Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 548 Arrival in Central Continent
Silent all night.

Ji An left at dawn. He flew to Yingri Peak, silently activated the teleportation array, and said in a barely audible voice:
"Goodbye."

Now that we've parted, who knows when we'll meet again.

The light and shadow on the teleportation array distorted, blurring his vision before quickly clearing it again. He had now arrived at Qingyun Immortal City.

He stepped out of the teleportation array, flew onto the merchant airship, found the room designated by his ticket, and entered it.

The spiritual energy inside the flying boat is extremely thin; the only way to cultivate is by using the spirit-absorbing array in the room.

This magic array shares the same principle as the spirit-capturing array used during the Qi Refining stage, but it is driven by high-grade spirit stones.

His purchase of the boat ticket was at the standard level of a Golden Core cultivator, and the Spirit Absorption Array could create a spiritual energy concentration equivalent to a third-grade low-level spiritual vein.

Each time three high-grade spirit stones are loaded, it allows for thirty-six hours of cultivation. This means that each high-grade spirit stone can only sustain cultivation for one day, which is undeniably very expensive.

But for Ji An, the spirit stones needed to activate the magic array could be saved. With the small world at hand, he could hide in the gourd world when cultivating, which made him very at ease.

Ji An had no plans to cultivate for the time being, so he took out the bracelet that his senior brother, the sect leader, had given him and put it on.

The stone embedded in the bracelet was a Void Stone, which he probed with his divine sense to observe.

The space inside was even larger than his original Void Stone, with a neatly arranged rectangular pile of high-grade spirit stones in the center.

He counted the quantity and found a total of 1,600 high-grade spirit stones, wondering how much of the sect's spirit stone reserves had been used.

Adding to his existing savings, his wealth directly reached nearly three thousand high-grade spirit stones.

The sect has not been wealthy in recent years because a large amount of resources have been used to purchase various kinds of knowledge inheritance. It takes a relatively long time for knowledge to be converted into wealth.

Besides spirit stones, there were also many gift boxes with spirit-sealing talismans on them. He opened them one by one and looked them over, finding that they were all third-tier resources.

It's not needed now, but it can be exchanged with other cultivators when we get to Central Continent.

One of the gift boxes contained a jade slip. Ji An pressed it to his forehead to examine its contents, which were researches on the properties and pharmacology of medicinal herbs.

He carefully reviewed it and found that it was indeed more comprehensive and detailed than the information he had received six months ago.

"That's great. The sect's decades of investment have not been in vain."

"I can use third-tier Crimson Cloud Pine Nuts as the main ingredient to experiment with whether I can refine a pill similar to the Purple Flame Heart-Protecting Pill."

The Purple Flame Heart-Protecting Pill is a formula created by Han Yan that can replace the Fire Dragon Heart-Refining Pill.

If he creates a pill formula using third-tier Crimson Cloud Pine Nuts as the main ingredient, his cultivation speed will increase significantly.

Currently, his only way to obtain pills is through auctions, and pills that can enhance cultivation will inevitably attract a lot of competition from cultivators.

Although he was relatively wealthy, he couldn't resist endless extravagance.

Besides, it's not a good thing to always be in the spotlight at auctions.

The display of wealth will inevitably attract covetousness, and encountering a calamity is a very common occurrence. A cultivator's level of cultivation has no relation to their moral character.

He was all alone in the Central Continent and had to be very careful.

After taking stock of all the resources, Ji An left the room to find an acquaintance.

Golden Puppet Pavilion VIP Room.

Master Xuanmu gave a wry smile. "I can't understand why you chose to leave the Golden Spirit Sect."

He has now confirmed that the other party is an extremely excellent spirit farmer, but a spirit farmer who leaves the spirit field is like a tiger without claws.

If the other party chooses to go to Middle-earth, where will he find a spiritual farmer with whom he can have a long-term and stable partnership?!

Ji An was puzzled. "What's there to not understand? Resources in the Western Continent are relatively scarce. If I want to improve my cultivation level quickly, pills are indispensable. How many pills can I use in the Western Continent?"

Improving one's cultivation level requires the help of external aids to be fast; otherwise, it would be very difficult for him to slowly reach the late stage of the Golden Core realm.

The sects of the Western Continent do not have formulas for pills at the Golden Core level and cannot refine pills themselves, so they mainly rely on the supply from the merchant ships of the Central Continent.

However, the pills provided by the cultivators of the Central Continent were simply not enough for the Golden Core cultivators of the Western Continent.

The situation at Jinling Sect is somewhat better now; they can occasionally obtain a few pills from the Southern Continent or the far north.

More than sixty years have passed since Ji An broke through to the Golden Core stage, but he has only taken ten pills, which means he only gets one pill every six years.

This greatly slowed down his cultivation progress. If he continued to stay in the Western Continent, he would definitely be wasting his time. How could he be willing to do that?
Master Xuanmu grinned and changed the subject:

"After arriving in Zhongzhou, what means do you plan to use to make a living?"

If the other party hasn't made up their mind yet, he will encourage them to rent spirit fields, since they can also do farming in Zhongzhou!
"I am not very talented, but I have some knowledge of alchemy and talisman making."

Currently, it is possible to draw a Tier 3 superior-grade spirit-stabilizing talisman.

Master Xuanmu looked suspicious. "What kind of talisman is the Mind-Stabilizing Talisman? I've never heard of it before."

