Spirit Realm

“Your Spirit Gathering Boards are being sold from my shop, so I will take a portion as commission. Seventeen Common Grade Seven spirit stones, hmm, I will take two as commission and the remaining fifteen are yours, how is that?”

Li Mu’s expression was faint as he lazily rocked the chair and drawled after Qin Lie closed down the shop.

“No problem.” Qin Lie took out two spirit stones from the pile on the table and handed them to Li Mu. He then asked, “So how many spirit tablets for practicing can I exchange Common Grade Seven spirit stones for?”

“One tablet for every Common Grade Five spirit stone. For Common Grade Seven spirit stones… how many do you think you can get?” Li Mu said with a smile.

When he said this, Qin Lie’s eyes suddenly showed joy. “Twenty five spirit tablets.”

Spirit stones were ranked based on the spirit energy they contained within. If the spirit energy in five Common Grade One spirit stones were added together, it would be roughly equivalent to a single Common Grade Two spirit stone. So, obviously, one Common Grade Two spirit stone was the same as five Common Grade One spirit stones. Using the same principle, one Common Grade Three spirit stone was equivalent to five Common Grade Two spirit stones…

Based on this ratio, one Common Grade Seven spirit stone was worth five Common Grade Six spirit stones or twenty five Common Grade Five spirit stones.

It was also equivalent to twenty five spirit tablets.

Other than the two stones given to Li Mu as commission, he had fifteen stones which could be exchanged for three hundred and seventy five spirit tablets, supplying his inscription practice.

He had used up two thousand Nebula Pavilion contribution points and only gotten four hundred spirit tablets. Now, through the selling of Spirit Gathering Boards, he had easily obtained so many spirit tablets. This current turn of events made him elated, and he suddenly realized the Spirit Gathering diagram that he possessed would be of great help to him in the future.

“There should be more than a hundred blank spirit tablets in that room of yours. You have already used some. Hm, I will calculate it together. Give me four more spirit stones.” Li Mu stuck his hand out at him.

“Mn, okay.” Qin Lie handed over another four spirit stones. Thinking about it, he shoved all the remaining spirit stones into Li Mu’s hands, saying, “I need more spirit tablets. Can you help me to exchange all of this?”

“No problem,” Li Mu replied with a slight bit of astonishment. He didn’t hold back at all and took all of the remaining spirit stones. “There are shops on Commerce Street that sells spirit tablets, so I can buy them with spirit stones. However, think this through, eleven Common Grade Seven spirit stones could net you a pretty good spirit artifact in Armament Pavilion. You’re sure you want to use all of these to buy spirit tablets?”

“Yes,” Qin Lie confirmed.

Nodding, Li Mu faintly said, “Alright, I will help you turn these into spirit tablets.”

“Uncle Li, that spatial ring… what is its usual price?” Qin Lie’s mind moved and he suddenly inquired. His eyes clearly showed his desire for one.

If he could have a spatial ring that could form its own space, he could abandon his cloth bag. After Liu Yan’s explanation of spatial rings, he became deeply interested in them. He thought that if the price wasn’t too high, he could consider getting one for himself.

“That’s not something you should be thinking about currently.” Li Mu was not gentle in crushing his hopes. “Even the lowest grade spatial ring requires at least three thousand Common Grade Seven spirit stones, that stuff isn’t something anyone can have. Right now, your cultivation realm is low and you do not have many possessions, so you do not need to be so luxurious.”

“Three thousand Common Grade Seven spirit stones?” Qin Lie gaped inside.

“This is a conservative estimate. Usually, the value of a spatial ring would exceed this price.” Li Mu jerked the corners of his mouth and comforted him, saying, “In all of Icestone City, only three people possess spatial rings. Don’t think too much about it, kid. Hm, if, one day, you join a great force and you have more materials and equipment, you might be able to consider getting one.”

“I thought too much.” Qin Lie grimaced.

Currently, he needed four to six hours to inscribe a Spirit Gathering diagram and then had to rest for a while after.

At most, he could only inscribe three Spirit Gathering diagrams a day, which was three Spirit Gathering Boards. And each Spirit Gathering Board could only be sold for one Common Grade Seven spirit stone…

He calculated that if he wanted to get a spatial ring right now and inscribed spirit diagrams without rest, he would need three years. Furthermore, he had to somehow eliminate all failures in order to gather all the spirit stones needed to buy the lowest grade spatial ring.

―He decisively gave up.

“You can enter Nebula Pavilion at any time, so there is no need for you to stay here in my little shop. Uh, what are your plans for the future?” Li Mu asked.

“Your place here is pretty quiet. If Uncle Li doesn’t mind, for the time being… I still want to stay here.”

“Up to you, the little room will be empty otherwise. Mn, there is a benefit to Commerce Street, your safety is at least guaranteed here. Regardless of whether it’s Nebula Pavilion or Shattered Ice Manor, they definitely wouldn’t dare to do anything on this street.”

“Then, thank you, Uncle Li.”

Qin Lie continued to stay in Li’s Shop and focused his energy on practicing the other spirit diagrams. Uncle Li also exchanged all the spirit stones into spirit tablets for him so he could concentrate on practicing and not worry about how many tablets he had remaining.

