Chapter 74: Purchasing and Planning
Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Purchasing and Planning
"Agreed. Besides that, I do need to buy a few things. Do you carry Cloud Mist Spirit Tea, Hundred Flowers Spirit Wine, an Upper Grade Talisman Brush, and a Magic Robe? Also, I need materials for Alchemy, Artifact Refining, and Talisman Making. Please gather everything on this list for me..."
Zhang Chi knew the market prices like the back of his hand, so he knew the price was fair and immediately nodded in agreement.
He then accepted the VIP Token and laid out the specific purchases he had planned in advance.
In truth, he could have sold the Demon Pills, Demon Beast Materials, and the seven Magical Artifacts he’d acquired as spoils.
Combined with the three thousand-plus Spirit Stones he already possessed, his total would have approached twenty thousand, falling short by only two or three thousand at most.
If he were willing to sell items like the Beast Soul Banner and the Black Small Bell, he could have far exceeded twenty thousand.
The Top Grade Magical Artifact, the Black Small Bell, was worth over ten thousand Spirit Stones alone.
But these were all necessary protective measures. Even if he was safe for the time being, he had to be prepared for the unexpected.
Moreover, he was still far from the Qi Cultivation Peak, so even if he bought a Foundation Establishment Pill, he wouldn’t be able to use it for a while.
In that case, this large sum of Spirit Stones would be tied up, unable to generate more value, which would be a complete waste.
Besides, even if he did buy the Foundation Establishment Pill in advance, he would still have a massive Spirit Stone deficit.
He wanted to continue upgrading his Spirit Beasts, raise the Eye of the Spirit Spring to Tier Two, and use the Celestial Corpse Coffin to cultivate a Corpse Puppet—all of these things required a large amount of Spirit Stones.
So, rather than buying the Foundation Establishment Pill ahead of time, it was better to split the Spirit Stones into two portions to maximize their value.
One part would be used to improve his Hundred Skills of Immortal Cultivation, so as to fully leverage the advantage of his powerful Divine Thought.
That way, he could certainly earn more before reaching Foundation Establishment. This was the key to sustainable growth.
The skills he chose to improve were Alchemy, which he had already grasped, and Artifact Refining and Talisman Making, which he had yet to learn.
He already had a fair amount of Demon Beast Materials and Demon Pills, but that was clearly not enough; he still needed to buy some supplementary materials.
The other part, he planned to use to increase his Cultivation speed.
In the Immortal Cultivation Realm, the higher one’s Cultivation, the slower the progress.
With each increase in Realm, assuming external conditions remained the same, the time required would often double.
For example, if a cultivator needed twenty years to advance from the Foundation Establishment Early Stage to the Middle Stage, it would take forty years to go from the Middle Stage to the Late Stage, and so on.
Therefore, even someone with a Celestial Grade Spirit Root, who faced no Cultivation Bottlenecks in the early stages, would surely run out of Lifespan at higher Realms if they got carried away and failed to plan ahead.
A single slow step could lead to falling further and further behind. Therefore, Zhang Chi had to find ways to increase his Cultivation speed while he still had ample Lifespan.
Buying Spirit Tea, Spirit Wine, and the like served this purpose.
Both could aid in Cultivation and could even be used in conjunction with Spirit Pills for a stacked effect.
However, both were quite expensive. Although they offered additional enjoyment, their cost-effectiveness was much lower than that of Spirit Pills.
In the past, despite having a bit of wealth, Zhang Chi simply couldn’t afford them. Only now did he finally have the means to make such a purchase.
"No problem, we have all of those in stock!"
Guan Ruxin was overjoyed to hear this and immediately became even more enthusiastic.
An hour later, Guan Ruxin saw Zhang Chi out of the shop. He now had only three hundred Spirit Stones left.
That’s right. Even the large sum of Spirit Stones Zhang Chi had acquired as spoils was completely spent.
The Upper Grade Magic Robe and Talisman Brush alone had cost him five thousand Spirit Stones.
However, a Talisman Brush was a tool for Talisman Making. Better quality meant a higher success rate and faster skill progression. Furthermore, an Upper Grade Talisman Brush was more durable, making it more cost-effective than lower-grade brushes in the long run.
As for the Magic Robe, in addition to providing better defense, it also had special Gathering Spirit and Spiritual Qi purification effects. These could be stacked with arrays to greatly enhance Cultivation efficiency and help refine his Cultivation, making it just as necessary.
’I’m still so poor. I just hope this investment pays for itself quickly and then earns me even more. I also hope the boost from the Spirit Tea and Spirit Wine will be satisfactory.’
