Chapter 188: The Final Preparations
The next day in the evening, at the herb-picking job office.
“Sister Wang, this is my harvest today.” Yi Yun obediently placed his herb basket on the stone cabinet.
Wang glanced lazily. She reached in to grab the herbs from the light basket, and estimated Yi Yun’s harvest.
Wang grunted lightly.
“It’s getting less and less. Lame!”
The amount of herbs in the herb basket definitely did not exceed 80 dragon scale runes.
At the beginning, Yi Yun would hand in about 200 dragon scale runes worth of herbs. For a rookie to hand in so much herbs surprised Wang.
Although this level could not compare with Zhong Yi, he was not much worse. It wouldn’t be impossible to get an income of 15,000 dragon scale runes in the next 2 months. That result would prove his keen observation and senses. As a result, the Divine City would likely give out some form of reward.
But Wang never imagined that in ten days, the amount Yi Yun handed over had dropped by half, to about 100 odd dragon scale runes. But in the last three days, it had turned worse and it was just 70-80 a day!
All these years, Wang had been in charge of the herb-picking office. She had seen many cultivators with keen senses. Usually they handed in more herbs over time and they were never like Yi Yun, who handed in less herbs over time!
If Yi Yun was lucky at the beginning and slowly turned unlucky later, it didn’t make sense. Luck was unlikely to all be concentrated in the first few days.
The only possibility was that Yi Yun was not working hard.
Upon thinking this, Wang turned gloomy.
It was alright if you lacked the talent. After all, your talent was given to you by your parents and it was hard for that talent to be changed through nurturing.
Those who lacked talent would remain mediocre, because no matter how hard they worked, there was no way they could become a peerless hero.
Those with talent who ended up wasting their talents were considered scum by Wang. Furthermore, they were in the Tai Ah Divine City, taking up the Tai Ah Divine City’s resources and yet they did not work hard.
There were countless number of people in this world who wanted to grow strong but they lacked the opportunity. Not cherishing this opportunity and wasting resources was an unforgivable act!
The Tai Ah Divine City’s resources were provided to those who hunted desolate beasts, to the heroes who defended the country. It wasn’t something to be splurged, allowing one to attain a noble title to lead a rich life.
“82 dragon scale runes! You are really getting worse by the day. If you want to wallow in degeneration, no one can save you. If you want to dawdle in the Divine wilderness campgrounds, I advise you to scram early!”
Wang scolded directly at Yi Yun’s face, without any friendliness. She flung Yi Yun’s identity token, nearly hitting Yi Yun in the face!
“Eh…” Yi Yun caught his token and was speechless.
He had initially wanted to ask Wang about thunder-fire items, but seeing her attitude, he could only stay silent.
“What are you still standing there for?” Wang snapped when she saw Yi Yun still standing there.
“Nothing…” Yi Yun said helpless.Zhao Qingcheng and company were behind Yi Yun .
Zhao Qingcheng was also curious why Yi Yun’s harvest was so little now.
“Little brother Yi Yun, why are you picking less herbs now?”
“Nothing much. I am getting unlucky I guess. Also, I have been a bit tired recently…” Yi Yun shrugged, brushing it off. Naturally, he did not want to mention his preparations to capture a primordial herb.
“Sister Qingcheng, I want to get some strong thunder-fire spells. Do you know where I can get them?”
“Thunder-fire spells?” Zhao Qingcheng paused. She did not know what Yi Yun wanted that for.
“Right. As long as I can use it, the stronger the better!”
After some thought, Zhao Qingcheng said, “There are some districts in the Tai Ah Divine City that specifically sell charms. These charms are made by the masters in the Tai Ah Divine City. When warriors hunt desolate beasts, they can deploy these arrays, evoking the power within the charm if in trouble.”
“Oh? So there’re such things?” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. They met his requirements.
“Yes. The Divine wilderness is too dangerous. Some desolate beasts cannot be dealt with by cultivators. Without a protective charm, there would be more deaths and injuries. But, the Divine City doesn’t encourage us to rely on the charms. Hence, the charms are sold extremely expensive. The stronger charms can go for a thousand, or even two thousand dragon scale runes.”
A rookie had to work hard just to earn a thousand dragon scale runes. Even the more senior cultivators would have to work hard for a few days to earn that amount.
Using such a charm was equivalent to wasting the past few days of work.
“I got it. Take me there…”
The charms were sold in a concourse in the Tai Ah Divine City.
In the middle of the concourse, there was a huge array. Within the array was a pagoda that had a light flashing on its spire.
This pagoda had nine floors. On the large door, there were three large words written: Ten Thousand Pagoda!
