Upgrading, a Huge Expense

"Disappointed? Hehe."

Luo Qiyuan smiled and said nothing more.

"Since you've come to the Treasure Gathering Pavilion today, just tell us whatever you want to buy. You'll get thirty percent off, today only."

Luo Qiyuan spoke to Li Yunjing with a smile.

Li Yunjing frowned. A discount?

Could Luo Qiyuan also be looking to invest in him?

Li Yunjing felt utterly helpless.

It really did prove that saying.

When you hadn't made it, there wasn't a good person around you.

Once you made it, you found yourself surrounded by good people.

Even so, Li Yunjing wouldn't turn down Luo Qiyuan's goodwill.

Accepting Luo Qiyuan's favor would also establish a connection between them.

One more friend meant one more road.

Li Yunjing understood that much.

"This junior is deeply grateful."

Luo Qiyuan still wore a smile.

He nodded to Li Yunjing, then rose and left.

Afterward, Li Mingjie entered the private room.

"Sect Leader Li." Li Mingjie cupped his hands to Li Yunjing.

Only then did Li Yunjing realize that Li Mingjie was also at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage.

Tsk, how come as soon as I reached the Foundation Establishment Realm,

all my old acquaintances turned out to be at Foundation Establishment too?

Foundation Establishment cultivators aren't a dime a dozen in Xunxian Town, are they?

Li Yunjing grumbled inwardly.

After greeting Li Mingjie, Li Yunjing got straight to the point.

He rattled off everything he had come to buy.

First were the materials to upgrade the Sect Grand Hall.

Twelve pieces of iron essence, one piece of jade marrow, and a superior first-grade defensive formation.

Each piece of iron essence was the size of a fist and was a superior first-grade spiritual object,

worth ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Twelve pieces came to 120 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

As for jade marrow, a single piece cost sixty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

A superior first-grade defensive formation cost an average of 100 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Upgrading the Sect Grand Hall would cost 280 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

It wasn't all that much.

At least, Li Yunjing could accept the price.

After the Sect Grand Hall came the Spirit Field.

Upgrading the Spirit Field required yang-restoring wood marrow and fifty cubic units of first-grade spiritual soil.

Yang-restoring wood marrow was expensive, at eighty Low-Grade Spirit Stones a piece.

As for first-grade spiritual soil, it cost five Spirit Stones per cubic unit.

Upgrading the Spirit Field would cost 330 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

At this point, Li Yunjing frowned slightly.

Upgrading the Sect Grand Hall and Spirit Field alone would cost 610 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

That was a little steep.

Fortunately, he had a thirty-percent discount.

Next, Li Mingjie listed the prices of the other materials one by one.

One piece of soul-suppressing stone cost ninety-two Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

One tael of heavenly silver cost thirty-three Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Pill Furnace parts, fire cloud stone, the Basic Heavenly Secrets Formation Diagram...

All those odds and ends came to 506 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Added to the earlier 610 Low-Grade Spirit Stones,

the total was 1,116 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

"Sect Leader Li, the shopkeeper said to take thirty percent off, so that comes to 781 Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

Li Mingjie held the bill and smiled at Li Yunjing.

Li Yunjing nodded slightly.

"I also want twenty first-grade Cultivation Methods."

Upgrading the scripture repository also required twenty first-grade Cultivation Methods.

The Treasure Gathering Pavilion naturally had a great many first-grade Cultivation Methods.

Most, however, were just there to make up the numbers.

Li Yunjing wanted to choose twenty first-grade Cultivation Methods carefully.

That was why he had only mentioned them at the end.

Li Mingjie clapped his hands.

Duan Yang promptly brought a booklet into the private room.

"Please take a look."

Li Yunjing picked up the booklet and opened it.

It listed every first-grade Cultivation Method sold by the Treasure Gathering Pavilion.

They ranged from the simplest Dust-Avoidance Incantation and Object-Controlling Technique

to top-notch first-grade Law Techniques like the Fire Dragon Incantation and Every Plant a Soldier.

Li Yunjing browsed through them carefully.

In the end, based on the circumstances of the Luozhen Sect's current five disciples,

he bought Cultivation Methods suited to each of them.

For example, Zhang Hanpeng's earth Spirit Root was prominent,

so Li Yunjing bought several earth-attribute Cultivation Methods.

Hu Ruizhu and Hu Ruiyang, meanwhile, had a prominent fire Spirit Root and a prominent water Spirit Root, respectively.

Lü Hong's wood Spirit Root was prominent, while Ge Shuyuan's metal Spirit Root was prominent.

Looked at that way, the five disciples happened to cover all five elements.

