Chapter 57: Chapter 55: Inventory of Assets

The arena battle was set for three days from now.

Shen Changchuan had no issue with this.

Three days wasn’t enough time for him to make any real preparations. At best, he could use the time to master the Magical Power of his Qi Introduction Sixth Layer Realm as much as possible, but he couldn’t possibly improve his strength by much.

However, before that,

Shen Changchuan had something else to do.

He needed to prepare a way to deal with the Gale Falcon.

Shen Changchuan had a very clear understanding of himself.

Even though he had advanced to the Qi Introduction Sixth Layer and his strength had increased tremendously,

he was still at a disadvantage when facing a speed-oriented Demon Beast like the Gale Falcon,

especially since it could easily take to the skies.

If he couldn’t finish it off with a single, decisive blow in their next battle,

the situation would only become more troublesome.

Shen Changchuan had actually come up with a plan for this several days ago while browsing the Workshop.

It was just that he hadn’t had many Spirit Stones on hand at the time.

He had to wait until he was paid for selling the Spirit Grain.

Now that all the Spirit Grain was sold and he had received a large payment of Spirit Stones, it was time to buy what he needed.

Shen Changchuan first took stock of his assets.

He had sold a total of 2,300 pounds of Spirit Grain

for a return of 243 Spirit Stones.

Of this amount,

1,500 pounds were what Shen Changchuan had brought from Dawan Village.

This wasn’t the full amount.

The Spirit Grain from Dawan Village, plus the tributes from Zhao Family Village and six other villages, had amounted to as much as 1,800 pounds, but Shen Changchuan had clearly not sold all of it.

After all, having Spirit Grain to aid his future Cultivation could increase his training speed, so he had decided from the start to sell only 1,500 pounds.

Later, after being attacked by and killing a man in black on the road, he had found another seven to eight hundred pounds of grain in the man’s Storage Bag.

That brought the total to around 2,300 pounds.

At a price of 9.5 pounds per Spirit Stone, selling it all had netted him a total of 243 Spirit Stones.

But this wasn’t his entire net worth.

He already had about twenty Spirit Stones, plus another twenty-odd he’d looted from the man in black, and over seventy from selling Demon Beast Materials and miscellaneous items a few days ago. In an instant, Shen Changchuan found himself with a total of three hundred and sixty Spirit Stones.

Such an "enormous" sum of Spirit Stones...

Before,

Shen Changchuan would have been thrilled.

But the moment he thought about the price of anything related to Cultivation, his heart ached so much he could hardly breathe.

Three hundred and sixty Spirit Stones was certainly an ’enormous’ sum, the likes of which Shen Changchuan had never possessed.

However,

more than half a year ago, the Harmony Pill he had taken to break through to the Qi Introduction Third Layer Peak had cost about one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones, and that was just the clan’s internal price.

And the Top Grade Qi Introduction Pills that Si Houqing had shown him earlier? The eighty Spirit Stones per pill was just the internal price; on the open Workshop market, they would cost at least one hundred Spirit Stones each!

As for the price of Magical Artifacts in the Workshop, any decent one was far from cheap.

The same went for things like Talismans and Arrays.

With three hundred-odd Spirit Stones,

in the Immortal Cultivation Realm,

Shen Changchuan was still dirt poor.

’The Immortal Dao is a hard road!’

Recalling the prices of the various Immortal Cultivation items in the Workshop, Shen Changchuan couldn’t help but sigh to himself.

No wonder the heads of the Minor Immortal Cultivation Clans in the Border Desolate Land lived most of their lives with their cultivation Realms stalled at the Qi Introduction Third or Fourth Layer.

It was simply because

it was too difficult to achieve anything on the Immortal Cultivation Dao!

Cultivation Elixirs cost Spirit Stones. Protective Magical Artifacts cost Spirit Stones. Cultivation Techniques and Magic cost Spirit Stones.

And what was the annual income from farming a Spirit Field? 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

His three hundred and sixty-odd Spirit Stones were likely a sum that many people would spend half a lifetime saving.

Yet it was only enough to buy a few of the more high-end Cultivation Elixirs.

