"Here ya go, Princess Xi. These are on me." The man selling these skewers said to her.
After handing the skewers to Yuan and Wang Xiuying, Xi Meili handed a spirit stone to the man and said, "Don't worry about it. My friends enjoyed it, so I will pay for it. You can keep the change as well."
"Thank you very much, Princess Xi!" The man gladly accepted the spirit stone.
After eating the skewers in a few minutes, Wang Xiuying said, "That pretty stone you just gave the man as payment, it's called a spirit stone, right? I have seen them before, but I never understood them. Just where do people obtain them? Or are they like treasures, something you find naturally in the wild?"
"You don't know where spirit stones come from? Hehe… Then I know exactly where to bring you tomorrow!" Xi Meili said with a smile on her face.
"As for your question, I shall wait until tomorrow to answer it. For now, let's just continue what we're doing."
Wang Xiuying nodded, but her curiosity peaked.
Thus, Xi Meili continued to show them restaurants and different foods.
By the end of the day, they had eaten so much that dinner wasn't necessary.
In the real world, Yuan asked Meixiu," What are the other participants doing now?"
"The same as usual. They're trying to reach the Mystic Pagoda while improving their cultivation at the same time. Some people have reached the place, but none of them have been able to open it." Meixiu said.
And she continued, "In fact, the participants that have arrived at the place seemed to have stopped fighting each other to try and open the Mystic Pagoda together."
"So they're working together to open the Mystic Pagoda, huh? Even though I somehow managed to open it, I still don't understand how—"
Yuan suddenly stopped speaking as he realized something.
"Wait a second… The demons said the Empyrean Overlord used to belong to the Lord, who is the master of the Mystic Realm and the Mystic Pagoda. Maybe that's the key to opening the Mystic Pagoda?"
"Hmm… That does make sense." Meixiu said.
"Anyways, I should be returning to the Mystic Realm soon. The Dragon Emperor found a way for us to return, but it'll take at least a week."
The following morning, after breakfast, Meixiu said, "Doctor Wang has sent me the menu. I will be going shopping in a bit."
"Oh? What's on the menu?" Yuan then asked.
"Doctor Wang told me to keep it a surprise for you," she said.
Yuan smiled and said, "I can't wait."
Sometime later, Yuan entered the game whilst Meixiu dressed up casually before going outside.
Luckily for Meixiu, there was a large supermarket only a couple of blocks from their apartment, making shopping easy and convenient.
An hour later, she returned to the apartment.
Meanwhile, inside the game, Yuan and Wang Xiuying followed Xi Meili.
"So, to answer your question from yesterday, there are a couple of ways spirit stones are created." Xi Meili said as she escorted them to this isolated area.
"One, spirit stones can be created naturally like minerals and gems."
Xi Meili pointed to the cave in front of them and continued, "That is a Spirit Stone Cave, where spirit stones can be mined. This is the most common way people get their spirit stones. Normal people cannot access this area, but because my family owns the Spirit Stone Cave, I can show you the inside in a moment."
"Another method is to create them by yourself, but this method is incredibly uncommon and almost nobody does it."
"W-Wait a second… Create them by ourselves? Does this mean we can also make spirit stones?" Wang Xiuying asked.
"That's right. Cultivators can make their own spirit stones." Xi Meili nodded.
"What! That means unlimited money! Why is this method uncommon? It should be the most common!"
Wang Xiuying exclaimed. After all, who wouldn't want to be able to make their own money?! That's a no-brainer!
Xi Meili chuckled and said, "Because it requires a tremendous amount of spiritual energy and effort to make even a single spirit stone, and cultivators would rather use that energy and time to increase their cultivation."
"How much effort and time are we talking about?" Wang Xiuying then asked.
"Let's see… As a Spirit Warrior, it'll probably take you a couple of weeks to create a single spirit stone, and during these few weeks, you would not be able to progress your cultivation because you'll be using all of your spiritual energy to create the spirit stone. Do you understand why it's such an uncommon practice?" Xi Meili said.
"I see… but what about the cultivators at the top? Surely, they can make spirit stones much faster."
"They can. In fact, a Spirit Grandmaster can make one spirit stone a day, but like I'd already said, it's not worth it, as they'd rather use that time and energy on improving their cultivation."
Yuan then said, "If I remember correctly, a single spirit stone is worth about 10,000 gold. Although that may seem like a lot to us, for a Spirit Grandmaster, that's probably nothing, but I could be wrong."
"No, you're right." Xi Meili said.
"A single spirit stone may be worth a lot in the hands of a mortal, but for a cultivator at that level, it's worth nothing, as the resources they need to improve their cultivation are worth tens of thousands of spirit stones if not hundreds of thousands of spirit stones."
"Do you understand now?" Xi Meili asked Wang Xiuying.
She nodded, "Yes, I understand. Thank you for the explanation."
"Great! Then let me show you inside the Spirit Stone Cave. Follow me." Xi Meili said to them.
"Greetings, Princess Xi." The guards standing in front of the Spirit Stone cave greeted her, and they were both emitting the power of a Spirit King.
"Hello. I would like to show my friends around the Spirit Stone Cave since they have never seen it before. I hope you don't mind." Xi Meili said to them.
"Of course not. Please, take as much time as you need." The guards opened the doors for her with smiles on their faces.