Leaving Ji Continent
Jiang Linglong shook her head, unable to help but say helplessly, "It's a pity we don't have any medium-sized Spirit Stone mines."
In the Chu Kingdom, the only medium-sized Spirit Stone mine is located on the territory of the Firmament Sword Sect. That Spirit Stone mine can produce 100,000 Spirit Stone every year and is jointly occupied by the Purple Abyss Sect and the Firmament Sword Sect.
Back then, in order to seize Azure Sun Sect's territory, Jiang Linglong gave up her share of that Spirit Stone mine, so naturally they have no share now.
Logically speaking, the Heavenly Ruins Alliance has now reopened Heavenly Ruins Province and Earth Lion Province, occupying a territory larger than that of the Firmament Sword Sect and Purple Abyss Sect combined, which makes it highly likely that Spirit Stone mines will be found there.
Unfortunately, Spirit Stone mines are often hidden deep underground, and searching for them requires considerable manpower and resources.
Over the years, the Heavenly Ruins Alliance has been searching for various mineral veins, but has never found enough Spirit Stone mines.
Thinking of this, Chen Nianzhi said, "Developing new territories takes time, and this matter cannot be rushed. We can arrange more manpower to open them up later."
"Moreover, this batch of Spirit Stone is quite substantial."
Jiang Linglong nodded. With the millions of Spirit Stone they had on them, plus some Tier 4 treasures that they could sell, they estimated they could gather supplies worth fifty million Spirit Stone.
With these treasures, they are enough to exchange for fifty Heavenly Crystal. Even if exchanging Spirit Stone for Heavenly Crystal would require a significant premium, it should still be enough to obtain more than forty Heavenly Crystal.
According to the prices among Nascent Soul, the value of a Tier 5 heavenly materials and earthly treasures starts at around sixty Heavenly Crystal.
A low-grade Demon-Refining Supreme Treasure requires over a hundred Heavenly Crystal, and a wisp of Earth Mother Qi also costs around a hundred Heavenly Crystal.
If the two of them had Heavenly Crystal, they might be able to buy Tier 5 treasures in the future to upgrade their Demon-Refining Supreme Treasure.
After taking stock of their belongings, they bid farewell to the Old Clan Leader and several Golden Core realm Lin Qianshu, and then left the Chu Kingdom together.
On the way out of the Chu Kingdom, Chen Nianzhi, holding a map, said to Jiang Linglong, "It's actually quite difficult to exchange Spirit Stone for Heavenly Crystal."
"We can only visit the Golden Core Immortal Clan one continent at a time, using the premium on Spirit Stone to collect the scattered Heavenly Crystal from each continent and country."
Jiang Linglong nodded. Almost all of Ji Zhou's Heavenly Crystals had fallen into the hands of the Ji Clan, used to help the Ji Clan Chief increase his chances of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage.
If they want to obtain the Heavenly Crystal, they can only leave Ji Continent and collect it from other kingdoms in the Eastern Wilderness.
Actually, the best way to acquire enough Heavenly Crystal in one go is to exchange them for Heavenly Crystal from Nascent Soul True Lord. Given the value of Nascent Soul True Lord, they could even get them to complete the transaction in one go.
However, there is a high possibility of danger in this situation. After all, they are unfamiliar with the place and the people after leaving Ji Continent. If they were to take out 50 million Spirit Stone at once, it might tempt Nascent Soul True Lord.
However, if they collected them one by one from the Golden Core Immortal Clan, the difficulty would be much less.
The Golden Core Immortal Clan doesn't have many Heavenly Crystal. They only buy a few at a time, and when traveling to multiple continents, they make sure to exchange all the Heavenly Crystal Spirit Stone for the full amount.
Although the price of Heavenly Crystal would be significantly higher during this process, the amount of Spirit Stone used each time was small, and it took crossing several continents to gather enough, so it would not attract the attention of Nascent Soul Cultivator.
With their strength, as long as they don't arouse the greed of Nascent Soul True Lord, they won't fear any cultivators.
"On this trip, we will not travel through the Heavenly Hut Continent, but will instead head east to the Star Continent."
