Chapter 23: The Extreme Struggle
Yunzhong City
East City Market was the largest marketplace in Yunzhong City. It was located in the east, the poorest area of Yunzhong City. There were many independent cultivators here who didn't have access to the city's shops. That was why this big market was created.
The market's rules were very simple. You paid a spirit stone to the market organizer, and they would assign you a stall about two to three square meters in size. You could have the stall for a whole day. If you rented it for a month or a year, there were discounts available. Lin Jiang decided to directly rent a stall for five years.
"Taoist Friend Jiang, have you heard? Another person has discovered an ancient cave within the Yunzhong Mountain Range outside the city..."
On this day, Lin Jiang was selling special magical items at his stall. Next to him, a cultivator was talking non-stop. In essence, they were saying that someone had found the ancient cave left behind by a senior cultivator outside the city in the Yunzhong Mountain Range. They found cultivation techniques, secrets, medicine pills, and magical stones worth tens of thousands of magical stones. It was quite astonishing, and suddenly, they became wealthy and successful.
This caused excitement among the lower-level cultivators in the city. You see, the Yunzhong Mountain Range was vast, and many cultivators settled there. Some cultivators unexpectedly died or never returned, so their caves became treasure troves in the eyes of the lower-level cultivators.
"Taoist Friend Zhang, I'm not interested in treasure hunting. You can go by yourself."
Lin Jiang said. Nowadays, he went by the name Jiang Lin. He was an independent cultivator in Yunzhong City. The person beside him was also his neighbor, sharing the same cave dwelling. However, they had four people living in their courtyard, while Lin Jiang lived alone.
As for this treasure hunting thing, Lin Jiang had no interest in it. Ever since the time he was part of the Lin family, Lin Die had told him that such matters were likely traps, deliberately spread by bandits. When you thought about treasure hunting, they were thinking about taking your life.
"Hey, Taoist Friend Jiang, selling these special spiritual charms, can you earn much money? Not enough for your rent, huh? It's better to take a risk. Without taking a risk, how can you possibly achieve the Building Foundation stage?"
"Taoist Friend Zhang, you can go by yourself. I'm only thirty years old. There's no hurry for me."
Lin Jiang declined once again. Now, he shaved his beard and returned to his original appearance. However, Lin Jiang claimed to be thirty years old. Among independent cultivators, reaching the mid-stage of Qi Refining at thirty was considered elite. If his age was any younger, it would raise suspicions.
The person next to him, seeing that Lin Jiang was not receptive and was not wasting his breath, went to find other people. He had always been very eager to go treasure hunting, but because his abilities were low, he didn't dare to act alone. So he had always wanted to find a team.
Lin Jiang shifted his thoughts away from him and focused on selling spiritual talismans. Lin Jiang had already made clear plans for his future. Things like treasure hunting, adventure, and hunting monsters, he didn't want to participate in any of them. He just wanted to survive.
Why? Because Lin Jiang's biggest advantage was time. If he didn't have money, he could slowly earn it. While others might earn hundreds of thousands of spirit stones in a year, he could earn three to five hundred at most. It might take him a hundred or eighty years, but he could afford it anyway.
So surviving was the most important thing. He would endure for a few thousand or tens of thousands of years, and then when his cultivation level improved, he could consider doing other things.
So now Lin Jiang had already planned it out. He would practice for five hours every day and spend another five hours drawing talismans. This was set in stone. The rest of the time would mainly be spent selling spiritual talismans and practicing spells. If the spiritual talismans could not be sold, he could sell them to the shop, but of course, the shop would offer a lower price than the retail price, so he wouldn't sell his talismans to the shop unless it was necessary.
"Time's up, close shop."
After a while, Lin Jiang saw that it was almost time, so he collected the spiritual talismans and headed home. On the way, he saw some food stalls and spontaneously bought some, saving himself the time to cook.
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Half a year later, Lin Jiang walked out of the house again and bumped into a stranger who was a Taoist cultivator. He greeted him and said, "Hello, Taoist friend. I'm Jiang Feng, the new neighbor."
"I am Jiang Lin."
"Oh, we have the same surname, maybe our ancestor is the same family. I wonder where Taoist Friend comes from, though."
"No, I come from Anhua City."
"Alright, I thought we were relatives."
"What about Taoist Friend Zhang?"
"You refer to the previous owner of the house, right? He must have passed away. The landlord came to check because he hadn't paid rent for a month. His roommate said he hadn't been back for several months, as he went to Yunzhong Mountain Range for treasure hunting."
