Ten Thousand Beast Banner?

After passing through the fog formation, Secluded Quiet Valley, which had appeared shrouded in mist from the outside, was surprisingly bustling.

The streets were packed with passing cultivators. Numerous Rogue Cultivator stalls lined both sides, displaying mostly Rankless Spirit Talismans, damaged ancient texts, and freshly gathered low-grade herbs. Some stalls were piled high with utter junk, quietly awaiting a destined buyer to take the bait.

At the stalls, the Qi Refining cultivators haggled over the price of a single Spirit Stone until their faces flushed red. Some were delighted, others disappointed—the scene vividly embodied All Forms of Life.

The shops on both sides of the street were clearly of a much higher class, with shelves packed full of spirit talismans, magical artifacts, and rare materials.

In front of a loft adorned with red lanterns, Lu Yan even saw several beautiful female cultivators dressed in thin, long skirts, soliciting customers.

These female cultivators were all at the First Level of Qi Refining, having only just shed their mortal bodies. They were merely a little better off than Lu Yan, who had previously worked like an ox and a horse at the Spirit Talisman Shop.

But they possessed one greatest advantage: they were beautiful!

The cultivation world was never short of beautiful female cultivators. In particular, once cultivators reached a certain realm, cleansing their sinews and marrow and reshaping their appearances became effortless. Every kind of beauty could be found.

Yet those beautiful female cultivators either possessed formidable strength or came from powerful backgrounds. They would never have any dealings with the majority of low-level Rogue Cultivators.

As for beautiful women among mortals, Rogue Cultivators could obtain them with the wave of a hand, making it difficult for them to stir up any interest.

Thus, an entire industry had emerged. Some cultivators traveled to mortal cities to select beautiful women. Those with good cultivation talents had long since been taken by the major sects, while those left behind generally had poor aptitudes and little hope of making progress on the Path of Xian.

But Rogue Cultivators did not need these beautiful women to possess much talent. They only had to teach them a specific Cultivation Technique, then use pills—regardless of the consequences—to accelerate the rate at which spiritual energy tempered their bodies, forcibly pushing them into the First Level of Qi Refining.

Women who became cultivators through such methods would never make the slightest further progress in their lives. Some even suffered shattered Dantians due to the aftereffects of inferior pills, leaving them barely able to circulate their magical power.

Yet they had ultimately shed their mortal bodies and become genuine cultivators. With that identity alone, they could easily win the adoration of certain Rogue Cultivators.

Lu Yan felt no sympathy for them. After all, he had truly worked like an ox and a horse at the Spirit Talisman Shop and had nearly had his soul extracted and refined.

By comparison, these women who had become cultivators could live for two hundred and forty years. Once they saved enough money in the future, they could even go to mortal cities to enjoy their lives. That already counted as a decent way out.

However, given the commonality between Version Updates, Lu Yan seriously suspected that in the Urban Version, these female cultivators might be the suggestive streamers on those small platforms.

With the world's declining morals weighing on his mind, Lu Yan circled the entirety of Azure Valley Market.

Located atop a Spiritual Vein, Azure Valley Market had a rather high spiritual-energy density—roughly six times that of the Urban Version, though still far inferior to the Apocalypse Version.

If the Apocalypse Version's Moonlight Spiritual Energy and Great Sun Spiritual Energy were taken into account, the gap between them would be even greater.

However, this street was located only on the outskirts of Azure Valley Market's Spiritual Vein. The deepest part of the valley was where the market's spiritual energy was most concentrated.

The market's administrators had excavated one cave after another into the cliffs of the valley, renting them out as Cave Residences. The spiritual-energy density there was considerably higher than on the outskirts.

And this was only a first-order Spiritual Vein. The major sects were often located atop third- or even fourth-order Spiritual Veins, where the spiritual-energy density belonged to an entirely different level.

After a wave of emotion, Lu Yan began considering staying in Azure Valley Market for the time being.

Before that, however, he needed to buy some necessities and take the opportunity to gather information.

Lu Yan did not enter those lavishly decorated shops. Instead, he went straight to the roadside stalls and casually picked up a book titled First Order Spell Compendium from a stall piled with ancient texts.

The spells in First Order Spell Compendium were all the most basic spells, utterly commonplace goods.

But to Lu Yan, who lacked even the most basic cultivation knowledge, First Order Spell Compendium was precisely what he needed most.

