012 heading to Yunshan Market_1
The sun was just rising, its light painting the eastern sky purple.
Su Yu was sitting cross-legged in front of the window, his hand holding a low-ranked Spirit Stone, absorbing spiritual energy for cultivation. The mana from the Qingmu Technique flowed steadily inside him like water in a deep, tranquil well, devoid of any ripple or fluctuation.
At a certain moment, a flash of green light appeared on Su Yu with the still mana in his Dantian finally showing signs of movement.
In an instant, nature’s spiritual energy from all around converged, forming a mini wave.
The aura on Su Yu, without making any sound, had quietly upgraded to the third realm of Qi Refinement.
Half an hour later.
The low-grade Spirit Stone in Su Yu’s hand crumbled into dust and fell through his fingers. The surge of spiritual energy around him that had previously gathered, returned to tranquillity.
He slowly opened his eyes, murmuring, “I’ve made the breakthrough.”
His mind focused, rows of letters appeared in front of his eyes.
[Name: Su Yu.]
[Cultivation Level: Third Level of Qi Refinement.]
[Lifespan: 18/100.]
[Cultivation Technique: Qingmu Technique (Level 3, Proficiency 0.01%), Hundred and Eight Styles of Body Refinement (Level 4, Proficiency 69.1%).]
[Spells: Wood Ivy (Perfect), Nourishing Spirit (Perfect), Spirit Spear (Perfect), Spirit Accumulation (Proficiency 36.8%).]
He achieved a breakthrough to the third level of Qi Refinement almost two and a half years after returning from Yunjian Sect.
His talent might not match up to Su Zhi and Su Qingyi.
However, Su Yu wasn’t rushing. Even if his current progress couldn’t compare to Su Zhi and the rest, the path of cultivation was long. In the higher tiers of cultivation, having a proficiency panel without blockages would help him surpass everyone else.
Having achieved the breakthrough to the third level of Qi Refinement left Su Yu in high spirits.
Looking at the proficiency panel, Su Yu’s gaze landed on the Body Refinement Technique, pondering, “The progress on the Body Refinement Technique hasn’t been as smooth this year.”
After deliberation, Su Yu opened the Qiankun Bag and glimpsed at the accumulated 130 odd low-ranked Spirit Stones, and made a decision.
“I need to find an opportunity to go to Yunshan Market.”
The medicinal garden organized caravans to Yunshan Market every month. Dedicated cultivators from the clan provided protection. If he went with the caravan, it would be much safer.
In this past year.
The spiritual energy in the medicinal garden has increased by almost 10%, it was almost certain that the First Tier Spirit Vein was beneath the garden.
Now, all they were waiting for was for the family to find a Land Master to perform the Dragon Seeking Technique to layout a large array, and they would have a blessed place for cultivation.
Even if it was just the worst First Tier Spirit Vein blessed land, it was still a treasure to the Su Family.
It was a pity that Land Masters were hard to find. The family was still gathering information.
‘If it can become a blessed land, the speed of my cultivation should increase.’ Su Yu was quite expectant.
Even if it only increased by half, over the long-term the saved cultivation time would be quite significant.
The next morning.
Su Yu woke up from his cultivation while holding a low-grade Spirit Stone, his eyes landed on the proficiency panel. His cultivation speed of the Qingmu Technique had increased. It only took just over two hours to complete now.
“My proficiency has increased by 0.12%,” Su Yu pondered. “Even if I cultivate every day using low-grade Spirit Stones, breaking through from the third level of Qi Refinement to the fourth would take nearly three years.”
“Well, to be exact, just a tad over two years, around two years and two or three months.”
As the end of the month was approaching, Su Yu set ten Beast Bait Powder traps at the medicinal garden… and lucky enough, six Mountain Stone Rats fell for the bait, with two of them being Mid-stage First Order demonic beasts.
The next day.
Su Yu carried the captured beasts to the Medicine Tower. Inside, the Third Elder, Su Chang, was accounting with several clan elders, preparing for the monthly delivery of spiritual herbs.
