Chapter 395: Chapter 394: Ghost Pearl, Market Girl

Princess Wenqu’s explanation did not contain much information.

She spoke of Emperor Da Xia’s scheming and also made clear the state of this world.

The power of Da Xia’s throne and the Sect’s power are not on the same side; even the imperial power being oppressed and suppressed by the Sect’s power, this is something Li Jing has grasped.

Actually, there’s nothing more to say about this.

Which Sect’s power would ever listen to imperial power?

Princess Wenqu mentioned it earlier.

Joining a Sect, one can be above worldly matters.

Similarly, they are above worldly matters.

The present world refers to stepping into the Fifth Boundary, joining the ranks of the strong ones.

In Da Xia, it clearly means not being bound by worldly rules anymore.

Probably as soon as you join the Sect, the emperor can’t control you anymore.

What is surprising is.

The so-called Beast Tide is by no means a disaster, but rather, it involves the production and ownership of resources.

The Dark Pearl, a more crucial " tool" needed for the breakthrough of the Sky Demon Great Method.

This did not seem right no matter how Li Jing looked at it.

Li Jing was deep in thought.

Liu Sisi spoke in an unusual tone.

"Princess, based on what you just said, I have a question."

"Please ask, madam."

Princess Wenqu answered immediately.

"Does this mean that as long as a Da Xia cultivator’s cultivation level reaches a boundary threshold, they can break through as long as they have the Dark Pearl?"

Liu Sisi asked.

"That’s correct."

Princess Wenqu nodded, confirmed.

"The bottleneck of the Sky Demon Great Method relies primarily on the Dark Pearl to break. It’s not impossible to rely solely on your own power to attempt to break through, but it’s incredibly difficult, and there’s even the risk of losing control over your spiritual Qi. Therefore, Da Xia cultivators place great importance on Dark Pearls. Whether it’s the royal family or the Sect, acquiring a large number of Dark Pearls during the Beast Tide signifies a potential significant increase in power and control in the next century."

As she said this, she glanced at both of them.

"Compared to the Sect, which is full of powerful individuals, the royal family might be in charge of the lives of the entire East Continent, but they are in a considerably weaker position. The founders of the royal family have unified the whole continent under the Da Xia dynasty for two thousand years, but the royal family is still under the suppression of the Sect. During every Beast Tide, they fail to acquire a large number of Dark Pearls. If they are unlucky, they won’t even be able to accumulate enough Dark Pearls to sustain the powerful cultivators of the royal family."

After hearing Princess Wenqu’s explanation, Liu Sisi slightly knit her brows and quietly passed on a message to Li Jing.

"Husband, don’t you think this Sky Demon Great Method seems a bit dodgy? "

Li Jing silently nodded in agreement upon receiving the message.

Aside from the fact that this method could potentially turn oneself into an Alien Species, breaking through boundary bottlenecks with external forces seemed quite incredible.

If breakthroughs are so easy, can one’s cultivation level be stable?

Even the Evil Way, known for its fast cultivation progress, still requires various assistance from others when facing a bottleneck. It may appear simple but actually carries a certain degree of difficulty.

But then again.

This Da Xia Dynasty seems to have something going for it.

They’ve held power over the entire continent for two thousand years.

The imperial power has a notorious reputation for changing hands very quickly.

A dynasty that ruled an entire continent, standing tall for two thousand years.

In the history of this world, such a thing is totally unimaginable.

In the history of this world, whether in the East or the West, there were numerous prosperous dynasties.

But among them, those that lasted beyond a hundred years were already considered extraordinary, many of them collapsed after just a few decades or even a few years.

After marveling in secret for a while, Li Jing spoke up.

"Princess, do you have a Dark Pearl?"

"No."

Princess Wenqu shook her head helplessly and said.

"There’s only so many Dark Pearls allocated to my territory each year. Basically, as soon as I get them, I distribute them among my subordinates."

At this response, Li Jing frowned.

"According to what you’re saying, your subordinates should have Dark Pearls. From what I’ve seen from what I obtained from those four earlier, it seems..."

"How embarrassing, the amount of Dark Pearls allocated to me as the princess each year is so limited that after distributing them, it’s not enough for my subordinates to break through."

Princess Wenqu smiled bitterly and said.

