Cao Yun would have to burn this bridge when he got there. If he did not earn enough points, he couldn't buy the Praying Demon Pill anyway. But apparently, the only way he could earn these points was by offending the only people who could sell it to him.
To avoid this problem, he was thinking of other ways to force their hand. It wasn't optimal because he didn't want to push it too far. But he may be able to convince them that it would be better for them to live in harmony.
The market was really big after all. Overall, the outer disciples were around 300 people while the inner disciples numbered around 3,000 people. Their number never really decreased because most of them were able to reach the late Mortal Warrior stages and lived hundreds of years. Moreover, every year some outer disciples would decide to join the inner sect. There were even some vagrant cultivators who directly tried to enroll within the inner sect without being outer disciples.
As the inner disciples had vowed their life to the sect, they had a better treatment. But the outer disciples were also very important to the sect, as it was their way to show themselves to the world. There were a lot of influential families who used the sect as a training ground. It allowed them to help their children cultivate faster and with better results. For the sect, it established relationships and helped it keep its fame within the Hongchen Kingdom. It was almost like an institute in fact.
Among these thousands of inner disciples, many were still in the Mortal realm. For an average cultivator, it took almost twenty years to enter the Mortal Warrior realm, but some were slower than others. Many cultivators took more than thirty or even forty years. And among the Mortal Warrior realm, every grade was harder and harder to cross to the point that many got stuck at the later stages, too afraid to cross over to Spirit Warrior.
Under the Spirit Warrior realm, Earth pills were still very popular, even a 1-star one could be prized if it had the right quality. And producing such pills was of course way cheaper than producing better pills of a higher grade.
Cao Yun was not afraid to oversaturate the market with his pills if need but he still needed to make sure they stayed rare to have high value though. Maybe he could work some kind of deal with Wen Zhu. After talking to him several times, he had understood that it was going to be harder than he had initially thought, but he had no other way right now.
-
Now that Cao Yun had enough points, he wanted to test out an array formation, the Howling Crane Gorges. It was in a remote location of the exterior yard, almost outside of the sect, but still within the area first-years were allowed in. One hour by month required 400 points because it was pretty expensive to maintain and activate.
This array formation was actually a series of several array formations formed by literally digging gorges in the mountains. As he walked toward the facility, he saw the gorges running through the mountains for at least seven or eight li*. This really was humongous. Cao Yun arrived in front of the instructor and asked to use the gorges.
"It's your first time so I'll tell you the rules. Inside, you will be faced with a violent gale trying to stop you from advancing. Every li you walk, the gale will become twice as powerful. If you're not careful, you can be badly injured."
He gave a small jade plate to Cao Yun.
"If you think you're in danger, crush this plate and the formation will stop for an instant. There are many passages dug in the sides. They are angled so that the wind cannot pass through them. So crush the plate and go into one of them. They all bring back to the top of the gorges. From there, you can go back to the sect.
Is it clear?"
"Yes, Instructor, very clear."
The man activated the formation with four spirit stones. The cost to activate this formation really was great. In fact, for every level in the formation, new stones had to replace the old ones, so it was even more costly. That's why 400 points were necessary for only one hour a month.
Cao Yun was hesitant on which facility to use to maximize his progress. After many considerations, he had chosen this one because there were some similarities with his 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars'. The Horn Star's technique, 'The Pillar Piercing the Sky', consisted in creating a violent gust of wind around the spear to help it pierce its opponent even without manifesting any Qi.
This Howling Crane Gorges array formation was initially meant to strengthen the resistance, endurance but also the footwork of the disciples. If they failed to root their feet properly, they could be blown away in a matter of seconds. This array formation could also be used to train one's speed, but very few disciples ever tried to temper their martial art techniques with it.
As soon as Cao Yun tried walking into the gorge, a powerful blast pushed him back. He had to lean forward with his arms crossed in front of him to get inside. Putting his spear right in the direction of the gale allowed him a bit more ease to walk. The wind was being somewhat pierced by the tip of the spear, creating a cone in which Cao Yun was spared. He walked a few meters to get used to the wind. Usually, he could have walked through the entire gorges in less than an hour but with this wind, and considering it got twice as powerful every li, he would probably only cross two li in an hour, and maybe even less.
When he finally got used to the wind, Cao Yun tried to perform some stabbing moves with his 'Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'. Merely keeping it straight was hard, but he kept on stabbing over and over again. He was not really walking, he just moved forward by striking with his spear. After several minutes, he finally got to perform 'The Pillar Piercing the Sky' but he generated very little wind around his spear.
In his sea of consciousness, he could feel the Horn Star revolving faster and faster as though it was trying to counter the wind. The star seemed to try and compete with the Howling Crane Gorges's wind.
Executing the same technique over and over was tiring for the muscles, but also the Qi and the mind. To perform this technique, Cao Yun had to circulate the Qi through a specific path, so he had to control his body, control his Qi and harmonize both. Thanks to his mind cultivation, it was easier than for others, but it stayed exhausting.
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As his time was halfway done, he realized that he only was a third of the way in the first stage of the array formation. Anyway, he still focused on his spearmanship, as he felt he was close to a breakthrough.
And, indeed, a few minutes later, his Qi, his breathing, his movements and his mind were perfectly aligned and he performed a flawless 'The Pillar Piercing the Sky'. A drill of wind formed around his spear and pierced through the wind of the formation. Cao Yun kept on going until he realized something.
As the technique consisted in rotating the spear before stabbing, he realized that he could not stab. By just rotating the spear and suddenly halting it, the cone of wind was sent nonetheless. This way, he could send several cones of wind successfully. Each one would be less powerful than the one with the full force of the spear, but it could be very useful to distract an opponent or attack someone at a longer range.
