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Chapter 162: A Spirit Abundant Land, Times Have Changed
Chapter 162: A Spirit Abundant Land, Times Have Changed
The battle between Golden Core cultivators in the Great River Market turned the once bustling Inner City into a ghost town.
Thousands of cultivators lost their lives, a truly tragic event.
However, for the other scattered cultivators who survived, it was a significant opportunity!
Those who could live in the Inner City were mostly high-realm, wealthy individuals.
Such beings, besides having specialized skills, often operated businesses in the Outer City or the Ganyuan Mountain Range.
Their deaths left these resources available.
Numerous people began to vie for these resources.
And the most important opportunity lay elsewhere: Spirit Qi!
As time passed, the scattered cultivators noticed that the Spirit Qi near the Great River Market became increasingly dense.
Its concentration was almost on par with renting an ordinary house in the Inner City.
This strange change delighted everyone.
According to a cultivator from a certain family, the elders within the clan judged that the Spirit Qi isolation array set up by the Jade Tripod Sword Sect had been destroyed, leading to the unrestricted release of the First Stage Spirit Vein in Phoenix Landing Mountain.
This created a Spirit Abundant Land over a thousand-mile radius.
This judgment had a high degree of credibility.
Because it was said that most sect sanctuaries had Spirit Qi of similar concentration.
The powerful figures within the sects would confine high-stage Spirit Veins to create environments suitable for high-stage cultivators.
However, for First Stage Spirit Veins, they were often left open to supply Spirit Qi for low-stage disciples.
The First Stage Spirit Vein in the Great River Market covered a vast area and had a rich Spirit Qi reserve.
If it were within a sect, it would likely be left open as well.
Unfortunately, this was not a sect's territory but a gathering place for scattered cultivators.
Therefore, the Jade Tripod Sword Sect cultivators used an array to confine and isolate it within the Inner City.
Now that the isolation array was destroyed by the battle, the dense Spirit Qi from this Spirit Vein could finally be enjoyed by all the scattered cultivators who had no power or influence.
As a result, some late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators who originally planned to leave the Great River Market decided to stay.
Where else could one find a Spirit Abundant Land without spending Spirit Stones?
The Donghuang Hundred of Mountains? No one is a fool. Besides daily activities, everyone was seizing the opportunity to cultivate.
Everyone knew that once the Jade Tripod Sword Sect cultivators returned, they would confine the dense Spirit Qi again.
At that time, they would have to spend Spirit Stones to enjoy such benefits.
...
Luo Chen was also among those seizing the opportunity to cultivate.
He spent several days and finally reached an agreement with Elder Zhou of the Lianyun Merchant Alliance on the supply of medicinal herbs.
With this, the Luo Tian Assembly could restart the refinement of Jade Marrow Pills.
After handling these trivial matters, Luo Chen's cultivation schedule became more regular.
Inside the cave, Luo Chen, naked, walked out of the copper furnace.
While replacing the Spirit Stones in the Spirit Gathering Array, he sighed.
"Fortunately, I purchased a large amount of resources earlier, so I don't have to worry about cultivation resources for the time being."
He had two large-scale resource purchases in the past.
The first was after Pang Renxiong's arrival when the Great River Market fell into chaos. He feared prices would rise, so he spent five thousand Spirit Stones to buy a large amount of resources.
The second was when he planned to escape.
Once he ran through the underground mine tunnels to Chang Yin Mountain and entered the deep mountains and marshes, safety and cultivation became the most important concerns.
Therefore, he spent several thousand Spirit Stones to buy Dust-Transforming Pills, Calming Incense, Essence Cultivation Spirit Liquid, and many other items.
Later, after reaching an agreement with Miao Wen, these stockpiled resources were not consumed much.
Now that the Spirit Medicine Pavilion and other sect businesses had left, others might worry about cultivation resources, but Luo Chen had no such concerns.
"These resources should be enough to support my cultivation for about half a year."
"By then, order will have been restored, and the Jade Tripod Sword Sect will likely return."
The Great River Market was crucial!
This was Luo Chen's conclusion based on information gathered from many people.
