Chapter 13 Chu Lanlan’s Visit

In the central of the country stood a majestic palace, towering high into the sky. This was the divine palace of the Blazing Wind Country, known as the Blazing Wind Palace.

Inside the secret room of the Blazing Wind Palace, ten shadowy figures stood. Their faces were shrouded in mist, and their bodies were cloaked in mystery.

"The higher-ups have confirmed that the situation in the Xuan World signals the arrival of the chaos time," an indistinct voice announced from among the shadows. This statement caused all ten figures to adopt grim expressions.

"The chaos time has finally arrived. Did the higher-ups calculate how long it will take to come fully and how long it will last?" one of the shadowy figures asked.

"It will arrive in ten years, but as for how long it will last, it's hard to say. It might be longer or shorter than last time. Regardless, we must prepare for the losses."

"Indeed, but this matter is beyond our control. All we can do is first inform our lineages."

"En, Let's do this way."

The conversation ended abruptly, lacking any coherence or direction; it began and concluded like a fleeting breeze.

…

Meanwhile, Shangguan Yi, who was merely a minor figure in Shanxi County, remained oblivious to the concept of the "chaos time." In fact, not only him, but most cultivators were unaware of this phenomenon. Perhaps only the great families with a thousand years of history were familiar with the concept, yet even they were unable to predict the exact timing of its arrival.

Xi'An City might hold the number one city in Shanxi County, but Shanxi was merely one of the counties within Changan Province, let alone in Cloud State or Blazing Wind Country. Therefore, it was natural for individuals like Shangguan Yi to lack access to information from higher authorities. However, the great families with a thousand years of history possessed strong connections, which might grant them access to such information within a year or two.

Certainly, even if they became aware later, it didn't imply that everyone would be informed, nor would they consider making it public. After all, the fewer people who knew, the greater the advantage for them.

Shangguan Yi once again entered seclusion. With plenty of high-grade essence pills left and having already delivered the mid-grade essence pills to the pavilion, he no longer needed to refine more pills. Now, he could devote all his time to the cultivation.

In the first month of seclusion, Shangguan Yi's cultivation progressed by 7%, which was slower than when he was at the 1st level, as he could improve by 10% in a month. Shangguan Yi wasn't surprised by his slow progress, as his essence was much more and purer than before, making it naturally harder to progress.

In addition to his cultivation progress, Shangguan Yi also managed to refine a few batches of mid-grade and low-grade essence pills during this month. Of particular note, he refined another five batches of the mid-grade pills called the Blood Pill. This mid-grade Blood Pill helps Cultivators stop bleeding and replenish lost blood from grave injuries. For some Cultivators, it aids in cultivation.

In the second month, Shangguan Yi was able to maintain his pace of cultivation speed. He began digesting the materials for his cultivation technique, and the results impressed him greatly; he had collected all the materials from the flame beasts. Without hesitation, he provided them to the system, which propelled his cultivation technique's progress to 30%.

To upgrade his cultivation technique, True Sun Flame, to a low-grade level 3 technique, he needed to provide three different level 2 high-grade flame techniques, three level 2 flame crystals, three level 2 flame beast marrows, one level 2 flame beast heart and brain each, and 1,000 essence stones to the system.

Shangguan Yi once obtained a high-grade flame crystal from the auction. After two months of searching, he had obtained flame beast marrows, heart, and brain. He didn't lack the essence stones as well; as of now, his accumulation was more than 10,000 essence stones.

The materials he lacked were three different high-grade techniques and another two high-grade flame crystals.

"The high-grade flame techniques shouldn't be hard to collect, given my current wealth," Shangguan Yi said confidently. "The price of a high-grade cultivation technique ranges from 1,000 essence stones to 10,000 essence stones, but according to the system's requirements, I don't need to find the best ones. Therefore, I just need enough essence stones to afford them."

"As for the high-grade flame crystals, they might pose a bit of a challenge, but that doesn't mean it's impossible," Shangguan Yi said confidently. "I can use the mid-grade essence pills as bait. I don't believe that those who possess the flame crystals wouldn't be lured by them." Shangguan Yi knew that while the flame crystals might help in cultivation, their effect was limited to those who cultivated flame techniques. On the other hand, essence pills were effective for all Cultivators, regardless of their chosen techniques. Therefore, considering the pros and cons, he was confident that those who possessed the flame crystals would be enticed by the offer.

