Chapter 23
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Chapter 23: It’s All a Trick
The city’s tricks run deep; Wang Chen yearns to return to the countryside!
According to Manager Jin, Vajra Ghee is an indispensable supplement for cultivating the Heavenly Dragon Vajra True Method.
Applying this special medicinal oil over the entire body can maximize the activation of vital energy, significantly accelerating cultivation and greatly enhancing its effectiveness.
While it’s not impossible to cultivate the Heavenly Dragon Vajra True Method without Vajra Ghee, the efficiency and destructive power would inevitably be greatly diminished!
In such a case, it might be more appropriate to opt for other body-refining techniques.
The Four Seas Trading Association offers Vajra Ghee for sale.
A single bottle costs ten spirit fragments.
This amount barely suffices for one cultivation session!
Upon hearing this, Wang Chen was utterly drained of words.
Isn’t this just like the strategy the Japanese used to sell printers back on Earth?
He couldn’t say it was exactly the same, but there was absolutely no difference!
The Japanese sold high-quality printers at dirt-cheap prices to dominate the market and edge out competitors.
Then they reaped enormous profits by selling High Price supplies.
The cost of original supplies could amount to one-fifth or more of the printer’s price.
What a déjà vu!
How utterly despicable!
Yet, Wang Chen couldn’t accuse the Four Seas Trading Association of scamming him.
They were employing legitimate tactics.
In fact, the transaction hadn’t been finalized; the Jade Slips were still in Manager Jin’s possession.
Wang Chen could certainly refuse.
The issue was that the Heavenly Dragon Vajra True Method perfectly matched his current needs.
Firstly, this technique boasted formidable body cultivation destructive power, was easy to master, and was reasonably priced.
Although the necessity of Vajra Ghee seemed a bit of a rip-off, as a supplementary technique, it wasn’t entirely unacceptable.
Wang Chen, suppressing his heartache, shelled out fifty spirit fragments to purchase the first three levels of the Heavenly Dragon Vajra True Method.
He also bought two bottles of Vajra Ghee.
He intended to try out this technique first; if it didn’t work out, the loss wouldn’t be too significant.
Wang Chen also acquired a Spirit Eye and an Object Manipulation technique.
Both Spirit Eye and Object Manipulation are low-tier Qi Training spells, hence their prices are quite affordable.
The Spirit Eye technique can be used to assess the strength levels of cultivators and Evil Spirits, with the detection range determined by one’s cultivation level and the spell’s level.
It is also countered by spells like the Concealment Technique, so it’s not entirely foolproof.
However, nearly every cultivator learns this spell.
The original owner’s lack of mastery was primarily due to poverty.
The original owner believed that as a spiritual plant farmer, he didn’t need to understand Spirit Eye.
This notion left Wang Chen utterly speechless.
Therefore, he decided to purchase it along with other items.
As for Object Manipulation, as the name implies, it is a technique for controlling objects or magical tools.
It’s worth noting that Object Manipulation is a prerequisite for Sword Control.
To practice Sword Control, one must master Object Manipulation to at least a proficient level!
Moreover, Object Manipulation is highly versatile and reasonably priced, so Wang Chen didn’t want to miss out on it.
In fact, Wang Chen also wished to buy a few attack spells.
However, his spirit stones were nearly depleted, so he had to postpone that purchase until his next visit.
Upon leaving the Four Seas Trading Association, he had spent seventy spirit fragments and acquired two bottles of Vajra Ghee.
In his Sea of Consciousness, he had also gained three method seeds.
These three method seeds were similarly bound by oath seals.
The techniques and spells sold by the Four Seas Trading Association, much like those exchanged within the sect, came with oath seals.
It is said that in ancient times, most cultivation secrets were recorded in books.
The grand sects’ libraries housed genuine books, free from the constraints of oath seals.
But nowadays, almost all techniques are stored in Jade Slips.
As for secret books, they haven’t entirely vanished; they often surface in black markets to deceive novices like Little White.
Anyone with even a modicum of cultivation knowledge would avoid purchasing those so-called secret manuals.
Because a single word difference in the recorded techniques can lead to vast discrepancies.
There are countless counterfeit or flawed editions out there.
Attempting to cultivate from them could lead to disastrous consequences!
Although Jade Slips are restricted by oath seals, these seals also guarantee the authenticity of the techniques.
In fact, disciples like Wang Chen are relatively fortunate, as they have legitimate channels to exchange for authentic techniques.
Loose cultivators, on the other hand, have it much harder; they might even pay with their lives just to obtain a technique!
Furthermore, the higher the level of the technique sealed within the Jade Slip, the fewer times it can be activated.
Jade Slips cannot be replicated, and crafting them is no easy task.
Thus, among the four essential elements of cultivation—wealth, techniques, partners, and land—"techniques" being ranked second is not without reason.
Since it was still early, Wang Chen next ventured into a blacksmith’s shop.
In the vast array of cultivation arts, weapon refining and crafting are significant fields, with practitioners found everywhere.
Wang Chen was not seeking a weapon refiner, nor was he looking to create a magical tool.
He took out a blueprint and explained his requirements to the master blacksmith at the blacksmith’s shop.
The blueprint was something Wang Chen had drawn a few days ago while recuperating at home. Due to the lack of suitable paper and pen at the time, it was rather crude and required detailed explanations.
However, the item wasn’t complicated. After listening, the master blacksmith exchanged a few more words with Wang Chen, then patted his dark chest and declared, “This is simple; come back in half an hour to pick it up!”
The price was also very reasonable, costing Wang Chen only one spirit fragment.
Wang Chen paid the spirit stones on the spot and then hurried to a nearby grocery store and butcher shop to purchase some spices and seasonings.
He also bought fifty pounds of magical beast meat!
For body cultivation, he had to consume meat; ordinary meat devoid of spiritual energy wouldn’t suffice.
Although he had slain a large number of land rhinoceroses, including several monsterized land rhinoceroses, the small amount of worm meat he obtained was only enough for a few rice balls.
He had already consumed all of it by now.
The price of magical beast meat was quite steep. Although Wang Chen bought inferior meat, it still cost him five spirit fragments.
That was nearly five times the cost of spiritual grains!
Now, Wang Chen’s storage bag was nearly empty, containing only two spirit fragments and a few dozen spirit fragments.
It felt like he had returned to the time before his journey!
When he returned to the blacksmith’s shop, the item he had ordered earlier was already completed.
Wang Chen tested it out but discovered a few minor issues.
The master blacksmith resolved them on the spot.
He was like a human machine tool!
What Wang Chen had commissioned here were the main components of a hand-cranked rice mill.
The efficiency of manually grinding rice was too low, and the control of power was poor, resulting in too many broken grains, which required re-sifting the rice bran. He didn’t want to waste time on that.
As for buying ready-made spiritual rice in the city, for someone like Wang Chen, who was strapped for cash, the price difference for grains was unaffordable.
So Wang Chen thought of the rice mill.
The structure of the rice mill was actually quite simple; as long as one understood the principle, drawing the blueprint wasn’t difficult.
Wang Chen was a science and engineering type and had studied mechanical engineering in college, so this was naturally within his capabilities.
As the saying goes, those who excel in mathematics and physics need not fear traveling the world.
Even in a cultivation world, it could prove useful!
Before the sun set, Wang Chen returned home with a bountiful harvest, riding in a horse-drawn carriage.
Pe551
Past life knowledge hell yeah