After Xia Xiansheng took Zhao Di into the Hongyunfang City, he proactively left on the pretext of needing to go to a certain store to buy some items. This made Zhao Di feel more at ease, as cultivators were all extremely mindful of their privacy and no one wanted someone watching them when they took out their storage bags for a big purchase. This also gave him a slightly better impression of this big-eyed youth.
The entire Honglin Fang City was built on top of the bay with thick, jade-green bamboo, whether it was the streets or the buildings. As Zhao Di looked out, his eyes were filled with greenery and his heart felt extremely comfortable. This city indeed mainly catered to cultivators in the Refining Qi stage, as most of the cultivators here had not reached the twelfth layer of the Refining Qi stage. There were only two or three Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, all of whom were at the initial stage, likely serving as the city's guardians responsible for maintaining order and safety.
With his clever use of spiritual concealment techniques, unless one's divine sense and cultivation are far superior to his, they would not be able to see through his disguise. These few foundation-building cultivators were naturally unable to do so, and simply took him for an ordinary Qi-refining stage loose cultivator.
Zhaodi walked slowly on the street while thinking about how to gather information about Donghai Sanshen Island or Bihai Gate from here.
The best way is to have a relevant book introduction, buy it and take a look. Next is to find stores or monks related to these two places and ask them in private. The worst case is to ask directly, which not only makes it extremely difficult to get useful information but also attracts unnecessary suspicion and attention.
It shouldn't be a particularly secretive matter if even Qi-refining stage cultivators like Xia Sheng could know about it, thought Zhao Di.
Saw a fairly large second-hand bookstore called "Liu Xiang Ge", Zhao Di walked in.
A shop assistant, dressed in a neat attire with fair skin and a few freckles on her face, greeted them briskly and asked: "Which type of ancient books do you need, Xiao Huan can help you find one or two."
"I've been traveling incognito for a while, and now that I'm in this noble land, I'd like to peruse some texts that introduce the local cultivation world's basic situation, so as to follow local customs and avoid offending any taboos." Zhao said slowly after a moment of thought.
The young girl smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist is being too serious, there's nothing unusual about the local immortal cultivation world. Xiao Huan will go get a few jade slips, please wait for a moment." After finishing speaking, the young girl slightly bowed her head, made a courtesy, and then retreated to several large bookshelves, starting to search through them.
"Hmm, she's still at a shallow level of cultivation. If she reaches the foundation-building period, she can naturally use her spiritual energy to improve her skin and make freckles disappear." Zhao gazed at the girl's slender back, suddenly thinking of this unrelated matter.
Since entering the foundation period, he has thoroughly experienced the unimaginable aspects of being a foundation period cultivator. His view that "only cultivators above the foundation period are truly immortal" has become even more real and profound.
Apart from being able to rely on the spiritual energy of the heavens and not consuming any worldly food, reaching the "Bigu" state, foundation-building cultivators can already change their appearance at will, making it impossible for ordinary people and low-level cultivators to recognize them. Moreover, they age more slowly than Qi-refining cultivators, with a lifespan of over 200 years. The physical body of a foundation-building cultivator, after being cleansed and nourished by a large amount of spiritual energy, can easily eliminate imperfections such as freckles, scars, and moles. This is why the vast majority of female foundation-building cultivators look radiant and elegant, like celestial beings. If they are naturally beautiful and have cultivated certain special techniques, they become stunningly beautiful, captivating the hearts of men. Every move they make exudes an astonishing charm, to the point where a single glance can captivate those male cultivators with unstable minds, turning them into devoted followers who only know how to obey their every command.
Thinking of this, Zhao felt a chill run down his spine. This was all the information he had obtained from the Jade Annals, and if he were to really encounter such a female cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage, he wasn't even sure if he could escape himself.
In the Dragon Descent Valley, many of the female cultivators from the Embracing Moon Sect were like this, but at that time their skills had not yet reached a small success, so they naturally couldn't display much charm.
