Du Youqian looked around again and confirmed that the other Secret Techniques were either beyond his financial reach or not the type he needed.
And as for Cultivation Techniques, that was an even more distant dream. Even an entry-level technique from a Major Sect like the Five Elements Spirit Absorption Technique cost four to five thousand Spirit Stones for the complete version.
Slightly better ones easily cost tens of thousands.
He couldn't even begin to fantasize about them.
In the end, Du Youqian sold a few Magical Artifacts and some Elixirs he had refined himself, scraping together 2,040 Spirit Stones.
He then used his silver tongue to persuade the female sales attendant to accept this price.
Finally, he successfully obtained the Secret Technique he desired and headed back.
'Haggling is a must. If you don't, people will think you're a sucker, that you're loaded with cash. If they don't rob you, who will they rob?'
Although Du Youqian didn't understand this Cultivation Realm well, and Elder Tao had rarely spoken of such things—believing that at his age, he wouldn't live long and would never have the chance to go out and make a name for himself.
But he had read many books.
Quite pleased with his maneuvering, Du Youqian browsed the Marketplace for a while longer, but he only window-shopped, buying nothing.
Finally, he even inquired about the rent for a shop.
Only then did he find a dwelling to rent and settle in.
That night, the moment he started meditating, his "tiger's body trembled."
His Cultivation speed was at least three times faster than it had been on Soul-shaking Mountain!
'Of course, a snail crawling at three times its normal speed is still slower than a turtle.'
But at least he could feel his Cultivation progressing, even if the progress was minuscule.
After all, on Soul-shaking Mountain, his Cultivation had been stagnant for over a decade.
He had spent these ten-plus years focused entirely on honing his Immortal Cultivation Techniques.
Why? Because his Cultivation speed was so slow.
On Soul-shaking Mountain, there was only a single Tier One Lower Grade Spirit Vein.
And it had to sustain a small Tier Two Array.
That damn Monkey would also show up from time to time to pay respects to Elder Tao, listen to some zither music, and, while he was at it, hog Du Youqian's cultivation resources.
'There's no point talking about it; it's a story full of tears.'
Now, it was like he'd suddenly traded a bicycle for a motorcycle. Du Youqian found Cultivation downright addictive.
The feeling was like a gaming addict who had been stuck playing on their school's high-latency broadband.
Now that he was finally back home, enjoying the silky smoothness of a 1000 Mbps connection, he'd have to grind ranked matches for a whole month to make up for the accumulated psychological damage.
He cultivated in his dwelling for a full month before finally emerging, completely satisfied.
Du Youqian's spending in the Marketplace hadn't been high, and he hadn't flashed his wealth.
'It's unlikely anyone is keeping a close eye on me.'
'Even if someone back then thought "even a mosquito's leg is still meat" and decided to watch me, after a month, they would have lost their patience.'
So, he swaggered out of the Marketplace, tossed out his Paper Crane, mounted its back, and gracefully flew away.
Next, Du Youqian visited a few Blessed Lands and Loose Cultivator settlements to check them out.
Within a Blessed Land, the rulers were typically large Cultivation Clans or powerful Sects.
Blessed Lands were hidden from the eyes of ordinary people, often concealed by Arrays in famous mountains and great rivers where Spiritual Qi was abundant.
They weren't independent Small Worlds, but more like a kind of folded Space. In short, they were not places Mortals could easily find.
The populations within Blessed Lands were as dense as modern metropolises, and they often supported large numbers of Mortals.
Small Blessed Lands could have populations in the hundreds of thousands, while large ones might have millions or even tens of millions of Mortals living and multiplying within.
These Mortals lived in places rich with Spiritual Qi, so the chances of their descendants being born with Spirit Roots were many times greater than in the outside world.
They were the vital foundation ensuring that these Cultivation Clans and powerful Sects could continue to thrive indefinitely.
But for a power on the level of the Chongzhen Sect, there was no need to raise Mortals in a Blessed Land.
This was because other, weaker Sects would naturally send their most talented cultivation geniuses to them.
