"Having many friends is good," Liling agreed, not commenting on it.

"Then, what is fellow daoist’s plan?" Fengyu asked, wanting to know more.

"Hmm..." Liling thought aloud, yet she herself didn’t really know. Her store... well, it wasn’t that precious. She had been switching stores as her skills became better, so although she thought it was sad to leave so soon, it didn’t hold much emotional value.

On the other hand, going away for safety was much more important.

"What does fellow daoist plan?" She turned the question to Fengyu since he was the one to ask.

"Actually... today I just wanted to come over to introduce my two juniors and ask whether it would be possible to go together to the gathering.

After meeting another friend, in the end, we made a deal and he would stay in my field this time. Fellow daoist Liling and I have also interacted a bit the past few months, and you were also willing to tell me just now... so, I can offer the same to fellow daoist. Do you wish to rent an acre of my field for the duration of the Beast Tide?" Fengyu asked her after explaining the situation.

When he came here, he already had the idea of inviting her. Someone who could refine weapons and robes would definitely be extremely wealthy - inviting them would add a very strong force to his field.

To keep the numbers you invite low, you can invite only high-level people. Since the city wouldn’t be safe and there would be saboteurs, who knows if there would be second stage cultivators hunting these wealthy first stage cultivators? Although she might defend herself against one or two... in the city with so many cultivators, wouldn’t it be easy to gather three or five cultivators to act together?

No matter how hidden one acted, people of the second stage were bound to know who was wealthy in which district.

Liling was quite surprised when she heard it.

Her thoughts quickly gathered and she knew the best path to take - but she didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she turned her head to the ice-princess-like cultivator and asked, "Han’er, what do you think?" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The icy princess called Han had heard everything, so she knew what Liling was asking her...

With a slight nod, she conveyed her message.

Liling smiled and turned back to Fengyu, replying, "Fellow daoist, first of all - for the gathering, you can only introduce one person yearly, regardless of peaceful years or years with Beast Tides. So, I can take fellow daoist, but your juniors...

Of course sister Han here is also a member of the gathering and can also invite a person. So..."

Fengyu understood the implication, "To be honest, fellow daoist Liling, if you say that this fellow daoist Han is trustworthy, then I can’t say anything. The only issue is that I have to verify her first. If she is fine, then renting is no problem at all. But if not..."

"What kind of verification is it?" the cultivator named Han asked directly, her voice icy cold.

Fengyu cupped his hands, "It’s not much. Just that my duck is very sensitive to a cultivator’s temperament. If they have a serene and peaceful temperament, then they can rent my field together. If not... then I really don’t dare rent. After all, those who can’t even be peaceful, can they be trustworthy?"

His explanation made sense, just the fact that it was a duck who would do the verifying was a bit weird... but the cultivator named Han accepted it, agreeing with the proposal with a nod.

"Fellow daoist, what is the cost of renting an acre?" Liling asked. This whole time they said renting, so naturally there would be a price behind it. In addition, the ones who would benefit more would be them and not Fengyu, so paying was justified.

"My friend paid 10,000 spirit stones monthly for his acre, how about it?" Fengyu made a suggestion. Renting at the same price was a kind gesture, especially since he knew these two less than Shanqing. Considering that asking for more would seem rude and unfounded, he could just use the pretext to ask for this amount.

He wasn’t lacking in spirit stones, but during the attack he would likely have to power the formation -

Formations usually rely on spiritual veins to function normally. When attacked, enhancing the effect for a few hours to days would be fine. But this Beast Tide... who knew how long it would last? So, he needed spirit stones to power the formation during the attacks, and not just this formation, but also the formations he would add later on, in case he found one.

"Ten thousand spirit stones monthly? No problem." Liling agreed for both of them. Although her close friend was a battle master and didn’t have as many spirit stones, her power was higher and would contribute for both of them, so she was prepared to pay for both of them.

"That’s great! By the way, fellow daoist - since this happened, the gathering which should’ve happened in a month will likely happen in the next few days." She took this as an opportunity to notify him about it, based on her experience with the gathering.

"No problem, I am already prepared for it." Fengyu thought about the 500,000 spirit stones he was able to save over the course of the last year - this should be enough to get one or two items in this gathering.

Fortunately, the value of spirit stones was very stable when it came to purchasing creation items, so he wasn’t worried he couldn’t purchase anything because he didn’t have special items.

After all, while it’s true that higher and rarer resources can no longer be exchanged for spirit stones, the items created by creation masters don’t fall in this category.

Their price would rise and obtaining them might become more difficult, but the value of spirit stones was evident to all. Everyone used spirit stones in one way or another. If you don’t, then that’s because you’re missing out on something, not because its value is low.

After all, spirit stones were like electricity. There are endless uses, and there’s never too many of them.

If Fengyu had gained so many spirit stones earlier, he would’ve already found a way to use 90% of his monthly spirit stones...