Whether it was the establishment of the Dao Forum Platform, the resources of the Donghuang Hundred of Mountains, or the geographical advantage of the bridgehead.
These were all reasons why the Jade Tripod Sword Sect valued this place.
Especially after learning from Sima Xian that the Great River Market was likely being developed in the model of an immortal city, Luo Chen was even more confident in his judgment.
The Jade Tripod Sword Sect would never abandon the Great River Market!
The half-year estimate was based on the time it took for the Jade Tripod Sword Sect to respond to Fei Bowen's death.
Whether it was the decision-making time of the sect or the time to travel here, half a year was a suitable number.
"However, these matters are not currently relevant to me."
With all preparations in place, the surging blood and qi in his body could support multiple cycles of the Eternal Spring Technique.
"Enlightened Spirit and Malevolent Energy Breaking has been practiced for a long time. Besides strengthening willpower, it also provides a slight benefit to the soul."
"Combined with the increase in physical strength, I can now fully cycle the Eternal Spring Technique four times a day without Calming Incense."
"If I add the five times with Calming Incense, that makes nine times!"
Nine full cycles, each lasting half an hour, meant at least five hours of cultivation.
He still needed to take breaks in between.
Spending so much time cultivating his life-bound technique, Luo Chen would have felt time was insufficient in the past.
Back then, he had many spells to practice.
Now, most of his spells were already perfected.
The only ones that needed attention were optimizing the Fireball Spell and preparing for the Second Stage techniques, Earth Pile Technique and Wave Technique.
The former was his strongest trump card, while the latter two were preparations for the Second Stage technique, Mountain Collapse.
"Calculating this, the time after refining pills is just enough."
Luo Chen smiled slightly, took out a jade bottle from his storage bag, and poured out a pill.
It was greenish in color and had a delicate fragrance.
It was clearly the Spirit Essence Pill from Miao Wen.
Seeing the pill, Luo Chen couldn't help but laugh.
Miao Wen had suffered enough!
He had not only stepped forward to protect the Moonlit Valley but also gifted the supreme array, Lesser Five Elements Array, and even helped to invite Luo Tianhong to treat Qin Liangchen.
In the end, he didn't even get a month's share of the Luo Tian Assembly's profits.
If he added the five bottles of Spirit Essence Pills, he had lost a great deal!
His loss was Luo Chen's gain!
"However, this pill is Second Stage and needs to be decomposed using the Pure Heart Hand."
Luo Chen focused his mind, formed a seal with his right hand, and a faint green Spirit Energy appeared.
The green pill in the air began to spin rapidly.
Suddenly, the outer layer of the pill's skin burst, and a drop of medicine seeped out.
"Is this the half-finished Spirit Fruit that Pang Renxiong mentioned?"
"I wonder what strange Spirit Fruit the main ingredient is, to be able to integrate the medicinal power into the fruit."
With these thoughts in mind, Luo Chen tilted his head, opened his mouth, and gently inhaled.
The medicinal liquid flowed down like the nectar of the heavens, entering Luo Chen’s mouth.
"One-tenth, that's enough!"
With one hand, he formed the seal, and a pale green thread of spirit energy wrapped around the remaining Essence Spirit Pill, preventing its excess medicinal power from dissipating into the air.
This was the marvel of the Pure Heart Hand.
It could not only break down various herbs but also seal part of the medicinal power.
In the process of pill refinement, it had immense uses.
Unexpectedly, it also worked on semi-finished spirit fruits.
Luo Chen separately packaged this Essence Spirit Pill.
With the assistance of Calming Incense and Moonlight Grass, Luo Chen fell into a deep cultivation state.
He stood motionless like a tree.
After about half an hour, Luo Chen opened his eyes, a look of joy on his face.
"Uncle Mi was not exaggerating!"
Initially, Uncle Mi had said that the Essence Spirit Pill refined by the Medicine King Sect had an excellent auxiliary effect in purifying spirit energy.
Its effectiveness was comparable to a complete sect cultivation technique.
Now, it seemed that the other party had even underestimated the effects of the Essence Spirit Pill.
