Eternal Life from the Golden Needle Technique

Chapter 329: Chapter 326: Team-up Invitation

’I never thought that in my past life I’d rush around, toiling away for a few scraps of silver.

Now I’ve transmigrated to the Immortal Cultivation World, and I still have to worry about Spirit Stones.’

Gazing at his empty coin pouch,

Shen Changchuan couldn’t help but sigh, a bitter expression spreading across his face.

There was nothing to be done about it.

He simply had no good solution for sourcing the large number of Spirit Stones his Cultivation required.

For a Cultivator, Spirit Stones were like money to an ordinary person.

In fact, Spirit Stones were even more precious than money!

After all, you couldn’t eat money, but you could genuinely ’eat’ Spirit Stones.

In his past life, he could at least slave away at a job to earn money.

But in this world, obtaining Spirit Stones wasn’t nearly so simple.

After all,

consider Shen Zhengming, the Soul Emergence Realm Elder from the Shen Family who had tried to ambush and kill him.

After the Ancestor settled the score and confiscated his entire fortune, they had only found a mere seventy thousand Spirit Stones.

This wasn’t because of corruption or the Ancestor pocketing a portion.

The Ancestor didn’t need that small amount of Spirit Stones.

It was because,

the entire fortune of a Soul Emergence Realm Cultivator was really just that small!

The demand for Spirit Stones for a Cultivator at this Realm was simply too immense!

Treasure Artifacts, Elixirs, Talismans... every single one of these cost a massive amount of Spirit Stones.

The number of Spirit Stones required was enormous.

In contrast,

obtaining them

was incredibly difficult.

Most Cultivators could only earn them by cultivating Spirit Fields, heading into the wilderness to slay Demon Beasts, or venturing deep into the Demon Beast Forest to search for Heavenly and Earthly Treasures to sell or trade.

Failing that, they could become hired protectors or even Tribulation Cultivators.

But as for those two options,

they were clearly not realistic for Shen Changchuan.

’Thank goodness I have my progress bar panel. I can grind my Tier Two Magic to Perfection without needing the help of Treasure Artifacts, which saves me a huge amount of Spirit Stones.’

’Otherwise, if I were like other Cultivators, I would have had to start saving up to buy a Magical Artifact the moment I advanced to Soul Emergence. I probably wouldn’t even be able to dream of using Spirit Stones for Cultivation.’

Shen Changchuan shook his head slightly.

Aside from Treasure Artifacts,

another huge expense was the Elixirs required for Cultivation.

After all,

a single Elixir usable by a Late Stage Qi Introduction Realm Cultivator cost several hundred Spirit Stones.

One could only imagine how precious the Elixirs used by Soul Emergence Realm Cultivators were!

With all these enormous expenses,

and all the miscellaneous costs added up,

it was no wonder that Soul Emergence Realm Cultivators basically never had many Spirit Stones on hand.

It wasn’t that they had to pinch every single Spirit Stone.

But they absolutely could not afford to waste any.

If anyone saw Shen Changchuan using Spirit Stones directly to restore his Magical Power,

they would probably curse him for being a spendthrift!

’What a pain!’

’Although I still have Dawan Village as a source of income.

And over the past few days, as the situation has stabilized, the village has seen considerable development. Since it’s on a major route to the Dragon Cloud Sect, it’s been able to continuously generate Spirit Stones by establishing a Workshop, renting out shops, and collecting management fees from street stalls.’

’But that’s just a trickle. It’s nowhere near enough for my own Cultivation and can only serve to supplement my needs.’

Shen Changchuan thought to himself.

He remembered that when he was returning to the Sect from Tian Nan City,

the tens of thousands of Spirit Stones he had taken from Dawan Village had been accumulated by the village over several years!

Yet, this amount—a fortune for any ordinary Qi Introduction Realm Cultivator—

had been rapidly consumed by Shen Changchuan in less than two months while he was cultivating his Tier Two Magic!

It hadn’t lasted long at all!

’Spirit Stones... what a hassle.’

’Am I really going to have to give up this shortcut to improving my strength?’

’No, that’s impossible!’

Shen Changchuan shook his head repeatedly,

casting the thought from his mind.

This method of cultivating—repeatedly depleting his Magical Power completely and then restoring it to full—

didn’t just accelerate his Cultivation speed.

It also solidified a Cultivator’s foundation and stabilized their Cultivation Realm.

This prevented the issue of having an unstable foundation when it came time to break through to the next Realm.

Combined with his progress bar panel,

this Cultivation method was a shortcut that offered him three benefits at once!

It was the very foundation of his rapid improvement in Cultivation.

Give up this method of Cultivation?

Impossible!

However,

since this Cultivation method consumed so many Spirit Stones, he truly needed to find a stable, continuous source of income to keep it up.

’Perhaps I should start gathering some knowledge about the Hundred Skills of Immortal Cultivation...’

After thinking for a moment,

Shen Changchuan’s gaze fell upon the Basic Alchemy Technique on his progress bar panel.

Come to think of it,

when he first obtained the Basic Alchemy Technique from Nangong City, he had thought about cultivating it to Perfection and using it to earn Spirit Stones.

He had, in fact, used his progress bar panel to cultivate it to Perfection, mastering the refinement of several basic Elixirs.

But after that,

he had been focused on advancing to the Soul Emergence Realm. Besides, with his many spoils of war at the time, he hadn’t been short on Spirit Stones,

so he never found the time to pursue it.

Now, however,

it seemed like a good time to pick that skill back up.

Shen Changchuan rubbed his chin,

lost in thought.

’Come to think of it, ever since the Dragon Cloud Sect was established, many more family branches and other Immortal Cultivation Forces have migrated to the Border Desolate Forest.’

’The recent turmoil brought a massive influx of outside Cultivators, which laid a certain foundation for this.’

’The people who moved here either sought the stable environment under the Dragon Cloud Sect’s protection, or they hoped to leverage their proximity for a better chance at joining the Sect.’

’Dawan Village’s development has also benefited from this ’wave of immigration’.’

’If I can refine some Low Tier Elixirs, I should be able to secure a source of income...’

Shen Changchuan fell into deep thought.

Although at present he could only refine a few types of Elixirs suitable for Qi Introduction Realm Early Stage and Middle Stage Cultivators,

there was still a vast untapped market at the lower end.

Besides, many of the Immortal Cultivation Forces that had recently moved to the Border Desolate Forest were grooming their members to become entry-level disciples of the Dragon Cloud Sect.

If they wanted their descendants to join the Dragon Cloud Sect, they would surely have to buy some Elixirs to give their younger generation a head start, right?

The more Shen Changchuan thought about it, the more sense it made.

And Dawan Village,

could perhaps become his sales platform.

Soon,

he had a rough plan in mind.

But before he could act on it,

someone came to his door.

After some small talk, upon learning he had nothing pressing to do, they extended him an invitation to form a team.