The manager of the black market handed the Thunder Spirit Grass to Lin Chen and said:

"Are you planning to refine the Thunder Avoidance Divine Pill yourself, fellow Daoist?"

"Don’t blame me for not reminding you... while the materials for the Thunder Avoidance Divine Pill aren’t expensive, its refining complexity is considered extremely high among fourth-tier pills."

"Because one of the ingredients for the Barrier Divine Pill requires capturing the power of natural thunder, which is difficult for cultivators not practicing thunder-element cultivation techniques to accomplish..."

"So, it’s best to buy a few pre-made pills."

Lin Chen smiled and replied:

"Alright, then I’ll take two ordinary Thunder Avoidance Divine Pills first... As for this Thunder Spirit Grass, how about giving me ten stalks?"

Lin Chen was well aware that the black market made significant profits primarily from selling pre-made Thunder Avoidance Divine Pills.

However, Lin Chen intended to refine Thunder Avoidance Pills, Nascent Soul Pills, and the like in bulk after returning to the Great Xia Country.

After all, after his Nascent Soul Formation, there were still many cultivators in Great Xia waiting to form their Nascent Souls...

As for capturing the power of natural thunder...

Isn’t that convenient?

Catching natural thunder power is challenging in the Cultivation Realm, requiring tremendous cultivation...

But the High Martial World had this technology a millennium ago.

Lightning rods, Faraday cages...

With a few techniques added in, capturing the power of natural thunder becomes remarkably simple.

The transaction was quickly completed, with Lin Chen spending three million Spirit Stones to purchase Thunder Avoidance Divine Pills and alchemy materials, as well as two Tribulation Shield Magical Treasures.

These Tribulation Shields can reduce the power of a thunder tribulation to some extent, for precautionary purposes.

For some loose cultivators, breaking through is a major event requiring decades or even centuries of preparation.

Because they rely on themselves to gather pills, magical treasures, etc...

They even have to courageously venture alone into secret realms for exploration.

But Lin Chen doesn’t need to do this at all.

Because he has money and helpers.

In the Cultivation Realm, if you have enough Spirit Stones, you can buy most resources.

If you can’t buy it, there’s only one possibility: not enough money!

"However, I have less than four million Spirit Stones left in hand..."

Lin Chen slightly frowned. He had painstakingly saved Spirit Stones for years, thinking it would be enough.

But when the time came to spend money, he lamented how little he had... Spending money is like flowing water.

"At this rate, I’m afraid there still won’t be enough Spirit Stones... The materials the Cultivation Department asked me to procure have only been completed a fifth so far."

Lin Chen frowned slightly, planning to take this opportunity to purchase more artifact refining, array formation materials, and rare herbs to further increase the cultivation foundation of the Great Xia Country.

Thinking of this, Lin Chen looked at the black market manager ahead of him.

"Fellow Daoist, do you accept Magical Treasures?"

"Of course we do. What quality Magical Treasures do you have?" the black market manager asked with great interest.

To produce three million Spirit Stones in one transaction, Lin Chen was considered a major customer, so his attitude was naturally very good.

Initially, he thought Lin Chen would casually sell one or two magical artifacts.

But upon seeing the Magical Treasures Lin Chen brought out, the black market manager was stunned.

"A complete set of twelve flying swords, each one a middle-grade Treasure Artifact... Can you accept this set of Magical Treasures?"

Lin Chen’s tone remained calm as he displayed the twelve flying swords before him and asked.

The black market manager took a deep breath and eventually gritted his teeth, saying:

"We’ll take them! But the price... doesn’t know what fellow Daoist thinks is appropriate?"

The price of a lower-grade Treasure Artifact is usually between ten to twenty thousand Spirit Stones, typically used by early Golden Core cultivators.

While a middle-grade Treasure Artifact usually costs five times more, over a hundred thousand Spirit Stones, for late Golden Core cultivators.

But a complete set of flying swords forming a sword array can exponentially increase the price!

If Lin Chen’s set of flying swords finds the right buyer, it could sell for two to three million Spirit Stones.

Even some early Nascent Soul cultivators with limited financial resources would choose to purchase a set of middle-grade Treasure Artifact flying swords for protection.

Lin Chen thought for a moment and named a relatively reasonable price.

"This set of flying swords for 2 million Spirit Stones... how about it?"

After some consideration, the black market manager thought it was indeed quite cheap at this price.

As long as they find the right buyer, earning hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones would be easy.

Therefore, the manager directly deducted two million from the Spirit Stones Lin Chen had previously paid and returned them to Lin Chen.

Lin Chen accepted the Spirit Stones, turned away, and left without further ado.

...

In the blink of an eye, another month had passed.

Lin Chen spent the entire month in Tunnel City, selling a small portion of the Treasure Artifacts and Pills refined in the Great Xia Country.

To avoid being associated with the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect, each sale was limited in quantity.

However, over the course of a month, Lin Chen still earned over a million Spirit Stones.

A million Spirit Stones transaction in Guangyuan Town’s marketplace would undoubtedly cause a stir.

Yet with Tunnel City hosting tens of thousands of cultivators, daily transactions probably reach nearly ten million Spirit Stones.

Thus, Lin Chen’s million Spirit Stone profit within a month did not attract any attention.

After staying in Tunnel City for a month, Lin Chen successfully obtained the passage document to Celestial Dao City.

Continuing westward for several days, Lin Chen arrived at the penultimate stop of his journey, Celestial Dao City.

Much like in the previous Human and Earth Dao Cities, Lin Chen purchased a residency permit in Celestial Dao City.

At the same time, he applied for a passage document to Wenda City.

Upon reaching Celestial Dao City, Lin Chen was already near the central area of Qing State.

