"Indeed!"
The shopkeeper Ding told him that the Cyan Cloud Sect had discovered a hidden spiritual land in the Wilderness, with one Tier Three Spirit Vein and several Tier Two Spirit Veins.
However, surrounding this hidden spiritual land, many demon birds and beasts resided, vast in number.
This development effort was to encircle and annihilate the demon birds and beasts around the hidden spiritual land.
Tier Three Spirit Vein!
This was a high-grade ground suitable for the cultivation of Core Formation True Masters.
"Indeed, high rewards often come with high risks!"
Shen Xuan mused inwardly.
A Tier Three Spirit Vein was likely to have a Tier Three Demon King entrenched.
That was a terrifying presence comparable to a Core Formation True Master!
Qi Cultivation cultivators were not even considered amuse bouche in the eyes of a Tier Three Demon King.
At most, a small bean sprout, not even enough to fill the gaps between its teeth!
The central terrain of the Wilderness was complex, with countless demon beasts, and was perennially shrouded in a toxic mist that blocked divine sense.
Therefore, Cyan Cloud Sect needed a large number of loose cultivators to enlist in the duty, acting as cannon fodder to explore and pave the way for them.
Thinking of this, Shen Xuan immediately discarded the idea of participating in the development.
Returning home.
Shen Xuan sold twenty high-quality [Rejuvenation Talismans] at a cheap price to Zhao Chunsheng.
He only accepted fifty spirit stones.
He let Zhao Chunsheng earn the ten-spirit-stone price difference.
After the transaction, Zhao Chunsheng's face lit up with joy.
"Master Shen, will there be more next month?"
"There will be."
"That's good!"
Zhao Chunsheng laughed very happily.
"To tell you the truth, Master Shen, these high-quality [Rejuvenation Talismans] have long been reserved. If there aren't any in the future, I wouldn't dare to go out."
"You!"
Shen Xuan shook his head: "Take it easy! Don't make too many promises."
After seeing Zhao Chunsheng off, Shen Xuan changed his attire, performed the [Concealing Breath Technique], and disguised himself as a young cultivator of the Qi Cultivation Third Layer, going out wandering.
After a lap around the market, he did not find any water attribute demon beasts that caught his eye.
Later, he stepped into a bookstore.
This place sold cultivation techniques, magic technique jade scrolls, and some cultivation scriptures.
Like various cultivation legends, travel notes, cultivation insights, etc.
However, these cultivation scriptures were not guaranteed to be authentic, priced cheaply, with each volume selling for only one spirit stone.
Shen Xuan flipped through them, all of which were common goods, not worth the spirit stones.
"Esteemed guest, you've been looking for quite a while, have you found anything you like?" the shop assistant approached and asked softly.
"These are too ordinary." Shen Xuan found an excuse to evade.
Why spend spirit stones when you can read for free!
The shop owner personally came to attend.
"What does this Daoist friend need?"
"Do you have any books introducing various demon beasts?"
"Of course, we do."
The shop owner took a jade scroll from the shelf.
Shen Xuan took the jade scroll and saw the title on the cover.
"Barbaric Wilderness Demon Beast Atlas."
The place where the Cyan Cloud Sect was developing was called the Wilderness, a place scarcely visited by people.
Tens of thousands of miles of territory, including swamps, forests, deserts, wetlands, barren mountains, and so on, with harsh environments and unpredictable weather.
But more so, with various demon beasts, demon birds, demon insects, spirit plants, spirit flowers, spirit grass, cultivation ores, etc.
To the cultivation sects, which had been over-exploited and their resources were becoming increasingly scarce, it was undoubtedly a treasure trove rich in resources.
The Cyan Cloud Sect organized loose cultivators every year to develop, searching for hidden spiritual lands, cheaply acquiring demon beast flesh, spirit flowers, spirit grass, various ores, refining materials, and the like, scavenging cultivation resources.
This "Barbaric Wilderness Demon Beast Atlas" was illustrated and detailed the features and abilities of various demon beasts already discovered in the Wilderness.
"How many spirit stones?"
"Four spirit stones."
"Three spirit stones."
Shen Xuan instinctively bargained.
"Sorry, we do not haggle."
"I want to try it first."
"Sure!"
Shen Xuan placed the jade scroll on his forehead and scanned the contents with his divine sense.
Only after seeing the introduction of a dozen demon beasts was he restricted by the jade scroll's prohibition.
