Chapter 60 The way forward
Chapter 60 The way forward
Chen Yuan put away the jade token and said:
"Excuse me, Manager He, how many types of cave dwellings are there? How much is the rent?"
Deacon He said calmly:
"Qi-refining cultivators can rent four types of caves: A, B, C, and D. A-level caves cost 40 spirit stones a year, B-level caves cost 20 spirit stones a year, C-level caves cost 10 spirit stones a year, and D-level caves cost 5 spirit stones a year. Except for D-level caves, all have spirit-gathering formations that can be used to cultivate with the help of spirit veins."
Chen Yuan said without hesitation:
"Chen chose to rent the Ding-level cave."
As he spoke, he took out five spirit stones from his storage bag and placed them on the counter.
Deacon He put away the spirit stone, took out another jade token, glanced at it, handed it to Chen Yuan, and said calmly:
"Ding 358 Cave, remember to pay the spirit stones after one year, otherwise our sect will take back the cave. There are four rules in this market. One is that you cannot fight with others privately, two is that you cannot steal or rob, three is that you cannot force buying or selling, and four is that you cannot trespass into the cave. If you violate the rules, you will be fined the spirit stones at the lightest and be killed on the spot at the worst. Please do not violate them."
Chen Yuan's heart trembled:
"Chen will keep this in mind."
He took the jade token, bowed to the deacon, and walked out of Guiyuan Pavilion with Cao You.
Cao You smiled and said:
"Brother Chen, it is a wise move to rent a D-grade cave. Most casual cultivators rent the lowest-grade D-grade caves in their first year at Huanyue Market to save spirit stones."
Chen Yuan frowned and said:
"This Ding-level cave has no spirit gathering formation, but it still requires five spirit stones. The Guiyuan Sect is too overbearing."
Cao You sighed and said:
"There is no other way. If you want to stay in Huanyue Market, you must rent a cave. Guiyuan Sect uses this method to force independent cultivators to earn spirit stones. Five spirit stones may not seem like a lot, but you have to pay it every year. Add the five spirit stones for the pass token, and you have to pay ten spirit stones a year. Brother Chen should make plans early and choose a way to earn spirit stones to support himself."
Chen Yuan said:
"Fellow Daoist Cao's words make sense, but I wonder how many spirit stones can be earned in a year using these three methods?"
Cao You thought for a moment and said:
"Brother Chen and I are both fifth-level Qi Refining cultivators. If we rent a spiritual field, we can ripen at most five spiritual herbs a month. One spiritual herb can be sold for three spiritual stones. We can hand over four to Guiyuan Sect and keep one for ourselves, which will earn us three spiritual stones. This is the safest way."
"If Brother Chen goes into the mountains to hunt monsters, the risk will be greater. He may not get anything for several months, but he may hunt a monster in two or three days and make a fortune. As for the last way, it depends on whether Brother Chen has the inheritance."
Chen Yuan smiled and said:
"Thank you for your advice, Fellow Daoist Cao. I will definitely consider it seriously."
Cao You smiled and said:
"Brother Chen, you are too polite. I also have some selfish motives. I usually go into the mountains with my two good friends to hunt monsters, and we get quite a lot. Brother Chen has two mid-grade magic weapons and is very powerful. If we choose this path, the three of us can join forces with Brother Chen and look after each other."
Chen Yuan frowned when he heard this. Seeing this, Cao You quickly said:
"This is just a suggestion. It's up to Brother Chen to decide everything. But the three of us are all loyal people. We have worked together for two years without any conflicts. We are experienced and will never hold Brother Chen back. The cave I rent is at No. 279 Ding. If Brother Chen is interested, you can come to me at any time."
Chen Yuan's brows relaxed and he said:
"Thank you for your kindness, Daoyou Cao. If Chen chooses to go into the mountains to hunt monsters, I will definitely cooperate with Daoyou Cao."
The smile on Cao You's face became more intense, and he said:
"Brother Chen is new to Huanyue Market and is not familiar with the interior of the market. I will take you around so that you can get familiar with the routes in the market."
