Chapter 116: Sect Recruitment

Chapter 116: Sect Recruitment

Upon hearing the female cultivator with the surname Zhang's words, Chu Ning felt a twinge of disappointment.

Although he knew that items to enhance one's spiritual sense were not easy to come by, he couldn't help but feel let down that even a large establishment like Yunhai Pavilion didn't have any.

He sighed inwardly, but upon further reflection, he found it understandable.

After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, cultivators would naturally seek out items to enhance their spiritual sense. Even if someone did obtain such an item, they were unlikely to sell it in a marketplace.

The main reason was that these items were exceedingly rare.

However, when he heard the latter part of the woman's statement, Chu Ning's curiosity was piqued, and he asked, "What kind of item is it?"

"It's called the Soul-Fixing Pearl!" replied the female cultivator, opening the jade box to reveal a pitch-black pearl within. "This pearl can defend against attacks from ghosts and their spiritual bodies, but it requires the user to project their spiritual sense outward, and it can only protect against assaults from mid-stage Foundation Establishment level ghostly beings."

After listening, Chu Ning fell into contemplation for a moment before asking, "How many spirit stones for this pearl?"

"Ten thousand low-grade spirit stones," came the reply, leaving Chu Ning stunned and a little bewildered.

The pearl was only useful in specific situations, and it offered no defense against mid-stage Foundation Establishment level ghosts and their spiritual bodies. Its effectiveness was rather mediocre. Only early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators would find it useful, as those at the Qi Refining stage couldn't normally project their spiritual sense and wouldn't want to spend ten thousand low-grade spirit stones on it.

No wonder it hadn't been sold yet.

However, it could be of some use to him.

He was capable of projecting his spiritual sense, but he was still quite far from reaching the mid-stage Foundation Establishment level.

As for defending against ghostly beings and their spiritual attacks...

Chu Ning's heart stirred as he inexplicably thought of the Yin Demon Sect.

That demonic sect surely possessed numerous such attack methods, and this pearl could serve as a precaution against them.

However, considering its limited functionality, the price was indeed exorbitant.

Noticing Chu Ning's expression, the female cultivator named Zhang smiled and explained, "This item is indeed a bit pricey, but it was entrusted to us by a fellow cultivator, so we can't adjust the price."

As she spoke, she opened the jade box and continued in a casual tone, "According to that cultivator, this pearl is one of a set of treasures belonging to an ancient cultivator. That elder was not only profound in their cultivation but also exceptionally skilled in spiritual sense techniques. Our fellow cultivator firmly believes that this pearl holds great value, and if it weren't for their recent need for a large number of spirit stones, they wouldn't have put it up for sale."

Chu Ning's curiosity was piqued, and he asked, "Oh? Does this ancient cultivator have a name?"

"I don't know their specific name, but they are known as the Divine Dream Hermit," she replied.

Hearing the name "Divine Dream Hermit," Chu Ning's heart skipped a beat, but he maintained a calm expression and said, "Interesting. Didn't the fellow cultivator who owned the Soul-Fixing Pearl research it further to uncover any secrets?"

"Of course," Zhang replied with a smile. "We at the pavilion have also studied this pearl and even invited a late-stage Foundation Establishment elder to examine it with their spiritual sense. No secrets were found, and higher-level elders haven't specifically looked at it."

Chu Ning nodded. Even late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators had examined it. It was unlikely that a higher-level Golden Core realm cultivator would be interested in an item of this price.

Chu Ning quickly made a decision, but he still hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Let's put this pearl aside for now. One of my elders is at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, so they could use it. I'll see how many spirit stones I have left after buying other things and then decide if I want to purchase it."

"Sure, what else would you like to buy?" Zhang asked, not paying much attention to Chu Ning's statement, assuming it was just a casual remark.

Instead, she was more interested in what else he intended to purchase. After all, the last time Chu Ning had sold talismans, he had also bought quite a few items from her, so her smile became even brighter.

However, the items Chu Ning wanted next weren't as numerous as she had imagined.

Since he had already bought three bottles of Spirit Nurturing Pills from Gu Xiaqing, he only bought ten more bottles this time, spending 2,000 low-grade spirit stones.

