1st Level Pagoda

The 1st level abode was enormous, spanning tens of miles in all directions with a giant canyon splitting it in half. There were in fact means of transport; teleportation formations! But, as expected, they required astral crystals to operate.

"We really need some money…" Zue Yin grumbled. Yaan nodded in agreement.

"That's why we're heading to the pagoda after all."

As they walked across the barren land, Yaan couldn't hold in his intrigue and began to carefully and thoroughly read the Fiend Transformation technique provided to him by the trial spirit.

Actually, he started by reading the incomplete technique, this was identical to the one that had been discovered by the Ghu Clansmen in the past. His reason for doing this was to see if Rui had been withholding critical information from him.

It was a long and complex guide, but Yaan was an actual fiend, whilst this technique was firmly imprinted into his psyche, helping him to understand it far more rapidly than others.

It took two hours by foot to walk to the pagoda, by which time, both Yaan and Zue Yin could confirm that their opponents had both refused to face them at their suggested times. Well, they only gave them an hour, so this wasn't too unexpected. Either way, they couldn't escape the battle in one day time, unless they declined the challenge. In that case though, they would lose by default and their possessions would be lost along with the fight.

Finally, they arrived at their destination.

The pagoda looked old, but not decrepit, more ancient and mysterious. It really was 18,000 years old, the vestiges of time could be seen clearly in the cracks across the unidentifiable wood.

Walking in through the swinging gate doors, they were met with an old man. He seemed to be cleaning off some strange looking statues around the room, but he stopped this task and turned to face his customers as they entered.

"What can I do for you two newbies today?" He asked with a kind smile.

"Is it that obvious that we only just arrived?" Yaan smiled wryly.

"Well, there's no reason for cultivators of your power to be hanging around on the 1st level, haha! That said, my pagoda is no less useful than the other 8 pagodas on the higher levels…"

Seeing Yaan and Zue Yin's looks of doubts, he coughed and added:

"Because I'm the only one willing to buy basic resources in exchange for astral crystals."

"Aha, yeah, that's exactly what we need…" Zue Yin nodded with a forced smile.

Whilst Zue Yin spoke with the shopkeeper and asked about his various unique products, Yaan poked around on his own. He saw many items that peaked his interest, and also…

"Hey, what's upstairs?"

"A restricted area…ahem, mostly astral crystal storage. But they're stored in a time stasis chamber, so don't go up there or else you'll explode."

"A-ah, ok then…" Yaan nodded, quickly pulling away from the unguarded staircase.

Finally, he pulled out a few items that peaked his interest.

"What's the price for all this?"

"In astral crystals, or other means?"

"Uh, astral crystals I suppose so." Yaan replied, wanting to get a feel for this new currency.

"Hmm…this book, 12 1-Star astral crystals. This book, 70 1-Star astral crystals. This book, four 2-Star astral crystals." The old man paused, then stared at a thin dusty manual that Yaan was pointing to, and said:

"This book, 25 3-Star astral crystals."

"Why does this dusty little manual cost so much?!" Zue Yin cried out. Yaan remained silent, not saying anything as he stared at the old man. After a moment, the two of them smiled.

"I'm surprised you recognise an item such as this."

"I don't…I just recognise when touching something is going to force information into my soul." Yaan laughed.

"Not the soul!" The old man shook his head, now very serious. "Whilst there are indeed items like that, this is different. It affects not the soul, but the mind! And using it with your current mind…will destroy you a thousand times over."

"Oh…is there anything a bit tamer then?"

The old man sorted through some boxes, eventually pulling out three booklets, a stone and a metal plate with an inscription on it.

"Together, 5 3-Star astral crystals."

Yaan nodded slowly, but Zue Yin finally couldn't take it anymore.

"We have no idea how much astral crystals are worth! We have none of them! We know nothing about them! How much is an astral crystal worth anyway? Compared to recovery pills?"

The old man smiled, then stuck out all 10 fingers.

"…What does that mean?!"

"Ahem. It means that a 1-Star astral crystal can be exchanged for 10 Rank 2 vital recovery pills."

Zue Yin stared blankly, before almost screaming in anger. Even Yaan's eye twitched, that was just ridiculous, their lowest denomination of currency exchanged for 10 Rank 2 vital recovery pills! But then, he had an idea…

"What about Qi recovery pills?" He suddenly asked. Zue Yin paused, then her eyes lit up when she understood. Whilst Qi refining was difficult in this realm, all the weaker people on the 1st level still attempted it, because it was easier for them than body cultivation!