"As a result, most of my subordinates use the Dark Pearls to enhance their cultivation level as soon as they get them, and think about other ways when they reach the threshold of their boundary."

"Besides being used for breaking through realms, Dark Pearls can also enhance cultivation levels?"

Liu Sisi looked perplexed and said.

"Doesn’t that mean that as long as one has enough Dark Pearls, they can achieve rapid improvement?"

"It’s not that simple."

Princess Wenqu shook her head and said.

"The cost of using Dark Pearls for rapid advancement is something even the Sect’s power can’t afford, plus it has significant downsides. If one is not careful, it can lead to mental impairment, even splitting off another consciousness within the body, making the user a real inhuman, unghostly existence."

After saying this, she added.

"The split consciousness from a mishappened Sky Demon Great Method is often extremely insane, and when it takes over the control of the cultivator’s consciousness, it becomes extremely bloodthirsty. If not controlled, after experiencing a large amount of killing, the split consciousness might even absorb the original will and replace it."

Hearing this, Li Jing remained silent.

Liu Sisi also frowned, not saying a word.

Both of them had thought that there was something wrong with the Sky Demon Great Method.

At this moment, it seems that the Sky Demon Great Method is more than just a little bit dodgy.

They exchanged a glance, and Li Jing didn’t allow the conversation to continue further on the topic of the Sky Demon Great Method.

Princess Wenqu, who was now before them, knew how to answer all questions, but she, who had no involvement with the Sky Demon Great Method, clearly wouldn’t know the ins and outs of it.

Exhaling gently, Li Jing spoke.

"I’ve finished asking about Da Xia, now I want to ask about the West Continent. The East Continent is ruled by the Sky Demon Great Method, so what about the West Continent...?"

"I don’t know much about the West Continent."

Princess Wenqu apologized with a smile.

"Speaking purely about cultivation, I know the West Continent mainly follows the supreme faith. Also, I heard that the Supreme God’s envoy, the Messenger of the God’s Descent, exists in the West Continent."

?

The Messenger of the God’s Descent?

Li Jing slowly typed a question mark.

Liu Sisi next to him was also stunned.

"It is said that the Messenger of the God’s Descent is incredibly beautiful and pure. Many believers exhaust their wealth just for the chance to see her."

Princess Wenqu continued to elaborate, then shrugged.

"However, whether the so-called Messenger of the God’s Descent truly exists is unclear. The people of the Supreme Court are mysterious and can make the nonexistent seem real. Even while deceiving their believers, they can deceive themselves as well. The entire West Continent firmly believes in the existence of the Messenger of the God’s Descent while the East Continent is highly skeptical because no one can reliably validate her existence."

After hearing the first half of Princess Wenqu’s words, both Li Jing and Liu Sisi were deeply interested in the existence of the Messenger of the God’s Descent.

However, after hearing the latter half, they lost any expectations they had.

Although Princess Wenqu’s words were deeply biased, the non-believers of the Supreme faith also do believe that the followers of the Supreme faith can indeed deceive themselves.

After a brief silence, Li Jing took out paper and pen and wrote down a few mantras. He then handed them to Princess Wenqu.

"I’ve asked all my questions. These mantras are for cultivation in the Big World, you try and see if you can successfully initiate."

Although for a long time Li Jing was unable to initiate cultivation due to his lack of Qi Sense, he had made many attempts and remembered many cultivation methods he found quite unique.

Princess Wenqu trusted that Li Jing would keep his promise.

So from beginning to end, she answered every question, even risking exposure of the secrets of the Da Xia Dynasty and her father’s plot.

But she did not expect...

That Li Jing would so decisively give her the cultivation methods.

You have to understand...

She was prepared to give anything necessary.

Who would have thought in the end it would be this easy?

Taking the piece of paper from Li Jing and glancing at it, upon seeing the mantras, Princess Wenqu was overjoyed.

"Thank you, senior!"

Li Jing waved his hand in response, saying.

"I’m not sure if your magic skill system is compatible with the cultivation system of the Big World. But after all, you are a person in control of a part of the land. As long as you successfully initiate, you can choose some people who you trust and who are intelligent, but unable to practise Sky Demon Great Method, to disseminate these cultivation methods. Even if your magic skill system cannot control the cultivation of the Big World, the relevant problems may be solved by those people. Throughout history, human creativity and adaptability are unparalleled."

