Chapter 67

The so‑called knowing oneself and the enemy ensures a hundred battles without peril; regardless of what the Min family plans, figuring out their current situation is always correct.

Jiang Yu turned onto another main street, headed straight for the Great Gate shop, spent two hundred spirit stones on a rolled map of Star City, and right there in the shop's lounge asked the clerk to unlock and view it.

The map was very detailed; using the accompanying technique to click open can magnify every spot to the finest detail.

She quickly located West City Bing Jiu Alley, which, despite being called an alley, was actually quite wide, and the whole lane housed five sects: Min, Chen, Hong, Mo, and Song.

Looking over the whole of West City from Jia Alley to Gui Alley, and from Zi Alley to Hai Alley, there was not a single teahouse or eatery nearby; all commercial activity was concentrated in the city center and the eastern district.

"It seems you want to inquire about their family, and you can only ask the city's specialist in Wind‑bell inquiries," Jiang Tu transmitted this to her through spatial voice.

Jiang Yu nodded, while continuously searching for the city's teleportation hall and the open‑air stalls where cultivators trade.

After confirming the location, she finally said to the clerk, "I've heard the Wood‑Fragrant Fruit competition is imminent, yet I've never seen this item in the alchemical herb compendium; I wonder what its marvel is."

When the clerk saw an extra spirit stone in his hand, he replied, "Wood‑Fragrant Fruit isn't used in medicine, but once taken it instantly dissolves its core; it's the spirit tree of a secret realm belonging to the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect.

After plucking this fruit, one can use its core to enter the secret realm."

"The fruit‑picker goes in?"

"No, refining Qi gathers, Foundation Establishment enters."

Jiang Yu thought, what does that mean? Competing with refining Qi would be a futile effort.

She decisively ended the topic, asking the clerk to help pick an inn on the map and recommend two reputable refining‑artifact shops.

At the same time, Min Wu also received a message from the Wind‑bell leader: the target has entered the city and later vanished from sight on Vermilion Bird Street.

He released the last remaining transmission talisman, then used a three‑stage ice spider to trigger the secret technique, yet he could no longer sense Jiang Yu's location.

The young man who was with him that day said, "Brother Wu, why are you so fixated on this junior cultivator.

Let's go to the Floating Tower City arena and hire an outsider cultivator with good footwork; wouldn't that be easier?"

Min Wu sighed, "It's different; that young lady is only in the later stage of refining Qi yet dares to venture alone into the fifth‑tier territory, and she is a free cultivator.

Whereas the ones we hire are slaves bound by contracts; when they appear to contest the Wood‑Fragrant Fruit, they'll be besieged by all the families from the outset.

Chi Yuan, the family head assigned this task to me; I must achieve results, and the Min clan cannot suffer defeat as in the previous sessions.

Otherwise, the founding ancestor of the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect will again be the subject of gossip.

He had no choice; two years ago during an expedition into a secret realm, all the refining‑Qi youths in the family who met the criteria for contesting the Wood‑Fragrant Fruit perished inside.

Now the younger ones are too young, the elders exceed the age limit; they can only recruit outsiders to join the Min family.

And the Foundation‑Establishment youths of the same rank in the clan, most are waiting for him to be unfindable, to plead to him.

"Then, shall I set off to Floating Tower City now and issue the mission at the mission hall?" Regarding the competition's restriction that each family must seek external aid, Min Chi Yuan had strong objections.

"Go ahead, I'll head to Brocade Moon City." The two brothers acted separately.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yu, during dinner time, heard about the Wood‑Fragrant Fruit competition from a tea house not far from the inn.

One said, "This year the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect's disciple recruitment and the Wood‑Fragrant Fruit's ripening happen at the same time."

Another added, "In Star City, each cultivation family is about to engage in a dragon‑versus‑dragon clash."

"Hehe, someone has already set up a betting pool, watching whether those ten‑some families can seize other cities this year."

"Unfortunately we're already past the age limit; otherwise we'd truly have to try our luck in other cities."

"Alas, solitary cultivators have it hard, watching opportunities pass by, while only families attached to sects have slots in the competition.

You and I, wanting to try, have no way in."

"Refining Qi merely fights for the fruit to gain some rewards; ultimately it's Foundation Establishment that enters the secret realm."

