Chapter 5

Li Qing was now sitting cross-legged on a large rock, his brows furrowed.

He, who should have been delighted, now wore a worried expression.

Too slow, far too slow.

His body's资质 was too ordinary, merely a mid-grade spiritual root, causing him to feel a bottleneck with every step forward.

Li Qing had already decided to cultivate both the Dharma and the Body, which meant he needed even more substantial resources.

The early stages of the Thunder Spirit Technique mainly focused on refining the body, and the demand for resources was not yet significant. Even without precious medicinal herbs, he could still steadily advance.

Perhaps it was due to the lightning strikes his body had endured.

He found no difficulty in cultivating the Thunder Spirit Technique, and the smoothness exceeded his own expectations.

His predecessor had died due to a lack of resources, unable to afford treasures containing lightning, and could only introduce the world's lightning, which led to his death.

The true core of the early stages of the Thunder Spirit Technique was to draw lightning into the body and transform it into a thunder seed.

Relying on the power of the thunder seed to slowly forge the body, thus laying the foundation for future cultivation of the Thunder Spirit Technique.

Currently, the path of Dharma cultivation was extremely difficult.

If Li Qing wanted to quickly enhance his strength, it seemed that he could only achieve his desired results with the help of elixirs.

The most serious problem now was that Li Qing had only about fifty low-grade spirit stones to his name.

All his previous savings had been used for cultivating the Thunder Spirit Technique, leaving him penniless.

After much thought, Li Qing turned his attention to the Sea Stabilizing Pearl.

---

Outside the Thousand Domain Island.

A red sun rose over the boundless sea.

A green figure quietly made its way north toward the island.

Along the way, Li Qing tried to avoid familiar faces from his sect and eventually arrived at a bustling dock.

The Thousand Domain Islands were just a small part of the vast Hao Yuan Sea.

The vast sea was boundless, and most of the travel between the islands required spirit boats.

Cultivators at the Qi Condensation stage were powerless to fly through the air, and even those at the Foundation Establishment or Golden Core stages rarely did so.

The distances between the islands varied, and flying required a large amount of mana, leading to the development of various methods for crossing the sea.

The most common method was the spirit boat, a specially crafted magical tool.

On the sea, spirit boats were the most cost-effective magical tools, consuming less spirit energy and moving at high speeds.

The dock was bustling with people.

Li Qing had already changed into a plain Daoist robe and wore a hood to cover his face.

The place was crowded, and most of the people were internal disciples of the sect. Li Qing did not want his affairs to be known.

After arriving at the dock, Li Qing casually chose an ordinary spirit boat bound for Crescent Island.

His destination this time was Crescent Island.

Crescent Island was a small island near the Thousand Domain Island, shaped like a crescent moon.

Although small in area, it was a very prosperous place.

The Thousand Water Spirit Control Sect had a large number of outer sect disciples, and the amount of cultivation resources they needed was enormous.

Due to its geographical location, Crescent Island gradually developed into a market near the outer island.

Despite its small size, it handled a vast amount of resource transactions.

There were also many shops for transactions on the outer island, but to protect his secrets, Li Qing chose to leave the outer island cautiously to purchase supplies.

After boarding the spirit boat, he found a seat and saw a mortal servant approaching. Li Qing tossed a low-grade spirit stone.

Near the Thousand Domain Islands, there were more mortals living alongside cultivators.

After all, most cultivators still had many family members, who, due to the lack of spiritual roots, could not enter the path of cultivation and gradually began to serve the nearby cultivators.

Crescent Island was about ten nautical miles away, and it would take about an hour to reach by spirit boat.

This low-grade spirit stone was the fare for the journey.

Li Qing looked at his spirit stones helplessly; he had already lost one before even starting his business.

In the Hao Yuan Sea, spirit stones were classified by the concentration of spirit energy into low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and legendary supreme-grade spirit stones.

Except for the supreme-grade spirit stones, the exchange ratio was generally one to one hundred.

One hundred low-grade spirit stones could be exchanged for one mid-grade spirit stone, and so on.

While meditating, Li Qing did not abandon his cultivation. After all, he still had his advantage, the Sea Stabilizing Pearl.

"The Crescent Island has arrived. Welcome to ride our spirit boat again, esteemed cultivators."

A shout interrupted Li Qing's cultivation.

Li Qing looked around and followed the crowd into Crescent Island.

Upon entering the island, he saw a market.

The layout of Crescent Island was very simple, with three bustling main streets. The central area was divided into scattered stalls for individual cultivators to set up.

On both sides of the streets were tall and prosperous shops.

"Spirit Talisman Shop"

"Exotic Treasure Pavilion"

"..."

Various shops were densely gathered.

On one side of the street, he could occasionally see groups of Thousand Water Spirit Control Sect disciples patrolling.

This area was under the jurisdiction of the sect, and both the stalls and shops had to pay rent on time.

The Thousand Water Spirit Control Sect provided protection and maintained order.

In the boundless sea, order was a precious thing.

Murders and thefts were countless, and some powerful evil cultivators would even massacre an area for resources.

Even sect cultivators, to earn resources, would become pirates.

Crescent Island, however, did not have such concerns.

It was close to the main base of the Thousand Water Spirit Control Sect, and anyone who wanted to cause trouble here would have to consider the terrifying presence behind the scenes.

Li Qing quickly passed by the surrounding shops and headed inward.

His destination this time was the Sea Spirit Pavilion.

As he passed by some cultivators from other sects, he observed them carefully.

In the Thousand Domain Islands, the Thousand Water Spirit Control Sect only occupied the largest and most spirit-rich Thousand Domain Island.

The other spirit islands were mostly occupied by other forces, which submitted to the Thousand Water Spirit Control Sect's authority and could survive by paying tribute on time.

After passing through the bustling market, Li Qing arrived at a tall two-story shop.

A blue sign above the shop read "Sea Spirit Pavilion."

This shop was established by a sect called the Sea Spirit Sect, which specialized in various sea spirit fish and beasts.

The Sea Spirit Sect was located on a place called Spirit Fish Island in the Thousand Domain Islands.

Spirit Fish Island was only a second-tier island with a second-tier spirit vein.

However, the Sea Spirit Sect's Grand Elder was a genuine Golden Core cultivator.

Due to the special location of Spirit Fish Island, there was a strong current beneath the nearby sea, where precious spirit fish often appeared.

The Sea Spirit Sect also had its own unique method of breeding spirit fish.

As a branch of sea demon beasts, spirit fish played a significant role in the boundless sea.

Some spirit fish were the main ingredients in elixirs, with countless uses.

Li Qing came here to test some ideas in his heart, which were related to the Sea Stabilizing Pearl.