Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Chapter 248 Retreat
After leaving Wanjuanzhai, Chen Yuan went to another smaller shop that sold jade slips. He hid his cultivation level and, posing as a Qi-refining cultivator, bought several books that recorded the history of Yuqing Sea over the past thousand years.

The style of acting cautiously has been engraved in Chen Yuan's bones. Even though it is just a small market, he will not reveal his background casually.

After finishing the two things, he did not stay in the market for long. He handed a low-grade spirit stone to the mortal man, then flew away from Fuyang Island.

This market is too small. Although it has things Chen Yuan needs, such as three hundred year old spiritual herbs, the quantities are scarce and the prices are high. It would be more cost-effective to go to Wentian Island to purchase them.

On the flying boat, Chen Yuan carefully examined several jade slips he had bought, and he had a clear understanding of the changes in Wentian Island over the past thousand years, as well as some major events that had occurred in Yuqing Sea in the past ten years.

After the Wentian Sect was destroyed, the other two major sects fought for the Wentian Island and the affiliated waters of the Wentian Sect. They fought to the death and the losses became increasingly serious until both sides could not bear it anymore.

At this time, a great monk united several medium-sized sects to form a force called "Righteous Alliance", appointed himself as the leader, and occupied Wentian Island.

This great cultivator was born as a casual cultivator, but he cultivated all the way to the late Nascent Soul stage. He was extremely powerful and fair in his actions. He mediated disputes for other forces many times and was very famous and respected in the Yuqing Sea.

He suddenly took over Wentian Island, and the other two major sects were naturally extremely dissatisfied, but compared to letting the other party get Wentian Island, it was finally a barely acceptable result.

From then on, Yuqinghai had regained its status as a place where the three major forces were in a three-way balance of power.

Over the past thousand years, the Righteous Alliance has developed into a truly large sect. After the death of the great monk, it still firmly occupies Wentian Island, but the sea area under its jurisdiction is smaller than that of the other two major sects.

Moreover, as a force formed by the union of several sects, the structure of the Righteous Alliance is looser, and its cohesion is undoubtedly weaker. Its heritage is not as profound as that of the other two large sects, and no great cultivator has ever appeared there.

But because of this, the Righteousness Alliance can absorb independent cultivators to join without any pressure. The number of people in the alliance is more than the other two large sects combined, but most of them are low-level cultivators and their strength is much inferior.

Wentian Island is also the large island in Yuqing Sea with the lowest restrictions on independent cultivators. Many independent cultivators who are unwilling to join the Zhengqi League will choose to live on Wentian Island.

This is the largest market town in Yuqing Sea, gathering countless rare treasures. Even many cultivators from Jiuxianzhou come here to practice. The three hundred year old spiritual herbs that Chen Yuan needs can be found everywhere, which is just right for Chen Yuan's practice.

He no longer hesitated and flew to Wentian Island according to the path remembered by Master Qingyou.

The sea area under the jurisdiction of the Righteous Alliance is a mixed bag of people, both good and evil. Chen Yuan deliberately avoided other cultivators along the way and did not get involved in any incidents.

He met two Foundation Establishment cultivators. After they revealed their cultivation in the late Foundation Establishment stage, the two men stayed away from him. There were also several Qi Refining cultivators who were extremely frightened, but Chen Yuan did not pay much attention to them.

A month later, Chen Yuan flew tens of thousands of miles and finally arrived at Wentian Island.

This large island has a circumference of nearly two hundred miles and is vast in area. It is surrounded by many small islands and micro islands. The port on the island is extremely busy, with ships constantly coming in and out.

Chen Yuan slowed down his speed and came to the center of Wentian Island. There stood a huge city, occupying almost half of the island, like a prehistoric beast crawling on the ground.

This huge city is called Hanxing City. It was built by the great monk Hanxing Zhenren who founded the Zhengqi League. It is the largest city in Yuqing Sea.

There were lights rising and falling in front of the city gate all the time. The city was crowded with people and noisy. Mortals and monks lived in harmony.

Next to the giant city, a mountain range about tens of miles long stretches endlessly, surrounding the giant city. It is filled with light clouds and mist, hiding the mountain gate of the Righteous Alliance.

But at the edge of the mountain range, there are several peaks that are not covered by clouds and are also included in the walls of Hanxing City.

These mountains were specially demarcated by the Righteous Alliance, which built hundreds of caves and rented them out to independent cultivators, earning a large amount of spirit stones every year.

In addition, cultivators can also choose to live in Hanxing City, but they cannot use the spiritual veins on Wentian Island to practice.

There are also spiritual veins on the small islands surrounding Wentian Island, but they are not open to the public. Only the monks of the Righteousness Alliance or its affiliated forces can be allocated the caves on the islands.

Chen Yuan arrived at the gate of Hanxing City, lowered his escape light, lined up behind the cultivators who had arrived here first, and slowly moved towards the city gate.

Flying is prohibited over Hanxing City, and monks from the Righteous Alliance are patrolling at all times. Violators will be fined spirit stones at the very least, or expelled from the island at the worst.

