Establishing a Clan in the Eastern Wilderness: A Daily Divination, Cultivating Longevity in a Grotto

"The Heavenly Mystery House!" Du Liuniang exclaimed softly, a hint of envy flashing in her eyes. This was a high-level spatial artifact, incredibly valuable.

The shop is neatly organized with different sections: the left side is the magical artifacts section, with a dazzling array of swords, knives, bells, and tripods; the right side is the elixirs and talismans section, with bottles, jars, talismans, and cinnabar; and in the back there are areas for spiritual plants and seeds, cultivation manuals, and miscellaneous materials.

Qian Fugui stood behind the counter with a smile: "Please feel free to look around. If you see something you like, just bring it to the counter to pay. If you don't have enough spirit stones, you can pay on credit. Just sign a spirit contract and pay interest annually."

Warning bells rang in Li Changsheng's mind—he had suffered enough from debt in his past life, and he would never again easily incur debt in this one. He walked to the counter and put down a bulging cloth bag in his hand: "Senior Qian, I have some materials I would like to sell."

"Oh?" Qian Fugui became interested and opened the cloth bag. Inside were the most valuable parts of the cloud elephant: a pair of complete tusks, a complete elephant skin, and the gallbladder shell from which the bile had been extracted.

He picked up each item carefully, examining them meticulously, clicking his tongue in approval: "First-tier early-stage Cloud Elephant, the materials are well-preserved, the processing is professional... Hmm, the ivory is of superior quality, suitable for crafting weapons or medicine, priced at eight low-grade spirit stones; the elephant hide is properly tanned, suitable for making soft armor or talismans, priced at seven; the gallbladder shell retains some medicinal properties, suitable for grinding into pills, priced at five... Adding some miscellaneous materials, the total is twenty-two low-grade spirit stones. What do you think, young friend?"

Li Changsheng quickly calculated in his mind that the price was fair, so he nodded: "As you wish, senior."

Li Changsheng put away the spirit stones and went to the magic weapon area first.

First-tier low-grade magic weapons generally cost between fifteen and twenty-five spirit stones. He took a liking to a magic weapon called "Azure Edge Sword," which had a slender, light, and sharp blade with a slight "sharpness" attribute, making it perfect for his current use. It cost nineteen low-grade spirit stones.

In this way...

He only had three low-grade spirit stones left.

Li Changsheng then walked towards the book section.

The bookstore here has a wide variety of books, from "An Introduction to the Fundamentals of Cultivation" to "An Introduction to Alchemy," "An Introduction to Weapon Forging," and "An Outline of Talismans," covering all the basic arts of cultivation. Most of them are priced between five and ten spirit stones. However, the cultivation techniques and secret arts section is much more expensive, with even the cheapest low-grade Yellow Rank cultivation techniques starting at fifty spirit stones.

Cheng Laosan had been secretly observing Li Changsheng. Seeing that he could only afford the cheapest magic weapon, and was now browsing through the bookshelves but not buying anything, he couldn't help but sneer.

"Clan Chief Li, it's not enough to just look and not buy. What's wrong? You didn't find your ancestor's storage bag, and you can't even get a few spirit stones out? Tsk tsk, in such dire straits, how will you survive in your fiefdom? Why don't you come and join our Cheng family as soon as possible, at least you can get some food."

Li Changsheng acted as if he hadn't heard and continued flipping through the pages.

He finally found the book, "Liu Yang's Travels," on a bookshelf in the corner labeled "Miscellaneous Notes and Travelogues - Defective Products." The pages were yellowed and torn, and the binding was loose, clearly indicating its age and neglect.

He picked it up and flipped through it, noticing nothing unusual.

Li Changsheng's expression remained unchanged. He put down the travelogue and picked up another notebook next to him, titled "Records of Things Seen and Heard in the Eastern Wilderness." This notebook happened to record a simple method for processing a first-tier spiritual herb, "Seven-Star Grass," into blank talisman paper. Although crude, it was very useful to the Li family at present.

"Master Qian, what's the price of these two miscellaneous books?" Li Changsheng asked, holding up two notebooks.

Qian Fugui glanced at it and laughed, "Liu Yang's Travels is just an ordinary travelogue, worth one low-grade spirit stone. The Records of the Eastern Wilderness contains some practical information, worth three low-grade spirit stones. That's four in total."

Li Changsheng looked troubled—he was still missing a spirit stone.

