A Stream of Living Water
However, just half a month later, dozens more shops opened in the commercial area of Xiushui City.
More and more cultivators from all over the Mortal Realm are becoming interested in Xiushui City. Most of the sect disciples who hadn't come before were filled with longing after hearing the descriptions of what they saw and heard from the disciples who had been there in early February. Just then, the sect elders returned and said that they would need to make a lot of things in the future and would give extra stipends to the disciples who took orders. These disciples were all scrambling to take orders to earn Spirit Stone, just so they could collect more Spirit Stone to go to Xiushui City to visit the supposedly dazzling commercial district and also to see the monthly auction.
Meanwhile, many sects and royal families with insufficient warehouse stock or who felt they were not very competitive in refining various items began to seriously operate passenger transport businesses using their spirit ships and spirit boats.
These spirit ships are mostly piloted by Golden Core or even Nascent Soul Cultivator themselves, so they don't need to spend spirit Spirit Stone. The consumption is very low, so the fare charged to each cultivator is not high.
The initial price is one Spirit Stone for a regular small cabin on weekdays, but it will be more expensive, costing two Spirit Stone, on the day before and the day of the Xiushui City auction.
These spirit ships make a trip almost every day, coming from all directions of the Mortal Realm.
Every day, people in Xiushui City and the surrounding area could see large ships passing by in the sky. At first, they were amazed, but later they gradually got used to it.
Because these spirit ships travel frequently and in large numbers, the Xiushui City Lord's Mansion decided to build a special docking area for spirit ships outside the city.
The construction, maintenance, and overall management of this site are the responsibility of Xiushui City. Each sect's spirit ship will be provided with a docking area. At the same time, each sect must also send someone to be in charge of the situation within their own docking area, and each sect shall bear all expenses for their own docking area.
Seeing that they would have to send people here to manage the docking areas for their spirit ships anyway, these sects decided to simply set up their own sect offices here, which would also make it easier to handle various matters when their sects sent people over in the future.
Thus, with the establishment of the spirit ship docking area Xiushui City, the sects that operated the spirit ship transportation business also set up their respective sect outposts there.
Those sects and royal families who didn't deal in spirit ships but had shops in the city saw that these people actually had a presence in Xiushui City. How could they, who did business in the city, not have one? Set one up immediately!
As for why they didn't just use their shops as the sect's outposts, shops are places where people come and go, and it's inconvenient to discuss things if needed. Also, the shops aren't very big, and an outpost would require sending people to be stationed there, so shops are really not suitable.
Less than half a month later, as the docking area for the ships outside Xiushui City was completed, rows of outposts for various sects and the royal family were also built around it.
This auction was even more popular than usual. Although it was still a small-scale auction applicable to the Qi Refining Stage and Foundation Establishment Realm, these two groups constituted the largest proportion of cultivators. Therefore, the Trade Affairs Center had anticipated the popularity of the auction as early as last month, so this month's auction was not a single event, but three auctions held simultaneously!
Although three hundred slots are still far from enough to meet the needs of the huge group of low-level cultivators, auctions are all about scarcity, and if there were any more, it would be better to just put them in a shop for sale.
The lower-level cultivators who didn't manage to snag a spot in the auction weren't worried. After all, the auction was held once a month, and while it was rare and a little disappointing not to get one, it wasn't something to be heartbroken about.
Having come all this way, it's well worth a visit to the commercial area.
In just over two months, Xiushui City, which was originally quite deserted except for the foot of the Lingxian Sect Mountain, suddenly became incredibly lively, with visitors coming from all directions in an endless stream, creating a vibrant and thriving scene.
Meanwhile, the Yuan Household and Su Household, far away in Yuanling City in the Immortal Cultivation Realm, have also been extremely busy lately.
In recent months, the quantity of goods sent and purchased by the Lingxian Sect has increased month by month, more than doubling each month. Even the Yuan Household, who are used to doing big business, were stunned by the scale of shipments and purchases.
Fortunately, Lingxian Sect had given them advance notice, so they had already started contacting merchants in more distant cities recently, and they could still handle the current number of merchants from the Lingxian Sect.
On the other hand, regarding Su's General Store, Lin Xiao and Qin Jianghe originally thought it would be difficult for the Su Household to sell those high-end and rare goods. However, as the saying goes, every snake has its own way of doing things. Su Yaoguang directly dumped the first batch of goods through the black market in the Southern Spirit Domain. Moreover, because the quality of the first batch of goods was very good, and Su Yaoguang had his own connections, he obtained the right to use a fixed stall in the black market of the Southern Spirit Domain.
Of course, this black market does a good job of keeping the identities of sellers and buyers confidential; otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to survive for so long in the Immortal Cultivation Realm.
The Mortal Realm developed rapidly without the knowledge of the Immortal Cultivation Realm, and everything proceeded in an orderly manner.
The entire Mortal Realm seemed to have been suddenly infused with a stream of fresh water. Whether it was the Spirit Stone and Cultivation Resources in the hands of cultivators, or their cultivation levels, everything was increasing at a visible rate.
As a result, ordinary people in Xiushui City also gained a deeper understanding and knowledge of so-called cultivators.
It turns out that these immortals also engage in trade and make money, but their money comes in the form of Spirit Stone rather than gold and silver.
The expansion of the Lingxian Academy also gave children throughout the city the opportunity to read and write. More and more scholars who were not successful in their official careers or had other ambitions heard about the reputation of the Lingxian Academy in Xiushui City for teaching without discrimination and came to apply for teaching positions.
During festivals, the Lord's Mansion of Xiushui City would organize various activities, such as ancestor worship and spring outings during Qingming Festival, making zongzi and dragon boat races during Dragon Boat Festival, building a magpie bridge in the night sky during Qixi Festival, moon viewing and lantern parades during Mid-Autumn Festival, climbing mountains, chrysanthemum appreciation and crab feasts during Double Ninth Festival, and Laba porridge during the cold winter.
The cultivators were led by Xiushui City to spend one mortal festival after another with the local people, which made them feel somewhat dazed.
Many of them can't remember how long it's been since they celebrated these festivals; the meaning and customs of these festivals seem to have been buried deep in their distant memories, very vague and unclear.
But when they celebrated the festival with the people of Xiushui City, when they were completely enveloped by the festive atmosphere, something seemed to be reawakening in their hearts, gradually becoming clearer.