Looking down from high up on the cloud boat, the market town hadn't seemed very far away. But once actually walking the path, she realized that traversing these tens of miles was no easy task.
Moreover, Shi Yu was inherently weak with limited stamina. A distance an ordinary person could cover in a day would take her two or three days of walking and resting to reach.
Fortunately, this was the outer perimeter of the Yuxu Sect. Sect disciples frequently cleared out threats, and rogue cultivators operated regularly around the market town below the mountain. Every now and then, wild rabbits and pheasants rustled fluttering through the bushes, making slight sounds, but spirit beasts were rarely seen, making the route relatively safe.
Gazing farther into the distance, a massive sea of towering trees sprawled across hundreds to thousands of miles along the mountain terrain in an unbroken chain. Among them stood numerous craggy, strange peaks and stone forests rising abruptly from the ground.
Walking through these wild, ancient lands meant enduring constant harassment from spirit beasts and ferocious birds. Combined with miasma and naturally occurring maze formations scattered throughout, it was exceptionally dangerous.
Of course, peril was accompanied by opportunity. Deep within those forests lay precious treasures of heaven and earth—spiritual herbs and flowers, spiritual materials, ancient artifacts, and all kinds of spirit beasts whose every part was valuable. They all awaited cultivators with sufficient strength and luck to harvest and hunt them.
After walking for half a day, seeing the sun slanting westward as dusk approached, Shi Yu stopped advancing.
Following the damp, earthy scent in the air, she found a small stream. After a moment's thought, she bent down and picked up a few cobbles from the shallow bank.
Washed and polished smooth by the running water, the pebbles felt quite nice as she weighed them in her hand.
Although it was close to the market town and there were few dangers along the forest path, it was still the wilderness, so it was best to remain cautious.
Shi Yu intended to use these few stones to set up a simple maze array. First, it could catch some game to fill her stomach for dinner, and second, if wild beasts or humans stepped into the area, it would give her an early warning.
Setting up an array normally required spiritual items, but she currently had nothing on hand.
Having been washed by the stream for years, these pebbles had retained a tiny trace of spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Using them as a temporary makeshift solution to lay a simple maze array was good enough.
In the game Xian Yuan, what rare treasures or spiritual items had she not possessed? Finding herself reduced to using mere pebbles now, Shi Yu found humor in her plight and thought it felt rather novel.
Grasping the pebbles, she glanced around at her surroundings. Once she had a plan in mind, she tossed the pebbles in different directions.
The act of throwing the stones looked casual and careless, as if done on a whim, but as the final pebble landed, a subtle shift seemed to ripple through the surrounding space.
It was the simplest Maze Array, requiring no expenditure of spiritual energy to draw array runes.
At twilight, the sunset glow across the sky was breathtaking, reflecting on the clear stream like a bleeding watercolor painting.
Shi Yu stepped back a few paces and sat down quietly on the jagged rocks beside the stream to wait.
Before long, a slight stir came from the area where the maze array had been set up.
A forest bird flying past suddenly lost its sense of direction, becoming dizzy and disoriented. Flapping its wings, it spun in circles inside the array, completely unable to fly out of that tiny patch of land as it chirped nonstop.
A moment later, a pheasant dashed through the area. Just like the bird, it fluttered in circles and blundered around in panic until it slammed headfirst into a tree trunk, let out two squawks, and went still.
Seeing that she had caught game and dinner was secured, Shi Yu walked over and picked up the knocked-out pheasant. She casually kicked a pebble to adjust its position, altering the array so it no longer affected small animals.
The bird that had lost its way chirped, tilted its head to glance at Shi Yu, found its orientation again, and flapped its wings to fly elsewhere.
Shi Yu prepped the pheasant by the stream, plucking its feathers and washing it clean. She gathered a few flavor-enhancing herbs nearby, stuffed them into the bird's belly, and started a fire to roast it simply. It wasn't delicious, but it was barely palatable.
By the time she finished eating, the setting sun had vanished completely, and night descended.
Shi Yu used the lingering embers of the campfire to ward off the nocturnal cold, spending a makeshift night inside the maze array before continuing her journey the next day.
Walking and resting like this, she finally reached the market town at noon on the third day.
Even before stepping inside the market town, she saw a heavy flow of people coming and going outside.
Midday sunlight bathed row upon row of blue-tiled roofs. Store banners flapped high in the breeze, and vendors shouted from alleys, peddling various goods. Carriages and horses clattered along the roads, and occasionally, cultivators riding spirit beasts could be seen.
Although the complex of buildings before her was called a market town, its scale differed little from an actual city. With numerous streets, dense rows of houses, and bustling crowds, it was exceptionally lively.
Shi Yu overheard a conversation between a few cultivators nearby who had also just arrived.
