Qingyun Valley

Chapter 3 Qingyun Valley

Yunlan Mountain in Lanzhou is said to be inhabited by immortals. Woodcutters and herb gatherers who often go into the mountain to cut firewood often claim to have seen traces of immortals.

This attracted many aspiring mortals who yearned for immortality to flock to the mountains in search of immortals and enlightenment.

However, Yunlan Mountain is steep and teeming with venomous snakes and ferocious beasts. Most of those who ventured into the mountain seeking immortality and enlightenment died far from home, never even catching a glimpse of a celestial being.

Even if someone does manage to meet an "immortal," they will soon find out that they do not possess the spiritual roots and aptitude required to cultivate immortal techniques, and will ultimately be rejected.

After parting ways with the merchant's fleet, Zhou Chun used his "Wind Control Technique" to travel over mountains and valleys, arriving at Yunlan Mountain in less than a day.

Knowing that there might be a market for cultivators here, Zhou Chun no longer dared to cast spells and travel as carelessly as before.

Otherwise, if someone with malicious intent were to hide and ambush him, he wouldn't even have time to react.

It was also his luck that after traveling in the mountains for a while, he encountered a cultivator from Lanzhou, Jingguo.

The other party was also heading to "Qingyun Valley" in Yunlan Mountain to exchange cultivation resources.

From this cultivator, Zhou Chun learned that there was actually no real cultivator market in Yunlan Mountain.

It's just that three reclusive cultivators with Foundation Establishment stage cultivation were living in seclusion in "Qingyun Valley." To facilitate their cultivation, they gathered some other cultivators there to form a place for exchanging goods. Usually, only some reclusive cultivators with Qi Refining stage cultivation from within Lanzhou would visit this place.

There are quite a few places like this in the cultivation world.

After all, cultivators need to absorb and refine pure spiritual energy for cultivation, and even a Foundation Establishment cultivator cannot maintain the operation of a spirit purification array on their own.

Therefore, even if some independent cultivators reach the Foundation Establishment stage, if they do not choose to join a certain immortal cultivation sect or family, they will definitely seek out places with spiritual veins to establish a spirit purification array for the sake of their future cultivation, and then gather manpower to maintain the operation of the array.

Zhou Chun followed the cultivator, and after traversing several mountain peaks, they arrived at the edge of a misty canyon.

Without needing any prompting, Zhou Chun could see through the "Qi Observation Technique" that the mist deep in the canyon was actually a formation, not real water vapor or fog.

However, his cultivation level was not high enough to directly see through the fog and see the scenery inside the canyon through the "Qi Observation Technique".

After the two lingered outside the canyon for a while, the cultivators inside discovered their identities as immortal cultivators, and then someone questioned them through the array.

Needless to say, that rogue cultivator had been to "Qingyun Valley" before, so he was easily released after questioning.

Zhou Chun only has the cultivation level of the sixth level of Qi Refining, and does not pose any threat to the rogue cultivators in "Qingyun Valley".

So after a brief interrogation, he paid three spirit coins as a deposit and was allowed to enter the valley.

This silver-white spirit coin looks like a type of coin called "silver dollar" from a certain era in his previous life. It was made by cultivators using certain special metals and had extremely high anti-counterfeiting technology, making it very difficult to imitate.

The spirit coins in Zhou Chun's hands were all issued by the "Moon Wheel Sect," the only major power in Jing Kingdom capable of refining and issuing spirit coins. The crescent moon pattern on the back of the spirit coins was the sect's symbol.

These spirit coins are the currency used among cultivators. The fixed value of each spirit coin is that it can be used to cultivate for one day in the "Moon Wheel Sect" or any sect, family, or market in Jing Kingdom.

That's right, it's twelve hours of cultivation a day!

To be honest, Zhou Chun was also quite surprised when he first learned about this.

He never expected that such a credit currency would appear in this world of cultivators where great power belongs to oneself.

But upon closer reflection, one can't help but feel immense admiration for the cultivator who invented this spiritual coin.

It is obvious that in this world where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is polluted by turbid and evil energy, the emergence of this kind of credit currency is absolutely the most suitable product of the times.

The powerful cultivator factions that issue fiat currency can use it to plunder resources from other small and medium-sized factions and independent cultivators.

The appearance of spirit coins also solved the problem of why the most numerous independent cultivators could not cultivate without the protection of the spirit purification array.

