"Indeed!"
Shopkeeper Ding told him that Qingyun Sect had discovered a hidden spirit land in the Savage Plains, with one Third-grade Spirit Vein and several Second-Rank Spirit Veins.
However, many Yao Birds and Monster Beasts lived around the hidden spirit land, and their numbers were immense.
This wilderness reclamation effort was an attempt to exterminate the Yao Birds and Monster Beasts around the hidden spirit land.
A Third-grade Spirit Vein!
It was a high-grade Dao Field suited to the cultivation of Core Formation True Persons.
"Sure enough, great rewards usually come with great risks!"
Shen Xuan thought to himself.
A Third-grade Spirit Vein most likely had a Third-Order Yao King occupying it.
That was a terrifying being on par with a Core Formation True Person!
In the eyes of a Third-Order Yao King, Qi Refining Cultivators weren't even worth a plate of food.
At most, they were little bean sprouts—not even enough to get stuck in its teeth!
The terrain in the Savage Plains was complex, and Monster Beasts were everywhere. Poisonous mist that blocked Spiritual Sense shrouded the area all year round.
Therefore, Qingyun Sect needed large numbers of Rogue Cultivators to enlist as laborers and serve as cannon fodder, exploring the way for them.
At the thought, Shen Xuan immediately gave up on joining the wilderness reclamation effort.
He returned home.
Shen Xuan sold twenty High-grade Spring Return Talismans to Zhao Chunsheng at a discount.
He charged only fifty spirit stones.
He let Zhao Chunsheng keep the ten-spirit-stone difference as profit.
After the deal was done, Zhao Chunsheng looked delighted.
"Talisman Master Shen, will you have more next month?"
"Yes."
"Wonderful!"
Zhao Chunsheng beamed.
"To be honest, Talisman Master Shen, these High-grade Spring Return Talismans were already spoken for. If I can't get any more in the future, I won't even dare leave the house."
"You!"
Shen Xuan shook his head. "Take it easy! Don't promise too much."
After seeing Zhao Chunsheng off, Shen Xuan changed his clothes, used the Breath Concealment Technique, and disguised himself as a young Qi Refining Level 3 cultivator before going out for a stroll.
He wandered around the Marketplace but didn't find any Water Attribute Monster Beasts that caught his interest.
Later, he walked into a bookstore.
The shop sold cultivation techniques, Spell Jade Slips, and various cultivation texts.
These included tales of cultivation, travel journals, cultivation insights, and so on.
However, none of these cultivation texts came with any guarantee of authenticity. They were cheap, selling for just one spirit stone each.
Shen Xuan flipped through them. They were all common fare, hardly worth spending spirit stones on.
"Guest, you've been looking for quite a while. Is there anything you like?" a shop assistant asked quietly, coming over.
"These are too ordinary." Shen Xuan made up an excuse.
Why spend spirit stones when he could browse for free?
The shop owner came over personally to serve him.
"Fellow Daoist, what are you looking for?"
"Do you have any books introducing various Monster Beasts?"
"Of course."
The shop owner took a Jade Slip from the bookshelf.
Shen Xuan accepted it and saw the title on its cover.
Savage Plains Yao Beast Illustrated Guide.
The place Qingyun Sect was reclaiming was called the Savage Plains, a remote and rarely visited region.
It spanned hundreds of thousands of miles, with swamps, forests, deserts, wetlands, barren mountains, and more. The environment was harsh, and the weather unpredictable.
But more than anything else, it was home to all sorts of Monster Beasts, Yao Birds, and Yao Insects, as well as Spirit Plants, spirit flowers, spirit herbs, cultivation ores, and other resources.
For cultivation sects whose resources had grown increasingly scarce due to overdevelopment, it was a treasure trove of resources.
Every year, Qingyun Sect organized Rogue Cultivators to reclaim the wilderness, searching for hidden spirit lands and cheaply purchasing Monster Beast flesh and blood, spirit flowers and herbs, various ores, Artifact Refining Materials, and other supplies. They scoured the area for cultivation resources.
This Savage Plains Yao Beast Illustrated Guide was filled with illustrations and text, introducing the characteristics and abilities of various Monster Beasts already discovered in the Savage Plains.
"How many spirit stones?"
"Four."
"Three."
Shen Xuan haggled instinctively.
"Sorry, this shop doesn't haggle."
"I want to look through it first."
"Certainly."
Shen Xuan pressed the Jade Slip against his forehead and scanned its contents with his Spiritual Sense.
After seeing the descriptions of just over a dozen Monster Beasts, he ran into a Restriction in the Jade Slip.
"Four spirit stones! I'll take it. Throw in a book of cultivation insights!"
The shop owner grudgingly agreed.
