Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Wandering around the city, I visited various shops selling treasures, talismans, elixirs, and elixir herbs, occasionally purchasing some items necessary for cultivators in the mid-Jindan stage like a regular Golden Pill Monk.

After several days, I had a clear understanding of the pricing information in the city.

Generally speaking, the cost of goods here, especially items related to the labor of cultivators such as magic tools, magic treasures, and elixirs, was much cheaper than in other remote areas.

In remote areas, those called masters and great craftsmen often required not only essential spirit stones and heavenly materials and earthly treasures but also significant favors, smiles, and flattery, and even then, they might not agree to help.

However, in Great Sun Sword City, excellent alchemists and refining masters weren’t so rare, unable to demand exorbitant prices or put on airs.

They offered better services, lower prices, and higher efficiency.

This greatly improved the convenience of cultivators’ cultivation.

Many Qi Practitioners who could never form their foundation in other places had a much higher chance of successfully doing so in Great Sun Sword City, where the thresholds were lower.

If one had a talent in the sword dao, the threshold could be lowered even further.

This was why a large number of cultivators flocked to Great Sun Sword City.

Many died on the dueling platform every day, but even more cultivators poured into the sword city, a never-ending stream, never in short supply.

The penal provisions were strict indeed, with life and death battles on the dueling platform for minor offenses.

But one’s cultivation could progress further, couldn’t it!

Besides, although the laws of Great Sun Sword City were strict, were other places any better?

The Hei Clan’s Beast Spirit Immortal City, the Yin’s Six Dao City, the Iron Family’s Iron Rule Immortal City, the remote Blood Massacre City in Yue Country... whether righteous dao or diabolism, none were places of kindness, and many immortal cities were even worse than Great Sun Sword City.

No, not many.

Most immortal cities were not as good as Great Sun Sword City!

Here, spiritual veins of the first, second, third, and fourth orders were available for rent, and just that alone was enough to make many Golden Pill Monks ignore the risks and join the fray one after another.

”A world comparing who’s worse does not fit my aesthetics,”

”I should take the chance to level it.”

Jiang Ding judged in his heart.

Turning a few corners, a serene and profound palace complex appeared before my eyes.

Jiuhes Commerce Association.

Nowadays, this might be the biggest commerce association in the Northern Plains, far surpassing the Shang’s Lingbao Commerce Association that had long been in a dominant position.

I had learned of its origins from intelligence.

Its founder, Shang Chongjin of the collateral Shang lineage, who was known as Immortal Chongjin, rose up during the two hundred-year war of the Great Sun Sect. His talent and strength in cultivation were only ordinary among the Immortals of Nascent Soul, but his business talent was anything but.

Under his leadership, Jiuhes Commerce Association grew and expanded throughout most of the Northern Plains, earning a fortune daily, with a massive flow of heavenly materials and earthly treasures, intelligence, and more.

Of course, Jiuhes Commerce Association should not be just Immortal Chongjin’s alone.

In some intelligence reports, there were many mysterious major shareholders within the commerce association, collectively holding at least ninety-five percent of the silent shares.

Immortal Chongjin himself owned less than five percent of the shares, which was also why Jiuhes Commerce Association was able to expand so rapidly, distributing a vast amount of profits.

Even if the Great Sun Sword Sect and Great Sun Sect erupted in civil war, Jiuhes Commerce Association could still pass freely through both sects’ territories, conducting business without impact.

”This fellow daoist seems unfamiliar?”

As soon as I entered Jiuhes Commerce Association, a gentle-looking lady greeted me; she was in the early stages of Golden Pill, smiling and said, ”My name is Liu Cailing, in charge here. I have seen fellow daoist.”

”Does daoist need anything?”

”If it is about the sword dao, don’t miss out. To be honest, the heavenly materials and earthly treasures related to the sword dao are ten to fifteen percent cheaper here than other places.”

”Even if you don’t need it for yourself, gifting it to friends or juniors is also a beautiful gesture.”

Jiang Ding noticed something; cultivators engaged in commerce, like Shang Sanwu and others, often had a friendly appearance, with no aggression.

Men mostly presented themselves as amiable fatties, and women were gentle, weak, and pretty without being too dazzling, with impeccable manners—very professional.

No worse than the Shang’s Lingbao Commerce Association.

”The materials for refining a Flying Sword are of fire attribute,”

Jiang Ding, currently posing as a taciturn Golden Pill Swordsman, said in a dry voice.

”Esteemed guest, please come this way,”

Liu Cailing was slightly pleased within her heart as she led the way to a quiet chamber.