But, for Qi refining, they needed resources, the sorts that couldn't be found in this realm….

As Yaan pulled out a Rank 1, 2, 3 and 4 Qi recovery pill, the old man's eyes shone brilliantly and he leaned in, licking his lips.

"Ten!"

"Ten Rank 2 Qi recovery pills?! And for a lousy 1-Star astral crystal?!" Zue Yin cried out. "That's just-"

"Ahem, my apologies, you misunderstand me…I meant ten Rank 1 Qi recovery pills for a 1-Star astral crystal."

Yaan and Zue Yin both stared blankly, before sharing a look. That was 100 times cheaper! Their eyes filled with greed, then without hesitation, they both poured out their wealth in Qi recovery pills…

"Damnit, I rarely keep any Qi recovery pills on me since I have no use for them…" Yaan grumbled. Zue Yin on the other hand, was beaming with joy.

"Hehe, well, this young miss doesn't want to flaunt her wealth too much, but I'll spare you this poultry sum in exchange for some local currency!"

She held upon her hand 100 Rank 1, 2 and 3 Qi recovery pills. The old man's eyes lit up ecstatically, but then Zue Yin brought out her actual funds…or at least a portion of them.

Ten Rank 4 and a Rank 5 Qi recovery pill.

Yaan swallowed slightly, honestly considering robbing this rich girl on the spot. He held back, but watched curiously as the old man calculated the exchange rate.

"What sorts of astral crystal do you want? 1-Star and 2-Star are the most useful, 3-Star can buy you some rare things, and 4-Star astral crystals are not to be used as currency!"

"Hmm, do you not sell them then?" Yaan frowned.

"I do, but…I won't exchange them for ordinary items!"

"Old man, hurry up and get me my crystals! I want some of each, some of each!" Zue Yin shouted impatiently.

"Right, right…100 Rank 1 pills for 10 1-Star astral crystals…100 Rank 2 pills for a single 2-Star astral crystals…100 Rank 3 pills for a tenth of a 3-Star astral crystal…hmm, I'll need to add in the-"

"Hey, wait a moment." Zue Yin stopped him and stuck out her hand. "What's with that exchange rate? Aren't they each worth 100 times more than the lower rank?"

"Huh, who told you that? Oh, I suppose that's how it works with your recovery pills" The old man nodded understandingly, before explaining to them that this was not the case with astral crystals.

"2-Star astral crystals are actually worth 1,000 times more than 1-Star astral crystals. Likewise, 3-Star are worth 1,000 times more than 2-Star, and so on. This is why typically, only 1 and 2-Star crystals are used as standard currency."

Zue Yin looked depressed as she realised that she wasn't as rich as she initially believed. In the end, since she wanted to keep some Rank 3 Qi recovery pills on hand, she spent her Rank 4 and Rank 5 pills to purchase the astral crystals. The fact that 10 Rank 4 Qi recovery pills bought her just a single 3-Star astral crystal was seriously depressing, but at least a single Rank 5 recovery pill went a long way, allowing Zue Yin to buy four more 3-Star astral crystals, as well as a mass of 1-Star and 2-Star crystals.

Next came Yaan's turn. Zue Yin peeked over as he took out his wealth…she knew that he had gained some seriously valuable items during the last couple of trials.

"Old man, do you offer an identification service?" Yaan suddenly asked.

"Nope, sorry kid, but you can find such a thing on the level above; the 2nd level pagoda. I'm just a humble shopkeeper."

"Humble shopkeeper, huh…" Yaan looked around, dazed by the extremity of many of these items. Many things in this store had suppressed auras, yet he had the feeling that there were some seriously formidable treasures in this small old shop.

"Well, first of all…do you mind opening these rings for me?" Yaan unexpectedly shoved his hands into his pockets, then pulled out a handful, no two, no…six handfuls filled with spatial rings! Zue Yin gawked and stared at him, whilst the old man's eyes also widened.

"You can't open them can you? Haha!" He laughed. Yaan just smiled wryly and waited. Whilst he now had his own spatial bag universe treasure, he was unable to operate the many spatial rings that he had looted throughout the previous trials.

"Fine, fine, but only because I'm sure you'll have a lot to sell in here…"

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

…

One by one, the rings were emptied onto the front desk. Some contained hardly a few items and had a few cubic feet capacity, others were filled with enough items to overcrowd a multi-story temple.

Yaan kept a close eye on the items, taking anything even remotely related to body cultivation for himself, before the others could even touch it. He also took the vast number of techniques…especially every sword art. He sold a bunch of things that were useless to him, keeping everything useful and anything neither he nor Zue Yin could identify right now. The old man was willing to buy anything he was presented with, but he refused to explain what these items were, for whatever reason.

