Chapter 276
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Chapter 276: Great Difficulty
The City of Ten Thousand Cultivators is undeniably the city of loose cultivators, with hundreds of thousands of them residing both inside and outside the city.
Including outsiders like Wang Chen, the number of cultivators becomes even more staggering.
Among them, those at the Qi Training stage constitute the majority.
Given the vast number, perfect mastery in Qi Training is quite common; except for a few exceptionally gifted individuals, most of their territory requires spirit pills to attempt breaking through to open a house.
Possessing spirit pills doesn’t guarantee a successful breakthrough, but without them, the likelihood of failure is high, not to mention the risk of death.
In such circumstances, the popularity of spirit pills is easily understood!
Pre-ordering one takes half a year!
Wang Chen couldn’t help but ask, “How many spirit stones for one?”
Manager Jin smiled and held up three fingers: “Three hundred Intermediate Spirits.”
What the hell!
Wang Chen felt like raising a finger.
That’s daylight robbery!
Although one Intermediate Spirit is equivalent to one hundred spirit fragments, exchanging three hundred Intermediate Spirits for thirty thousand spirit fragments is straightforward, but thirty thousand spirit fragments cannot be exchanged for three hundred Intermediate Spirits.
At least an additional ten percent must be added!
This means that the actual price of the spirit pills sold by the Four Seas Trading Association is thirty-three thousand spirit fragments.
This price truly shattered Wang Chen’s understanding.
“If I order two, can I get a discount?”
Manager Jin pondered for a moment and replied, “If you place the order now, I can arrange it; two spirit pills for only sixty thousand spirit fragments.”
Sixty thousand spirit fragments…
Wang Chen gritted his teeth: “I’ll take it!”
He had already achieved perfect mastery in Qi Training; he just needed a bit more accumulation to attempt breaking through to the Purple Palace.
Wang Chen had long planned to be promoted to the Purple Palace before crossing the Yulong Mountain Range.
So, spirit pills were essential.
Once he missed the opportunity in the City of Ten Thousand Cultivators, he would probably not find another place to buy spirit pills!
As for comparing prices at other places, with the reputation and strength of the Four Seas Trading Association, Wang Chen didn’t think he could find cheaper prices in this city unless there was something fishy going on.
With such a significant matter concerning his promotion, Wang Chen naturally prioritized the Four Seas Trading Association.
The twenty-three thousand and forty-five spirit fragments he had just obtained still hadn’t warmed up in his hands before he handed it all back.
He even had to pay an extra nearly seven thousand spirit fragments!
There was no choice; the requirement of the Four Seas Trading Association was to pay half the deposit first and then the rest within half a year.
As he walked out of the Four Seas Trading Association, Wang Chen felt completely drained.
The wealth he had painstakingly accumulated, along with the spoils from defeating dozens of cultivators, wasn’t all gone, but a large portion was invested, only enough to cover half the deposit for two spirit pills.
No wonder higher level alchemists are all rolling in wealth!
Wang Chen felt a tinge of regret for choosing Talisman Making as his side profession back then; if he had taken up alchemy instead…
Never mind!
He dismissed this impractical thought and pondered where to find another thirty thousand spirit fragments.
After much deliberation, Wang Chen came up with a plan.
The City of Ten Thousand Cultivators is equipped with special formations that suppress all cultivators within, making it unsuitable for cultivation, but it is an excellent place for business.
Countless shops, taverns, inns, and workshops line the streets, with talisman shops, elixir stores, pet shops, tailor shops, grocery stores, and more, creating a vibrant commercial atmosphere.
To Wang Chen, the City of Ten Thousand Cultivators is essentially a bustling trade hub in the world of cultivation!
Even as a newcomer unfamiliar with the area, he could deeply sense the unique charm of this immortal city.
Thus, Wang Chen decided to adapt to local customs.
During the six months he waited for the spirit pills to arrive, he aimed to earn thirty thousand spirit fragments in the City of Ten Thousand Cultivators!
He sought out a Pawnbroker.
Half a year might not seem long, but to earn spirit stones in the city, he needed a place to stay.
Wang Chen planned to rent a room.
However, upon inquiry, he discovered that renting in the City of Ten Thousand Cultivators was no simple task.
First, properties for rent or sale in the city were in high demand; as soon as a place became available, it was snapped up immediately.
Finding a satisfactory rental depended entirely on luck!
Wang Chen found this perplexing.
If the City of Ten Thousand Cultivators was unsuitable for cultivation, why were housing prices so high?
Surely it wasn’t because a group of real estate speculators had crossed over here!
In response to Wang Chen’s confusion, the Pawnbroker smiled and said, “Once you’ve lived here for a while, you’ll understand.”
Though the Pawnbroker’s demeanor was polite and respectful,
Wang Chen sensed that this fourth realm of Qi Training cultivator didn’t truly hold him in high regard.
There was an air of inexplicable arrogance about him.
Spiritual Heavenly Dragons!
Wang Chen calmly handed the Pawnbroker a message crane: “Contact me if you find any housing.”
This message crane carried a trace of Wang Chen’s aura and would relay messages to him once activated with spiritual power, provided the distance wasn’t too great.
After leaving the Pawnbroker, Wang Chen noticed the sky darkening and found an inn nearby to stay at.
Housing prices were high, and staying at the inn wasn’t cheap either.
This inn was modest, yet a shared room for ten people cost five spirit fragments a night.
Wang Chen certainly wasn’t going to share a room with others, so he rented a single room for twenty spirit fragments a night.
This was already the cheapest single room available!
The room was cramped; after fitting in a bed and a set of table and chairs, there was barely any space left.
However, the walls were thick, providing excellent soundproofing.
Interestingly, when the waiter showed Wang Chen the room, he specifically warned him not to set up any formations inside, such as spirit gathering formations.
Otherwise, there would be serious consequences!
Moreover, if guests violated the rules, the inn would bear no responsibility and would instead hold them accountable!
If he wanted to cultivate, he should rent cultivating caves in the inner city.
Though the waiter didn’t say it, Wang Chen was certain that renting cultivating caves would be exorbitantly expensive.
If a shabby single room in a small inn cost twenty spirit fragments a night, how much would a cultivating cave cost for a day?
Wang Chen felt that the few thousand spirit stones he had left were far from enough here.
The City of Ten Thousand Cultivators is no easy place to live!
He thought for a moment; if he couldn’t find a rental or if the rent was too high, he might as well find a spot nearby, dig a tunnel, and build a hidden chamber to live like a hermit.
With a flying artifact, traveling between the city and the outskirts, even a hundred miles apart, would be a breeze.
This would save money and avoid the suppression of the city’s formations.
Wouldn’t that be the best of both worlds?
The problem was, other cultivators weren’t fools; why didn’t everyone do this?
Wang Chen felt there had to be a reason.
After some thought, he decided to stay at the inn for a few days, familiarizing himself with the situation before making any decisions.
The next morning, Wang Chen set out early.
He spent the entire day wandering the City of Ten Thousand Cultivators, even stopping by two tea houses and a tavern.
On the third and fourth days in this city of loose cultivators, he followed the same routine.
After three days, Wang Chen had a better grasp of things.
At the same time, he finally received the letter of crane paper from the Pawnbroker!
