Strange stone?

"The Li Family is still powerful. Even the protective formation for a mere branch courtyard is at the Late Qi Gathering stage."

Elder Yu thought to himself.

After all, they got rich early; their small Yang Family couldn't compare.

Furthermore, the Li Family had close ties with a sect within the Tiger Chasing Dynasty. With such backing, no one in Wangyue City would dare provoke them.

Thinking this, Elder Yu also considered the future path for the Yang Family.

For a family to establish itself and stand firm in the wilderness, besides their own strength, a crucial factor was having a backer.

As far as he knew, there were no large-scale immortal cultivation families within the Tiger Chasing Dynasty that existed entirely independently of the dynasty and its sects.

They either resided within towns or were affiliated with a sect.

The Yang Family had just moved out of town, was weak, and had little to offer, so no sect would proactively approach them.

As they grew stronger in the future, they would inevitably have to deal with sects.

Secretly noting this, Elder Yu and Li Cheng boarded the small island together.

The entrance fee to the market was one spirit crystal per person. Annually, the lord of Wangyue City earned a substantial fortune just from these entry fees.

"Young Master Li, I need to set up a stall to sell some things. Why don't you head to the Formation Pavilion to find a formation master first?"

"Set up a stall?"

Upon hearing this, Li Cheng immediately understood. Elder Yu was short on cash and needed to raise some funds.

Remembering their acquaintance, he asked, "Elder Yu, what are you selling? Why don't you let me see them first? If my family needs them, I'll buy them directly."

Elder Yu considered this and thought it was indeed a good idea, saving him the time of setting up a stall and hawking his wares.

The two arrived at an open space, and Elder Yu opened the pouch at his waist.

This time, he had brought four pills, ten talismans, several kinds of high-quality precious medicinal herbs, and the most abundant item was refined ore used for artifact forging.

Li Cheng examined everything and took an inventory.

"The items are all fine. I'll take them all. How about sixteen spirit crystals?"

"Deal!"

Elder Yu agreed immediately.

He had initially estimated the value at only fifteen spirit crystals, but Li Cheng had offered one more.

Money exchanged hands, and goods were delivered.

Elder Yu carefully put away the spirit crystals, while Li Cheng directly patted his waist pouch, storing the large bundle of goods within.

Envy flickered in Elder Yu's eyes.

The Yang Family did not yet possess a spatial item.

Even the lowest quality storage bag started at twenty spirit crystals. A few years ago, he and Yang Guanfeng had tried to save up to buy one.

However, the dynasty's taxes were too heavy, and combined with daily expenses, they simply couldn't save any money.

The situation was much better now. With the forbidden area's formation set up, the new Yang Family was considered stable. Coupled with the addition of three more cultivators, they could eventually save up to buy one.

Having obtained the spirit crystals, the two headed to the Formation Pavilion together.

Here, one could purchase ready-made formation diagrams. Cultivators could buy them and construct the formations themselves according to the diagrams.

However, the effectiveness of formations built this way was uncertain.

Another option was to directly hire professional formation masters to personally set up the formations. This was more expensive but guaranteed the formation's effectiveness.

After an introduction from the Formation Pavilion, Elder Yu ultimately chose a young formation master named Liu Zihao.

Although this person's cultivation realm was not high, only Fourth Layer of Qi Gathering, he had considerable experience in setting up alert and defensive formations.

After some negotiation, the price was settled at twenty-one spirit crystals.

"These are the materials needed to set up the formation. We'll depart tomorrow. Buy anything else you might need today."

Hiring a formation master did not require purchasing diagrams, but the materials still had to be provided by the client.

After paying, Elder Yu walked out of the Formation Pavilion, and Li Cheng bid him farewell.

As the old man left, he glanced back at the pavilion.

"If only our Yang Family had a heritage in the Hundred Arts of Cultivation," he thought.

The Hundred Arts of Cultivation was a collective term for skills such as alchemy, artifact forging, and formation setting.

The most common were these three, along with others like beast taming, incense making, astrology, physiognomy, and casting.

Mastering any one of these skills would provide a stable channel for earning spirit crystals.

However, each inherited skill was incredibly expensive.

Not to mention the rare ones, just for alchemy, artifact forging, and formation setting.

A complete inheritance could easily fetch over a thousand spirit crystals at auction.

It was completely beyond the Yang Family's current means.

Of course, there's another method: purchasing incomplete texts.

This method relies more on luck.

Incomplete texts are cheap, but because the content is incomplete, you have to constantly experiment yourself to potentially succeed in cultivating.

And even then, success isn't guaranteed. Some might result in you suffering immense losses for nothing.

While contemplating these matters, Elder Yu's footsteps didn't falter.

After spending five spirit crystals on materials to set up a formation, he headed to the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion in the market.

As mentioned before, the Yang Family would have dealings with sects in the future.

He wanted to come here to purchase some information about the surrounding sects.

"Ten spirit crystals."

The shop assistant who received him stated the price.

"How much?"

"Ten spirit crystals."

Elder Yu could hardly believe his ears.

It was just basic information about sects, yet it cost so much.

He recalled that when he was still in a sect, he used to sell information about other sects to information brokers, but he only charged two or three spirit crystals back then.

He never expected these guys to turn around and sell it to other cultivators for double the price by exploiting information asymmetry.

"That's too expensive. I only need information on sects close to Little Pine Mountain, nothing else."

"Hmm, let me see."

The shop assistant took out a piece of white paper and scribbled for a while.

"Two sects, four spirit crystals. Three if bought individually."

Elder Yu's lips twitched upon hearing this, but he ultimately endured it, spending four spirit crystals to purchase the information.

The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion had its reasons for quoting such prices.

You could buy various types of intelligence cheaply from others, but if you happened to buy fake information, you'd have to accept your misfortune.

The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's confidence stemmed from the fact that all the intelligence you bought from them was guaranteed to be authentic.

If fake information caused you any losses, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion would compensate you tenfold.

After obtaining the sect information, Elder Yu had only one last matter to attend to.

Inquiring about Chen Yang's origins.

This matter could also be resolved at the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.

After paying a consultation fee of one spirit crystal, Elder Yu received a name.

Exotic Stone!

These special stones were typically produced in various blessed lands and heavens, possessing different effects with a high degree of randomness.

Some were not even as good as spiritual treasures for those in the Early-stage of Qi Gathering, while others could rival magical treasures of the Upper Three Realms!

After obtaining this information, Elder Yu went to the Library in the market and spent a considerable amount of time poring over numerous materials to learn about Exotic Stones.

It wasn't until the next morning that he emerged from the Library, carrying a bundle of books detailing the history, geography, customs, and culture of the Tiger Chasing Dynasty, along with the Record of Hundred Cultivation Knowledge, and more.

As more and more children of the Yang Family would embark on the path of cultivation in the future, these books would help broaden their horizons and provide them with basic knowledge about the land beneath their feet.

With that, the thirty-three spirit crystals he had brought to the market this time were all spent.

Elder Yu had planned meticulously, maximizing the value of every spirit crystal as much as possible.