Refining the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng (Part 2)

Martial arts from low-martial worlds like this were actually not worth much. Once a Descender completed a deceased person's final wish and returned with all their cultivation, they could strip the martial arts from their body.

It wasn't merely the martial art itself that could be stripped away. The entire technique, along with all the experience gained from practicing it, could be stripped away in one go.

For example, Lin Xiao was currently practicing the Lightness Skill Flying Heaven Steps. If he returned to the Primordial Gate alive, he could use the Primordial Gate to strip away the Lightness Skill and all his experience practicing it in one go, forming a card. Once stripped away, all memory of the Lightness Skill from Lin Xiao's body and mind would disappear as well, leaving him as though he had never practiced it.

The stripped technique card could then be traded or sold. Anyone who bought and fused with the martial arts card would directly obtain the perfected Flying Heaven Steps that had been stripped away, gaining the perfected Lightness Skill in a single step.

The same applied to Lightness Skills and martial arts, and even more so to the most valuable internal arts.

This was also a common way for newcomers who had just begun descending to make money. Descenders generally didn't need such things, but in the Primordial Gate and the New Immortal Realm, there were plenty of non-Descenders who did. If someone casually bought and fused with a perfected Nine Yang Divine Skill card, they would immediately obtain Nine Yang True Qi equivalent to Zhang Wuji's, ascending to the heavens in a single step. It was indescribably exhilarating.

However, stripping away a technique had one crucial requirement: the technique had to be cultivated to perfection before it could be stripped away. Moreover, once it had been stripped away, it was equivalent to losing it. Martial skills and Lightness Skills were one thing, but most Descenders couldn't bear to strip away and sell their internal arts.

Therefore, on the Primordial Gate's trading network, the most common perfected skill cards were various martial skills. Saber techniques, sword techniques, fist techniques, and palm techniques were all common. Skill cards related to internal arts, however, were exceedingly rare, and internal arts were generally worth fifty to one hundred percent more than others of the same rank.

One-Star martial arts were worth very little. Even One-Star Peerless Grade martial arts, such as Eagle Claw Technique, weren't worth much. In the Primordial Gate, they generally sold for between fifty and one hundred Spirit Coins.

Once they reached two stars, their value rose by a great deal. They were worth at least five hundred Spirit Coins, while Two-Star Peerless Grade martial arts could possibly sell for one or two thousand Spirit Coins.

It was said that some special Two-Star Peerless Grade internal arts could sell for three thousand Spirit Coins or even more, with a total value higher than that of ordinary Three-Star martial arts.

As for Three-Star martial arts, they were worth at least three thousand Spirit Coins. Three-Star High-Grade and Peerless Grade martial arts were worth at least five thousand. Just like with Two-Star martial arts, some special Three-Star Peerless Grade martial arts could be worth ten or twenty thousand, though such items were exceedingly rare.

The skill cards commonly found in the Primordial Gate were all below three stars. Techniques of four stars and above began to involve entering the Dao through martial arts. Cultivation at that level was difficult in itself, and many Descenders might not be able to cultivate a technique to perfection in their entire lifetimes. Even if they truly reached perfection, wouldn't it feel better to keep all that power for themselves? How could they possibly strip it away and sell it?

Lin Xiao wouldn't sell all this power, but since he had cultivated so many martial arts, he might sell one or two of them later. Alternatively, he could specially deduce one or two Two-Star High-Grade or Two-Star Peerless Grade martial arts, cultivate them to perfection, and strip them away and sell them after returning.

It definitely wouldn't be enough to repay his debts, but at least it would give him a little spending money.

Since he had decided to begin descending, he no longer needed to worry about his debts for the time being. Still, he had to keep living, and he also had to earn some money in preparation for repaying the debt. The debt had merely been postponed, not forgiven.

Lin Xiao planned to earn some money first, then find a way to develop his family's Twin Wood Realm.

After turning it over in his mind, he felt that given his current circumstances, the method most likely to let him repay this astronomical debt within a hundred years was to rely on the ancestral Twin Wood Realm.

It was at least a semi-complete small world. No matter how low its level was, its world tier might not differ greatly from that of the martial-arts world he had currently descended into. Its area was pitifully small, only around ten thousand square kilometers, but it was still a semi-complete small world with complete world laws. If it could be properly planned and developed, it wasn't impossible to save enough money to repay the debt within a hundred years.

Based on the experience of the many Lineages and big shots in the New Immortal Realm who possessed private worlds, there were generally two ways to develop such a small world.

One was the Lin family's former method: transform the entire world into a gigantic pasture for raising livestock, or specialize in planting various cash crops. Although it didn't earn much money, it had the advantage of being sustainable, with a steady stream of income every year.

The second method was to develop the world like a normal world, moving large numbers of humans there to multiply and prosper. It would become like the low-martial world Lin Xiao currently inhabited, with dynasties, martial arts circles, gangs, and so on.

Once developed in this manner to a certain degree, various resources could be harvested in a planned and controlled way. Trading in people was the lowest-grade option. Naturally, the best method was to develop and expand the world, gradually replenish its world origin, and ultimately condense a world will. If that succeeded, the profits would be enormous—and it would be money earned while lying down. Repaying more than three hundred million in debt would be easy.

However, this step was extremely difficult. Lin Xiao had very little confidence, but he couldn't give up either. After thinking it over, he decided to pursue both paths. He could try both methods, then see how well his future descents went. If development was mediocre, he would switch to the first method; if it went well, he would naturally switch to the second.

But that was all for later. He would discuss it after returning. For now, Lin Xiao was busy refining the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng.

Before he knew it, all thirty or forty ginseng rootlets had entered his stomach and been refined, accumulating a total of 447 Potential Points. The thick Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng in the brocade box was now reduced to a bare root, looking rather strange, like an octopus with all its legs chopped off.

Moreover, after refining all the rootlets, Lin Xiao felt as though he had eaten something strange. Beneath the Potential Points on his attribute panel, a faintly discernible vortex had appeared at some unknown point, as though something was gestating within it. However, the conditions were insufficient, and it had yet to finish gestating.

He guessed that the special Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng must contain something extraordinary, and that once he ate the entire ginseng, it would probably finish gestating.

He didn't dwell on it. He directly picked up the main body of the ginseng and took a bite... a tiny bite.

He didn't dare bite off too much, afraid he wouldn't be able to digest it.

But even though he had bitten off only a tiny piece, he still felt a medicinal force several times more violent than that of the rootlets erupt from his stomach. It instantly felt as though he had drunk an entire bellyful of chili oil. Terrifying heat surged from his stomach through his entire body, and his face immediately flushed bright red.

"Phew!"

He opened his mouth and spat out a stream of reddish hot vapor. Several ants on a tree trunk that the breath struck stiffened all over and fell.

"Damn, that terrifying?"

Lin Xiao froze for a moment, gaining a new understanding of the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng's medicinal power. He turned toward the mountain and exhaled a huge mouthful of hot vapor, then stood there stunned.