In her experience, such Swordsmen, whether wealthy or not, were sure to be generous in their spending and rarely entangled in disputes, making transactions straightforward and decisive.

If the price of the goods was right, a deal could be made on the spot, bringing in a large sum of Spirit Stones.

Inside the quiet chamber, the fragrance of tea wafted through the air, a Third-Order Spiritual Tea with a slight effect on enhancing one’s Cultivation Base.

Jiang Ding closed his eyes and regulated his breath, ignoring the Spiritual Tea before him.

”Esteemed guest, please have a look,”

Liu Cailing took a Jade Box from a Foundation Building maid, opened it, and revealed a sharp and dry prismatic crystal: ”This is a Third-Order, Low-grade Fire Sword Stone, produced from a Third-Order Fire Copper mine, which only yields one every fifty years. It requires eighty Top-grade Spirit Stones, or a trade with Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure of the Third Order. We do not accept Middle or Low-grade Spirit Stones.”

Jiang Ding nodded slightly.

One Top-grade Spirit Stone was worth about ten thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones.

Of course, this was not his custom; the Xianmen Sect had the capability to synthetically create Top-grade Spirit Stones and didn’t value them as much, with Low-grade Spirit Stones being the most common unit of measurement for everyday transactions within the sect.

The reason he did not engage in such trade to buy low and sell high was mainly out of safety considerations; he could not reveal too many abnormalities associated with the Xianmen Sect.

Once he had truly grown in the future, the entire world would be at his command, making it unnecessary.

Many things he needed, such as the heritage of the major families of both the Righteous and Diabolic Alliances to perfect the Destroying Golden Sword, the black and white dual-colored Yin-Yang Elemental Magnet Divine Light that suppressed the mountain gate of Liudao Sect, the Scorching Sun Spirit Iron of Great Sun Sword Sect, and the inferior version of the Great Sun Heavenly Pond... all these things and more were not available for purchase.

In short, trading was an activity where the risks and rewards were not directly proportional.

”Esteemed guest, please look at the second item,”

Seeing that the person in front of her didn’t seem very interested, Liu Cailing immediately understood and took another Jade Box from the maid, opened it, and revealed a section of vine that was full of Spiritual Energy and covered in scales.

”This is a Third-Order, Middle-quality Fire Dragon Scale Tendril. It contains sharpness within its heat and is a favorite of fire-attributed Sword Cultivators. It is said that the true practitioners of Sword Intent within the Sword Sect prefer to use this for sword refining, and its value is considerable...”

Jiang Ding looked uninterested.

”Third-Order Superior-quality Golden Flaming Black Iron...”

Seeing that Jiang Ding remained disinterested even in the face of a Third-Order Superior-quality material, Liu Cailing’s patience wore thin, and she suddenly produced a piece of Top-tier Fire Spirit Copper, looking mockingly at the grey-robed swordsman before her: ”Esteemed guest, do not tell me that this does not meet your requirements.”

”This is Third-Order Superior-quality Spirit Fire Copper, a secret sword-refining material of the Great Sun Sword Sect. It’s forged from various Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and hammered for forty-nine days to completion. One Top-grade Treasure can be traded for it...”

This was one of the top Third-Order sword-refining materials from the Great Sun Sword Sect, coming from an internal source.

The price was also extremely high.

You must understand, a piece of sword-refining material could at most be used for just over twenty years. Although refining a Flying Sword with it could hasten improvement, it would not equate to the worth of a Top-grade Treasure.

The majority of Golden Pill Monks did not possess wealth equal to that of a single Top-grade Treasure, and many in the early and middle stages of the Golden Pill had never owned one.

Such a cost for only about twenty years of advancement in refining a Flying Sword was truly a terrifying luxury.

”Third-Order Superior-quality Spirit Fire Copper...”

Jiang Ding glanced at the woman before him, ignoring her veiled provocative taunts and business tactics, as his Divine Sense probed the item, a thought stirring in his heart.

It contained refined fire-attributed Sword Dao will, highly concentrated Sword Qi, a composite material.

Such a material...

The Xianmen Sect, at least in the realm of Sword Dao, had a significant deficiency; they basically didn’t have anything like this.

But, didn’t it seem easy to duplicate?

The material synthesis and fusion technology of the Xianmen Sect was far more advanced than what was presented before him in this piece of Superior-quality Fire Spirit Copper, it just hadn’t been applied in this particular direction.

A sample was needed, perhaps to create, a replica.

And it was very likely to far surpass the original, turning the original into a replica itself.