Chapter 81

The price list was over two feet long, with various charges that were bizarre and strange, making Du Qian feel that even these things could be converted into money, the world was truly amazing.

The services provided by the Spirit Snake Information Company were quite considerate. The items on this price list were all related to Du Qian, and more than half of them were marked as requiring payment from him.

Only a few items were merely priced, and did not require Du Qian to pay for the time being.

**True Spirit Talisman**: Average monthly auction quantity worldwide is within 2,000, with an average price of 1,800 basic talismans. In the Zhou Shan Empire, the average monthly auction quantity is 600, with an average price of 1,920 basic talismans.

Du Qian gasped as he looked at the numbers. From this simple comparison, it was clear that the commerce and spirit talisman industry in the Zhou Shan Empire were not doing well, and the prices were higher than the world average.

Unfortunately, he had neither the time nor the ability to travel the world. In recent years, friction between the borders of the three countries had increased, making it impossible to visit enemy countries at this time.

Du Qian, being in a low position in this vast world, naturally saw very little. The True Spirit Talisman, also known as the Life-Saving Talisman, was valuable among spirit talismans, but it wasn't this expensive, even on the black market, it would be much cheaper.

People in high positions, with their broad perspectives, had more information channels and could sense and judge the future situation earlier than ordinary people.

Undoubtedly, the footsteps of war were getting closer. Wars between the three countries were always prolonged and brutal. Before the war began, the high-level officials, nobles, and high-ranking citizens of each country could smell the scent of war.

From this moment on, the country began to prepare for war, strategic resources, military training, and expansion, gradually seeping into every corner.

Chambers of commerce, associations, and various organizations could also sense this. War profiteering was a well-known fact. Stockpiling war resources and recruiting martial cultivators, sometimes they were even more thorough and radical than the state machinery.

In such an environment, the price Du Qian had to pay for purchasing a True Spirit Talisman, a pure strategic resource, was several times higher than in peacetime.

This was still before the war broke out. Once the war started, the price of resources like the True Spirit Talisman would increase by more than double.

**Basic Talisman**: Including the Star Ascension and Star Chasing talismans, the average price within the empire is 280 yuan, with a fluctuation of 20 yuan.

Seeing this information, Du Qian felt relieved. Compared to the old men at the Pingchuan Information Bureau who charged exorbitant fees, this price was much more reasonable.

**Basic Talisman**: Spirit Enhancement Talisman, average price 1,500 yuan, with a fluctuation of 200 yuan.

Du Qian stared at the price of the Spirit Enhancement Talisman for a while. This price was clearly problematic. Normally, the Spirit Enhancement Talisman should be about five times the price of the Star Ascension and Star Chasing talismans, but 1,500 yuan was obviously too high.

Forget it, no need to think about it. Flipping through the itinerary, Du Qian read it carefully. This document also included a relatively detailed map of the empire, which helped Du Qian plan his route. He quickly understood how to proceed.

Why "relatively detailed"? The reason was simple. The empire's territory was vast, and most areas outside the cities were considered wilderness. What is wilderness? It is the range of spirit beasts, where humans cannot survive. Only a few adventurers would risk their lives to seek resources there for wealth.

The map Du Qian had only marked the locations of cities and the roads between them. These roads were not the flat roads within cities but relatively safe routes.

Such a map had little value and could be found in libraries in cities. The truly valuable ones were detailed resource maps of the wilderness, which marked the types of spirit beasts in each area, their levels, combat power, and even more detailed information like their weaknesses and habits. These data were obtained at the cost of countless adventurers' lives.

With these data, martial cultivators could prepare more effectively for their adventures, hunting spirit beasts and obtaining resources, which was the fastest way to increase wealth, but also the most dangerous.

"Sir, the next lightning boat will depart in two hours. If you are in a hurry, it's best to leave now," the young man reminded Du Qian after waiting for half an hour, seeing that he was still buried in the documents. This was originally Du Qian's request to get to Changping City as soon as possible.

"Okay."

Okay? That's it? Do you understand? This is about money. If you hadn't given us a 90,000 yuan storage voucher yesterday, would we have been busy all night?

"Sir, you know, we..." The young man thought about how to make Du Qian understand as tactfully as possible. After all, such a big spender was not common in a city like Pingchuan.

"Money, right? Can you speak more clearly..." Du Qian finally understood.

"Yes, we need to collect the travel fees in advance. You know, the road is not peaceful now, and arranging the itinerary is not easy..."

Actually, even in peacetime, intercity transportation was a big issue. The cost of transportation was extremely high, not something ordinary families could afford.