During that one circulation of the Eternal Spring Technique, he felt that the absorbed spirit qi, after being converted into spirit energy, was quickly refined to the extreme by the medicinal power of the Essence Spirit Pill.
The speed was so fast that even Luo Chen had not anticipated it.
If the purification speed of ordinary independent cultivators was one, and that of the perfected Eternal Spring Technique was about five,
then under the effect of the Essence Spirit Pill, Luo Chen’s purification speed was ten!
Moreover, this speed wasn’t just a simple doubling.
The purification effect of the perfected Eternal Spring Technique only occurred during the circulation of the technique.
But one circulation of the Eternal Spring Technique took only half an hour.
This involved capturing external spirit qi, guiding it into the body, absorbing and refining it, and finally purifying it.
In other words, the time Luo Chen had for purification was only about seven to eight minutes.
This amount of time was far from enough to purify all the captured spirit qi.
He could only leave the excess inside his body, where it would be passively compressed and transformed.
After multiple sessions of cultivation, a lot of unrefined spirit energy would accumulate in the body, and only when it reached its limit would the Eternal Spring Technique take care of it.
But now, with the speed doubled,
he could purify much more spirit energy within the limited time.
"Just that short session, all the spirit qi I absorbed was completely converted, and there was even surplus power!"
"And this was just normal cultivation."
"If I take a pill and use the Eternal Spring Technique to refine it, wouldn’t I purify even more?"
Thinking this, he acted immediately.
After a brief rest, Luo Chen took out a Dust-Transforming Pill and swallowed it.
Using the residual medicinal power of the Essence Spirit Pill, Luo Chen began to cultivate again.
...
The sky broke dawn, and the morning mist dissipated.
Luo Chen flew out of the spirit vein cave with a joyful expression.
His cultivation speed, under the effect of the Essence Spirit Pill, had almost doubled!
If he had enough Essence Spirit Pills, the time he estimated it would take to reach the perfected stage of Qi Cultivation, originally five to six years, could be significantly shortened.
The only condition was that he had to have enough!
Luo Chen’s joy gradually subsided.
The Essence Spirit Pill was not as easy to obtain as ordinary pills.
Even when the Spirit Medicine Pavilion was still around, it was never on the shelves.
It only occasionally appeared at auctions.
"I have four bottles, forty pills in total, and I use one-tenth each time. That means I can barely cultivate for about four hundred days."
"I still need a lot more Essence Spirit Pills!"
"Where can I get them?"
Wang Yuan had one bottle, which he had given away, and it would be awkward to ask for it back.
Moreover, he wouldn’t lack Essence Spirit Pills in the short term.
Even in the long term, a bottle or two wouldn’t make a difference.
So, he needed to find a relatively stable channel to buy them.
"Stable?"
"When the Great River Market had order, there was no stable supply of Essence Spirit Pills."
"So, I need to find a channel that has this."
Luo Chen’s eyes flickered, and he had some plans in mind.
Since he had decided to strive and not just go with the flow, he needed to think long-term.
Not just about the Essence Spirit Pills, but other things as well.
...
At the Sky Ascension Assembly.
A conversation was slowly unfolding as the abacus was manipulated.
"Currently, there are very few Early Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators in the assembly, and the monthly expenditure is only eighty low-grade spirit stones."
"Within the Alchemy Hall, there are thirty Mid-Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators. Based on their positions and contributions, their salaries fluctuate around fifty spirit stones. The monthly expenditure is about one thousand five hundred spirit stones."
"At the Combat Hall, the main focus is on Seventh to Eighth Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators, with a few Mid-Qi Cultivation Stage elites. Their salaries were set by you, Luo Chen, at one hundred spirit stones per month. Therefore, the expenditure is three thousand low-grade spirit stones."
"The Golden Hall and Merit Hall have fewer people, and their realms are slightly lower. Last month’s expenditure was one thousand spirit stones."
Hearing this, Luo Chen’s eyebrows slightly furrowed.
He raised his hand, and Murong Qinglian stopped manipulating the abacus.
