Translator: CinderTL
After hearing Wang Yi's introduction, Song Wen was quite satisfied with the Qicang Flying Ark and asked, "How many spirit stones are required to board the Qicang Flying Ark?"
Wang Yi replied, "The Dual Polarity Sect doesn't sell individual seats on the flying ark; we sell the entire ship. Once the Qicang Flying Ark enters the Rotting Miasma Ridge, it's extremely difficult to retrieve. As for how much each passenger contributes, that's determined through mutual agreement among the passengers themselves. The Dual Polarity Sect only facilitates the gathering of passengers and doesn't interfere with their negotiations."
Song Wen was somewhat surprised by this pricing method, which differed from what he had expected.
"What is the price of a Qicang Flying Ark set by your sect?"
Wang Yi answered, "Ten thousand high-grade spirit stones."
"That's incredibly expensive!" Song Wen exclaimed, startled.
Wang Yi explained, "The Qicang Flying Ark is inscribed with a sixth-tier defensive formation, so its price is naturally high."
Song Wen asked, "How many people can the flying ark accommodate?"
Wang Yi replied, "The Qicang Flying Ark is thirty meters long and nine meters wide, capable of carrying at least several dozen people. However, very few cultivators travel to the Qicang Domain, so each ship typically carries no more than ten passengers. If the number is too small, there won't be enough personnel to operate the ark's formations. Therefore, the Dual Polarity Sect recommends that each flying ark have at least three cultivators at the Divine Transformation Stage and five at the Nascent Soul Stage."
Song Wen mentally calculated that if ten people split the cost of ten thousand spirit stones equally, each person would pay one thousand spirit stones.
Song Wen found the price acceptable.
Of course, an equal split was highly unlikely; otherwise, the Dual Polarity Sect wouldn't have left the funding arrangements to the passengers themselves.
The most probable scenario was tiered contributions based on cultivation level, with stronger cultivators paying less and weaker ones paying more.
"When does the next Giant Flying Ship depart?" Song Wen asked.
"That depends on when enough passengers can raise the full ten thousand spirit stones," Wang Yi replied. "Currently, we have two Divine Transformation Stage Seniors and four Nascent Soul Stage fellow daoists who have decided to board."
"Then I'll reserve a seat as well," Song Wen said. "What kind of deposit is required?"
"Fellow daoist, a deposit of one hundred high-grade spirit stones will suffice."
Song Wen's Divine Sense probed his Storage Ring, retrieving one hundred high-grade spirit stones, which he handed over.
Wang Yi accepted the spirit stones and gave Song Wen a token.
"This token serves as your boarding pass and a communication artifact. Through it, you can contact the other passengers to discuss departure arrangements. Before departure, the Dual Polarity Sect will provide several routes, all previously verified as safe paths to Qicang Domain."
After inquiring about further details, Song Wen rose to take his leave.
Wang Yi escorted Song Wen out of the secret chamber, watching his departing figure with a slight shake of his head.
"Another one seeking to defy fate and change their destiny by going to Qicang Domain. Still, he has more courage than this old man. I'll likely just grow old and die in Crimson Rainbow City."
After leaving the Crimson Rainbow Pavilion, Song Wen headed straight out of the city.
He traveled ten thousand miles, ensuring no one was following him, before removing his mask, altering his aura, and doubling back to Crimson Rainbow City.
Song Wen entered a cultivator inn, rented a room, and retrieved the Dual Polarity Sect token Wang Yi had given him.
Upon careful examination, Song Wen discovered that this token differed from ordinary Communication Jade Slips; it could simultaneously communicate with multiple people.
In other words, anyone holding a similar token within range could communicate with each other.
[Fellow daoists, this is Gou Jun. I intend to board the Qicang Flying Ark to travel to the Qicang Domain.]
After sending his message, Song Wen noticed a suffix, "Seventh," appended to it.
This indicated that he was the seventh person to receive such a token, perfectly aligning with Wang Yi's earlier statement: "There are already two Divine Transformation Stage cultivators and four Nascent Soul Stage cultivators."
Moments later, "First" replied:
[Another fellow daoist with shared aspirations joins us. It seems we'll be setting sail soon. May I inquire about your cultivation level, fellow daoist?]
Song Wen replied, ["My cultivation is at the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage."]
["Only the Nascent Soul Stage? That's a bit of a pity,"] First said.
From First's tone, Song Wen sensed a faint disappointment. The other party seemed eager to depart.
Moreover, First was likely a Divine Transformation Stage cultivator.
["I am Gou Jun. May I ask how Senior wishes to be addressed?"] Song Wen asked.
First replied, ["This old man is Zhong Ren."]
After exchanging a few more words with Zhong Ren and seeing no other replies, Song Wen took the initiative to end the communication.
Song Wen left the cultivator inn and wandered through the city, quickly familiarizing himself with its layout. He also purchased spiritual materials for crafting Corpse Puppets.
Song Wen planned to refine all these Corpse Puppets into Substitute Puppets.
Before his Ascension, Song Wen had relied on abundant resources to craft numerous Substitute Puppets. Combined with those he had preserved from before, he now possessed over fifty such puppets.
Song Wen had initially believed these Substitute Puppets would last him a considerable time.
Unexpectedly, Song Wen had used seven Substitute Puppets just to escape Chi Qi's pursuit.
Now that he had decided to cross the Rotting Miasma Ridge, the more Substitute Puppets he had, the better.
Crafting Corpse Puppets was relatively easy, but transforming them into Substitute Puppets damaged Song Wen's divine soul.
Although Song Wen could repair his damaged divine soul by devouring the souls of others or demon beasts, this required a significant amount of spirit stones and time.
Based on his experience, each Substitute Puppet he crafted required him to devour the souls of two to three cultivators of the same realm to fully restore his divine soul. Devouring demon beast souls required slightly more.
Fortunately, while high-tier cultivator souls were rarely sold openly in Crimson Rainbow City, Fourth-Tier and Fifth-Tier Demonic Beast souls were abundant, likely due to the frequent beast tides in the Qianchang Wilderness.
In just over an hour, Song Wen purchased over a hundred Fourth-Tier Demonic Beast souls and nearly twenty Fifth-Tier Demonic Beast souls, spending a total of eighteen hundred high-grade spirit stones.
Although it seemed like he had spent a lot of spirit stones, in the Lower Realm, these spirit stones likely wouldn't have been enough to purchase even a hundred Fourth-Tier Demonic Beast souls. After all, Fourth-Tier Demonic Beasts were extremely rare in the Lower Realm.
These demon beast souls were sufficient for Song Wen to refine eleven or twelve Substitute Puppets. It wasn't that he didn't want to refine more, but he couldn't acquire more high-tier demon beast souls at the moment.
Song Wen planned to gradually purchase more demon beast souls in his spare time. Even if he didn't use them to repair the damage to his divine soul caused by refining Substitute Puppets, he could still use them to enhance his Divine Sense realm.
As he pondered whether to rent a Cultivation Cave in Crimson Rainbow City or find a suitable one outside the city, Song Wen suddenly noticed a slight tremor from the Dual Polarity Sect token in his Storage Ring.
He walked to a secluded corner of the street and retrieved the token.
After reading the information within, a look of surprise appeared in Song Wen's eyes.
The sender of the message was none other than "Eighth."
Author's Note: We've reached 1000 chapters! Thank you to all the readers who have followed the story this far.
The novel has its flaws, and it's truly remarkable that you've patiently read to this point.
Words cannot express my gratitude.
TL/N: 🎉
(End of the Chapter)
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