"Snatching a fruit is also a chance; last time we snatched a fruit, wasn't there a refining‑Qi free cultivator who was noticed by a Nascent Soul master of the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect and taken as a disciple?"

"Exactly, don't forget the fruit core can be resold; many Foundation‑Establishment cultivators are willing to buy it at a high price."

At this moment, someone looked at the middle‑aged couple at the table to Jiang Yu's left and said, "The virtuous pair once represented the Qi family of Fuzeng City in the competition; any insights?"

"Experts are like clouds, only caring about the outcome, regardless of casualties.

Back then, the five of us who were with this couple all fell beneath the tree." The woman's brief two sentences left the place in silence.

After a while, someone said, "We have no share anyway; perhaps we should try the disciple recruitment gathering this year."

"Dream on, those over thirty‑five have no qualification."

"I'll send my son."

"What spirit root, any special aptitude…?"

When Jiang Yu silently left the tea house, she could still hear the people inside yearning for a great sect.

She strolled slowly to the teleportation hall; there were still quite a few people waiting to teleport, and she hesitated whether to squeeze in to ask about prices when she saw the Min brothers walking over from the opposite side of the street.

Jiang Yu spun around and slipped into the crowd, "What a coincidence."

"They've entered the teleportation hall; let's wait a bit and see if they come out," someone said. It is said the city has several Nascent Soul cultivators, and Jiang Tu also cautiously refrained from using dragon tablets or spiritual sight to scan.

And Ao Ze, whose spiritual sight rivals that of a Jie Dan cultivator, had gone to rest and treat his injuries at this moment.

Jiang Yu waited a while longer without seeing the two emerge, then took a veil that blocks spiritual sight from her storage bag and tied it around her face.

She then walked toward the shop opposite the teleportation hall, a place called Wanbao Pavilion, and was immediately greeted by a mid‑stage refining‑Qi female cultivator inside.

"Honored guest, what would you like to choose? At Wanbao Pavilion we have pills, artifacts, talismans, arrays, ceremonial robes, puppets, spirit rice—everything you could need."

"Do you have tickets for the teleportation array opposite?" Shops that open opposite the teleportation hall are controlled by the local power; Wanbao Pavilion is a branch of the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect.

Jiang Yu believed it sold private tickets such as ship passes, teleportation tickets, and auction entry passes.

The clerk, recognizing a knowledgeable customer, asked, "Which city are you heading to? Recently teleportation arrays have risen in price, each city up by one hundred spirit stones."

"Floating Tower City."

"Two thousand one hundred low‑grade spirit stones."

"A ten‑thousand‑li daily passage costs two thousand!" That's pricey; on Tianyuan Continent a daily fare only needs a few hundred spirit stones. Jiang Yu couldn't help but glance at the hall opposite, where everyone seemed very wealthy.

No, opposite there seemed to be mostly Foundation‑Establishment practitioners, few refining‑Qi ones lining up, "Where's the ship ticket?"

"Five hundred; there are three intermediate stops, and it arrives after five days."

"If you have no urgent business, taking the boat is more economical." The attendant did not lose enthusiasm just because she asked for a cheaper price.

"I want to buy a boat ticket." Actually, Jiang Yu could drive the banana fan herself and arrive in five days, but taking the boat is safer.

The attendant quickly fetched the boat tickets, two copies. "Please board at the Coiled Star Plaza at chen hour tomorrow."

"May I ask if you need anything else? Our shop has just received a batch of superior Qi gathering pills; anyone purchasing five hundred low-grade spirit stones or more can get a bottle preferentially."

"Price?"

"Eighty spirit stones per bottle."

"How many pellets?"

"One pellet."

Jiang Yu knew from previous purchases that goods in the East Continent were more expensive than in the Heavenly Origin, but even a superior Qi gathering pill priced at twenty spirit stones per pellet was four times as expensive; "May I have a look at the merchandise?"

Someone happened to walk past them: "If you can't afford it, don't buy it; is the shopkeeper in?"

"This time, we, the Hong Clan, will take all the superior Qi gathering pills."

Jiang Yu looked up and saw a male-female pair roughly her age and with the same cultivation level walking by.