Azure Cloud Valley

In Misty Prefecture's Cloudmist Mountain, it was said that immortals lived in seclusion. Woodcutters and herb gatherers who often entered the mountains all swore they had seen traces of immortals.

As a result, many ordinary people with aspirations who yearned for the immortal path flocked to the mountains in search of immortals and the Dao.

However, Cloudmist Mountain was steep and treacherous, and it teemed with venomous snakes and fierce beasts. Most of those who entered the mountains in search of immortals died in a foreign land without even seeing an immortal's shadow.

Even those who truly managed to meet an "immortal" would soon learn that they lacked the Spiritual Root aptitude required to practice immortal arts, and would ultimately be cruelly rejected.

After Zhou Chun parted ways with Merchant Wu's fleet, he traveled all the way by using the Wind Riding Technique to cross mountains and ridges. In less than a day, he had already arrived in Cloudmist Mountain.

Knowing that a Cultivator Market might exist here, Zhou Chun no longer dared to use his techniques so brazenly to hurry along as he had before.

Otherwise, if someone harboring ill intentions hid in the dark and ambushed him, he might not even have time to react.

As luck would have it, after traveling through the mountains for a while, he encountered a cultivator from Misty Prefecture of Jing Kingdom.

The other party was likewise on his way to "Azure Cloud Valley" in Cloudmist Mountain to exchange cultivation resources.

From this cultivator, Zhou Chun learned that there was actually no true Cultivator Market within Cloudmist Mountain.

It was merely that three powerful Rogue Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment cultivation level lived in seclusion inside Azure Cloud Valley. For the convenience of cultivation, the three had gathered some Rogue Cultivators there and formed a place for exchanging goods. Ordinarily, only some Rogue Cultivators with a Qi Refining cultivation level from within Misty Prefecture would patronize the place.

There were quite a few places like this in the Cultivation World.

After all, cultivators needed to absorb pure spiritual energy and refine it in their cultivation, yet even a Foundation Establishment cultivator could not independently maintain the operation of a Spirit Cleansing Array.

Thus, even if some Rogue Cultivators reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, unless they chose to join a cultivation sect or Lineage, they would certainly need to find a place with a spiritual vein for the sake of their future cultivation, establish a Spirit Cleansing Array, and then gather people to maintain the array's operation.

Following the cultivator, Zhou Chun traveled with him. After turning across several mountain peaks, they arrived outside a mist-shrouded valley.

Without needing the other party to remind him, Zhou Chun used the Qi Gazing Technique to observe the mist in the depths of the valley and could tell that it had actually been conjured by an array formation, rather than being genuine water vapor or clouds.

However, his cultivation was not high enough. He still could not use the Qi Gazing Technique to see through the mist and clearly observe the scenery inside the valley.

After the two waited outside the valley for a while, the cultivators inside discovered that they were cultivators. Someone then questioned them from across the array formation.

The Rogue Cultivator needed no explanation. He had already visited Azure Cloud Valley more than once, so he easily passed the questioning and was allowed through.

Zhou Chun only had a sixth layer of Qi Refining cultivation. To the Rogue Cultivators inside Azure Cloud Valley, he posed no threat whatsoever.

Thus, after a brief interrogation, he paid three Spirit Coins as a deposit and was also permitted to enter the valley.

These silver-white Spirit Coins looked somewhat like a currency from an era in his previous life called "silver dollars." They had been refined by cultivators from certain special metals and possessed extremely sophisticated anti-counterfeiting methods, making them very difficult to counterfeit.

The Spirit Coins in Zhou Chun's possession had all been issued by the Moon Wheel Sect, the only major power in Jing Kingdom capable of refining and issuing Spirit Coins. The crescent-moon design on the back of each Spirit Coin was the sect's symbol.

These Spirit Coins were the currency circulated and used among cultivators. The fixed value of each Spirit Coin was that it allowed the holder to cultivate for one day at the Moon Wheel Sect, or at any sect, lineage, or Cultivator Market in Jing Kingdom.

That was right—an entire twelve double-hours of cultivation!

To be honest, Zhou Chun had been startled when he first learned of this.

He had not expected that, in this world of cultivators where great power belonged to the individual, a credit currency like this would exist.

But after thinking about it carefully, he could not help admiring the cultivator who had invented these Spirit Coins.

It was obvious that in this world, where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had been polluted by Turbid Fiendish Energy, the emergence of this credit currency was absolutely a product perfectly suited to the times.

The major cultivation powers that issued the credit currency could use it to harvest the resources held by other small and mid-sized powers and Rogue Cultivators.