’Alchemists are in the most profitable profession by far. If only I could obtain an Alchemist’s legacy.’

’The pill-guzzling path is basically the pay-to-win path. If you spend enough, your power grows quickly and satisfyingly, but that’s not a game an ordinary person can play.’

’Not unless you master Alchemy and control the production of Elixirs yourself.’

Shen Changchuan felt a pang of regret.

’Although he didn’t know if those various cultivation skills could appear on his progress bar panel.’

’But with his powerful Divine Soul,’

’it shouldn’t be a problem.’

’If he could also apply the learning methods from his past life’s industrial civilization—inductive analysis, process summarization, and grinding through practice problems—he might be able to increase his success rate in Alchemy.’

Unfortunately,

an Alchemist’s legacy was simply too precious.

It was valuable enough to be the very foundation of an Immortal Cultivation Clan, making it nearly impossible for one to be obtained by an outsider.

Pulling his wandering thoughts back,

Shen Changchuan was just about to take his leave.

But seeing Si Houqing in front of him, a thought suddenly struck him.

"Shopkeeper Si, I’d like to purchase some Magic to enhance my strength. Do you have any shops you would recommend?"

Shen Changchuan asked directly.

This time,

he had learned his lesson.

Selling Spirit Grain required connections to get a high price.

It stood to reason, then, that it was also best to use connections when buying things.

Si Houqing was a businessman; he was bound to have a network.

Rather than going to the shops in the Workshop completely blind, it would be better to see if he could leverage his relationship with the man before him.

It wasn’t a big deal, anyway.

With an introduction from an acquaintance, he could at least avoid being swindled, not to mention possibly getting a discount.

"Purchase Magic? Brother Shen, why waste the money? Although my business is primarily in Spirit Grain, I happen to have mastered a few decent magical techniques myself. If any of them catch your eye, Brother Shen, feel free to choose."

Si Houqing said with great generosity.

Shen Changchuan was tempted; for a moment, he was about to accept the offer.

But after a moment’s thought,

he shook his head.

"I appreciate the kind offer, Shopkeeper Si."

"But I’m not looking to buy just one or two, but twenty or thirty magical techniques."

Shen Changchuan said after some deliberation.

This was the result of his careful deliberation.

With only three hundred-odd Spirit Stones, he couldn’t afford much. Neither Elixirs nor Magical Artifacts were a good deal, which left Magic as the most cost-effective option.

After all, with his progress bar panel, he could grind them all to Perfection.

Moreover,

if he bought enough magical techniques, he would have sufficient data to try and understand the significance of the ’Traits’ that appeared after a skill reached Perfection.

This was very important to him.

As for Si Houqing’s offer to let him pick whatever he wanted,

it would be one thing to freeload one or two techniques,

but twenty or thirty was out of the question.

Taking advantage of someone’s generosity felt good,

but one had to know where to draw the line.

"Twenty or thirty? Brother Shen, what do you need so many magical techniques for?"

Si Houqing stared, a look of astonishment on his face.

Shen Changchuan just smiled and said nothing,

offering no explanation.

"My apologies, I was being presumptuous."

Si Houqing quickly recovered and apologized.

He didn’t press the issue,

and said with a wry smile:

"It seems I was being overconfident. I could manage to provide two or three magical techniques, but twenty or thirty... that’s beyond my ability."

"If you want to purchase magical techniques, your best bet is the Duobao Tower. As it happens, I have some dealings with the Shopkeeper there. Let’s take a trip, and I’ll make sure he gives you a fifty-percent discount, Brother Shen!"

’In truth, he could still come up with twenty or thirty magical techniques.’

’The problem was, if he actually dared to give away twenty or thirty techniques for free, he’d be in for a world of hurt if his clan ever found out!’

Since Shen Changchuan didn’t press his advantage, Si Houqing’s estimation of him rose.

He felt a greater sense of goodwill toward him,

and promptly stood up, deciding he might as well personally escort Shen Changchuan to the Duobao Tower.

"Then I’ll have to trouble you, Shopkeeper Si."

Shen Changchuan stood, cupping his fist in his hand to express his gratitude.