Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 445 Purchasing Spirit Soil
A cold wind swept across his face, and a layer of white frost quickly condensed on Ji An's eyebrows and hair.

The howling wind echoed through the cracks in the rocks, carrying intermittent wailing sounds, like the lamentations of vengeful ghosts.

He couldn't help but shiver; the cold from the rapidly moving wind was unbearable.

As a cultivator in the Chaoyuan stage, he was not immune to the effects of such severe weather. He activated the Fire Element chapter of the Five Elements Revolving Scripture, and his magical power flowed through his immortal veins, causing the Fire Element Divine Talisman to shine brightly.

His body, which had become cold, slowly warmed up, and the tips of his hair shimmered with a crimson light, his hair dancing wildly in the wind like flames flickering on a torch.

Traveling against the wind, his speed was destined to be slow. After nearly two hours of trekking, he finally flew out of the Gula Pass.

Outside, the wind and frost were still blowing, and light snowflakes were falling, covering the earth in a white expanse.

This land is shrouded in snow and wind for most of the year, with the exception of certain special areas.

Ji An immediately swooped down, breathing greedily. After another hour of flying, the immortal city built of white stone came into view in the distance, and Silver Moon City was already beckoning to him.

As they flew away, they could already see other cultivators.

These monks, all dressed in leather robes and hats, immediately kept their distance when they saw him riding on a cloud.

No matter where you are, one of the survival rules for cultivators is: 'Do not provoke cultivators with higher cultivation levels than yourself; if possible, avoid them altogether.'

Ji An didn't take it seriously and continued flying forward, finally landing at the entrance on the outer perimeter of the Immortal City.

The information given by his ancestor described the city in detail, and he understood what to do.

A bearded man stepped forward from among the monks guarding the entrance, cupped his hands, and said:
"Senior, are you heading to the Immortal City?"

"Yes, process my identity jade token."

Ji An replied that Silver Moon City is a city of independent cultivators. The city lord is a late-stage Golden Core cultivator. Anyone entering the immortal city must receive a standard jade token and pay ten spirit stones according to the rules.

This jade token has a location function, and anyone who is a Golden Core cultivator must claim it.

The bearded monk took out a jade token and respectfully handed it over, saying:

“Senior, cultivators in the Chaoyuan stage do not need to pay an entrance fee to the city. However, fighting between cultivators is strictly prohibited in the city. If you encounter any discord, please be patient for the time being, and the Enforcement Hall will handle it.”

Ji An accepted the jade token and nodded slightly, saying:

"Thank you very much."

He stepped into the restricted area and immediately felt a warm breeze; outside it was the dead of winter, but here it was like the warmth of spring.

He found a broker and asked:

How many spirit stones would it cost to hire you for a day?

The broker was a rather thin cultivator at the eighth level of Qi Refining, with clear and bright eyes, who did not seem like a treacherous person.

Of course, it's easy to draw the skin of a tiger but hard to draw its bones; you can know a person's face but not their heart. He will remain cautious.

He didn't believe that his high cultivation level would prevent others from deceiving him. He thought that as long as the benefits were great enough, many cultivators would disguise themselves as Tribulation cultivators.

"Reporting to senior, it only takes three spirit stones a day."

The broker wore a perfectly timed smile. Three spirit stones weren't much; his main income came from commissions on customers' purchases.

Otherwise, given his cultivation level, it would be impossible for him to live in the city.

Ji An took out a spirit stone and handed it to the other party, saying:

"Take me to a shop that sells various kinds of spiritual soil. I won't buy much, just enough for fifty acres of spiritual fields for five years."

He had long planned to purchase the spiritual soil needed to upgrade the grade of his spiritual fields from other continents, precisely to avoid all the cultivators he knew.

"Alright," the broker happily put the spirit stones into his storage bag, then asked:

"Senior, what grade of spirit field do you need to cultivate? That way, I can better recommend a more suitable shop for you."

From just one sentence, he made a preliminary judgment that the other party was a potential big customer, and although the change he had was not much, it must have truly belonged to him.

If the spiritual field is leased, no cultivator is willing to cultivate it, because not only will they not benefit from improving the grade of the spiritual field, but the rent they pay will also increase significantly. It's purely a case of doing the landlord's work for them.

Such cultivators must have other needs besides spiritual soil.

"Currently, it is a first-grade superior product."

"Understood, senior. Please follow me. Flying is not allowed in the Immortal City; otherwise, you will be punished by the enforcement team."

The broker was very talkative, and knew the features of the shops on the street like the back of his hand.

As he passed a clothing store, he stopped and said:

"Senior, I think you should buy a leather jacket; it will help you negotiate the price."

The leather clothing here is made from the pelts of Qi Refining stage demonic beasts; it's of good quality and inexpensive.

Thinking that he would be spending many years in this icy and snowy place, Ji An nodded slightly and stepped inside.

He quickly selected three sets, nodded to the broker, and after some haggling, spent fifty spirit stones.

Ji An immediately changed into a Taoist robe to cover himself up.

The two left the shop and, after several turns, arrived at a narrow street. The broker explained:

"Senior, this street is full of shops that deal in spiritual plants and spiritual fields. If you want to cultivate a first-grade high-quality spiritual field, Zhang's Spiritual Rice Shop is the most cost-effective."

"Let me browse through them all first and compare prices."

Ji An said that the two had just met and there wasn't much trust between them yet. The broker had experienced many similar situations, leading customers from shop to shop.