Before this, Shangguan Yi had been very cautious with each step he took. However, facing the slow progress of his cultivation, he abandoned that mindset.

It was indeed wise to be cautious, but Shangguan Yi was not a stubborn person; he could adapt his thinking to the circumstances. He realized that being overly cautious wouldn't benefit him in the long run. So, Shangguan Yi decided to openly trade for the materials he needed. Not only would he trade openly, but he would also make a big show of it. He would let everyone know that he had a penchant for collecting various techniques.

Considering this, it wasn't that risky after all. After all, which cultivator didn't have a fondness for cultivation techniques?

Shangguan Yi then instructed Shuang'er to convey his message to Old Wang.

With Old Wang's influence in Xi'An, he might be able to procure the items Shangguan Yi wanted more quickly than anticipated.

On the same day, Old Wang delivered three kinds of high-grade flame techniques to Shangguan Yi. This prompted Shangguan Yi to laugh mockingly to himself. 

"It seems I was too conservative before. If I had been bolder earlier, I might have progressed faster than I am now."

Meanwhile, Old Wang also declared that he would engage in monthly transactions with those who possessed flame techniques, both in combat and cultivation.

For the low-grade flame techniques, Old Wang would exchange them for a single low-grade essence pill up to 10 low-grade essence pills, depending on their quality. This pricing was deemed very fair. One must understand that while low-grade techniques were relatively inexpensive, ranging from a few million gold coins to 10 essence stones at most, it didn't necessarily mean they were of poor quality. It was simply a result of the vastness and rapid progression of the cultivation world, leading to an abundance of low-grade techniques on the market. However, Old Wang set a limit of exchanging 10 low-grade techniques at most per transaction.

For the mid-grade flame techniques, Old Wang priced them from 10 low-grade essence pills up to 10 mid-grade essence pills. Given that mid-grade techniques were relatively common in Xi'An, this pricing was deemed fair enough.

As for the high-grade techniques, which were considered rare, Old Wang priced them from 10 to 50 mid-grade essence pills. He made sure to impose a limit on the number of exchanges per transaction.

Lastly, and importantly, for the flame crystals, Old Wang set the prices from low grade to high grade. A low-grade flame crystal could be exchanged for 3 mid-grade essence pills, a mid-grade flame crystal for 15 mid-grade essence pills, and a high-grade flame crystal for 50 mid-grade essence pills.

This declaration caused an uproar in Xi'An. It didn't matter to the ten great families and three great sects, but for the high-grade families and the rest, it was good news. When else could they exchange such a significant amount of essence pills? After years of accumulation, they didn't lack techniques; what they lacked were the pills. After all, while one pill was a one-time use, one technique could be used by many people many times over.

Shangguan Yi fully supported Old Wang. He spent two months refining pills, resulting in producing another 5 batches of high-grade essence pills for himself, more than 100 batches of mid-grade essence pills, and another 50 batches of low-grade essence pills. Despite this, his cultivation only progressed by 5% in these two months, bringing his total progress to 19% after 4 months of cultivation.

But to his surprise, despite Old Wang's favorable declaration, there was still no news about the availability of high-grade flame crystals.

Shangguan Yi sighed and decided to sweeten the deal by offering to refine an additional batch of mid-grade pills for anyone willing to exchange a high-grade crystal with him.

After Old Wang declared the news, it was only three days before two people agreed to trade with him personally.

And to his surprise, one of them was the daughter of the City Lord, Chu Lanlan.

——

Cultivation Realm: 

-Body Refining Realm (mortals / practitioners)

-Foundation Establishment Realm ( genuine Cultivators)

-Core Formation Realm 

Technique/Pill/Artifact/Array/Beast/Herb/Talisman Level

-Warrior (level 1)

-Elite (level 2)

-Master (level 3)

Each level divided to 4 grades: low, mid, high and supreme.