Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Ancient Cultivation Technique
 

The position at the Dan Mountain Market Office was seen by those at the lowest rungs of loose cultivators as a dream far out of reach.

Of course, those loose cultivators who had hope of making it to the Foundation Establishment wouldn’t waste their lifespans on tedious official duties.

“All the better, so as not to compete with cultivators in the latter stages of Qi Refinement!”

Zhou Yi had “unintentionally” revealed to Brother Liu that he had a five-spirit root talent and that he was over seventy years old.

Brother Liu suddenly realized why Junior Brother Zhu favored the Phoenix Cry Pavilion, evidently seeing that his path to advancement was blocked, he had decided to indulge in pleasure after adopting a more carefree outlook.

The handover of work was swift and simple.

In the past two years, Zhou Yi had been responsible for maintaining formations and had earned a substantial amount of spirit stones; he frequently treated others to meals and drinks, and he was already well acquainted with the office staff, so there was no one making things difficult now that he was a colleague.

A counter, a chair, sitting down meant a whole day passed.

The turnover of personnel in the Cultivation World was low, and it wasn’t unusual to see no one come to collect their cave dwelling or spirit field for three to five days, not to mention there were four other colleagues at the counters.

Zhou Yi shared and ate the spirit peaches with his colleagues, enjoying their sweet, crisp flavor and the strands of refreshing spiritual energy within the fruit flesh.

It was only after some casual conversation that he learned why there were so many people in reception.

When the Dan Mountain Market was first established, many loose cultivators visited daily, which led to the arrangement of five counter positions; this tradition had continued to this day, with no one proposing its abolition.

Would they expect the bigshots’ trusted confidants or family members to toil away, maintaining formations?

His shift ended.

Zhou Yi smiled and said, “As a newcomer, I have arranged for wine at Phoenix Cry Pavilion, let’s go together to celebrate.”

“Junior Brother Zhu can hardly be considered a newcomer.”

“Let’s go, let’s go!”

…

The end of the month arrived in the blink of an eye.

Bored, Zhou Yi sat behind the counter, flipping through a newly borrowed cultivator’s storybook.

“Tsk, tsk! The protagonist of this storybook is interesting, with terrible talent and luck, yet he actually manages to ascend to immortality by relying on the method of dual cultivation and connecting with three thousand partners—a real climb from rock bottom!”

“The cultivator who wrote this must have gone to quite some lengths to collect such detailed descriptions…”

Zhou Yi was pondering whether to try out the protagonist’s method from the storybook; perhaps it could rapidly enhance his mana.

At that moment,

A voice reached his ears: “Senior, is this where one collects cave dwellings and spirit fields?”

Zhou Yi looked up and saw a simple-looking youth standing before him, dressed in coarse linen, his skin dark and cracked. He tried to lower his voice when speaking, but could not conceal its roughness.

Was this chap really a cultivator?

The most destitute cultivator Zhou Yi had ever met lived in luxury compared to commoners; suppressing his suspicions, he smiled and asked.

“Hand me your identity plaque. Do you know how to carry out the Spiritual Rain Technique, or cultivate spiritual medicine?”

The youth respectfully handed over the plaque: “I don’t know any spells, I only know how to farm.”

Zhou Yi checked the identity plaque; the name was Xiao Tiezhu, though he was somewhat skeptical whether it was the youth’s real name. He took out a map and pointed to a green area.

“Six pecks of rent per mu, how many mu do you plan to rent?”

“I’ll rent three mu to start.”

Xiao Tiezhu didn’t dare to be picky and just pointed to some land on the east side.

“That’s fine, cave dwelling number 307.”

Zhou Yi raised an eyebrow but did not make things difficult for the youth by insisting he change cave dwellings; he entered the information into the token and handed it over with the jade slip for the Spiritual Rain Technique.

“Thank you, senior!”

Xiao Tiezhu bowed repeatedly in thanks, leaving the office gleefully.

Zhou Yi continued to peruse the storybook, contemplating his grand plan to ascend to immortality.

Before his shift ended,

The office distributed the salary—a total of ten spirit stones, which equated to a yearly salary of one hundred and twenty.

Zhou Yi was about to return to his cave dwelling when his colleague Luo Xun called out to him.

“Zhu Daoist Brother, there’s a gathering on the upper floor today. If there’s nothing else, shall we go take a look?”

It was only after his colleague’s explanation that Zhou Yi understood why only the bottom two floors of the six-storey office were open. Originally, the marketplace had only built four floors; after consulting with the Commander, two more were added.

