Chapter 65: 057: Morning is like Green Silk, Evening Turns into Snow!
Superior Spiritual Root (Fourth watch plea for subscription)_1 Chapter 65: 057: Morning is like Green Silk, Evening Turns into Snow!
Superior Spiritual Root (Fourth watch plea for subscription)_1 Jiang Qiang left.
Chen Dengming began to stroll around on his own.
Although Jingxiu Workshop was not large, perhaps being smaller in area than the gathering place, it excelled in thoughtful planning.
The arrangement of various buildings and streets was rational, and the use of space was precise.
The fact that the spiritual energy was twice as dense as in the gathering place added to the pleasantness of the visit.
...
Chen Dengming had no intention of spending money to stay in an inn.
He wanted to find a place where he could makeshift shelter for a few nights.
A night in an inn within the city would cost one lower-grade spirit stone, plus a few cheap fruits – nothing more.
One could save enough resources for a round of training with the Soul Snatching Array by saving on a few nights in an inn, which would allow rapid progression to the Fifth Layer of Qi Cultivation.
Strength should be the top priority.
Other pleasures could be postponed.
In addition to the spirit stones needed for his training, he also needed to buy a medium-grade magic artifact as a defensive trump card.
A low-grade artifact was no longer capable of handling intense fights.
…
Half a day had passed.
Chen Dengming had visited several magic artifact stores and asked about the prices of medium-grade artifacts.
Perhaps it was due to his peculiar dialect.
The prices of artifacts in several stores were at least fifty percent higher than what Boss Hu had previously charged.
It seemed like they were intentionally trying to rip him off.
However, although he didn’t buy any artifacts, he managed to get an invitation to the Dark Market with his sweet talk.
It was rumored that Lin Family Auction House would be organizing a Dark Market event in a while.
Chen Dengming calculated the time, moved around, and arrived at the place where Jiang Qiang was selling the demonic beast meat.
There were already a lot of people crowding around.
Some cultivators offered a price and directly bought dozens of katis of demonic beast meat to take away.
After all, it was the meat of a demonic beast at the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation, which was much more valuable than that of beasts at the early Qi Cultivation stage.
Jiang Qiang sold it at the price of one lower-grade spirit stone per ten katis, which was 30% cheaper than the spirit meat shop and 10% cheaper than the normal stalls.
Many people were interested.
Chen Dengming watched from a corner, secretly observing the expressions of the cultivators around him.
If anyone showed a greedy or unusual expression, he would remember it in his mind.
But after watching for a while, there were very few people trying to stir things up.
Jingxiu Workshop had rules.
Whoever dared to make trouble in the Brocade Mill would be asking for trouble.
And the cultivators who could come to the Brocade Mill for entertainment were no fools.
The fact that Jiang Qiang could sell the body of a beast at the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation was impressive.
From the wounds on the body, one could tell that the hunter was very powerful.
It might be a cultivator at the late stage of Qi Cultivation.
There’s no need to offend a powerful cultivator and invite fatal trouble just for some beast meat that can be bought.
…
After observing for a while, Chen Dengming returned to the suitable resting place he had found earlier and began to cultivate in silence.
The Mini Array Spirit was not very comfortable and shivered at his waist, expressing its feelings.
“Fellow cultivator, do you not need my help in cultivation today?”
Facing the Mini Array Spirit’s ‘cautious’ actions that made his tent rise and fall, Chen Dengming was speechless.
He used his hand to pinch the array plate at his waist and transmitted his feelings.
“Ling’er, before when I asked you to help me cultivate, you were always evasive.
But now when I don’t ask you to come out, you’re here…”
He didn’t finally say the words ‘mischievous’.
He didn’t have the heart to hurt the spirit of a cute creature.
However, during these few days of travel, out of consideration to avoid revealing Ling’er, he didn’t let the Array Spirit assist his practice.
He just simply activated the array to cultivate which had reduced the efficiency to about seventy percent.
The Array Spirit seemed to be stifled and wanted to get out for some fresh air.
“Fine, you can come out and get some air.
It’s not feasible to use you for cultivation while sleeping in the streets of this city.”
Chen Dengming patted the array plate and looked around.
He was at the end of an alley with a dead end, surrounded by firewood, pottery jars, and other miscellaneous items.
To his front left was the back door of a house.
It was quiet and isolated.
When the Array Spirit floated out, it happily spun around.
