I Accumulate Spirit Roots for My Next Life-Chapter 178 - 80: The Power of Capital

The Dao of Heaven takes from what is excessive and supplements what is lacking!

Yin and Yang unite, complementing strengths and weaknesses, in accordance with the Dao of Heaven.

The three women are eager to repay a kindness,

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It turns out to be a rare interactive experience.

The taste of it is endless in its aftertaste.

However, Li Jizhou is someone who understands moderation.

Three days later, he quietly left.

The Tier Three Lower Grade Spirit Veins of Fenghuo Immortal City are sufficient for cultivation, but for Core Formation, or advancing to Golden Core, they fall short.

Over a month later, Li Jizhou followed the map markings of the Red Dust Pavilion and arrived at a towering Immortal City located fifty thousand miles south-central in Yan Kingdom.

Liuyun Immortal City!

This city is built atop a Tier Three Middle Grade Spirit Vein.

The reason Li Jizhou ultimately chose this place for his Core Formation breakthrough is firstly because the grade of the spirit vein is sufficient,

secondly because this city is guarded only by four Late Stage Core Formation cultivators, with no Nascent Soul True Monarch, so there’s no fear of his two secrets being discovered within his Dantian, the Anomalous Fire and the cyclical years.

Further north, closer to the Central Domain, the grade of the spirit veins becomes higher and experts increase, raising the risk of exposing his two great secrets.

This time, Li Jizhou did not release the aura and essence of blood stored within the cyclical years, but entered the city as himself.

Worried that the miraculous collection of other people’s aura and essence in his cyclical years would be mistaken for belonging to those of the Wuxiang Sect due to the commercial differences of exotic treasures, that would be a blunder.

Moreover, with Li Jizhou himself being upright and just, there is no fear of being seen by others.

The only previous worry was that people from Qi Kingdom, most of whom knew he used pills for Foundation Establishment, would consider him washed up.

If he makes further breakthroughs, for anyone outside the Golden Sun Sect, they would probably curse Miaodan Tower’s fake pills, deceiving the world, but this did not concern Li Jizhou.

The only concern was that Elder Xu from Miaodan Peak of the Golden Sun Sect might harbor evil intentions.

However, through the detailed information from Red Dust Pavilion,

Li Jizhou now knows that after Golden Sun Sect relocated to Yan Kingdom, things did not go smoothly.

The previous Supreme Elder was injured by the Blood Fiend, and after arriving in Yan Kingdom, competed with another local family over a piece of Quasi-Fourth Tier Spirit Vein Land,

leading to a fierce confrontation.

Ultimately, the alliance came to mediate, insisting that they dispatch representatives for a fair duel.

The assumption was that the Supreme Elder of Golden Sun Sect, originally at the Late Stage of Golden Core, although stuck at that stage for hundreds of years, unlikely to achieve Nascent Soul, but was considered the top tier just below Nascent Soul across Yan Kingdom,

and should easily defeat the rival.

No one expected, however, that an elder from that family, newly entered into the Late Stage of Core Formation, possessed a Tier Two Spiritual Treasure, overwhelmingly defeating Golden Sun Sect’s Supreme Elder.

With Golden Sun Sect’s defeat, they ultimately spent a high price to purchase from the alliance a Tier Three Upper Grade Spirit Vein at the easternmost edge of Yan Kingdom, near the Wei Kingdom border.

This matter wasn’t over,

only half a year later, while Golden Sun Sect’s Supreme Elder was in seclusion nursing his injuries, he was assassinated by a mysterious figure, dead with soul dissipated!

Li Jizhou read this and was deeply shocked:

That was a great cultivator of the Late Stage of Golden Core! A peak figure south of the Purple Vine Mountain range.

Though severely injured, to kill such a person is virtually impossible without a full-strength Core Formation Late Stage expert.

Li Jizhou later learned that there is an assassination organization based in Yan Kingdom known as Celestial Punishment.

The skill level of its members is unknown, but their successful assassinations span from Qi Cultivation to Nascent Soul!

This organization repeatedly claims:

With the right price, there is no one they cannot kill.

They boast that if the reward is sufficient, they could even invite Divinity Transformation experts from the Central Domain.

Golden Sun Sect, faced with such a powerful dark force, could only silently endure.

Then came rumors that the family’s Tier Two Spiritual Treasure was high-priced merchandise from the alliance.