As Du Youqian traveled and made inquiries, he felt that with the Immortal Cultivation Techniques he possessed—Tier Two Arrays and Tier Two Alchemy—making a living in a Blessed Land wouldn't be difficult.
Whether he chose to join a small or medium-sized Sect or become an Honored Guest Elder for a Cultivation Clan, he would be treated as a distinguished guest.
But Du Youqian's ambitions, naturally, lay elsewhere.
Even now, more than sixty years later, he still clearly remembered the Little Eyes Daoist from the Chongzhen Sect who had given him and Elder Tao a hard time, and the oath he had sworn back then.
'In my next life, I'll walk into the Chongzhen Sect in grand style, become one of the elites, and bully the apprentices of that Little Eyes Daoist for fun.'
There were several Loose Cultivator settlements within the Wu Kingdom.
These places had a common characteristic: they possessed a Spirit Vein, but it wasn't strong enough to support a Blessed Land, only allowing for the Cultivation of three to five, or at most ten to twenty, Low Tier Cultivators.
Du Youqian spent some time visiting them one by one.
Some Loose Cultivators received him warmly to discuss mysteries and talk about the Dao.
Others were extreme shut-ins who didn't communicate with the outside world and treated him with indifference.
Some even had malicious intentions. When he encountered such people, he simply walked away.
He didn't want to fight with people. 'What's the point of all this fighting and killing? If I get myself killed, I'll lose my chance to reincarnate. It's completely unnecessary.'
'Actually, the main reason is that I'm not strong enough.'
At the Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer, his Cultivation wasn't bad among Loose Cultivators, but it wasn't high either.
In short, it was difficult to crush anyone.
'So, better not to fight.'
After visiting nearly all the Loose Cultivator settlements and speaking with many of them, Du Youqian was rather disappointed.
It's true what they say, "when three walk together, one will be my teacher," and he hadn't been entirely without gains from their exchanges.
But the gains weren't significant.
His foundational Cultivation education came from Elder Tao.
And Elder Tao was an Inner Disciple of the Chongzhen Sect, a Second-class Sect, which made him an elite.
So, although Du Youqian's Cultivation was currently low, his theoretical foundation was solid, based on a mature, systematic approach.
There was nothing particularly outstanding about his Cultivation, but there were no flaws or loopholes either.
As for the Loose Cultivators, most were self-taught, with a few being renegades from clans or sects.
Although some Loose Cultivators had their brilliant moments and commendable ideas...
...on the whole, they were still far inferior to Du Youqian.
After touring the Loose Cultivator settlements in the Wu Kingdom, Du Youqian finally returned to Soul-shaking Mountain.
The Monkey was gone again, having run off somewhere to fool around.
Du Youqian didn't bother looking for him.
This trip had taken over four years, and his gains were immense.
In terms of Cultivation, by exchanging ideas with so many Loose Cultivators, he had managed to draw some new insights by analogy.
In the Marketplace, he had sold off some backlogged items, including things he couldn't use that he had acquired from that unknown Tribulation Cultivator.
He had purchased the "Blood Burning Art," which was of great significance to him.
It could be said that this had greatly strengthened his foundation.
But his greatest gain was finally understanding the latest situation in the Cultivation Realm, filling a crucial gap in his knowledge.
The Nine Countries of Momenan Desert were a remote corner of the entire Cultivation Realm. Relatively speaking, it was a place where Spiritual Qi was thin and cultivation resources were scarce.
The strength of the Nine Countries varied, and they were constantly at war with one another.
However, the Sects within the Nine Countries rarely had major conflicts.
The major Sects and Immortal Cultivation Clans didn't really decide their allegiances based on geographical location.
A Sect from the Wu Kingdom being on good terms with a Sect from the Jin Kingdom and jointly attacking another Sect in the Wu Kingdom—such events were not uncommon in history, and no one would condemn them.
In other words, Cultivators essentially had no nationality.
Across the vast Nine Countries of Momenan Desert, there were only two First-class Sects.
One was a Profound Sects Orthodox Sect, the other a Demon Sect.
As for Second-class Sects, you couldn't even count ten of them on both hands.
That was why Elder Tao had been so proud when he mentioned that the Chongzhen Sect was a Second-class Sect.