Chapter 131: The Nine Transformations of the Mountain

The old shopkeeper of the Ironworks chuckled foolishly, as if he understood, or perhaps as if he didn't want to understand.

Of course, that was of no consequence. Wei Cheng wanted to buy flame stones, but he wasn't in any desperate need of them. He was simply killing time with idle chatter. However, as his peripheral vision swept across the price board, he noticed the figures had been updated in real-time.

Unlimited acquisition of flame stones, three copper coins apiece.

"Good grief, old man, you’re really trying to corner the market, aren't you?"

"That’s the price. Give me a thousand flame stones. Come on, old man, let’s have some professional integrity."

"Alright, little soldier-boy. One thousand pieces, half price—25,000 copper coins. Will you be paying in silver coins or gold coins? If you pay in gold, I can give you an extra fifteen percent off."

The old shopkeeper was truly playing the fool, feigning ignorance while raking in dirty money without batting an eye. Indeed, in the blink of an eye, the price had changed again.

Faced with such an old rogue, Wei Cheng conceded defeat and turned to leave. But just as he was about to step out of the shop, he suddenly remembered something. He turned back, bowed respectfully to the old man, and fished twenty flame stones from his miner’s basket—the ones he had prepared for his transformation into a Flame Giant. He placed them before the shopkeeper.

"Little soldier-boy, are you looking to sell? Here at the Floating Cloud Ironworks, we have a sterling reputation. We never cheat our customers. Look closely: one copper coin per piece."

"I'm not selling. I want to donate them all to the Floating Cloud Ironworks," Wei Cheng said with a straight face.

Right, back in Floating Cloud City, when he had produced a pile of profound iron stones and jasper stones, the old shopkeeper had given him three choices: sell, donate, or donate half. At the time, he hadn't thought anything of it, but today, it suddenly came back to him.

"Donate? Well, that’s certainly kind. The profound iron forged by the Floating Cloud Ironworks is famous far and wide, all thanks to a secret technique for controlling fire. And this secret technique lies within these very flame stones—"

*Clatter!*

The twenty flame stones were swept away by the old shopkeeper’s sleeve. A moment later, he returned to his previous demeanor.

"Little soldier-boy, are you looking to purchase something? I don't mean to boast, but the name of the Floating Cloud Ironworks is renowned throughout the entire Tiannan Prefecture."

This line sounded familiar.

Wei Cheng looked at the old shopkeeper silently, and the old man’s dim eyes looked back at him with equal silence. Both parties appeared remarkably sincere.

After a long while.

*Clatter!*

Wei Cheng poured out another hundred flame stones.

"I'm donating them all."

"Donate? Well, that’s certainly kind. The profound iron forged by the Floating Cloud Ironworks is famous far and wide, all thanks to a secret technique for controlling fire. And this secret technique—"

"—lies within these flame stones. Do you know, there were no such things as flame stones in this world? It was our ancestors who, in their quest to forge the ultimate profound iron, traveled across the four seas and the eight wildernesses, through three thousand worlds, traversing the vast and the infinite, until they finally found a single seed of fire."

"It was this seed of fire that forged the glory of the Zixia Immortal Sect for countless ages. Yet, who would have thought—success comes from the fire, and failure follows the fire—"

*Clatter!*

These hundred flame stones were also swept away by the old shopkeeper, who once again reverted to his former self.

Wei Cheng was neither angry nor frustrated, nor did he turn back to find more flame stones just to hear the rest of the story. Truth be told, was this story really that hard to guess?

*Zixia* means "Purple Clouds." Given that this is the Floating Cloud Ironworks, it stands to reason that after the fall of the Zixia Immortal Sect, the descendants were too ashamed to use their former name, or perhaps feared being hunted by enemies, so they renamed themselves the Floating Cloud Immortal Sect—that would be perfectly logical.

Furthermore, "success from the fire, failure from the fire"—whatever caused the fall of the Zixia Immortal Sect must have been immensely powerful. Connecting this to the fact that there were no flame stones until someone found a seed of fire, and then linking it to the ancient demons under Floating Cloud City—what was that one called? Right, Chi Yao. And most of Chi Yao’s demonic minions were related to fire.

The answer was clear.

"Chi Yao is that seed of fire, isn't it? And it’s currently being suppressed in the underground space beneath Floating Cloud City, right?"

Wei Cheng spoke calmly, but the old shopkeeper acted as if he hadn't heard.

It didn't matter. Wei Cheng could even guess that the Zixia Immortal Sect might have had some connection to the Zixia Heart Sutra. Perhaps the Floating Cloud Ironworks was merely a mundane outpost for a hidden cultivation sect.

Damn it, after spending so many years immersed in web novels, he had completely lost any sense of anticipation. But what did it matter?

He was a Mountain Mover, after all! Hahaha!

Wei Cheng let out three hearty laughs and strode away.

The old shopkeeper remained unmoved, sitting down slowly, taking a slow sip of tea, and closing his eyes, as if nothing had happened. Or perhaps, nothing had.

However, after walking several hundred meters, Wei Cheng suddenly felt a stir in his heart. He looked down at his right wrist, where a burning flame mark suddenly appeared and then rapidly dissipated.

This—

"Damn it!"

Wei Cheng cursed. Could it be? Had he actually guessed correctly? Was he also fated with the Zixia Immortal Sect, or rather, the Floating Cloud Immortal Sect? But now, that immortal fate had been severed.

How could this be? In a single day, he had managed to brush past two different cultivation sects purely by his own merit.