As for pills…if they could recover injuries, if they could improve his cultivation, if they could somehow help him in battle, then Yaan kept them. He sold pretty much everything else, both to Zue Yin and to the shopkeeper. Because they had to sort through nearly thirty rings, this took almost all day. Zue Yin only hung around because Yaan gave her some free stuff for helping him with identification.

Yaan also tipped the old man, hoping that he might be more helpful. Even though he wouldn't properly identify anything, he kept coughing and muttering to himself, pointing out 'random' things by 'chance'. Yaan felt seriously dubious about these trial spirits, it felt like they were constantly trying to find loopholes in the trial's rules!

"Ah, this might be a metal ore, but if you devour it, it'll strengthen your bones."

"Ah, this pill is pretty good, it can help you to gather blood essence no matter your cultivation."

"Ah, this is pretty good, it's one of the seven- oh look, the other six! Wow, all seven elemental body tempering pills, what good luck you have kiddo!"

…

As for those books, manuals and scrolls sold within this pagoda, which were all way too overpriced, Yaan bought them all. The old man, after seeing the collection he bought, seemed to hesitate, before throwing Yaan an ordinary looking scroll as a bonus, free of charge.

Throughout the day, others came in and out of the pagoda, though it wasn't nearly as busy as you would expect given the number of residents in this place.

By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted, yet also thoroughly satisfied. Yaan and Zue Yin returned to the battle temple, whereby they immediately issued another battle each, before even going into their first. They could issue three single opponent battles each day, and a single multi-opponent battle, so long as none of the battles had a chance of being within one hour of each other.

That said, they spent a bit too long at the pagoda shop. It had unknowingly slipped past midnight at this point, meaning Yaan had only challenged a single person on his first day here…so, at the battle temple, he immediately issued four challenges.

Yaan challenged the third highest ranked cultivator within the 1st level abode. The two ranked above that individual had temporary immunity, or else he would have targeted them instead.

Now that he had accumulated an absolute surplus of astral crystals by selling off an entire sect's worth of wares, he paid to have another challenge issued in a couple of hours.

One challenge was against the fifth highest ranking contender in the lower 50% 1st level. There was also the other 1st level guy he challenged just after midnight. He also challenged the strongest available combatant in the lower 50% 2nd level abode.

And then, he issued a crazy challenged that stirred up a bit of a local storm; he challenged three individuals at once! According to the rules, none were people he had challenged or been challenged by before. One came from the lower 1st level, one from the upper 1st level and the last from the lower 2nd level.

The receptionist was a bit surprised by his crazed challenging. She was even more stunned when she realised that he had only issued challenges to those on the leaderboards with the highest numbers of wins.

Well, more wins meant more wealth, right?

Of course, since these challenges needed to be delayed so that the 24 hour deadlines didn't all overlap, Yaan had to pay astral crystals as compensation.

And after this?

He sat down within the battle temple. Whilst there was no rule against this, it was a bit unusual…whenever people entered, they noticed him, just sitting there whilst reading.

Actually, Yaan had wanted to sit down and relax for quite some time now. Ever since he emerged from the spatial vortex, he had been consciously restraining the chaotic vital energy within every cell of his body. He could have just refined it and further increased his vital energy, but Yaan had always felt that improvements to the fleshly body were more valuable and difficult to come by.

So, he sat down, he read his book, and he used his own vital energy to pressure the bloody spatial vortex's energy inwards, forcibly absorbing it into his flesh, bones, organs, tendons and blood!

Even stranger than Yaan's current actions of sitting on the floor silently, was that he gave the receptionist explicit permission to provide details about him to those who enquired, free of charge. He also requested that she inform them that he would be accepting any and all eligible challenges.

Many people who heard these details thought he was crazy and suicidal, but truthfully, Yaan didn't put this lower level in his eyes. Especially this first and second layer…they hardly even had any Rank 3 beings.

What he wanted was to quickly rise up the rankings, so that he could claim a higher abode for himself, with plentiful resources and a perfect cultivation environment. He wasn't being hasty or overconfident here, that could be seen from the fact that he even bothered to challenge those in the 1st layer.

It was simply a fact that Yaan's strength surpassed that of those around him in these lower layers. Truthfully, most of his caution stemmed from the fact that he had recently been forced to face the consequences of being overconfident when he was betrayed by the Ghu Clan. Yaan had taken this lesson to heart, but at the same time, he refused to let this setback break down his belief in himself.