Trading Center

The half-day lecture had stirred in countless students a yearning for spells and the Dao.

The scenes Professor Cao displayed were far too dazzling—such was the effortless command of a great cultivator.

"Qi Refinement Level Two can cast Level Three spells. If spiritual power is used properly, even spells from Level Four to Level Six in the Mid-Stage Qi Refinement might not be impossible..." Jiang Ran had learned a great deal.

After the lecture ended, the organizers did not collect the "Virtual Spirit Realm" certification artifacts.

Mingzhu Group was exceedingly generous. For the next half month, until the competition ended, all students could use the certification artifacts free of charge and enter and leave the Virtual Spirit Realm at will.

After the lecture, the organizers gave the students a full five days to digest and comprehend what they had learned.

Jiang Ran knew next to nothing about the Virtual Spirit Realm.

It was only after Tao Dapeng explained it to him that he learned the Virtual Spirit Realm was a special cultivation world jointly developed by the ten great immortal sects. Though it was virtual, it had been perfected to the utmost degree. Everything in the real world could be simulated within it—the use of spiritual power, the circulation of spiritual qi, even the formidable might of every kind of spell could be unleashed there to one's heart's content.

Heavenly Lu Kingdom was, after all, a peaceful society. There were not that many opportunities for battle.

The creation of the Virtual Spirit Realm had, to the greatest extent, met cultivators' needs for practical combat training.

Once inside the Virtual Spirit Realm, one could cast any spell with full force, without worrying about hurting others or suffering backlash from the spell. After all, everything was fake; dying in the Spirit Realm did not mean truly dying.

Maintaining such a flawless virtual world came at an enormous cost.

For that reason, the authorities strictly restricted eligibility for entering and leaving the virtual world.

Virtual Spirit Realm certification artifacts were not all that expensive. A little over a hundred thousand yuan could buy one.

However, to purchase a certification artifact, one first had to pass an identity verification by the Spirit Realm Administration Bureau. The minimum cultivation requirement for unrestricted access was the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Qi Refining cultivators had to enter under the guardianship of a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator. Only after at least a year could they obtain unrestricted access.

And after all those stringent requirements...

One still had to pay a monthly entry fee based on one's cultivation level.

These many conditions meant that the Virtual Spirit Realm was popular only among the middle and upper classes. For ordinary people, it offered no substantial benefit.

Recently, many students participating in the competition had already become utterly immersed in it.

The Virtual Spirit Realm was far more than a single vast lawn.

The complete Spirit Realm contained numerous spell-practice secret realms and teaching secret realms.

What interested the students most was the "Myriad Arts Secret Realm" under Ten Thousand Arts University.

That was right—the "Myriad Arts Secret Realm" that shared the same origin as the Ten Thousand Arts Forum.

The Myriad Arts Secret Realm on one's phone only allowed people to exchange insights on spells through text and images.

But within the Myriad Arts Secret Realm, every spell could be simulated into reality.

If you claimed to possess a hereditary ultimate art, all you had to do was submit it to the Myriad Arts Secret Realm for verification by a great cultivator. Once it received a star rating, it could be publicly sold.

Or perhaps someone was exceptionally gifted and had improved a certain cultivation technique. They could likewise receive an extremely high reward.

Naturally, Jiang Ran was tremendously interested in the Virtual Spirit Realm as well. For the past two days, he had been practically living inside it.

To him, the Virtual Spirit Realm was undoubtedly an excellent training ground.

He could practice all kinds of spells, including the Vajra Fist, at full strength without worrying about smashing up his own home.

Until the third day, when Jiang Ran entered the Myriad Arts Secret Realm.

"Damn..." At that moment, Jiang Ran even wondered whether he had transmigrated again.

Unlike the monotonous scenery throughout most areas of the Spirit Realm, the moment he entered the Myriad Arts Secret Realm, he saw several immense palaces scattered in orderly arrangement.

[Ten Thousand Arts Trading Center], [Cultivation Technique Level Certification Center], [Ten Thousand Arts Alliance]...

Ancient buildings in an ultra-ancient style stood filled with modern office equipment, yet the combination did not seem discordant in the slightest.