"Well, I have something to do. I'm going to go first."
Lin Jiang waved his hand and turned to leave. He went to set up a stall at the big market. Lin Jiang had already anticipated what would happen to that person. During that time, he had teamed up with many people, so it was likely that he had already been targeted by someone.
"Hello, big brother."
When he arrived at the booth, the booth next to it had also changed people. It became a young boy in his early teens, who was accompanied by a younger girl. There were more than ten medicinal herbs placed on the booth, but they were all low-level ones.
"Hello, did you set up the booth yourself?"
"Yes, big brother."
"What is your name?"
"My name is Zhang Ruifeng, and this is my sister, Zhang Ruifang. Our family is responsible for farming for the Zhonghang Sect."
The young boy was quite friendly, and without much questioning, Lin Jiang told him everything about his background. Lin Jiang couldn't help but feel amused and frustrated. At such a young age, the boy didn't know much about the world. Did he really think there were no bad people in Yunzhong City?
After a while, Yunzhong City's guards patrolled to this area and saw Zhang Ruifeng and his sister. They specifically stopped and had a friendly conversation with him. The surrounding vendors couldn't help but show surprise in their eyes.
Once the guards left, many people approached the little boy to chat. Soon, people from half the street knew that these two siblings had connections in Yunzhong City. Some covetous gazes disappeared.
Yunzhong City was jointly built and managed by the two major sects, Zhonghang Sect and Cloud Sword Sect, which were Yun State's giants. Both sects had numerous territories, some of which were available for rent. However, not everyone could rent them. Basically, they were mostly occupied by the two sects' vassals or disciples' relatives.
Some of Zhang Ruifeng's relatives were disciples of Zhonghang Sect's outer sect, while his parents rented a spiritual land from Zhonghang Sect to grow medicinal herbs. So, the Zhang family specifically asked a fellow disciple who was on duty in Yunzhong City to take care of Zhang Ruifeng.
When Lin Jiang heard this news, he couldn't help but shake his head. Indeed, nobody in the world of tough guys was simple. Even a young boy of about ten years old had connections behind him.
"Big brother, are you hungry? I have a pancake here."
After a while, Zhang Ruifeng approached again and struck up a conversation. He even took out a pancake and handed it to Lin Jiang.
"Thank you, little brother, but I brought my own food."
Lin Jiang waved his hand. Being away from home, he wouldn't easily eat or drink someone else's things. He was cautious about this, and besides, he had brought his own food.
Lin Jiang never treated himself poorly. When he was at the Spiritual Peach Mountain Villa, he would only sell his Silver Arrow Fish, Silver Light Fish, and Colorful Pig when he got bored of eating them himself.
Upon arriving in Yunzhong City, the ingredients here were even more abundant. Occasionally, even the flesh and blood of third-stage demonic beasts would appear. Lin Jiang had already enjoyed a hearty meal. After that, life gradually returned to normal, but Lin Jiang still bought the meat of second-stage demonic beasts to eat.
The meat of second-stage demonic beasts was more filled with spiritual energy. One pound of meat was equivalent to one-tenth of the spiritual energy in a Spirit Gathering Pill, which was very beneficial for cultivators. Lin Jiang had been eating it for a long time.
"Okay, my mom's pancakes are really delicious!"
"I believe you, so little brother, you can't disappoint your mom's kindness. You should finish the pancake yourself."
"Yes, big brother, would you like to buy our family's medicine? Our family's medicine is of very good quality. My dad is a first-grade premium spiritual farmer. The medicine has enough time and thick spiritual energy. It's definitely not fake."
"Little one, you see, I am a talisman maker, not an alchemist, so I don't need your family's medicine."
Lin Jiang was starting to get annoyed. The little guy was being too familiar, he just couldn't stop talking.
"Big brother, you can also learn alchemy. Alchemists make a lot of money. Pill, talisman, item, and formation are the four skills, with refining pill as the most important..."
"Big brother..."
"Big brother..."
Zhang Ruifeng couldn't understand Lin Jiang's annoyed expression. He kept talking to Lin Jiang, revealing his talkative nature. Lin Jiang clenched his teeth, damn it, he was not going to sell anymore.
"Big brother, why did you leave so early? It's only noon."
Zhang Ruifeng tilted his head, unable to understand why his brother next door was being so wasteful. Didn't the stall fee cost money? Why did he leave at noon?
