Chapter 24: Cultivating Qi in Three Layers

  There are special stalls for monks on several streets in Liuyunfang City, but to attract scattered monks, monks who rent houses in Fang City do not need to pay a stall fee of one ling stone per day.

  Of course, if it's during a large trading fair, setting up a stall in the market still requires paying a certain amount of spirit stones!

  Having found a relatively good location, Wang Chen sat down and Xuan Zhu took out some of the talismans to display on the stall. In fact, there were still many low-level cultivators around, and Wang Chen's cheap talismans were very practical for either hunting demonic beasts or fighting with magic, so within just one morning, more than 50 talismans were sold, each Qi-refining stage talisman costing two spirit stones, meaning that Wang Chen had earned over a hundred spirit stones.

  However, apart from the Ling Stone, Wang Chen also became familiar with many scattered cultivators who often appeared in the Flowing Clouds City, and after chatting with them for a bit, he gained a deeper understanding of many things about the Cultivation World.

  After all, his previous understanding of the cultivation world mainly came from that book "Cultivation Chronicles"!

  The fate of scattered cultivators is still quite miserable. Those who mix relatively well, like Wang Chen, have a special skill and can earn enough spirit stones to satisfy their cultivation without danger. If they are decent alchemists or artifact refiners, they can also become rich and buy some good artifacts!

  Moreover, they are the cultivators who hunt and kill demon beasts every day. The strength of these cultivators varies greatly, with those having higher cultivation levels able to hunt and kill more demon beasts, obtaining more resources and becoming even stronger. Those with lower cultivation levels not only have to be careful not to get killed by the demon beasts but also risk being killed by ruthless cultivators who will seize their treasures and destroy their bodies, erasing all evidence of their existence! This is actually a very common phenomenon in the world of immortal cultivation!

  Sold a few talismans in the morning, Wang Chen still felt that he had a pretty good harvest, but afterwards, he didn't have such good luck again, and until late afternoon when it was almost dark, he hadn't sold another single talisman.

  He let out a soft sigh and put away the talisman, preparing to return to his own dwelling, but then he heard a voice that made his heart tremble slightly.

  "Big Brother Chen!"

  Wang Chen raised his head and saw Shi Tong excitedly looking at him, with several other cultivators following behind Shi Tong. He felt that the cultivation of these people was deeper than his own.

  Wang Chen also smiled at Shi Tong, which was a greeting. Shi Tong's face turned red as she asked, "Big Brother Chen, what are you doing here? Are you setting up a stall to sell something?"

  "Ah, I made some talismans a few days ago and was just about to sell them! By the way, Shi Dao, you lent me five dozen talismans and five spirit stones last time, I was just thinking of returning them to you!"

  Wang Chen said and took out five pieces of spiritual stone from his storage bag, handing them over. Shi Tong heard Wang Chen call her "Shi Dao You", her body trembled slightly, momentarily stunned, the spiritual stones were handed into her hands.

  The conversation between the two naturally attracted the attention of several monks who were with Shi Tong, and they walked over to greet Wang Chen.

  Among the four, one was a tall and sturdy young man dressed in black, with a firm and spirited gaze, who should be Shi Tong's older brother, and his cultivation should also be the highest among the four. The two cultivators standing together should be a couple, looking like they are a perfect match! The remaining cultivator was a slightly shifty-eyed young man.

  Four people greeted Wang Chen, but Shi Tong lowered his head and didn't speak, biting his lips tightly! After the four finished greeting each other, Shi Tong suddenly asked: "Big Brother Chen, why don't you hunt and kill demons with us from now on?"

  Shi Tong's words made the expressions of several people in the scene change slightly. Originally, it was because several people were familiar with each other, and Shi Tian's cultivation was the highest, so they made a compromise to let Shi Tong join the team! Now if Wang Chen is added again, the benefits that several people will share will naturally decrease.