“Us rogue cultivators shouldn't be dreaming about immortality and unfettered freedom all day long. Earning a living is what matters right now.”
“Exactly. Daily life, chores, trivial matters—doesn't every single thing cost money? I was even thinking of hiring a few servants to clean and cook so I could cultivate in peace... Come on, once we settle down, let's quickly gather some intel and see whether we should hunt spirit beasts to sell materials or figure out something else.”
“Sigh, if I weren't past the age limit, it would be great to join the Yuxu Sect. With a sect's protection, we wouldn't have to worry about these things.”
“In your dreams! With our aptitudes, even if we joined the sect, we'd only be handyman disciples. If we were lucky, we'd tend to spiritual plants. If unlucky, we'd be shoveling manure in the Spirit Beast Garden all day long!”
Shi Yu smiled faintly to herself as she listened.
Unlike the immortals envisioned by mortals in the Mortal Realm—transcendent beings who abstained from grain and earthly desires—cultivators in the Origin Realm were equally bound by mundane chores. They too had to earn a living, seek opportunities, and carve out a path for themselves.
Before reaching the Golden Core Realm, all were still mortal beings; eating, drinking, sleeping, and daily necessities were no different from ordinary humans.
The Origin Realm had far richer spiritual energy than the Mortal Realm, but it wasn't as if cultivators walked every inch of the land.
In this market town, for instance, besides the coming and going rogue cultivators, most residents were ordinary mortals making a living through manual labor or serving cultivators, along with many family members and children who had accompanied Yuxu Sect disciples.
Walking through the streets, Shi Yu saw numerous shops and merchant houses lined up along the way. Most sold items used for cultivation—pills, spiritual talismans, heavenly materials and earthly treasures, magical artifacts, and equipment. Although they didn't appear to be of high quality at first glance, the variety was quite comprehensive.
It seemed that as long as one had enough spirit stones, cultivating within this market town could rival cultivating within a sect or noble clan.
However, the hardship of a rogue cultivator lay not only in earning spirit stones; on the other hand, truly top-tier items rarely circulated in these ordinary shops.
Alchemists, artifact refiners, talisman masters, and the like consumed countless resources while studying and advancing their craft. Naturally, only noble clans and sects could afford to nurture them. Consequently, the pills and artifacts they produced were naturally funneled to those clans and sects first.
It wasn't that there were no alchemists or artifact refiners among rogue cultivators, but they were exceedingly rare, and those with deep attainments were rarer still.
The pills and artifacts sold in these shops were guaranteed to be expensive, but as for whether the quality was good, that was hard to say.
Furthermore, cultivation techniques and secret manuals were impossible to buy easily. These manuals were the true foundation and heritage of those sects and clans.
Fortunately, within the Yin-Yang Fate-Tapping Bell inside Shi Yu's Purple Mansion lay a cultivation technique: the Yin-Yang Fate-Tapping Record. As a cultivation manual, its mysteries were infinite, sparing Shi Yu from worrying about finding a technique to cultivate.
While in the Mortal Realm, cultivation resources were scarce, and she had nothing on hand to work with.
Now that she had arrived in this market town, once her cultivation rose a bit higher and she could harness more spiritual energy, she could start crafting items to make a living.
With a plan in mind, Shi Yu strolled slowly through the market town, noting down information about where goods were sold and bought before beginning her search for lodging.
Ultimately, she found a relatively quiet alley and rented a small courtyard.
It featured ancient courtyard walls covered in moss, with lush green vines trailing across the corners. The interior wasn't particularly large, but it possessed all the basic necessities, so she didn't need to purchase additional furnishings. Furthermore, the courtyard had a decent amount of open space, where Shi Yu envisioned clearing two small patches of land to plant vegetables and spiritual plants.
Within the market town, mortal bank notes and paper currency were a joke and completely useless, but real gold and silver were accepted—though their value fell far short of spirit stones.
Shi Yu had asked a shop owner: one spirit stone could be exchanged for one hundred taels of silver, but one hundred taels of silver could rarely buy a single spirit stone, as few were willing to make that trade.
Spirit stones were the most versatile cultivation resource and the most universally accepted currency throughout the Origin Realm.
Shi Yu had no spirit stones on hand—only the silver taels and gold leaves her Second Senior Brother had left her when she transmigrated over.
After all, her Second Senior Brother hadn't anticipated she would ever return to the Origin Realm, so he had left currency suitable for the mortal world.
For a courtyard like this, the rent was one hundred taels of silver a month. At this rate, her remaining money would last her two or three months at most.
Therefore, Shi Yu needed to formally step onto the path of cultivation as soon as possible, pick up her secondary professions early, and work hard to earn money, make a living, and acquire cultivation resources.
Rate on N.U.