Spirit Fire Technique, Flight Technique, Light Feather Technique, and Invisibility Technique possessed little offensive power, but they were extremely practical in many situations—especially for Lu Yan, who traveled between different Versions.

Although Lu Yan possessed quite a few spirit talismans, directly using spells was ultimately more convenient.

More importantly, spirit talismans cost money, while spells did not.

The First Order Spell Compendium on the stall had clearly been picked up from someone else. Its pages were nearly polished smooth from use, and some even contained cultivators' notes on casting techniques and small tricks for using the spells. It could be considered quite practical.

"How much for this book?"

The stall owner looked Lu Yan up and down before saying, "Twenty-five Spirit Stones."

Lu Yan gave a derisive laugh, tossed down the book, and turned to leave.

A brand-new First Order Spell Compendium cost only thirty Spirit Stones, and it even contained spiritual resonance carved by cultivators to assist with comprehending spells.

For an old book whose hands it had passed through were unknown, fifteen Spirit Stones was already the absolute limit.

"I was joking! Just joking!"

Seeing Lu Yan turn to leave, the stall owner immediately changed his tune.

"How about this? Take it for twenty Spirit Stones."

"Ten Spirit Stones."

"That's too ruthless a bargain. It may be a secondhand book, but all the spells inside are perfectly preserved, and it even has annotations from other cultivators. How about fifteen Spirit Stones?"

"Twelve Spirit Stones."

After a round of haggling, Lu Yan finally bought the copy of First Order Spell Compendium for thirteen Spirit Stones.

Although the stall owner kept muttering that he was taking a loss, the delight in his eyes could not be concealed. After all, First Order Spell Compendium was already among the more expensive books at the stall, yet there were few people who needed it.

Any cultivator with a proper inheritance would not lack these first-order spells. As a result, the compendium had become an unsellable but useless burden. It had already been in his possession for a full two years.

Being able to finally get rid of it today was a good thing for him.

Noticing the change in the stall owner's expression, Lu Yan squatted down and rummaged through the books while pretending to speak casually.

"I've only just arrived in this region. I heard from some fellow Daoists that things haven't been very peaceful around here these past few months."

"What's so unpeaceful about it? It's only Bamboo—"

Halfway through his sentence, the stall owner seemed to realize something. He hurriedly changed the subject.

"Ahem, our Azure Valley Market has a Direct Disciple of the Azure Parasol Sect behind it. That's one of the foremost major sects in the Southern Border. Fellow Daoist, you can rest assured."

Lu Yan's heart sank slightly. The stall owner's mention of Bamboo Forest Market should be related to Gongyang Xuanming's death.

As Lu Yan pondered this, he heard the stall owner suddenly change the subject again.

"But speaking of unrest, the three-thousand-li Witch Mountain has indeed experienced some changes recently. If you plan to enter the mountains to hunt demonic beasts in the coming days, you'll have to be a little careful."

Curiosity appeared on Lu Yan's face. He cupped his hands in salute.

"Please, Fellow Daoist, tell me more."

The stall owner wore a somewhat schadenfreude-filled smile.

"Several hundred years ago, a Golden Core True Person from Ten Thousand Spirit Mountain attempted to breed spirit beasts. They raised a large number of spirit beasts in Witch Mountain and had them mate with ordinary beasts, hoping to select spirit-beast bloodlines through hybridization.

"Ten Thousand Spirit Mountain spent several centuries and only managed to hybridize a batch of beasts possessing faint spirit-beast bloodlines. Their numbers were so great that they spread throughout the three-thousand-li Witch Mountain Range.

"But the bloodlines of these beasts were imbalanced. They did not even possess complete three souls and seven spirits, let alone have the ability to breed spirit beasts. This result turned Ten Thousand Spirit Mountain into a laughingstock among the sects of the Southern Border.

"But for some unknown reason, three months ago, a madman suddenly appeared in Witch Mountain and began slaughtering beasts on a grand scale, extracting their incomplete souls.

"At first, Ten Thousand Spirit Mountain did not take it seriously. But that madman's slaughter grew increasingly frenzied. In a mere three months, he had killed more than a hundred thousand beasts possessing faint spirit-beast bloodlines, finally drawing the attention of Ten Thousand Spirit Mountain's elders."

"Some people claim that the madman studied the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and developed a Ten Thousand Beast Banner that uses ten thousand beasts as its catalyst. He's slaughtering beasts to refine the Ten Thousand Beast Banner!"