Qingyun Market is a small market town. Such market towns are countless throughout the Lingxi Battlefield. Cultivators always need places to trade and rest, and these spontaneously formed market towns naturally come into being.
Because no one manages the market town, everything in it appears very chaotic, especially the buildings. Various architectural styles from all over the Nine Provinces stand scattered, making the market town look like a hodgepodge.
These buildings are constructed by cultivators who have lived here for a long time. There are actually many cultivation resources in the nearby Qingyun Mountains, and the safety factor is also very high, naturally attracting many low-level cultivators, especially those independent cultivators without any sects or clans.
Each building is a shop, selling various cultivation supplies, and there are even teahouses and taverns.
Low-level cultivators also need to eat and drink, and because cultivators have more daily needs than ordinary people, such businesses are inevitable.
Lu Ye walked through the shops, only looking without buying, mainly because he had no money. Gradually, he understood the trading methods among cultivators.
Lu Ye didn't know what currency system was used in the secular world of the Nine Provinces, but cultivators generally traded using spirit stones, which are the hard currency of the cultivation world. Spirit stones are useful in daily cultivation, battles, and even in drawing talismans and setting up formations. This is why spirit stones serve as the standard for transactions among cultivators.
Lu Ye had never seen a spirit stone before. When testing his talent, the third senior brother of Qingyu Sect did place a spirit stone in the formation, but he didn't pay much attention at the time.
Now he realized that spirit stones are semi-transparent crystals, about the size of a thumbnail, and they come in different qualities. However, perhaps because the cultivators here are all low-level, they use only low-grade spirit stones.
It seems there are better high-grade spirit stones as well.
The most common shops in the market town are herbal medicine shops, selling various miraculous elixirs for cultivators. Lu Ye had no money, so he could only watch the bustling activity.
However, after walking through the shops, he had a general idea of the prices.
In addition to the shops, there is a street where many independent cultivators gather. They set up simple stalls on the roadside, placing items they want to sell on the stalls, and haggle with anyone interested.
This street is incredibly lively, much more so than the other streets Lu Ye has walked through. Anything can be found here, making it resemble a bustling market.
After wandering around the market town for half a day, Lu Ye found a vacant spot on this street and sat down cross-legged. He took out a few pieces of ore from his storage bag and placed them on the ground. After some thought, he also took out a fist-sized yuan magnetic ore.
He didn't intend to sell these ores; he mainly wanted to know how much they were worth.
After wandering for half a day, he was also hungry, so he took out some roasted meat. He had killed many beasts before, which he had roasted and stored in his storage bag, enough to last for a few days.
While eating, he observed the passing cultivators closely.
The cultivation levels of cultivators were a mystery to him. Now he knew that anyone qualified to be in the Lingxi Battlefield was at least at the first level of the Lingxi realm, but he couldn't tell how high their cultivation was.
This was not a good thing. He would definitely have conflicts with others in the future, and not being able to determine their cultivation levels posed a danger to him.
If he encountered a cultivator he couldn't match, he might lose his life before he could gauge the other's strength.
So he tried to observe and find some clues, hoping to gain more means to protect himself in the future.
As cultivators passed by, Lu Ye observed each one carefully but saw nothing.
"Little brother, what are you looking at?"
Lu Ye's unusual behavior caught the attention of a nearby stall owner, a plump female cultivator wearing a green dress. The dress had been washed many times but was still relatively clean. Her hair was loosely tied, revealing a long, white neck.
Lu Ye hadn't noticed her before. When he turned his head, he immediately saw a mountainous landscape.
He quickly averted his gaze and shook his head. "I'm not looking at anything." He took a bite of the dry meat and drank some water.
The female cultivator smiled. "You're not trying to figure out the cultivation levels of others, are you?"
Lu Ye was surprised. "That obvious?"
The female cultivator laughed. "When I first entered the Lingxi Battlefield, I was just like you, clueless."
So everyone has the same idea... Lu Ye smiled.
"Being an independent cultivator is tough. No one to guide you, no elders to protect you, not even a place to shelter from the wind and rain." The female cultivator clearly recalled her past experiences, sighed, and then advised, "You can't tell much just by looking with your eyes."
Lu Ye asked, "Then what should I do?"
"You've reached the Lingxi realm, so you should have enough spiritual energy. Why don't you try to activate your spiritual energy?"
Lu Ye was taken aback, scolding himself for being foolish. He immediately followed the female cultivator's advice, trying to activate his spiritual energy and focus it on his eyes. In the next moment, it was as if he had opened a new world.
The cultivators passing by him were all enveloped in a layer of spiritual light that was invisible to the naked eye, flowing gently. This was a sign of the spiritual energy flowing within their bodies.
At first glance, the spiritual light didn't seem much different, but upon closer inspection, some differences could be seen.
Some people had faster and more concentrated spiritual light flowing on their skin, while others had the opposite.
Lu Ye realized that those with more concentrated and faster-flowing spiritual light had higher cultivation levels, while the opposite was true for those with less.
"See it?" the female cultivator asked.
Lu Ye nodded continuously.
The female cultivator said, "If you join a sect, you would naturally know these things. But as an independent cultivator, you have to figure it out on your own."
At this moment, Lu Ye noticed a few strange people. They had no spiritual light at all, which puzzled him. After they passed, he asked the female cultivator about it.
The female cultivator explained, "It's normal. They have spirit artifacts that conceal their aura, or they practice some secret techniques to hide their aura. However, the cultivators here are not very high in cultivation and wouldn't have the energy to practice such techniques, so it's most likely the former."
"I see!" Lu Ye nodded in understanding.
"Let me give you a piece of advice," the female cultivator said seriously. "In the future, if you encounter such people, run as far as you can. They definitely come from powerful forces with deep roots, which we small independent cultivators can't compare to. Also, while this method can roughly determine a person's cultivation level, it's not entirely accurate. Only when they truly use their spiritual energy can you judge their exact cultivation level from the fluctuations."
Lu Ye was grateful. "Thank you, Senior Sister." He thought for a moment and took out a piece of dried meat from his storage bag and offered it to her.
The female cultivator smiled, not refusing his kindness, and took it, eating it slowly. Her eating manner was clearly more graceful than Lu Ye's.