Immediately trying out his theory, Cao Yun realized that it was harder than he had thought. To send the cone of wind, he had to rotate the spear almost all the way into the attack and halt it at the last possible moment by completely stopping its spin. His hands had to grasp it with full might and he even had to circulate a lot of Qi into them to have enough strength.
He kept on trying and by the time his time was up, he was successful. The Horn Star revolved like crazy and a majestic roar echoed in his sea of consciousness. Strangely, he had the feeling that this roar meant 'Dragon's Twin Horns', a variation of 'The Pillar Piercing the Sky'.
Trying to push himself to his limits, he performed the attack again and was able to send two 'Dragon's Horns' before stabbing with his spear. The succession of three cones of wind broke through the gale of the formation and Cao Yun got protected from the winds for two seconds. Soon after, the gale stopped completely and he simply walked back as he had almost not moved forward.
Later in the evening, he analyzed his sea of consciousness and discovered that the second star was even more tangible than before. It would probably take 2 to 3 weeks to forge it, maybe more, it was hard to say.
-
His routine did not change much, he went to various facilities to test different training methods. He went to the martial art pavilion once a week as it was really intense each time, thanks to Chief Elder Baishen. Also, he took enough time to both cultivate and advance his mind cultivation. In the evening, he always kept some time to play with Mei Ying. She was getting really good with a spear and Cao Yun even gave her some advice about her cultivation. When Mei Hua did so, her little sister screamed "Boring!" and ran away, but she was very obedient with Cao Yun.
It both amused and annoyed Mei Hua.
In term of alchemy, he had told Meng Jia that he would come back when his refinement of the Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill was good enough for his taste. For now, he could only try to perform the refinement in his sea of consciousness. So, he really needed 500 points to get a cauldron and buy it.
The only difference for a few days was that he spent a lot of time in the Wubei Merit Market.
And today was not so different. Except that today, he would finally get his 500 points.
-
Unlike the other days, he did not set up a blanket, he only put up a sign "True Essence Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill - 50 points" and waited. After a while, the little plump man, the mature woman and about ten inner disciples came to greet him.
"Junior, our brother told us that you had three True Essence pills, is that accurate."
"Dear customers, look for yourselves." On the chest of the man who spoke was the emblem of a 3-star Earth alchemist, so he could easily determine whether a pill was True Essence grade or not.
Cao Yun handed it to him and he examined it for a long time. He then gave it back to its owner.
"Brothers, it really is a True Essence pill. Compared to a Pure pill, its effects should be 20% higher. And it will have way less toxins."
A pill always had the same mass and size if it was successful, so if more medicinal essence was kept, it meant that less toxins could get in. There were always some toxins in a pill, but a True Essence pill was the kind of pill with the least of it.
"Junior, you said you had three of them, right?"
"Indeed, but I only sell this one today."
"And tomorrow?"
"Another one."
"And the third one?"
"The day after."
"And you don't have any other pill?"
"Not for now, I will make another batch soon. I'm confident in getting Pure pills but I can't promise anything about True Essence."
"This junior is right. True Essence pills rely on luck more than skill. The difference between a Pure pill and a True Essence one is only 1%, but crossing this 1% is almost impossible. Only Spirit Warriors with their spiritual senses could be sure of forging a True Essence, and only if the grade of the pill was low enough."
"Junior, I want to buy it."
"No, Brother, I need it more than you do. Didn't you ingest a Pure Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill just a few days ago? I have no toxin in me, so it will have a better effect, wait for two days."
"Who knows if I'll be able to buy in two days?"
"Brothers, calm down, I think you should both let this pill go to avoid conflict. I'll buy it instead."
They kept arguing among themselves. Only the alchemist was not partaking in it. This pill was rare, but it was not very important for him. Instead, he talked with Cao Yun about his refining process while his friends were finding an agreement.
"Fine, then Brother Lü buys one today, Brother Jiang tomorrow and Sister Lan the day after." The little plump man was the one who organized his friends. Then he turned toward Cao Yun. "And, friend, if you make other True Essence pills, will you tell us in advance?"
"I will make them tonight, so I'll let you know of my success tomorrow."
"Fine, fine."
The brother called Lü gave the contract with 50 points to Cao Yun and admired his pill for a long time.
"What's wrong with you? You're afraid to lose it?!" The other brother who could not buy today was annoyed by this scene.
They all left and Cao Yun got an idea. If the Dragon's Fire Faction stopped him from buying the pill, couldn't he just ask one of his dear customers to buy it for him. The faction would never refuse to sell to an inner disciple or their business would suffer a severe backlash. In the worst scenario, he just had to give the points needed and ask them for the pill.
They would surely do so in order to keep buying his pills.
Finding an agreement with the Dragon's Fire Faction would probably be better in the long run because he may need other things from the market and he could not always rely on others, especially with valuables items.
-
As tough as it was for Cao Yun, Wen Zhu had it worse. By selling their pills at such a low price and diverting some of their attention from higher grades to such a low grade pill, they had lost quite a lot of profits. Just by existing, their faction needed a steady income of points. If they kept it up, they would have to borrow points from another faction, just to mildly annoy one first-year.
They could not resort to intimidation or force. And neither could they sustain a war on price as they had expenditures and Cao Yun had none. Wen Zhu was thinking of other ways...
Zhuge Si was the first one to think of one.
"Are you sure about this?"
"I am confident that he will accept. And is there even a doubt about our victory?"
* Approximately, 1 li = 500 m = 500 yd