Chen Yuan smiled and said:
"Then I'm sorry to bother you, Daoist Cao."
Afterwards, the two of them strolled around the market.
With Cao You's introduction, Chen Yuan's understanding of Huanyue Market gradually deepened.
All the shops in the market town belong to Guiyuan Sect. Individual cultivators can only rent them but cannot buy them.
The largest shop among them is called "Guiyuan Pavilion", which sells everything including elixirs, magic tools, talismans, spiritual beasts, etc., with the best quality, but also the most expensive.
In addition, there are many shops opened by the immortal cultivation families affiliated with Guiyuan Sect. Each has its own focus. Some specialize in selling elixirs, and some specialize in selling magical instruments. The quality is slightly worse, but the price is also cheaper.
The most common shops and stalls in the market are those owned by individual cultivators.
There are very few independent cultivators who can afford to rent a shop. Most of them are foundation-building cultivators, or alchemists, weapon refiners, etc.
These foundation-building cultivators gathered a group of independent cultivators and became quite powerful in the Huanyue Market. They could earn some spirit stones by selling spiritual herbs, monster materials and other items together.
Alchemists, weapon refiners, etc. joined together, rented a shop, and sold elixirs, magical instruments, talismans and other necessities for cultivators to avoid middlemen making a profit from the difference.
Most independent cultivators cannot afford to rent a shop, so they have to set up their own stalls and sell whatever they have.
The spiritual fields on the surrounding mountains are also divided into three levels, rented to cultivators in the early, middle and late stages of Qi Refining respectively.
According to the rules of Guiyuan Sect, if Chen Yuan wants to rent a spiritual field, he can only ripen spiritual herbs that are sixty years old. These are the raw materials needed for the elixir in the middle stage of Qi Refining.
To refine the early stage of the elixir, only forty years of spiritual herbs are needed.
It takes eighty years of spiritual herbs to refine late-stage elixirs.
……
Two hours later, it was getting dark. The two of them strolled around the market town and came to the foot of the mountain where the cave was built.
A wide stone staircase winds up, large enough to accommodate ten people walking side by side. A jade archway stands at the foot of the mountain with four large characters "Fantasy Moon Cave Heaven" inscribed on it.
The two men walked up the mountain path, and many monks passed by them in a hurry.
On both sides of the mountain road, there are branching roads leading to houses.
These mansions and cave dwellings all have a courtyard, but they are shaded by green pines, with waterfalls in the sky, carved beams and painted buildings, and flying eaves and pointed corners. They are as luxurious as the residences of kings and princes in the mortal world.
Further up, the area where the Class C caves are located, those exquisite houses have disappeared, and they have become real "cave houses" carved into the mountains. Looking up, the Class B and Class A caves on the hillside and above are as simple as the Class C caves, without any fairy spirit at all.
But they can rely on spiritual veins for cultivation, and in the eyes of cultivators, they are hundreds of times better than the exquisite Ding-level caves.
Chen Yuan said goodbye to Cao You, took out the cave jade token, and injected a trace of magic power into it.
The cave floated in the air, guiding him to an exquisite house. The words "Ding Sanwuba" were engraved on the sandalwood door, which emitted a faint light and had a shallow groove.
Chen Yuan placed the jade token into the groove, the light slowly dissipated, and the wooden door opened silently.
He put away the jade token and walked into the courtyard. The sandalwood door closed silently behind him.
There are three rooms in the courtyard. The main hall is luxuriously furnished, and the tables and chairs are all made of precious wood, so it can be used to receive guests.
There was nothing in the room on the left, except for blue bricks on the floor for the owner to use at will.
In the room on the right, there is a jade bed with an exquisite cushion on it. It should be the practice room.
A layer of faint light enveloped the courtyard. This was a formation set up by Guiyuan Sect, which could prevent other cultivators from spying with their spiritual sense.