And because Spirit Coins had appeared, the most numerous Rogue Cultivators had also solved the problem of being unable to cultivate without the protection of a Spirit Cleansing Array.

The most ingenious thing was that although Spirit Coins appeared to be a credit currency,

their fixed practical value—one Spirit Coin allowing a person to cultivate for twelve double-hours—meant that they had no possibility of depreciating.

Even if a major power engaged in excessive issuance of Spirit Coins, as long as it was not completely uncontrolled, there was basically no need to worry about its credit collapsing or its currency crumbling.

Under such circumstances, even if the Moon Wheel Sect, which had issued the Spirit Coins in his possession, were destroyed, the Spirit Coins could still remain valid.

That was because the power that destroyed the Moon Wheel Sect would have to acknowledge the original value of the Spirit Coins. Otherwise, it would become the enemy of every cultivator holding such coins, and the Spirit Coins it issued would likewise go unrecognized and unused by those people.

Thus, after Zhou Chun understood all the benefits brought by Spirit Coins, he became even less daring to underestimate the cultivators of this world.

Without a doubt, in terms of wisdom, these cultivators who pursued immortality and agelessness as their goal were absolutely no less intelligent than the so-called highly educated people of his previous life. They might even be smarter!

After entering Azure Cloud Valley, Zhou Chun looked around and saw that only the front section of the valley, where some shops and lofts had been built, was open to outsiders.

The deeper regions of the valley remained shrouded in the array's mist, making them impossible to see clearly.

Perhaps because this was not a proper Cultivator Market, Zhou Chun did not see many cultivators inside. Only in a few shops could he occasionally see one or two customers.

He had come here neither to buy nor sell anything, but to inquire about information.

The Three Absolute Sect had originally been a sect from Feng Kingdom, south of Jing Kingdom. Whether it could successfully migrate across the border and establish itself in Misty Prefecture of Jing Kingdom remained unknown.

Zhou Chun needed to clarify this first before deciding whether he should truly return to the sect.

Therefore, after wandering around the valley for a while, he saw several cultivators seated around a table in a teahouse, tasting tea and chatting. He followed them inside and ordered a pot of spirit tea worth one Spirit Coin.

Although he appeared to be drinking the spirit tea by himself, he had actually pricked up his ears and begun listening to the conversation of the cultivators at the neighboring table.

Those people had originally been discussing the famous deeds of some renowned cultivators within Misty Prefecture, as well as internal affairs of certain cultivation sects and Cultivation Families they had heard through hearsay.

As they continued talking, the matter of the Three Absolute Sect, a sect from Feng Kingdom, moving into Misty Prefecture of Jing Kingdom was naturally brought up as a topic of conversation.

"Heh heh, fellow Daoists, I imagine you've all heard recently about the Three Absolute Sect fleeing here from Feng Kingdom, haven't you?"

"Brother Tang only learned the news two days ago. Under Green Lotus Temple's supervision, the Three Absolute Sect has already been split into four parts. From now on, there won't be any so-called Three Absolute Sect anymore!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. A cultivation sect with a legacy spanning more than seventeen hundred years, destroyed and cut off just like that despite having three Golden Core stage cultivators. How lamentable!"

At the tea table, a man in a yellow robe with a mustache shaped like the character for "eight" twitched his brows, raised his teacup, and gulped down a mouthful before smugly sharing the information he knew.

Hearing this, the several Rogue Cultivators were first startled. Then, just like the mustached man, they began discussing the matter with gloating delight.

It was obvious that as Rogue Cultivators, they found it deeply satisfying and gratifying whenever these normally high-and-mighty cultivation sects suddenly met ruin.

Even though the Three Absolute Sect was a sect from Feng Kingdom and had never oppressed them, that still could not make them feel the slightest sympathy for its plight.

After all, every cultivation sect under heaven was the same. All of them were rent-seeking exploiters who maintained their own exalted status by squeezing the vast population of Rogue Cultivators.

As oppressed Rogue Cultivators, they naturally had to set their loyalties straight.

But after hearing the news, Zhou Chun's entire body trembled, and his heart churned like a stormy sea.

Without a doubt, this was the worst possible outcome for him.

The Three Absolute Sect doesn't even exist anymore. What the hell am I supposed to return to?

Was he supposed to work for those cultivation sects and lineages like these Rogue Cultivators from now on, earning cultivation resources?

Even after transmigrating and being reborn, could he still not escape the fate of being a wage laborer?

Zhou Chun was bewildered for a time, not knowing what he should do next.

Fortunately, he had his back to that table, so the others could not see the change in his expression.

Then the mustached man continued sharing the news he had learned. What he said caused the bewildered Zhou Chun's eyes to gradually brighten, rekindling hope within him.