Secrets of the Immortal Market

He Song had not understood these matters before.

Although he had known Wei Fan for five years, whenever the three of them gathered in the past, they mostly shared interesting anecdotes and caught up with one another.

As for someone specifically explaining the inner workings of the Immortal Market to He Song as Wei Fan did today, this was truly a first.

As He Song followed Wei Fan around to familiarize himself with the surroundings, he quickly formed his own understanding of Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market.

Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market.

It fell under Qingyuan Immortal City, which was governed by the major Golden Core sect, the Thick Earth Sect.

Within Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market, there were two sources of internal personnel.

The first was Rogue Cultivators like He Song, who were noticed by others and brought into the Immortal Market to become its internal cultivators.

The second was people like Wei Fan and Meng Guan, who came from Thick Earth Courtyard.

Thick Earth Courtyard was a place specially established by the Thick Earth Sect to select disciples.

If someone in Thick Earth Courtyard failed to break through to the Qi Refining Middle Stage and become an outer sect disciple of the Thick Earth Sect by a certain age, they would be assigned to serve in various Immortal Cities or Immortal Markets.

If they performed well in the future and their cultivation improved quickly, those cultivators assigned out from Thick Earth Courtyard might even rejoin the Thick Earth Sect and become its disciples.

However, within Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market, there was hardly any difference in status between the two.

Next came the matter of the treatment afforded by Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market.

During the early stage of Qi Refining, the vast majority of internal cultivators in an Immortal Market could work for an entire year and freely use, at most, twenty or thirty Spirit Stones.

But because their cultivation was so low, merely absorbing the spiritual energy within the Immortal Market was enough to rapidly improve their cultivation.

This was an unspoken rule found in nearly every Immortal Market.

Its purpose was naturally to select cultivators with perseverance, steadfastness, and foresight.

Those who could not endure it could leave at any time.

Rogue Cultivators earned more, and without entering the Immortal Market, they did not need to pay rent. Naturally, they were wealthier than early-stage Qi Refining cultivators within the Immortal Market.

The threshold of ten Spirit Stones a month in rent had also been deliberately designed.

Its purpose was to drive away Rogue Cultivators with no skills to speak of, making them retreat when faced with difficulties.

At the same time, it attracted Rogue Cultivators with a craft, allowing them to add bricks and tiles to the construction of the Immortal Market.

During the early stage of Qi Refining, only by joining the Immortal Market and becoming an internal cultivator could one reside in the Immortal Market without being affected.

Some relied on annual stipends, while others had lodging provided outright.

Even if the Spirit Stones they received were few, simply being able to live within the Immortal Market was itself an enormous benefit.

At the Qi Refining Middle Stage.

The resources available to internal cultivators of the Immortal Market were no longer as scarce as they had been during the early stage of Qi Refining.

Cultivators who could cultivate to the Qi Refining Middle Stage within the Immortal Market would more or less have mastered some means of earning Spirit Stones. Combined with the annual stipends granted by the Immortal Market, they could live passable lives.

Only at this point could cultivators who had endured the dull and tedious cultivation of the early stage of Qi Refining be considered to have truly passed the hardest trial of cultivation.

Those cultivators lacking perseverance, steadfastness, and foresight would have long since been washed away like sand in a great tide during the early stage of Qi Refining, leaving the Immortal Market to become Rogue Cultivators with an extremely high mortality rate.

And that was precisely what the major Immortal Markets wished to see.

Casting away the false and preserving the true, the cultivators who remained would surely possess something exceptional.

As for Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators.

They were the backbone of the Immortal Market. They obtained more resources, and as long as they remained in the Immortal Market, they served as a great deterrent to wicked cultivators.

Moreover, Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators would basically strive toward Foundation Establishment and required no small amount of resources.

Naturally, the resources they could obtain were greater as well.

As Wei Fan spoke, He Song came to understand many things he had never understood before.

At the same time, he found greater motivation to improve his cultivation.

Once he reached the Qi Refining Middle Stage, or even the Qi Refining Late Stage, his life would surely be better than it was now.

After Wei Fan showed He Song around the entire small courtyard, arranged for him to stay in one of the secondary bedrooms, and gave him one of the meditation rooms to use, the sky gradually darkened.

"Since I returned in such a hurry today, I can only make do and have you eat something simple first. Tomorrow, I'll buy some fine wine and good dishes to welcome you properly!" At the dinner table, Wei Fan poured He Song a cup of wine and spoke apologetically.

Yet beside him.

Looking at the sumptuous dishes before him, then at the fragrant spirit rice in his bowl, and finally sensing the spirit wine in his cup, He Song could only wear a helpless expression.

Sure enough, Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators lived far better than an early-stage Qi Refining cultivator like him.

What Wei Fan called a simple meal was spirit rice and spirit wine, along with spirit food prepared from spirit ingredients and demon beast meat.

He Song had only eaten such a lavish meal once before, at Osmanthus Tower.

That time, Lin Cong had treated him after breaking through to the Qi Refining Middle Stage.

Come to think of it.

He Song only ate spirit rice occasionally. As for spirit wine and demon beast meat made from spirit ingredients, they were beyond what a mere early-stage Qi Refining cultivator like him could afford.

However, now that He Song knew of the treatment available at the Qi Refining Middle Stage and even the Qi Refining Late Stage, he did not feel much envy.

As his cultivation improved, he would have all of these things.

That was what was good about cultivation.

As long as one's cultivation rose, one's strength, status, identity, and authority would all undergo a qualitative leap.

As long as one's cultivation was sufficient, anything was possible.

That was also why He Song could keep his peace of mind.

As long as he lived long enough, his cultivation would rise sooner or later.

Competing in longevity.

He Song truly feared no one.

"Come, come, drink!" Paying no heed to Wei Fan's apologetic words, He Song raised his wine cup and reached out to clink it.

With a ding, the two wine cups struck together.

Before long, laughter and cheerful voices filled the small courtyard.

He Song settled into Wei Fan's small courtyard.

He no longer went to the Spirit Field every morning as he had before.

Before the crisis at the Red Spirit Gold Mine erupted, He Song did not even wish to step half a pace outside the Immortal Market.

It was the caution in his nature at work.

At the same time, he had no choice but to take this precaution out of concern that wicked cultivators might use the opportunity to cause trouble.

However, as a Spirit Plant Farmer of the Immortal Market, failing to complete the Immortal Market's task of planting the Spirit Fields also carried punishment.

If the harvest from the five mu of Spirit Fields failed to meet the standard, the missing spirit rice would have to be covered by the Spirit Plant Farmer.

With no other choice, He Song paid twenty Spirit Stones to entrust a Spirit Plant Farmer he knew well with looking after his Spirit Fields.

Being able to earn an extra twenty Spirit Stones.

The Spirit Plant Farmer acquainted with He Song was naturally delighted.

His work merely changed from casting the Spirit Rain Technique for half an hour to casting it for an hour.

An additional income of twenty Spirit Stones was an unexpected delight.

Thus, after removing this worry from his heart, He Song began to bury himself in bitter cultivation within Wei Fan's small courtyard.

The spiritual energy in Wei Fan's small courtyard was much denser than where He Song had lived before.

This allowed He Song to cultivate more quickly, and the spiritual power within his body began to grow rapidly, bit by bit.

At the same time, without delaying his cultivation, He Song also began studying the Array Dao Primer in his mind every day.