Li Ling walked out of the hunting grounds after being eyed darkly by the Market Guards, who were wondering who the heck this smarmy youngster was. None of them even remotely remembered a fellow like Li Ling even though it was just two days ago, because to a butcher who had a whole warehouse of beasts to slaughter, who could remember the face of the 504th pig?
As such, the young man, now burdened with a total of 69 spirit stones while the rest rode quietly in Tan Guwan's ring, made his way through the hunting grounds area and entered the market proper.
Coming back here with his cultivation at the highest level, the entire market felt extremely different to Li Ling. It was like how you would always be punctual to class and fearful of school rules in your freshman year, but when you're a senior and about to write your finals, you even dare to joke with the principal.
Li Ling felt an unprecedented ease, and this manifested as he walked into the middle area of the market.
While there were no gates or rules preventing those with early stage Qi Refinement from coming here, using the previous example, it was like a freshman daring to walk into the sophomore common room. Nothing necessarily said you could not be here, but did you not feel awkward being stared at by so many seniors, and were you not worried they would find trouble for you?
So Li Ling, at level 1, had fervently avoided coming here no matter the reason. Now at level 4, he met the minimum qualifications to come here, so this was actually his first time roaming in the middle area and beyond.
From the very get-go, the concentration of ambient spiritual energy was higher. Li Ling paused when he crossed over the boundary, glancing at the ground lightly and noticing that indeed, an array was set up to strengthen the concentration of spiritual energy in the inner section while also locking it in, preventing it from leaking to the outer section.
Not only that, but the market area here was not a messy bazaar with many streets, but a single square. The streets were completely paved with stone and were spotlessly clean, none of the slightly funny smell of the outer area. Each vendor possessed a small building as a shop, some even having promotion stalls at the front that could quick-sell items, manned by cultivators wearing robes that matched the theme of the store.
It was like coming to a modern slightly upscale market area, only with a rustic Chinese ambiance.
Li Ling immediately honed in on one of the many stores here called the Yu Lian Shop. This shop was a general store that sold a bit of everything, and he had come to its outside stall that dealt with various techniques, books and mantras, which was manned by a youthful girl who seemed to be just about sixteen in age.
She was at the third level of Qi Refinement and emulated a bubbly personality, though that could have been what she was trained to emulate by the store owner. Li Ling only came here because he saw that this shop was quite well frequented, with each of the other shopfronts for pills, artifacts and the like practically having crowds in front.
Only the book section was loosely visited, because people did not often buy new techniques unless they were in need of them.
Seeing Li Ling come over, the young girl seemed excited and quickly hummed as she came to stand before him, gesturing to the range of books and scrolls neatly lined up on the stall's display table.
"Hello dear sir, is there anything you'd like to buy? Xiao Yao would be pleased to help you!" she chirped pleasantly.
Li Ling smiled and looked down, glancing through the titles displayed. To the left were cultivation techniques, all for the Qi Refinement level. Li Ling saw familiar names like the Frost Soul Art, the Bright Breathing Mantra, the Pure Moon Codex and even the Verdant Forest Manuscript.
These were all familiar names because his clan possessed all of them in their library and as stated before, unless one really had a special spirit root or found a super unique cultivation technique, it was just better to use the basic Qi Circulation Mantra.
Li Ling thought so too, so he was not here for cultivation techniques, but rather what came after, which were the daoist arts. Once again, Li Ling saw a familiar sprawl that had been in his clan library at the time, but he had not dared to learn them.
"Give me this, this, and all of these." Li Ling said as he pointed to eight daoist arts at once.
This naturally shocked and pleased the girl, who almost jumped on the spot, quickly retrieving the printed copies of the techniques on display, which were penned by skilled scribes. Li Ling took them and glanced at each one to make sure there were no problems.
First was the Voice Transmission Technique, the ability to throw one's words to another's ears soundlessly, allowing for fluent secretive communication. This was a must-have in the cultivation world, and Li Ling previously did not have enough spare concentration to learn something like this.
Second was the Object Control Technique, the ability to use spiritual energy to mimic telekinesis. This was the basis for being able to use flying swords and various other ranged or special weapon types.
Third was the Earth Escape Technique, the ability to merge with the ground like a wraith and surge faster than a hawk stooping. Li Ling bought this because even though he did not treasure caution, it would still do him well to have this in his repertoire.
Fourth was the Golden Bell Shield Technique, the daoist art version of the talisman. Rather, it should be said that every talisman out there was simply adapted from daoist arts, allowing those who had not or could not learn those techniques to use them on the fly.
Fifth was the Cleansing Spell, because cleanliness was the basic desire of any earthling. Li Ling could not tell you how many times his nose or eyes had suffered due to the slightly backward hygienic culture of this world, especially in mortal kingdoms and cities.
