Chapter 60: The Golden Hooped Rod

  Back at Peach Blossom Garden, Luo Yu hung out a sign that said "Closed for Cultivation" and spent half a month continuously drawing talismans. She completed over 600 talismans and selected around 50 first-class talismans, while the rest of the second-class talismans would be exchanged for spirit stones.

  "Wen Shu, are these 550 spirit stones? Can you help me calculate how many spiritual stones I have left after deducting the debt from last time?"

  "Two second-class lower-grade symbols, 10 spirit stones each, two second-class middle-grade symbols, 20 spirit stones each...... After deducting the cost of materials last time, there are 31 middle-grade spirit stones left." Wen Shu handed the spirit stones to Luo Yu.

  "Has Master Yang come to the store?" Luo Yu hadn't received any news from Chu Yang's transmission talisman, so she thought of going to the store to try her luck.

  In the past two years, Qingning Xiaodian's business has been getting better and better. The store is always crowded with customers. Chuyang has already hired two employees, but he didn't tell them their true identities, so Luoyu always refers to the two of them by their pseudonyms.

  "Mr. Yang has not arrived yet, but he expected you to come to the store today and asked you to wait for him in the backyard." Wen Shu smiled, "My young master is currently accompanying a female guest in the backyard, so it's better for you to think twice before going in."

  "Can you give me a hint?" Luo Yu's curiosity was piqued.

  "Hehe, all I can say is that the fairy's name sounds very similar to the young lady's!" Wen Shu smiled with narrowed eyes.

  "Similar? - Snow! Right?" Luo Yu's eyes sparkled with excitement, but immediately lost steam, "Then I'd better not disturb them... Uncle Wen, please take me in!" Luo Yu looked at Wen Shu with pleading eyes.

  "No need to ask Wen Shu to take you in, come on in, I've already spoken to Luo Xue about you." Song Ning transmitted the sound into Luo Yu's ear.

  Luo Yu and Wen Shu exchanged a glance, she was truly unwilling to be a light bulb, but now she could only obediently go to the backyard.

  As she walked into the backyard, Luo Yu saw Song Ning and Lu Xue having tea in the pavilion.

  "Shi Shu has arrived. I think it's been a long time since you've seen Little Shi Mei, so I called you in to get together." Song Ning's face was flushed with redness.

  "Thank you, Uncle Song. Ninth Sister and I haven't seen each other for four years." Luo Yu smiled and said, "Ninth Sister, I'm thirteen now, do you still remember me?"

  "Thirteen? —— I remember you, it's just that your appearance has changed too much and I couldn't recognize you for a moment." Huang Luoxue replied.

  "Jiujie is still like this, so direct!" Luo Yu said helplessly, "But I'm interrupting you?"

  "No, I was just about to leave, but Eldest Brother said you were coming, so I'll stay for a moment."

  Luo Yuming understood his responsibility and glanced at Song Ning, who nodded slightly in agreement.

  "Eldest sister, don't hurry off! I've just learned some new water-based spells, but I haven't quite got the hang of them yet. Can you give me some guidance?"

  "All right, you go ahead and do it." Huang Luoxue nodded. She had originally wanted to return to her cultivation, but she couldn't refuse the request of her thirteenth sister, after all, Luo Yu was one of the few sisters with whom she could exchange a few words.

  Luo Yu stood within Song Ning's protective shield and cast the Water Arrow Technique, Water Shield Technique, and Canglang Technique.

  "The power of the Water Arrow Technique is not enough, but this is determined by the properties of water," Huang Luoxue commented, "In fact, you have all five elements, and you can consider adding Golden Element Spirit Energy to it, which can enhance its sharpness —"

  "Little sister, all existing spells in the Cultivation Realm are single-elemental spells." Song Ning explained.

  "Huh? Sorry, Thirteen, I didn't know...—I only have the Water Spirit Root, so I wasn't paying attention to that kind of information." A faint blush rose to Huang Luoxue's cheeks.

  "Eldest sister is just being kind, I won't mind. From Yu Jian's words, I know that because it's difficult to solve the problem of multiple compatibility and the spellcasting speed is too slow, with not much increase in power, no cultivator is willing to study this aspect. In the future, if there's time, I can properly research it."