* * *
"Shopkeeper, should I tail that man?"
At the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower branch, just as Guan Ruxin returned inside after seeing Zhang Chi off, a middle-aged resident cultivator quietly stepped forward and asked in a low voice.
"Heh heh, tail him? Are we at the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower in the business of robbing people now? Asking a question like that, you weren’t a Tribulation Cultivator before, were you? Here, take a look at this Small Shield and this Blood Spirit Pill, then tell me if you still want to go after him!"
Guan Ruxin sneered, directly took out the Blood Spirit Pill and the Small Shield, and tossed them to the cultivator.
HISS!
The cultivator caught them, and at a glance, sucked in a sharp breath. He was secretly relieved that he had only suggested it and hadn’t actually taken action.
Before, he had only guessed that Zhang Chi was a major client, but he had no idea about the specific contents of the transaction.
After seeing these two items, he finally understood that the other party was definitely a Foundation Establishment Powerhouse, and a Sword Dao master at that.
Even if he wasn’t, he definitely had close ties to such an expert.
Because the Blood Spirit Pill was clearly from a Foundation Establishment Powerhouse, and the Small Shield was even more obviously pierced by powerful Sword Qi.
* * *
WHOOSH...
Meanwhile, after leaving the Marketplace, Zhang Chi paid no mind to potential followers. He immediately used the Blood Escape Technique, transforming into a streak of blood-red light and departing at incredible speed.
A moment later, Zhang Chi switched to his Middle Grade Flying Boat.
A short while later, Zhang Chi had already returned to the Cangwu Sect, and it wasn’t even dark yet.
This way, not even the Servants in the Earth Fire Hall knew that Zhang Chi had ever left the Sect gates.
Back in his cave mansion, Zhang Chi first set up the Thousand Illusions Locking Array. He then brought out the Eye of the Spirit Spring and the Four-legged Strange Snakes, letting them continue to slumber in a corner.
This way, they could absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, which was obviously much better than sleeping inside a Spirit Beast Bag.
Of course, sleeping for a long time in an environment like the Earth Fire Hall would cause them to be affected by fire poison.
However, as Spirit Beasts, their resistance was stronger than that of Cultivators of the Same Tier.
Besides, Zhang Chi would periodically take them to the Outer Disciple Cave Mansion the Sect had assigned him, using a few Ice Spirit Pills to help them recover on their own.
Therefore, it wasn’t a big problem, and the expense was relatively small.
Of course, now that he had the Eye of the Spirit Spring, he wouldn’t have to go through all that trouble.
The Spiritual Spring not only emitted abundant Spiritual Qi but also had a certain cooling aura, which was just right for dispelling their fire poison.
For Zhang Chi, this cooling aura also replaced the need for a cooling array. It allowed the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi he absorbed to achieve a balance of water and fire—a purely beneficial outcome.
After that, Zhang Chi took out another Spirit Beast Bag and released the Phantom Beetle.
SWISH!
As soon as the insect appeared, it shot toward Zhang Chi’s face like a bolt of lightning, clearly with malicious intent.
And although it wasn’t skilled in combat, it was a Tier Two being after all. Thus, its speed was incredible, its aura was fierce, and it even exuded the powerful pressure unique to a Tier Two Demon Beast.
A regular Qi Cultivation Cultivator would have been thrown into a panic by this situation, and might even have been injured or killed.
But Zhang Chi had already been warned by Lan Xuan and had anticipated this might happen.
BOOM!
He directly activated the White Bone Divine Forging Technique, and a terrifying Divine Soul Suppression, comparable to that of a Foundation Establishment Powerhouse, immediately erupted from him.
Moreover, this Divine Soul Suppression also contained the malevolent will of the White Bone Demon God.
At the same time, the Profound Turtle Shield appeared beside Zhang Chi, and his Flood Dragon Snake Armor activated instantly.
This way, even if the Phantom Beetle could ignore the suppression, it would be utterly unable to harm him.
PLOP!
The next moment, the Phantom Beetle began to tremble uncontrollably and immediately fell to the ground.
’It’s this pathetic? Can this thing really help me scout enemies? If it runs into a powerful opponent, won’t it be exposed instantly? Or maybe things will improve after it recognizes me as its master?’
Still, he immediately seized the opportunity. Drawing out a bit of his Essence Blood, he channeled streams of crimson Spiritual Power to quickly inscribe the Demon Insect Master Recognition Spirit Contract he had learned from the Jade Scroll Lan Xuan had given him.