Yuan Ming furrowed his brows and continued forward, only to witness another astonishing scene.
In a small alley beside the main road, a headless corpse lay sprawled with its blood already dried. Not far from it stood a topless man with a rugged beard, exuding the aura of an early-stage Foundation Establishment, who was cursively yelling,
"Who the hell did this? Killing someone and not even cleaning up the body, just leaving it in front of someone else's house—have they no sense of public decency?"
Seeing him scolding righteously, the nearby Cultivators seemed indifferent; some even too lazy to turn back for a glance, Yuan Ming couldn't help but gain a new understanding of the chaos in this area.
However, as he entered the inner city, the situation improved significantly, though the passersby Cultivators still carried a fierce aura, at least there were no more daring street fights.
Soon, Yuan Ming found a place to rent a house in the inner city, intending to rent a room to settle down.
Unexpectedly, the yellow-robed Cultivator responsible for renting out the houses quoted him a price that greatly shocked him.
"600 per year for a house in the inner city? Why don't you just rob people?" Yuan Ming exclaimed angrily.
He had plenty of spirit stones on him, but that didn't mean he could just let people rip him off. After all, house prices in Little Lake City were at most one or two hundred spirit stones. How could such a rundown place be more expensive than there?
However, in response to Yuan Ming's anger, the yellow-robed Cultivator simply smiled and said, "Senior, please calm your anger. The high price has its reasons. The inner city area is personally protected by the City Lord. No one is allowed to fight here. Not only is life convenient here, but the public security is also very good. If you don't have enough spirit stones on you, I can recommend some cheaper houses in the outer city. Although those are less expensive, I must tell you that there was a disturbancerecently, and many Cultivators living there suffered losses, including a few in the Foundation Establishment stage like yourself."
Speechless, Yuan Ming recalled everything he had seen and heard on his way into the city and did not say much else, reluctantly accepting the price.
Seeing this, the yellow-robed Cultivator immediately handed over a jade scroll that marked the locations of available rooms in the inner city. Yuan Ming took it and furrowed his eyebrows again.
"How come there are only two left?"
"No helping it, many people from the outer city are breaking their necks trying to move to the inner city. These two are all that's left, and you are lucky; they just became available yesterday," explained the yellow-robed Cultivator.
Resigned, Yuan Ming didn't bother asking what 'just became available' meant and directly chose one of the relatively secluded rooms. After handing over the spirit stones, he took the keys and a token marking his residency from the yellow-robed Cultivator's hands and left the place.
After renting the house, Yuan Ming immediately headed to a shop in the city that sold elixirs.
The shop, called Spring Breeze Hall, was far inferior to Qingmu Building in Little Lake City in terms of both scale and decor. It only had a few types of Foundation Establishment advancement elixirs, and the prices were more than half higher than those at Qingmu Building.
This made Yuan Ming somewhat regret not buying more elixirs while he was in Da Jin and Zhao Country.
"From the look of senior, you just arrived at Black Wind Desert, right? This place is far from the Central Plains; Black Wind Desert is rife with bandits, and if you're unlucky, you might encounter the deadly Black Wind. Thus, transporting goods here is extremely inconvenient, and prices can't be compared to those in the Central Plains. Xiansha City, located at the edge of Black Wind Desert, actually has cheaper elixir prices. If you go deeper in, prices there are even higher," said a young attendant who approached him.
Yuan Ming also thought about this point and began to quietly calculate his current finances.
He still had tens of thousands of spirit stones, but now, without the stable income from the Spirit Fragrance Shop, maintaining a relatively good cultivation environment and spending down his savings, he wasn't sure how long he could last.
"If senior finds the elixirs expensive, there are some cheaper ones inside; you can take a look," the young attendant suddenly winked and said.
Startled, Yuan Ming motioned for the attendant to lead the way.
The young attendant took Yuan Ming to the innermost part of the shop, where there was a counter displaying several gray and black medicine bottles.
Yuan Ming swept his Divine Sense across them, a look of surprise on his face.
The elixirs in these bottles were entirely different from those outside; they were much smaller in size, and their surfaces were coarser, looking dull and barely distinguishable from mud pellets. Yet the fluctuations of Spiritual Energy emitted from these elixirs were notably rich, almost comparable to the Snow Crystal Pills he had consumed before.
Most importantly, the prices of these elixirs were very cheap, typically around a hundred or so spirit stones, and no more than two hundred spirit stones.
"What are these elixirs?" Yuan Ming picked up a medicine bottle, gently opened the stopper, and a sharp, tart odor wafted out.
"These are Insect Pills," the young clerk said.
"Insect Pills?" Yuan Ming looked at the clerk.
"In the Black Wind Desert, not a blade of grass grows, and it is inconvenient to transport from the Central Plains. The underground mines are very rich, but Spirit Grass and Spiritual Medicines are extremely scarce. Fortunately, there are countless demon insects here. The alchemists in the Black Wind Desert have learned the alchemy methods from the Northern Desert and use local materials, refining these Insect Pills with demon insect cores," the young clerk explained.