"Traversing seven continents including Dawn Continent and Wild Continent, we circled the Heaven's Spine Mountains and crossed the Vast Sea before returning."
Chen Nianzhi looked at the map in front of him and said, "Ancient legends say that the Eastern Wilderness has as many as eight hundred continents."
These continents vary in size. The larger continents are much more expansive than Ji Continent, while the smaller continents may not even be comparable in territory to the Chu Kingdom.
Within this vast territory, countless powerful beings have been nurtured, including countless prodigies, with Golden Core True Person and even Nascent Soul True Lord not being uncommon.
Golden Core realm cultivators are found throughout the world, ranging from a few to several hundred across the eight hundred continents, their numbers difficult to measure at a time.
While breaking through to the Nascent Soul True Lord is extremely difficult, the lifespan of True Lord is incredibly long, so accumulating over thousands of years results in an astonishing number. It is said that the number of Nascent Soul True Lord in the Eastern Wilderness is in the thousands.
Although Chen Nianzhi has only seen a handful of High-grade Golden Core cultivators in the Ji Continent over the years, from the perspective of the entire Eastern Wilderness, while High-grade Golden Core are rare, someone does rise to prominence every few years.
Only the Heavenly Dao Nascent Soul stage is an incomparably huge threshold, with the incomparably precious Heavenly Dao Qi blocking more than 90% of the High-grade Golden Core in the world.
The Primordial Spirit Dao Lord is the most difficult to achieve. Countless geniuses have been born in the Eastern Wilderness over the past ten thousand years, but there are fewer than ten Primordial Spirit Dao Lord still alive today.
Ji Continent, encompassing the territories of hundreds of nearby continents, is collectively known as the Vast Expanse Hundred Continents.
This Vast Expanse Hundred Continents is close to the Vast Expanse Marshes, and is a large area in the southeast of the Eastern Wilderness. It is considered the most remote territory in the Eastern Wilderness.
Chen Nianzhi's plan is to travel across seven continents, including Dawn Continent and Wild Continent, to collect treasures from each continent, and then cross the Vast Sea to return.
The Vast Sea is one of the seven major freshwater lakes in the Eastern Wilderness. The magnificent islands in the heart of the lake have nurtured a large number of Demon Beast and Human Race. It was once said to be the territory of a top-tier Nascent Soul Immortal Clan.
A thousand years ago, for reasons unknown, the Black Dragon Demon Ancestor attacked and annihilated the Nascent Soul Immortal Clan with a single blow, leaving behind a vast and devastated Vast Sea.
The Vast Sea is now a desolate territory, occupied by a large number of Golden Core realm Demon Race. They decided to eventually return from the Vast Sea, hoping to find the Nascent Soul treasure.
"Let's go check out Star Continent first."
Chen Nianzhi whispered as she and Jiang Linglong piloted the Azure Sun Treasure Ark across the various countries of the Ji Continent, arriving at the edge of the Ji Continent after four months.
Unlike Heavenly Hut Continent, Ji Continent and Star Continent are not separated by the Heaven's Spine Mountains, but they require crossing a vast and incomparably expansive Demonflame Ridge.
"This Demonflame Ridge..."
Chen Nianzhi stood before Demonflame Ridge, a look of horror on her face.
The mountain range before us stretches to the horizon, its endless peaks ablaze with dark flames, resembling the Flaming Mountains of Myth.
Jiang Linglong, standing to the side, remained calm as she spoke, "This Demonflame Ridge was once a Demonic Cultivator Forbidden Ground, with several Nascent Soul Devil Cultivator residing there."
"They wreaked havoc on several continents, feeding on hundreds of millions of Human Race, and committing countless heinous acts."
"Three thousand years ago, the Ji Clan came from the Eastern Wilderness. They used the Immortal Immortal-Refining Furnace to burn the Demonflame Ridge, refining all the Devil Cultivator there into ashes, which formed this Flaming Mountain that stretches for millions of miles."
"It's just that the power of the Immortal-Refining Furnace is too domineering, so much so that even after three thousand years, the flames here haven't completely gone out."