Fortunately, Hanxing City has thirty-six city gates, which greatly disperse the flow of people. There are only four cultivators in front of Chen Yuan, so he does not need to wait too long.

When Chen Yuan was queuing, many monks walked by him, and none of them needed to be checked by the low-level monks guarding the city gate.

What they have in common is that they have tokens of different natures hanging around their waists. These are passes issued by the Righteous Alliance and must be exchanged for spirit stones.

Mortals can enter and leave Hanxing City at will, but it is difficult for monks to disguise themselves as mortals and sneak into the city.

There are formations set up at every gate of Hanxing City, which can identify cultivators and mortals, and even Liandan cultivators cannot hide from it.

The four cultivators in front of Chen Yuan were all coming to Hanxing City for the first time. They exchanged tokens one by one, and soon it was Chen Yuan's turn.

He walked up to a cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining and slightly released his Qi, revealing the cultivation level of a cultivator in the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

Under the respectful gaze of the Qi-refining cultivators, Chen Yuan paid a thousand low-grade spirit stones in exchange for a bronze plate. He injected a trace of true essence into it, hung it around his waist, and slowly walked into Hanxing City.

The pass tokens issued by the Righteous Alliance to foreign cultivators are divided into five grades. The lowest grade is the iron plate, which costs ten low-grade spirit stones a year. One can only move around in Hanxing City but not live there.

The next level up is bronze, which comes with one hundred low-grade spirit stones a year and allows one to live in Hanxing City.

The next level up is the silver medal, which costs one thousand low-grade spirit stones a year and can be used to rent a shop in the Hanxing City market.

The second class is the gold medal, which is worth 10,000 low-grade spirit stones a year. It can be used to purchase a shop in the Hanxing City market. Only Jindan cultivators can exchange it.

The highest grade is the jade token, which does not require spirit stones to exchange, but only Nascent Soul cultivators are eligible to receive it, and can fly freely in Hanxing City.

Chen Yuan spent one thousand low-grade spirit stones in exchange for a bronze medal, which allowed him to rent a cave in Hanxing City. He only needed to pay the spirit stones again after ten years.

Soon after he entered the city gate, he was stopped by a young mortal in his twenties on the street. With a humble smile, he asked him if he wanted to take a carriage.

Flying is not allowed in Hanxing City, and the city is too vast, which is why this kind of business came into being.

It costs one or two taels of silver to take a carriage, which can take you to any place in Hanxing City.

This price is very expensive for mortals, but it is completely insignificant for monks.

Chen Yuan got on the carriage and said with a gentle smile, "Take me to the city market."

The young man was flattered, and the smile on his face became even more respectful. He bowed and invited Chen Yuan into the carriage, lowered the curtain, gently waved the whip, and drove the horse into the city, trying to be as gentle as possible so as not to disturb Chen Yuan in the carriage.

The young man had met many cultivators, but no one had ever been as kind to him as Chen Yuan. Chen Yuan sat in the carriage, spreading his spiritual sense and observing everything in Hanxing City.

Hanxing City is a city of cultivators. Monks can be seen everywhere on the streets, but the number of mortals is still greater.

Like Fuyang Island, the language used here is completely different from that of Donghuazhou, and there are also significant differences in clothing.

Fortunately, before Chen Yuan went to Fuyang Island, he had made preparations. He changed his clothes and learned the language used by the Yuqinghai monks from the memory of Zhenren Qingyou, so he would not reveal any flaws.

The streets were crowded with people, and the carriage was moving slowly. It took about half an hour before it arrived at the entrance of Hanxing City Market.

Chen Yuan had no gold or silver in his hand, so he handed the young man a low-grade spirit stone. The young man was overjoyed and thanked Chen Yuan repeatedly.

In Yuqing Sea, cultivators often need to deal with mortals, and they always carry gold and silver with them. Even when rewarding mortals, they will not use precious spirit stones.

Only the mortals who become hyacinths in the market have the opportunity to obtain spirit stones.

They are familiar with the distribution of shops in the market town and know where to buy the cheapest spiritual herbs, talismans, magic tools and elixirs. Some well-informed mortals even know about some trade fairs and may be richer than low-level cultivators.

There are a large number of hyacinths in the market of Hanxing City. As soon as Chen Yuan walked in, an old mortal man in his fifties came over and asked Chen Yuan if he needed a guide.

Although this man had gray hair, he was in good health, walked briskly, spoke respectfully but not overly humble, and was very sensible. One could tell at a glance that he often dealt with monks.

Facing the mortal old man, Chen Yuan was not as gentle as he was to the driver. He said calmly: "I want to buy some three hundred year old spiritual herbs. If the price is low enough, I can give you three spiritual stones, but if you dare to deceive me..."

"I have been hanging around in the market town of Hanxing City for decades and am very familiar with the shops there. I guarantee that I will satisfy the Master." The mortal old man replied respectfully.

Chen Yuan said calmly: "That's better. Lead the way and tell us the situation in the market in detail."

He walked forward. The mortal old man lagged behind Chen Yuan by one position and whispered, "Master, please look. This Cuizhu Hall specializes in various spiritual woods..."

