at Tianmu Mountain didn’t draw many customers. It also didn’t separate vendors by formation tools, artifacts, techniques, pills, or materials. Everyone traded in this small valley, and there were only thirty to fifty people selling things. The number of people wandering around usually stayed between twenty and thirty. Overall, it was less than a fifth the size of the Chicheng market.

Because of that, Liu Xiaolou wasn’t worried about missing his target. As long as the person entered the valley, he would definitely see him.

He kept his little spot in this black market for three days. Quite a few cultivators walked past him. They saw that he was selling formation diagrams, and not a single person stopped to inquire. He wasn't in a hurry, though. He had paid the fifteen taels in fees to the Qingyu Sect, so he simply waited with patience.

On the night of the third day, someone finally showed up.

The newcomer was still wearing the same getup. A bamboo hat, a cloak, and a black cloth covering the face so you couldn’t make out any features. But the moment he spoke, Liu Xiaolou recognized him. It was the same man who claimed his surname was Long.

Long stopped in front of Liu Xiaolou and asked, “What kind of formation diagram?”

Liu Xiaolou didn’t answer out loud. He took a tree branch and wrote two characters in the sand: “Mountain-guarding.”

Long crouched down. “Which sect’s diagram?”

Liu Xiaolou wrote: “Siming.”

Long paused for a moment, then asked, “Can I see the diagram first?”

Liu Xiaolou reached into his robe and pulled out the scroll. He opened it right there on the ground without hesitation. Long lowered his head to study it, his fingers tracing invisible lines in the air.

That was the way a formation master traced the strokes of a formation talisman.

Long’s fingertip slowly came to a stop. It was trembling a little before he quickly pulled his hand back into his sleeve.

“Accumulated Water Formation? Name your price.”

Liu Xiaolou wrote: “Thirty spirit stones.”

Long countered, “Twenty!”

Liu Xiaolou shook his head and started rolling the diagram back up, but Long stopped him. “Twenty-five!”

Liu Xiaolou considered it, then nodded. After taking the spirit stones, he wrote the formation core data in the sand.

Long tucked the Accumulated Water Formation diagram away and pressed on. “Do you have any others?”

Liu Xiaolou took out another formation diagram and spread it on the ground.

Long studied it for a moment, then shook his head. “Not this one.”

Liu Xiaolou had already expected that. This diagram wasn’t one of the seven he knew Long would be after, so he rolled it back up and set down another.

Long shook his head again. “This won’t do. Anything else?”

Liu Xiaolou pulled out a third one, the Whirling Gold Formation. Once it was open, Long fixed his gaze on it and studied it for a long while. “I’ll take it for twenty-five.”

Liu Xiaolou shook his head and wrote, “Thirty-five.”