In reality, with the intelligence of cultivators, they didn’t need an abacus.
But when it came to numerous income and expenses, it was easier to understand with the abacus and ledger combined.
"The treatment for the Golden Hall needs to be improved in the future."
"Hmm?"
Murong Qinglian was surprised, but since Luo Chen had made the decision, she didn’t question it.
In fact, she had initially disagreed with the salary standards Luo Chen had set for the cultivators in the assembly.
It wasn’t that they were too low, but too high!
Late-stage cultivators were often paid one hundred spirit stones per month.
Previously, in major sects and shops, the monthly salary was only sixty to seventy spirit stones.
Considering the Combat Hall, which involved life and death, a slight increase was acceptable, but one hundred spirit stones per month was still too high.
However, after the small factions’ talents were poached by the major families and the Great River Gang, while the Sky Ascension Assembly saw few leaving,
she deeply realized how wise Luo Chen’s high salary standards were.
Without high salaries, the Sky Ascension Assembly would gradually fall apart even without external enemies.
There would be no such peaceful days for the two of them, just sitting and drinking tea while calculating accounts.
Reality was harsh!
Early and mid-stage cultivators had no choice, but late-stage cultivators had many options.
Those elders from the Broken Mountain Gang were not like Murong Qinglian and Zeng Wen, who had deep friendships with Luo Chen beyond just mutual benefits.
For example, Li Wanchun from the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower, many people wanted to recruit him.
"Continue!"
Luo Chen poured a cup of tea, blew on it, and sipped it.
"Alright!"
Currently, in the Sky Ascension Assembly, apart from Luo Chen and Wang Yuan, there were nine Ninth Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators.
Among these nine people, almost all hold important positions in various halls.
Therefore, their salaries once reached three hundred spirit stones per month, which is a huge expense.
"Also, my salary and Cai Yi's is five hundred spirit stones per month."
"Finally, the cost of raw materials is two thousand five hundred spirit stones per month."
After a series of calculations, Murong Qinglian finally let out a long sigh, having calculated the final figure for Luo Chen.
"Last month, the total expenditure was eleven thousand seven hundred spirit stones."
This enormous number would be enough to make any independent cultivator feel tempted, envious, or even murderous.
But Luo Chen can now face it calmly.
He asked, "How many spirit stones does the guild have in its account currently?"
"Twenty-six thousand spirit stones!"
Luo Chen raised an eyebrow, "Why is there so much more?"
In his calculations, there shouldn't be this much; it should at least be halved.
Murong Qinglian smoothed down her hair and smiled, "You forgot that there was a batch of medium-grade jade marrow pills you refined when you were still in the Mountain Breaker Gang. We didn't have to bear any costs for that batch; it was pure profit!"
"Hehe, I did forget about that."
Luo Chen remembered that during the battle in the Moonlit Valley, he had specifically stored away that batch of jade marrow pills.
After careful calculation, that batch of pills was worth at least fifteen thousand spirit stones!
If he deducted this fifteen thousand spirit stones that he got for free, the Luo Tian Guild could still have a surplus of about eleven thousand spirit stones after all expenses for a month.
"Hall Master Wang Yuan's salary, how do you plan to pay him?"
Luo Chen had already thought this through.
Without hesitation, he said, "Three thousand!"
"So high?" Murong Qinglian was surprised, her throat feeling dry. "This is almost the same as the tribute for a Foundation Establishment cultivator in a small sect!"
"He's worth it!"
The resolute tone made Murong Qinglian pause.
She remembered what Old Qin had said about Wang Yuan breaking the formation alone during the battle against the Fu Family.
Finally, she nodded.
"Then let's pay him the standard tribute of three thousand spirit stones for a Foundation Establishment cultivator!"
Bowing her head, she recorded this in the ledger.
Luo Chen watched this and felt a surge of excitement; everything was moving in the right direction.
Running the Luo Tian Guild for a month, he, as the guild leader, could net eight thousand low-grade spirit stones.
This profit was truly enormous!
If it were known, it would be enough to make all Qi Cultivation stage independent cultivators, and even Foundation Establishment cultivators, envious.
