Chapter 1467: Large-scale Purchasing

Lu Ye didn't head straight for Myriad Manifestations Island this time. Although it was the largest spirit island in the Myriad Manifestations Sea and rich in resources, it didn't mean other spirit islands were lacking.

Many spirit islands were occupied by major factions, each backed by an entire star system or a top-tier realm. These islands also offered many good items for trade, especially local specialties that could only be purchased there.

This time, Lu Ye needed even more fire-element treasures than before. So, he decided to sweep through all the islands he encountered, purchasing every fire-element treasure he could find.

Consulting his star map, Lu Ye soon arrived at a spirit island called Grand Square Island. This island was an asset of the Grand Square Star System. While not as large as Myriad Manifestations Island, its energy was exceptionally rich, making it one of the most prominent in the entire Myriad Manifestations Sea.

Upon landing on the island, Lu Ye clearly felt a divine sense, belonging to a Moon-Illuminated realm cultivator, sweep over him. This was evidently the powerful Moon-Illuminated cultivator stationed on Grand Square Island performing a check.

He wasn't bothered; it was their territory, and it was natural for them to inspect visitors.

Following the flow of people, Lu Ye found the commercial district. He browsed through shop after shop, acquiring any suitable fire-element treasures. By the time he left Grand Square Island, half a day had passed.

For the next month, Lu Ye continued this process. Some spirit islands, like Myriad Manifestations Island, required an entry fee in spirit jades, but most did not.

Lu Ye then noticed that the spirit islands requiring an entry fee were just as popular, if not more so, than the others. Without exception, these islands all boasted unique specialty treasures. Cultivators who desired these items had no choice but to visit these specific islands, making the cost of a few or even a dozen spirit jades a negligible concern.

Over the month, Lu Ye visited at least a hundred spirit islands, significantly broadening his horizons. He saw many strange and peculiar items, especially some excellent local specialties. He purchased a few that he felt would be useful to him.

One hundred spirit islands were, of course, insignificant compared to the entire Myriad Manifestations Sea. Lu Ye decided not to visit any more islands, as exploring all of them would likely take a year or two. The remaining islands were far inferior in scale and resources to those he had already visited, making further exploration a waste of time.

Only after a month did Lu Ye finally arrive at Myriad Manifestations Island. He paid a few spirit jades, obtained a pass token, and headed directly onto the island.

He went straight to the location of the open market, returning to the stall where he had previously bought Dragon Breath Crystals.

It was still the same vendor, which was unsurprising. According to the vendor, he was assigned to sell goods there and would remain for several years before being replaced. His term wasn't up yet.

After a few interactions, Lu Ye had become familiar with him and learned his name was An Zhe.

"Fellow Daoist, long time no see! Are you here to buy Dragon Breath Crystals again?" An Zhe greeted with a smile. After the Star Constellation Palace opened, almost all the Star Constellation realm cultivators left, and he hadn't seen Lu Ye since.

In fact, Lu Ye had seen him because the man had gone to Hall 88 to conduct business. Lu Ye had even given him some patronage while clearing out goods in Hall 88.

Lu Ye nodded. "How much stock do you have?"

Hearing this, An Zhe's spirits lifted. "Quite a lot!"

Lu Ye calmly stated, "My patron is very satisfied with the quality of your realm's Dragon Breath Crystals and has decided to maintain a long-term, friendly cooperative relationship with you. However, regarding the price..."

An Zhe had long suspected that Lu Ye wasn't buying Dragon Breath Crystals for personal use, given the frequent purchases. No single person could possibly use so many. Now, hearing Lu Ye's words, he immediately understood that a certain power was behind Lu Ye, requiring a large quantity of Dragon Breath Crystals for an unknown purpose.

Little did An Zhe know, Lu Ye was merely fabricating a story. After all, buying too many Dragon Breath Crystals alone could easily arouse suspicion, and Lu Ye understood the principle of not flaunting one's wealth.

"For others, it's 700 units, no bargaining. Since it's for you, Fellow Daoist, I'll lower it by five units from the original price, on the condition that you need a sufficiently large quantity!" Lu Ye stated. "How much do you have? I'll take it all!"

An Zhe was overjoyed. "Then, Fellow Daoist, please take a look." Saying this, he reached into his robes and produced several storage rings from an unknown location, placing them before Lu Ye.

Lu Ye inspected each one, finding them packed with Dragon Breath Crystals. Each ring contained at least ten thousand pieces. Calculated at An Zhe's price for Lu Ye, the Dragon Breath Crystals in each storage ring were worth nearly eight million spirit jades, making the total value of several rings tens of millions.

Lu Ye hadn't expected the man to have so much in stock, but this was good news for him. The total amount he had collected from various spirit islands over the past month was roughly equivalent to this.

He secretly rejoiced, fortunate to have visited the open market before going to the Myriad Manifestations Trading Post; the haul was truly impressive.

