Chapter 298: Chapter 298 Settling Down
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Wang Chen only stayed in Flying Immortal City for four hours.
Although the city's name at the foot of Jade Dragon Mountain was rather euphonious, it left a very bad impression on him.
Noisy, restless, complex, filthy!
Being there felt like plunging into a quagmire, affecting one's Dao heart.
Therefore, after gaining a basic understanding of Flying Immortal City, he decisively left.
Leaving the city, Wang Chen headed west.
Looking for a suitable place to settle.
Near Flying Immortal City, there were many houses, most hidden amidst dense forests, with their full views shrouded and elusive.
Clearly, some cultivators shared Wang Chen's dislike of the urban environment and chose to reside outside the city.
Flying Immortal City had no walls, nor was it governed by Immortal Gates or clans; anyone with enough strength could find a vacant spot to build a dwelling on.
Thus the city's area kept expanding chaotically, resembling a sprawling slum.
Wang Chen flew out for about eighty to a hundred miles nonstop, then chose a secluded and hidden spot, preparing to build a place for himself.
There he unexpectedly found an abandoned cave mansion.
The entrance to this cave mansion was covered by a thick growth of plants, making it easy to overlook.
When Wang Chen first discovered it, he thought it was just a mountain cave. After clearing away the vines at the entrance, he found out it was a man-made structure, quite spacious.
Moreover, it was divided into a living room, bedroom, kitchen, and cultivation chamber.
Yet it was covered with thick dust and the walls were full of cobwebs; a few bats even flew off in alarm when he entered.
To make it habitable, a thorough cleaning was necessary.
But with a bargain like this pre-built haven, Wang Chen wasn't the least bit repelled.
First, he hung two luminous stone lamps on the walls of the cave, then used the Cleansing Technique to sweep clean the filth inside.
Loads of trash were wrapped by mana and flew out of the cave, scattering into the nearby woods.
In just half an incense stick's burning time, Wang Chen had cleaned the inside and outside of the cave mansion spotlessly!
His Cleansing Technique gained more than ten points of experience.
Next, Wang Chen took out tables, chairs, and various other household items from his Storage Bag, quickly arranging them in good order.
But his work wasn't finished yet.
Wang Chen summoned the Wind Thunder Sword and sliced off a large piece of thick rock from the cave wall.
He then processed it into a stone door, used for sealing the entrance.
That evening, Wang Chen settled into the cave mansion.
The next morning, he started digging tunnels.
It wasn't that Wang Chen was addicted to digging, but the area around Flying Immortal City was unsafe, with monster beasts often descending from Jade Dragon Mountain to attack lone or isolated cultivators.
That's why the environment inside Flying Immortal City was so bad, yet most cultivators still preferred to squeeze in there.
The cultivators of Flying Immortal City treated the monster beasts as prey, frequently venturing into the mountains to hunt them.
In turn, the monster beasts of Jade Dragon Mountain also saw the cultivators as delicacies!
Some monster beasts were ferocious and greedy, possessing intelligence not inferior to that of humans, truly formidable enemies for the cultivators.
For his own safety, Wang Chen dug three secret chambers and five different-length passageways underneath the cave mansion.
The longest escape tunnel stretched ten miles away!
Although the project was considerable, relying on his Purple Mansion cultivation level, Wang Chen completed it in merely five days.
In the end, Wang Chen set up an array plate in the deepest secret chamber.
This set of high-tier Qi Cultivation Spirit Gathering Formation Plate was what he had exchanged for with Merit Points back when he was with the Cloud Sun Sect.
Although a high-tier Qi Cultivation Spirit Gathering Array did not match Wang Chen's current cultivation realm,
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But it's better than having nothing at all.
In the days that followed, Wang Chen spent most of his time cultivating in the secret chamber of his cave mansion.
Then, every few days, he would take a trip into Flying Immortal City.
On one hand, it was to gather information.
On the other hand, it was to purchase some necessary supplies, such as the Three-Eyed Giant Python and Cloud-Stepping Tiger needed for brewing Dragon Tiger Strong Soul Soup.
There were many battle cultivators in Flying Immortal City who usually relied on hunting monster beasts to sustain their livelihood or exchange for resources.
With a wide variety of monster beasts in the Jade Dragon Mountain, one could often buy the flesh essence of the rare Three-Eyed Giant Python and Cloud-Stepping Tiger that were seldom seen in Ten Thousand Cultivators City.
Additionally, there were plenty of spiritual medicines and materials, making it easy to gather the ingredients for Dragon Tiger Strong Soul Soup.
Wang Chen's remaining spirit stones were thus spent clean!
So he returned to his old trade and started dealing in talismans once more.
For this purpose, Wang Chen specially "surveyed" the market and found that the most popular talismans in Flying Immortal City were amulets.
This was actually quite easy to understand.
As the saying goes, "One takes advantage of the local resources," and most of the cultivators in Flying Immortal City relied on Jade Dragon Mountain for their living, hunting, gathering herbs, and mining as their main sources of income.
However, the more one traveled the mountain paths, the more likely they were to encounter powerful and fierce monster beasts.
Naturally, the sales of body protection amulets were exceptionally good.
After all, spirit stones can always be earned, but one only has one life, and a talisman at a critical moment could save it.
Any cultivator wouldn't skimp on such an investment.
Of course, with high demand, business competition was naturally very fierce.
So, Wang Chen played his trump card.
He selected the finest talisman paper and ink, showcasing his Great Perfection level talisman crafting skills to craft body protection and armor and horse talismans.
The armor and horse talismans, used for escaping, also had a good sales volume in Flying Immortal City.
Wang Chen bundled these two types of talismans for sale, pricing a set of two at ten spirit stones!
Such a price was a cut above the rest, and at first, hardly anyone paid attention.
But there were countless cultivators in Flying Immortal City, many of whom knew the goods well.
Just like his previous situation in Ten Thousand Cultivators City, after the first person took the plunge, Wang Chen's talismans quickly found their market and gained excellent customer reputation.
Latter, as soon as he set up his stall in the marketplace, the bundled talismans he put up for sale would quickly sell out.
Wang Chen's once depleted storage bag, once again swelled up.
And he didn't hoard the earned spirit stones; he mostly spent them on buying the spiritual materials he needed.
Therefore, consuming a jar of Dragon Tiger Strong Soul Soup every day, Wang Chen's progress in cultivating the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Method advanced greatly, bringing him very close to the fifth tier, the Vajra Indestructibility realm.
Besides the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Method, Wang Chen didn't neglect his main practice of the Innate Five Elements Skill either.
As for the Clarify Technique, Hidden God Technique, Heavy Light Shield Armor, and Sky Skip Technique that he had already mastered, he kept pushing himself to accumulate experience points.
The days went by one after the other, during which he didn't encounter any twists or turns, so peaceful that Wang Chen himself found it surprising.
However, unexpectedly, the unexpected happened!
Just after the start of winter, a heavy snow fell in the region of Flying Immortal City, causing a sudden drop in temperature.
This snow lasted for three days and three nights, covering the vast land and the rolling mountains with a thick layer of snow.
Many monster beasts entered hibernation, but a large number of them also started to descend the mountain in search of food.
The conflict between cultivators and monster beasts suddenly intensified!
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The first update is here.
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