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Chapter 46 – Outer Region
The mountain that made up the Outer Region of Mingxin Mountain Range was over 2,400 meters in altitude, the peak towering majestically up into the sky. There were thousands of seemingly randomly scattered courtyards of varying sizes at different altitudes on the mountain, all the way down to the lowest point at the very foot of the mountain.
Liu Dian landed the Spirit Cloud, bringing Xu Disheng and Chu Qing’er to the foot of the Outer Region. They stopped in front of a slightly larger one of those scattered courtyards, which was none other than the Outer Region’s Errands Office. When Liu Dian landed the Spirit Cloud, several errand disciples came forward.
Liu Dian turned and said, “Give them your identity jade slips.”
Xu Disheng and Chu Qing’er pulled out their jade slips and an errand disciple stepped forward to receive them. After examining them, he said, “New disciples entering the Outer Region will be assigned a courtyard. Xu Disheng, number 3763. Chu Qing’er, number 2783.” He pulled two jade slips out from his chest pocket and continued, “These jade slips are the keys to open the array in your courtyard. Don’t lose them.”
Every courtyard was enclosed by a small array for gathering spiritual energy, protection, communication, and taking pictures, all combined in one. Although it had the lowest level performance on all of these aspects, the functions were very inclusive and it took care of many things. It could be seen how deep the Shangqing Sacred Sect’s reserves were, given that even the mere outer disciples had access to something like this.
Xu Disheng received the jade slip key. When he saw that Liu Dian had already left on his Spirit Cloud, he shook his head. He said to the Outer Region errand disciple, “Senior Martial Brother, may I ask where Courtyard 3763 is?”
The errand disciple raised his brow and replied, “The record jade slip said that you had Rank 6 Spiritual Root, so the courtyard assigned to you is pretty good. It’s located about halfway up the mountain, about 1500 meters from the base of the mountain. It might be a little difficult to get to though.” He pointed towards the foot of the mountain, where there was an extremely steep, meandering path. It was clearly made in a slipshod, haphazard manner, and despite it being the only way up the mountain, there was not a person to be seen walking the path.
Xu Disheng’s eyes traced up the peak that extended up into the skies. He estimated that on foot, it would take him about 7 days to climb halfway up the mountain. “Aside from this path, are there any other ways to get up the mountain?”
Just as the errand disciple was about to open his mouth and speak, a round-faced youth passed by them. He gave Xu Disheng a look over and butted in. “Just arrived, I’m guessing? Junior Martial Brother, if you ride my Spirit Cloud, I can quickly and safely take you halfway up the mountain in just the time it takes an incense stick to burn. It’ll only cost 1 spirit stone. Look at how precarious that path is. If you want to climb halfway up the mountain, you’ll have to climb at least 1200 meters. I’m afraid that even for you, you probably won’t make it even after several days, and you’ll have suffered so much for nothing.”
Upon seeing this, the errand disciple didn’t interrupt. He just shook his head, giving Xu Disheng and Chu Qing’er each a small jade bottle before turning around and going back into the courtyard.
The round-faced youth glanced at his surroundings. He saw that there were several other disciples who were ‘waiting for work’, looking in this direction. When he saw them slowly approaching, he couldn’t help becoming a bit anxious. “Junior Martial Brother, I’ll be a good person today! Just for you two, I’ll make it half a spirit stone each. Come on aboard.”
Xu Disheng looked around him, immediately understanding the situation going on. He replied, “Thank you for your good intentions, Senior Martial Brother. However, I still want to look around the scenery of the mountain base a bit more.”
Chu Qing’er didn’t want to wait any longer. “Senior Martial Brother, just take us up there. I want to go to Courtyard 2783,” she said.
The round-faced youth looked pleased. “2783, is it? Junior Martial Sister, I guarantee that you will arrive in just the time it takes an incense stick to burn. However, about the fare… you have to pay it in advance,” he replied, rubbing his fingers together as he glanced at Chu Qing’er.
Aside from the 30 spirit stones that Chu Qing’er gifted to Li Daoming, she still had some spirit stones remaining that were given to her by Emperor Chu. As a result, she didn’t bother to spend frugally. She casually tossed over the 2 spirit stones that she received earlier from the Human Resources Hall on Mountain Affairs Peak, then turned and said to Xu Disheng and said, “Xu Disheng, do you want to come with me? I’ll cover the fare for you.”
Seeing Chu Qing’er acting this generously, the round-faced youth smiled widely and said, “Junior Martial Sister, you two should hurry up and get on so we can depart.”
The people around them had already walked over. When they saw the 2 spirit stones in the round-faced youth’s hand, their eyes filled with greed, and they immediately understood what happened. One of them exclaimed, “Liu Santu, you really have no shame, deceiving a Junior Martial Brother and Sister who just entered the mountain like this!”