Once the twenty Cultivation Methods had been selected,

Li Mingjie made an estimate in his head.

"Each Cultivation Method costs between twenty and thirty,

so let's split the difference and count them all at twenty-five. The total is 200.

After the thirty-percent discount, you only need to pay 350. Add that to the previous 781, and you owe 1,131 Low-Grade Spirit Stones, Sect Leader Li.

If you don't have enough Spirit Stones, you can also use treasures of equivalent value to make up the difference."

Hearing the price, Li Yunjing was secretly taken aback.

Over a thousand Spirit Stones-this was the largest sum Li Yunjing had ever spent.

And that didn't even include the Spirit Stones needed to upgrade the buildings.

Moreover, since his cave abode had already been upgraded once, Li Yunjing hadn't included it this time.

He planned to upgrade it after some time had passed.

Otherwise, the Spirit Stones he spent would certainly amount to more than this.

Li Yunjing took out all the Low-Grade Spirit Stones he had on him.

Aside from ten Spirit Stone notes worth fifty each,

he had 606 Low-Grade Spirit Stones left.

That added up to only 1,106.

He was still twenty-five short.

Li Yunjing frowned, wondering what he had on him that he could use to make up the twenty-five Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

But Li Mingjie smiled and said, "All right, the shopkeeper has spoken. We'll waive the twenty-five."

Li Yunjing was taken aback. "There's no need. I can cover the twenty-five."

Li Yunjing took out four premium spiritual chicken eggs.

He had sold them before.

At the time, Li Mingjie had offered seven Low-Grade Spirit Stones for each premium spiritual chicken egg.

Four were enough to cover the twenty-five Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

When Li Mingjie saw the golden spiritual chicken eggs Li Yunjing had sold before,

he too was taken aback, but quickly recovered.

"All right. The Treasure Gathering Pavilion was being presumptuous," Li Mingjie said.

After putting everything away, Li Mingjie left the private room.

Before long, Duan Yang entered the private room with a Storage Bag.

"Sect Leader Li, please keep this safe. The Storage Bag is a gift from our shopkeeper."

Duan Yang handed the Storage Bag directly to Li Yunjing.

Li Yunjing felt helpless.

A Storage Bag had to be worth at least twenty or thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Wasn't this equivalent to waiving those twenty-five Low-Grade Spirit Stones after all?

With a sigh, Li Yunjing put the Storage Bag away.

"Thank your shopkeeper for me."

Then, escorted by Duan Yang, Li Yunjing left the Treasure Gathering Pavilion.

With all the materials purchased, he had accomplished what he came to Xunxian Town to do.

Li Yunjing planned to leave Xunxian Town.

On the way, however, he passed the entrance to the Immortal Alliance Xunxian Town Branch.

It was a large residence that occupied a vast area.

Li Yunjing wondered whether he should go in and thank Wang Qianxue in person.

But on second thought, he hadn't prepared anything, so he decided to do it next time.

He hurried past and came to the Immortal Pavilion.

Since he had only Mid-Grade Spirit Stones left,

Li Yunjing planned to exchange them for Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Li Yunjing took out ten Mid-Grade Spirit Stones

and exchanged them at the Immortal Pavilion for 800 physical Low-Grade Spirit Stones and four Spirit Stone notes worth fifty each. Only then did he leave Xunxian Town.

Li Yunjing used Wind-Riding Escape again.

This time, he clearly felt much less resistance as he used it.

It took him only about three-quarters of an hour to return to the Luozhen Sect.

Arriving at the mountain gate, Li Yunjing took out the materials needed to upgrade it.

One piece of soul-suppressing stone, five taels of heavenly silver, and 100 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

He silently willed the upgrade, and the mountain gate immediately rose to lv3.

A golden light enveloped the mountain gate, and its appearance immediately changed.

The Luozhen Sect's mountain gate now looked as though it had been carved from a single expanse of blue-gray rock. It gave off a faint glow, and the three characters for Luozhen Sect upon it were white as jade.

At the sight, Li Yunjing exclaimed inwardly, A bird gun exchanged for a cannon.

He checked the upgraded mountain gate's information.

[Mountain gate (lv3)]

[lv4 spiritual effects: Early warning range increased by fifty zhang, spiritual light strengthened, with an added soul-intimidation effect, effective up to cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage.

Can release a spiritual soul impact to annihilate cultivators who force their way through the mountain gate, effective only up to the Foundation Establishment Early Stage.

Works in conjunction with the sect-protecting grand formation, drawing clouds and mist together into a concealing barrier and forming a Spiritual Qi barrier to protect the Luozhen Sect.]

[Upgrade requirement: Sect-protecting grand formation *1.]