As of this moment, he didn’t need to be in the shop during the day to sell spirit tablets, so he could use that time to practice. Additionally, he had a guaranteed supply of spirit tablets, so his progress on inscribing spirit diagrams was extremely rapid.

……

North City, Shattered Ice Manor.

Inside a frigid cultivation room, Yan Ziqian, Yan Qingsong, Feng Yi, and some others were sitting on a an iceberg. Beside them were martial practitioners from Shattered Ice Manor that were all concentrating on their cultivation.

The walls of this cultivation room were made from special ice jade stone, and this special stone could turn spirit energy into cold energy to nurture people who were cultivating in cold and ice arts, greatly enhancing their growth.

The martial practitioners of Shattered Ice Manor mostly cultivated ice and cold arts, so not long after Shattered Ice Manor was established, they spent an enormous sum to build this cultivation room for the martial practitioners of the manor to cultivate.

Inside the cultivation room, circular ice stones were scattered about like millstones.

The martial practitioners that came here to cultivate would sit on these stones meters from each other and cultivate amongst themselves.

“Qin Lie? He’s at Li’s Shop?” Feng Kai opened his eyes and looked at a martial practitioner far away. “Are you sure that person is the Qin Lie that caused my younger brother to lose an arm?”

That person was one of the Shattered Ice Manor martial practitioners that had appeared a few days ago in Li’s Shop. He grinned and replied, “Liu Yan yelled it himself, how can I be incorrect? Liu Yan wouldn’t recognize the wrong person, it has to be that Qin Lie. I’ve investigated recently, and he also used the pseudonym ‘Ling Lie’…”

“Qin Lie! This person left Elder Yan in a sorry state and almost caused him to be bitten to death by the Demon Wolf King!” Yan Qingsong shouted coldly.

“Qin Lie, Qin Lie…” The Young Manor Lord of Shattered Ice Manor, Yan Ziqian, murmured with a furrowed brow. His face suddenly became dark and frigid as he shouted, “It’s him! It’s definitely him! If it wasn’t for him, Tu Ze and the others wouldn’t have left the Arctic Mountain Range alive!”

“Ziqian, your prior loss at Arctic Mountain Range was due to him?” Yan Qingsong was shocked.

“Tu Ze called him Ling Lie, who would it be but him?” Yan Ziqian’s body was freezing as he continued, “He must cultivate a rare thunder art. When he attacks, lightning and thunder are released, is it like that?”

Among these people, only Yan Qingsong and Yan Dewu had gone to Celestial Wolf Mountain, so only they could recognize Qin Lie since they saw Qin Lie fight. Hearing this, he was sure. “Yes, it definitely is this person. I saw him attack with my very own eyes, he cultivates a thunder art!”

“I will go to Li’s Shop and kill him.” Feng Kai stood, coldness filling his handsome face. “If it wasn’t for him, my brother wouldn’t have lost an arm, the Feng Family would not have been exposed, and even the Fiery Solar Jade Mine would have been ours!”

“I will kill him,” Yang Ziqian exclaimed lowly.

“You can kill him, but you definitely cannot act in Commerce Street.” Yan Qingsong’s brow furrowed. “That business street forbids private fighting. The rules were set in place by Dark Asura Hall, so Shattered Ice Manor and Nebula Pavilion must unconditionally abide by them. If you want to kill him, set up a more thorough plan and wait until he leaves the street.”

“Mn, take note of his habits and get people to learn them.” Yan Ziqian’s face instantly calmed down.

“Heehee, I’m the best at things like this, leave it to me,” Yan Qingsong stated.

……

Time flowed quickly.

Another three months passed.

In this period of time, Qin Lie continued to stay in Li’s Shop, working hard on inscribing the Amplification diagram.

It was probably due to his experience of success with the Spirit Gathering diagram that he didn’t make many mistakes when he practiced inscribing the Amplification diagram. This caused his progress on the Amplification diagram to be much faster than when inscribing the Spirit Gathering diagram.

His consumption of spirit tablets was also much less than with the Spirit Gathering diagram. Up to now, he had only scrapped two hundred spirit tablets, and he predicted that the Amplification diagram… could successfully inscribed soon.

In this period of time, because Tu Ze and Zhuo Qian had broken into the Natal Opening Realm and were in seclusion to stabilize their cultivation, no one came to find him.

Only little fatty Kang Ze, Zhu Peng, Han Feng, and the others came to find him a few times after learning he was at Li’s Shop. They also invited him to Nebula Pavilion and wanted to take him to see the “interesting places” in Icestone City.

He was at an important stage in learning the inscribing process of the Amplification diagram, so he had refused with a smile multiple times. But he also stated that he would soon report to Nebula Pavilion to rest their hearts.

“Poof!”

—A thread of green smoke came from the spirit tablet. The complex Amplification diagram inside the spirit tablet suddenly crumbled.

Qin Lie’s expression was fragile as he took his hands away with empty eyes. He took out a new spirit tablet and prepared to start again.

“Kid, sometimes, working hard endlessly is not the correct way. If your nerves are too tense, your failure rate might increase. If you are too urgent in pursuing success, it usually has the opposite effect.” Li Mu’s voice suddenly came from outside the door. “May I come in?”

Qin Lie was shocked. He temporarily put down his inscribing practice and replied, “Of course you may.”