Chapter 50 Spell Jade Slip

"You've struck it rich, Junior Brother Ji!"

After counting the talismans, Wei Songnian's eyes burned with a heat that could melt a person.

Recently, the sect has seized another spiritual vein. The establishment of this new stronghold will inevitably attract a large number of disciples to hunt monsters and search for spiritual herbs.

Previously, disciples in the Qi Refining stage dared not venture deep into the heart of the Hundred Thousand Mountains. If they encountered powerful demonic beasts, escaping would be a pipe dream.

Now that a new stronghold has been established, once the protective mountain formation is properly set up, there will be a secure rear.

With the new stronghold as the center, the sect will inevitably have to send Foundation Establishment cultivators to clear out or drive away high-level demonic beasts within a radius of a hundred miles.

Compared to the past, the risks and costs of hunting demons have been reduced, and the rewards will increase when entering a previously untouched area, greatly enhancing the disciples' enthusiasm for hunting demons.

Magical artifacts, talismans, elixirs, and so on are all easier to sell than before.

The weapon refiners, talisman makers, and alchemists made a fortune, and he also got a share of the profits.

"I heard that a demon-hunting team has found the main ingredient for the Foundation Establishment Pill. When the sect refines the Foundation Establishment Pill next time, there will likely be several extra batches."

Wei Songnian shook his head and said again:

"I don't know what the sect was thinking, actually building a market on our new territory and allowing independent cultivators to enter for supplies. Isn't this just giving away profits?!"

Listening to the other person's rambling, Ji An lowered his eyes and said slowly:

"There are more and more independent cultivators in our Western Continent. I heard that Qingyun Immortal City and all the large and small markets can no longer meet the demand."

Behind the scenes, the discontent among independent cultivators towards the three major sects and various families is growing.

"Things are good now. The independent cultivators have a way out, and their relationship with the sects can be improved somewhat."

The three major sects occupied the best spiritual veins in the Western Continent, and with the addition of the major cultivation families, the lives of independent cultivators have never been easy.

"Hey, these things weren't all caused by the sect itself."

I heard from my family elders that the sect increased the number of Meridian Opening Pills it produced a hundred years ago, distributing them not only to the Dao Academy but also selling them to the outside world.

Although thirty-six spirit stones are expensive, those rogue cultivators in the late Qi Refining stage who have no intention of advancing further can still accumulate enough over eight to ten years.

The ingredients for refining the Meridian Opening Pill are not particularly precious; even a cultivation family with some history can refine it.

Wei Songnian couldn't figure out the sect's intention in doing this. In the past, sects and large families tacitly controlled the number of cultivators, otherwise the number of rogue cultivators would be as numerous as locusts.

There are only so many spiritual veins, and they cannot support too many cultivators absorbing spiritual energy day and night.

The amount of resources produced is also finite; too many cultivators can only exacerbate conflicts between them.

Seeing the sect's actions, the various families could only follow suit and refine more Meridian Opening Pills.

With more independent cultivators at the Qi Refining stage, the number of family cultivators will inevitably increase as well, leading to many precedents of independent cultivators banding together to seize resources.

Ji An had a vague idea about the sect's actions, and he smiled slightly:

"The sect must have other considerations; no one wants to shoot themselves in the foot."

"That's true. Without reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, one cannot truly embark on the path of immortality. We minor cultivators in the Qi Refining stage are not qualified to know so much."

Wei Songnian had already calculated the accounts and said:

"Junior brother, your talisman paper and ink together cost 6550 spirit crystals."

He scratched his head. This income was more than most Qi Refining cultivators who risked their lives to hunt demons, and it was safe and risk-free.

After hearing that the other party wanted to cultivate 15 acres of spirit fields, he roughly calculated the potential profits. However, when faced with the actual amount of crystals, his heart still couldn't help but race.

He recalled that when he was at the seventh level of Qi Refining, he once earned thirteen spirit stones in a month, and was so excited that he couldn't sleep for most of the night.

How many Ginseng Essence Pills does Senior Brother have right now?

Ji An's eyes lit up with excitement. During the past three months of cultivation, his internal magical power had always been completely depleted, and he had not even opened up half an inch of immortal meridians.

Earning crystals is important, but developing immortal veins and improving one's aptitude is even more important.

"Twenty pills! However, the price of pills has recently increased, with each pill costing an additional ten spirit crystals."

"I'll take them all, plus twenty bottles of talisman ink materials."

"I love your generous spirit," Wei Songnian said with a smile. He had deliberately left behind so many pills.

If he had enough crystals, he would have prepared more.

As expected, the other party has never disappointed him when it comes to flower crystals.

“Recently, the price of talisman ink materials has dropped. One set of materials costs 55 spirit crystals for junior brother, and junior brother still has 12 spirit stones.”

Ji An nodded slightly and said:

"Ten spirit stones to pay off the debt, and the remaining two as a deposit."

Senior brother, I want a magic array to protect the courtyard.

I have planted spirit fruit trees and a batch of fire cloud ginseng, so I must not be careless.

The magic array doesn't need to be extremely powerful; it only needs to be able to seal off both the inside and outside.

In this transaction, not a single spirit stone remained in their possession.

Wei Songnian stroked his chin and said in agreement:

"We really can't be careless, because some small monsters might sneak in and steal our food."

Your courtyard isn't very big, so a regular sealing formation is cheap; you can get one for about twenty spirit stones.

Business has been good lately. I'll go to Qingyun Immortal City again in a month and buy you a set then.

"Can't the sect's formation masters do that too?"

Ji An asked, sounding rather anxious.

"It is possible, but learning formations is quite difficult; one needs at least the late stage of Qi Refining cultivation to even begin to explore them."

The sect's array masters are all at the Foundation Establishment stage. Firstly, I have no connections, and secondly, they probably wouldn't even consider this lowly job.

"Okay, I'll wait."

The transaction was completed, and Ji An hurriedly left with the pills and talisman materials.

Without the protection of the magic array, he felt uneasy if he left the courtyard for too long.

The next morning, Grandpa Huang and his grandson helped Ji An transport the spirit rice to the General Affairs Hall to pay the land rent.

After buying the grain seeds, he took out ten spirit stones and exchanged them for two hundred contribution points, finally acquiring the spell jade slip he had been longing for.

Returning to the bamboo house without stopping, Ji An eagerly placed the jade slip on his forehead.

After a long while, he put down the jade slip and began to think about what spells to practice.

The jade slip contained many spells, including offensive, defensive, and supportive spells, totaling more than a dozen.

Human energy is limited, so we must prioritize our efforts.

After much deliberation, Ji An made a choice to first learn four spells: the Art of Object Manipulation, the Metal Finger Technique, the Water Curtain Technique, and the Wind Control Technique.

Object manipulation is the foundation for controlling magical artifacts and is also very practical.

After learning this skill, it will make planting spirit fields, harvesting spirit rice, and making talismans much easier. It is a must-learn skill.

Among the Five Elements magic, the Metal and Fire elements have superior attack power. He has a deeper understanding of the use of Metal element spiritual energy, so he chose the Geng Metal Finger.

Water Curtain is a defensive spell. Although water magic doesn't offer high defense, it has a large amount of Kan Spirit available. You only need to learn the basics to master it.

The Wind Control Technique can enhance the body's speed and agility, and can be used even after breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage. If you can't defeat a monster, being able to outrun it is also a skill.

In this way, you will have spells for attack, defense, and support. Once you have mastered the spells and broken through to the ninth level of Qi Refining, you can get a set of magical artifacts and participate in monster hunting.

(End of this chapter)