As for spirit herbs that strengthened the body, Chu Ning had no need for them since he already possessed the Golden Orchid Fruit and the Iron Blue Fruit.

Chu Ning wanted to buy an exceptional defensive artifact, but such items were not easily obtained, even for Yunhai Pavilion.

With no other choice, he opted to purchase intermediate-grade talismans, which could also protect his life.

The last time, Chu Ning had spent over a thousand spirit stones on intermediate-low grade talismans, each priced at 200 spirit stones.

After some thought, he felt that this level of defense was still inadequate.

For instance, if he encountered another disciple of the Yin Demon Sect wielding the Yin Demon Slash or someone even more powerful, this level of defense wouldn't be sufficient.

Although these intermediate-low grade talismans could counter the full force of a Qi Refining cultivator's powerful spell, and even match the spells of an ordinary early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, anyone at the ninth layer or the peak of Qi Refining would surely possess a few good items.

This time, Chu Ning chose intermediate-medium grade talismans, which could rival the spells of mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Naturally, the price was also significantly higher.

Intermediate-low grade attack talismans cost 100 low-grade spirit stones each, while defensive talismans were priced at 200 low-grade spirit stones.

With a substantial amount of spirit stones in hand, Chu Ning purchased ten intermediate-medium grade attack talismans and fifteen intermediate-medium grade defensive talismans without hesitation.

The total cost for these talismans alone came to 9,750 spirit stones. Adding that to the 2,000 spirit stones he had spent on the Spirit Nurturing Pills earlier, he had already spent 11,750 spirit stones.

Only then did Chu Ning say, "I'll take that Soul-Fixing Pearl as well. If my elder doesn't want it, I may have to trouble Fellow Daoist Zhang to help me sell it again."

Sister Zhang was slightly taken aback. She had thought Chu Ning was joking when he mentioned the Soul-Fixing Pearl earlier.

But to her surprise, he actually wanted to buy it.

However, her expression of surprise only flashed briefly before she recovered and smiled at Chu Ning, saying, "Of course, Fellow Daoist. Since this Soul-Fixing Pearl was entrusted to us by another cultivator, we can't adjust the price.

The total cost for the rest of the items is 11,750 low-grade spirit stones. With the deduction of the spirit stones you spent on the talismans, you only need to pay 11,500 low-grade spirit stones."

Chu Ning nodded slightly in agreement and then handed over the spirit stone jade talisman from his previous transaction.

Sister Zhang took the jade talisman and asked with a smile, "Fellow Daoist Li, do you want to store the remaining spirit stones in a spirit stone jade talisman?"

"No need," Chu Ning waved his hand dismissively. "Just convert all the remaining spirit stones into medium-grade spirit stones."

Sister Zhang was once again slightly taken aback but didn't ask further questions. Instead, she said, "Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist."

She placed the jade talisman into the round disc, and soon, all the items Chu Ning had purchased, along with the jade talisman and spirit stones, were transmitted back to him.

"10 bottles of Spirit Nurturing Pills, 10 intermediate-medium grade attack talismans, 15 intermediate-medium grade defensive talismans, and one Soul-Fixing Pearl.

The total cost is 21,500 low-grade spirit stones. After deducting the spirit stones you spent on the talismans, you have 4,200 low-grade spirit stones remaining.

Including the 1,000 low-grade spirit stones from your previous jade talisman, you have a total of 52 medium-grade spirit stones here.

Please verify, Fellow Daoist."

While Sister Zhang was speaking, Chu Ning was already examining the items that had been handed to him.

After confirming that everything was in order, he stored them all in a storage bag and turned to leave the room without another word.

As he walked away, Sister Zhang's gaze followed his retreating figure, a curious light flickering in her eyes.

With his enhanced spiritual sense from practicing the Divine Sense Technique, Chu Ning sensed her gaze even without turning his head.

However, he didn't show any reaction and continued on his way out of the Yunhai Pavilion as if he were completely oblivious.

Without lingering further in the marketplace, Chu Ning left and took to the skies. Once he was alone, he released the Chase Wind Shuttle and soared towards Yanji Fang.