Seeing this, Cheng Laosan sneered repeatedly: "Go away, go away, don't block the way if you can't afford it. You can't even come up with four spirit stones, tsk, even poor ghosts will avoid you."

It's only a matter of time before the Cheng family swallows it up!

Just then, Du Liuniang came over to pay the bill. Hearing Cheng Laosan's words, she raised her eyebrows and said, "Cheng Laosan, stop being so sarcastic!"

She turned to look at Li Changsheng, counted out four spirit stones from the ones she had just acquired, and stuffed them into Li Changsheng's hand: "Clan Chief Li, I happen to have some extra, you can use them first."

Li Changsheng was taken aback: "Clan Chief Du, this..."

"Don't stand on ceremony with me." Du Liuniang glared at Cheng Laosan. "Some people just look down on others. Clan Chief Li, you have talent and ambition; who knows, you might rise to the top and become a ninth-rank aristocratic family!"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Laosan couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The Li family was dirt poor, yet they had been promoted to the ninth rank. Whether they could even establish themselves in Qingluan County was another matter entirely.

Li Changsheng ignored the other party, handed the spirit stones to Qian Fugui, and in return received the two notebooks. Leaving the Heavenly Mystery House, he cupped his hands and said:

"Thank you, Clan Chief Du. I will definitely return these four spirit stones in the future."

"No rush." ​​Du Liuniang waved her hand and lowered her voice, "But Chief Li, the Cheng family is powerful and holds a grudge against you. Be very careful when you get to your fiefdom."

"I understand," Li Changsheng nodded.

I returned to my small but tidy cabin.

He didn't immediately turn to the book "Liu Yang's Travelogue". Instead, he placed the two notebooks by his pillow, sat cross-legged on the bed, calmed his mind, and began to practice the "Zhou Tian Dao Yin Jue".

Having recently broken through to the second level of Qi Refining, his realm still needs to be stabilized. The medicinal power of the Cloud Elephant Gallbladder was immense, which helped him break through, but it also caused slight swelling and pain in his meridians. He needed to slowly soothe and refine the remaining medicinal power with gentle, persistent effort.

Spiritual energy circulated slowly within his body, completing one cycle after another. The faint sounds of other clansmen moving about and whispering could be heard outside the cabin, along with the whistling of the wind whistling past the ship's wings in the distance. Li Changsheng remained absorbed in his surroundings, seemingly oblivious to the commotion.

He didn't stop practicing until the sky outside the window began to lighten, and then he opened his eyes.

The blue light in his eyes was contained, his aura was calm and focused, and his Qi Refining Level 2 realm was completely stabilized.

"Today's divination result is 'open'."

Within the sea of ​​consciousness, the Heavenly Book of Destiny shimmered with yellow light, and new deduced text slowly emerged:

The "Travels of Liu Yang" that Qian Fugui acquired was purchased fifteen years ago from a cultivator who survived the "Crimson Forbidden Land." Qian Fugui has studied this manuscript for over ten years, examining it countless times with secret techniques, but has found nothing unusual, gradually developing an obsession. Yesterday, seeing you choose this book, though he didn't show it outwardly, he secretly planted an "Invisible Spirit-Detecting Insect" on you. This insect is formless and intangible, attaching itself to the body and slowly transmitting vague information such as the host's aura and spiritual energy fluctuations, making it extremely difficult to detect. You must be careful.

Li Changsheng felt a chill run down his spine, but his face remained impassive.

A blood-red forbidden land? A shadowless spirit-detecting insect?

Fortunately... all those cultivation novels he read in his previous life weren't for nothing. He was already mentally prepared for this kind of plot where someone had tampered with his character.

"I can't act rashly," he thought to himself. "If I get rid of the bugs now, it'll be like telling Qian Fugui that I've discovered his tampering. I might as well play along..."

He got up as usual, washed up, had breakfast with his clansmen, and even took out the book "Liu Yang's Travels" to flip through it, then shook his head and put it down, looking like "this tattered book is really useless."

He observed carefully in secret.

After a full incense stick's time, he finally sensed a barely perceptible fluctuation at the edge of a very hidden acupoint on the back of his left shoulder, a fluctuation that was slightly different from the frequency of his own spiritual energy.

"Found it... It was indeed well hidden." Li Changsheng sneered inwardly and ignored it.

As long as the insect doesn't endanger its life, it's fine to keep it for now.