“Junior Martial Sister, if you ride my Spirit Cloud, it’ll only be 1 spirit stone for the both of you!”
“Look like this bastard Liu Santu happened across some dumb luck today. In the blink of an eye, he got his hands on 2 spirit stones!”
The face of the round-faced youth, Liu Santu, became somewhat stiff. He turned around, flashing a smile at Chu Qing’er. “Junior Martial Sister, don’t mind them. These Senior Martial Brothers were only joking around with you. Let’s hurry up and go,” he said. He was very obviously taking these two for complete fools.
Chu Qing’er was by no means a fool. She ignored those people and spoke to Xu Disheng. “Xu Disheng, are you coming or not? Otherwise I’m leaving,” she said, getting on Liu Santu’s Spirit Cloud. Clearly, she didn’t care enough to bother taking back the spirit stones she handed over as fare.
Xu Disheng looked up at the pretty girl standing on the Spirit Cloud, and after a short pause he got on as well. “Thank you,” he said to her, feeling a bit confused inwardly. Throughout the entire trip up to this point, Chu Qing’er didn’t really interact with him, and now she had casually spent 2 spirit stones, paying for his trip up the mountain. Presumably, Emperor Chu had given her plenty of spirit stones, but even still, it wasn’t his money to spend. Xu Disheng would have to owe her a favor for this in the future.
From the 3 spirit stones he had received not long ago, Xu Disheng could feel a pure, refined spiritual energy emanating from them. If he cultivated while holding one in his palm, he would be able to receive an effect that was about 70-80% of that of the Emperor Chu’s Spirit Gathering Formation in the Heavenly Heart Palace. Each and every spirit stone was extremely precious!
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Liu Santu gave the rest of those disciples a haughty glance before activating his Spirit Cloud, urging it toward the heights of the massive mountain peak.
As the Spirit Cloud slowly ascended, streaking by the passing scenery, Chu Qing’er looked at the steep, meandering mountain path where not a soul could be seen. Then, she looked down at the small jade bottle in her hands, which the errand disciple had given her earlier. She opened her mouth to ask, “Senior Martial Brother, what does this jade bottle do? This mountain path is so steep. How do the other disciples without Spirit Clouds get up and down the mountain? Do they really have no option but to take this secluded, dangerous mountain path?”
Liu Santu turned around, smiling at her before replying, “It looks like that errand disciple forgot to explain that to you two. Those are Fasting Pills. You can take one for each meal, and you can go half a year without having to eat or drink. Once you enter the Sea of Qi stage, you won’t need Fasting Pills anymore. The Jianggong Sea of Qi in your body will have formed its own cycle, and you won’t have the need to eat anymore.
When he spoke up to this point, he gazed at the dangerous, rugged mountain path before continuing, “As an outer disciple, if there’s nothing they have to do, why would they descend the mountain? Without joining a Peak, others won’t even consider you to have officially joined the sect. You also don’t need to do missions, so all you need to do is receive the year’s worth of spirit stone and resources, then stay on the mountain and undergo painstaking cultivation. Occasionally, they have to come down the mountain to choose a cultivation method and other such matters, so some of them won’t be stingy and will spend half a spirit stone to ride a Spirit Cloud. You just need to be careful that you don’t violate any sect rules, otherwise you will be punished severely.” In a momentary slip of the tongue, he accidentally revealed the market price for going up and down the mountain, which was actually half a spirit stone.
However, Chu Qing’er wasn’t mindful of these small details. She exclaimed in surprise, “You can receive the year’s worth of cultivation resources in advance?”
Liu Santu replied, “Yes. Otherwise, it would pose too big of a problem to those disciples that have to go up and down the mountain. There are very, very few who actually take the mountain path.”
The disciples that were under the Sea of Qi stage only received 1 spirit stone in resources every month. In order to buy a Spirit Cloud, which was a low-grade Spirit Tool, it would require over 10 Spirit Stones. Even if they were to receive the entire year’s worth of Spirit Stones in advance and buy a Spirit Cloud, while they would be able to conveniently travel up and down the mountain, they wouldn’t have any Spirit Stones at their disposal. Their cultivation speed would end up dropping by over ten times, making it no different from killing the chicken to take the eggs.
Aside from those whose families were rich, a grand majority of the new disciples would opt to receive the year’s worth of spirit stones in advance, then cultivate arduously in the Outer Region. They wouldn’t lightly come down the mountain for anything.
Liu Dian didn’t tell them about any of this. It was unknown whether it was deliberate or not, but he only had them receive the first month’s worth of spirit stones.