As he flew, he took out the Yunhai Pavilion's jade talisman and crushed it in his hand, letting the fragments fall from the sky.

Despite his belief in the pavilion's reputation, Chu Ning didn't want to take any risks.

After selling such a large number of high-quality talismans twice, he was certain that the pavilion would take notice, especially since he had also spent a considerable sum on the Soul-Fixing Pearl today.

Given his cautious nature, he decided that it would be best to avoid returning to the pavilion to sell talismans in the future, as it might pose a risk.

And the jade talisman, of course, was now useless to him.

Flying at full speed, Chu Ning soon arrived near Yanji Fang.

Just like before, he landed early and put away the Chase Wind Shuttle.

After walking some distance, he dispelled the illusion technique and returned to his shop in Yanji Fang.

"These spirit stones come and go so quickly!"

Chu Ning sighed softly as he took out the storage bag.

He couldn't help but marvel at the fact that he was now making transactions worth tens of thousands of spirit stones.

Three years ago, when he had joined the Qingxi Sect, he couldn't even imagine such a thing.

In fact, he suspected that very few cultivators at the Qi Refining stage could boast of such achievements.

Whether they were other talisman makers or pill refiners like Gu Xiaqing, none of them could match his high-intensity spiritual sense recovery and success rate.

After his moment of reflection, Chu Ning's attention turned to the items he had purchased at a high price today.

He briefly examined the intermediate-medium grade talismans, as they were already quite familiar to him; he simply hadn't reached the cultivation level required to create them himself.

His gaze fell on the jade box containing the Soul-Fixing Pearl and the medium-grade spirit stones beside it.

He picked up the Soul-Fixing Pearl first.

Back in the Yunhai Pavilion, Chu Ning had been concerned about the presence of high-level cultivators or other restrictions, so he hadn't released his spiritual sense to examine the pearl. Now, he did so without hesitation.

His spiritual sense permeated the pearl, and in the next moment, he felt an invisible barrier in front of his spiritual sea.

"So this is the defensive effect of the Soul-Fixing Pearl?"

Chu Ning mused to himself, not giving it much further thought.

Instead, he focused his spiritual sense on carefully examining the interior of the pearl.

This investigation lasted for nearly half an hour.

It was only when Chu Ning felt a significant depletion of his spiritual sense and still hadn't discovered anything else that he finally stopped.

Frowning slightly, he took out a jade slip from his storage bag.

Divine Dream Hermit.

Indeed, what prompted Chu Ning to buy the Soul-Fixing Pearl was not only its temporary usefulness to him but also Sister Zhang's casual mention of the name Divine Dream Hermit during their conversation.

Chu Ning clearly remembered that this name was also inscribed on the jade slip.

However, what Chu Ning wasn't sure about was whether the name on the jade slip indicated that the Divine Dream Hermit had created the Divine Spirit Art or merely recorded it.

Nevertheless, upon learning that the Soul-Fixing Pearl had some connection to the Divine Dream Hermit, Chu Ning immediately made up his mind to purchase it.

Chu Ning had initially thought that since the Soul-Fixing Pearl was related to the Divine Dream Hermit, he might be able to uncover some clues by cultivating the Divine Spirit Art.

But after probing it, Chu Ning had to abandon that idea.

"This Soul-Fixing Pearl can be thoroughly examined by projecting my spiritual sense into it, but I didn't find anything unusual.

I guess my speculation that I could gain some useful information from it was too presumptuous."

Chu Ning sighed softly and put the Soul-Fixing Pearl back into the small jade box, then stored it away in his bag.

Fortunately, the Soul-Fixing Pearl had some other uses.

It could defend against attacks from ghostly beings and their spiritual bodies, although the price of 10,000 spirit stones was indeed a bit high. Still, it wasn't a complete waste.

At the same time, Chu Ning also had a glimmer of hope.

Perhaps there was something else to the Soul-Fixing Pearl that he just hadn't discovered yet.

At this moment, Chu Ning's gaze fell on the medium-grade spirit stones beside him.

He picked one up and carefully sensed it, soon feeling the rich spiritual energy within.

