Cultivation begins with ice harvesters

Chapter 38: The Spirit Ship

"Better safe than sorry." After being repeatedly and brutally tested by the cultivation world of the Northern Frontier Sea, and lacking the ability to protect himself, Tong Bingfeng had concealed all his sharp edges.

They will devote 100% of their energy to eliminating any behavior that might cause even the slightest disturbance or potential danger, and the best proof of this is the reduction of their social circle.

Wealth, companions, Dharma, and place are the four essential elements for cultivators. Among them, companions are not simply Daoist partners within a narrow scope, but include fellow Daoist friends with whom one can communicate.

The stones from other mountains can be used to polish jade; perhaps a casual remark from another cultivator can resolve a long-standing question and remove an obstacle on the path of cultivation.

To ensure that the information about Big Fang's search for monsters was not leaked, Tong Bingfeng had no choice but to reject all such attempts at communication.

"In the short term, the Ice Heart Lake black market can process some of the monster corpses. In addition, there are some stalls in the area where independent cultivators set up stalls that offer barter trade. Although the prices are slightly lower, they are more discreet and can be considered a branch of the sales channel."

After much deliberation, Tong Bingfeng, considering the current situation, came up with two short-term coping strategies, though these were not long-term solutions.

Whether it's the Ice Heart Lake black market or the area where independent cultivators set up stalls, the number of monster corpses they can process is limited. After all, Ice Spirit Island itself is not large, and the number of cultivators it can accommodate is also limited.

Currently, he has a total of six mid-grade first-tier demon beast corpses in his storage bag, which can be sold for at least fifty spirit stones.

Liu's General Store is naturally one of the essential sales outlets. In the past month, it has sold two high-quality first-tier mid-grade demon beast corpses in exchange for half a bottle of Enhancing Essence Pills to aid in daily cultivation.

Although the owner of Liu's General Store would not easily sell his information before obtaining the Crystal Gourd, the fact that he was cultivating alone and could obtain two mid-grade first-level demon beast corpses every month was already a considerable amount.

Although every cultivator has their own bottom line, when faced with the temptation of spirit stones and spiritual objects that are within easy reach, this bottom line is not very high.

While harvesting crystal gourds is important, Tongbingfeng is only a relatively suitable partner, not truly indispensable.

"Ice Crystal Spirit Island, as a second-tier spirit island, should have spirit ships that can navigate it. However, the price of taking a spirit ship is very high, so I haven't paid attention to this before."

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind, and a piece of news he had overheard in the market popped into his head: if he could take a spirit ship to other spirit islands to sell the corpses of demon beasts, all the current predicaments he was facing would naturally disappear.

The vast icy lands of the Northern Frontier rely on numerous spirit islands of varying grades as essential support, along with meridians, for the survival and reproduction of cultivators.

Looking around, while there are quite a few cultivators, they are still a drop in the ocean compared to the number of demonic beasts. Moreover, the closer one gets to the depths of the Northern Frontier Ice Domain and the farther away one is from the cultivator's spirit island, the higher the rank and the stronger the demonic beasts one may encounter.

A cultivator in the Qi Refining stage can at most travel between subordinate first-tier spirit islands centered around a second-tier spirit island. If they want to cross the Ice Domain to reach other second-tier spirit islands, they will most likely end up as prey for other demonic beasts.

The spirit ship is a navigation tool that came into being under such circumstances. It is made entirely of high-grade spirit wood, spirit iron and other resources by weapon refiners and array pattern masters.

The spirit ships are all based on the second tier, and at least one Foundation Establishment cultivator is on duty during the journey to deal with possible attacks from demonic beasts.

Furthermore, a second-tier spirit ship can only sail within the territory of a third-tier spirit island, using a third-tier spirit island as its core. Once it exceeds this range, a third-tier spirit ship of a higher grade is required.

Given Tong Bingfeng's needs and strength, a second-tier spirit ship would be the pinnacle he could reach, and would allow him to smoothly resolve his current predicament.

After compiling the information about the spirit ship, Tong Bingfeng sold monster corpses and bought various spiritual items in the market, while also trying to find out more information about the spirit ship.

They might proactively inquire with knowledgeable shop owners, secretly search in teahouses and taverns, or even purchase information from cultivators who specialize in selling various kinds of information, paying with spirit stones.

With a three-pronged approach and detailed information about the spirit ship's arrival at Ice Spirit Island rapidly taking shape, Tong Bingfeng gained a preliminary understanding of this mysterious second-tier spirit ship.

Of course, this did not stop him from going to the Ice Domain every day without fail to hunt down mid-grade first-tier demonic beasts.

The only pity is that, although he has traveled to and from the Ice Domain more than a hundred times in recent days and occasionally picked some common first-grade low-grade spiritual herbs and medicines that are not worth a few spirit stones, he has not had the opportunity to encounter high-quality and rare spiritual medicines such as first-grade high-grade Ice Ling Flower.

As for the nameless white snake that almost brought him to his demise, he has never encountered it again. In recent days, he has killed more than fifteen first-tier mid-grade snake-like demon beasts, but most of them were common species and had no other value except for a snake gall.

Of course, while hunting monsters, Tong Bingfeng would not forget to improve his cultivation. Every half month or so, he would go to the Red Willow District to try to hunt Red Willow Leeches and obtain first-grade mid-level Leech Spirit Water from their corpses as an effective supplement to the buffer time for refining the Yuan-Enhancing Pill to eliminate the pill's poison.

However, even in the vast red willow area, the number of red willow leeches is not large. Even with the help of big teeth, not every trip will yield any results, and returning empty-handed is the norm.

As for the leech spirit water, it's impossible to refine it every day, and occasional shortages are extremely common.

Even the supply of Enhancing Essence Pills is extremely tight because people have to purchase talismans or other protective treasures in advance to search for the Crystal Gourd.

Time flies like an arrow, and the days pass like a shuttle. Time becomes a part of the long river of history amidst the busy lives of cultivators.

In the blink of an eye, two months have passed again. Under Tong Bingfeng's sales strategy of prioritizing self-preservation and secrecy, a total of forty-five corpses of mid-grade first-tier demonic beasts have been successfully accumulated in the storage bag.

Of course, during these two months, with a relatively abundant supply of Enhancing Essence Pills and Leech Spirit Water, the improvement in his cultivation level was naturally obvious.

"According to the information gathered from the market, if there are no delays, today should be the day when the Five Mountains Second-Tier Spirit Ship arrives at Ice Ling Spirit Island."

On this morning, Tong Bingfeng did not rush to the Ice Domain to hunt monsters as usual. Instead, when he estimated that the time was not far off, he headed straight for the specially built dock on the northeast corner of Ice Spirit Island under the golden sunlight.

The Five Sacred Mountains, a second-tier spirit ship, usually visits Ice Spirit Island twice a year, in June and December.