Outer Disciple Residential Area, Dust Bone Branch

As night fell, Zhang Wan and the other Postnatal students from the Beginner Martial Arts Academy emerged from the sect's grand formation and arrived at the outer disciple residential area.

The living conditions for outer disciples were similar to those of the Postnatal students at the academy, with independent courtyards spaced a certain distance apart.

However, the scale and spiritual energy concentration were far beyond what the academy could offer.

The number of Postnatal martial artists at the academy was only a few hundred.

Here at the sect, it was in the tens of thousands.

Even though these courtyards were spaced apart, one could hardly see the end of them at a glance.

Zhang Wan and the other students each found an unoccupied independent courtyard to settle into.

Although the Jade Bone Sect had many outer disciples, there were even more independent courtyards here, so there were always vacant ones.

This phenomenon occurred because after becoming an outer disciple of the Jade Bone Sect and graduating from the academy, one could come to the sect's mountain gate and select an independent courtyard to serve as their cultivation cave dwelling within the sect.

If one did not wish to choose a cave dwelling left behind by a predecessor after their passing, they could also select an area further away to build their own cave dwelling.

The Jade Bone Sect had been established for three hundred years, and countless disciples had chosen to build their own cave dwellings. Coupled with the housing-style cave dwellings initially constructed by the sect.

The number of detached houses in the outer disciple residential area now far exceeded the number of outer disciples in the Jade Bone Sect.

Zhang Wan casually chose a house, hung a wooden sign on the door indicating it was occupied, and moved in.

Inside, Zhang Wan wiped his finger across the wooden table, picking up a thick layer of dust, clearly indicating that no one had cleaned it for a considerable time.

Zhang Wan looked around and found a fixed small formation in the cultivation room behind the house.

He placed his disciple token into it, and the token resonated with the formation, allowing Zhang Wan to instantly master this small formation.

This formation was quite rudimentary, with only three functions: gathering spiritual energy, cleaning the house, and providing a warning alert.

While they seemed useful, their effects were not strong. They were merely better than nothing, just a little bit.

Zhang Wan activated the formation, and a faint light emanated from it, forming a small light shield that then expanded, enveloping the entire courtyard.

After flashing twice, the light shield disappeared.

However, through the formation and his divine sense, Zhang Wan could feel the presence of the light shield.

It offered no defense, but if anyone or anything passed through the light shield, the formation would immediately issue a warning.

The dust and grime in the house and courtyard were also swept away by the light shield, restoring cleanliness and order.

Spiritual energy was also being drawn and gathered as the formation was activated.

Zhang Wan compared the spiritual energy concentration inside the house after the formation was activated; it had increased by about half a percent compared to before, which was somewhat useful.

Without rushing to comprehend the Extreme Spirit Planter inheritance here, nor doing anything else, Zhang Wan first cultivated in the cultivation room for half the night, enjoying the exhilaration of cultivating near the mountain gate. After receiving EXP at midnight, he closed his eyes and slept until dawn.

The next day, he met with his classmates. Some had not yet chosen their inheritance, while others wanted to explore the outer disciple residential area. Zhang Wan, however, wanted to visit the Spirit Planter Hall.

With differing opinions, they agreed to act freely today and meet tomorrow morning at the place where the rune carriage had dropped them off, to return to the academy together.

Zhang Wan wanted to visit the Spirit Planter Hall for two reasons. Firstly, he wanted to inquire about the conditions required to enter the Spirit Planter Hall so he could prepare in advance and seamlessly transition into cultivating there after graduation.

Secondly, he wanted to obtain some pseudo spirit plant and spirit plant seeds.

He still had several years to spend at the academy, and with the Extreme Spirit Planter inheritance in hand, along with ample EXP to master it, it would be a waste not to plant something during this time.

As it turned out, when he asked other fellow disciples in the residential area, he learned that these matters did not require a special trip to the Spirit Planter Hall.

The headquarters of the Spirit Planter Hall was located within the mountain gate. Although it occupied a considerable area, it was not large relative to the vast number of Postnatal martial artists in the Jade Bone Sect.

Furthermore, since the Spirit Planter Hall was primarily responsible for cultivating spirit plants for the sect, it had branches in almost every area with rich spiritual energy within the Jade Bone Sect.

In the residential area, there were several branches of the Spirit Planter Hall.

These branches near the mountain gate were responsible for several large spirit plant gardens around the mountain gate and also interacted with the large number of outer disciples.

The sale of spirit plants and seeds, as well as the assessment of outer disciples' spirit planting skills, were all handled by these branches.

Zhang Wan followed the direction indicated by his fellow disciples and found the nearest branch.

"Spirit Planter Hall Dust Bone Branch?" Zhang Wan looked at the Spirit Planter Hall branch, which occupied several hundred square meters and had a plaque hanging above it, lost in thought.

Dust Bone Branch, he was familiar with this name.

There was a Dust Bone Branch in Hemi Town. All the pseudo spirit plants and spirit plants grown in Hemi Town were purchased by the Dust Bone Branch.

When he first heard the name, he wondered why there was a "Branch" appended to a perfectly good name. So it meant a branch of the Spirit Planter Hall.

"There's one here at the mountain gate, and another in Hemi Town. There are probably others elsewhere. This Dust Bone Branch is truly powerful and wealthy!"

And with such a scale for just one branch, the resources and influence controlled by the entire Spirit Planter Hall were likely beyond imagination.

Zhang Wan's determination to enter the Spirit Planter Hall grew even stronger.

He liked any logistical position, but if he could rely on a powerful backing, it would naturally be more comfortable to do so.

Upon entering the Dust Bone Branch, Zhang Wan saw some outer disciples purchasing pseudo spirit plants and spirit plants. He glanced at them for a moment, understood the process, and automatically joined a few queues, standing at the back.

The progress was not fast, but there were not many disciples queuing, and it was soon Zhang Wan's turn.

When Zhang Wan stated his needs to the person from the Dust Bone Branch who received him, the other party directly gave Zhang Wan a jade slip.

"This contains the types and prices of pseudo spirit plants and spirit plants sold by our branch."

"You look first, and tell me how much you want after you're done."

Zhang Wan took the jade slip and began to read it slowly to the side, while the branch staff started to attend to the next person.

"So that's how it is. Outer disciples receive a certain amount of pseudo spirit plants as cultivation resources each year. For us Postnatal students at the academy, our share is directly given to the academy, and then distributed to us by the academy in the form of three meals a day."

"Both pseudo spirit plants and their seeds are quite cheap, and the seeds of pseudo spirit plants are frighteningly inexpensive."

"However, spirit plants and their seeds are a bit more expensive."

Zhang Wan only had seven low-grade spirit stones left. He couldn't buy much with them if he were to purchase spirit plants or spirit herbs, but he could buy quite a lot if he were to purchase seeds.

After some calculation, Zhang Wan chose seeds for three types of pseudo spirit plants, buying a small bag of each, about twenty to thirty grams per bag, containing nearly a thousand seeds.

He then selected seeds for five types of spirit plants, buying five seeds of each.

Zhang Wan planned to focus more on pseudo spirit plants. As for spirit plants, with his current cultivation level and energy, he couldn't possibly cultivate too many. Five types, with five seeds each, would be enough.