Saying this, he stood up.

"Try it yourself and take the time to memorize the cultivation mantras. We still have some time before the banquet, my wife and I will go for a walk. We need to buy a couple of decent outfits, after all, we are going to meet the Emperor of Da Xia later, we can’t be too casual."

Seeing Li Jing stand up, Liu Sisi subconsciously followed.

Suddenly hearing about going shopping and buying clothes, her eyes lit up.

Shopping and buying clothes are always a woman’s favourite.

Just having received the mantras, Princess Wenqu naturally wanted to start studying it right away.

Seeing Li Jing and Liu Sisi getting ready to go out, she was happy to see them go.

But she did not let them go just like that.

"Both of you seniors, please wait."

Princess Wenqu stood up and spoke, then took off her waist card and handed it over.

"It’s easy for the two of you dressed in these plain clothes to encounter trouble on the streets of the Imperial City. Da Xia people are divided into three, six, nine classes, and the common people are at the very bottom, free to be bullied and abused as one pleases. Please wear my waist card, so as to avoid many unnecessary troubles. At least in the Da Xia Imperial City, no one dares to provoke the royal family."

With that, she added.

"Also, you can’t just buy these fine clothes anywhere, you need to go to the cultivators’ market. Based on your cultivation level, just displaying a little bit of it should not make it too hard to enter the market. But with my waist card, not only will it be easier to enter the market, you can also get certain discounts."

Princess Wenqu’s hasty explanation appeared as if she was really concerned for Li Jing and Liu Sisi.

However, she clearly had her own little tricks.

Her waist card had the word "Wenqu" burnt into it underneath the character "Xia".

Walking around with this waist card was equivalent to telling everyone that they were her people.

What kind of person was Li Jing?

Princess Wenqu’s little trick could not possibly fool her.

However, looking at the waist card she offered, Li Jing chose to accept it.

Things like discounts didn’t really matter to him.

He didn’t own the spiritual stones or silver coins anyway, and once he is back in the present world these things wouldn’t matter much.

People might cause him trouble, but he didn’t care.

In the present world, there are laws to abide by.

But in the Secret Realm, there weren’t so many rules and constraints.

Those who actively sought him out to cause trouble, could they really be considered troublemakers?

They were blessed!

He chose to accept the waist card;

Mainly because Li Jing felt having a royal background while out shopping should be quite enjoyable.

Tossing the waist card into the Little Universe, Li Jing looked up.

"By the way, I haven’t asked the princess her name yet?"

Princess Wenqu, upon hearing this, was taken aback, her eyes welling up with tears.

They had known each other for so long, and Li Jing had finally thought to ask her name...

She wanted to introduce herself more than once, but she felt it was inappropriate to blurt out her name without him asking.

When it came to treating Li Jing, she was very cautious.

"Xia Qianqian, my title is Wenqu."

Princess Wenqu whispered, then said hopefully.

"Senior and his wife..."

"Chen Tang’s Li Jing"

Li Jing smiled.

Upon hearing this, Liu Sisi was taken aback and couldn’t help but laugh.

"Yin Suzhi."

...

After saying goodbye to Xia Qianqian, Li Jing and Liu Sisi left her palace and hit the streets.

Xia Qianqian was very considerate.

Before they went out, she had told them about the location of the Cultivation Market.

On the way to the market, Liu Sisi felt somewhat uncomfortable.

She’s been very close to Li Jing.

Stuff like arm in arm while walking was common for them.

But here on the streets of Da Xia, she couldn’t act intimate with Li Jing.

The people of Da Xia are very conservative, evidently they pay great attention to male-female physical contact.

It’s not only that there are no intimate couples on the streets, even the vendors at the stalls avoid physical contact with the opposite sex during transactions.

For instance, a woman was buying candied fruits. The vendor let her pick it up herself.

In case a man accompanies the woman.

The vendor will hand over the candy to the man to give it to the woman.

However, these small problems could also be endured.

Walking beside Li Jing, Liu Sisi curiously asked.

"Husband, you giving Xia Qianqian the cultivation method is like giving her a second life, so why don’t you tell her your real name, to make her remember you a bit?"

"It’s not necessary, we belong to two different worlds, her remembering me doesn’t hold much significance."

Li Jing laughed, said.

"Moreover, even if she has the cultivation method, she may not be able to get started."

