The speed of a Flying Magical Artifact was also related to Magical Power output. In any case, his body contained four times the True Essence of a cultivator at the same level, so consuming it a bit faster wasn’t an issue. It would be more than enough to make up for the slight difference.

"Very well, we’ll do as you wish, Fellow Daoist," the Hong-named Female Cultivator said without argument. The customer’s opinion was paramount, after all. She took out several blueprints from her Storage Bag, all of them designs for Flying Ship Magical Artifacts.

Lü Zhong glanced at them, but none caught his eye.

It wasn’t that their functions were unsatisfactory; he just found their designs to be utterly plain. They looked... pretty much like the fishing boats you’d see by the river.

An image immediately surfaced in his mind: female cultivators as beautiful as Celestial Immortals, piloting fishing boats through the sky.

Well, so much for that fantasy.

Lü Zhong pondered for a moment before flipping a Jade Scroll into his hand. He first erased the information about the Tan Family within it, then inscribed his ideal Flying Ship design. Only then did he hand it to the female cultivator across from him. "Fellow Daoist Hong, I wonder, would you be able to craft a Flying Ship of this design?"

It wasn’t a strange design, just a shuttle-shaped hull that he preferred.

The Hong-named Female Cultivator took it and saw the streamlined vessel within. At first, she found it a bit strange, but the more she looked, the more she liked it. It was far more beautiful than any of the designs she had offered.

Delighted, she clutched the Jade Scroll tightly. Her red lips parted as she said, "We can certainly craft the Flying Ship design you’ve provided, Fellow Daoist. However, I have a presumptuous request... I was wondering if..."

As she spoke, the Hong-named Female Cultivator seemed a little embarrassed.

"Would it be possible to share this design with me? I would also like to have such a Flying Ship crafted for myself."

If one had to name the greatest concern of the Jade Flower Sect’s female cultivators, it would naturally be their love of beauty. Even she was no exception; after all, she had been raised with this value since childhood.

Lü Zhong heard her out and nodded in agreement.

It was only a change in appearance, something he couldn’t stop others from imitating anyway. He might as well grant her the favor. This way, she would likely put more care into crafting his own Flying Ship.

Soon, all the details were settled, and both parties left their auras on the Spirit Contract.

After leaving the Artifact Refining Workshop, Lü Zhong made a trip to a Magic Shop.

He had wanted to buy some Tier Two Spells, such as an Invisibility Technique, a Flying Spell, and the like.

In the end, however, he only managed to buy a single, dime-a-dozen volume of the *Flying Technique*. The rest were basically various kinds of Attack Magic, all equally common and generally overpriced.

As for something like the Mind Reading Secret Technique that Yuo Qing had used, that was probably just wishful thinking.

Once again, Lü Zhong experienced firsthand what a monopoly on knowledge felt like.

At this thought, he couldn’t help but feel another surge of gratitude for his master, Shuini. Thankfully, she had left him the complete Flying Star Inheritance. Otherwise, just searching for subsequent Cultivation Techniques would have been a major headache for a long time to come.

Since he couldn’t buy the Magic Skills he wanted, Lü Zhong had no choice but to head back.

He rested for a day, then left the next morning with his breath concealed.

He casually entered a teahouse, ordered a pot of freshly picked green Spirit Tea, and listened to the cultivators around him as he sipped, hoping to hear news about the Qingyang Mirror.

Before long, someone did indeed bring up the matter.

"Did you guys hear? The mysterious cultivator who bought the Qingyang Mirror that day was ambushed by the Wan Family! I heard they had a huge fight on Yehua Mountain, and a lot of people died on both sides!" a man in a conical hat said, his face a mask of mystery.

"I knew it! I called it!" someone immediately chimed in, a thin, middle-aged man wearing a Dharma Robe.

"Come on, brother, tell us! What happened next?" someone asked eagerly.

Many others also urged him on, wanting to know how the story unfolded.

In truth, this kind of news was exactly what many people came to the teahouse to hear. After all, their monotonous daily routine of cultivating and earning money was rather dull. And since they couldn’t afford the very "accommodating" ladies of the Jade Flower Tower, they could only rely on this sort of thing to relieve their boredom.

Lü Zhong, however, saw through the conical-hatted man’s identity in a single glance and almost burst out laughing.

’What is this? Is he leaking the news himself?’

The man in the conical hat was none other than the teahouse’s own Shopkeeper, who had used a Disguise. To think he would go so far as to leak information himself just to attract customers.

No wonder everyone liked to frequent the teahouse; you really could hear useful information here.

"Ahem, I haven’t been feeling well lately. I might need..." Before the man in the conical hat could finish, someone nearby understood his meaning. Wasn’t he just fishing for someone to buy him some Spirit Tea?

"Hey brothers, why don’t we pool our money and get him a pot of Drunken Yangchun Tea?"

"Alright, count me in!"

"Me too!"

Lü Zhong, for his part, shamelessly kept his money to himself.

Soon, a pot of Drunken Yangchun, worth Five Spirit Stones, was placed in front of the man in the conical hat.

"My thanks to all you brothers!" The man in the conical hat stood up, gave a cupped-fist salute to the crowd, and then continued his story.

"I was watching carefully from the bushes that day. The Wan Family came prepared, but the mysterious cultivator who bought the Qingyang Mirror used a Talisman Treasure to suddenly strike down one of their True Cultivators! You could say they tried to steal the chicken but lost the rice bait. The Wan Family took a huge loss this time... Oh, by the way, everyone knows what a Talisman Treasure is, right?" 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Tch, who doesn’t know that? It’s just a ’Little Magical Treasure’!" someone said with disdain.

The so-called Talisman Treasure is actually created when a Core Formation Cultivator seals a portion of their Magical Treasure’s power into specially made Talisman Paper. This process creates a consumable Talisman whose power is inferior to a Magical Treasure but superior to a Spiritual Artifact.

Listening from a distance, Lü Zhong thought that the Shopkeeper’s story didn’t sound like a complete fabrication.

With the power of a Talisman Treasure, it was indeed possible to ambush and kill a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.