  "Alright, I believe you. After you succeed in the future, demonstrate it to me again." Huang Luoxue nodded.

  Big sister, she just said it, actually she herself didn't have much confidence either. Luoyu smiled bitterly.

  "The power of Water Arrow Technique lies in its sharpness and impact force, so the abundance of spiritual energy and control of divine consciousness are crucial..."

  Luoyu listened to Huang Luoxue's guidance and on-site demonstration, and the power of water-based spells indeed increased by 10%.

  Huang Luoxue smiled: "You've grasped all the key points, everything else depends on your practice to improve the speed of your moves."

  "Thank you, Ninth Sister!" Luo Yu bowed in gratitude. "I still have to wait for Master Chu, sitting idly is quite boring, why don't you teach me how to play chess instead? You and Master Song can play against each other, and explain it to me at the same time."

  "This..." Huang Luoxue hesitated.

  "Little sister, let's play a game of chess. By the way, it will be good for Luo Yu's little brain to open up. Four years ago, she played a game with Chu Yang and almost got scolded to death. After that, she never played chess again and would even avoid us when we're playing."

  Luo Yu secretly scolded Song Ning for using his own dirty affairs to amuse his heart's desire, but with a coquettish tone, he said: "Yes, yes, Ninth Sister can save me this time, and when I learn it, I'll go crush Chu Shi Shu."

  "You think you can crush me with your stinky chess skills? Even if you studied for 500 years, you'd still be the one getting crushed."

  Luoyu secretly sighed and couldn't help but think of Chu Yang, also feeling fortunate that she had completed the task of retaining Huang Luoxue.

  "Can't you just let me have a look?" Luo Yu complained. "You've only just arrived, but you've already found the gun I wanted."

  "Gun? I didn't find one," Chu Yang said with a smile, seeing Luo Yu's disappointed expression. "But I found a fire poker, which suits you well, this dirty and dusty little servant girl."

  But he saw him take out an object from the storage bag and place it on the ground. Luo Yu walked forward, took a closer look, and this object was indeed rod-shaped, 2 meters long, with a diameter of one and a half inches, and the thickness was even from top to bottom. The two ends were two golden hoops, and in the middle was a segment of black, with a white paper strip attached next to the hoop, which read "Fire Stick".

  She picked up the 'fire stick' and only then did she realize that it weighed as much as 2,000 catties. But this couldn't stop Luo Yu's anger: "Chu Yang, you've been looking for half a month and all you could find is this one fire stick?"

  She had been painting for half a month, and her eyes were tired like mosquito coils. He just used a fire stick to fool her! Luo Yu was getting angrier by the minute, and picked up the stick ready to start a fight.

  "Wait a minute—" Huang Luoxue walked up to the firewood stick, and with a light tear, she tore off the paper strip. "Gold, hoop, stick!"

  At this time, Luo Yu also saw the three words under the note - Golden Hoop Stick, and for a moment he didn't know whether to be angry or laugh.

  "Chu Shi Shu, I beg of you, don't play with me again!" Luo Yu lowered his head and said in a humble tone, "Tell me, what's so good about this stick?"

  "Hey, weren't you just going to hit me? What's with the sudden 'Master Uncle'?" Chu Yang plopped down on the stone bench, giving her a sidelong glance.

  "That's only if you can beat me, right? Which time wasn't I beaten half to death by you!" Luo Yu muttered under her breath, but her hands and feet didn't slow down. She poured a cup of spiritual tea with one hand and handed it to Chu Yang, "It's all my fault, please Master Uncle have some tea to calm down."

  "Is there anyone who respects tea like this? The tea is all cold!" Chu Yang didn't even stretch out his hand, leaving her hanging there.

  Luoyu gritted her teeth and suddenly stabbed the golden hoop stick in her hand onto the bluestone floor with a loud "crack". The floor cracked, and the tea set on the table rattled. She pushed the cold tea forward: "Cold tea, just right to quench the fire!"

  "You—" Chu Yang stood up and pointed at Luo Yu's nose with his fan handle, "Do you want to get beaten?"

  "If you have the guts, let's seal our spiritual powers and try again?" Luo Yu said with a proud face.

  "I'd be a fool if I dared to compare my spiritual power with yours!" Song Ning sneered.