"This medium-grade spirit stone is worth 100 low-grade spirit stones, but the concentration of spiritual energy within is more than a hundred times that of a low-grade spirit stone."

Chu Ning muttered to himself.

"I wonder what the effects would be like if I used it for cultivation."

With that in mind, Chu Ning first took out some low-grade spirit stones and began to cultivate the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

Having reached the eighth layer of Qi Refining, Chu Ning's absorption of spiritual energy had become even faster.

He quickly exhausted one low-grade spirit stone and took out another.

He continued in this manner until he had used up ten low-grade spirit stones before stopping.

"With ten low-grade spirit stones, I can increase my proficiency in the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art by 1 point. After reaching the eighth layer of Qi Refining, it's indeed a bit more difficult than the seventh layer.

At the seventh layer, I only needed six low-grade spirit stones. Now, let's see the effects of the Spirit Nurturing Pills and the medium-grade spirit stones."

Chu Ning first cultivated the Divine Spirit Art as a buffer, then took out a Spirit Nurturing Pill and swallowed it.

After experimenting, Chu Ning also reached a conclusion about the pills.

Indeed, after reaching the eighth layer of Qi Refining, the effects of the Spirit Nurturing Pills were not as good as they had been at the seventh layer.

Previously, one pill could increase his proficiency by 3 points, but now it could only increase by 2 points.

A day later, after the market closed, Chu Ning began cultivating again.

This time, he held a medium-grade spirit stone in his hand.

He cultivated for a day and a half until the medium-grade spirit stone in his hand had turned to powder before he slowly opened his eyes.

【Green Wood Eternal Spring Art (Yellow Low-Grade), Third Layer (612/2100)】

When he saw his progress in the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art, a glint of joy flashed in Chu Ning's eyes.

The effects of the medium-grade spirit stone had exceeded his expectations.

Indeed, he had spent a day and a half cultivating, but the results were excellent. His proficiency in the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art had increased by 9 points.

It was as if he had cultivated using ninety low-grade spirit stones at once.

However, he had also saved half a day's worth of time.

The day before, when Chu Ning had been cultivating with low-grade spirit stones, he had already felt that his limit for the day was probably around fifty low-grade spirit stones.

Moreover, because he had interrupted his cultivation midway, Chu Ning would also have to waste some time restarting the process.

But with the medium-grade spirit stone, he could cultivate continuously.

"I can continue to use the Spirit Nurturing Pills along with the Green Wood Spring Technique for daily cultivation. Later, when the Golden Orchid Fruits mature, I can use them too.

But when it's time to break through, I can choose to use medium-grade spirit stones for cultivation."

A smile appeared on Chu Ning's face.

He couldn't afford to cultivate with medium-grade spirit stones every day yet. Firstly, he only had about sixty of them, which wasn't a large number.

Secondly, he still needed to sell talismans on market days, and every day, he also had to tend to the spiritual plants in the spirit fields.

He couldn't devote all his time and energy to Qi Refining cultivation; he also had to keep up with his Body Tempering and Divine Spirit Art cultivation.

Over the next three months, Chu Ning's life consisted mainly of talisman-making, cultivation, and farming.

During these three months, Chu Ning made steady progress in all his cultivation techniques, and his talisman-making skills became even more refined.

In the spirit fields, the cultivation of the Golden Orchid Fruits was also very successful.

Since spiritual plants naturally grew quickly, the maturation time of the Golden Orchid Fruits was greatly compressed.

All three batches of two hundred Iron Stem Orchids bore Golden Orchid Fruits.

Once the Golden Orchid Fruits appeared, the plants absorbed spiritual energy at an astonishing rate, and the Green Wood Spring Technique was very effective in ripening them.

The first batch of Golden Orchid Fruits, which had appeared on the initial twenty Iron Stem Orchids, had already been harvested.

Moreover, the second batch of eighty Iron Stem Orchids was also nearing the maturation of their Golden Orchid Fruits.

Only the third batch, which had been planted later, might take another month or two.

Just as Chu Ning was going about his routine of cultivation and farming, Lin Changqing's appearance disrupted his plans.

Moreover, the news Lin Changqing brought left Chu Ning astonished.

It was a sect recruitment notice.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end