First Impressions of the Luo Heaven Sea
More than half a month later, Shen Ge arrived at Yaoguang Island. He did not come with the others, but left the ship and flew over by himself after approaching Yaoguang Island.
Although it wouldn't be long, Shen Ge disliked trouble. Arriving by ship might lead to connections with the merchant guild behind them, resulting in recruitment efforts here and there, which would be incredibly annoying.
After making a rough inquiry, I learned that Yaoguang Island is divided into an outer city and an inner city. The outer city is very large, about half the size of the Flowing Cloud Kingdom. As for the inner city, it's hard to say. Although it doesn't look very big from the air, who knows if there are any formations or anything like that?
The largest power on Yaoguang Island is called Yaoguang Immortal Sect, and their sphere of influence covers all the sea areas within 100,000 li of Yaoguang Island.
However, Yaoguang Immortal Sect is not the only sect on Yaoguang Island; there are also several smaller forces of varying sizes.
Arriving at a cultivator's inn, after some conversation, Shen Ge spent three hundred Spirit Stone to buy a courtyard, since it was close to the inner city and even had Spirit Gathering Formation.
After settling in, Shen Ge began to wander around the outer city. After wandering around for a while, he found the cultivator market, which was quite large.
However, most of what's sold here are talismans, refining materials, demon cores, and the like, which aren't of much use to Shen Ge.
After browsing from one end to the other, Shen Ge shook his head and turned to enter a shop called Treasure Pavilion.
"Guest, what would you like? We have Law Artifact, talismans, elixirs, formations... basically anything you can find elsewhere, we have it all, and the quality is even better than theirs," a woman dressed in a slightly seductive manner introduced.
"Do you have a nautical chart? The more detailed the better," Shen Ge asked casually, fiddling with a feather on the shelf.
"Yes, please wait a moment, sir, I'll go get it." The woman smiled gently, bowed slightly, and turned to walk upstairs.
A moment later, she came down, holding a rolled-up piece of fish skin in her hand.
"Guest, this nautical chart includes all the islands and dangerous areas within a 50,000-mile radius of Yaoguang Island, and it also marks the abundant products of some places. It's the most detailed nautical chart we have in our shop."
"How many Spirit Stone?" Shen Ge put down the feather, turned around and asked.
"It's not expensive, only five hundred Spirit Stone," the woman said with a sweet smile.
"It's alright, not expensive," Shen Ge nodded, took out five hundred Spirit Stone and handed them over, then took the sea chart and unfolded it to look at it.
After all, it's 500 Spirit Stone; we need to check the goods.
After a quick glance and finding no problems, he put it away.
Has anything happened on Yaoguang Ao Island recently?
"Nothing's wrong," the woman said. "The demon-slaying competition, which happens once every thirty years, ended last year, and the demon-slaying tournament, which happens once every fifty years, has also ended. Now is a time of peace and tranquility, the perfect time for cultivation."
It seems I'm a little late and missed a lot of activities, but that's not important. As long as I have a place to cultivate in peace, that's enough for Shen Ge.
"You have books on formations and talismans here, right? They don't need to be too good, just give me one of each. Also, give me one book on resources, something comprehensive."
"Okay, please wait a moment, sir."
A moment later, the woman brought over five books. "Guest, this one is about formations, but it only covers formations at the Foundation Establishment level. This one is about talismans as well. The other three are a complete guide to spirit medicine Spirit Plant, a complete guide to minerals and spiritual objects, and a complete guide to Demon Beast, which records the usefulness, habits, and weaknesses of various Demon Beast, and even some cooking methods."
"How do you feel, sir? Would you like to change it again?"
Shen Ge picked up the complete guide to spirit medicine Spirit Plant, glanced through it casually, and nodded, "Okay, how many Spirit Stone are in total for these five books?"
"The Complete Book of spirit medicine Spirit Plant is fifty Spirit Stone. The book on formations is more expensive, at one thousand Spirit Stone. The book on talismans is a bit cheaper, at eight hundred Spirit Stone. The other two books are one hundred Spirit Stone each, totaling one thousand nine hundred and fifty Spirit Stone. You can pay one thousand nine hundred and ninety thousand spirit stones, please. Welcome to come again next time."
Shen Ge smiled, raised his hand, took out 1,900 Spirit Stone, and handed them over. "Are you the person in charge here?"
The woman shook her head and said, "I'm just a shop assistant, how could I be qualified? If I were really to be the person in charge, this shop would probably be robbed in no time."
"Aren't you afraid of being punished for casually wiping out fifty Spirit Stone?"
"Sir, you're quite considerate," the woman said with a charming smile. "Don't worry, it's only fifty Spirit Stone. I won't be fined. If you come again next time, I can even give you a discount."
"Okay, come again next time."
After putting his things away, Shen Ge turned and left the Treasure Pavilion, heading towards the streets he hadn't finished exploring.
But looking around, Shen Ge was really disappointed. Most of the items for sale were for the Foundation Establishment Realm of weapon refining, and he rarely saw anything needed for the Golden Core Stage. Even when he did manage to find something, it was a defective product that was of little use.
Therefore, Shen Ge bought some talisman paper and some array materials along the way, intending to test whether there were any differences in arrays and talismans between the two regions.
"We're almost out of Spirit Stone, we need to find a way to earn some more."
Back in his courtyard, Shen Ge opened the nautical chart and began to study it.
"The Zhang Household and the Sea Fish Gang on Sea Billow Island, the Canghai Sect on Sea Spirit Island, the Thousand Sounds Workshop on Sea Moon Island, Dragon Heaven Merchant Association on Sea Whale Island —they really have quite a few powerful forces."
These are all major powers on several nearby islands. The nautical chart only lists their names without providing much information, but that's still pretty good. If it were really detailed, maybe no one would dare to sell this kind of chart.
"The Star Sand from Sea Billow Island is quite good; it can improve the quality of Law Treasure. However, the production is rather low. After being divided up by the Zhang Household, the Sea Fish Gang, and the Yaoguang Immortal Sect, there may only be a small amount left over. Perhaps even that small amount has been reserved by the major powers on other islands."
"The Enlightenment Flower Tea produced on Sea Spirit Island is quite good, and the spirit medicine is also decent. I'd like to visit sometime."
After scanning the nearby artifacts, Shen Ge focused his attention on the danger zone marked in red.
"The Abyssal Whirlpool has an influence range of a thousand miles. It possesses terrifying suction power and is often accompanied by gales and lightning. Anyone below the Golden Core Stage who accidentally enters its range will die, and even Golden Core Stage who ventures into its depths will not survive."
"That's quite dangerous; I guess I'll have to be careful."
After reviewing the nautical chart, Shen Ge gained a general understanding of the power and resources in this area, and thus had a preliminary grasp of the place.
After thinking for a moment, he picked up the book on formations and began to read it.
"The array patterns here aren't too different from ours, only the arrangement is slightly different in some places, but overall the differences are minor."
Putting down the book on formations, Shen Ge picked up the book on talismans and began to study it. After familiarizing himself with it, he started to draw the patterns carved on it.
After failing ten times, he finally grasped the pattern, and his success rate skyrocketed afterward, with about eight out of ten attempts being successful.
"The art of talismans hasn't changed much."