"I don’t think so."

Liu Sisi shook her head, said.

"The threshold for starting with cultivation method of present world is very low, as long as you have a Qi sense, the key is the compatibility of the cultivation method with oneself. In this secret realm, the spiritual qi is extremely thick, much higher than in the present world. Living in such an environment, how could one not have Qi sense? Even if one doesn’t have it at birth, they will gradually transform under the influence of high concentration spiritual qi."

Li Jing blinked upon hearing this.

Liu Sisi’s words made very good sense.

Living in an environment with rich spiritual qi will cause certain changes in human bodies.

This evolution has nothing to do with individual personalities; it is the evolution the human species undergoes in order to adapt to the environment.

The people of this world, certainly have a Qi sense.

However, those without Qi sense wouldn’t transform so easily under the influence of the environment.

Didn’t he himself lack a Qi sense?

He stayed in the present world for so long, but he didn’t see any changes within himself.

Shaking his head silently, Li Jing said.

"Regardless of how things turn out, if Xia Qianqian is successful, that’s the best, but if she can’t, I won’t suffer any loss."

"True, that’s one way to put it."

Liu Sisi agreed, said.

"But if she is successful, no matter whether she will get stuck in the One Realm, it will be a big event that will change the whole world. There is clearly a trick behind the Sky Demon Great Method, it may even be a deliberate arrangement by some people with ulterior motives. If the Sky Demon Great Method continues to spread, Da Xia and even the whole East Continent will eventually perish. The cultivation method you gave her may become the lifeline that Da Xia manages to hold onto."

Saying so, she chuckled and said.

"You have done a great deed."

Li Jing was left speechless and chuckled.

"As I said before, even if I don’t give, someone else will. The Emperor of Da Xia’s contact with the present world forces, it’s impossible for him not to try to understand the cultivation system of present world."

"Understanding is one thing, but an emperor probably won’t easily let a new system take root on their own territory."

Liu Sisi hummed, said.

"Since ancient times, which Emperor’s intentions haven’t been dirty?"

With this, Li Jing smiled, he didn’t comment.

Liu Sisi made a valid argument.

Since ancient times, aren’t most of the emperors’ intentions unclean?

Only those with dirty intentions can be called wise rulers, capable of upholding a dynasty’s prosperity.

As for those with clean intentions...

Hehe.

...

Chatting and laughing along the way, they quickly located the Cultivation Market according to Xia Qianqian’s prior directions.

On the streets within the market, there was not even one ordinary person dressed in cotton clothes.

Moreover, at the entrance of the street, there was a squad of soldiers in armour guarding it.

It was evident.

This market not only restricted ordinary people’s entry and exit, but the market itself, even if it was a property of the Da Xia royal family, it was closely connected to the dynasty and was under the protection of the dynasty.

As Li Jing and Liu Sisi approached, they quickly attracted the attention of the guards.

Seeing this, Li Jing didn’t wait for someone to stop them, he casually took out the waist badge that Xia Qianqian gave him and displayed it.

Upon seeing the waist badge, the guards were stunned and shifted their gaze away.

After successfully entering the street, Li Jing and Liu Sisi easily became the focus of the crowd.

The reason was not due to their outstanding appearances but merely because they were dressed in cotton clothes.

However, now being in the Cultivation Market, no one was foolish enough to think that because they were dressed in cotton clothes, they must be ordinary people.

From a social-ecological perspective,

Da Xia is extremely dangerous.

If it’s said that behind the peaceful facade of the ordinary world there is a dog-eat-dog mentality, here it is directly cannibalistic. Any uncareful provocation of those who shouldn’t be provoked might lead to an untimely death.

Simply put,

The cultivators in this world are generally aggressive, fond of killing for treasure.

But on the other hand,

They display rather strong survival instincts and usually won’t act recklessly without a clear grasp of their opponent’s capacity.

Of course,

This only applies to those jumping fences, when it comes to disciples of certain sects, it’s not the same case.

According to what Xia Qianqian said earlier,

The sects in Da Xia entirely walk right across the middle of the road.

From what Li Jing and Liu Sisi saw earlier, this was indeed the case.

Previously, those two clearly knew Liu Sisi came from the real world, yet they dared to attack her which said a lot.

