"We'll go to the imperial city. Only by going there can we understand more clearly what the entire Great Wei immortal cultivation world is like."
Xu Chuan turned to look at Xu Mingxian with a faint smile.
"Then..."
"Although you're not far from eighth layer of Qi Refining, and I'm at late eighth layer of Qi Refining, we must still be careful whether others have methods we don't know about.
Immortal cultivators aren't as straightforward as martial artists. There are countless examples of the weak overcoming the strong.
Just like the seventh layer of Qi Refining rogue cultivator who controlled poisonous insects that we encountered not long ago. Didn't we almost suffer a great loss at his hands?"
Hearing this, Xu Mingxian nodded slightly, "Father speaks reasonably. But we also obtained half a copy of the Insect Control Scripture from him. I've roughly looked through it. It records quite a few spirit insect cultivation methods, very profound..."
"I think it should be suitable for fourth sister, but I don't know if she likes controlling creatures like insects. Those dense swarms would definitely make ordinary people's hair stand on end."
"From my observations, she prefers spirit beasts like Little White, both furry and cute with good looks and strength."
"Father, I understand."
"As for Xueji, we'll discuss other matters after she uses martial arts to enter the Dao and becomes an immortal cultivator. It doesn't matter if she's unwilling anyway. We don't have any insect eggs for her to hatch and control."
Xu Mingxian nodded slightly, then continued, "Father, in the last battle, your pill furnace seemed to have cracks. When we get to Tongshan Commandery City, should we first find an magical artifact refinement shop to repair it for you, or purchase a new pill furnace?
We can't afford a superior-grade one, but now we can afford to replace it with a middle-grade magical artifact pill furnace."
"Just repair it. Save the spirit stones to replace your superior-grade magical artifact." Xu Chuan smiled, "Although you specialize in array formations as I instructed, you still lean toward combat in your bones. The Golden Sword Formula you cultivate mostly consists of attack techniques like condensing sword light."
Through several combat encounters, Xu Mingxian showed considerable talent for combat.
Xu Chuan had even considered bestowing the [Sword Heart Clarity] fate talent upon Xu Mingxian, but considering he already had the [Nine Palaces Dao Evolution] fate talent.
The Dao of arrays was vast and profound. Even studying it for a lifetime wouldn't reveal its full picture.
Adding the sword Dao would only delay him and as for martial force deterrence, Xu Chuan had already decided on Xu Mingwei.
His archery Dao had unparalleled offensive power, no less than the sword Dao, if not superior.
"I wonder how things are at home, whether any outstanding children have been born."
Among the Xu family's third generation, Xu Chuan had only bestowed the [Qi and Blood Furnace] fate talent upon Xu Dezhao. For the rest, he was careful and cautious, not daring to bestow them lightly.
And even if he were to bestow fate talents, at most it would be to two or three more people.
Producing geniuses generation after generation was normal among great clans.
As long as resources were concentrated on two or three people with slightly better talent, whether top martial Dao clans or Qi Refining clans, they could cultivate several talented figures to serve as their face.
However, it was absolutely not the case that everyone was a genius, everyone an immortal cultivator.
Soon after, a massive city wall far exceeding the scale of Yuehu Commandery city appeared in their vision, like an ancient bronze-colored giant dragon lying across the vast land.
Its wall foundation was cast by melting iron ore mixed with some spirit copper magma, displaying blue-red interlaced dragon scale patterns. When washed by heavy rain, it would emit a faint metallic scent.
The city gates all contained red copper, with copper gates weighing hundreds of thousands of jin suspended above.
Octagonal copper towers were set at the four corners, with thirty-six peculiar copper bell magical artifacts hanging from the eaves. When the bells rang, they could alert the entire city.
Such sturdy walls with warning magical artifacts were installed because Tongshan Commandery City had repeatedly suffered beast tides surging out from the Cangwu mountain range.
Ordinary blue brick city walls couldn't defend against the demon beasts lurking within beast tides.
The two entered the city and saw a wide main street extending to the horizon's end. Houses, pavilions, taverns, and inns lined both sides in rows upon rows.
Pedestrians came and went like flowing water. There were also carriages racing wildly toward the city outskirts.
"Fellow Daoist Mingyun, let's first go to a tavern to eat something and inquire where Tongshan Commandery's immortal cultivation marketplace is. Shopkeeper Wu only said it was within the city."
"Mm, let's go then."
After walking several hundred meters, they saw a tavern named 'Guyun Residence' with customers flowing like clouds.
They smiled at each other, then stepped inside.
After some inquiries and eating their fill, the two headed east.
That area was also where fifth-rank martial Dao clans, numerous immortal cultivation clans, and imperial family members resided.
The immortal cultivation marketplace had array formations set up outside. Unless one had an identity token or was an immortal cultivator, one couldn't enter.
Outside the array formation, two innate martial artists stood holding blades. Next to them sat a second layer of Qi Refining young immortal cultivator with a writing desk before him, on which lay a thick ledger.
Seeing people approach without tokens allowing entry and exit, he immediately blocked them, "Ahead is the immortal master's marketplace. Ordinary people may not enter."