But in reality, this was a normal profit.
He refined medium-grade jade marrow pills, which were sold for fifty spirit stones per bottle, with a gross profit of over twenty thousand per month.
He didn't need to share the profits with anyone else now.
If he had to share half the profits as per the initial agreement with Miao Wen, he would have to give out four thousand.
Even though four thousand spirit stones per month was already two to three times more than during his time in the Mountain Breaker Gang, it was still too little for a pill refiner.
Eight thousand, not too much or too little, was very reasonable!
Luo Chen didn't take all the spirit stones from the account.
He left fifteen thousand spirit stones as the Luo Tian Guild's working capital and only took the normal eight thousand spirit stones for the month.
After receiving the spirit stones from Murong Qinglian, Luo Chen couldn't help but feel relieved.
He had already accumulated a considerable fortune, and with the contribution from Gao Tingyuan's storage bag, plus this batch of spirit stones, his total assets had soared to twenty thousand spirit stones.
If a Foundation Establishment cultivator had this much, they might even consider acquiring a magic treasure.
No, some Foundation Establishment cultivators might have exhausted all their wealth and still not have this much savings.
Luo Chen knew how difficult it was for independent cultivators.
The reason Uncle Mi spent so much effort on him, even after joining the Mountain Breaker Gang, was for the long-term future, wasn't it?
But he progressed too quickly, and Uncle Mi was severely injured, so he wanted to harvest the benefits early.
Sadly, Uncle Mi didn't live to see this time of great profit.
Life is often not as one wishes, not just for Luo Chen.
In the vast world, how many people can truly have everything go smoothly?
Even someone as powerful as Pang Renxiong...
"Calculating, Uncle Mi, Miao Wen, and Pang Renxiong all had rather tragic fates."
"Am I a curse to my masters?"
"No, I shouldn't have any masters!"
Luo Chen laughed coldly and got up to leave.
Murong Qinglian, left in the room, was confused. Why did Luo Chen laugh coldly out of the blue?
...
"Why did you pull me out?"
"We don't need bodyguards anymore!"
"What about Zhou and Liu?"
"Zhou Yuanli has accumulated enough and the Great River Workshop is now rich in spirit qi, so he plans to seclude himself and try to break through to the ninth level of Qi Cultivation."
Luo Chen stopped and spread his hands, "Besides, their strength is a bit low."
"They're not bad; together, they can handle a typical ninth-level Qi Cultivation cultivator." Wang Yuan, puzzled, also stopped.
"But for the place I'm going next, their strength won't be enough."
Luo Chen smiled slightly and, under Wang Yuan's watchful gaze, began to rub his face vigorously.
After a moment, a face that was somewhat familiar but different appeared.
Do I need to change my appearance too?
Wang Yuan sighed, his body trembling as a series of bone-cracking sounds echoed.
He became a few inches shorter, standing shoulder to shoulder with Luo Chen.
He also rubbed his face to change his appearance.
After making all the necessary preparations, Luo Chen led Wang Yuan into a familiar alley.
As they walked, Luo Chen transmitted his voice, "How is your research on methods to deal with ghosts coming along?"
"It's not yet perfect."
"For someone like me with strong blood and qi, low-level ghosts dare not approach, but in the eyes of powerful ghosts, I might become a tempting target."
"So, the exploration of the inner city has to be postponed?"
"Are you in a hurry?"
Luo Chen shook his head, "I'm not in a hurry, but other forces are already organizing people to enter the inner city."
"Let them take the lead!"
Wang Yuan stopped, looking at the familiar entrance, hesitating, "The Zhenlong Black Market?"
Luo Chen nodded, "Times have changed; we both need to be cautious now."
Saying this, he lifted the curtain and walked in.
Wang Yuan didn't hesitate and followed him in.
After giving the password and showing the embroidered ball artifact, the two entered the spacious, luxurious underground hall once again.
As soon as they stepped in, Wang Yuan tensed up.
He finally understood why Luo Chen said times had changed.
There were several cultivators emitting Foundation Establishment aura in the black market.
(End of Chapter)
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