After hearing Han Li’s words, Lu Er was momentarily stunned and couldn’t help but glance at their hands. When he saw the red rings, his expression cleared as he said, “So the Immortal Masters plan to stay long-term in our city! That’s easy to handle. Have you both seen those buildings on the Sacred Mountain? You just need to rent any residence on the mountain to cultivate. I’ve heard from other Immortal Masters that the entire Sacred Mountain is a natural spiritual vein. The higher the location of the rented residence on the mountain, the richer the spiritual energy—though of course, the price is higher too. If you prefer solitary cultivation instead of renting a house, you can also rent a ready-made cave abode for your own private area, but I’ve heard that costs much more than a residence! Whether it’s a house or a cave, the fees are calculated by the century. You must renew the payment every hundred years. If you can’t pay the next fee when it’s due, the cave will be reclaimed by the Star Palace’s Immortal Masters.” Lu Er explained all this to Han Li with remarkable fluency.
“Oh? So as long as one has enough spirit stones, they can even rent a cultivation spot on the top level?” Han Li asked with keen interest.
“The Immortal Master jokes—of course not,” Lu Er shook his head vigorously. “The Sacred Mountain is divided into eighty-one layers from bottom to top, each full circle counting as one layer. The first fifty layers are open to visiting Immortal Masters. As long as you have spirit stones, you can rent a cultivation residence. The next thirty layers are reserved only for the lords of the Star Palace. As for the top layer, that is the Sacred Palace, the residence of the two Sacred Masters. No one is allowed to enter.” Lu Er spoke somewhat apologetically.
After a moment’s thought, Han Li decisively said, “Alright, show us the way. Let’s find a residence first.”
“Yes, this humble one will lead the way. The Immortal Master need only fly toward the Sacred Mountain. At the foot of the mountain, there’s a pavilion specifically for handling these matters.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the Divine Wind Boat transformed into a streak of white light and shot toward the distant giant mountain.
The giant mountain didn’t seem far, but it took Han Li a full quarter of an hour to actually approach its base. Under Lu Er’s guidance, the Divine Wind Boat descended in front of a rather imposing pavilion.
Apart from Han Li, there were quite a few cultivators coming and going here, with beams of light frequently rising or landing.
After glancing around, Han Li led Qu Hun and Lu Er into the pavilion, which had tall steps.
Upon entering, they saw about a dozen cultivators speaking with white-robed cultivators at five or six isolated stone tables. Some looked extremely happy, others were frowning with worry, and two were even pleading desperately with the white-robed cultivators opposite them—their expressions varied greatly.
Han Li silently observed everything for a while.
“Immortal Master, that table is free now. Should we go over?” After a moment, Lu Er cautiously reminded Han Li. Han Li had naturally noticed the newly vacated stone table and nodded.
This time, however, Qu Hun took the lead, with Han Li following behind. This change surprised Lu Er, who had always thought Han Li was the one in charge, and he followed them with some bewilderment.
“Senior, are you looking to rent a residence on the Sacred Mountain? Which layer are you considering? The upper layers are more expensive!” The Star Palace cultivator’s gaze swept over Qu Hun, and he immediately spoke with respect.
It seemed that Core Formation cultivators commanded respect everywhere, which was why Han Li had Qu Hun take the lead.
“We want a cave abode. Are there any ready-made ones? The higher the layer, the better!” Qu Hun said expressionlessly.
“A cave abode? Senior, please wait a moment. Let me check!” Hearing Qu Hun’s bold tone, the white-robed cultivator perked up and hurriedly took out a jade slip to search.
“Here! There are three on the thirty-first layer, four on the thirty-ninth layer, and two on the forty-seventh layer. Here are the prices, structures, and functions of the caves.” The white-robed cultivator placed several jade slips on the stone table.
Qu Hun unceremoniously picked them up one by one to examine with his spiritual sense.
Han Li had always considered himself well-off in spirit stones, even among Core Formation cultivators, but the rental fees for these caves still shocked him.
Leaving aside the forty-seventh layer caves, even those on the thirties layers made Han Li wince with pain. For just a hundred years of use, the cost was as high as two to three thousand spirit stones—absurdly expensive!