“Use your spiritual energy to interface with the pagoda. You will then be able to browse through the catalog. Once you pay the dragon scale runes, you will receive it.” Zhao Qingcheng explained on the side. Ever since Yi Yun helped her, she had been ready to help Yi Yun. Whenever Yi Yun had any requests, she would take Yi Yun there, and introduce the rules in details, pointing things to his attention.
Yi Yun closed his eyes, and immediately in his mind appeared a huge wall. The wall was covered with all sorts of small objects.
They were not just charms, but included elixirs, desolate bone relics, array disks, etc. There was a dazzling exhibition that feasted his eyes!
Yi Yun realized that just on this wall, there were more than ten thousand objects.
And this wall had another wall connecting to it. Just a glance revealed more than a few dozen walls!
“There’s so many!” Yi Yun couldn’t help saying.
“Of course there’s a lot. This Ten Thousand Pagoda is the trading center of the Tai Ah Divine City! This does not only have the products of masters, but products of other cultivators. There are many cultivators whose main occupation isn’t fighting, but to produce charms, elixirs, or be Desolate Heaven Masters, etc. Their products will then be brought to this Ten Thousand Pagoda to be sold, making it very convenient.”
“Besides that, there might be some rare parts of desolate beasts that some cultivators kill. As the standard price given by the Divine City does not satisfy the warriors, they can choose to sell it on the Ten Thousand Pagoda. When a Desolate Heaven Master or alchemist sees it, they might buy it. Everyone puts things into the Ten Thousand Pagoda here, so there might be as many as a million treasures here.”
“I see.” Hearing Zhao Qingcheng’s explanation, Yi Yun felt at ease. With such a huge array, it was indeed very easy to trade.
Yi Yun used his spiritual energy to explore. Soon he found a wall full of colorful charms. They were inscribed with all sorts of strange formations and runes. Some of these charms were made from desolate beast hide, while others were made out of yellow paper. The difference in price was also great.
Some of the cheap ones were worth a dozen dragon scale runes.
These charms were for rookies, which Yi Yun did not consider at all.
He only chose charms that were in the thunder-fire category, and they had to be made by a master.
Finally, Yi Yun found something. It was a round bead the size of a marble. The surface looked like it was made from pure metal.
The bead’s surface was covered in strange runes. By interfacing it with his spiritual energy, Yi Yun could feel a killing intent. His spiritual energy felt like it was about to be absorbed by the bead.
This left Yi Yun stunned. He looked at the bead’s blurb.
Divine Hellion Bead!
There was a precious desolate beast relic within it. The relic had been engraved with an ancient array rune by a master. It was an offensive item that could be used only once. Using Yuan Qi to ignite it after throwing the Divine Hellion Bead would trigger the thunder-fire power within.
One Divine Hellion Bead was worth 2000 dragon scale runes. The wealth Yi Yun had amassed in nearly a month had shrunk more by half!
“So expensive!” Yi Yun licked his lips. Even for this grade of treasure, only one or two beads were prepared for the top ranking cultivators, who used them for a rainy day.
As a rookie, using this treasure would probably shock others till their jaws fell off.
When Yi Yun chosed the Divine Hellion Bead, it was wrapped in a ball of light and flew out of the Ten Thousand Pagoda into Yi Yun’s hands. Yi Yun put it in a jade box he had previously prepared and placed it in his bag.
Zhao Qingcheng was watching by the side. She did not know what the ball of light was. But since it was something as a means of preserving life, she did not ask any further.
A Divine Hellion Beads was not enough for Yi Yun!
Yi Yun carried on choosing. He wanted too many things, but due to his limited dragon scale runes, after choosing three items, he had spent them all.
A few treasures had depleted what took Yi Yun nearly a month to obtain. He was really betting it all on one attempt!
If he failed in capturing the primordial herb, Yi Yun might not be able to recover for a long time. As such, he would need to properly pick herbs to break the record. He would have to set aside the cultivation of his movement and archery skills.
With his preparations done, Yi Yun applied for a seven-day period of consecutive herb-picking from Wang.
A consecutive herb-picking period meant he did not need to return in the evening. Eating and sleeping were all done on the mountain for seven consecutive days!
Many cultivators would only pick herbs in the day, and cultivate at night. Previously, Yi Yun did the same; but this time, to capture the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, Yi Yun needed plenty of time.
“Seven consecutive days of herb-picking?” Wang glanced at Yi Yun and hissed. This kid who didn’t know anything. He couldn’t even last a day picking herbs, what’s more, he wanted seven days? How many days could he last?
“Can you fill your herb basket in seven days of herb-picking? You do whatever the hell you want!”
Wang could not be bothered. She had no relations with Yi Yun. To the hardworking, she would help a bit, but for degenerates, she couldn’t care less.
With seven days approved, Yi Yun carried his herb basket and walked towards the teleportation array towards the herb mountain early in the morning.
Victory was at stake!