Eternal Life from the Golden Needle Technique

Chapter 198: Chapter 195: A Great Opportunity

Somewhere near the Wu Family Collection,

a massive fissure, several meters wide, tore the earth asunder. The jagged, winding crack stretched for an unknown number of miles, revealing a bottomless dark abyss below, as if it led straight to the depths of the underworld.

This massive fissure was apparently a ripple effect of the cataclysm that had leveled the Wu Family Collection.

The fissure originated from the edge of the great, deep chasm where the Wu Family Collection once stood.

Standing at the edge and looking down,

one could faintly see the crisscrossing mouths of limestone caves within the deep layers of soil and rock.

However, amidst the current upheaval,

few people were paying any attention to such details.

BOOM!

Above the massive fissure,

a deafening roar was accompanied by a surge of boundless Magical Power and Sword Qi, which swept out in all directions and carved a deep gash into the ground.

At the same time,

a figure in a black robe was sliced in two without a shred of resistance,

dying on the spot!

With the last black-robed figure hunted down and slain,

Shen Changchuan stood his ground and made a casual gesture.

The Storage Bag hanging from the bisected corpse in the distance was lifted by an invisible force and flew into his hand.

”Is this... a peach?”

He took out an object from the Storage Bag that was completely enveloped in white light.

It was the treasure Nangong City had mentioned.

After carefully examining the item, which was wrapped in a curtain of white, spiritual light,

Shen Changchuan’s brow twitched as he spoke in surprise.

It wasn’t that he was disappointed.

Even through the protective layer of spiritual light, Shen Changchuan could still feel the rich Spirit Charm and the immense Spiritual Power contained within.

He just hadn’t expected the treasure Nangong City mentioned to be a peach.

”To be precise, it’s a Spiritual Peach!”

Nangong City, who had somewhat recovered, had caught up from behind and offered the explanation.

’Could it be the one from the legendary Wu Family tree?’

Shen Changchuan quickly searched his memory.

He soon recalled the information he had gathered about the Wu Family back when he visited the Wu Family Collection.

It was said that the Wu Family possessed a Spiritual Peach Tree,

which was why they had been able to pass down their legacy for generations, never lacking for talent.

He also seemed to recall hearing

that the fruit from that Spiritual Peach Tree had a slight effect of aiding one’s breakthrough to the Soul Emergence Realm.

”Yes.”

”And if I’m not mistaken, this particular Spiritual Peach came from the main trunk of the mother tree that the Wu Family possesses...”

”Judging by the Spirit Charm this peach contains, it must have been nurtured on the tree for at least thirty years. A Spiritual Peach over ten years old is already considered a rare Spiritual Object, rumored to have a slight effect in aiding the breakthrough to Soul Emergence.”

”Cultivating a Spiritual Peach is not so simple. It’s said that the older it is, the more resources it consumes. Even if they are deliberately left unpicked, many Spiritual Peaches will ripen, rot, and wither away before they reach twenty years... A thirty-year peach... I’m afraid the entire Wu Family hasn’t produced more than a handful since its founding. They are almost always consumed internally, and it’s rare for an outsider to even catch a glimpse of one...”

Nangong City walked up to Shen Changchuan’s side,

glancing at the Spiritual Peach in his hand with a complicated expression.

Back when he was at the Qi Introduction Sixth Layer Peak, he once had an opportunity to consume a five-year Spiritual Peach from the Wu Family, which allowed him to successfully break through in one go.

Because of that, he knew a great deal about the Wu Family’s Spirit Root.

A thirty-year Spiritual Peach...

It could definitely be considered a Foundation Establishment Spiritual Object capable of significantly increasing the success rate of breaking through to Soul Emergence.

Not to mention the Wu Family would never let such a precious item, which could be considered a strategic resource, leave their hands.

Even if the Wu Family were to actually sell it,

you wouldn’t even be able to touch it for less than twenty thousand Spirit Stones!

It was because he understood the value of such a Spiritual Object that Nangong City didn’t want it to fall into the hands of those Demon Cultivators, which was why he had Shen Changchuan hunt them down and eliminate them all.

After hearing Nangong City’s explanation,

Shen Changchuan couldn’t help but be flabbergasted.

”Over twenty thousand Spirit Stones? Isn’t that a bit much? You’d be better off selling it and buying a few Soul Emergence Pills,”

he couldn’t help but retort.

But as soon as he said it,

Nangong City blinked, stunned for a moment, and then looked at Shen Changchuan with a strange expression.

”What is it?”

”Buy Soul Emergence Pills? Several of them?”

”Is there a problem? Aren’t Soul Emergence Pills six or seven thousand Spirit Stones each?”

”...”

He looked at Shen Changchuan’s genuinely confused face; he clearly wasn’t pretending.

Nangong City was left speechless.

”Brother Shen, that price... I’m afraid that’s your Shen Family’s internal price, isn’t it? You can’t just assume your family’s internal prices are the same as the prices on the outside...”

The area was remote and there was no one else around, so Nangong City didn’t beat around the bush and directly pointed out Shen Changchuan’s true identity.

Shen Changchuan didn’t mind.

’An alias is for outsiders. There’s no need to be mysterious with one of our own.’

”This... What do you mean? Maybe Soul Emergence Pills are a bit more expensive on the outside, but even if they’re a few thousand more, you should still be able to get one for ten thousand Spirit Stones, right?”

Shen Changchuan still hadn’t quite caught on.

During his two and a half years at the Shen Family Mansion, he had to disguise himself as mediocre and didn’t dare to cultivate diligently. To compensate, he did his best to gather information about the Immortal Cultivation Realm, preparing for the day he would eventually leave the mansion.

The Shen Family’s internal exchange shop was one of his main sources for understanding prices in the Immortal Cultivation Realm.

And he had once looked into it: the price of a Soul Emergence Pill within the clan was six or seven thousand Spirit Stones.

His perception of the pill’s price

came from that.

But now, it seemed,

things weren’t so simple?

At this moment,

Shen Changchuan also faintly sensed that something was wrong.

”Brother Shen, let me put it this way: even the Wu Family has a hard time obtaining a single Soul Emergence Pill. After operating for so many years, do you think they can’t scrape together a few tens of thousands of Spirit Stones?”

”Ah, well...”

”The price of the Soul Emergence Pill in your clan is most likely a rock-bottom price, set by the clan to cultivate more Soul Emergence Realm experts. And it surely comes with all sorts of conditions—purchase limits, for example. And after breaking through to Soul Emergence, you’d be ordered by the clan to garrison a territory or complete tasks to repay the clan for a certain number of years. You can’t really believe a Soul Emergence Pill is only worth a few thousand Spirit Stones.”

Nangong City’s words sounded like speculation, but his tone was filled with certainty.

Because, by and large, this was the system all Immortal Cultivation Clans operated on.

”Your Shen Family has a master at the Purple Mansion Divine Travel Level watching over it. That gives you access to the higher echelons of the Immortal Cultivation Realm, so you have no shortage of channels to acquire Soul Emergence Pills. But for the average Loose Cultivator on the outside, or even for Soul Emergence Clans, they can’t reach that level. For them, the Soul Emergence Pill is something that has a price but no market!”

Nangong City’s voice was filled with emotion.

At the same time, he glanced at Shen Changchuan, hesitated for a moment, and said vaguely,

”After all, the great powers at the top, like the Tian Nan Shen Clan, don’t want too many True Cultivators of the Soul Emergence Realm appearing in the clans beneath them...”