"If you two Daoists are immortal cultivators, please demonstrate some techniques."
Hearing this, Xu Mingxian simply formed a hand seal. A golden light flashed, and a golden flying sword condensed, circling around him.
Xu Chuan turned his hand over, and a flame lotus appeared in his palm.
"So it's immortal master lords. We've been terribly rude." The two immediately clasped their fists, expressing their apology.
The youth beside them, seeing this scene, knew Xu Chuan and his companion had profound cultivation. The proficiency and control of their hand seals clearly didn't resemble early Qi Refining stage immortal cultivators.
He immediately smiled, "Two seniors, please come to this junior to register your names and origins. Afterward, this junior will open the array restriction for you."
The two walked to the writing desk. Xu Chuan looked at the youth and asked in surprise, "We've been to many marketplaces, but have never encountered such strict verification. May I ask the reason?"
"It seems the seniors are here for the first time. Since over ten years ago, a group of rogue cultivators took advantage of chaos to plunder, causing heavy losses to various clans. Afterward, this rule was implemented. Whether entering or leaving, someone must specifically open the array restriction."
"There were such audacious rogue cultivators? What happened to that group?" Xu Mingxian also inquired curiously.
"Most have been killed by the combined clans. Only one person at Qi Refining perfection named Chou Jiu remains, his whereabouts unknown to this day. We don't know if he's fled Great Wei."
"Wealth moves people's hearts." Xu Chuan sighed.
"Who says it doesn't?" After the youth agreed, he clasped his fists, "May I ask the two seniors' names and origins?"
"Daoist Sansu, rogue cultivator, from Yuehu Commandery."
"Daoist Yunming, also a rogue cultivator, also from Yuehu Commandery."
The youth nodded slightly. After making the registration, he slapped the storage bag at his waist. A jade tablet flew out. After injecting spiritual power, the jade tablet flew into midair, spouting a sheet of blue radiance that fell upon the array formation.
Shortly after, a semicircular arch one zhang high appeared on the light curtain of the array formation ahead.
"Two seniors, please enter quickly. The array can only remain open for twenty or thirty breaths."
Xu Chuan nodded, then immediately entered Tongshan Commandery's marketplace with Xu Mingxian.
What greeted them was thick spiritual qi, thirty to forty percent more concentrated than other immortal cultivation marketplaces.
After pondering briefly, Xu Mingxian transmitted, "Father, beneath the eastern city district, there may be a small spiritual vein. Otherwise, just a few minor spiritual vein nodes wouldn't achieve this level of spiritual qi concentration."
"If Tongshan Commandery is already like this, I wonder what level of spiritual qi concentration the imperial city has." After Xu Chuan's exclamation, he said, "Let's browse around first to understand the situation."
Half a day later, the most abundant shops in Tongshan marketplace were those trading spirit materials. These spirit materials included not just spirit herbs and spirit iron, but also demon beast materials, some magical artifact fragments, or half-sections of spirit wood and other materials.
Additionally, there were pill shops, magical artifact workshops, and talisman stores.
There were also some rogue cultivators with temporary stalls.
Within the marketplace was a building called Treasure Pavilion, specializing in trading precious spirit materials or exquisite magical artifacts. Its owner was a member of Great Wei's imperial family in Tongshan Commandery, Cao Jinming, whose cultivation realm reached the Foundation Establishment stage.
Without such a realm, one couldn't oversee Tongshan Commandery.
After all, this commandery had five great Foundation Establishment clans and dozens of Qi Refining clans with deep foundations.
Among some fifth and sixth-rank martial Dao clans, there were also five or six Qi Refining immortal cultivators. With their cultivation realms, they could naturally apply to become lower three-rank immortal cultivation clans.
However, only middle three-rank and upper three-rank immortal cultivation clans would be valued by the Great Wei imperial court.
Therefore, these martial Dao clans all quietly accumulated their foundations.
Immortal cultivation clans must be certified by the imperial court. For sixth-rank and above immortal cultivation clans, their clan members could be exempted from all taxes as well as military and labor service.
The Great Wei imperial court wouldn't force these clan members to participate in wars with other nations. But if they participated, whatever they obtained on the battlefield belonged to themselves.
Additionally, they had privileges. As long as they didn't kill in large numbers, even killing was not a crime.
As for lower three-rank immortal cultivation clans, they had at most five or six immortal cultivators. Their strength and foundation were inferior to fifth and sixth-rank martial Dao clans. Such immortal cultivation clans were clans in name only.
Great Wei had even seen cases of some lower three-rank immortal cultivation clans being besieged by fifth and sixth-rank martial Dao clans.
With such precedents, lower three-rank immortal cultivation clans in Great Wei were almost nonexistent.
Any that were currently known were sixth-rank or above.
Immortal cultivators in Great Wei were high and mighty, revered by the mortal world as immortal masters.
Therefore, their opponents were each other and immortal cultivators from other nations.
Wars frequently erupted between immortal cultivation clans, whether due to grudges or resources.
Whenever cave mansions, spiritual veins, or ore veins were discovered, basically all clans would go investigate. If they had the strength, they would compete, triggering battles.