Following the agreed-upon price, Lu Ye produced the corresponding amount of spirit jades, completing the transaction.

An Zhe put away the storage rings filled with spirit jades and then said, "Fellow Daoist, you mentioned earlier hoping for a long-term, friendly cooperative relationship between our two sides..."

Lu Ye nodded. "We still need a lot of Dragon Breath Crystals. If your realm has them, feel free to bring them out; we'll buy them all!"

An Zhe's eyes narrowed into slits from his smile. "Yes, yes, we do! But I don't have any in stock right now. I'll have to go back and report this, then arrange for more to be sent from our realm. That round trip will take at least half a year. I'm just not sure if Fellow Daoist is in urgent need..."

The batch of goods he had wasn't brought out by him all at once from his realm, but rather accumulated here by previous generations who brought them over gradually.

Selling everything in one go was undoubtedly good for him, as it meant he wouldn't have to painstakingly hawk them piece by piece at the stall anymore.

It was also good for the realm behind him; receiving tens of millions of spirit jades in one go was a considerable fortune anywhere.

Furthermore, if he could truly establish this cooperation with Lu Ye, An Zhe would have rendered a great service. His realm's future production of Dragon Breath Crystals would no longer lack a market.

"No rush," Lu Ye said. "Just make the preparations and contact me."

"Then, Fellow Daoist, would you be willing to exchange sound transmission marks?" An Zhe asked.

Lu Ye readily agreed.

After exchanging sound transmission marks, An Zhe left without delay, evidently preparing to return to his realm. However, carrying such a large sum of spirit jades, he would certainly need to proceed with caution to avoid being intercepted midway, which would lead to unbearable regret.

After leaving the open market, Lu Ye pondered for a moment and still decided against visiting the Myriad Manifestations Trading Post.

He had originally intended to buy from the Myriad Manifestations Trading Post if he couldn't acquire enough fire-element treasures at the open market. While more expensive, it was still not as costly as the prices in Hall 88. But now, having purchased so many Dragon Breath Crystals from An Zhe, he temporarily had no need.

He also considered selling the sea grass and conches he had brought back from the Star Constellation Palace, as well as the various star beasts he had previously slain, but after careful thought, he decided against it.

Undeniably, these items held immense value, but their origins would be difficult to explain. He couldn't very well tell people he had brought them up from beneath the Myriad Manifestations Sea.

As he wasn't currently lacking spirit jades, there was no need to invite trouble.

Leaving Myriad Manifestations Island, Lu Ye took out his star map for reference and headed in a particular direction.

Two days later, he arrived at an extremely secluded desolate island. Such uninhabited islands were plentiful in the Myriad Manifestations Sea, varying in size. Traveling cultivators often used them as resting stops if they had no specific destination. Desolate islands like this, not occupied by cultivators, didn't even have names on the star map, only markings.

Some islands that were too small didn't even have markings.

The desolate island before him wasn't particularly small, but due to its unfavorable location, very few cultivators passed through it.

Lu Ye descended, searched around, and discovered a cave entrance on the seaside cliff of the island. He flashed inside. The cave wasn't deep, only about a dozen zhang, and showed no signs of human activity, clearly being a natural formation.

Lu Ye was undoubtedly pleased with this location. However, he didn't settle there immediately. Instead, he first went back out, left a flying artifact in a hidden spot on the desolate island, and then returned to the cave.

This way, if he encountered any unexpected situations, he wouldn't be trapped in the cave and could escape using the pre-placed flying artifact.

After setting up several concealment arrays, Lu Ye finally sat down cross-legged.

He came here mainly to let his Talent Tree absorb the fire-element treasures he had purchased. Based on his previous experience in the Star Constellation Palace, Lu Ye felt it was necessary to ensure the Talent Tree had a larger reserve of "fuel" for unexpected needs.

However, he wasn't in a hurry to do so. Instead, he first took out two spirit jades, held one in each hand, and quietly began refining them.

Now that he had advanced to the late Star Constellation stage, he wanted to know how his consumption of spirit jades would increase during cultivation.

When he first advanced to the Star Constellation stage, he only needed over a hundred spirit jades per month to meet his cultivation needs. It wasn't that he could only refine that amount; with the Talent Tree, his efficiency in refining spirit jades could be several times higher, but doing so would only lead to unnecessary waste.

Over a hundred pieces per month was the optimal and most reasonable cultivation speed that avoided waste.

Later, as his cultivation advanced, his demand for spirit jades gradually increased. By the mid-stage, he needed around four hundred pieces per month.

Now that he was in the late stage, the consumption would undoubtedly rise again. After some testing, Lu Ye concluded that, for now, his monthly demand for spirit jades was approximately a thousand pieces, which was within his expectations. However, this demand would inevitably increase as his cultivation slowly progressed in the future.