"Insect core? Could it be something similar to a Demon Core? As far as I know, it's rare for second-level demon beasts to have Demon Cores. It's only common for demon beasts to develop Demon Cores when they reach the third level. Surely, these Insect Pills aren't made from third-level demon insects?" Yuan Ming asked, puzzled.
"Of course not, third-level demon beasts are as powerful as Core Formation Stage cultivators. It's impossible to hunt them in large numbers. The environment of the Black Wind Desert is special; even the first-level demon insects here will develop an insect core in their heads. As for why they develop insect cores, I'm not very clear either. It's said to be an influence of the Black Wind," the young clerk said.
"In their heads..." Yuan Ming murmured thoughtfully upon hearing this.
Although the Black Wind Desert looks barren, it is rich in underground mines, and the demon insects here don't worry about replenishing Spiritual Power. The Black Wind that blows inside the desert greatly affects the Divine Soul. In such a special environment, it's not surprising that demon insects protect their Divine Souls with demonic power and form insect cores in their heads.
"Senior, don't judge these Insect Pills by their appearance. In fact, the Spiritual Power contained within is extremely dense, nearly twice that of ordinary elixirs of the same ranking, and when you actually consume it, you'll find that it doesn't taste as bad as it looks and smells," the young clerk said quickly, seeing Yuan Ming's silence and thinking he was resisting the Insect Pills.
"Oh, these Insect Pills have such good effects, yet you sell them for so cheap? There must be some drawbacks to these pills, right?" Yuan Ming shook the medicine bottle in his hand and asked with a smile.
"Senior, you have keen insight. Honestly, even though the medical power refined from insect cores is extremely potent, it also contains lingering intentions of the demon insects, which can influence a cultivator. However, as time passes, these remnants gradually dissipate, and as long as you don't consume them in large amounts over a short period, there won't be any severe problems," the young clerk said somewhat awkwardly.
"I see," Yuan Ming said casually, understanding in his heart.
If the effects of the Insect Pills really were minor, with their medicinal efficacy, they wouldn't be sold so cheaply.
"Senior, if you are worried about the remnants of the demon insects, why not try this Rock Whisker Pill? The insect cores used in this batch of Insect Pills were all taken from within Rock Whisker Worms and have been specially refined through a unique method. They contain half the residual thoughts compared to similar elixirs and are of excellent quality, suitable for someone trying them for the first time like you," the clerk said, picking up a black medicine bottle.
After weighing it over in his mind, Yuan Ming finally decided to buy just one bottle to try under the enthusiastic sales pitch of the clerk, while he chose to purchase a few other ordinary elixirs to try as well.
After purchasing the elixirs, he returned to the residence he had rented. Although the Cave Mansion was simple, it was fully furnished, neat, and tidy, which slightly lifted his spirits.
He didn't rush into cultivation but first thoroughly inspected the house to make sure there were no traps or hidden mechanisms left by others. He also specifically arranged a Five Elements Illusion Destruction Array outside before he finally felt at ease.
He sat cross-legged on the bed, took out the Rock Whisker Pill he had bought, and hesitantly placed a pill in his palm. After much deliberation, he steeled his heart, closed his eyes, and consumed the pill.
To his surprise, as soon as the Rock Whisker Pill entered his mouth, it instantly melted, turning into a fragrant medicinal liquid with a slightly sweet taste that was rather refreshing.
As the medicinal liquid entered his stomach, Yuan Ming immediately felt a cool sensation spreading from his abdomen to his limbs and bones, akin to the relief one feels when drinking a bowl of chilled herbal tea in the scorching heat of summer.
Soon after, he felt an extremely strong medicinal power merging into his body, prompting him to quickly operate his Cultivation Technique to refine the medicine while its power was dissipating, intensifying his cultivation.
He had circulated his mana for one complete cycle, and although there was no significant increase in his mana, his speed of cultivation was indeed faster than before.
But just then, Yuan Ming suddenly felt a pain in the center of his forehead, followed by a noisy, insect-like buzzing in his ears.
Simultaneously, a very faint black mist appeared in his Sea of Consciousness, slowly enveloping his Divine Soul.
His consciousness blurred momentarily, and he felt as if he had become a black insect lurking in the sand, intermittently echoing the calls of his companions.
However, this sensation quickly dissipated, and Yuan Ming returned to normal.
He rubbed his forehead and glanced at the nearby Rock Whisker Pill, giving a wry smile.
Although cultivating with the Rock Whisker Pill was fast, he was already enduring the emotional erosion from refining Desire Power every day. If he continued cultivating with this Insect Pill, he feared his Divine Soul might eventually be affected.
Yuan Ming shook his head, stored the Rock Whisker Pill, and decided to refrain from using this medicine for now.
He tried other elixirs and found that although the elixirs here were incredibly expensive, their effects were quite normal, which somewhat relieved him.
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