Long ago, Jiang Ran had logged into the "Ten Thousand Arts Forum" on his phone.

Back then, he had never understood why the website did not clearly explain the steps for level certification.

Only now did he understand that there were only two ways to fully complete a cultivation technique or spell's level certification: either go to an offline office of Ten Thousand Arts University, or enter the Virtual Spirit Realm.

Jiang Ran strode forward. Naturally, the place that interested him most was the Ten Thousand Arts Trading Center.

In truth, Flying Sword Network also publicly sold many cultivation techniques and spells.

The Ten Thousand Arts Sect and the Divine Firmament Sect were both among Tianlu's ten great sects. Their branches were joined like breath and limb, and they maintained deeply rooted cooperation.

Many cultivation techniques on Flying Sword Network and the Ten Thousand Arts Forum were sold simultaneously at identical prices.

The greatest advantage of the Ten Thousand Arts Trading Center was that it offered many "limited cultivation techniques."

The cultivation techniques sold on Flying Sword Network were, for the most part, "public property." In other words, anyone could learn them as long as they paid.

For the vast majority of ordinary people, learning the same cultivation techniques and spells as everyone else was perfectly normal.

But for a small portion of people, uniqueness and privacy were especially important.

The Ten Thousand Arts Trading Center encompassed everything beneath heaven. There were ancient cultivation techniques with limited learning slots—once sold out, they were gone, and if you missed them, they would never appear again. There were also new techniques developed by major organizations, with extremely high entry thresholds for cultivators.

More numerous still were original cultivation techniques and improved techniques.

Upon entering the Trading Center, Jiang Ran saw real-time transaction information continuously scrolling across an enormous light screen.

[Level Fifteen Spell—Three-Lotus Sword Art—Long-Term Single-User License (Transaction Complete!)]

[Level Nineteen Martial Art—Fire-Subduing Palm Technique—One-Time Single-User License (Transaction Complete!)]

[Level Twenty-Six Mental Cultivation Art—Cave Spring Heart-Nourishing Formula—Long-Term Single-User License (Transaction Complete!)]

What was a long-term single-user license? What was a one-time single-user license?

Could cultivation techniques even be one-time use...

Jiang Ran's mouth fell open as he instantly understood something.

In this world, whether one bought spells, cultivation techniques, or mental cultivation arts, one was not buying ownership, but usage rights!

Want to buy it out entirely? That was not impossible—it depended on whether your family fortune was deep enough.

With an uneasy heart, Jiang Ran walked over to a round platform at the side. A small light screen immediately appeared before him.

[Please select: Spells, Martial Arts, Cultivation Techniques, Mental Cultivation Arts, Special]

After selecting Spells, he chose a level range.

A vast list of products immediately filled the light screen.

[Level Four Spell—Water Line Spell—Price: One-Time Single-User License 200 yuan / Three Days 800 yuan / Seven Days 1,200 yuan... Long-Term 2,680 yuan (Buyout: 9,000 yuan)]

[Level Five Spell—Fire Cloud Spell—Price: One-Time Single-User License 220 yuan / Three Days 890 yuan / Seven Days 1,299 yuan... Long-Term 2,880 yuan (Buyout: 12,000 yuan)]

[Level Five Martial Art—Cold Qi Palm Technique—Price:...]

[Level Nine Mental Cultivation Art—Savage Bull Heart Tempering (Opening Chapter)—Price:...]

Jiang Ran felt somewhat embarrassed.

The prices of these cultivation techniques were not high. If they were only for personal use, buying a long-term single-user license for a few thousand yuan could get him quite a decent cultivation technique.

But if he wanted to buy one out entirely, that was another matter. The price of a buyout was nearly a hundred times that of the usage rights.

Jiang Ran gazed at the countless names of cultivation techniques before him and considered them seriously.

The college entrance examination was imminent. What he needed was a cultivation technique that could help him earn high scores.

Among the three major subjects—physical training, spells, and language—the physical training exam was certainly the least of his concerns. The Vajra Fist Technique was far beyond those basic martial arts taught to middle school students.

"Wait..." Jiang Ran suddenly thought of something.