Every time Ji An entered a shop, he would ask about the price of the spiritual soil he needed and whether they had any second-grade or higher spiritual seeds for sale.

I visited more than a dozen shops but found nothing.

During this time, he did encounter some high-level spirit seeds that Crimson Flame Peak did not possess, but none of them were what he needed.

As they walked out of the last shop, Ji An spoke:

"Let's go to Zhang's Spirit Rice Shop to buy some."

The two returned to Zhang's shop, and Ji An said:
"I am purchasing two thousand catties each of obsidian, cyan clay, crimson moon clay, yellow crystal clay, and white mystic clay."

The shopkeeper immediately perked up; this was no small transaction. He picked up his abacus and quickly began working on it, then laughed:

"Senior, the prices of Qingying Soil, Chiyue Soil, and Huangjing Soil are a bit higher, at 65 spirit stones per 100 jin."

Obsidian and White Mystic Soil each cost sixty spirit stones per hundred catties, totaling six thousand three hundred spirit stones.

When it was the broker's turn to appear, after some haggling, the deal was struck for six thousand spirit stones.

Ji An readily took out sixty mid-grade spirit stones and left with five storage bags.

These storage bags are specially made, large-capacity storage items. The cost of refining them is nearly a hundred spirit stones; otherwise, he could have saved some more spirit stones.

The two left and wandered aimlessly for another hour. Ji An said:

"I want to rent a cave dwelling, at least a mid-grade second-level spiritual vein node."

He will stay in Silvermoon City for a few years, gradually integrating into this icy and snowy land.

The broker lowered his head and said:
"We need to go to the area outside the mountain top, but the price for renting a cave dwelling is set by the city lord and is non-negotiable."

"You can leave once you show me the way."

Ji An successfully rented a mid-grade second-tier cave dwelling for 3,000 spirit stones per year, and he truly felt how expensive it was.

The cave dwelling is divided into multiple rooms, including a living room, a beast-taming room, a fire-breathing room, and a purification room for cultivation.

He originally thought that the reason why the temperature in the immortal city was higher than that outside was due to the magic array.

It now appears that there are underground volcanic veins, with scorching magma buried beneath the icy landscape, and the distance between the lava and the surface is not far.

Three thousand spirit stones is only the price of a mid-grade second-tier spiritual vein. A cave dwelling at a high-grade spiritual vein node costs five thousand spirit stones per year.

By this calculation, he has saved hundreds of thousands of spirit stones by staying in the sect for so many years.

"It's not easy being a rogue cultivator."

After sighing, Ji An went to the Beast Taming Room and released the three tamed beasts.

Taming beasts is different from refining corpses; prolonged slumber can have serious consequences. Golden Retriever and Big Yellow have been slumbering on and off for three months.

Ji An returned to the quiet room, sat cross-legged on the futon, and focused his mind on the stone tortoise.

Enter the world of gourds!

His figure vanished in an instant, leaving only the gourd-shaped stone suspended in the air, emitting a soft light.

The stone wall is decorated with patterns of flowers, birds, insects, fish, the sun, moon, and stars, as if they were alive.

The world of gourds is already thriving, and the Gathering Yuan Tree has now grown half a foot above the ground, radiating a warm and gentle spiritual light.

Ji An sighed countless times, saying that it truly deserved to be called a spiritual root of heaven and earth. Although it was only at the first-level low grade, it was full of spiritual light.

It is now only as thick as a little finger, with five leaves the size of a fingernail at the top, in five colors: yellow, red, white, black, and blue, as if it were a manifestation of the power of the five elements.

The leaves are currently bound together, and it's unclear when they will unfurl.

The Earth Spirit Fruit tree next to it is already two feet tall and has reached the middle grade of the first rank. The slender Xuan Ye Sword Bamboo is six feet tall. The two do not look like they were planted at the same time.

Ji An used a magic spell to take out the yellow crystal soil and sprinkled it evenly on this earth element spiritual field. He only sprinkled a thin layer, using about two hundred catties, and he would sprinkle it twice a year.

He activated the Yellow Dragon Enhancing Yuan Technique, and with the tremors of the earth's veins, a warm spiritual light covered the land, and a profound and nourishing spiritual energy spread out.

When the yellow crystal soil is completely mixed with the soil, it will enhance the spiritual energy contained in the soil under the effect of the magic array.

Ji An always wondered what form this little world took and how its space was formed.
It was all so magical that his mind couldn't fathom its mysteries.

After pondering for a moment, he gave up looking for the answer to the question and turned to the blue soil area.

He scattered the green soil here and activated the Azure Dragon Awakening Technique.

A ten-foot-long azure dragon appeared, its dark green scales shimmering with light, and its emerald glow illuminated this hazy world, bringing even more vitality.

The resounding dragon roar was deafening, and the spiritual plants swayed amidst the rising, vigorous growth of the Dharma.

The green ivy tree is now four feet tall, while the jade-leaf mulberry has reached five feet, with leaves the size of a palm.

Next, Ji An sprinkled Obsidian Soil, Crimson Moon Soil, and White Mystic Soil onto the corresponding spirit fields in turn, while continuously casting spells.

The red cloud pine, spirit peach tree, and dragon blood tree are now as thick as a forearm and more than four feet tall, and the peach tree has begun to bear branches.

The spirit fish in the pond leaped out of the water, the largest of which was a two-foot-long red carp with a pair of golden dragon whiskers.

(End of this chapter)