The market town of Hanxing City covers a vast area, with the streets paved with jade and shops lined up on the roadside, one next to the other, with cultivators constantly coming in and out.

The shops on the outskirts of the market mainly cater to Qi-refining monks and monks in the early stages of foundation building. The items sold are mostly Qi-refining elixirs, low-grade spiritual materials, and magic tools and talismans.

The shop selling the 300-year-old spiritual herb is located inside the market, close to the center of the market.

Under the guidance of the mortal old man, Chen Yuan walked through several streets and alleys and went deep into the market town. There were fewer cultivators on the streets. Most of them were foundation-building cultivators with restrained Qi, and there were very few Qi-refining cultivators.

The mortal old man was very good at dealing with people. He told Chen Yuan all the dozen or so shops in the market that sold three hundred year old spiritual herbs, and took him to the three shops with the lowest prices one after another.

After comparing prices from three stores, Chen Yuan chose one and bought one hundred three-hundred-year-old spiritual herbs.

Yuqing Sea is rich in spiritual energy, and spiritual herbs are more common. The price of three hundred year old spiritual herbs is much cheaper than in Qi State.

One hundred three hundred year old spiritual herbs would require at least one thousand medium grade spiritual stones in Qi State, but in Yuqing Sea, it only requires eight hundred spiritual stones.

Chen Yuan did not have any mid-grade spirit stones, so he used low-grade spirit stones to settle the bill. The price was higher, and he paid a total of 83,000 low-grade spirit stones.

When he walked out of the shop, the market was already shrouded in darkness.

It took Chen Yuan a whole day to buy these one hundred spiritual herbs.

The mortal old man showed no impatience or fatigue as he stood quietly outside the shop waiting.

"Well done." Chen Yuan said lightly and handed the mortal old man three low-grade spirit stones.

The mortal old man smiled, thanked and left.

Chen Yuan came to the Sifang Pavilion of the Righteous Alliance, which rented out caves, and spent 150,000 low-grade spirit stones to rent the Di character cave for ten years.

The cave dwellings in Hanxing City are divided into four types: Tiandi, Xuandi, and Huangdi. Only Nascent Soul cultivators are qualified to live in the highest level Tiandi cave dwelling, and there are only three in total.

Cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage can only rent a Di-character Cave Residence for one hundred medium-grade spirit stones a year. The concentration of spiritual energy in the cave residence is comparable to that of a small spirit vein, but Chen Yuan needs to pay an extra five thousand spirit stones if he wants to use low-grade spirit stones.

The rent of a Di-zi cave for a year is enough to buy a top-grade spiritual weapon. The price is extremely expensive, and usually only Jindan cultivators can afford it.

Only those cultivators at the peak of the foundation-building stage who are about to achieve the Jindan stage would temporarily rent the cave for a year or two, using the abundant spiritual energy in the cave to push for the Jindan stage.

Chen Yuan was very wealthy and powerful. Although he was only a foundation-building cultivator, he rented the place for ten years, which surprised the cultivators of Sifang Pavilion.

After Chen Yuan rented the cave, he took a token engraved with the words "Di Thirty-Seven" and took a carriage to the mountain where the Di cave was located.

Cave No. 37 is located halfway up the mountain, in a relatively remote location. This is a place specially chosen by Chen Yuan, and there are no other caves nearby.

In order to facilitate the absorption of spiritual energy from the spiritual veins, this cave was built into the mountain wall. It has a reception room, a practice room, an acre-sized spiritual herb garden, a spacious performance room and two empty stone chambers.

Chen Yuan carefully checked the stone chamber environment in the cave, focusing on checking the formation. He was relieved only after making sure that there were no omissions.

The Righteous Alliance has a good reputation and has never been reported to have harmed independent cultivators, but Chen Yuan would never rely on others for his own safety.

According to the introduction of the monks from Sifang Pavilion, the formation of the Di Cave can block a monk in the late Jindan stage for a quarter of an hour, and it can also block the spying of spiritual consciousness, so it is extremely safe.

After Chen Yuan activated the formation, he came to the training room, took out the alchemy furnace and the three hundred year old spiritual herbs he had purchased today, and began to make the elixir.

If he wanted to refine the white ape's blood essence, his physical strength would have to be at least comparable to that of a level five monster to be sure of success.

More than ten years ago, his physical strength was comparable to that of a peak level four monster, and he was only one step away from a level five monster.

But this one step is like a chasm in the sky, extremely difficult to break through. After so many years of starlight infusing his body, there is still a gap. It will take several more years to break through.

The power of the Zhoutian stars can continuously strengthen Chen Yuan's body, but the degree of strengthening is relatively small each time, and it takes persistence over time to see results.

Before his physical body broke through, Chen Yuan was unable to refine the white ape's essence and blood. He could only refine pills and improve his cultivation to prepare for the breakthrough to form a pill.

He sat upright in front of the alchemy furnace, recalling the recipe in his mind, and pointed a point. A flame rose up and wrapped around the alchemy furnace. Then he raised his hand and waved it. Two three-hundred-year-old spiritual herbs flew into the alchemy furnace. Under the burning flames, they slowly turned into pure spiritual liquid.

(End of this chapter)