Getting Something for Nothing

"You little brat."

The village chief laughed and cursed, but did not truly stop him. Lin Yi set the Sword Embryo and the empty Spirit Stone shell on his own stall, called out to Mang, then turned and slipped back into the crowd.

Tribes from every direction streamed endlessly into the open ground outside the Flamewaste Tribe. Hawking calls, haggling, and the occasional burst of laughter blended into one, even noisier than the Great Wilderness's most bustling beast migration.

Lin Yi strolled leisurely along the paths between stalls, keeping his Spirit Eyes running at low power. He occasionally stopped to inspect goods that caught his interest, but never found anything that made his eyes light up like the Sword Embryo had.

Just as he was about to turn toward the other side, a figure suddenly appeared before him.

"Hello, friend!"

The newcomer familiarly leaned forward, boldly blocking his way.

He looked about Lin Yi's age, in his early twenties, with a sturdy, muscular build. His sharply defined face had been tanned a deep bronze by the sun, and when he grinned, he revealed a row of white teeth.

Lin Yi immediately sensed his aura: Tidal Surge Realm. His blood and qi were thick and solid, placing him among the best of those in the Tidal Surge Realm.

At his age, he would have been called a genius in any small tribe.

"Uh... hello?" Lin Yi paused. "Is there something you need?"

"Haha, I'll get straight to the point." The young man planted one hand on his waist and slapped his chest with the other. "I'm from the Flamewaste Tribe. My name is Chi Ye."

Lin Yi's thoughts stirred. A member of the Flamewaste Tribe had approached him on his own initiative; his purpose was obvious without being spoken.

Sure enough, Chi Ye did not beat around the bush. "I'm here to invite you to join the Flamewaste Tribe."

Although Lin Yi had been mentally prepared for it—the village chief had said that the Flamewaste Tribe recruited talented people at every Trade Gathering—being stopped and recruited outright on the street still took him somewhat by surprise.

"What are the benefits of joining your tribe?" Lin Yi asked along those lines.

"Brother, don't take this the wrong way, but I have to say something unpleasant." Chi Ye scratched the back of his head, though his tone remained straightforward.

"With your aptitude, you're a genius in a small tribe. But in the Flamewaste Tribe... at your age, only reaching the Tidal Surge Realm, honestly, you don't rank very highly. In our tribe, someone around your age has to reach the Mountain-Sinking Realm to be considered a genius."

Lin Yi revealed no expression, but inwardly nodded.

Chi Ye had said "Tidal Surge Realm." Lin Yi was suppressing his aura with the Breath-Concealing Art, so to outsiders, he truly appeared to be at the Tidal Surge Realm.

Chi Ye's assessment was blunt, but not excessive. By a large tribe's standards, reaching the Tidal Surge Realm only in one's early twenties was indeed nothing exceptional.

"So, given your current situation, joining our tribe won't earn you any special treatment." Chi Ye spoke bluntly and openly, without hiding anything. "But no matter what, a large tribe's basic resources are far better than those of a small tribe. Food, clothing, daily necessities, training grounds, and regular supplies—all of them are better than what you have now."

Lin Yi raised a brow noncommittally. "That's all?"

"Of course not." Chi Ye grinned. "Who doesn't understand the saying, 'Better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix'?

But the greatest benefit of joining the Flamewaste Tribe is that as long as you contribute to the tribe, you can exchange contribution points for inherited cultivation arts and martial techniques. And you'll even have a chance to break through to a level above the Blood-Qi Realm."

Lin Yi's ears twitched.

"Above the Blood-Qi Realm?"

"Of course." Chi Ye's tone carried unconcealed pride. "The Spirit-Nurturing Realm. Those are people who can fly. I'm not exactly sure how powerful they are, since I haven't reached that level myself!"

He scratched his head and gave a foolish grin before hurriedly bringing the topic back.

"After all that, are you joining or not?"

