After Qi Ping backed off, the mysterious organization behind the forces he had wiped out—specifically, the person in charge of Qingtian Region affairs—absolutely lost it. “What? It failed?”
“Are you telling me that guy with the bees, the one who doesn’t even have many second-order bee species, survived an ambush by three Foundation Building cultivators?”
“Are you freaking kidding me?”
He was about to go insane! So many people! So many forces that took so much effort to cultivate in secret! All gone in an instant!
What would happen if the blood sacrifice tribute wasn’t enough?
Who could bear the wrath of the Immortal Master?!
“Keep setting up ambushes!”
“This time, send at least ten Foundation Building cultivators! Make sure some of them are at perfect Qi Refining level!”
“Let’s see how he escapes this time!”
“Wait a minute—check if there are any Golden Core cultivators available too! Send them out as well!”
“This time, I want that man captured at all costs! I’ll rip out his soul and refine his spirit! I’ll make him suffer every torture known to this world!”
As this terrifying voice faded, an endless wave of horrifying blood energy surged, accompanied by the roars of countless vengeful spirits!
Too bad this person’s plans were ultimately doomed to fail.
Because after this, Qi Ping wouldn’t make another move for at least ten years, maybe even longer.
They could set up all the ambushes they wanted, but it would be like drawing water with a bamboo basket—all for nothing.
To put it more accurately, they had cast a massive net in the river, but the fish had long since swum off and hidden in some unknown corner.
During this mission, Qi Ping had also seen a lot of things.
First, using his keen Druidic senses, Qi Ping detected similar strange auras on those geniuses who practiced special techniques. This was especially obvious when they burst out with blood energy and spiritual power.
Combined with the information he gathered while carrying out the mysterious black market missions, Qi Ping arrived at a chilling hypothesis: blood sacrifices!
These people were very likely specially raised blood sacrifices for some kind of existence!
Another common trait among them was that almost all came from humble origins but possessed special talents. They had little worldly knowledge, making them the most likely group to practice such heaven-defying techniques.
“Could it be that the reason those righteous sects care so much about the prosperity of the cultivation world is just to create a better environment for raising more suitable blood sacrifices?”
“The reason they ‘fertilize the soil’ and ‘ensure the growing environment of the chives’ is just to guarantee the normal production of blood sacrifices.”
“As long as the knowledge of blood sacrifices is locked within a certain range, it won’t spread outward, and it certainly won’t affect the lower classes, where information is already scarce.”
Qi Ping had never understood why those powerful cultivators cared so much about the prosperity of both the mortal and cultivation worlds. But if he compared it to a vegetable farmer managing his field, it suddenly made sense. The cultivation world was just more complicated.
“If this hypothesis turns out to be true, then the cultivation world is absolutely terrifying!”
After coming to this conclusion, Qi Ping felt a deep chill run through his heart.
If he hadn’t continuously carried out dozens of missions, noticed the strange auras on those geniuses, and discovered that those special organizations were almost all involved in trading special infants and the spiritual objects made from those infants, he might never have figured this out.
The first time Qi Ping saw living infants being turned into spiritual objects, the shock he felt was beyond words.
It was only after seeing such infant-made products again and again that he truly understood what it meant to wipe out these organizations.
Some mysterious existence seemed to be endlessly harvesting the cultivation world!
Faced with such a reality, even though Qi Ping just wanted to live quietly and become an immortal on his own, his heart still stirred with huge waves.
What kind of place is the cultivation world, really?
This made Qi Ping even more cautious and defensive.
If his true situation were exposed to the cultivation world, who knew how many terrifying existences would set their sights on him?
This only strengthened Qi Ping’s determination to build his own territory and create his own cultivation techniques. That way, he could avoid the traps set by those terrifying existences as much as possible.
As for the abducted and slaughtered infants, that wasn’t something Qi Ping could handle with his current strength. Massacring so many of these organizations was already the limit of what he could do.
【Black Market Points: 15,000】
“Time to start searching for items!”
Deep in a forest far from the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, Qi Ping began searching for information on the Essence of Spirit Veins. After injecting spiritual power into the token along with the information about the Essence of Spirit Veins, a message appeared.
【Searching for “Essence of Spirit Veins” will cost 200 spirit stones. Do you wish to proceed?】
After Qi Ping confirmed again, three product listings appeared.
【First-order low-grade Essence of Spirit Veins, specific quality details: Price 32,000 spirit stones + 3,200 Black Market Points】
【First-order mid-grade Essence of Spirit Veins, specific quality details: Price 96,000 spirit stones + 9,300 Black Market Points】
【Second-order low-grade Essence of Spirit Veins, specific quality details: Price 566,000 spirit stones】
“These prices…”
Seeing the price of the Essence of Spirit Veins, Qi Ping couldn’t help but shudder.
Was this something an ordinary person could even consider? And this was after the price had been greatly reduced because the Essence of Spirit Veins had been extracted from the earth’s veins.
Suffice it to say, this kind of thing was only suitable for large sects and families. The cost of purchasing and nurturing it would be terrifying, far beyond what any individual could typically afford.
“But it does seem a bit higher than market price. Probably because it’s being shipped from farther away.”
The token also explained that when searching for items from different locations, it would recommend the nearest available items.
The farther the distance, the higher the price!
So the mysterious black market was only cost-effective for buying high-value, rare items—like Essence of Spirit Veins, secret-level techniques, rare spirit pets, puppet arts, and such.
For ordinary items, it was much more economical to buy from merchant guilds.
“I’ll buy the first-order low-grade Essence of Spirit Veins! I can nurture it slowly myself, so I don’t need to spend an extra sixty or seventy thousand spirit stones. Plus, I still need spirit stones to buy other things.”
After a brief thought, Qi Ping made his decision.
During the three months of carrying out missions, Qi Ping had amassed quite a lot of loot.
He had over a hundred different cultivation techniques, spells, and related knowledge—enough to keep him studying for a very long time. All of this would become the foundation of knowledge for creating his own techniques and spells in the future.
As for spirit stones, Qi Ping had harvested about 77,000 spirit stones from over a hundred Qi Refining cultivators and three Foundation Building cultivators!
Add that to what he already had, and even without selling the Nectar of Spirit Nurturing he had accumulated during this time, Qi Ping’s total wealth was close to 100,000 spirit stones!
Months of continuous killing had pushed Qi Ping’s spirit stone savings to a terrifying number.
So after spending 32,000 spirit stones on the Essence of Spirit Veins, Qi Ping also planned to buy some second-order and third-order spirit tree seeds. Only by contracting enough tree spirits could he nurture his spirit trees faster.
Originally, Qi Ping wanted to buy—
【Searching for “Spirit Tree Seeds” will cost 2,000 spirit stones. Do you wish to proceed?】
Seeing the cost of 2,000 spirit stones, Qi Ping’s eyelids twitched. What a money pit!
But searching for items at the Golden Core level simply cost this much. Qi Ping could only swallow his frustration and bear it.
Who could blame him when they actually had good stuff?
Qi Ping planned to buy as many as possible so he wouldn’t waste this search!
And he hoped to find spirit tree seeds that could both earn him money and help upgrade his spirit vein. That way, he could earn back ten or even a hundred times the spirit stones!
For at least the next ten years, Qi Ping would most likely not participate in any conflicts. So to earn spirit stones, he’d better rely on spirit trees and honey.