  Song Ning stepped forward, blocking the two of them: "Don't rush to fight first, let's talk about the floor. The floor of this pavilion is made of Qingjin stone, ordinary magic tools can't crack it, now it has opened two big cracks, who do you think should compensate?"

  Luoyu lowered her head, and at the same time, she tried to input some spiritual power, but unexpectedly, it became like this, so the destructive power also exceeded her expectations.

  "Whoever spoils it pays for it!" Chu Yang was very calm.

  Luoyu quietly took out the storage bag, dug out all the spirit stones, "I only have more than 30 medium-grade spirit stones, this is still the goods payment that Wensheng just gave me, I don't know if it's enough to buy the Golden Hoop Rod, if there are any left over, I will compensate Song Shu."

  "Hmph, Chu Yang laughed and said with a lazy expression: 'Luo Yu, I've never seen anyone as thick-skinned as you! 30 mid-grade spirit stones is just the tip of the iceberg for this staff's value. If I wasn't afraid that you'd die in the Qing Huang secret realm and no one would be left to draw talismans for me, why would I have searched day and night for this item?'"

  "Master Chu Shu, I knew you were the best to me!" Luo Yu pulled Master Chu Yang's sleeve and pouted.

  Chu Yang pulled out his sleeve and took a step back: "You stand further away from me, that fat face of yours is too hurtful to my eyes."

  Luoyu naturally wrapped herself around him, and the two of them tussled again.

  "I said they wouldn't really get angry with each other. Every time they meet, if they don't have a big argument, they won't feel satisfied, and then they'll immediately make up like before, just like children." Song Ning said with a smile to Huang Luoxue.

  "Yes, it looks strange, but it's not bad." Huang Luoxue nodded, thinking to herself that she had always been cold and clear, never having been so intimate with anyone before, yet feeling a little regretful in her heart.

  Luoyu didn't care what the two people beside her thought, at this time she finally got Chu Yang to have no way out and opened his mouth to explain the origin of the Golden Hoop Rod.

  "For days, I've been searching for a suitable gun for you, but the ones on the market are too ordinary and not to my liking. Then, a young man from a small noble family found me and said that his family had a Golden Hoop Rod that would be perfect for a cultivator like you who practices dual cultivation of qi. So, we flew thousands of miles to Pingzhou and discovered that this person's family was originally a third-rate noble family, but now they've fallen on hard times, with only about a dozen people left in the household, relying on their ancestors' reputation to get by. But when that young man pulled out the Golden Hoop Rod from a corner, I knew I had come to the right place."

  Chu Yang coughed twice and Luo Yu hastily brought over a cup of cool tea. Chu Yang took one gulp and completely forgot that he had just been complaining about the tea being too cold to drink.

  "The Golden Hoop Staff is made of Xuanwu Iron, which can transmit spiritual energy and true yuan. The cloud-patterned golden hoops on both ends are made of Xuanjin, which has an amplifying effect on metal-elemental spells. This staff seems to be tailor-made for you, and you can use it all the way until the Foundation Establishment period."

  "Why has the Golden Hoop been buried all this time?" Luo Yu wondered.

  "That's because the Golden Hoop Staff is only suitable for a Body Practitioner like you. Its material is ordinary, but the craftsmanship of the Refiner is good, barely making it a Spiritual Artifact. However, it's too heavy and ordinary people can't even lift it. For a Qi Practitioner, this object isn't sharp enough, and its price is too high. Even for a Dual Cultivator of Qi and Body, they would still choose to use a Spiritual Artifact, after all, their ultimate goal is still the path of Qi Refining, and Body Cultivation is just supplementary. So, only someone like you, who has over-practiced Body Cultivation and become a fatty, is suitable for using this object."

  Luoyu didn't mind Chuyang's sharp tongue, lovingly stroking the Golden Hoop Rod. The difference between a rod and a spear lies in the spearhead's sharpness, but spear execution and rod execution are similar, only with less use of the spearhead. Moreover, she had been using a white rod to practice spear execution before, so switching to the Golden Hoop Rod was also suitable. Luoyu only regretted that it couldn't be like Sun Wukong's Magical Golden Hoop Rod, which could change size at will.