After Qi Ping went into hiding, the person in charge of Qingtian Domain affairs for the mysterious organization behind the destroyed forces was furious.
"What? A failure?"
"You are telling me that against a guy who tames bees—someone with hardly any Rank 2 bee species—an ambush by three Foundation Establishment cultivators failed?"
"Are you kidding me?"
He was going crazy. So many people! So many hidden forces that had been painstakingly cultivated! All gone in an instant! What would happen if the tribute of Blood Food was insufficient? Who could endure the wrath of the Immortal Lord?
"Keep setting up ambushes!"
"This time, send at least ten Foundation Establishment cultivators! They must be at the Great Perfection stage!"
"I want to see how he runs this time!"
"Wait, see if any Golden Core cultivators are free! Send them as well!"
"This time, you must capture him! I will search his soul and refine his spirit! I will make him suffer every torture in this world!"
As the terrifying voice fell, a boundless, horrifying aura of blood rose, accompanied by the wails of countless vengeful spirits!
Unfortunately for him, his plans were destined to fail. After this incident, Qi Ping would not act again for at least ten years, possibly longer. Their ambush would be for nothing. To put it accurately, they had cast a massive net in the river, but the fish had already swam to an unknown corner to hide.
During his mission streak, Qi Ping had actually seen many things. First, thanks to his sharp Druid senses, he detected a similar, strange aura on all the prodigies who practiced special techniques. This was especially obvious when they erupted with blood-qi and spiritual power. Combining this with the information gathered during his missions, Qi Ping reached a spine-chilling conclusion: Blood Food!
These people were likely special Blood Food being raised by a certain existence!
They shared another trait: they almost all came from grassroots backgrounds but possessed special talents. Having little worldly experience, they were the most likely to be enticed into practicing techniques that harmed the heavens.
'Is it possible that the righteous sects care so much about the prosperity of the cultivation world just to create a better environment to breed more suitable Blood Food?'
'The reason they plant crops and fertilize—ensuring the environment for the leeks—is to ensure the steady production of Blood Food.'
'As long as the knowledge of Blood Food is locked within a certain circle, it won't spread. It won't affect the commoners at the bottom, whose information is already restricted.'
Qi Ping previously couldn't understand why powerful cultivators cared so much about the prosperity of the mortal and cultivation worlds. But if he compared them to farmers managing a vegetable plot, it made sense, though the cultivation world was far more complex.
'If this theory is true, the cultivation world is far too terrifying!'
Qi Ping felt a chill in his heart. If he hadn't executed dozens of missions, noticed the strange aura on the geniuses, discovered that the organizations were trading infants, and seen the special spiritual items made from those infants, he might never have realized this.
When he first saw living infants being turned into spiritual items, the shock was beyond description. Only after seeing it again and again did he understand what it meant to destroy those organizations. Some mysterious existence seemed to be conducting an endless harvest of the cultivation world!
Facing such things, even though Qi Ping only wanted to live a quiet life and reach immortality, a huge wave of emotion rose in his heart. Just what kind of place was the cultivation world? This made him even more wary. If his true status were exposed, who knew how many terrifying beings would target him?
This only strengthened his resolve to build his own territory and create his own techniques. Only then could he maximize his chances of avoiding the traps of those terrifying existences. As for the kidnapped and slaughtered infants, it was not something he had the power to handle right now. Destroying so many of those organizations was already the limit of what he could do.
Black Market Points: 15,000.
'Time to look for items!'
In a mountain forest far from the Cloud-Mist Mountain Range, Qi Ping began searching for information on the Spirit Vein Essence. After inputting the request into the token, information appeared.
Querying Spirit Vein Essence requires two hundred spirit stones. Do you wish to proceed?
Qi Ping clicked confirm, and three item entries were displayed.
Rank 1 Low-grade Spirit Vein Essence. Specific quality details... Price: 32,000 spirit stones + 3,200 Black Market Points.
Rank 1 Mid-grade Spirit Vein Essence. Specific quality details... Price: 96,000 spirit stones + 9,300 Black Market Points.
Rank 2 Low-grade Spirit Vein Essence. Specific quality details... Price: 566,000 spirit stones.
'This price...'
Looking at the cost, Qi Ping's eyelids couldn't help but twitch. Was this something a normal person could consider? And this was the price despite the value dropping significantly after the essence was extracted from the earth. One could only say such things were meant for major sects and clans. The cost of purchasing and nurturing one was terrifying, far beyond what an average individual could afford.
'However, it seems slightly higher than the market price. It must be because of the distance.'
The token mentioned that querying items at different locations would recommend nearby goods. The further the distance, the higher the price. Thus, the Black Market was only suitable for buying high-priced, rare items like Spirit Vein Essence, secret-grade techniques, rare spiritual pets, or puppetry. For common items, it was better to go to a merchant guild.
'I'll buy the Rank 1 Low-grade Spirit Vein Essence! I can nurture it slowly myself. There's no need to spend sixty or seventy thousand more spirit stones. Besides, I need spirit stones for other things...'
After a brief thought, Qi Ping made his decision.
During his three months of missions, he had accumulated quite a bit of loot. He had over a hundred manuals on techniques, spells, and related knowledge. This would be enough for him to study for a long time and would serve as the foundation for his future creation of techniques.
In terms of spirit stones, he had gathered about seventy-seven thousand from over a hundred Qi Refining cultivators and three Foundation Establishment cultivators! Adding what he already had, even though he hadn't sold the Spirit-Nurturing Honey accumulated during this time, his net worth was nearly one hundred thousand spirit stones!
The continuous months of slaughter had brought his spirit stone accumulation to a terrifying number. Thus, after subtracting the thirty-two thousand for the Spirit Vein Essence, he planned to buy some Rank 2 and Rank 3 spirit wood seeds. Only by contracting enough trees could he accelerate the development of his spirit sanctuary.
Originally, he wanted to buy...
Querying Spirit Wood Seeds requires two thousand spirit stones. Do you wish to proceed?
Seeing the number two thousand, Qi Ping's eyelids twitched again. This money-grubbing thing! But querying items at the Golden Core level required that level of payment. He could only grit his teeth and endure it. Who told them they actually had the good stuff!
He planned to buy more at once so as not to waste the query. Ideally, he could find seeds that could both make money and improve the spirit vein, allowing him to earn back ten or a hundred times the cost! For at least the next ten years, he likely wouldn't participate in any conflict, so he would have to rely on spirit wood and honey to earn stones.