Staying Alive Cautiously in the Celestial Realm and Becoming the Strongest

Wang Chen had stayed in Wanling City for seven days.

In these seven days, he had gained a deeper understanding of this immensely large Immortal City.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Undoubtedly, Wanling City was the most magnificent and grandiose city Wang Chen had ever seen.

The architecture here was ancient and majestic, the streets were wide and bustling, Cultivators were as numerous as clouds, and it was commonplace to see those at the Purple Mansion level.

It was like the capital of a vast empire, noble, powerful, wealthy, and peaceful.

However, the cost of living in the city was also very high. Wang Chen had roughly figured out that the most common White Jade Rice was priced at two to three times that of Cloud Sun City. A single room in an ordinary inn cost over ten Spirit Stones a night.

As for a cave mansion for cultivation, even the Primary Tier of a Purple Mansion would cost several hundred Spirit Stones a day!

After staying for a few days, Wang Chen began to feel a sense of crisis.

Although he did not know how much it would cost to live within the Inner Sect of West Sea Sect, compared with the standards of Wanling City, a fortune of a million would not last long if squandered without forethought. He needed to find ways to increase his income and reduce his expenditures in the future.

Not to mention, just for completing the entrance assessment task, he had paid a deposit of fifty thousand Spirit Stones at Dongming Residence!

On the morning of his eighth day in Wanling City, Wang Chen received a message sent by Flying Sword Messaging.

He immediately rushed to Dongming Residence.

Dongming Residence was located in a quiet alley on the east side of Wanling City, in a particularly secluded spot.

When he knocked on the door and showed the guard his token, he was quickly brought to a side hall.

A middle-aged Cultivator handed him a scroll, "The information you requested is all here."

Upon unfolding it, Wang Chen swept his Divine Sense over it, and the content instantly projected into his Sea of Consciousness.

When he left Dongming Residence, his Storage Bag was lighter by fifty thousand Spirit Stones.

A hundred thousand Spirit Stones had been exchanged for mere hundreds of words of intelligence.

But without this information, Wang Chen would be like a headless fly, relying on scant clues to chase after his target. Whether he could stumble upon the target by sheer luck was anyone's guess.

Now, at least, he could narrow down his target to a very small range.

There was no time to delay. To avoid complications, Wang Chen left Wanling City immediately.

He summoned the Wind Thunder Sword, riding this Flying Sword straight towards his destination.

Although the Wind Thunder Sword was not a Flying Sword specifically designed for flight, its speed was much faster than the few Flying Artifacts Wang Chen possessed.

The downside was that it consumed Mana at a much faster pace.

But Wang Chen had already spent an entire hundred thousand Spirit Stones. At this critical juncture, he could not be stingy about additional expenditure.

As his Mana in his Dantian depleted, Wang Chen drew Spiritual Power from the Heaven-Ensnaring Punisher Net to replenish it.

The Spiritual Power stored in the Punisher Net was pure and refined, devoid of any impurities, and was extremely efficient at converting into Mana.

It was perfectly suitable for continual use.

Sparing no expense, the speed of his Flying Sword was extremely fast, and he was guided by the map given by Dongming Residence.

Therefore, by the afternoon of the second day, he was nearing his destination.

Wang Chen landed in a plain.

Retracting his Flying Sword, Wang Chen once again opened the scroll from Dongming Residence.

It showed that he was twenty to thirty miles away from Shangyang Village.

According to the intelligence provided by Dongming Residence, the Evil Cultivator Zhou Senzhi was highly likely hiding in that village.

Wang Chen wasn't foolish enough to directly storm into the village in search of his target. Such an approach was too likely to startle the snake, and if Zhou Senzhi slipped away, the hundred thousand Spirit Stones he had paid earlier would be wasted like water flowing away.

An Evil Cultivator listed by West Sea Sect on the wanted list was surely not an easy target!

Wang Chen extended his divine sense to the left and right, confirming that there were no other people around.

He then took out the Thousand Mechanisms Changing from his Storage Bag, put it on his face, and changed into a coarse cloth garment, along with the load he had purchased in Wanling City.

A freshly minted, ordinary-looking, weather-beaten Traveling Merchant!

Wang Chen's new appearance was modeled after the Traveling Merchants he had encountered in Wanling City, and he had also cast the Hidden God Technique on himself, suppressing his cultivation level to about the seventh tier of Qi Cultivation.

After finishing his disguise, Wang Chen meticulously inspected it once more, ensuring there were no obvious flaws, before setting off towards Shangyang Village.

Carrying his load, he rapidly made his way and soon arrived at his destination.

Shangyang Village was surrounded by mountains on three sides, nestled within a valley, with continuous mountains and lush forests all around—indeed, it was an excellent place for concealment and hiding.

Seeing the Spirit Fields and farmhouses not far away, Wang Chen slowed his pace and started to shake a copper-skinned drum.

Boom boom boom!

He shouted in a hoarse voice, "Herbs for rice candy, Pills and Talismans for exchange!"

These two calls were something Wang Chen had specifically learned from the Traveling Merchants, including the exchange rates of various goods.

He had paid in Spirit Stones for this knowledge, so he had learned it well.

The banging of the copper drum soon attracted a group of village children, and the farmers working in the fields cast friendly glances at Wang Chen, many inquiring about the recent rice prices in the city.

The country villagers generally treated the Traveling Merchants who roamed far and wide with kindness because they brought great convenience to their lives.

Especially for remote villages, where it wasn't easy to make a trip out, entering the city also required an entrance fee, making trading with the Traveling Merchants much simpler and more comfortable.

Just past the entrance of the village, a string of "tails" had already begun to follow behind Wang Chen.

Some children even hurried home to fetch the herbs they had been saving up to exchange for rice candy and toys.

Wang Chen didn't enter the village but found a place next to the village entrance to set down his load.

It was an unwritten rule for Traveling Merchants not to enter the villages because some bandits might pose as them to scout the area.

Wang Chen set up his stall under a towering tree.

Many village entrances have similar large trees, used for the village elders and children to cool off, chat, and play.

For the villagers, who worked from sunrise to sunset, the arrival of a Traveling Merchant undoubtedly brought a bit of fresh fun to their ordinary, dull lives.

Therefore, it didn't take long for quite a few people to gather around Wang Chen's small stall.

Wang Chen took out the rice candy, pastries, toys, medicinal powders, Talismans, and other items that he had already prepared, arranging his shelf attractively with a wide assortment of goods.

The quality of the rice candy he had purchased in Wanling City was very good, and as he unwrapped the paper seal, the fragrance of Osmanthus Honey wafted out, causing several children to drool, craning their necks in anticipation.

Wang Chen, with a smile, scooped out a piece of rice candy with a shovel knife, then cut it into finger-sized chunks.

He handed it out to the watching children, "Have a taste."

His "generosity" immediately won the approval and affection of the children, and after sampling the delicious rice candy, they were reluctant to leave.

In just the time it took to enjoy a pot of tea, Wang Chen's stall was surrounded by layers of people, both inside and out.

Villagers who had heard the commotion came with the herbs they had gathered and dried, exchanging them for daily necessities like cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.

Wang Chen's trading was actually doing quite well.

Some with more significant means even exchanged for medicinal powders and Talismans.

Out of those, the Evil-Repelling Talismans were most popular, with two to three dozen being exchanged in the blink of an eye!

While interacting with the villagers, Wang Chen surreptitiously used the Clarify Technique to observe them quietly.

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The first update is here.