Isn't This a Game? Why Are You All Cultivating for Real!

Chapter 100: Chapter 100: Trade Route

Shui Ping nodded.

"I’m planning to give it a try. Staying in the Sect all the time hasn’t helped me improve, and my Artifact Refining often fails."

Du Lixin nodded upon hearing this. "With Huanli accompanying you, I can rest easy."

She glanced at Shui Ping again and said, "Your master plans to enter seclusion."

Shui Ping blinked. "Master, you’re entering seclusion now?"

In truth, low-level disciples rarely entered seclusion.

The lifespan of someone in the Foundation Establishment Stage was only about a hundred years. Even a Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator like Du Lixin could only reach two hundred years with great effort.

A single session of seclusion could last for several years, or even over a decade, so there wasn’t much need for it.

She was still very young.

At forty, she looked no different from a girl of seventeen or eighteen.

In this remote region, her talent could be considered exceptional.

Only those with higher cultivation truly needed seclusion to pass the long, endless years.

Du Lixin nodded. "I seem to have had an insight. This seclusion may last a long time, perhaps around five years. Shui Ping, you are my disciple. Do not let your master down."

Shui Ping was shocked. "Could it be... you’re about to form your Golden Core?"

Forming the core meant reaching the Golden Core Stage.

Once one stepped into the Golden Core Stage, their cultivation would soar, and their lifespan would increase to over five hundred years. At that point, the Feique Sect would become even stronger!

"It’s just an insight, nothing is certain. I’ll still need to go to Demon Cave Valley after I come out."

Du Lixin said, "I won’t come out unless it’s an emergency. Shui Ping, you need to be careful on your own."

Shui Ping said worriedly, "But the Spirit Fox Sect..."

"The Spirit Fox Sect is very far from us. That Golden Core Stage Demon Cultivator’s reach isn’t that long. Besides, the Spirit Fox Sect was annihilated because of a private grudge."

Du Lixin knew more, so she wasn’t too worried. "If something happens, the Adept will return. You don’t need to worry. Just focus on your training. When I come out, I hope to see your Foundation Establishment stabilized, and that you’re at least confident in breaking through to the Mid-stage."

Shui Ping lowered her head and said, "Yes."

"One more thing." Du Lixin couldn’t help but advise, "Don’t associate with those disciples from the Longevity Sect. They spend all day mixing with mortals, getting involved in worldly business, and earning paltry Silver Coins. How improper! Is that something a Cultivator should be doing?"

"...But I don’t." Shui Ping said, blinking. "I almost never speak to them."

"That’s why I’m just reminding you!"

Seeing the slightly wronged look on Shui Ping’s face, Du Lixin sighed almost inaudibly. "Before you leave for your training, go see your mother one last time."

Shui Ping’s eyes brightened.

After Du Lixin left, Shui Ping rode a Flying Magical Treasure down the mountain in high spirits.

Just as she expected, Wang’an County was already being dismantled.

Those Longevity Sect disciples were fast, using Spells to take apart most of the buildings.

They had only built a temporary dormitory in one area.

They called it a "dormitory."

Shui Ping’s mother had now been moved to that place as well.

’I wonder how the people from the Medicine Workshops agreed to let the Longevity Sect run wild like this.’

The constructed dormitory was very tall—a seven-story ancient-style building.

In front of the building was a large courtyard. Who knew what methods those Cultivators had used, but the temperature inside was indeed higher than elsewhere. Some mortals wearing fur-lined clothes were even able to move about outside.

When Shui Ping arrived, she easily spotted her mother talking with an old woman from next door.

"Mom!"

Shui Ping called out.

The mortal woman turned her head, and her eyes lit up when she saw Shui Ping. "Ah, Ping’er, you’re here?"

Seeing her mother, Shui Ping’s nose still tingled with emotion.

By her count, it had been two months since they last saw each other.

Shui Ping’s mother was holding a piece of paper with something drawn on it. Shui Ping walked over and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Making clothes for those Cultivators." Although Zhao Lan, Shui Ping’s mother, hadn’t seen her daughter in two months, she didn’t seem as overcome with longing as she used to, where she would be teary-eyed upon seeing her. This time, she seemed busy, immediately saying, "The Cultivators from the Longevity Sect said they’re not used to the current style of clothes, so they gave me some design drafts... uh, that’s what they called them. They told me to study them carefully, and that when the textile mill opens, I’ll be the Steward and even get a salary—two low-grade spirit stones a month!"

That was not a small amount of Spirit Stones.

Zhao Lan had made clothes before, but it was just a hobby to pass the time, occasionally mending things for neighbors.

When the players discovered that a local like her was so skilled with her hands, she was immediately recruited by the designer-player, Tang Qiuxiang.

The main issue was that Wang’an County had a small population, and they were short on manpower for their large-scale development plans.

There was no way to attract more people to this godforsaken place. Mortals from other areas couldn’t come and join unless the Longevity Sect expanded its territory to reach them first.

Shui Ping’s eyes widened. "They’re paying you in Spirit Stones?"

It wasn’t easy for a mortal to obtain even a single Spirit Stone.

It would take a very long time in business just to save up one.

Mortals could also use Spirit Stones to buy Cultivators’ medicines, as the Medicine Workshops didn’t accept the Silver Coins that circulated among mortals.

"That’s right." Zhao Lan was overjoyed. "They’re giving me this much because I’m a supervisor."

Shui Ping was truly a bit stunned.

When Cultivators hired mortals for labor, they could usually be paid off with some First-tier Elixir Pills after a long period of hard work. The act of paying with Spirit Stones was unbelievable.

Then, she saw a group of Longevity Sect disciples standing in front of the courtyard, deep in a heated discussion.

"Damn it, we hunted too many demon beasts. Wang’an County can’t consume them all!"

"There are only so many Cultivators and so many Spirit Stones. Wang’an County is too small. We have to establish trade routes with other Sects."

The Longevity Sect didn’t have many members at present, but they produced a lot of things.

The main reason was that the speed at which they killed demon beasts was terrifying.

A single Wang’an County couldn’t possibly absorb such a large supply of goods.

Currently, the only outlets in Wang’an County for circulating goods elsewhere were the Medicine Workshops and the materials shops that bought Demon Beast Materials and spirit materials.

The former were opened by Loose Cultivators, while the latter was opened by disciples of the Feique Sect.

But the Feique Sect disciples couldn’t absorb it all either. Once the heavy snows ended and the players could set out for First Mountain, the supply of Demon Beast Materials would overflow.

Unless they started hunting higher-level ones.

The trade routes were dangerous, but they also represented opportunity—a chance to go to bigger places.

The fact that Shuitan had approached Zhai Xiaotian about going to Liu Xian City was no longer a secret. The latter loved to drink, so the Daoist, with his thick-skinned persistence, had built a good relationship with Zhai Xiaotian, promising to brew even stronger liquor for him in the future and not charge him a single coin for it.

Zhai Xiaotian told them he had a way to send the players to Liu Xian City to do business, but they could only stay for a short time. As for what they sold and whether it would cause problems, that was entirely up to the players themselves.

His only demand was that he be the first to drink any new liquor produced by the Longevity Sect.

The players decisively agreed.

As for the other small sects, like the Taohua Sect, they were small, close by, and not very dangerous, so the players could go there on their own.

So, the question arose: who was willing to lead this trade caravan, a task that seemed both grand and fraught with peril?