Chaos Begins

When Wu Tao walked out of Shopkeeper Yu's artifact refining spirit material shop, he looked at the surrounding streets. Loose cultivators walked along the streets, seemingly no different from usual.

These loose cultivators had low strength, couldn't contact sect disciples, and their information was blocked. They had no idea that war was about to break out.

Alas, no matter which world it was, there existed information cocoons. What those in power wanted you to know, you could only know. What they didn't want you to know, you would never know.

Muddled and ignorant, like dust under the wheels of historical development, you might be crushed and annihilated by these wheels at any moment.

No one knew you.

'If I weren't an artifact refiner and had established a business channel with Shopkeeper Yu, I would be like these thousands of loose cultivators, muddled and ignorant, and crushed like ants when the great disaster struck.'

Wu Tao sighed in his heart.

The world was like this, and he was powerless to change it. The only thing he could do was to save his own life.

Adding the fifteen Mid-Grade Spirit Stones that Shopkeeper Yu had advanced him, Wu Tao now had three thousand one hundred and eighty-nine Low-Grade Spirit Stones on him. He cast aside distractions and immediately headed towards the pill shops and pharmacies.

Walking on the street, he passed by loose cultivators. As he approached a pill shop, he suddenly heard an exclamation:

"It's a Lesser True Person from Five Spring Mountain."

Wu Tao couldn't help but stop and look up at the sky. He saw a Green Sword Light flying through the air, leaving behind a green afterimage. On it stood a cultivator in a Purple Magic Robe, his magical power incomparably vast.

The speed was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, this Foundation Establishment Cultivator flew into Five Spirits Cultivation City and landed in the central area of West City. It was said that this was the sect's guarding palace of Five Spring Mountain.

"A Foundation Establishment Cultivator... such a powerful aura... I feel like they could kill me with a single finger..." a loose cultivator exclaimed in amazement.

"Hmph, you overestimate yourself. A Foundation Establishment Cultivator could blow you away and turn you into dust with a single breath." someone retorted.

But undoubtedly, every loose cultivator's eyes revealed envy. Everyone wanted to reach Foundation Establishment, but loose cultivators were pure and had no resources or inheritance. It was one in ten thousand to achieve Foundation Establishment.

"If only I could become a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, I would definitely be able to join Five Spring Mountain." someone murmured dreamily.

The surrounding loose cultivators looked at him, not with mockery, but because he spoke their inner thoughts.

Wu Tao withdrew his gaze. He also wished to become a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and showed envy on his face, but he had an additional thought. Foundation Establishment Cultivators from Five Spring Mountain rarely left their sect. The arrival of this Foundation Establishment Cultivator in Five Spirits Cultivation City must be related to the Ghost Dao Sect.

Thinking of this, he didn't stop. He soon arrived at the pill shop. As soon as he arrived, he heard a loose cultivator wailing, "Fellow Daoist, I bought this bottle of Qi Condensation Pill for thirty-five Low-Grade Spirit Stones half a month ago. Why is it fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones a bottle today?"

The hired cultivator at the pill shop smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist, the price is not something I can decide. If you think it's too expensive, you can look elsewhere."

"I'll go elsewhere then..."

The loose cultivator left. The hired cultivator looked at Wu Tao and greeted him, "Fellow Daoist, what pills do you want to buy?"

Wu Tao said, "No hurry, I'll look around elsewhere."

With that, Wu Tao turned and left, thinking to himself: This pill shop must have the backing of Five Spring Mountain. Knowing that war was imminent, they had already raised the price of pills. I should go to smaller pill shops to find bargains now.

This is all about exploiting information asymmetry.

This line of thinking was correct. Wu Tao did indeed manage to buy Qi Condensation Pills for thirty-five Low-Grade Spirit Stones at a small pill shop, but the quantity was very small and nowhere near enough for his needs.

He only managed to buy three bottles of Qi Condensation Pills.

Enough for only one month of cultivation.

His original intention was to buy enough Qi Condensation Pills for half a year of cultivation, which would be eighteen bottles. At this price, it would only cost six hundred and thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Continuing.

But when he arrived at the second pill shop, the shopkeeper told him that the shop had no pills left, as they had all been bought by a certain pharmacy. He mentioned a large pharmacy's name and said they were buying them for thirty-eight Low-Grade Spirit Stones per bottle.

The shopkeeper looked like he had made a huge profit.