Lin Yi pondered for a moment, putting on a troubled expression.

"Well... I'll need to go back and discuss it with our village chief. After all, I came here with my tribe. I can't decide something like this by myself." Lin Yi casually made up an excuse.

"Fine, that's normal." Chi Ye readily waved a hand. "Once you've made up your mind, just tell anyone from our tribe. Someone will tell you how to join. Oh, right." He raised his hand and pointed ahead.

"Follow this road to the end, then go another hundred meters. That's where our Flamewaste Tribe's stall is. If you're interested, go take a look. Even if you don't join, you can still trade for some good things."

After saying that, he clasped his hands toward Lin Yi, turned, and strode away. His back quickly vanished into the crowd.

Lin Yi stood where he was for a moment, then headed in the direction Chi Ye had indicated.

The Flamewaste Tribe's stall was indeed conspicuous.

It occupied the central area of the entire Trade Gathering grounds. Its wooden canopy stood half a head taller than everyone else's, and several beast-hide banners hung from its roof, flapping loudly whenever the wind blew.

The stall covered a large area and was divided into several sections.

Bundles of weapons lay on the left, while high-quality beast hides and ores were piled on the right. Several wooden racks stood in the middle, displaying artifacts that were clearly worth a fortune at first glance.

Lin Yi's gaze swept across those weapons, and his pupils contracted slightly.

Spirit Artifacts—several of them.

This was the first time he had personally seen weapons engraved with Divine Markings. They matched the "Spirit Artifacts" the stall-keeping uncle had mentioned earlier.

Dark patterns faintly flowed across the blades. Their auras were restrained, yet carried an edge sharp enough to pierce through anything. They belonged to an entirely different world from the dark, crude Sword Embryo in his hand.

Yet what truly made Lin Yi stop was an old beast-hide scroll resting on a wooden rack at the far left of the stall.

The edges of the beast hide had worn pale, but its surface was covered in densely packed writing painted in dark ink.

His Spirit Eyes opened, and faint white-gold radiance silently pierced through the surface of the scroll.

What it contained was a detailed explanation of cultivation realms.

The corner of Lin Yi's mouth curled up slightly, and delight blossomed in his heart. He had no intention of asking how much it cost to trade for it. When cultivation knowledge came knocking at his door, why pay for it when getting it for free was so much sweeter?

Within the vision of his Spirit Eyes, every word on the beast hide was branded into his mind with perfect clarity. The Super Brain spun at high speed, memorizing all the information.

Blood-Qi Realm

Spirit-Nurturing Realm

Soul Extremity Realm

One Dao Realm

The entire beast-hide scroll recorded the names and rough descriptions of the four great realms, but only the section on the Spirit-Nurturing Realm contained relatively detailed cultivation methods and precautions.

The later sections on the Soul Extremity Realm and the One Dao Realm contained only their names and a few sparse lines of summary. The Flamewaste Tribe had clearly held something back on purpose.

But for Lin Yi, merely seeing the three words "Spirit-Nurturing Realm" and its detailed cultivation path had already made this trip worthwhile. Or rather, he had made a killing.

The vague guesses in his mind regarding the barriers between realms finally had a clear framework.

After recording all the text on the beast-hide scroll, Lin Yi's gaze quietly swept over the Spirit Artifacts beside it.

Through the penetrating vision of his Spirit Eyes, the dark patterns flowing across the surfaces of those Spirit Artifacts were exposed one by one.

Lin Yi did not stand on ceremony. He took the opportunity to record the structures of the Divine Markings on those Spirit Artifacts as well.

"Since I'm already here... I might as well swipe it all."

He stepped back half a pace, casually turned around, and continued browsing the neighboring stalls.

"The Spirit-Nurturing Realm uses blood and qi to break through one's own Aperture Points, then uses those Aperture Points as foundations to seize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, merging it with blood and qi to nurture the Aperture Points..." Lin Yi muttered.