Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Of course, Chu Chen knew that part of the reason for his crazy cultivation speed was because he was still in the Spiritual Mist Stage.
He had already laid a certain foundation for his body, so, as soon as his spiritual energy was drawn upon, it could be achieved. However, when he reached the ‘Spiritual Droplets Stage’, it would be impossible for him to achieve the same results as easily.
However, the progress still made Chu Chen extremely happy.
The path of cultivation was a progressive, gradual process–one must learn to walk before they could run.
If the advancement was too rapid, it was easy to cause instability of one’s stage, superficial spiritual energy, and it was also very easy to cause one’s stage to fall back to its previous level, which meant that all previous effort would be put to waste.
Chu Chen, who had broken through four times in a row, was physically weak and it was obvious that he had reached the limit. He must first refine his body, stabilize his stage, and have his body adapt to the violent spiritual energy fluctuations.
Elixirs were the best way to refine the body.
Cultivation consumed a lot of resources. If one did not use elixirs to repair one’s body and continue to cultivate forcibly, it was easy to cause irreparable trauma to one’s body and may even lead to…one’s body bursting which will lead to death!
“It seems like it’s time to go to the sect market.”
Chu Chen thought about it and subconsciously reached into his pocket. There were only a few spirit stones left. He could only afford to buy some cheap and low-quality level-1 elixirs. The high-level elixirs were too expensive for him.
However, low-quality level-1 elixirs were better than nothing. Even a low-quality elixir was comparable to several days of hard work. In order to cultivate to a higher stage in the shortest time possible, he had to make the right choices.
The sect’s market was a place where Chu Chen rarely visited.
According to folklore, there was a “spiritual spring” left by ancient cultivators on the top of Crystal Spring Mountain named “Crystal Sky Spring”. The spiritual energy of the entire Crystal Spring mountain came from that spiritual spring.
It was precisely because of this that the closer one got to the top of the Crystal Spring Mountain, the more spiritual energy there would be, and the quicker it was to cultivate.
Therefore, the rule of Crystal Spring Sect was that the higher the status of the disciple, the higher up the mountain he/she lived.
As for the external disciples with the lowest status, they could only live near the foot of the mountain, on some raised hills.
Where there were people, it was inevitable that there would be places for people to communicate, interact, and trade with each other. Although the sect disciples spent most of their time cultivating, there were still some objects, magical treasures, cultivation methods, and materials that were exchanged and traded between them.
Therefore, halfway up the Crystal Spring Mountain, was the Crystal Spring Mountain’s trading “market”. Any disciple could exchange the additional cultivation materials, cultivation methods, and cryptic manuals for what he/she needed.
The reason why it was built at the halfway point of the mountain was that it facilitated and saved time for the interaction between the senior brothers on the top of the mountain and the junior brothers at the bottom of the mountain by cutting down the travel time.
Since coming to Crystal Spring Sect three years ago, Chu Chen had been busy looking for elixirs that contained spiritual energy fluctuations. It was exhausting and brain-wrecking for him to reach his herb quota that cost three catties, three taels, and three candareen every month.
In addition to that, the rest of his time was mostly spent on cultivation. This also meant that in the past three years, the opportunities he has had to enter the Crystal Spring Sect “market” halfway up the mountain was few and could be counted on one hand.
At the halfway point of Crystal Spring Mountain, a huge dome-shaped light curtain covered the entire sky. In order to give the disciples a relatively fair and just trading place and to prevent some disciples with tyrannical cultivation from bullying others by virtue of said cultivation, the sect elders personally took action and placed a huge obstacle on the halfway point of the mountain to monitor and manage the operation of the entire market.
As soon as he approached this light curtain, a magnificent and boundless aura rushed toward him, which made him suffocate and tremble slightly.
Although it was not the first time that he had encountered it when he felt the majestic and endless spiritual energy contained in this light curtain once again, Chu Chen could not help but feel a deep shock. The sect elders’ abilities were boundless.
He stepped into the light curtain, and in an instant, he seemed to have entered another world.
The neatly arranged rows of streets covered the entire land. Along the street, there were shops, stalls, stores, restaurants lined up one after another. It was incredibly similar to a mortal market, and it was very lively!
The biggest contrast between this market and ones in the mortal world was that the things traded in this sect’s market were beyond different. In the rows of stalls, most of them carried strange gems, treasures, flying swords, magical instruments, bones of exotic beasts, cryptic manuals for cultivation, cultivation materials, elixirs… These treasures possessed rich spiritual energy.
There were even some sellers that used tricks to make the spiritual objects seem especially shiny, hoping their dazzling and gorgeous appearance would entice customers.
There were even some shops that had many powerful exotic beasts in captivity. Some resembled a liger, but with wings; Some resembled a snake, but with three heads; Some resembled a bird, but with snake tails… Each of the strange beasts that cannot be named had a majestic poise about them and gave the impression that they were extraordinary beings who possessed great power.
However, Chu Chen knew very well that most of the spiritual beasts which were being sold were just for looks and were subpar regarding their actual ability. In fact, they were mostly used as guard beasts.
Generally speaking, flying swords, magical instruments, spiritual beasts, and cryptic manuals were the most sought-after items in the sect market, and they were also the things that advanced the cultivator’s combat power most effectively, so they were generally expensive.
Some of them were not for sale no matter how much the other party was willing to spend and could only be exchanged with treasures of the same value.
The remaining items mostly consisted of rare materials that could be used to refine flying swords, magical instruments, and cryptic treasures. These precious treasures were either hidden in the deep sea or hidden in a dangerous place. They were exceedingly difficult to obtain.
Chu Chen saw a shop that had a century-old black ice iron the size of a small washbasin. The owner of that shop was a young man wearing a purple and gold crown. He had a cold and arrogant face, and he did not respond to any inquirer. Whenever someone looked over, he just pointed at the handwritten sign beside:
“Century-old black ice iron. Weighing 3,678 kilograms. Only willing to swap with a piece of thousand-forged red fire copper of the same weight. Do not disturb me if you don’t have it!”
Such a piece of iron the size of a washbasin was more than three thousand catties?
Chu Chen was shocked when he read the sign.
In addition to those precious treasures, the cheapest and most abundant items in the market were some cheap consumables such as spiritual herbs and elixirs. There were no high-level elixirs in this market. Most cultivators could make elixirs, but they were limited to only level-1 elixirs. The level-2s and above must be done by a spiritual herb master.
Chu Chen’s main purpose of coming to the market this time around was to look for some cheap elixirs… and, it was only the lowest quality level-1 elixir. He could not afford anything beyond that.
Even the low-quality level-1 elixir was in great demand in the market.
After all, most of them were external disciples who were only beginners that have yet to even enter the Spiritual Droplets Stage.
There was also a huge demand for low-level body-refining elixirs, so the stalls in this part were endless, and even stretched hundreds of meters.
As a last resort, Chu Chen had no choice but to stroll past the stalls one by one. He was ashamed of what was left in his pocket and had to spend the least amount of money to find the elixir most suitable for him.