They not only disregarded the Da Xia courts and governments, but also treated the forces from the real world in the same manner.

Setting aside these things,

Considering that they’ve been eyed by people while walking down the street, Li Jing and Liu Sisi chose to go into a clothes shop, where they bought twenty-five sets of high-quality clothes tailored from a certain spiritual silk for a thousand Spiritual Stones.

Since they needed to buy clothes anyway, it was better to buy more as a precaution.

Who knew if there would be damage afterward?

Li Jing chose five sets, Liu Sisi ten. The remaining ten were prepared for Jiang Yini who would join them later.

Compared to normal silk clothes, spiritual silk clothes were an entirely different class.

The owner of the clothing shop essentially grinned from ear to ear after meeting them.

The fabric woven from spiritual silk was actually very cheap.

The key point was that it doesn’t take refining to form, besides the cost of the spiritual silk, the manual weaving was somewhat troublesome.

Such clothing was expensive mainly because they targeted cultivators, who were either very vain or dumb and had many Spiritual Stones.

Unlike ordinary clothes,

Spiritual silk clothes might not be more comfortable than the clothes woven from normal silk and did not possess any protective power, they were just slightly tougher and more resistant. But they gave the wearer high status.

It was already rare to sell a few pieces out.

Li Jing and Liu Sisi almost cleaned out more than half of the shop’s stock in one go.

They’d seen many foolish people with a lot of Spiritual Stones but never any as preposterous as them.

Then again, Li Jing and Liu Sisi didn’t care about it, they had plenty of Spiritual Stones acquired for free. If it was spent, it was just spent, this was trivial to them.

Speaking of the four Six Realm followers who accompanied Xia Qianqian, they were genuinely wealthy.

The spiritual objects in their pockets couldn’t be compared to the birthday gift Xia Qianqian prepared for the Emperor of Da Xia, but combined they owned up to a million Spiritual Stones.

After buying the spiritual silk clothes, Li Jing and Liu Sisi were noticeably less conspicuous on the streets.

The spiritual silk clothes which were quite classy were relatively common in the marketplace.

When it came to shopping, Liu Sisi naturally took the lead.

After walking around, she bought a lot of interesting knick-knacks.

They didn’t even glance at the spiritual objects or materials,

A million Spiritual Stones might sound like a lot, but it’s impossible to buy genuinely good items.

After a leisure stroll, feeling that the time was about right the two decided to walk out of the marketplace to go back to Xia Qianqian’s palace.

Just before they were about to leave, a shop selling Spirit Pets caught their attention.

For sale in the marketplace were all sorts of things,

On the way, they had passed by many Spirit Pet shops.

Neither Li Jing nor Liu Sisi had any intention of raising Spirit Pets, because they knew they’d have some at home in the future and if they really wanted to, there was Ji Qing a familiar cat monster pet.

Therefore, they weren’t interested in Spirit Pet shops,

But, at this shop entrance, they saw a half-human-height cage.

In the cage, a young girl with a pair of cat ears on her head sat with a gloomy expression, imprisoned within.

They both stopped, exchanging glances.

"Honey, is that girl a transformed monster or a spiritual beast?"

"I can’t tell."

Li Jing shook his head, looked at the girl, having a Health Bar of 4695 above her head, and said,

"All I can tell is that she’s in the Four Realm.

"Four Realm?"

Liu Sisi exclaimed.

"Even though she doesn’t look that old, she already has a cultivation level of Four Realm?"

"A small appearance doesn’t necessarily mean a young age."

Li Jing shook his head and said.

"The forms taken after Monster Transformation are not necessarily adults. Like Brother Jiu, who can change into multiple forms, one of which is a Lolita."

Before he could say more, Liu Sisi stared at the girl in the cage and said,

"Husband, we have plenty of Spiritual Stones anyway, why don’t we buy her?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jing frowned.

"She indeed appears quite pitiful, but if we purchase her, we have to take her back to the real world. If we leave her in a place like Da Xia, without her master, she will eventually...]

Before finishing his sentence, Liu Sisi interrupted.

"Taking her back to the real world is out of the question, but we can hand her over to Xia Qianqian."

After speaking, she hesitated for a moment and lowered her voice a bit.

"Not sure why, but the freezing power from my Cold Heart Physique was attracted to her, it’s stirring and has a slight resonance. This girl must be extremely unique."