The gauzy skirt fluttered, and the translucent clothes wafted in the breeze, looking very cheerful.
After watching for a few moments, Chen Dengming’s mood also lightened up.
He then changed positions and continued to cultivate.
In the past few days of long journey, he had practiced his Godspeed Skill and Artifact Control Skill a lot, but the Three Elements Spirit Gathering Skill, which was his foundational Law, had lagged behind.
He was still three-quarters short of breaking through.
However, his current lifespan limit had reached 282 years, and he still had 119 years of life left, which was sufficient for him to continue cultivating the “Life-Shortening Cultivation Enhancement Skill”.
“Now that my Spirit Qi Affinity has reached 50 points, I only need to increase it by another 50 points to advance to the high-grade Spiritual Root.
Then my cultivation speed will increase again…”
“According to the current conversion of losing six years of lifespan to increase four points of Spirit Qi affinity, I only need to lose 75 years of lifespan to advance to the high-grade Spiritual Root…”
He could withstand seventy-five years.
After finishing a set of postures, Chen Dengming then started to cultivate the life-consuming “Life-Shortening Cultivation Enhancement Skill”.
…
In an instant, the dusk quietly enveloped the entire Brocade Mill along the mountains in the distance.
The whole Brocade Mill seemed to be gradually illuminated, and the lanterns of one shop after another brightened.
The night market was not deserted, but rather bustling.
From the far-off mountains of Bright Cloud, came sporadic mournful roars of wild beasts, sometimes accompanied by shrill and sharp cries.
However, the array that surrounded the city was fully activated.
Sets of spiritual energy boundaries started to form like waves of water and gradually faded.
The overpowering spiritual might inexplicably made the people in the city feel secure.
Just this alone made the so-called overnight accommodation fee worthwhile.
However, this did not prevent many down-and-out cultivators and merchants from huddling together in the wilderness outside the city under the open sky, living a vagrant life.
They were loose cultivators making a living in Jingxiu Workshop.
Having long grown accustomed to handling business and accepting tasks in the city during the day, he took shelter nearby outside the city at night.
At least on the edge of the city of Brocade Mill, the night is relatively safe.
What one needs to be more wary of is not the demonic beasts, but one’s own kind.
Chen Dengming was awakened by the activation of the formation.
He realized that more than three hours had passed unknowingly, and he was now hungry.
He lowered his head to examine two strands of white hair he plucked and then pulled out his Ice Spirit Sword, matching his reflection in the blade to examine his appearance.
After the loss of his essence, qi, and spirit, his face looked somewhat fatigued.
The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, which had already recovered, reappeared once more.
“Ha ha ha, I seem to have aged again.
It’s indeed true that one’s hair turns from jet black in the morning to snowy white by evening…”
Chen Dengming gave a cheerful smile, brushed back his white hair, and carelessly checked his status in the panel.
“Qi Cultivation Fourth Stage Cultivator [Chen Dengming]
Life Span: 238/282
Spiritual Root: Gold, Wood (Superior 0/100)
Martial Arts: ”Chen Family Martial Arts Compendium” (Great Perfection)
Daoism: “Gu Refining Chapter” (Master 27/100), “Three Elements Gathering Spirit Skill” (Fourth Layer 102/400), “Chen’s Dao Method Chapter” (Proficient 35/100), “Life-Shortening Cultivation Enhancement Skill” (First Layer 78/100), “Artifact Controlling Secret” (Master 17/100), “Gold Touching Skill” (Beginner 26/100)”
In the past three hours, he had been losing a decade of life every half an hour.
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A total of seventy-five years of his lifespan slipped away, and his Spirit Qi affinity increased by 50 points, advancing directly from a mid-level spiritual root to an upper-level spiritual root.
Chen Dengming just felt like at this moment, his perception of the floating spiritual qi in the air has enhanced tremendously, and it was like night and day.
The range of spiritual qi perception around his body seemed to have also expanded a lot.
Although the control scope of spiritual qi did not change substantially, the whole person inexplicably felt more confident.
He just felt that the entire world seemed much clearer, as if the colors were more abundant.
Many previously overlooked subtle situations were also sensed by his heart.
Every grass and tree around, the voices of people coming from afar, seemed to be perceived without missing a thing.
!
“So this is, a superior spiritual root?
Superior aptitude?
Even though I now have conflicting spiritual roots, my aptitude isn’t too bad.
