Great harvest

In a short while, everything was already in hand as Fang Xing was about to leave. Suddenly, he had a thought and turned back, retrieving all the gold leaves from Big Rat's pocket and stuffing them into the young fat lamb's pocket, who had contributed the Nine Serpent Golden Flame Sword. He then exchanged another item with someone for a low-grade flying sword and gave it to Big Rat...

In no time, apart from the spiritual stones Fang Xing took for himself, all the remaining items among the group were exchanged among each other.

Then, Fang Xing clapped his hands and approached Big Rat without saying a word, raining blows on him.

"Damn it, trying to cheat me? Today, I'll teach you a lesson!"

The smoke effect was effective; Fang Xing's hands were numb from the beating, and seeing Big Rat transform from a thin rat to a swollen one, who still hadn't awakened, was satisfying.

Still feeling unresolved, Fang Xing loosened his belt and sprinkled urine on Big Rat's face. Seeing him bruised and battered, looking miserable, Fang Xing nodded in satisfaction, then swaggered away.

The valley was quiet, birds silent, moonlight clear and bright, and in the valley, bodies were scattered in all directions.

About an hour later, Big Rat, with the deepest cultivation, was the first to wake up. He shook his head vigorously, then remembered what had happened and shuddered. He reached into his pocket for the gold leaves but found that the four hundred and eighty taels of gold leaves he had exchanged with six spiritual stones were all gone. He let out a mournful cry but stopped abruptly...

Because he quickly discovered that while the gold leaves were gone, there was a flying sword in his pocket.

Taking it out and examining it, he found it to be a low-grade flying sword, worth around a thousand silver taels if converted to gold. Compared to the gold he lost, he actually gained something. He couldn't understand how the flying sword ended up in his pocket, but since he had it now, he couldn't give it back. He immediately put it away and looked around suspiciously, eyes darting...

Seeing that the others were still asleep, he quickly took some good items from their hands and stuffed them into his pocket.

Seeing a few disciples in the early stages of the Spirit Awakening stir slightly, as if about to wake up, he quietly slipped away.

When the others woke up and looked around, they found that all their spiritual stones were gone but they had some items that didn't belong to them in their pockets.

Initially, they thought of making a fuss, but then they realized that it wasn't wise to do so now.

If they spoke up and the owners reclaimed their items, they would be left with nothing. After all, either their things were stolen by thieves, or they were in someone else's pocket, stolen by thieves. If the items were in someone else's pocket and that person didn't speak up, they would be at a loss. So, after thinking this through, they strangely remained silent and quietly left.

Some took the opportunity to take some things from others, which resulted in the later ones waking up being the unluckiest. When the fat lamb, who had lost both the Dongtian Ring and the Nine Serpent Golden Flame Sword, woke up, he was almost in tears. He suffered the heaviest losses, but at this point, apart from himself, there were only a few other poor ghosts in the scene...

"Who did this? I, Luo Xi, will never forgive them!"

The sorrowful cry tore through the quiet of dawn, startling a flock of birds returning to their nests.

Meanwhile, the dastardly thief had returned to the valley, unable to contain his laughter.

Indeed, he made a small fortune this time!

Fang Xing had checked everything when he returned, finding over thirty spiritual stones, almost the total he received in seven or eight years. And that storage ring and the Nine Serpent Golden Flame Sword, Fang Xing had already checked the storage ring and easily opened it.

Looking inside, Fang Xing couldn't help but grin widely.

He was incredibly lucky; inside besides the Nine Serpent Golden Flame Sword, there were also some body-refining spirit medicines and several dozen taels of gold leaves. This solved all his problems in cultivation and life, from extreme poverty to modest comfort...

Especially that flying sword, with its crimson blade and nine vivid golden snakes engraved on it, looked extremely lifelike, as if the snakes were dormant on the blade and ready to strike at any moment...

Just its appearance was extraordinary!

Using the Yin-Yang Divine Devil Mirror to check, Fang Xing was surprised to find that there were nine meticulously engraved arrays inside the flying sword.

The material, the craftsmanship, plus the obviously higher-grade arrays compared to other flying swords, were simply amazing.

No wonder it's worth ten thousand gold!

However, when Fang Xing tried to activate it, he found that the flying sword was like a bottomless pit; his spiritual energy was not enough. It dawned on him then; no wonder the fat lamb wanted to exchange this flying sword for spiritual stones, as it wasn't something a first-stage Spirit Awakening disciple could use. Its quality was too high, probably requiring at least a second or even third-stage Spirit Awakening disciple to wield.

But it was still a good item, so he kept it, knowing he would use it eventually!

Thinking like this, Fang Xing happily stored it in the Dongtian Ring.

"What a good guy..."

Fang Xing recalled the features of the young fat lamb and remembered them firmly.

Feeling moved, he secretly decided that the next time he met this guy, he would... visit him again!

With ample cultivation resources now, Fang Xing could practice with peace of mind.

After nearly twenty days of interruption in his cultivation journey, he resumed it, and for quite some time, he didn't have to worry about spiritual stones anymore. Thirty-one spiritual stones were enough for Fang Xing to cultivate for a year.

And cultivation required a continuous stream of resources to progress without decline.

People with high talent in cultivation progressed rapidly because they, to some extent, were free from the constraints of resources. They could directly absorb spiritual energy with their own bodies, even if resources were scarce, they could still sustain their cultivation.

On the other hand, people like the fat Taoist, with scarce resources, were doomed to stagnate or even regress in their cultivation.

Of course, he couldn't regress because he was already at the lowest level of cultivation, so there was no retreat, which was a good thing.

However, the consequence of this was that a few days later, when those who participated in the ghost market gradually came to their senses, some started investigating quietly. Of course, the ghost market was clandestine, so they couldn't make too much noise. They had to inquire discreetly, and the person they inquired with was a thin, hoarse-voiced young man who had no connection to Fang Xing...

After accidentally hearing the fat Taoist mention this news, Fang Xing once again admired his foresight in choosing the Wanyao Ghost Mask.

With this small fortune, Fang Xing didn't publicize it, not even telling the fat Taoist. Only in the dead of night, he took out the spiritual stones, redoubled his efforts in cultivation. With ample spiritual stones, his cultivation speed naturally increased dramatically, and his speed in refining spiritual stones also improved, now managing to refine one every ten days.

With a steady influx of spiritual energy into his meridians, Fang Xing could feel his entire body becoming more flexible, solid, and full of vitality under the nourishment of spiritual energy. This change was directly reflected in the fact that if he got injured in the future, his wounds would heal faster, his resistance would increase, and most importantly, he could accommodate spiritual energy better.

He even felt that the previous deficits in his body caused by refining essence and qi were slowly being compensated for.

Persisting in this cultivation, Fang Xing's cultivation level gradually increased. Two months later, he had reached the peak of the first stage of Spirit Awakening, just a step away from breaking through to the second stage. This level of cultivation, even among the new disciples who entered this year, was considered top-tier. After all, at this time, only those with first-class talent had just stabilized their first stage of Spirit Awakening and hadn't started aiming for the second stage yet.

And those with slightly worse talent hadn't even stabilized their first stage yet.

After all, not everyone had Fang Xing's diligence and abundant resources. Even those with first-class talent only received two spiritual stones per month, while Fang Xing received three every month without fail.

Of course, compared to those with excellent talent and wealthy families, they were still at a disadvantage. Adding to that, those people had entered three months earlier than Fang Xing, and they could purchase large quantities of spiritual stones for cultivation. It's estimated that the highest among them had already broken through to the second stage of Spirit Awakening.

This was a rather helpless situation; after all, cultivation requires resources.