Chapter 480 - Chapter 480: Chapter 476: Vermilion Bird City_1

Chapter 480: Chapter 476: Vermilion Bird City_1

Yingbao and Xuanwu collected Spiritual Medicine as they made their way, quickly leaving the forest behind.

To avoid Demonic Beasts, Xuanwu kept the Tianyan Book calculating, using up several dozen of Spirit Stones in the process.

Finally, they arrived at Vermilion Bird City before nightfall.

Yingbao put away Xuanwu and hobbled towards the city gates.

The city guards included members of the Chen Family, one of them surprised to see Yingbao, “Younger Sister Eleven, why aren’t you with the team?”

Yingbao gave the guard a weak smile and said, “I encountered a Demonic Beast and got separated from them.”

The gate guard nodded in understanding: “No wonder I saw our Clan Leader rushing out of the city. He must have gone to lead a rescue mission, huh? How did you manage to get back by yourself?”

If they were collecting Spiritual Medicine in a team, there would definitely be at least one person with a flying Magic Artifact. Without it, relying solely on their own cultivation base to travel thousands of miles would mean certain death if they encountered a Demonic Beast.

“I ran into a kind person who helped me get near the city before leaving.” Yingbao replied.

She had already searched this body she possessed. It didn’t even have a single storage bag, let alone any other Spiritual Artifacts. There was simply a backpack containing a dagger, a small chisel, several low-grade Spiritual Medicines, and some food and water.

It made sense. At the early Foundation Establishment stage without having cleared the body of impurities, not eating food might not kill you, but it would certainly make you weak.

The gate guard nodded, “You should go home quickly and find someone to heal you first.” Once the Clan Leader returned, the physicians in the clan would surely be busy, thus leaving no time to tend to these minor children.

Yingbao nodded, slowly walked into the city, hailed a beast carriage, and headed towards the Chen Family.

In Vermilion Bird City, the Chen Family ranked highly among the cultivator families. Every male member of the family had more than two women and they kept bearing children. If a child born had the potential, they would be given key training. If they didn’t have Spiritual Roots or if their Spiritual Roots were poor, they could only become expendable laborers.

Chen Shuyuan, of such ilk, had mediocre Spiritual Roots. She had just barely reached Foundation Establishment but made no further progress after that.

And so Chen Shuyuan was marginalized by the family, constantly doing family tasks in exchange for cultivation resources.

This time she was injured and would have to pay out of her own pocket for treatment from the family physicians.

Yingbao, with Chen Shuyuan’s badge tied around her waist, walked into the family’s pharmacy. She went over to the medicine cabinet first and handed over a mid-level Spiritual Medicine, “I’m injured. I’ve broken a few bones and need to find a physician to set them.”

The disciple receiving the medicine looked at her, took the medicine to carefully identify it, and then handed her a token, “Go find Physician Meng.”

Physician Meng specialized in bone injuries, but his charges were high. Without a mid-level Spiritual Medicine at least, you would not be able to afford his services.

Two hours later, Yingbao’s leg injury and fractured ribs had significantly improved.

After resting at home for a couple of days, she would be as good as new.

Yingbao sighed admiringly, “How did he do that? I wish I had such powerful spells.”

Xuanwu indifferently said, “He has both Water and Wood Spiritual Roots and cultivates the Eternal Spring Technique. You don’t have a Wood Spiritual Root, so you can’t cultivate it.”

“Alright.” Yingbao returned to Chen Shuyuan’s residence, a small courtyard with nine rooms accommodating nine female Cultivators.

At that moment, there was no one in the courtyard. She had no idea where they had all gone at this late hour.

Yingbao entered Chen Shuyuan’s room, lay on the small wooden bed, and muttered in her mind, “Good heavens, she’s a minor daughter of the Fifth Elder, but she lives like a servant.”

She took out a pack of food from her Divine Mansion and ate it, then drank some water, forcing herself to sleep.

She woke up the next morning as the first light of dawn peeked in through the window. She quickly got up.

By now, the pain in her body had disappeared and her cultivation base was much more stable.

Yingbao tidied up Chen Shuyuan’s room, took a few sets of clothes and shoes, and packed a few cultivation books into her Divine Mansion.

After that, she left the courtyard to go to the market.

To sneak into the family forbidden land, forcefully breaking in was not an option. She would need some concealment artifacts.

Once she took the Precelestial Spirit Vein, it would definitely cause disturbances. The ancient ancestors of the Chen Family would definitely step in, so she also needed to prepare a Magic Weapon for escape.

Preferably a high-level Magic Weapon that could take her a thousand miles away in one go.

Yingbao entered a treasure shop and asked about concealment artifacts.

The shop assistant looked at her and said, “Low-level concealment artifacts cost a hundred mid-grade Spirit Stones; mid-level ones cost three hundred, and high-level ones cost one thousand.”

Yingbao gulped.

After some thought, she said, “I’ll take a low-level one.”

No matter the level of the artifact, in front of Nascent Soul and Emanation cultivators, they were like child’s toys. At a glance of their divine sense, all your artifacts and Magic Weapons would be revealed, regardless of whether you used them or not.

All she needed to do was to avoid the eyesight of pedestrians and common guards. As for the rest, that would be left to Xuanwu to cover.

The shop assistant handed a low-level concealment artifact to Yingbao, who placed a hundred mid-grade Spirit Stones on the counter.

Yingbao also spent ten mid-grade Spirit Stones to buy a cloak of concealment. When worn with the hood on and face veil pulled down, it would prevent visual detection by cultivators at or under the Core Formation stage.

She then put on the black cloak, went to another Treasure Pavilion, and purchased a high-level escape Magic Weapon that cost her two thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones.

Yingbao, despite the pain it caused her, paid the fee. She then went to the market and bought a significant amount of Spiritual Wheat and Spiritual Rice, as well as some Spirit Plant seeds.

After mingling in the market for a while, she bought several storage bags before stopping her purchases.

Looking at her own three boxes of Spirit Stones, only two boxes were left.

She then turned into an alleyway. When she emerged from the other end, she had already changed her appearance.

Not long after returning to the Chen Family, an announcement came for everyone to gather in the square.

Following the crowd, Yingbao arrived at a massive martial arts training field, where she saw a crowd of more than a thousand people.

This was just a fraction of the Chen Family. The others were either out on missions or were at other posts and couldn’t come.

Chen Family’s Clan Leader stood on a high platform and began to speak, “The reason I have called everyone here today is that the Wuji Sect has sent people. They want to select a few disciples with great potential from our family. Anyone wishing to participate in the election, go to the mission office to register. The assessment will begin in three days.”

Upon hearing this, the crowd below began to whisper and debate.

Some were eager to try, while others scoffed.

Because each contestant had to pay a hundred low-grade Spirit Stones.

Once registered, whether you took the test or not, the fee was non-refundable.

“Hmph! They always talk about fair competition, but in the end, aren’t all the spots reserved? I don’t want to waste my money warming someone else’s palm.”

“Exactly! I’ve participated countless times, and guess what? Even though I came in first, they still had interviews. And the only ones who passed were the pre-selected candidates.”

“I think the Clan Leader has gone mad with poverty, even squeezing us for what little we have.”

“Hey, don’t underestimate the amount of money. If each of us pays a hundred registration fee, do you know how much that adds up to for two thousand people? Two hundred thousand! The Clan Elder regularly says some sect or another is coming for recruitment. In the end, they’re all damn scammers!”

“Isn’t it true?”

“I’m not registering this time!”

“Neither am I!”

The crowd was indignant. Once the Clan Leader finished speaking, they all dispersed.