Wu Tao couldn't help but say, "Fellow Daoist, don't you think about delaying the sale for a couple of days? See how the market goes?"

The shopkeeper said, "This is my small business. I've never encountered such a high price before. Primordial Spirit Pavilion is willing to buy my pills at a high price, so of course I'll sell. What if I delay and the price drops again? Wouldn't I be losing money?"

Alas, this damned information asymmetry.

Wu Tao didn't waste any more time and continued to wander around the market. After checking everywhere, he found that all the pills had been bought up by the dozen or so large pharmacies in the market.

Damn it!

Wu Tao cursed inwardly and could only return to the pill shop where he usually bought Qi Condensation Pills. He bought fifteen bottles at a price of forty-eight Low-Grade Spirit Stones per bottle, totaling seven hundred and twenty Spirit Stones.

He had lost a fortune.

Next were the medicinal ingredients. Fortunately, he was in the Flesh Refining stage, and the ingredients only needed to be thirty years old. They weren't true spirit herbs, so even if the price increased, it wouldn't rise by much.

Originally, five portions of medicinal ingredients cost one hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, but now they cost one hundred and twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

One portion per day, thirty portions a month, would be seven hundred and twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones. He only had two thousand three hundred and sixty-four Low-Grade Spirit Stones left, and he had to keep at least two hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones on hand just in case.

Therefore, Wu Tao only bought three months' worth of medicinal bath ingredients.

He was left with only two Mid-Grade Spirit Stones and four Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

"I'm poor again!"

Wu Tao walked home, feeling the shriveled Spirit Stone Bag and a bitter expression on his face. "I need to stock up on Spirit Rice and Monster Meat too. I'll stock up for a month, and then I'll deal with it after the Spirit Stones from Boss Yu arrive."

He couldn't spend all his Spirit Stones.

When buying Spirit Rice, Wu Tao, out of consideration for his friendship with Han Tiezhu, vaguely informed him to be careful during this period. Han Tiezhu immediately thought of the Devilish Cultivator from last time and assumed it was another Devilish Cultivator. He quickly said that he had been staying in the fields during this time.

He bought three hundred jin of Spirit Rice and thirty jin of Monster Meat. Because there were too many items and he didn't have a Storage Bag, he had to hire a porter in the market for ten Fragmented Spirit Stones to help him deliver the goods to his home on Sincere Tea Street.

Returning home, Wu Tao shut himself in his room.

The soundproof anti-peeping formation was fully activated. Looking at the supplies in the room, his heart finally settled a lot.

"Speed up cultivation, improve strength, and go out less unless absolutely necessary."

Wu Tao made up his mind in his heart and then opened his personal status.

[Name: Wu Tao]

[Lifespan: 25/85]

[Realm: Third Level of Qi Refining]

[Cultivation Technique: Three Yang Technique: Qi Refining Chapter (Third Level): 2%]

[Spells: Fireball Technique: Beginner (95%), Cleaning Spell: Beginner (1%)]

[Divine Ability: None]

[Primary Profession: Artifact Refiner]: Mastered Restrictions: First-Order Level 1 Cooling Restriction, First-Order Level Two Wind-Speed Restriction, First-Order Level One Dust-Repelling Restriction, First-Order Level 1 Rain-Repelling Restriction, First-Grade Level Three Small Spirit Light Shield Restriction, First-Rank Level 4 Spirit-Absorbing Restriction.

[Secondary Profession · Body Cultivator: Dragon Spear Body Tempering Art: Temper Body (47%), Dragon Spear · Plunder Fire Proficiency (28%), Dragon Spear · Wind Thunder Proficiency (39%)]

"Time to cultivate!"

Closing his personal status, Wu Tao immediately took out a Qi Condensation Pill and began cultivating the Three Yang Technique.

His current life consisted of three points: cultivating the Three Yang Technique, practicing the Dragon Spear Technique, tempering his body, and refining magic robes to deliver to Shopkeeper Yu.

The next day.

Just as Wu Tao finished refining a Qi Condensation Pill, the soundproof anti-peeping formation sounded an alert: someone was knocking on the door.

Hearing the knock, Wu Tao felt a little nervous, but then he thought that if it were a devilish cultivator, they wouldn't knock so politely; they would just break in.

Relaxing slightly, he still looked through the peephole.

What appeared in his vision were cultivators from the Demon Slaying Hall and two cultivators from the Patrol Squad.