“Alright!”
The woman behind the counter always smiled as she looked at He Pingsheng. She reached out to take the Jade Slip He Pingsheng handed her and politely said, “There are two types of eighth-grade courtyards. One is closer to the City Lord’s Mansion, near the center of Dingxiang City, and the other is further from the City Lord’s Mansion, near the city wall on the outskirts of Dingxiang City!”
“Which one would you like?”
He Pingsheng asked, “Is there a difference in price?”
“Yes!” the woman said, “A courtyard in the city center costs five thousand Spirit Stones, and one on the city outskirts also costs five thousand Spirit Stones!”
“However, the annual tax is different!”
“The one on the city outskirts only requires a one percent tax each year, which is only fifty Spirit Stones!”
“If it’s the one in the city center, you need to pay two percent, which is one hundred Spirit Stones as tax!”
He Pingsheng was a bit speechless.
I’m buying a small courtyard, and the City Lord’s Mansion still wants to collect tax from me every year?
“I’ll take the one on the outskirts!” He Pingsheng chose the cheaper option.
Actually, it wasn’t just for the sake of being cheaper; it was mainly for peace and quiet!
He had secrets of his own, and the further he was from the center, the less likely those important figures would notice him.
“Alright!”
Next, after He Pingsheng paid the money, he successfully obtained a small courtyard.
Of course, he also promptly paid ten years of tax at once.
This small courtyard was in the northeast of Dingxiang City, truly close to the city wall. One couldn’t say the courtyard was right against the city wall, but it was definitely less than a hundred zhang away from it.
Only a street separated them.
Fortunately, it was quiet enough here.
He Pingsheng opened the door and instantly liked the courtyard.
The courtyard was covered with lawn, and at the very back was a three-story small building. In front of the small building were two fruit trees, both ordinary fruit trees, a peach tree and a plum tree.
Additionally, in the front left corner of the courtyard, there was a moderately sized pond, with dozens of golden carp swimming in it.
Closing the courtyard gate, He Pingsheng’s Divine Thought burst forth.
Now, his Divine Thought could extend four hundred zhang.
Within a radius of four hundred zhang, whether it was his own home or the surrounding neighbors, he could see them clearly.
No Cultivators.
That’s right, there were no Cultivators nearby, only ordinary Mortals living there.
This was perfect!
He Pingsheng opened the door of the three-story small building and looked around inside and out.
There were no Formation or Cultivation remnants.
Very clean!
He cleaned the small building again, then took out a fire-attribute Spirit Stone and placed it inside the small building.
In less than an hour, all the dampness in the small building was gone.
Putting away the Spirit Stone, He Pingsheng took out a Formation Plate!
This was a second-grade Formation Plate, which he had made himself and always carried with him.
With the Formation Plate, and then arranging the Formation Flags according to the predetermined positions, a small second-grade Defense Array was constructed.
In addition to the Defense Array, he also set up a second-grade Spirit Restriction Array and a second-grade Early Warning Array.
The Spirit Restriction Array could prevent Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators from extending their Divine Thought to probe.
As for the second-grade Early Warning Array, that was even more useful.
Because the Spirit Restriction Array could not prevent Golden Core Stage Cultivators and above from probing with their Divine Thought, once a Golden Core Stage Cultivator or above extended their Divine Thought into the Formation, the Early Warning Array would sound.
Letting He Pingsheng know that someone was spying on him.
So, with these three Formations set up, he basically didn’t have to fear Golden Core Stage spying.
As for Nascent Soul Stage and above spying...
There was nothing he could do about that.
He Pingsheng also believed that no Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator would be so perverse as to secretly pay attention to a Foundation Establishment Stage Disciple.
After all, throughout this entire Dingxiang City, there were at least eighty thousand, if not a hundred thousand, Foundation Establishment Stage Disciples.
After the Formations were set up, He Pingsheng took out a pink cushion and threw it onto the third floor of the small building, then sat cross-legged and began to Cultivate.
Because he basically had no Gathering Spirit Pills on him, the only thing he could Cultivate now was the Nine Poison Golden Body.
After the thirteen poison pills were strengthened by the gathering treasure basin, they became twenty-six, and all of them were top-grade second-grade poison pills.
Let’s refine them.
Half a year later, the Nine Poison Golden Body was also refined by He Pingsheng to Foundation Establishment Stage One. Of course, twenty-two of those twenty-six poison pills were used up, leaving only four.
Continuing to Cultivate now would basically mean there was nothing left to Cultivate.
He needed to go out and prepare to purchase a batch of resources.
...
“Shopkeeper, have the latest updates come out yet?”
He Pingsheng walked into the Dingxiang Chamber of Commerce and asked the shopkeeper behind the counter.
The shopkeeper looked bewildered by his question.
“This... Fellow Daoist...”
“What are you talking about?”
He had completely forgotten He Pingsheng’s existence.
He Pingsheng breathed a sigh of relief: So he wasn’t so easily noticed after all.
“Hehe…” He said with a smile, “I bought a map from you half a year ago, and you said you’d give me ten years of new information for free!”
“Oh, oh, oh…” The shopkeeper slapped his forehead suddenly and said, “I remember now… Come, come, come…”
“Here’s one for you!”
The shopkeeper, with practiced ease, took out a piece of paper and handed it directly to He Pingsheng.
He Pingsheng glanced at it; the paper was densely covered with over a hundred pieces of information.
Some were about the discovery of Heaven And Earth Treasures in certain places, some were about changes in Sect Leaders of certain Schools, and there were also mentions of which Cultivation Families had their forces destroyed.
He Pingsheng didn’t care about any of these.
He cared about the Dao Xuan Alliance and the Tai Xu Sect.
Sure enough!
He saw news about the Tai Xu Sect.
There was only one line: “In the third month, the Beast Taming Immortal Sect within the Dao Xuan Alliance destroyed the Tai Xu Sect. The Tai Xu Sect’s Golden Core Disciple Wuwei was killed, and the remaining Golden Core Cultivators surrendered. The Tai Xu Sect was annihilated, and its Sect was divided among several Sects, including the Beast Taming Immortal Sect and the Ice Peak Sect, with its ultimate ownership yet to be decided.”
He Pingsheng nodded expressionlessly and said, “Thank you!”
The shopkeeper asked, “Fellow Daoist, would you like to purchase some items?”
He Pingsheng asked, “Do you have second-grade poison pills?”
The shopkeeper shook his head: “Not at the moment!”
He Pingsheng shook his head: “I don’t need anything else for now. Farewell!”
Walking out of the Dingxiang Chamber of Commerce, He Pingsheng breathed a deep sigh of relief.
There was nothing that could be done about the Tai Xu Sect being destroyed; it was bound to happen sooner or later, because it was too rotten, rotten to the core, beyond saving.
He cared about how the people were doing.
The news only mentioned that Wuwei had died, which meant that Master Yu Ning and Senior Martial Uncle Yu Xuan were still alive.
That was good!
With a wave of his hand, the piece of paper turned to ashes.
He Pingsheng walked along the street and soon stopped in front of a shop called “Xuan Yuan Alchemy Shop.”
This type of Alchemy shop usually sold Medicinal Pills and various Spiritual Plants.
In short, they sold everything related to Alchemy, but whether you could find the Materials you needed depended on your luck.
Because their stock wasn’t complete!
“Welcome, Senior!” A child who looked only a dozen years old politely bowed to He Pingsheng: “Senior, what would you like?”
There was only one person in the shop.
He Pingsheng’s Divine Thought swept over him. This child’s Cultivation was not low.
He had actually reached Qi Refining Stage Eight.
A Genius.