Evergreen True Qi, Realm Advancement

"None of them are escape techniques."

Song Chengan wandered around the market but couldn't find what he needed.

"I'll have to go to those shops then."

Song Chengan looked at the shops lining the street.

"Customer, please take a look around if you need anything."

As soon as Song Chengan stepped inside, the shopkeeper approached him.

"Do you have any escape techniques?"

"Escape techniques? Right this way, customer."

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper led Song Chengan to a shelf.

There were many manuals on escape techniques displayed on the shelf.

"These are all basic escape techniques, most suitable for cultivators in the Dao Seed Realm."

"Let me see."

Song Chengan said, and began to look through the pile of escape techniques.

Metal Escape Technique?

Wind Lightning Escape?

Water Escape?

They were all basic Five Elements escape techniques.

Metal Escape Technique, Water Escape?

I'll choose Earth Escape.

Song Chengan thought for a moment and chose an Earth Escape technique.

Actually, he wanted the Wind Lightning Escape more.

Because it was the fastest.

But unfortunately, this Wind Lightning Escape cost three hundred Talisman Coins.

This was a bit beyond his means.

"I'll take this Earth Escape."

"One hundred and fifty Talisman Coins."

Song Chengan took out the Talisman Coins and paid.

He felt a headache coming on.

Is this the hard life of a rogue cultivator?

Even the most basic escape technique costs one hundred and fifty Talisman Coins!

"Shopkeeper, do you happen to have any True Qi cultivation methods for extending lifespan?"

"True Qi cultivation methods?"

Song Chengan nodded. "Exactly."

The shopkeeper chuckled. "Customer, you think too highly of old Ge."

"Every True Qi cultivation method is an incredibly precious item, something that can serve as the foundation for a family or sect's inheritance."

"How could a small shop like mine possibly have such a thing!"

Is that so?

That makes sense.

True Qi cultivation methods are the kind of things that can be passed down through generations in a sect.

It would be too exaggerated for a small shop to have one.

"Do you know if there are any shops in this Ghost Market that might have such True Qi cultivation methods?"

"Well..." the shopkeeper pondered. "If there's any shop in Lingqiu Ghost Market that might have such a thing, it would have to be the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce."

"The Phoenix Chamber of Commerce?"

"At the end of the street."

At the end of the street.

Song Chengan saw the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce that Shopkeeper Ge had mentioned.

The vermilion building was clearly a step above the others.

However, there were very few customers coming and going.

It could even be described as somewhat deserted.

Song Chengan walked in.

As soon as Song Chengan entered, he could feel the power of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

The maids were all tall and beautiful, with outstanding appearances.

The maids in the chamber of commerce didn't rush to greet Song Chengan when they saw him enter. They merely smiled at him.

"Feel free to look around, sir. If you need anything, just ask us."

A maid beside him said, her voice clear and pleasant.

Song Chengan nodded.

He felt quite comfortable.

Unlike the shops in Lingqiu City, where someone would follow you around and try to sell you things the moment you walked in.

Song Chengan looked around.

Low-grade Magic Treasure, seven thousand Talisman Coins?

Storage Ring, one zhang in radius, three thousand Talisman Coins?

Three-hundred-year-old Fire Dragon Fruit, two thousand Talisman Coins?

Song Chengan glanced at the fifty Talisman Coins in his pocket... Alright, I'll just look, I'm not buying.

Evergreen True Qi!

The next grade of True Qi cultivation method. It wasn't good for combat, but practicing it could extend one's lifespan.

One hundred thousand Talisman Coins!

It could be exchanged for Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures of equivalent value.

One hundred thousand Talisman Coins!

Song Chengan gasped.

At the Demon Suppression Division, he earned one hundred Talisman Coins a month.

Completing a mission rewarded fifty to one hundred Talisman Coins.

He could probably complete four or five missions a month.

If he earned three hundred Talisman Coins a month, that would be three thousand six hundred a year... One hundred thousand!

My inherited True Qi.

No wonder Shopkeeper Ge said he thought highly of him.

Song Chengan felt he had overestimated himself now.

Song Chengan silently left the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

He felt he needed to find a way to get some Talisman Coins.

But... Song Chengan stopped as he walked out of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

He thought of a problem.

One low-grade True Qi cultivation method cost one hundred thousand Talisman Coins.

Then the two True Qi cultivation methods Boss Bai gave him.

One was Heavenly Radiance Dao Qi.

The other was Southern Bright Illusory Fire True Qi!

One was Lower Second Grade, the other Middle Sixth Grade!

How much would that be worth?

Song Chengan didn't know.

Song Chengan stood silently in front of the chamber of commerce for a long time.

He had actually suspected that The Boss would harm him before.

Thinking about it now, he was being ungrateful.

Those two True Qi cultivation methods were enough to buy his life.

"I'll go buy some herbs to refine Spirit Essence Pills first!"

Song Chengan said.

The herbs needed for Spirit Essence Pills.

Stone Spirit Grass, Earth Vein Yellow Jade, Red Bamboo Flower.

Song Chengan bought them easily by the roadside.

It cost a total of four Talisman Coins.

Very cheap.

Probably because this kind of pill was only used by low-level cultivators.

Once one's realm was higher, the effect of this thing wouldn't be as significant.

"It's like when I was a kid, going to the market."

"I wanted everything, but I had no money."

Song Chengan sighed and left the Ghost Market.

One hundred thousand Talisman Coins.

I need to make money desperately.

Song Chengan thought to himself.

Song Chengan opened his eyes.

"My cultivation has broken through to the Late Dao Seed Stage."

Song Chengan was a little surprised.

It was almost a natural progression.

His cultivation had broken through to the Late Dao Seed Stage.

"Late Dao Seed Stage, next is Peak Dao Seed Stage."

Each cultivation realm is divided into four minor stages.

Early, Middle, Late, Peak!

Late Stage means that the cultivation of each phase of this realm has basically been completed.

And Peak is a special state, meaning that this realm has reached perfection, and one can break through at any time!

"I need to prepare a Foundation Establishment method!"

"Everything costs money!"

True Qi methods only allow cultivators to embark on the path of cultivation, cultivate their own True Qi, and complete the Dao Seed Realm cultivation.

But for the later Foundation Establishment Stage, one needs to find a specialized Foundation Establishment method.

"Legend has it that there are three grades of Foundation Establishment."

"High-grade Dao Platform Foundation Establishment, middle-grade Immortal Platform Foundation Establishment, and low-grade Mortal Platform Foundation Establishment."

"This is really a headache."

"I don't have any Foundation Establishment methods at all right now!"

"Perhaps the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce has them, but I'm really too broke right now!"

Song Chengan had always felt poor before, but he never expected to be this poor.

"No wonder cultivation requires wealth, companions, methods, and land!"

"I heard that the prodigies of major sects are given resources and cultivated with priority."

Song Chengan felt a bit reluctant to keep working for the Demon Suppression Division. He wanted to join a major sect.

"Speaking of which, Boss Bai mentioned that cultivators' aptitudes are also divided into three, six, and nine grades."

"I wonder what grade my root bone aptitude is?"

Song Chengan was curious about his aptitude.

He was self-taught.

He had no sect.

No master.

If he had to say he had a master, it would be Boss Bai.

But it was clear that Boss Bai also seemed to be teaching someone to cultivate for the first time, so he didn't know how to test someone's root bone.

He just gave Song Chengan a True Qi method and told him to try cultivating it.

If he could cultivate it, he should keep practicing.

"I'll test it if I get the chance."

"Maybe I'm that one-in-a-million peerless genius."