"These past few days, I've made some progress in my training and have luckily stepped into the ranks of mid-level Qi Refinement cultivators," Lu Xuan said with a proud smile.
"Not bad, kid," the thin old man praised, then changed the subject. "With your Qi Refinement at the fourth level, your internal spiritual energy can support planting more Spirit Firefly Grass."
"When the time comes, I'll help you out and make sure you get some more Spirit Firefly Grass or other spiritual plant seeds."
"Thank you, Elder He," Lu Xuan said with a grateful smile.
"That's all thanks to your own abilities. If you didn't have the skill to cultivate high-quality spiritual plants, it wouldn't matter if you reached mid-level Qi Refinement or not," Elder He said. "But your growth has indeed surprised me."
"I remember when you first came to the Hundred Herbs Hall, you were just a low-level Qi Refinement cultivator. After breaking through to the third level, your talent for cultivating spiritual plants started to show, and now you've become a mid-level Qi Refinement cultivator."
Elder He seemed to think of something and straightened his expression. "Your rapid breakthrough shows that you have decent talent in cultivation. With your current mid-level Qi Refinement, you have the confidence to venture into lower-level secret realms, where your safety is much more guaranteed."
"If that's the case, you might even gain some opportunities and soar to new heights."
"So, do you want to continue being a Spiritual Plant Cultivator, or do you want to make the most of your talent, work hard, and seek opportunities?"
Lu Xuan let out a bitter smile. "Elder He, I know my own limits."
"Just because I quickly broke through to the fourth level doesn't mean my cultivation talent is great; I just took some shortcuts."
"To fill my internal spiritual energy and use more techniques for cultivating spiritual plants, I spent all the spiritual stones I earned from selling spiritual plants on first-grade pills that speed up cultivation."
"After taking them for a long time, I finally broke through to the fourth level."
"The higher I go, the less effective the first-grade pills become, and the speed of my cultivation will slow down."
"Besides, I only have spiritual energy in my body. If I don't master the techniques well and lack powerful artifacts, I won't have any means to compete for opportunities in secret realms."
The white light orb involved too much, and it was hard to explain, so even though he trusted Elder He, he didn't reveal his true strength.
"That's a bit of a shame," Elder He sighed. "I thought you were young, and the future couldn't be seen at a glance. It would be nice for you to go out and see the world."
"Now it seems that honestly cultivating spiritual plants and living a stable life is also a good choice."
Hearing this, Elder He sighed again, feeling regret for Lu Xuan. Lu Xuan remembered the old man's concern and sat for a while before saying goodbye and leaving.
On the streets of the market town, buildings lined both sides, and various shops made the place very lively.
Lu Xuan arrived in front of one of the tallest buildings. It was four stories high, built from towering spiritual wood, with a green glazed roof. In the center, three elegant characters were written: Wanbao Tower.
This was the most famous shop in the market town, filled with all kinds of cultivation treasures. As long as you had enough spiritual stones, you could even buy what foundation-building cultivators needed.
Lu Xuan followed the cultivator in front of him into the building.
Inside the hall, there were about thirty cultivators, and the counter was filled with all sorts of items, such as artifacts, talismans, and pills, making it dazzling to behold.
As Lu Xuan entered and looked around, a pretty young girl approached him.
"Hello, fellow cultivator. Is this your first time at Wanbao Tower? If you need anything, just let me know, and I'll take you to have a look."
"Sure, please take me to the counter for formations," Lu Xuan replied, nodding. This was indeed his first time in Wanbao Tower.
When he was still a low-level Qi Refinement cultivator, he didn't have the means to think about buying anything here. After the appearance of the mysterious white light orb in the spiritual field, his wealth fluctuated, and since Hundred Herbs Hall supplied the spirit seeds he needed, he had never thought of buying unknown spirit seeds from Wanbao Tower. Now, he wanted to buy a good protective formation, so he entered Wanbao Tower.
"This is the formation counter on the first floor. There are dozens of formations with different functions, including attack formations, maze formations, concealment formations, and defensive formations," the young girl said, leading Lu Xuan to a relatively secluded spot with a warm smile.
"Please introduce me to a few defensive formations," Lu Xuan said.
"For defensive formations, do you need a first-grade or second-grade one?" the young girl asked.
"Second-grade," Lu Xuan replied.
First-grade formations are good for low-level Qi Refinement cultivators, but if they encounter mid-level Qi Refinement cultivators, they become average. If the cultivator also has breaking formations talismans and artifacts, they become even weaker.
"Alright," the young girl said, her smile growing. For cultivators, the demand for formations isn't very high, so if she could sell a second-grade formation, she would earn a nice commission.
"This is the Rock Formation, known for its defense. If cultivators invade, it can control the giant rocks inside the formation to attack them."
"This is the Wooden Cage Formation, which needs to be set up in an environment with special spiritual wood. It can trap and block cultivators from entering."
"This one is the Fog Hidden Maze, which has decent defense among second-grade formations and also includes a maze formation. When cultivators enter, their spiritual sense will be affected by the fog inside, making it easy to get trapped."
"And this one is..."
The young girl pointed out various formation plates and flags, explaining them in detail to Lu Xuan.
"The Rock Formation has some attack capabilities, but it requires the cultivator behind it to actively control it. The Wooden Cage Formation has high environmental requirements, so it's not suitable for setting up outside a courtyard."
After weighing his options, Lu Xuan pointed to a formation plate shrouded in fog and asked, "How much is this Fog Hidden Maze?"
"One hundred sixty-five spiritual stones."
"How about one hundred thirty spiritual stones?" Lu Xuan knew that this price was already quite reasonable, but his long-standing nature made him instinctively cut a large chunk off.
The young girl smiled and shook her head, indicating refusal.
In the end, Lu Xuan had to negotiate hard and managed to lower the price by ten spiritual stones, buying the Fog Hidden Maze for one hundred fifty-five spiritual stones.
"Thankfully, that masked cultivator sent over more than eighty spiritual stones in time; otherwise, my wealth would have halved."
Lu Xuan glanced at the nearly two hundred spiritual stones left in his storage bag and felt even more grateful to the masked cultivator who had merged with the spiritual soil.
"By the way, do you have any blood from snake or dragon-like spirit beasts? Fresh would be best."
After paying the spiritual stones, Lu Xuan asked the young girl.
"For spirit beast blood... usually, only those spirit beasts with unique qualities have blood that can be sold. For snake spirit beasts, the materials available are mostly snake skins, scales, and snake venom. I don't recall any snake spirit beast blood being available," the young girl replied, looking apologetic.
"Please wait a moment. If you urgently need it, you can reserve some spiritual stones here. The tower can mobilize resources from other cities and market towns to see if we can find what you need."
"However, the spiritual stones you spend this way will be about ten to twenty percent higher than buying directly."
"If there's no set deadline, all the spiritual stones will be refunded to you."
Seeing Lu Xuan about to leave, the young girl called out to him, offering a suggestion for him to consider.
(End of Chapter)