“What? Second-grade spiritual herbs are controlled resources?” Qi Ping was startled when he heard this.
Back when his strength was low, he naturally hadn’t paid attention to matters at the level of second-grade spiritual herbs.
Previously, when he had a need, he would directly go to Meng Yan, who was a disciple of a Golden Core elder, and Meng Yan had never mentioned this issue either.
“Could you tell me more about it? What are the ways to obtain second-grade spiritual herbs?”
“Of course, senior. It’s just that I don’t know much either. If there’s anything I don’t explain well, please forgive me, senior!”
Qi Ping nodded, signaling for the steward to continue.
The steward cleared his throat and said respectfully:
“In the Qingtian Domain, all spiritual veins are under the control of the Qingyuan Sect, and the second-grade spiritual veins are firmly held in their own hands.”
“Because second-grade spiritual veins are rare and second-grade spiritual herbs have long growth cycles, even supplying all the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Qingyuan Sect is insufficient.”
“Even the purchasing rights for second-grade spiritual herbs within the sect are allocated by level quotas. Very few spiritual herbs make it to the hands of rogue cultivators and families each year, and even fewer appear in shops for sale.”
“In a place like Qingshi County, second-grade spiritual herbs are usually put up for sale only once every few years.”
Qi Ping listened in silence, and as he did, his expression grew increasingly grim.
He hadn’t realized that the control over second-grade spiritual herbs was so severe, and that their numbers were so scarce—even within the Qingyuan Sect, they were distributed by level.
Although Qi Ping could understand why this was the case, knowing it still gave him a considerable headache.
No wonder there were so few Golden Core cultivators in the Qingtian Domain. There weren’t even enough second-grade spiritual herbs to go around. In the absence of herbs and resources, relying solely on absorbing spiritual energy from the heavens and earth to reach Golden Core would probably take five hundred years just to reach Foundation Establishment perfection.
The root cause of it all was that spiritual veins were hard to find!
Now that the Qingyuan Sect controlled the spiritual veins and second-grade spiritual herbs, the path to advancement naturally fell firmly into their hands.
Learning this left Qi Ping with a throbbing headache.
Seeing Qi Ping’s increasingly grim expression, the steward grew uneasy, afraid that Qi Ping might become angry.
Fortunately, after just a moment, Qi Ping spoke up:
“Thank you for letting me know! I won’t disturb you any further.”
“Please take care, senior.”
After leaving, Qi Ping visited two more trading houses and got the same answers.
At that point, Qi Ping had no choice but to leave Qingshi Market and head to larger cities in search of second-grade spiritual herbs or their seeds.
“What a hassle!”
Qi Ping sighed helplessly.
He really hadn’t imagined that second-grade spiritual herbs would be so rare that even spirit stones couldn’t easily buy them!
In the Qingtian Domain, starting from second-grade spiritual herbs, these were already scarce resources, tightly controlled by those in power.
By controlling these resources, anyone who wanted to continue breaking through had to strive to join the Qingyuan Sect and keep working to raise their own rank.
And even then, they only earned the right to purchase second-grade spiritual herbs—they still had to pay every single spirit stone without exception.
“So this is the class system of the cultivation world?”
“Unless broken from the outside, it’s nearly indestructible from within. As long as the resources remain in the hands of the Qingyuan Sect, no matter how talented someone is, their chances of rising are incredibly slim.”
The only thing to be thankful for was the presence of external pressure. To attract people and maintain its own strength, the Qingyuan Sect had to make certain concessions and sacrifices. Otherwise, if only the Qingtian Domain existed, the core ruling class controlling the resources would have long since run rampant to who knows what extent.
At that moment, Qi Ping truly understood how difficult it was for even the exceptionally gifted to rise in the cultivation world.
“Good thing I chose the Druid profession back then. Otherwise, without being able to cultivate my own resources, what use would high talent be? With luck, I might rise swiftly; without it, I’d just drown in frustration—or worse, become someone’s vessel for possession.”
No wonder the mysterious black market demanded such hard-to-get black market points for purchases, and why the missions were so dangerous—yet the organization had stood strong for hundreds of thousands of years. When trapped by class constraints, the mysterious black market became the only option.
But for now, Qi Ping had no intention of using the mysterious black market to buy seeds.
Black market points were too hard to earn—truly won by risking one’s life. One slip and there might be no corpse left intact.
He had to use those precious black market points where they mattered most.
“Other large cities in the Qingtian Domain might offer a chance to find second-grade spiritual herbs, and the probability of finding second-grade seeds is even higher!”
“As long as I find one herb that can reproduce, I can keep cultivating it, and have the Apothecary Bees combine it with other first-grade spiritual herbs in my territory to brew honey suitable for my cultivation and that of my animal companions.”
When he first set out, Qi Ping had hoped to get several second-grade spiritual herbs so the Apothecary Bees could have more subjects to experiment with and produce all sorts of amazingly effective honey. Now, he only hoped to find one second-grade spiritual herb that could continuously reproduce.
Thankfully, the Apothecary Bees existed; otherwise, with limited herb varieties, it would be too difficult for Qi Ping to create honey with different effects.
“Let me check out Tianshui City first!”
After leaving Qingshi Market, Qi Ping decided to visit a larger city to see if he could find suitable spiritual herbs.
Tianshui City was a relatively large city not far from Qingshi County, with even more prosperous trade.
But when Qi Ping arrived at Tianshui City, he was dumbfounded.
According to the map, he found a field of ruins where Tianshui City should have been—likely destroyed in the recent war, now completely abandoned.
“Could there have been a Golden Core-level battle here? How could a city this large be reduced to rubble?”
“Whatever, on to the next city!”
“How about Cangbi City?”
But to Qi Ping’s shock, he ran to three more cities in a row, from day till night, and ended up buying absolutely nothing.
Almost all the merchants said the recent war had consumed nearly all their second-grade spiritual herb stock. Even they couldn’t get any for their own use, let alone sell.
After nightfall, hiding in a patch of forest, Qi Ping thought about what he’d encountered that day and sighed helplessly.
Obtaining second-grade spiritual herbs was turning out to be far harder than he’d imagined!
“I’ll search one more day.”
“If I still don’t find any, I’ll have to turn to the mysterious black market or ask Brother Meng for help.”
Early the next morning, Qi Ping set off for the nearby Litian City.
To his disappointment, that trip yielded nothing either, so he headed to the next predetermined city, Chiyang City.
Just when Qi Ping thought he’d come up empty again, the steward sitting across from him said:
“All the second-grade spiritual herbs have been used up in the past few years. But as for second-grade spiritual herb seeds… we do have two.”