"It is a kind of talisman for defending against attacks on the soul, and it should be a talisman created by Buddhist cultivators."

Ji An handed over a high-grade third-tier mind-stabilizing talisman, saying:

"Fellow Daoist, you may take a look."

The calming talisman shimmered with silver light, and even without activating it, one could feel its tranquil aura when held in hand. "Indeed, judging from the intensity of the talisman's spiritual light, it is indeed a mid-grade third-tier talisman."

However, this kind of talisman is not very useful at present, and it will probably be difficult to sell it. Can you draw other types of talismans?
Ji An gave a bitter smile. "I have no other talisman inheritances. I only know how to draw this one type of third-tier talisman. Do you know where I can buy it?"

It wasn't that he didn't want to learn how to draw other types of third-order runes, but that he couldn't learn them.

To imitate something, you need a gourd to refer to, but he didn't have one.

Master Xuanmu shook his head. "I have very few experience with talisman makers, so I'm afraid I can't be of much help. Do you have any other skills, fellow Daoist?"

"I am also skilled in alchemy, but I do not have any third-tier pill formulas available, so I can only refine second-tier pills at present."

Fellow Daoist, I'd like to ask if there are any connections or channels to purchase a Golden Core level elixir formula?

Master Xuanmu scratched his head, "I know that some pill shops will sign agreements with alchemists to cooperate. If the alchemists can serve for a certain number of years and complete the refining tasks on time, they can get a third-tier pill formula."

"How many years of service are required? Can you specify which type of third-tier pill formula you wish to obtain?"

"The service period is usually around 60 years. During this time, the task of alchemy is quite heavy, but the compensation will not be less."

You can specify which pill recipe you want to receive, but doing so will either increase your service years or add more refining tasks.

Ji An frowned slightly. These conditions were rather harsh, but if there was no better way, he could only accept them reluctantly.

Before that, he had to work harder to see if he could experiment with a third-order pill formula.

The two began to chat, and Master Xuanmu started to describe the route of the merchant flying boat.

"The flying boat consumes a lot of high-grade spirit stones during flight. In order to save spirit stones, the flight route is always straight and rarely detours are made."

The journey will take you through many dangerous areas, or through places devoid of spirits.

Generally speaking, the cultivators responsible for the safety of the flying boat are able to handle any dangers they encounter. If they are unable to handle the situation, they will issue a call for help, and we can provide assistance in the battle for a fee.

However, the airship is very safe; I haven't heard of any robberies in decades.

The Land of Desolation is a region where spiritual energy has become barren due to various reasons. In such places, cultivators cannot replenish their magical power through cultivation; they can only consume medicine or absorb the spiritual energy from spirit stones.

The Land of Absolute Spirits is always vast, and if a battle were to occur in such a place, it would be extremely disadvantageous for cultivators.

Another terrifying thing is that this desolate place can actually give birth to a peculiar monster: the Wild Beast.

This creature cannot cast any spells, but it possesses an extremely strong physique. If you are not careful, you may be caught off guard and suffer a crushing defeat.

In the days that followed, Ji An would spend his free time traveling on the merchant airship, making new friends and inquiring about news from the Central Continent.

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye, and the merchant airship officially entered the Central Continent region.

There were several dangerous situations encountered during this period, but they were all successfully resolved.

Another half month passed, and the flying boat landed in the immortal city where the Cloud Sea Business Alliance headquarters was located.

The terrain here is extremely high, and the immortal city is shrouded in a thin mist, which is a manifestation of spiritual energy that is concentrated to a certain degree.

Master Xuanmu rode the clouds into the air, turned to look at the cultivator beside him, and said proudly:

"Fellow Daoist, welcome to Cloud Sea Immortal City! Isn't this place much larger than Azure Cloud Immortal City?"

Ji An felt the surging tide of spiritual energy and nodded affirmatively:

"This immortal city is actually situated on a mid-grade third-tier spiritual vein! This is truly an eye-opener for me!"

The sect's main spiritual vein is only at the third-tier low-grade level, which is not even comparable to a celestial city. The area of ​​this celestial city is about five times that of Qingyun Celestial City.

However, this also fully demonstrates the prosperity of the cultivation world in the Central Continent.

"Haha," Master Xuanmu laughed heartily, nodding with pride, and continued:

“In the northern part of the Immortal City, there are cave dwellings available for rent, where you can stay temporarily.”

Discounts are available for long-term leases.

"The eastern part of the Immortal City is mostly comprised of pill shops, which buy materials and sell pills."

"Fellow Daoist, if you want a third-tier pill formula, you can talk to them; go directly to those large shops."

"There are two main types of shops in the southern part of the Immortal City: restaurants and weapon crafting shops. Among them, there are weapon crafting shops that can craft magical artifacts."

Such shops have extensive connections, and the masters each have their own temperaments; it's best not to offend them.

Master Xuanmu introduced the various areas of the Immortal City, and then said:
"I need to go back and report to my master. If you need anything, you can come to the western region to find me. Just mention the Golden Puppet Sect and you will find us easily."

"Thank you for your explanation, fellow Daoist."

Ji An changed the subject and asked the question that concerned him most:
"Fellow Daoist, can the rented cave dwelling be used to break through to a higher realm?"

"Yes, but we need to let you know beforehand."

Hearing the affirmative answer, Ji An was immediately relieved; the stone turtle would like to stay here!

(End of this chapter)