"Don't say I didn't warn you. These cultivation insights aren't guaranteed to be authentic. It's fine to read them, but don't go practicing them recklessly! If you suffer Cultivation Deviation, don't blame me!"
"Thanks for the warning, shopkeeper!"
Shen Xuan picked the book with the most impressive title.
True Person Qingxu's Essays.
True Person!
A cultivator had to reach the Core Formation Realm to earn the title of True Person!
Shen Xuan flipped through it. There were no cultivation techniques, Spell Techniques, or cultivation insights inside. Instead, it was a collection of leisurely essays.
"This one, then!"
Whatever else, it was the work of a Core Formation True Person!
Back home, Shen Xuan eagerly began reading True Person Qingxu's Essays.
Most of it recorded some of his amusing experiences and musings.
"Wealth, Companions, Dharma, and Place: in my opinion, Place comes first. Without a spirit land, a cultivator is like water without a source, unable to make the slightest progress!"
"The Xuan Yuan Continent was originally one whole, but later split apart for some reason. Innate Spirit Lands became countless small spirit lands, each giving rise to Spirit Veins and releasing spiritual energy on its own."
After reading True Person Qingxu's Essays, Shen Xuan gained a rough understanding of the cultivation continent.
The most important thing in cultivation was absorbing spiritual energy and making it one's own.
The source of spiritual energy was closely tied to Spirit Veins.
The great sects occupied the high-grade Spirit Veins on the Xuan Yuan Continent.
The rest of the Small and medium Sects divided up the middle-grade Spirit Veins.
The remaining middle- and low-grade Spirit Veins were occupied by various Cultivation Families.
The entire Xuan Yuan Continent formed a clearly tiered Pyramid Structure.
Rogue Cultivators were the most numerous, living at the very bottom and working like oxen and horses for the cultivators above them.
The higher a cultivator's Cultivation Realm, the more they needed high-grade Spirit Veins to supply them with spiritual energy.
When high-level cultivators entered the mortal world, their cultivation would rapidly decline. They themselves became sources of spiritual energy, and the nearby rocks and trees might benefit, becoming spirits and monsters.
So there was a reason Monster Beasts liked to Devour cultivators' bodies.
In the eyes of Monster Beasts, cultivators were walking sources of spiritual energy.
At its core, it was just a matter of plundering the spiritual energy from cultivators.
And it wasn't just cultivators.
Dharma Treasures also needed to be nurtured with spiritual energy.
Even the most powerful Dharma Treasure would lose its spiritual nature if left in a Spirit-Severing Land like the mortal world, eventually becoming scrap metal.
Spirit Pills, Talismans, and the rest followed the same principle.
That was why they had to be stored in special medicine bottles and Jade Boxes.
The principle was the same as that of a Spirit Gathering Array: trapping spiritual energy within a certain area.
True Person Qingxu believed that spiritual energy was the foundation of cultivators, while Spirit Veins were the foundation of spiritual energy.
Whether cultivators or Monster Beasts, they were essentially spiritual beings that drew in and absorbed spiritual energy.
The denser the spiritual energy within them, the higher their Cultivation Realm.
Spiritual power, demonic power, and the like were all outward manifestations of spiritual energy.
The entire collection of essays was really True Person Qingxu's thoughts on spiritual energy.
The principle was simple.
"No wonder it only cost one spirit stone!"
For ordinary cultivators, reading it was no different from not reading it at all.
Shen Xuan seemed to understand. The mist parted, and he saw straight to the heart of things.
In his view, the Mysterious Jade Talisman's plundering of talents was actually a plundering of the hidden spiritual power in Monster Beasts' bloodlines. It transformed that power for his own use, strengthening his spiritual power and amplifying the effects of his Spell Techniques.
The principle was the same as cultivators refining Monster Beast Inner Cores into Spirit Pills to enhance their Cultivation Realm.
When Demon Cultivators Devoured Essence Blood, extracted souls, and refined spirits, they were also treating cultivators as spiritual beings they could absorb.
True Person Qingxu's Essays was only a little over ten thousand characters long, so Shen Xuan finished it quickly.
He then picked up Savage Plains Yao Beast Illustrated Guide again.
It recorded more than three thousand common Monster Beasts found in the Savage Plains, ranging from First-Order Low Grade to Third-Order Yao Kings. There was a wide variety.
"Water Attribute, First-Order Middle Grade, with a special Bloodline Talent. It would be best if there were lots of them, and they weren't too expensive."
Those were Shen Xuan's requirements for a Monster Beast whose talent he wanted to plunder.
At last, he found a suitable target.
The Mantis Shrimp, a Demon Shrimp that threw Critical Strikes underwater!
Before you continue