Unfortunately, there is no spirit gathering array in the courtyard. No matter how luxurious it is, it is no different from a thatched hut.
Chen Yuan sat on the mat, thinking back to Cao You's words, his thoughts churning.
After paying ten spirit stones, he still had two hundred and twenty-seven spirit stones left.
If he sold the materials from the bear monster and the wolf monster, he could also gain some spirit stones. Among the cultivators in the middle stage of Qi Refining, he could be considered a wealthy man.
He could buy six bottles of pills and raise his cultivation to the sixth level of Qi Refining in one fell swoop.
But after thinking it over, Chen Yuan gave up the idea.
If he wanted to enter the Fantasy Moon Mountains to hunt monsters, improving his cultivation would be the best option.
But monsters will go crazy when they see him, and there are many monsters in the Fantasy Moon Mountains. If he provokes a group of monsters, with his cultivation level of the middle stage of Qi Refining, he will definitely die without a burial place.
He had only one way to go, and that was to learn alchemy.
Alchemists have a high status among casual cultivators, and they have a complete set of alchemy inheritance in their hands. They don't even need to buy an alchemy furnace. If they don't learn alchemy, it would be a waste of God's gift.
Chen Yuan's spiritual consciousness continued to grow as the starlight infused his body, which also gave him more confidence in learning alchemy.
These more than two hundred spirit stones are the capital for him to learn alchemy.
That's why he chose to rent the cheapest Class D cave, just to save some spirit stones so he could buy more spirit herbs.
Alchemy consumes a lot of spirit stones. Every spirit stone must be carefully calculated and must not be wasted.
If this road is blocked, he will risk going to the mountains to hunt monsters.
As for renting spiritual fields, Chen Yuan had never considered it.
If you farm before becoming an immortal, and you still have to farm after becoming an immortal, then wouldn’t it be a waste of your efforts to become an immortal?
……
The next morning, Chen Yuan came to the market town and strolled around slowly.
Yesterday Cao You only took him on a rough tour to give him a general understanding of the market.
But he still needs to understand some specific details himself.
Chen Yuan walked into a shop called "Li's Alchemy Hall", looked at the pills on the counter, and asked:
"How many spirit stones are there in a bottle of Gathering Spirit Pill?"
There was a cultivator of the tenth level of Qi Refining in a blue robe sitting in the store. He glanced at Chen Yuan and said calmly:
"Twenty-two spiritual stones."
“Can it be cheaper?”
"Twenty-one dollars at least, no less."
"It really can't be any less?"
"If you really want it, I can lower the price to 20 yuan a bottle. This is the lowest price. It really can't be any lower."
The blue-shirted monk stood up with a smile on his face.
Customers like this who bargain multiple times often really want to buy.
But Chen Yuan just said "excuse me" and turned away, leaving the blue-shirted monk stunned.
After leaving Li's Alchemy Hall, Chen Yuan visited several other alchemy shops and also went to Guiyuan Pavilion to find out the price of the Gathering Spirit Pill, which was around twenty spirit stones.
This is a kind of elixir suitable for cultivators in the early stages of Qi Refining. It is widely circulated in the world of immortal cultivation and is also the first kind of elixir Chen Yuan plans to refine next.
The raw materials for the Spirit Gathering Pill are thirty-year-old silverleaf grass, white orchid fruit, and goldenrod. Chen Yuan asked the price in the same way, one spirit stone for each plant.
To refine a furnace of Soul Gathering Pills, you need two silverleaf grasses, two white orchid fruits, and one goldenrod.
Chen Yuan had an idea in mind, so he went to several weapon refining shops and compared prices. In the end, he sold the monster materials from the wolf monster and the bear monster separately, earning forty-one spirit stones. The number of spirit stones in his storage bag increased to two hundred and seventy-eight.
Afterwards, he spent two hundred and fifty spirit stones to buy one hundred silverleaf grasses, one hundred white orchid fruits, and fifty goldenrods, then returned to the cave and began to refine the elixir.
(End of this chapter)