The day was dark and stormy, with a fine rain drizzling from the sky, but Huangyuan Marketplace was still bustling with activity.
Yang Jing wore a straw raincoat, carefully tucking the Spirit Stones he had earned from selling Talisman Paper into his clothes. He was a handsome young man, just over fifteen, with a tall build and exceptionally bright eyes.
It had been five years since he had transmigrated to the Nine Heavens World, and four years since he had arrived in the Chen Kingdom. Even now, he was only an Early Stage Cultivator at the Second Layer of Qi Cultivation.
Before transmigrating, Yang Jing had been playing the full-dive VRMMO, "Nine Heavens." He was hunting a Demon Beast with a few friends from his team and, during a break, had brought up a mini-game built into his Hibernation Pod to pass the time.
With a loud BANG, Yang Jing's vision went black, and he lost consciousness. When he came to, he had taken over the body of a young man who shared his exact name.
The original owner of Yang Jing's body was from the Wei Kingdom, east of the Cai Kingdom. Because he possessed a Spirit Root, a passing Independent Cultivator named Qingsong Ascendant took him in as a disciple and taught him a Cultivation Technique. Unfortunately, Qingsong Ascendant was defeated and killed while fighting someone over a Spirit Plant, leaving the original Yang Jing all alone.
The original body's owner shrewdly took all of his master's, Qingsong Ascendant's, possessions and fled. After getting far away from the enemy, he found a new place to settle down.
But as fate would have it, with no one to guide him, the boy greedily rushed his cultivation, suffered a qi deviation, and died—all to the benefit of the new Yang Jing.
Yang Jing was only eleven at the time, having just stepped onto the path of Immortal Cultivation, at only the First Layer of Qi Cultivation. At first, he thought he had simply transmigrated into a random Cultivation World. It was only after hearing the names of the Six Great Sects that he realized in shock that he was in the Nine Heavens World.
He immediately tried to call up the game interface to log out, but he got no response. Instead, the built-in mini-game he had been playing appeared.
He was filled with regret. 'Why did I have to play that stupid mini-game? If I'd brought the main game interface with me, reaching Nascent Soul would be possible, and Divinity Transformation would be within reach! I wouldn't be stuck in such a miserable state.'
The Huangyuan Marketplace, where he was now, lay nestled in a valley within the Chen Kingdom's Huangyuan Mountain Range.
The Huangyuan Mountain Range stretched for a thousand li, all the way to Demon Suppression Pass, which defended against the eastward invasion of Demons, a total distance of 1,200 li. At the marching speed of Demons, if Demon Suppression Pass were to fall, their forces could reach Huangyuan Mountain in less than three days.
Demon Suppression Pass was guarded by a great army of Cultivators formed by the Six Great Sects of the Western Continent. Over the past millennium, although it had fallen for brief periods, it was always quickly reclaimed. For the last three hundred years, it hadn't fallen once. In fact, in the last fifty years, the border had been pushed out three thousand li, and a new kingdom, the Chen Kingdom, was established west of the Cai Kingdom.
However, the Celestial Gate defense system, built around the Six Celestial Gates—Demon Suppression Pass, Pingyang Pass, Celestial Radiance Pass, Flying Crane Pass, Wuwei Pass, and Yangyi Pass—was not impenetrable. Demons often slipped through the gaps between the passes to invade the Chen Kingdom. Furthermore, remnants of defeated Demon armies still lurked within the Huangyuan Mountain Range. These Demons frequently descended from the mountains to prey on mortals, and even Cultivators sometimes fell victim to them.
To bolster the border population and prevent the newly established Chen Kingdom from dwindling into a Demon Realm, the Six Great Sects issued the Pioneer Order five years ago. Any Cultivator who came to the Chen Kingdom would be allotted a Spirit Field. An Immortal Cultivation Clan with a Foundation Establishment Cultivator could even be directly granted a Spirit Vein.
Tempted by such generous benefits, a steady stream of Immortal Cultivation Clans and Independent Cultivators naturally flowed into the Chen Kingdom to try their luck and secure a future.
Huangyuan Marketplace was not just a marketplace, but also an administrative body for the Six Great Sects to manage the Immortal Cultivation Clans and Independent Cultivators. There were over thirty such marketplaces in the entire Chen Kingdom. The smaller ones administered a few thousand Independent Cultivators, while the larger ones managed over ten thousand.
When the Six Great Sects issued the Pioneer Order, Yang Jing only mulled it over for half a day before deciding to answer the call.
First, the Demons in the Chen Kingdom were not a significant threat, having been cleared out by the Six Sects Alliance Army. A cautious Cultivator would not be in great danger as long as they stayed near the Marketplace. Second, not many Cultivators had responded to the initial call, so the conditions offered were far more generous than they would be a few years later. Third, in his past life playing 'Nine Heavens,' he had primarily been active in the Chen Kingdom and knew all its major events in detail. Fourth, because it was on the front line of defense, the Six Great Sects heavily favored the Chen Kingdom, opening up many resources and privileges to Independent Cultivators that were unavailable in other Vassal States.
