Chapter 606: Purchase
The Cultivation Base of Extreme Sword Spirit General had already recovered significantly, only one step away from restoring to the Gold Core stage of Cultivation Base. This time, after refining the spirit object "Golden Jade," it can be considered as making up for the final deficiency.
Having just restored to the Gold Core stage of Cultivation Base, Extreme Sword Spirit General should theoretically only be equivalent to an early-stage Gold Core cultivator. However, when faced with him, Meng Zhang noticed a restrained sharpness emanating from his body, hidden but not revealed, making his Spiritual Awareness feel a sense of great danger.
Meng Zhang vaguely felt that what he was facing was not a living cultivator but a sharp sword. Even though Meng Zhang himself was a cultivator at the late-stage of Gold Core, once he engaged with Extreme Sword Spirit General, there would be a possibility of losing his life.
In reality, the four Guardian Spirit Generals' current Cultivation Base realm was similar to that of an early-stage Gold Core cultivator. However, in terms of combat power, even a mid-stage Gold Core cultivator might not necessarily be their match.
Crossing realms to challenge opponents, a rare occurrence in the Cultivation World, came naturally to them. Guardian Spirit Generals were originally a war tool specially invented by the Taiyi Sect during its heyday. War tools were created for battle.
Though they were once outstanding disciples of the Taiyi Sect, after being refined into Guardian Spirit Generals, they fundamentally became something other than living beings.
During its prime, the Taiyi Sect possessed many dao soldiers, but regardless of that, Guardian Spirit Generals were among the best. For the majority of cultivators, having formidable combat strength was only a means of protecting their path. However, for Guardian Spirit Generals, fighting for the sect was the true purpose of their existence.
Of course, possessing such immense combat strength came with a cost. The upper limit of Guardian Spirit General's strength had been firmly fixed, making it practically impossible for them to break through to the Primordial Spirit stage of Cultivation Base. Even during the Gold Core stage, progress in Cultivation Base was extremely slow. Despite expending numerous resources and investing a great deal of time, their Cultivation Base progress remained limited.
The four Guardian Spirit Generals were all highly skilled at the late-stage of Gold Core before their deaths. However, after becoming Guardian Spirit Generals, their Cultivation Base fell to the early stage of Gold Core, and it became difficult for them to make further progress in their Cultivation Base.
Under such circumstances, they no longer devoted their primary time to cultivation but instead pursued other skills. Deep Earth Spirit General became a Geomancer, Shocking Thunder Spirit General became a tool refiner, and so on.Their initial choices indeed benefited the present Taiyi Sect. In Meng Zhang's eyes, the combat power of the four Guardian Spirit Generals was replaceable, but their secondary professions and expertise in the myriad arts were of the utmost value to the entire sect.
Cultivating a third-rank secondary profession, such as a third-rank tool refiner or third-rank alchemist, was much more challenging than cultivating a Gold Core Daoist Master.
Even to this day, Taiyi Sect still lacked sufficient talent in secondary professions.
After Extreme Sword Spirit General restored to the Gold Core stage of Cultivation Base, he changed his previous behavior and spent most of his time inside the sect. On one hand, he guided the younger disciples' cultivation, and all Gold Core cultivators in the sect, including Sect Master Meng Zhang, sought his advice. On the other hand, he assisted Deep Earth Spirit General and others in repairing the Mother-Child Transmission Disc.
Though not a professional Formation Master, Extreme Sword Spirit General had a keen eye and relevant knowledge, which allowed him to be of great help.
The Mother-Child Transmission Disc, in essence, was a set of magic tools but a very special one.
Shocking ThunderSpirit General, a Third Rank tool refiner, spent a lot of time and basically completed the repair of the Spiritsnake Spear. After that, he temporarily put aside all his refining tasks to help Deep EarthSpirit General repair the Mother - Child Transmission Disc. Even the usually unruly Delicate WaterSpirit General, at the request of Extreme Sword Spirit General, displayed her unique water refining skills to assist in repairing the damaged parts of the Mother - Child Transmission Disc.
The core part of the Mother - Child Transmission Disc was mostly intact, and the precious material, "Boundary Breaking Dust," was not lost. When the entire Taiyi Sect mobilized to collect auxiliary materials, it was not too difficult. With everyone's full effort, the progress of the repairs became increasingly faster.
Meng Zhang could not directly help with this matter, so he could only provide logistical support as much as possible. The Spiritsnake Spear, a Third Rank top-grade spiritual weapon, had extremely powerful killing potential when in perfect condition. A cultivator at the Gold Corelate stage wielding the Spiritsnake Spear could almost sweep through opponents at the Gold Core stage.
Shocking ThunderSpirit General's craftsmanship was excellent, and he spared no effort in investing materials. The Spiritsnake Spear was nearly fully repaired, and even with some flaws, it did not hinder Meng Zhang from using it.
Meng Zhang put away the lethal weapon and carefully nurtured it with True Essence to ensure that it could fully unleash its killing power. With the intact Spiritsnake Spear in hand, Meng Zhang gained an impressive trump card.
The repair of the Mother - Child Transmission Disc went very smoothly, but the task of collecting Void Nether Stone was challenging. The Jiuqu League's vicinity did not have a significant production of Void Nether Stone. Any small amounts that were produced were quickly swept away by numerous factions. Previously, the Jiuqu League obtained most of its Void Nether Stone from external purchases. However, since the rise of the Dali Dynasty to the south of the Jiuqu League, their trade routes to the south were almost entirely severed.
In the past, the Three Sects Alliance and the Jiuqu League maintained close commercial exchanges through the Crossing Severing Mountain Range to the south. However, after the Dali Dynasty started attacking the Three Sects Alliance, this trade route was greatly affected and could hardly maintain normal operations. The Three Sects Alliance was facing a life-or-death crisis against the powerful Dali Dynasty and had no time to attend to commercial affairs.
The external business environment of the Jiuqu League deteriorated, leading to a decrease in the acquisition of Void Nether Stone, even though there were many places where it was needed. Suddenly, the prices of Void Nether Stone skyrocketed on the market, and they became scarce goods.
As a consequence, the prices of storage magic tools in the Jiuqu League market also soared. Although Meng Zhang ordered the sect to purchase a large quantity of Void Nether Stone regardless of the cost, the sect spent a significant amount of spiritual stones, but the harvest was meager. The small amount of scrap materials acquired through the purchases were practically useless.
The farther the long-distance teleportation Formation sent individuals, the greater the consumption of Void Nether Stone. Not only was there a quantity requirement for Void Nether Stone, but the quality also had strict demands.
Before, Meng Zhang had only issued orders to the sect without paying attention to the specific details. It was only after learning of the difficulty in collecting Void Nether Stone through the sect's reports that he paid attention to the market situation. Complete Void Nether Stones were not available for sale on the market, and even magic tools that required the use of Void Nether Stone for refinement had seen their prices skyrocket. Even the basic storage bags commonly used by low-level cultivators had doubled in price.
The higher the rank of the space-type magic tool, the more exorbitantly its price had risen. Without enough Void Nether Stone, even after completing the repair of the Mother - Child Transmission Disc, it would remain nothing more than an ornament and could not fulfill its crucial role.
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