Into the City

Though the battle had been brief, it had been fraught with danger. One misstep could have led to devastating casualties.

The refined steel spear Wang Hong had thrown had been burned down to a small puddle of molten iron. When he emptied the contents of the two men's storage bags, he found that they still had several Fireball Talismans like those.

There was also a Golden Light Talisman, which the skinny Daoist had probably not had time to use. He also found an Earth Thickening Art, a Metal Firming Art, and a Basic Five Elements Spells. Altogether, there were only a little over twenty Spirit Stones.

"What a pair of paupers!" Wang Hong sighed. What he did not know was that the two had actually been moderately well-off among low-level Rogue Cultivators. Who knew how many people they had robbed to amass this wealth? Now it had all fallen into his hands.

Those two storage bags and two low-grade magical artifacts alone were worth over two hundred Spirit Stones. Many low-level Rogue Cultivators did not even own a magical artifact, let alone a storage bag.

This incident made Wang Hong feel that without strength, staying outside the city was simply too dangerous. This time, he had only won by the skin of his teeth. If he encountered stronger opponents next time, he would stand no chance at all. Besides, who knew whether those two had accomplices?

Early the next morning, Wang Hong brought Wen Lan, Luo Zhongjie, and more than a dozen others into the city. He instructed them to split up and look for housing while he wandered around alone.

His spear had been destroyed yesterday. If he had not kept it infused with spiritual power throughout the battle, the skinny Daoist would have cut it in half with a single stroke. Moreover, if too much spiritual power was poured into an ordinary weapon, it could burst apart from the strain. Today, he intended to look around and prepare some means of self-defense.

Talismans and magical artifacts were also briefly introduced in the Comprehensive Guide to Cultivation. Talismans were very simple to use. One only needed to activate them with a tiny amount of spiritual power, and they could unleash the corresponding spell.

Since talismans were single-use items, using them in battle was far too costly. Many cultivators only bought one or two, unwilling to use them except at critical moments.

As for magical artifacts, the most familiar to everyone were flying swords. In truth, magical artifacts came in a great many varieties. Broadly speaking, they could be divided into three categories: offensive magical artifacts, defensive magical artifacts, and auxiliary magical artifacts.

Offensive magical artifacts were the most common and relatively cheaper. Defensive magical artifacts were rarer, and their prices were at least two or three times those of offensive magical artifacts of the same grade. Auxiliary magical artifacts depended on their specific functions.

Wang Hong entered an artifact-refining workshop. Inside were more than a dozen display shelves, filled with magical artifacts of every kind.

A young man in his twenties hurried over with a smile plastered across his face. "Fellow Daoist, what kind of magical artifact do you need? Our shop has three experienced artifact refiners. We not only sell finished magical artifacts, but also take custom orders for all kinds of them."

"I want a spear-shaped magical artifact. Do you have one?" Wang Hong asked frankly.

"You came at just the right time. Our humble shop happens to have a low-grade magical artifact in the shape of a long spear." As he spoke, he took down a wooden box from a shelf behind him, placed it before Wang Hong, and opened the lid.

"This spear is one zhang and three chi long, weighs six hundred and eighty jin, and its shaft is made from century-old Red Spirit Mulberry Wood. Its spearhead is primarily refined from dark iron, with more than ten rare materials added in."

Wang Hong lightly stroked the shaft. It felt warm beneath his hand. He tried channeling spiritual power into it, and it flowed through without the slightest obstruction. Once infused with spiritual power, the spear weighing over six hundred jin became as light as nothing.

The young man then went on at length about how this spear was the painstaking masterpiece of their shop's artifact refiner, Gao Yue.

Then came another torrent of praise. In short, this spear was absolutely one of a kind, the only one under heaven. It was priced at only one hundred and twenty Spirit Stones, and Wang Hong would regret it for the rest of his life if he did not buy it. In the end, they settled on one hundred Spirit Stones.

Wang Hong then asked whether they had long spears for mortal martial artists, ones that could withstand chops from magical artifacts.

The young man thought for a while before saying, "Those can be custom-made. Ten Spirit Stones each, and they can withstand more than ten strikes from low-grade magical artifacts."