Apart from physical changes, in terms of mystical arts and techniques, cultivators in the Foundation Establishment stage and Qi Refining stage are worlds apart. It's not just that their magical powers and spiritual awareness increase exponentially, but many secret techniques can only be gradually learned and mastered after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage. For example, something like "Pre-Heaven True Fire" is naturally possessed once one reaches the Foundation Establishment stage, while Qi Refining stage cultivators, no matter how hard they try, are absolutely unable to grasp it. Therefore, the difference in strength between Foundation Establishment stage and Qi Refining stage cultivators is also vastly different, and cannot be compared on the same level. If there aren't any heaven-defying treasures, then Qi Refining stage disciples would have no power to resist in front of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.
At this time, if he were to meet another peerless cultivator in the Qi Refining stage like the young man from the Cheng family in the Dragon Descending Valley, he could easily kill him with just his Fish Intestine Sword.
Just as he thought of this, a girl named Xiaohuan had already placed seven or eight jade slips in front of Zhao.
Zhao Di didn't hesitate and took them one by one, sticking them on his forehead, using his divine sense to slowly investigate.
The young woman looked at Zhao Di's face, trying to read from his expression whether there was a possibility of making this deal. Unfortunately, the refined youth in front of her had an indifferent expression on every occasion, without revealing any information.
But after the expressionless young man finished reading all the jade slips, he said something that made her extremely happy: "These two, and these three on this side, a total of five jade slips, I'll take them all, please help me copy them."
The young girl suppressed the joy in her heart and said, "Please wait for a moment, sir." As she spoke, she quickly made a copy of each of the five jade slips and placed them on the counter in front of Zhao Di, saying, "Each book is five pieces of low-grade spirit stone, so that's twenty-five pieces of spirit stone in total."
Zhao took out a pile of low-grade spirit stones and handed them to the girl. At the same time, his large sleeve lightly swept across, and the five jade slips disappeared from the counter.
"Thank you, fellow Taoist, is there anything else you need?" The girl asked with a hint of expectation. With this transaction, she would be able to earn two or three pieces of low-grade spirit stones, which was a considerable income for someone who had only reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining.
Zhao Di had already obtained the information he needed, so naturally he didn't expect to find jade slips with foundation-building techniques or advanced alchemy methods in this ordinary bookstore that served only Qi Refining stage disciples. He simply said "never mind" and left. The freckled girl saw him off all the way to the door of the store, thanking him profusely and saying things like "thank you for your patronage, welcome back again".
"Wu San Tang" is a very small dan medicine shop in Hong Lin Fang City, occupying only a small house of over one zhang in length, not much larger than the temporary stalls on the street. This small shop mainly sells some low- and mid-grade dan medicines such as Jiqi San and Qingling Wan, occasionally also selling high-grade dan medicines like Xiwu Dan and Yijin Wan, but they are quickly snatched up.
Every time the market opens, there is only one boss lady sitting in the "Five Scattered Halls", who seems to be at the ninth level of Qi Refining. This young woman, dressed as the boss lady, looks like she's only twenty-four or five years old, with light eyebrows, charming phoenix eyes, a slender and high nose bridge, delicate cherry lips, and a curvaceous figure that is both concave and convex, making her a stunning beauty with mature charm, which is rare among female cultivators in the Red Lin Market, and is considered a beautiful scenery.
People like her are naturally loved by everyone, and there are also many bees and butterflies who secretly admire her. However, she revealed that her husband is a mid-term foundation repairman, so no one really dares to flirt with her. Nevertheless, some sycophantic cultivators often visit this small shop under the pretext of buying elixirs, making the business of this small shop slightly more prosperous than other elixir shops in the market.
After Zhao Di came out of Liu Xiang Ge, he passed by Wu San Tang and happened to see a young woman in her twenties selling Dan Wan to a white-shirted youth. At that moment, he was stunned, staring blankly at the woman, standing still and motionless.
The young woman, who was introducing the benefits of shampoo to a customer, suddenly felt that someone outside the store door was staring at her. The young woman's face turned slightly red, and she thought of using a stern gaze to return this rude man's impoliteness, but when she looked up and saw his face, her expression changed greatly, and she muttered: "Zhao Di..."
(There will be two more updates tonight.)