  Wang Chen heard this and was slightly stunned, but he felt a warmth in his heart. Shi Tong was afraid that he didn't have the spiritual stone to cultivate, so he wanted him to join them. After all, with his own cultivation, he wouldn't be of much use to them. However, Wang Chen had his own plans and naturally wouldn't hunt and kill demonic beasts with them.

  Then Wang Chen stroked Shi Tong's head with a sympathetic expression and politely declined. However, through the subsequent conversation, it was learned that Wang Chen was selling talismans, and the few people were very happy to buy all the remaining talismans, and even wanted to reserve more talismans, so Wang Chen also had a relatively fixed channel with them.

  Next, Wang Chen bid farewell to several people. On the one hand, Wang Chen was a bit overwhelmed by Shi Tong's enthusiasm; on the other hand, Wang Chen also needed to buy many more talismans to continue his grand plan of making talismans!

  In addition to the discount, he sold a total of 100 pieces of Ling Stone for 50 talismans. With this, Wang Chen now had 200 pieces of Ling Stone on him. Having obtained more Ling Stones, Wang Chen's confidence also grew, and he first paid to extend his stay in the house for half a year. The remaining Ling Stones were used to buy 50 bundles of talisman papers, which was equivalent to 600 sheets! This amount should be enough. In addition, considering the need for closed cultivation, Wang Chen spent another 10 pieces of Ling Stone to buy some low-grade End Grain Pills.

  With the remaining forty spirit stones, Wang Chen bought a basic talisman manual that recorded most of the talismans for the Qi Refining stage. Fortunately, this book was not very valuable, and Wang Chen got it for fifty spirit stones.

  After everything was ready, Wang Chen began a new round of closed-door cultivation.

  With the help of the aura of creation, Wang Chen's one-day cultivation was equivalent to half a month of cultivation. In this way, two days were equivalent to a month, and twenty-four days were equivalent to a year.

  From the second layer of Qi training to the third layer, Wang Chen estimated that it would originally take two years. With the bottleneck, it was estimated to be three or four years. However, with the help of the magical cultivation effect of the Cihua Zhiqi, after three months, Wang Chen broke through to the third layer of Qi training.

  Three months later, Wang Chen walked out of the house and prepared to go out. As he opened the door, several transmission talismans were hung on the defensive formation array.

  Sound-transmitting talismans are commonly used tools in the immortal cultivation world for transmitting information. However, this low-grade sound-transmitting talisman can only transmit a distance of several zhangs. Generally, it is used when the master of the cave is in seclusion, and friends leave messages for the master to watch after they come out of seclusion!

  After taking over a few transmission talismans and crushing them, Shi Tong's voice came over.

  "Brother Chen, I'm going hunting for demonic beasts with Brother!"

  "Brother Chen, waaah, I'm hurt! It's so dangerous! Luckily you're here, or else I wouldn't have seen you again!"

  "Brother Chen, why haven't you come out yet? I'm worried about you!"

  "Brother Chen, we have to go now, to the Monster Beast Mountain Range. Brother doesn't let me stay behind. After you come out of the pass, you must come find me, I'll be waiting for you!"

  ……..

  As the Transmission Token turned to ashes, Wang Chen let out a soft sigh, and a warm current flowed through his heart. "Tong'er is indeed... Never mind, once my cultivation is high enough, I'll also go hunt demonic beasts to cultivate the Golden Body of the Void, and then I'll go visit her!"

  This time, Wang Chen did not set up a stall to sell talismans like before. After all, there were too many talismans, with as many as 400 pieces. If he had set up a stall, it would have taken at least ten days or half a month to sell them out, and during this period, Wang Chen could have earned quite a few spirit stones. It was not worth setting up a stall just to compete with the shops for a few spirit stones of profit.

  Yuntian Pavilion is the Qingyunmen's store in Liuyunfang City. As one of the three major sects of the Liangguo Xiuxian world, Yuntian Pavilion's scale is naturally not comparable to that of a small shop.

  The entire attic is made of purple sandalwood, and although it's not very old, it emits a refreshing fragrance that makes people feel happy. The attic is also filled with various arrays, and it can be said without exaggeration that one or two foundation-building cultivators would absolutely be unable to break through the Cloud Sky Pavilion.