The most ingenious thing is that, although Spirit Coins appear to be fiat currency.

However, because it has a fixed practical value of one spirit coin being able to cultivate for twelve hours a day, it does not have any possibility of devaluation.

Even if a major power over-issues spirit coins, as long as it's not an uncontrolled over-issuance, there's basically no need to worry about credit collapse or currency devaluation.

In this situation, even if the "Moon Wheel Cult," which issues the spirit coins in his possession, is destroyed, the spirit coins will still be effective.

Because destroying the "Moon Wheel Cult" would necessarily require acknowledging the original value of the spirit coins; otherwise, he would become the enemy of all cultivators who possessed these spirit coins, and the spirit coins he issued would not be recognized or used by these people.

Therefore, after Zhou Chun understood the various benefits brought by spirit coins, he dared not underestimate the cultivators of this world.

Without a doubt, in terms of wisdom, these cultivators who pursue immortality are absolutely no less intelligent than those so-called highly educated people in his previous life, and may even be more intelligent!

Upon entering "Qingyun Valley," Zhou Chun looked around and saw that only the first half of the valley, where some shops and pavilions had been built, was open to outsiders.

The deeper parts of the canyon were still shrouded in the array's mist, making it impossible to see clearly.

Perhaps because it wasn't a proper market, Zhou Chun didn't see many cultivators here; he could only occasionally spot one or two customers in a few shops.

He came here not to buy or sell anything, but to gather information.

The Three Absolutes Sect was originally a sect in Feng Kingdom, south of Jing Kingdom. Whether it will be able to successfully establish itself in Jing Kingdom after this cross-border migration remains to be seen.

Zhou Chun needs to figure this out first before deciding whether to truly return to the sect.

So after wandering around the valley for a while, he saw several cultivators sitting around a table in a teahouse, enjoying tea and chatting. He then followed them into the teahouse and ordered a pot of spiritual tea worth one spirit coin.

While he appeared to be drinking his spiritual tea, he was actually listening intently to the conversation of several cultivators at the next table.

The group was originally discussing the famous deeds of some renowned cultivators in Lanzhou, as well as some hearsay about the internal affairs of cultivation sects and families.

As the conversation went on, the matter of the Three Absolutes Sect, a sect from Feng Kingdom, moving to Lanzhou in Jing Kingdom naturally became a topic of conversation.

"Hehehe, fellow Daoists, you must have all heard about the deeds of the Three Absolutes Sect, who fled from Feng Kingdom, recently, right?"

"I just learned a couple of days ago that, under the auspices of Qinglian Temple, the Three Absolutes Sect has been split into four parts, and from now on there will be no more Three Absolutes Sect!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, a cultivation sect with a history of over 1,700 years, still possessing three Golden Core cultivators, has been destroyed and its lineage severed. It's truly lamentable!"

At the tea table, a man with a mustache and wearing a yellow robe raised his eyebrows, picked up his teacup, gulped down a mouthful of tea, and then smugly shared the information he knew.

Upon hearing his words, the rogue cultivators were initially startled, but then, like the man with the mustache, they began to discuss the matter with various expressions of schadenfreude.

It was obvious that, as independent cultivators, they were extremely relieved and happy about the sudden destruction of these usually high-ranking cultivation sects.

Even though the Three Absolutes Sect was a sect of the Feng Kingdom and had never oppressed them, it still couldn't make them feel any sympathy for the Three Absolutes Sect's plight.

After all, all cultivation sects in the world are the same; they are all rentiers who maintain their own nobility by exploiting the vast number of independent cultivators.

As oppressed independent cultivators, they naturally had to straighten out their stance.

However, when Zhou Chun heard the news, he was shocked and felt a great turmoil in his heart.

This result is undoubtedly the worst possible outcome for him.

The Three Absolutes Sect no longer exists, so what's the point of him returning to the sect?

Does he have to end up like these independent cultivators, working for those cultivation sects and families to earn cultivation resources?

Even if you time travel and are reborn, can you still not escape the identity of a working person?

Zhou Chun was also confused for a moment, not knowing what to do next.

Fortunately, he had his back to the people at that table, so they couldn't see the change in his expression.

Then the man with the mustache continued to share the information he had learned, and his words gradually brightened Zhou Chun's confused eyes, rekindling his hope.

(End of this chapter)