Cultivation begins with ice harvesters

Chapter 143: Revisiting Honglan Market

Once the injuries had healed and the cultivation level of the ninth level of Qi Refining had been fully and effectively solidified, the cultivator and the bee swarm resumed their busy work.

The worker bees scattered again, searching for any kind of pollen that could be collected within a thousand miles or even further across the icy region, while also searching for uninhabited spirit islands as instructed by the cultivator.

After this incident, the queen bee began to actively breed more guard bees. In addition to simply providing defense for the hive, more guard bees were dispatched outside the main formation to ensure that they could emit pheromones immediately in case of danger and establish the first line of defense.

Meanwhile, after obtaining permission from Tong Bingfeng, the queen bee began to breed a larger, stronger, and more powerful Spirit Bee.

These bees have strong and powerful forelimbs, and their stingers are naturally refined with spiritual power, making them comparable in quality to mid-grade first-tier magic weapons. Moreover, the bee venom they contain is also significantly enhanced. Just five Spirit Edge Bees are enough to fight a newly ascended high-grade first-tier demon beast without being at a disadvantage.

The only drawback of the Spirit Bee is that it needs to consume a large amount of spirit honey, as its main combat forelimbs and stinger both require sufficient nourishment from spirit honey.

Even so, Tong Bingfeng still allowed the Queen Bee to raise fifty Spirit Edge Bees, which would serve as the main force for future auxiliary combat operations in the entire cave.

Each bee in the swarm has its own role, and Tong Bingfeng, as the master of this place, is naturally just as busy, going to the earthen mound spirit island every day to dig out a sufficient amount of spirit soil.

To improve the quality of the spiritual soil, Tong Bingfeng would add the flesh and blood of at least three first-grade high-quality demonic beasts as nourishment for each layer of spiritual soil he added.

The source of this flesh and blood was naturally the hunted down by Big Fang, as this place was the domain of demonic beasts, and their numbers were naturally quite abundant.

For Tong Bingfeng, each hunted monster meant three gains. First, some valuable parts were naturally harvested as spoils to be sold later.

Secondly, the souls of demonic beasts within the Water-Suppressing Spirit Pagoda transform into nourishment for the growth of the characters, and are also essential nutrients for enhancing the power of the Yin Qi Spirit Arrows on the third level.

Thirdly, the flesh and blood that were originally useless in the repeated hunts are buried in the compacted spiritual soil to improve their quality, which can be said to be without any waste at all, which is a typical example of killing three birds with one stone.

Of course, while Tong Bingfeng possessed a significant advantage due to his ninth-level Qi Refining cultivation, he still had to pay a price in the process of hunting these first-tier high-grade demonic beasts.

The number of wounds on his body inevitably increased day by day, and the baleful aura attached to his body also rose accordingly. Under this sudden tempering, Tong Bingfeng began to gradually transform into the rough and unrefined native cultivator of the Bitter Sea Ice Domain.

Besides the aforementioned gains, the spiritual herbs and flowers harvested from the monsters' lair after hunting them are also quite valuable.

Unfortunately, Tong Bingfeng knew nothing about alchemy, so these spiritual flowers and herbs that could not be directly consumed to increase cultivation could only be sold later.

As the number of monsters hunted increases, the number of monsters within a hundred miles of the ice zone centered on Tong Bingfeng's cave dwelling naturally decreases day by day. The losses of worker bees leaving the hive to collect pollen are also reduced, which can be considered an unexpected bonus.

Sun rises and sets, day and night alternate, and time flies by.

In the midst of their busy work, half a year had quietly slipped through their fingers. The originally huge ice pit, filled with bags of spiritual soil and nourished by the flesh and blood of countless demonic beasts, was beginning to take shape.

"Only by being unafraid of hard work and making sacrifices can one build a cave dwelling on this icy land. The foundation has been laid, and the remaining part needs to be decorated with first-grade high-quality spiritual soil. It is time to make another trip to Honglan Market."

Tong Bingfeng surveyed the cave dwelling that was beginning to take shape before him. Although he was happy and surprised, his Dao heart remained stable, and the slight ripples could not have a significant impact.

After a night's rest, Tong Bingfeng was full of energy. Accompanied by the rising sun, he transformed into a streak of light and sped towards the location of Honglanfang City.

After nearly two years of getting to know each other, Tong Bingfeng's understanding of the Bitter Sea Ice Domain has naturally deepened day by day.

The Bitter Sea Ice Domain is located outside the Lawful Ice Domain controlled by several second-tier spirit islands, and is resource-poor, making it a truly no-man's-land ice domain.

With the tacit approval of many Foundation Establishment stage families, it has become an ice domain that drives away second-tier demonic beasts and evil cultivators. Of course, some ambitious rogue cultivators who want to establish a foundation also actively appear here.

As the number of cultivators increased, various trading points naturally emerged. Apart from Honglan Market, there were more than twenty other trading points of varying sizes.

Unfortunately, these trading points are not fixed shops; they are just regular gatherings for Qi Refining cultivators to exchange goods. Although their prices are lower, the quality cannot be guaranteed. Most importantly, they do not have any spiritual items that meet the current needs of Tong Bingfeng, who is at the ninth level of Qi Refining.

He had visited these trading points several times, but aside from occasionally buying some decent first-grade high-quality elixirs, he gained nothing else.

The spiritual items displayed and sold at each stall are naturally a mix of genuine and fake, with varying quality, making it quite difficult to find a bargain.

Although Tong Bingfeng's cultivation level has been continuously improving over the years, his understanding of various spiritual objects in the cultivation world is only average, and he has no interest in so-called "finding bargains".

Not to mention, the ultimate goal of this trip is to purchase a sufficient quantity and quality of spiritual soil to further solidify the foundation of the cave dwelling. Looking at the entire Bitter Sea Ice Domain, only Honglan Market can meet the demand.

As the sun reached its zenith and noon approached, Tong Bingfeng successfully entered the area of ​​Honglanfang City once again.

When he passed through the ice pillar forest again, feeling the murderous aura emanating from each ice pillar, his envy was beyond words.

If one day he could build such a cave dwelling, then his life would truly have been worthwhile.

"Lingtu Residence"

Upon entering Honglan Market, Tong Bingfeng did not hesitate at all and went straight to a shop that he remembered as specializing in selling spirit soil. Its name was marked with three gold lettering.

"Welcome, fellow Daoist, to Spiritual Soil Abode. May I ask what quality of spiritual soil you intend to purchase, and in what quantity?"

As soon as I stepped into the shop, a gaunt old man came forward to greet me; he was also a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

"I require a thousand cubic meters of top-grade first-level spirit soil. I wonder if Spirit Soil Residence can provide it? What is the price per cubic meter?"

Tong Bingfeng got straight to the point. After a rough calculation, he said that 1,000 cubic meters of first-grade high-quality spiritual soil would be enough to meet the basic needs for the remaining part of the cave dwelling construction.

"A whole thousand cubic meters of top-grade first-level spiritual soil? Are you preparing to meticulously construct a legacy cave dwelling, fellow Daoist?"