The best way to travel was to join the army. When the army moved, it was naturally free. Another option was to be a merchant, where the transportation costs were included in the goods, meaning the cost was passed on to the consumers, causing significant price differences between cities.

Another option was to be an adventurer. All adventurers were martial cultivators, and 80% of the empire's resources came from these adventurers, a group of reckless people who lived in the wilderness, hunting spirit beasts.

In peacetime, the empire encouraged martial cultivators to become adventurers. Only by constantly honing themselves on the brink of life and death could martial cultivators in peacetime maintain a strong fighting spirit. When the war came, these adventurers would be the best soldiers.

No matter how strong the soldiers in the army were, how well-trained, or how well-equipped, they rarely saw blood. Compared to the adventurers who fought spirit beasts every day, they lacked the killing instinct and the smell of blood. On the battlefield, they could easily break down.

Having a certain number of adventurers in the army helped stabilize the front lines and helped inexperienced soldiers adapt to the battlefield as quickly as possible.

Of course, not all adventurers were good. They were used to the wild and joined the army only under the orders of the state, reluctantly. As the officers put it, these guys were all troublemakers, disobedient, self-centered, and overly individualistic.

For the army, adventurer martial cultivators were a transitional force in the early stages of war. Once the new soldiers saw blood and survived a few battles to become veterans, the role of adventurers became smaller and smaller, and they were eventually kicked out of the army.

Being kicked out was no problem; they could return to their old profession. After all, a vast country needed a massive amount of resources at all times, and the most resource-rich areas were in the wilderness. The output from cities was limited and insufficient.

"How much do you need?" Du Qian knew it wouldn't be cheap, but he couldn't save this money.

"Sir, the itinerary we designed for you is 124,800 kilometers long, with 16 transfers. In all the transfer cities, we have arranged reception personnel, as well as hotels and food..."

"Speak directly."

"The total travel cost, including food and accommodation, is 130,000 yuan." The young man asked slightly nervously. The price set by Spirit Snake was a bit high, but not excessively so.

"Okay, here is 100,000 yuan. Is that enough?" Du Qian took out a 100,000 yuan storage voucher and handed it to the young man. He had received a 90,000 yuan voucher yesterday, so after deducting 130,000 yuan, he still had 60,000 yuan left, which should be enough as a deposit.

In the past few days, Du Qian's mindset had stabilized a lot. He was no longer as crazy as when he first saw the huge sum of money, with a bit of a nouveau riche mentality.

Thinking about the 110,000 yuan spent at the information bureau, it was indeed a significant amount. No wonder those old men were almost grinning from ear to ear.

"Enough, you still have a balance of 60,000 yuan, which can be used as a deposit for purchasing basic talismans, right?"

"Okay."

"Sir, this way, the car is waiting outside."

The car arranged by the Spirit Snake Information Company for Du Qian was quite ordinary, heading eastward. In the eastern part of Pingchuan City, there was a medium-sized lightning air port.

The lightning boat was a large passenger aircraft specifically designed for long-distance low-altitude flights in the wilderness. It could usually carry between 100 to 1,000 people, with a large space divided into several levels. The flight speed was not fast, mostly flying at an altitude of less than 50 meters.

It's worth noting that the height of a large lightning boat itself could reach several meters, and flying at 50 meters was almost the limit for flight safety. Of course, this was also because the lightning boat's speed was not fast.

The low-altitude aircraft used by the army were smaller, more agile fighters, which were naturally much faster than the lightning boats.

The name "lightning boat" had its meaning. On the surface of the boat, there were artificial lightning currents. These flowing lightning were created using kinetic energy and had little killing power. This was to take advantage of the remaining wild instincts of spirit beasts, which disliked rainy days and naturally disliked thunder and lightning.

When encountering lightning, spirit beasts would naturally stay away, increasing the safety of the boat.

Every day, there were lightning boats entering and leaving Pingchuan City. About 90% of them were cargo ships, and only 10% were for transporting people.

These days, without strength and wealth, no one was willing to risk leaving their city, so the number of intercity travelers was not high.

Du Qian had done his homework. In peacetime, the cost of riding a lightning boat was usually 1 yuan per 2 to 3 kilometers, and at the cheapest, it could be 1 yuan per 5 kilometers. The Zhou Shan currency was quite stable.

The price set by Spirit Snake Information was over 1 yuan per kilometer, which was indeed expensive, but the itinerary they arranged was very tight, with almost no waiting time. And there were reception personnel in each city, saving Du Qian a lot of time.

In Du Qian's view, this money was well spent. According to the itinerary from Spirit Snake, a nearly 125,000-kilometer journey would take less than 20 days, which was already very fast.

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