His aptitude was average. He had a Five Elements Spirit Root, but his Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth Spirit Roots were all Lower Grade; only his Metal Spirit Root was Middle Grade. Such talent could only be considered mediocre among Cultivators. In five years, he hadn't dared to slack off for a single moment, yet he had only just managed to reach the Second Layer of Qi Cultivation. Although the 'Five Talismans Book' he cultivated was obscure and difficult, his own mediocre aptitude was also a major reason.
All Cultivators in the world possessed all Five Elements Spirit Roots, but there were differences in quality between them. Those whose Five Elements Spirit Roots were all Lower Grade were known in the Cultivation Realm as having a Pseudo Spirit Root, and they had almost no chance of breaking through the Early Stage of Qi Cultivation.
Yang Jing's aptitude was only slightly better than a Pseudo Spirit Root. In his past life, any player who drew such stats would have rerolled their character without a second thought. If he had stayed obediently in the Wei Kingdom, he might have struggled to reach the Late Stage of Qi Cultivation by the time he was seventy or eighty. More likely, he would have been stuck in the Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation his entire life.
Under these circumstances, Yang Jing naturally chose to come to the Chen Kingdom and take a gamble.
And his gamble paid off. As soon as he arrived at Huangyuan Marketplace, he was allotted three mu of Spirit Fields. Nowadays, only a Late Stage Qi Cultivation cultivator could get that much, and the location would be much worse.
Furthermore, the Spirit Field he had specially chosen was not simple. A Spiritual Spring lay hidden beneath it, its waters blocked by a massive boulder—a hidden dragon in the abyss.
In the game, this Spiritual Spring wouldn't break through the boulder and be discovered for another six years. Its discovery even triggered a conflict, and it was ultimately claimed by the Wu Family, a Foundation Establishment Immortal Cultivation Clan.
After receiving the Spirit Fields, Yang Jing didn't follow the crowd and plant Spirit Grain like the other Spirit Farmers. Instead, he set aside half a mu to plant the Tier One Spirit Grain, Jade Essence Rice, and used the rest of his land to plant Cyan Light Vines. He also spent all his savings on a Fog Concealment Array to prevent others from spying on his crops.
Cyan Light Vines were also Tier One Spirit Plants, but they were much easier to tend to than Jade Essence Rice. There was almost no income in the first year, but afterward, they could be harvested twice a year. The Vine Hide was the primary material for making Talisman Paper. Moreover, the older the Cyan Light Vine, the more valuable its hide.
In the coming years, because the Spirit Farmers would plant vast amounts of Spirit Grain in their allotted Spirit Fields, there would be a massive harvest. The purchase price would plummet and remain low for a long time.
This was also one of the reasons the Six Great Sects issued the Pioneer Order: to supply the Six Sects Alliance Army and eliminate the need to transport grain over thousands of li from the Cai and Wei Kingdoms.
Talisman Paper, however, was the opposite of Spirit Grain. Because the Chen Kingdom was on the front lines of the standoff with the Demons, its consumption of Talismans was enormous. Talisman Paper was constantly in short supply, and its price remained high.
The profit from one mu of Cyan Light Vines was more than ten times that of Jade Essence Rice, and the gap would only widen as the years passed.
In his first year, Yang Jing's only income came from that half-mu of Jade Essence Rice. In the second year, he sold a large amount of Vine Hide and earned a hefty profit, keeping some to practice his Talisman Paper crafting skills. In the third year, he split it fifty-fifty, selling half of the Cyan Light Vines and processing the other half into Talisman Paper to sell himself. This year, he processed all of the harvested Cyan Light Vines himself, keeping all the profits.
In just four short years, relying on his foreknowledge from the game, he had amassed a fortune unimaginable to an ordinary Spirit Farmer. Although some shrewd Spirit Farmers had also started planting Cyan Light Vines, they were two years late, and their profits were far less than Yang Jing's.
Because he was extremely cautious, he always disguised himself and sold his harvests in batches. To this day, he had not revealed his wealth, and in the eyes of others, he was just an ordinary Spirit Farmer.
Finally, two years ago, Yang Jing saved up enough Spirit Stones and purchased a Five Elements Lock Jade Formation from the Celestial Treasure Tower in Huangyuan Marketplace.
This Array integrated the functions of trapping enemies, suppressing spirits, and defense. It was considered an extremely cost-effective Tier One Array, capable of withstanding a siege by several Late Stage Qi Cultivation cultivators, and it even had a Spirit Gathering effect.
Only after stabilizing the Spiritual Qi within his Spirit Field did he finally drill a hole in the massive boulder and open up the Spiritual Spring.
With the Spiritual Mechanism from the Spiritual Spring, not only did the yields of his Spirit Rice and Cyan Light Vines soar, but the concentration of Spiritual Qi in his Spirit Field was now no less than that of a Tier One Middle Grade Spirit Vein.
But Yang Jing knew that this substantial property, at best, could only support him in cultivating to Qi Cultivation Perfection before the age of sixty. He had almost no chance of reaching Foundation Establishment.
Although, for an ordinary Independent Cultivator, this was something they could only dream of.