"I want fifty. Give me your real price," Wang Hong said calmly.

"Fellow Daoist, that is already the cost price. You know, for something that can withstand magical artifact strikes, at the very least it requires materials used in refining magical artifacts." The young man spoke with a sorrowful face.

Wang Hong made as if to leave, and the young man hurriedly grabbed his sleeve.

"Brother, please! Nine apiece, all right?"

In truth, Wang Hong thought ten Spirit Stones per spear was quite cheap. He had merely intended to haggle with him.

What he did not know was that artifact refining produced some scrap materials. Such scraps could not be used to refine artifacts, while re-refining them was hardly worth the effort.

Yet for forging weapons for mortals, which did not need to conduct spiritual power, they were exceptionally good materials.

In the end, he ordered fifty long spears for four hundred Spirit Stones.

As Wang Hong left, the young man beamed from ear to ear as he escorted him to the door.

"My name is Gao Yue. If you need anything in the future, just come find me."

That afternoon, Wang Hong met up with the dozen or so people who had gone house-hunting. They had found five possible places in total. Wang Hong inspected them one by one and finally selected one.

The place was rather remote, with barely any pedestrians visible on the street. Facing the road was a small storefront. Passing through the storefront and its rear hall led to a large courtyard, around which stood three rows of two-story buildings.

This courtyard, together with one storefront, cost one thousand Spirit Stones a year in rent. The storefront was of little use. There were few people on this street, and whether it could even earn back the rent was another matter entirely.

What Wang Hong valued was the spacious courtyard, which would make it convenient for the team to train. Though they now made a living setting up stalls and doing business, their training had not been neglected for a single day. There were also enough rooms to accommodate their whole large group.

Wang Hong paid a year's rent, chose a room for himself, and left the remaining matters to several squad leaders.

Once they had officially settled down, everyone's hearts settled with them.

Over the next few days, Wang Hong wandered through shops all over the place, occasionally selling one or two spiritual herbs along the way.

He needed to get a grasp of the market. After all, he now had an inconspicuous little storefront of his own. Though its location was somewhat poor, he still decided to open it for business. In any case, he had no shortage of manpower.

Furthermore, his space now contained one and a half mu of land. The extra half mu was still empty, and he had yet to decide what kind of spiritual medicine to plant there.

Wang Hong entered a general store. Inside, an old man in blue robes was dozing behind the counter. Seeing Wang Hong enter, he merely glanced at him before narrowing his eyes again and continuing his nap.

There was no one else in the shop. Wang Hong leisurely examined the goods before each counter. The shop was not large, yet its selection was quite complete. Talismans, pills, spiritual herbs, ores, and magical artifacts—there were ten or twenty items of each.

The two kinds of talismans Wang Hong had seized last time were also sold here. Fireball Talismans cost eight Spirit Stones, while Golden Light Talismans cost thirteen.

There were twenty or thirty magical artifacts as well, some of them visibly damaged. They were clearly secondhand goods acquired from others.

As for pills, there was only one bottle of Qi Gathering Pills, priced at ten Spirit Stones each. A small sign in front of it read: Out of Stock.

There were not many spiritual medicines either, and their quality was quite ordinary. They were stored in wooden boxes engraved with preservation formations.

It seemed spiritual herbs and pills were indeed in high demand. Wang Hong had already visited many shops. The larger, more capable stores had their own spiritual herb gardens and alchemists, so they did not lack the spiritual herbs and pills needed by Qi Refinement cultivators.

As for small shops like this one, they had no stable source of goods and could only buy low and sell high, earning a meager price difference. Pills like Qi Gathering Pills, which improved Qi Refinement cultivation, were generally kept for personal use by any cultivator who obtained them.

Qingxu City had several hundred thousand Qi Refinement cultivators. One could well imagine the amount of pills consumed each year. The main ingredient for refining Qi Gathering Pills needed to be twenty or thirty years old, while even the supplementary ingredients had to be around ten years old.

Wang Hong did not disturb the old man's peaceful retirement and quietly left the general store. Qingxu City was so large; there were still many shops waiting for him to visit.