Seeing Su Yu enter, Su Chang looked up and broke into a smile, “Oh, our Beast King from the medicinal garden is here again?”
The other elders all chuckled upon hearing the news, and gave Su Yu a nod of acknowledgment.
Over the year, Su Yu had periodically hunted the Earth Rock Rat, maintaining its population in the medicine garden at a tolerable level.
Thus, Su Yu’s reputation had spread throughout the garden.
His ability to breakthrough to the third stage of Qi Refinement Realm within a year was hugely supported by resources he gained from hunting the Earth Rock Rat.
Respectfully, Su Yu handed over the sack in his hands, saying, “These were hunted last night, six Earth Rock Rats.”
Upon hearing this, Su Chang was taken aback, “Six?”
He stared at Su Yu in surprise, as previously, Su Yu was only ever able to bring in a maximum of five Earth Rock Rats.
This was the first time he exceeded that limit.
Su Chang opened the bag and exclaimed, “Wow, there are even two mid-stage first-rank Earth Rock Rat beasts!”
The other elders were not surprised.
Rather, they looked at Su Yu and chuckled, “With him in our medicinal garden, the plague of the Earth Rock Rat on the Spirit Vein is unlikely to escalate.”
Seeing Su Chang’s delight, Su Yu hurriedly spoke about wanting to join the convoy to Yunshan Market.
Su Chang agreed after a moment’s consideration, “Alright, but you have to follow orders when you’re in the convoy and ensure its safety.”
Subsequently, Su Chang gave Su Yu low-grade spirit stones for the six Earth Rock Rats.
The standard reward for two mid-rank first-stage beast’s blood essence was absent.
Adding the value of the materials, it totaled to seventy-eight lower-grade spirit stones.
“Come here early the day after tomorrow,” Su Chang reminded him.
The transportation of spiritual medicines was not conducted using a primitive method like horse-drawn carts. After all, Su Yu had earned a Qiankun Bag reward by killing a young member of the Lin Family, so wouldn’t it make sense to transport spiritual medicines using Qiankun Bags or even Qiankun Rings?
Early the next morning, Su Yu arrived at the pharmacy tower to find ten other cultivators already waiting.
The one leading them was a family elder in the seventh stage of the Qi Refinement Realm.
He was of Su Yu’s grandfather’s generation, named Su Jingbang.
He had been in charge of the route from the medicine garden to the Yunshan Market for over a decade.
“Arrived? Let’s get going then.”
Seeing Su Yu’s arrival, Su Jingbang gave a faint smile and a nod, while the other nine people looked at Su Yu with curiosity.
They had all heard of Su Yu, the ‘Bane of Earth Rock Rats’ from the medicinal garden.
Including Su Yu, all eleven of them were cultivators.
They did not directly fly to Yunshan Market using their magical instruments. Irrespective of whether their mana was adequate, they would not dare flaunt this way.
If their mana got excessively consumed and they encountered bandits halfway…
Hence, they chose to ride spiritual horses to Yunshan Market.
The journey was smooth, with no ambushes set even by the rival Lin Family.
Three days later, they safely arrived at Yunshan Market, outside the gates of Yunjian Sect.
To enter the market, each person had to pay one lower-grade spirit stone.
Unless you decide to stay in the market, you can only stay till dusk, after which you can’t linger on the streets.
Once the entrance fee for all the members was paid, Su Jingbang said, “Let’s head to the Dan Pavilion first. We’ll stay overnight in the market. Tomorrow afternoon we will leave and go back, but till then everyone is free to move about.”
The market was huge, built within a mountain range, and the entire market was under the cover of a massive array. In every direction, spiritual fields were visible.
Legend has it that the foundation of this market lays atop a branch of the Spirit Vein of Yunjian Sect.
Even if it were merely a branch, it was still a secondary Spirit Vein,
much more potent than the first-rank Spirit Vein found under the Su Family’s medicine garden.
Once inside the market, Su Yu could feel the difference in the intensity of nature’s spiritual energy. Staying here for a day could make one’s cultivation progress more than ten percent faster than in the medicine garden.