  Besides, there must be foundation-building cultivators stationed in the Cloud Sky Pavilion.

  As I entered the Cloud Heaven Pavilion, the noise from the first floor came over. The large hall on the first floor was prepared for cultivators who were in the Qi Refining stage, only those in the Foundation Building stage would be welcomed into the VIP room on the second floor!

  Before walking to a window, Wang Chen lined up in a queue. The middle-aged cultivator in front of him continuously took out some limbs of the demon beast, apparently returning from hunting and killing demons. After a moment, the person in charge finished trading with the cultivator, and then Wang Chen went forward.

  " Fellow Daoist, I've come to sell some talismans!" Wang Chen said directly. The steward looked at Wang Chen and suddenly he felt like his whole body was scanned by a divine sense, as if he had been stripped bare. "With only three layers of Qi refinement, what do you have to offer?"

  In his heart, he was secretly annoyed. The manager of the Cloud Sky Pavilion was truly impolite. However, the Cloud Sky Pavilion had a deep background and Wang Chen could do nothing about it. The phrase "strength determines treatment" was something that Wang Chen had come to realize. Suppressing the anger in his heart, Wang Chen calmly asked: "What is the price for selling large quantities of early-stage Qi-refining symbols?"

  The manager's expression changed slightly, showing more respect. A symbol master was a promising profession after all, and a small manager like him couldn't compare. However, the manager's eyes showed obvious skepticism: "Only having over 100 talismans can be considered a large quantity, I wonder how many talismans you have!"

  Wang Chen's hand shook, and he took out two hundred talismans from his storage bag, arranging them in front of the steward. The steward looked at him with a stunned expression, then said with a hint of flattery: "Brother Wang is really talented! These talismans are enough to last for two hundred years! From now on, Brother Wang won't have to worry about not having any elixirs for cultivation!"

  This boastful remark actually spoke the truth. Refiners of talismans, alchemists and artifact refiners had never lacked for spirit stones to cultivate with. Two hundred talismanic characters were not a small number either. An average talisman refiner would have a success rate of one in ten, requiring two thousand sheets of talisman paper - this was no small number either.

  Everyone in the hall was a Qi-refining cultivator, and upon hearing this, they all took a deep breath of cold air. They looked at Wang Chen with eyes filled with envy and... greed.

  "Friends, you're flattering me. This is the harvest for the next three months. After deducting the cost of more than 2,000 talismans and cinnabar, I didn't make much profit!" Wang Chen smiled faintly, and the greedy eyes around him decreased a lot.

  After trading two hundred talismans, Wang Chen obtained three hundred and ninety spirit stones. This was because some of the talismans were more difficult to produce, so their price was slightly higher; otherwise, he could only sell them for around three hundred and fifty spirit stones.

  He put away the Ling Stone, and Wang Chen opened his mouth to ask for a hundred sets of mid-term Qi-training talismans. Each stage of cultivation requires different talismans; otherwise, the talismans would not be able to withstand the amount of spiritual energy and would burn out.

  So the talismans for beginners are usually made from leaves of one or two-year-old plants, while those for intermediate practitioners require plants that are at least five years old, and naturally cost a lot more, three spirit stones per dozen.

  The better the talisman paper is made, the higher the success rate of the talisman will be. Everyone thought that Wang Chen wanted to improve his success rate by doing so, and suddenly looked down on him a lot. If this continues, even the cost will be difficult to estimate, and he is indeed a rookie who has just entered the Xianxia world.

  Looking at Wang Chen's cultivation, most of the cultivators in the hall had this idea, and their greedy hearts towards Wang Chen also decreased a lot. This was exactly what Wang Chen wanted, now that his own strength was not strong enough, he could only keep a low profile for the time being.

  After paying three hundred spirit stones, Wang Chen took the talisman paper and turned around to leave.

  Half an hour later, Wang Chen brought a bamboo hat and sold the two remaining talismans twice. After collecting some items, Wang Chen returned to his own cave again.