After witnessing the commercial tactics, Golden Sun Sect subsequently closed off, retreating within its walls, no longer participating in external turmoil.

Therefore, Li Jizhou currently does not need to worry too much about Golden Sun Sect.

Liuyun City is even more prosperous than Fenghuo Immortal City, with shops on the street offering Tier Two talisman materials hard to find in Qi Kingdom.

Yet, the prices are cheaper than in Qi Kingdom.

However, only materials for Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment Stage are cheaper; anything Tier Three and above is expensive.

The price of upscale residential areas in the central district made Li Jizhou quietly exclaim, with a house comparable to a mansion in the Upper City District of Golden Crow Immortal City, the annual rent being one hundred Middle Grade Spirit Stones, equivalent to ten thousand Lower Grade Spirit Stones.

Li Jizhou’s wealth is close to two hundred thousand Spirit Stones, considered a tycoon in Qi Kingdom, but here he seems a bit insignificant.

However, housing further from the central district is much cheaper.

Its spirit veins are around Tier Two, and the annual rent is only two to three hundred Lower Grade Spirit Stones.

Clearly revealing the huge gap between rich and poor!

Three months later, after walking through every part of the city, familiarizing himself with its layout, Li Jizhou went to the management office.

"Fellow Daoist, I wish to rent a residence!" Li Jizhou went straight to the point.

The management office cultivator was at the Early Stage of Foundation Establishment, sensed the Late Stage Foundation Establishment aura emanating from Li Jizhou, and was amicable but showed no sign of reverence.

"Please present your alliance jade plaque, fellow Daoist."

"I have no affiliation with the alliance."

"Oh? Are you from outside the region, fellow Daoist?" The management office cultivator chuckled and shook his head.

Li Jizhou frowned slightly, confused: "Please enlighten me, fellow Daoist."

"Fellow Daoist, within our Yan Kingdom cultivation world, all marketplaces and Immortal Cities are under the alliance. To rent a long-term residence within the Immortal City, one must join any of the commercial divisions of the alliance, otherwise, they can only reside in inns and taverns," the management office cultivator explained.

Li Jizhou furrowed his brow slightly, as he already mostly understood the national situation of Yan Kingdom.

He also knows the alliance follows a capitalist model, monopolizing all of Chu Kingdom’s Immortal City marketplaces, yet he was unaware that renting houses in Immortal Cities required employment in a commercial division.

Before the Demon Dao war, Yan Kingdom had many small sects establishing marketplaces and Immortal Cities, but after the war ended and the Central Domain alliance entered,

using high-quality low-cost subsidies, they rapidly captured the market, subsequently acquiring all sect-owned Immortal Cities.

By now, all Immortal Cities within Yan Kingdom belong to the alliance.

And the alliance is peculiar, concentrating solely on commercial trade without using their powerful backing to bully or meddle in the conflicts and disputes within Yan Kingdom’s sects and factions,

often instead appearing as peace mediators, casually selling products.

They even occasionally serve as intermediaries, helping to connect third-party involvement.

Overall, the alliance is profit-driven, cunning in conduct, but holds a good reputation.

"Join a commercial division?" Li Jizhou pondered silently.

Li Jizhou has a clear purpose here, utilizing the prosperous commercial market to gather the main materials for the Crystal Condensing Pill, striving for Golden Core.

Additionally, now in Yan Kingdom, some of his previous trump cards are insufficient, necessitating rapid enhancement.

The Tier Three Middle Grade Spirit Vein suits his current Late Stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, requiring only an hour a day for practice, leaving ample time for skill enhancement and updating his trump cards.

His array inheritance includes Tier Two and Tier Three, forming the primary focus for the coming years.

Puppet techniques also have Tier Three inheritance, and his Divine Sense comparable to Fake Pill allows for advancement attempts.

Body Refining Fourth Layer also needs striving for completion in the coming years.

Initially, relying on his multiple skills, his earning capabilities seemed sufficient, aiming for stability, solid progression, inevitably achieving his goals step by step.

Yet now, the stability of residency has encountered an issue.

After conversing with the supervising cultivator, he learned that if he could not or did not want to join a commercial division, the only long-term stable cultivation option is to join sects or some families.

Of course, there’s another option, becoming an alliance partner by establishing one’s own large-scale commercial force, which is also favored by the alliance.