"Four spirit stones! I'll buy it, but give me a book from the 'Cultivation Insights' category!"
The shop owner reluctantly agreed.
"Don't say I didn't warn you. These cultivation insights are not guaranteed to be true. Take a look, but don't practice them recklessly! Don't blame me if you go astray!"
"Thank you for the warning, shopkeeper!"
Shen Xuan picked a book with the most impressive title.
"Master Qingxu's Essays."
True Master!
Only cultivators who reached the Core Formation Realm were eligible to be called True Masters!
Shen Xuan flipped through it, finding neither cultivation techniques nor spells, nor cultivation insights, but rather some leisurely essays.
"I'll take this one!"
No matter, it was still a work of a Core Formation True Master!
Returning home, Shen Xuan eagerly began to read "Master Qingxu's Essays."
Mostly, it recorded some of his interesting stories and thoughts.
"Of wealth, companions, and laws, I consider land the most essential. Without a spiritual land, a cultivator is like water without a source, hard to progress an inch!"
"Profound Origin Continent was originally one entity, later split for some reason, and the innate spiritual land transformed into countless small spiritual lands, each deriving spirit veins, autonomously emitting spiritual qi."
…
After reading "Master Qingxu's Essays," Shen Xuan had a general understanding of the cultivation continent.
The most important thing for a cultivator's cultivation was to absorb spiritual qi and convert it for personal use.
The source of spiritual qi was closely related to spirit veins.
Each major sect occupied the high-tier spirit veins of the Profound Origin Continent.
The other medium and small sects divided up the middle-tier spirit veins.
The remaining low and middle-tier spirit veins were occupied by various cultivation clans.
The entire Profound Origin Continent formed a well-defined hierarchical pyramid structure.
The number of loose cultivators was the largest, living at the bottom, serving the upper-level cultivators like beasts of burden.
The higher the cultivation realm of the cultivator, the more they needed high-tier spirit veins to supply spiritual qi.
High-level cultivators entering the mortal world saw their cultivation rapidly decline, becoming a source of spiritual qi themselves, which could even benefit nearby stones, trees, turning them into spirit monsters.
Therefore, demon beasts liked to devour cultivators' bodies for a reason.
In the eyes of demon beasts, a cultivator was a walking source of spiritual qi.
Essentially, it was also about seizing the cultivator's spiritual qi.
Not just cultivators.
Magical treasures also needed spiritual qi for nurturing.
No matter how powerful the treasure, if placed in a spiritual wasteland like the mundane mortal world, its spirituality would dissipate, ultimately turning into scrap metal.
Spirit pills, talismans, etc., followed the same principle.
Hence, special medicine bottles and jade boxes were needed for preservation.
Similar to the principle of a Spirit Gathering Array, confining spiritual qi within a certain scope.
Master Qingxu believed that spiritual qi was the foundation for cultivators, and spirit veins were the foundation of spiritual qi.
Whether a cultivator or a demon beast, they were essentially a spirit body harvesting spiritual qi.
The denser the spiritual qi within, the higher the cultivation realm.
Spiritual power, demon power, etc., were all external manifestations of spiritual qi.
The entire essay was actually Master Qingxu's reflections on spiritual qi.
The reasoning was simple.
"No wonder it only sold for one spirit stone!"
For the average cultivator, reading it was as good as not reading it.
Shen Xuan seemed to have gained insight, piercing through the fog to see his heart clearly.
In his view, the mysterious jade talisman's devouring talent was essentially plundering the hidden spiritual power in demon beasts' bloodlines, converting it for personal use to strengthen one's own spiritual power and amplify the effects of techniques.
It was the same principle as cultivators using demon beast inner cores to refine spirit pills to enhance their own cultivation realms.
Demon cultivators devouring essence blood, extracting souls, and refining them were actually treating cultivators as absorbable spirit bodies.
"Master Qingxu's Essays" had only over ten thousand words and was finished quickly.
Shen Xuan then picked up the "Barbaric Wilderness Demon Beast Atlas."
It recorded over three thousand common demon beasts in the Wilderness, ranging from Tier One low grade to Tier Three Demon Kings, with a vast array of species.
"Water attribute, Tier One middle grade, with special bloodline talent, preferably in large numbers, and not too pricey."
These were the requirements Shen Xuan had for the target demon beast he wanted to plunder talent from.
Finally, he found a suitable target demon beast.
The mantis shrimp, a demon shrimp that delivers critical punches in water!