Cultivation Kill

The spirit boat docked at Yunhai Wharf.

Three gangways, each several hundred meters long, were erected on the deck, and everyone went up.

"Wow, it's so high!" many people exclaimed.

The dock and the spirit boat were both located on a towering mountain peak, overlooking an endless range of mountains and land, with waterfalls and rivers further in the distance, all visible from the gangway.

Shen Zige walked up the back gangway, and when he was halfway up, he felt someone was watching him, so he turned around.

"It's you!"

It turned out to be the bald man who had lost to him in the ring, with a slightly dark-skinned young man standing behind him.

"What, can't I walk this way?" the bald man said with dissatisfaction.

He still harbored resentment towards Shen Zige.

Shen Zige's gaze shifted to the young man with slightly dark and bruised skin.

"My name is Di Zheng," the young man said. "I just happen to be taking this road. You won't stop me from passing by, will you?"

The two of them carefully passed by Shen Zige.

Shen Zige thought that the bald man's ability to create light and shadow clones was very useful, so she called out:

"and many more!"

The bald man turned around and roared, "Are you ever going to stop?!" He was like a lit oil drum, on the verge of exploding.

"I have something to discuss with you," Shen Zige said, not angry at all.

"Not negotiable!"

"I'll trade you a storage bag for your light and shadow clone spell," Shen Zige said, ignoring the other party's attitude.

"A storage bag?" The bald man's angry expression subsided, turning into a calm one. "Although many families in the Kingdom of Wu know light and shadow magic, it is not something that can be easily taught."

"Understood." Shen Zige knew that the other party meant to increase the price. "Five thousand spirit stones." A storage bag is worth about one thousand spirit stones. He multiplied it fivefold. Anyway, he was earning spirit stones from the Wuding Merchant Alliance, so he didn't feel bad about spending them.

"You're only at the Spirit Condensation stage, how could you possibly come up with such a large sum of spirit stones?" The bald man suspected that Shen Zige was playing a trick on him. Many late-stage Spirit Condensation cultivators hadn't even earned enough for a storage bag. "Cultivating my Light and Shadow Clone Technique not only requires familiarity with spellcasting acupoints, but also an item to assist in cultivation."

As he spoke, he took out a transparent bead the size of a goose egg. "This is the Radiance Bead. When you absorb spiritual energy, it is filtered through the bead and stored at the designated acupoints for casting the light and shadow clones. This bead is a treasure of the clan and is very valuable!"

"Name your price." Shen Zige cut to the chase without bothering with pleasantries.

“Twelve…twelve thousand,” the bald man said.

"Ten thousand. If you don't agree, I'll find someone else to buy it. I don't believe you're the only one who knows how." Shen Zige guessed the bald man's desired price.

The bald man pretended to think, then gritted his teeth and said, "Anyway, I've already mastered this spell, so I don't need the Radiance Pearl. Ten thousand it is!"

"Do you accept spirit tickets?" Shen Zige wasn't short of money, so buying an uncommon spell for 10,000 spirit stones was worthwhile for him.

"We only accept spirit tickets from the Great Yuan Sect and the Demon Yuan Sect," the bald man said.

In the Kingdom of Wu, the Great Yuan Sect of the human race and the Demon Yuan Sect of the demon race each occupy half of the territory, while the remaining scattered small sects are insignificant.

The demon race rarely interacts with the human race in the cities they occupy, but it's not like they have no contact at all. At least the bald man knows a few demon friends, so it won't be a problem to have them accompany him to the money exchange in the city to retrieve spirit stones.

“It’s not one of those two companies,” Shen Zige said. “Then let’s go to a secluded place to make the transaction, because taking out 10,000 spirit stones is a huge amount, and it’s easy for passersby to snatch it.”

"You wanted to lure me to a secluded corner, then murder me for my money," the bald man said. "You've been deceiving me the whole time, trying to lower my guard so you could trick me into doing your dirty work!"

"You're overthinking it," Shen Zige said. "How about you choose the location?"

After thinking for a moment, the bald man said, "Why don't we go to the Scripture Pavilion to make the transaction? It's secluded there, and there are records of disciples coming and going. If I die there, you won't be able to escape either."

"no problem."

After Shen Zige finished speaking, she walked towards Yunhai Wharf.

He felt a sense of familiarity with Di Zheng, but he didn't know any people in the late stage of the Spirit Condensation realm in Wu Kingdom.

Soon we arrived at Yunhai Wharf, a wide platform on the mountain peak. It was oval in shape, surrounded by railings about half a person's height, and had a dark opening in the middle, which was probably a staircase leading down.

“That’s where the criminals are held down,” Shi Yuan said to Shen Zige as he walked over.

They were at one end of an oval platform, and at the other end were dozens of long cableways, with many cable cars powered by spiritual energy parked on the platform, waiting for newly initiated disciples to ride.

At the other end of the cableway is an even larger mountain peak, which looks as if it has been flattened by a sword when viewed from a distance, but it is not as high as this platform, so the cable car can glide directly down from the platform without the need for spiritual energy.

“That should be the new disciple reception plaza,” Shi Yuan said. “Look at the dense crowd up there, even more than the audience I’ve seen at the World Cup final!”

"Which peak do you plan to join?" Shi Yuan asked Shen Zige.

"don't know."

"You spent seven days cultivating in Xizhou City without doing any research?" Shi Yuan sighed. "The Great Yuan Sect has four main peaks: tools, pills, magic, and miscellaneous studies. Each main peak has many sub-peaks. For example, under pills there are five sub-peaks: planting, harvesting, climate, patrolling, and medicine making. There are even more miscellaneous studies. I can't even finish listing them all. You can find books to read when you have time."

"Should planting and harvesting be separated?" Shen Zige asked.

“Yes, I heard it’s to prevent disciples from planting forbidden herbs,” Shi Yuan said. “Each disciple changes their spiritual field every five years, as do the harvesting disciples. But this doesn’t completely prevent disciples from doing private work. For example, disciples who plant the herbs can collude with those who harvest and patrol to obtain enough profit within five years.”

The following section details the vulnerabilities discovered by Shiyuan, which are not mentioned in the book.

"Then I'll go to the patrol peak for pills." Shen Zige doesn't have much demand for magic now. As long as he gets the bald man's shadow clone, that's enough. The magic of the Great Yuan Sect is also based on the five elements, and he has already learned the best basic magic of the five elements.

If he could get some herbs to improve his Foundation Establishment cultivation and put them in his storage ring, he could slowly take them after he reached Foundation Establishment. Of course, all of this needs to be planned slowly; right now, it's just wishful thinking on his part.

As they talked, they arrived at the Spirit Power Cable Car.

"We only need three more people before departure, hurry up!" a disciple called out to Shen Zige.

He, Shi Yuan, and the bald man quickly walked over.

The monk in charge of controlling the cable car glanced at the crowd, placed his hand on the control panel, and then the cable car creaked and slid downwards.

The windows of the spiritual energy cable car are 1.5 meters off the ground and have no glass. You could reach out and stick your hand out of the window, but no one does it because there is a bottomless abyss below. Who knows if a strong wind will blow or the car will suddenly shake and throw them out?

"The scenery is picturesque and breathtaking," Shi Yuan said, gazing out the window.