Although he knew his main profession was Mountain Mover, Wei Cheng was, after all, a mortal. He immediately turned back toward the Floating Cloud Ironworks, wanting to apologize to the old man, or even kowtow a few times if necessary...

But Wei Cheng stopped in his tracks, stunned.

The old shopkeeper was gone. The shop was still there, but it felt as if something was missing. As for the new shopkeeper, a young man in his twenties, he was very enthusiastic.

"Greetings, customer! My Floating Cloud Ironworks is famous throughout Tiannan Prefecture. The hoes, kitchen knives, and sickles we craft are incredibly sharp. Is there anything you need? We can also take custom orders, and our prices are very reasonable!"

Wei Cheng shook his head and turned away.

"A man who worries needlessly creates his own troubles."

He was still too mortal.

Walking all the way back to his small courtyard, the ripple in his heart vanished, and his thoughts cleared of all mist. He even felt a strange, newfound understanding of the Mountain Mover Heart Sutra and his Earth Spiritual Root.

How should he put it? It was as if two layers of thin gauze had been obstructing his vision, preventing him from seeing his true self and the full picture of the Mountain Mover path. But now that those layers had been stripped away and cast aside, he would naturally reap greater rewards.

"Actually, this kind of temptation is just a stumbling block on the path of cultivation."

Wei Cheng felt a sudden sense of enlightenment, his reverence for this trial deepening. Who could have imagined that the rewards for clearing the sixth stage contained such a subtle trap? If he had been greedy or curious, or if he had truly believed himself to be a one-in-a-million protagonist who would inevitably find a miraculous encounter regardless of his choices, he would have fallen right into the pit.

The primary technique of the Zixia Sect was undoubtedly an upgraded version of the Azure Wood Heart Sutra. As a proud Mountain Mover, it wouldn't be impossible to dual-cultivate the Azure Wood, but to suddenly reverse his path and make Azure Wood his primary and Mountain Moving his secondary?

Damn, that was an unbearable thought.

And just now, his banter with the old man—if he had been more curious, if he had thought he could dual-cultivate Zixia, he wouldn't have debunked the old man but instead looked for more flame stones to donate just to hear the story. Once he heard the whole story, wouldn't that have made him an outer disciple of the Floating Cloud Sect?

Damn, he almost fell into that trap.

He was a First-Turn Earth Spiritual Root, yes, but he wanted a Third-Turn Earth Spiritual Root. He was going to be the strongest Mountain Mover!

*Hum!*

The moment this thought became so intense that it automatically activated his Mountain Mover Visualization, a grand and melodious bell toll suddenly rang out across the Nine Groups of Mountains.

At the first toll, Wei Cheng automatically entered a state of meditation.

At the second toll, he had become one with the mountains.

His spiritual energy flowed along with the surging internal power of the Mountain Mover. From the morning glow to the mountain ranges, from the valleys to the clear streams, and on to the majestic rivers—the plants, the swaying water, every detail existed in stark reality.

He felt as though he were within them. With a single thought, the mountains were him, the morning glow was him, the river water was him, and the trees and stones were him.

The only thing he didn't know was where the bell toll was coming from. He pondered bitterly, while the bell continued to chime at a steady, rhythmic pace.

After a long time, Wei Cheng stopped fixating on it. He simply transformed into the Nine Groups of Mountains, entering a deep meditative state. His internal Mountain Mover power flowed automatically, stirring mountain breezes that rustled the grass and trees, while the rays of dawn light shone down and the great river surged.

It was perfectly in harmony with the tolling of the bell.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but Wei Cheng, in his meditative state, seemed to be struck by a flash of light and suddenly understood.

The bell toll was nothing mysterious or profound—it was clearly his own heartbeat.

He was stunned, jolting awake from his meditation to find that night had already fallen.

Had he had a dream, or had he had a dream while in a state of meditation? He had been meditating within the Nine Groups of Mountains conjured by his own visualization, only to hear his own heartbeat?

That was too ridiculous. It didn't make logical sense...

Wei Cheng grinned. It must have been a dream.

But a second later, "What harm is there in trying?"

Wei Cheng cleared his mind of distractions and instantly triggered his Mountain Mover Visualization. His Level 9 spiritual power surged, unfolding the groups of mountains. Nine streaks of golden light, like morning glow, shone upon the peaks, looking exactly like a rising sun.

Outside these nine groups of mountains, or perhaps within them, a towering tree was growing silently—this was his sixty years of Azure Wood internal power.

Everything looked normal.

But at that moment, the bell tolled again, still from an unknown source.

If this bell was his own heartbeat, then—the moment the thought crossed his mind, Wei Cheng was shocked to discover, no, to *sense* his own body.

And he was not within his own body.

It was not a face-to-face encounter, nor was it a tactile, intuitive existence. It was more like breaking through some kind of shackle.

The instant Wei Cheng reached this realization, a sound like thunder rumbled, and a massive, ancient stone stele of heritage emerged and merged into his heart and mind.

In the blink of an eye, various pieces of information surged up and then dissipated.

"So, it is only at this moment that I have truly cultivated the second layer of the Mountain Mover Heart Sutra to perfection."

"So, the key to unlocking the Second-Turn Earth Spiritual Root is so simple, yet so difficult."

"So, the heavens have nine suns, the earth has nine virtues, and the mountains have nine transformations. The nine congenital meridians are the foundation of these nine transformations. One step at a time, one footprint at a time—indeed, one cannot be careless."

Wei Cheng awoke from his meditation, his eyes no longer clouded by doubt.

He felt as though the gates to immortality had been thrown wide open for him.