After all, Wenda Sect, located another 30,000 miles west, is the undisputed center of Qing State.

After entering Celestial Dao City, Lin Chen stayed in the city for another month.

During this time, he continued trading and successfully found several pills to stabilize the mind and assist in passing the Three Nascent Soul Gates.

...

A month later, at the Martial Arts Palace of Great Xia.

Lin Chen stayed in the cultivation room, attempting the eighth compression of True Essence within his Dantian.

Lin Chen swallowed a Jade Marrow Qi Replenishing Pill, and immediately felt the flow of True Essence within his body accelerate, absorbing Spiritual Energy much faster.

"Tsk tsk, this Jade Marrow Qi Replenishing Pill truly deserves its reputation as a secret medicine... The cultivation speed has increased by at least fifty percent."

"Only took four months to touch the threshold of the Eighth Turn Golden Core, much faster than the predicted six months..."

With the help of this Jade Marrow Qi Replenishing Pill, the True Essence within Lin Chen’s Dantian finally reached perfection.

Immediately afterward, the eighth True Essence compression began.

As a large amount of True Essence surged in, Lin Chen continuously controlled the refining and tempering within his body...

This took Lin Chen a full five days.

Upon reaching the late period of the Golden Core, each refinement of True Essence became increasingly difficult.

Ordinary Golden Cores might require a month or even several months to complete one True Essence tempering session.

At this time, the advantage of a Perfect Golden Core became evident.

Five days later, Lin Chen looked at the silk-like mist that had appeared again around the Golden Core in his Dantian.

A satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"Finally, the Eighth Turn Golden Core... At this moment, my True Essence Magical Power is no different from that of a Half-Step Nascent Soul!"

"At this rate, the Nine Revolutions Golden Core might be achievable in two and a half years..."

Lin Chen’s heart moved slightly as he took out a bottle of pills.

Jade Marrow Bone Forging Pills, of Upper Grade quality.

For the past two months, Lin Chen had been taking one Jade Marrow Bone Forging Pill almost every day.

With over sixty Jade Marrow Bone Forging Pills absorbed, under Divine Soul Internal Observation, Lin Chen’s bones had become faintly as transparent as white jade.

"The Initial Appearance of the Jade Elephant... But there is still quite a long way to go before fully forming the Jade Bone Physique."

Lin Chen murmured to himself.

Ice Skin Jade Bone is a special physique for Body Cultivators, and it is equally applicable to the Martial Path.

Its enhancement of Martial Path aptitude surpasses even the Postnatal Purity Body.

"However, the difficulty of obtaining the Jade Bone Physique is considerably higher than that of the Postnatal Purity Body."

Lin Chen shook his head slightly.

The main reason is the limited and non-renewable quantity of Jade Marrow, making Jade Marrow Bone Forging Pills exceptionally rare.

Only a small group of martial artists can be prioritized to help them form the Jade Bone Physique.

"Tsk tsk, combining Jade Bone with Postnatal Purity Body... Could very well turn martial path waste into martial path prodigies!"

Lin Chen secretly sighed in his heart.

Of course, the country certainly would not waste these two types of pills on wastrels.

Martial artists who were originally martial path prodigies, combined with these two special physiques, would undoubtedly have their martial path potential further enhanced.

Perhaps, Martial Venerables or even Martial Kings could be cultivated in large numbers by then?

Lin Chen was quite hopeful in his heart.

"Well, let’s first see how many Jade Marrow Bone Forging Pills are needed to achieve the Jade Bone Physique..."

...

Several days later, in Qing State.

Lin Chen presently found himself at the final stop of his journey—Wenda City.

Wenda City stood a hundred zhang high, grand and majestic.

From afar, Lin Chen felt a surge of emotion.

The whole city was faintly shrouded in auspicious clouds, with radiant light shining.

Just like the previous three cities, the current Wenda City was also divided into Upper and Lower City Districts.

The Lower City housed tens of millions of mortals, while the Upper City floated several hundred zhang above ground.

"Tsk tsk, rather than saying it’s like the previous three cities... it’s more like those three cities were built to imitate Wenda City!"

Looking at Wenda City before him, Lin Chen had only one feeling.

That was, what were those three cities he saw before?

Inferior imitations!

In terms of both land area and city construction, they were far from comparable to what Lin Chen was witnessing in Wenda City.

After transforming into an escape light and flying to the outskirts of Wenda City, Lin Chen strolled to the city gate.

There, a squad of eleven guards stood, all of them Fake Pill Cultivators.

The leader among them was genuinely a Golden Core Cultivator!

"Tsk tsk, Wenda City for sure... Golden Core Cultivators guarding the gate? Such confidence..."

Lin Chen secretly sighed in his heart.

Afterward, he processed his permanent residency permit for Wenda City.

It cost him a full hundred thousand Spirit Stones, ten times the price compared to the previous three cities.

But upon entering Wenda City, Lin Chen felt all of it was worthwhile...

Because the entire Wenda City was situated within a gigantic Spirit Gathering Array.

The Spiritual Energy inside the city was so abundant, it was practically like the legendary Immortal City...

"Even the Lower City District has Spiritual Energy so rich it’s more than double that of the Upper City District in Celestial Dao City."

"It’s hard to imagine what the scenery of the Upper City District would be like?"

With a sense of longing in his heart, Lin Chen then transformed into an escape light and flew toward the Upper City District.

Upon stepping into the Upper City District, Lin Chen felt even more dense Spiritual Energy, at least twice as rich as that in the Lower City District.

And upon entering the Upper City District, the first sight Lin Chen beheld was... Wenda Mountain.

A massive peak, three thousand zhang high, suspended a thousand zhang above the ground.

This mountain is where the Wenda Sect is located!