Sixth was the Qi Sealing Technique, which was used to seal the refined spiritual qi of another cultivator, allowing one to capture or control them. Li Ling was surprised that this was sold openly, but then again, that was the cultivation world for you.
Seventh was the Essence Locking Technique, which was a special art that was exclusive to male cultivators, allowing them to engage in debauchery without losing their Vital Yang. This allowed those practicing either Buddhism, yang-heavy or abstinence-related cultivation arts to be able to indulge in the flesh without losing everything. Though, it was mostly learned as a form of protection, because enough yang-thieving arts were in circulation that any cautious male cultivator learned a counter.
The eighth and final daoist art that Li Ling bought was the Falling Boulder Art, which was an offensive earth-based technique that spawned giant rocks to smash down towards the foe, turning them into meat paste against the ground.
Li Ling was satisfied with these choices, which came to a high value of over 160 spirit stones. Luckily, he had the earnings from the hunting ground, especially the ill-gotten gains from the cultivators he slew, allowing him to spend wantonly up to about 400 spirit stones.
Li Ling moved his gaze over to the non-daoist arts, selecting a few there as well to complement his skill set. Non-daoist arts were those that did not require cultivation, or even if they did, could be used by any form of energy, be it refined spiritual qi or the True Qi of martial artists.
Among them, he selected four.
The first was the Disguise Art, an obvious choice for any person who aimed to walk in the cultivation world. By using spiritual qi or true qi to mix up one's bones and muscles, they could alter their appearance freely, allowing one to come and go from various places.
The second was the Swift Swallow Step, a martial arts qigong that emphasized rapid movement speed over a short distance, allowing one to dance around foes. While there were equivalents among the daoist arts, they were not that much better than these martial techniques, especially for Li Ling.
The third was the Sky Rending Palm, also acquired to help him effect his killing better, especially in situations where he did not have his weapons available. At the Qi Refinement late stage and above, foes expected you to use daoist arts to fight, so when you suddenly appeared in front of them and slapped your palm out, you were significantly likely to end up getting a one-shot kill.
The final non-daoist art was the Hidden Sleeve Art, a rogue-ish method that used sleight of hand to throw out throwing knives and other ranged projectiles at nearby foes, or even to assassinate with a quick slash to the throat without ever making overt movements.
These techniques cost far less, barely amounting to 3 spirit stones. After all, they were non-daoist arts, and if one was not lazy, they could even find them in various mortal martial halls or jianghu markets.
Li Ling scanned the stall once more, not paying mind to the other miscellaneous books which offered both non-fictional and fictional information like encyclopedias, travelogues or biographies. This was not because he wanted to remain willfully ignorant, but because in his twelve years of having an adult mind, he had read everything in the clan library.
Why else were they so excited that he would be something special? It was also a significant reason why he could find his way after being thrown out and end up here.
Under the bright gaze of the young lady, Li Ling hesitated and decided to spend once more. "What are the best Body Refining techniques you have?"
Hearing this, the young lass almost fainted from joy. Purchasing daoist arts was one thing, but a person buying body refining techniques was a whole new thing altogether.
This was because Body Refinement was another cultivation path, separate from cultivating qi. Qi Cultivation was about gathering Qi, perfecting Spirit and transforming Essence, while Body Refinement was about inducting spiritual qi into the body itself while using special means to fortify it.
One could practice both, but even most sect disciples did not dare to, because not only did it split one's attention, Body Refinement was as costly as trying to learn alchemy. At each stage, one needed to use special oils, treasured medicines and special elixirs to accumulate cultivation base or break through.
But Li Ling did not care about the cost if there was any, because he was pursuing the peak of combat power. He did not need anything else but the highest combat power to kill his foes and harvest Slaughter Points, in which his strength would be pushed even further forward.
The young girl quickly replied. "Yes, we have a wide selection of Body Refinement methods for sir to choose from! Apart from that, we also sell many necessary materials for the practice, much cheaper than any other stores and produced at the highest quality by our in-house alchemists!"
"Oh? Then introduce me to one with the highest combat power. It doesn't matter how much it costs, how tough the materials are to acquire, I just want the one that makes you the strongest in terms of killing power." Li Ling emphasized, staring the girl down until she gulped.
"Erm, yes! For that, we have a very suitable choice for you, which is the Blood Asura Descent. This technique cultivates your blood, allowing you to use it offensively and defensively, and even affect the blood of others. The only problem is that it requires materials not easily found in the Qing Shan Sect domain, since it's from a demonic sect…" she explained quickly, simultaneously worried that this big customer would leave and that he might get violent given his preferences.