The sixth floor was Commander Ling’s domain at the office, a place one might not see once in three or five years.

The fifth floor had a few named disciples who actually managed the office, and even they were often gone for months at a time.

After all, in the Cultivation World, strength was the true path. Anyone who had the chance to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage wouldn’t want to be mired in mundane management.

The third and fourth floors were used for colleagues to trade with each other, with the third floor hosting a monthly gathering and the fourth floor hosting an annual one.

“Indeed, the benefits of joining an organization aren’t just improving status and making money, but also expanding one’s social circle!”

Zhou Yi vaguely remembered his senior Brother Liu mentioning this, but his identity had always been restricted; Loose Cultivators could not enter.

To put it bluntly, it was hard to trust a Loose Cultivator who had no attachments and even had a fake name and appearance.

Now that Zhou Yi had a position in the office, he had a bit of Dan Mountain backing him—at least he wouldn’t turn into an evil cultivator who killed for a few hundred Spirit Stones!

He ascended to the third floor.

At the entrance, there were Formation and Prohibition, and Zhou Yi could only enter after swiping his Identity Plaque.

The inside was not very large, comparable to the second floor office, with most cultivators casually setting up stalls to sell things or putting up wooden signs to buy goods.

The number of people was not large, and it was very quiet, with those haggling prices communicating through transmitting messages to each other.

Zhou Yi walked around slowly, and after two rounds, he found that the quality of the Spiritual Objects was much better than that of the store goods, and there were no counterfeit stall goods.

The cultivators conducting transactions here were all serving minor Dan Mountain duties, and it would be terribly face-losing to be caught peddling fake goods for a few dozen Spirit Stones!

Luo Xun said, “Zhu Daoist Brother, how do you feel about it?”

“Very good,” Zhou Yi replied.

Zhou Yi pointed to an old man in the southeast corner and asked through transmitted message, “Who is that Daoist Brother, and is that ancient Cultivation Technique he speaks of real?”

“Haha, indeed, everyone who comes here will ask about that.”

Luo Xun laughed and explained, “The ancient Cultivation Technique is indeed real, but as Zhu Daoist Brother should also know, not everything from ancient times is necessarily good. Times change, and that Cultivation Technique is but a mere trifle.”

Interest piqued, Zhou Yi asked, “How so?”

In ancient texts, the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth was recorded as being extremely dense, so dense that it could even condense into Spirit Crystals out of thin air, something that the Spirit Stones nurtured in the Spirit Veins couldn’t compare to.

Such a superior environment for cultivating immortals resulted in the world being full of powerful beings, aptly described as Divinity Transformation everywhere and Nascent Souls being as common as dogs.

Therefore, treasures and Divine Skills passed down from ancient times are famous for their power, and any appearance of ancient inheritances would incite countless cultivators to fight to the death over them.

“Firstly, that particular Cultivation Technique is an incomplete text; at most it could be cultivated until one reaches Qi Refinement Realm perfection,” Luo Xun explained.

“Secondly, that Cultivation Technique is a time-consuming and effort-intensive Body Cultivation method. Although once fully mastered, the practitioner will be quite powerful, the time required is extremely long, and the resources needed are immense—it’s quite the trifle, isn’t it?”

Zhou Yi’s eyes brightened, tactically ignoring the aspect of time, and he hastily inquired.

“How many Spirit Stones is it being sold for?”

Luo Xun wasn’t surprised by the question. Many cultivators, upon hearing about an ancient Cultivation Technique, couldn’t help but want to try it even if they knew it was hardly worth it.

“A hundred Spirit Stones. Senior Brother Li is close to gathering enough for a Foundation Establishment Pill by selling this thing!”

“…”

Zhou Yi understood Luo Xun’s reminder, but a hundred Spirit Stones was truly cheap. If he lost out, then so be it.

Other cultivators who bought the ancient Cultivation Technique likely thought the same, with few truly believing they were chosen by destiny!

After exchanging a few messages with Li, the stall-keeping Senior Brother, making an oath with his Daoist heart not to spread the technique, and paying the Spirit Stones, Zhou Yi obtained the jade slip.

Not interested in the other stalls, Zhou Yi bid farewell to Luo Xun, planning to set up a sign next time to buy Fire Spirit Ganoderma.

His shift ended.

Zhou Yi first went to water the spirit fields and saw Xiao Tiezhu weeding and tilling the soil; he paid him no mind and returned to his cave dwelling.

He examined the jade slip and at the beginning was the name of the ancient Cultivation Technique.

Divine Bull Transformation!