Thus, among clans, one waned while another waxed, one waxed while another waned.
Rising and falling unpredictably.
The Great Wei imperial court never prohibited this. They explicitly stated that whichever clan seized it, it belonged to them. Of course, there were unwritten rules underneath.
Whenever spirit stone ore veins and the like were involved, thirty percent belonged to the Great Wei imperial family, with the remainder belonging to the clan.
The various clans weren't without resentment.
However, the Great Wei imperial family had occupied this land for a thousand years. Having produced two Golden Core ancestors in succession and always having a Golden Core presiding, they could remain prosperous without decline.
But if one day the Golden Core fell, it might be the moment when Great Wei's heavens changed.
Xu Mingxian borrowed an magical artifact workshop and spent several days repairing the magical artifact pill furnace.
Afterward, they rented a cave mansion. As in other marketplaces before, Xu Chuan bought spirit herbs and refined pills, while Xu Mingxian researched array formations.
Of course, both meditated and cultivated for several hours each night.
Having reached their level of realm, they didn't need sleep. Just sitting cross-legged in meditation practice could keep their essence full and spirit complete.
Since leaving Yuehu marketplace, nearly ten months had passed.
Xu Chuan's pill refining attainment improved again. His success rate for superior-grade pills reached fifty percent. Usually, one superior-grade pill emerged, occasionally two.
Xu Chuan's utilization rate of the medicinal liquid extracted from spirit herbs had approached a certain peak.
Of course, it was still very far from the legendary pill refining pinnacle of producing nine pills per batch, each of superior grade.
As for varying quality, it was because separating nine portions of medicinal liquid and ensuring they all reached superior-grade pill purity was truly difficult.
It mainly related to divine sense and fire control.
Any pill refiner's fire control technique would continuously improve through years of pill refining, until reaching perfection.
However, divine sense was different. Apart from realm advancement, ordinary methods had difficulty amplifying divine sense.
Xu Chuan relied on the divine sense feedback from [Daily Divination] to grow, making his current divine sense comparable to Qi Refining perfection immortal cultivators but this had also reached a bottleneck.
Unless he found another method, his divine sense wouldn't strengthen further. He could only wait to break through to Foundation Establishment, after which it would transform into divine consciousness.
It could be said that Xu Chuan's current pill refining art faced a bottleneck. Even if his fire control technique reached perfect attainment, at most each batch would produce two to three superior-grade pills.
To refine more, he could only sacrifice the number of pills produced. However, this wasn't what Xu Chuan sought.
Over the past half year, relying on Xu Chuan's pill refining attainment, they had accumulated quite a few spirit stones.
Of course, they had also purchased several middle-grade magical artifacts in other marketplaces to enhance their strength.
Now, besides the middle-grade flying sword gifted by Shopkeeper Wu, Xu Mingxian also had a middle-grade magical artifact shield. Xu Chuan had purchased a low-level storage bag, one offensive and one defensive middle-grade magical artifact.
They had also obtained three inferior storage bags, one spirit beast bag, four low-grade magical artifacts, several immortal cultivation manuals and texts, and over a dozen spirit stones from two waves of rogue cultivators who tried to plunder them.
Their wealth could be considered substantial.
In Tongshan marketplace, Xu Chuan refined pills daily as usual. As for setting up stalls to sell pills, the two alternated every three days, changing locations each time.
With Xu Chuan's current pill refining attainment, refining these extremely familiar common pills could bring returns of over ten times.
Ordinary pill masters achieving five or six times returns were considered accomplished in pill refining.
Peaceful days passed in the blink of an eye, over two months.
The spirit stones in their hands had accumulated to over six hundred again.
Thereafter, Xu Chuan no longer sold pills. Instead, he refined Essence Recovery Pills and Qi Gathering Pills, aiming to improve pill quality, striving to make them all superior-grade.
These pills were for their own cultivation.
He had even collected three sets of Breakthrough Pill materials and refined two superior-grade Breakthrough Pills, four middle-grade Breakthrough Pills, and two low-grade Breakthrough Pills.
Middle-grade and above, he kept for himself, usable for breaking through bottlenecks.
The low-grade ones, Xu Chuan pondered going to Treasure Pavilion in ten days or half a month to see if he could sell them for a good price.
As long as they didn't appear in the marketplace in large quantities, they usually wouldn't attract attention.
After all, the immortal cultivation world also had pills with similar effects, called Barrier Breaking Pills, though their efficacy wasn't as strong as Breakthrough Pills.
The next day, Xu Mingxian returned from outside, rushing excitedly to Xu Chuan's quiet room.
"Father, joyful news."
Hearing this, Xu Chuan opened the quiet room's restriction and let him enter.
"You're already grown, still so impetuous. What joyful news? Speak slowly."
"There are leads on the clan protection grand array."
"Truly?!" Xu Chuan's pupils suddenly contracted, and joy also appeared on his face.
"But unfortunately, the price is too expensive."
With Xu Mingxian saying this, Xu Chuan immediately laughed in spite of himself, "So it's not that you researched it, but that you discovered a finished clan protection array."