Chapter 81: About the Trade Valley
Just when the group was about to do it, a change happened.
The water boundary shone with blue light, and water arrows began to rain down.
"Come back." The female devils shouted.
Her face was pale, and the two could tell she was scared.
Fortunately, her five slaves were obedient, and they rushed back as soon as they heard her command.
"It took less time for another attack to come."
Jiang Yue frowned, but so did Yu Nianzhen.
From this, they knew they had less time than they initially thought.
"Let’s get through it first."
This time, the two didn’t insist on using their martial arts to block the formation attack.
Instead, they bunched together and activated two defence talismans.
The talismans were layered one after the other, and they exuded a green light that looked like a turtle shell.
Right after their defence was up, the arrows fell.
"I wonder how long the defence can last."
Jiang Yue was a little worried.
The turtle defence talisman was very powerful.
In a fight, a mid-grade silver rank turtle shell talisman could block at least one full-strength attack of a low-level qi transformation realm cultivator.
Although the water arrows were not as powerful as the attack of a qi transformation realm cultivator, they were many.
One ant could not swallow an elephant, but if millions of ants came together, the elephant would be at their mercy.
This time was the same.
When the arrows fell, the first talisman defence crumbled after three breaths.
"Let’s layer some more."
They both injected their qi into a few more talismans and threw them to fortify the defence.
This time, they used ten low-grade silver rank turtle shell talismans instead of mid-grade talismans.
However, when the attack ended, all the defences were broken, and both boys were slightly injured.
They each took a rejuvenation pill, and then looked at the female cultivator.
Like them, she was alive but injured.
The bodies of the five male cultivators lay around her, and all five were riddled with holes.
"Let’s set our conflict aside for the time being. We need to find others to break the formation." Yu Nianzhen called to the woman.
His face was solemn, and his words allowed no contradiction.
Fortunately, the female devil was wise.
She quickly collected the storage bags, weapons, and the clothes of the five dead cultivators.
When Jiang Yue saw this, he sneered but didn’t say anything.
Soon after, the trio walked away from the area.
Although they were walking together, there was a distance of about one metre between her and the two boys.
"If we find a herb, it will belong to the person who sees it first." Yu Nianzhen stated.
When she heard this, the woman wanted to argue.
However, Yu Nianzhen shut her up with her with one look.
Normally, the members of a group would fight if they came across a herb.
However, the three were pressed for time.
If they had to fight over a herb, they would not be ready when the next attack arrived.
In this way, they could still hurry up to find others while taking advantage of all the opportunities along the way.
"Rock grey seaweed." Jiang Yue suddenly shouted.
Rock grey seaweed was a peak grade silver rank herb.
Other than its colour, it looked like ordinary seaweed.
It grew on rocks and could be used to refine a special kind of meridian strengthening pill.
This kind of pill was especially effective for cultivators whose origin tool was related to the water element.
"Get it quickly."
While Jiang Yue was harvesting the herb, Yu Nianzhen was staring at the female.
Although she hadn’t made any moves, he didn’t trust her.
She was an evil cultivator, and he knew she would take advantage if she saw a chance.
After Jiang Yue collected the herb, they continued to explore the underwater garden.
However, the more they walked, the more disheartened they became.
Since they began their search, they had encountered three bodies, but no live person.
"Things could become troublesome." Jiang Yue stated as he looked around.
Ideally, it was best if they had nine people to break the formation.
In that way, each person could guard a node and break it promptly when the time arrived.
If they didn’t have enough people, each of them would have to be in charge of breaking multiple nodes.
However, this was risky.
If one of them failed to break the assigned node within ten breaths, the formation would immediately repair itself and attack.
At that time, the attacks would be several times more powerful than before they tried to break the formation.
Because of this, they hoped to find a few more people to minimise the risk of failure.
"Red snakeweed." The female cultivator shouted.
She then walked to a herb and quickly harvested it.
She did this extraordinarily fast, and when she was done, she turned to look at the young men.
Her eyes were full of wariness, and she seemed ready to escape at any time.
When he saw this, Jiang Yue sneered.
He and Yu Nianzhen were not above snatching from an enemy, but this was not the time.
The time would be when they broke the array.
"Let’s go." He said.
An incense stick later, the formation attack came again.
This time, the two used four mid-grade turtle shell talismans and twelve low-grade talismans.
"At this rate, all our defence talismans will be used up in this place."
When they were preparing, they prepared more defence talismans than all the other talismans combined.
This was because they were confident in their attack power and didn’t think it was necessary to redeem too many attack talismans.
As for teleportation talismans, they had redeemed almost three dozen.
Although the amount was not large, two or three talismans at a time was enough to help them escape from an enemy.
"We will try to trade for more with other cultivators." Yu Nianzhen suggested.
They had brought one hundred turtle shell talismans.
Of the one hundred, ten were high-grade silver rank, thirty-five were mid-grade, and fifty-five were low grade.
After two attacks, they used twenty-two low grade and six mid-grade.
Although they still had a lot, there were ten more months before the secret realm closed.
In that time, they would explore more dangerous places, and the inner region would be even more dangerous.
"I heard there is a trade valley somewhere in the outer region."
The female devil contributed some information.
From where she stood, she could hear their conversation.
Offering this information was to buy herself some goodwill.
She didn’t want the two to gang up on her before they broke the formation.
"Trade valley?" Jiang Yue asked.
"The valley is west of the clear water lake. It should be between the clear water lake and the red soil medicine field."
After hearing the woman’s words, Jiang Yue recalled what he knew of the secret realm, and a map appeared in his mind.
’There is a valley between the clear water lake and the red soil medicine field.’
However, the valley was labelled as Green Mat Valley on the map.
This name was because the valley was covered by a mat-like weed.
When he thought of this, Jiang Yue asked the female devil to clarify his doubts.
"Each time when the secret realm opens, there would be cultivators who set up stalls to buy and sell things."
"There is no specific place to set up the trade valley. This time, it is in the Green Mat Valley."
"From what I heard, there are pill stalls, talisman stalls, weapon stalls, herb stalls,..."
"It’s just like a normal shopping street in a city. However, the owners decide the terms of exchange."
"What do you mean?" Jiang Yue asked.
"In some stalls, you can buy with spirit stones. In others, you can buy with herbs."
"There are some sellers who will ask for a specific resource in exchange for their wares."
After hearing the explanation, Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen fell silent.
When they thought about it, this kind of trade was expected.
In fact, Yu Nianzhen had also thought of setting a stall somewhere in the secret realm.
His plan was to sell some of his sword calligraphy and extra herbs.
To normal people, sword calligraphy was useless.
However, to swordsmen, the calligraphy was a treasure.
This was because it contained his understanding of various kinds of sword arts.
The most recent calligraphy even contained a trace of sword intent.
If a swordsman studied them carefully, their swordsmanship would improve by leaps and bounds.
However, when he initially thought of this, Yu Nianzhen didn’t realise there was a developed trade area in the secret realm.
Now that he knew, he was more determined to carry out his plan.
’This is a chance.’ He thought and looked at Jiang Yue.
The other understood what he meant and immediately nodded his head.
Other than the sword calligraphy and herbs, they had a lot of things that could be sold.
"There are two people over there." The female devil suddenly exclaimed.