I didn’t expect that something even the Hundred Loss Demon Path founder couldn’t manage to do, I have already done.
I wonder if there have been ruthless individuals in the Magical Way who have dared to risk themselves to achieve it?
Heh heh, enough, a cultivator of the Magical Way, perhaps even if they don’t want to risk themselves, they would be forced to risk themselves anyway!”
A hint of a smile appeared on Chen Dengming’s face.
The benefits shown by the increase in spiritual root and spirit Qi affinity are not merely in cultivation.
The increase in affection and perception towards spirit Qi leads to faster cultivation of corresponding Daoism.
The speed and power of casting spells, and so on, will be slightly stronger than those with poor spiritual roots.
This is the advantage of good aptitudes.
He was in a much better mood, despite the direct loss of seventy-five years of life this time.
Considering his current condition, it seemed he didn’t have many good years left.
But the benefits of the spiritual root aptitude upgrade will soon be redeemed in the future.
This kind of crazy method of sacrificing life span to improve the spiritual root is probably only he, who can sometimes increase lifespan, is willing to do.
For others, even if their lifespan is as high as 2000 years, like the old monsters at the Nascent Soul stage, unless it’s absolutely necessary, they may not be willing to sacrifice hundreds of years of their life to improve their spiritual root.
After all, these old monsters might have spent a thousand years cultivating to reach the Nascent Soul stage.
Those who can cultivate to the level of the Nascent Soul are almost never of poor aptitude.
Moreover, the so-called limit of lifespan, unless it is like Chen Dengming who can directly check the specific lifespan on the panel, who knows what the actual limit of their lifespan is?
Just like ordinary people all know that a person can normally live up to seventy or eighty years old, so the normal lifespan of a person is seventy or eighty years, but there are always people who die before seventy for various reasons.
The same goes for cultivators.
They don’t know how much their specific lifespan is, nor do they know the specific effect of practicing the “Life-Shortening Cultivation Enhancement Skill” is fifty percent or twenty percent, everything is unknown.
Unless it’s a last resort, few cultivators dare to risk their life span to try.
Those who stubbornly say that they have a lifespan of two hundred years as a foundation-building cultivator, and that they have only lived for a hundred years, and they dare to take a chance with twenty years of life, are mostly long-dead ducks.
Even the Hundred Loss Demon Path cultivator who created this cultivation technique, first tried it on many demonic cultivator disciples, hoped to research it to maturity, then personally tried to improve his medium-grade spiritual root aptitude to superior grade, and then quickly broke through to the Nascent Soul stage to extend his lost life span.
This calculation made a sound that all the cultivators in the Cultivation World heard.
Unfortunately, the Hundred Loss Demon Path cultivator who created this technique ultimately still failed.
He underestimated his own lifespan limit and also underestimated the efficiency of his own practice of this technique, and died in regret…
!
Now as a superior spiritual root cultivator, Chen Dengming felt as if he were riding on the spring breeze.
He didn’t rush to strike while the iron was hot and cultivate.
Instead, he tidied up his clothes and first went to the market to see Jiang Qiang selling meat.
More than three hours had passed, and Jiang Qiang was still busying himself enthusiastically.
It was unclear whether he had eaten a warm meal or not.
Seeing that the other party was in high spirits and he had even more customers around him, it seemed that a lot of demonic beast meat had already been sold.
Chen Dengming dispelled his thoughts of going over.
He caught Jiang Qiang’s attention from afar and quietly relayed the place where he would be staying for the night.
Then, Chen Dengming walked towards the booth selling Gu on the other side, subtly probing for the origin of the Gu objects.
However, after a round of probing, the result surprised Chen Dengming.
!
“These Gu objects come from the Business League…?”
“Yes.
Originally these Gu objects were always sold by forces like Hutong Street from the gathering place, but I heard that the force was destroyed, alas, what a tragedy.
People and goods in this area were bought by our Business League.
Now the goods are sold by our Business League.
They’ve standardized the prices, and it’s no longer chaotic.”
“Oh….”
Chen Dengming’s eyes flashed, and he smiled and saluted, “Fellow cultivator, to be honest, I’m also interested in this line of business.
May I know who is in charge of your Business League here?”
“Boss Hu.
He came from the gathering place too.
When the fight started over there, they drove all of us from the Business League out.
Boss Hu came here and started the Gu business in grand style…
You want to join?
I don’t think it’s likely we have enough manpower now.”
…
…