Noticing Qu Hun’s slight change in expression and silence, the cultivator opposite seemed to guess his thoughts and explained with a smile, “Senior! Although our Sacred Mountain’s spiritual vein may not be the number one in the Chaotic Star Sea, it undoubtedly ranks among the top five. Cultivating at the foot of the Sacred Mountain is already much faster than the best areas of ordinary spiritual veins. As for past the thirtieth layer, the cultivation speed can increase by more than a quarter. That’s why the cave fees are so high, but it’s absolutely worth it!”
Hearing this, Han Li frowned.
By then, Qu Hun had finished examining all the jade slips.
“This one,” under Han Li’s instruction, Qu Hun picked up a jade slip and handed it over—it was for a fully-equipped cave on the thirty-ninth layer.
“Excellent! The fee is two thousand seven hundred spirit stones!” The white-robed cultivator was equally delighted that Qu Hun was actually renting such an expensive cave and spoke briskly.
This time, Han Li didn’t have Qu Hun handle it but took out over twenty mid-grade spirit stones from his storage pouch himself and handed them over.
“This is the restriction token for the cave. With this token, you can freely enter and exit the cave. However, after a hundred years, this token will be reclaimed. I hope Senior keeps it safe.” The cultivator, having received the spirit stones, smiled broadly and took out a yellow token, handing it to Qu Hun.
Qu Hun took the token and turned to leave without another word.
Han Li and Lu Er, who hadn’t dared to interject, followed closely out of the building.
“Really shockingly expensive! Just finding a cultivation spot actually costs so many spirit stones.” Once outside the pavilion, Han Li let out a long breath and muttered somewhat gloomily. This had significantly reduced his wealth.
“I wonder if the two Immortal Masters have any other places to go?” Lu Er stole a glance at Han Li and asked quietly. He was already stunned by Han Li’s lavish spending of spirit stones. Although he had guided other cultivators before, those Immortal Masters spent at most a dozen or several dozen spirit stones. Spending two to three thousand spirit stones at once was something he had only heard of—this was the first time he had witnessed it.
Instantly, Lu Er became even more respectful toward Han Li, and his confidence in receiving his reward greatly increased. After all, with such generous spending, as long as he satisfied them, they definitely wouldn’t skip out on his meager reward.
“Take me to the city’s market district and introduce me to some of the larger shops,” Han Li said casually after glancing at Lu Er.
Then, with Qu Hun and Lu Er, he boarded the Divine Wind Boat again and soared into the sky.
…
Much later in the day, Han Li lay on a large wooden bed, hands behind his head, deep in thought.
Not long before, under Lu Er’s guidance, he had familiarized himself with all the important locations in Tianxing City. After giving Lu Er the agreed-upon reward, they parted ways. Watching Lu Er leave joyfully, Han Li then went alone to the outrageously expensive thirty-ninth-layer cave he had rented.
The cave was indeed as described in the jade slip—not only relatively remote and quiet but also with a sizable empty medicine garden. What satisfied Han Li even more was the incredibly rich spiritual energy here, far surpassing that of ordinary spiritual veins. Even compared to his old cave in the Tiannan region, the difference was significant.
This made Han Li feel it was quite worth the cost!
The cave’s built-in restriction formations were also remarkably powerful, seemingly no weaker than his simplified version of the “Inverted Five Elements Formation.”
Even so, Han Li wasn’t comfortable relying solely on the cave’s original formations for safety. He planned to rest a bit and tomorrow set up his own several large formations outside these. Only then would he truly feel secure and have time to re-plan his cultivation strategy.
As he thought, Han Li unknowingly fell into a deep sleep. Over the past few months, he had been flying bumpily on his magic tool and was thoroughly exhausted.
Early the next morning, Han Li woke up and began busying himself nonstop.
He laid down three large formations outside the cave in one go, then planted various herbs and spiritual medicines in the empty garden for future use once matured. Finally, he went to the market and bought plenty of high-quality jade. Upon returning to the cave, he embedded the jade into a secret room about ten zhang in size, covering every inch of it.
After turning the stone walls of the secret room into jade walls, Han Li carefully released the Gold Devouring Beetles inside.
He had high hopes for these highly ranked strange insects and planned to train them well so they could assist him in the future.
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