Spirit Ship Reemployment

Just as the reclamation team began their work, the calendar turned to the first day of February.

The time had come for Xiushui City’s Trading Center to conduct its scheduled transactions with the various sects and royal families.

This was Xiushui City’s first February First, and on this day, the city was especially crowded.

Over the past few days, a large number of visitors had begun pouring into Xiushui City.

Speaking in the accents of different nations, they wandered through the city’s various districts with great interest.

All of them had come after hearing the recent news about the Lingxian Sect and Xiushui City’s commercial district. They had traveled here out of curiosity and admiration.

After all, the mortal world had not seen a marketplace serving cultivators on such a scale in a very long time. Any cultivator with even a modest amount of savings could not resist setting out to see and explore the place for themselves.

The sects and royal families that had signed trade agreements with Xiushui City had mainly done so to attract customers to their affiliated shops on Street One of the commercial district. That was why the opening date they had announced publicly was February First—the day their transactions with Xiushui City were scheduled to take place.

If they could receive their payments in full after delivering their orders to Xiushui City that day, they would be able to bring out all the stockpiled resources from their sects and royal families for sale.

That was right. This time, they had already brought out all the inventory stored by their respective sects and royal families.

Their plan was to open their shops as soon as they completed their transactions with Xiushui City’s Trading Center. In fact, many of them had already taken their shop access jade tokens to the stores ahead of time and begun arranging the displays.

As for what they were supposed to do about their sects’ now-empty storehouses? Naturally, they would use the money they received to purchase supplies from the Trading Affairs Center.

They had already contacted the Trading Affairs Center in advance, informing them of the types and quantities of goods they would need to purchase the following month.

All of these sects and royal families arrived on the very same day.

It was not that they did not want to come earlier. They simply wanted to spend every extra day making more goods.

Of course, the goods they had promised to deliver to Xiushui City had been prepared several days in advance. Anything they produced afterward was meant to enrich their own inventory.

With so many people arriving, businesses throughout the city became even livelier, and many vendors were so busy that they could barely keep up.

More independent cultivators scattered throughout the various nations of the mortal world also followed the major sects’ spirit ships to Xiushui City, bringing their entire families with them.

Throughout the entire month of January, rumors about the Lingxian Sect and Xiushui City had spread with astonishing speed and intensity. As a result, many major sects from different nations that had not been invited to attend the Lingxian Sect’s annual gathering decided to bring their disciples along for a visit. They wanted to see for themselves the fabled Xiushui City and the legendary Lingxian Sect.

Those major sects were quite good at doing business, though. After reserving some half-price tickets for the disciples of their own sects who wanted to go, they would free up the remaining seats and sell tickets to independent cultivators who wished to travel with them.

Some of the major sects in the mortal world owned several spirit ships. At times like this, those ships were excellent money-makers.

Although their spirit ships were not particularly fast, they could travel day and night without stopping. Unlike horse-drawn carriages, they did not grow tired, nor did they need food, water, or rest. Furthermore, since they flew through the sky, they were largely free from the restrictions imposed by terrain and roads. This saved them an enormous amount of time on the journey.

Many independent cultivators traveled with their entire families and brought along a large number of relatives and dependents. As a result, paying two spirit stones for a lower-grade cabin became the choice of many independent cultivators whose finances were still reasonably comfortable.

One should not underestimate those two spirit stones simply because they were not much. Even small amounts could add up to a considerable sum.

Spirit ships did not necessarily need spirit stones to operate. Cultivators could pilot them as well. A sect only needed to have one or two Golden Core cultivators take turns at the helm, and a single trip could earn them several hundred or even a thousand spirit stones.

That was an extremely lucrative business.

Thus, as Xiushui City’s fame rose, it seemed as if the entire mortal world had suddenly come alive. Everyone became more enterprising and began making plans of their own.

Although two spirit stones were a negligible amount to a sect, handing them over still caused considerable pain to an independent cultivator.

Even so, they had decided to move to Xiushui City. The main reason was that they had heard a Deity Transformation cultivator was stationed there.

In their eyes, if a Deity Transformation cultivator could emerge in that place, did that not mean it was an especially excellent location for cultivation?

Otherwise, why had the mortal world gone so many years without producing a single Deity Transformation cultivator, only for one to appear there now?

That was a Deity Transformation cultivator!

In the past, they had not only never seen one—they had barely even heard of such a person!

Of course, some people questioned whether the news was genuine. But when they saw all the major sects making various moves and announcing well in advance that they would be operating spirit ships to Xiushui City, how could the rumor possibly be false?

Independent cultivators had far fewer sources of information than the major sects. In ordinary times, they could only judge the situation by observing the movements of those major sects.

Now, the major sects were very clearly paying close attention to both Xiushui City and the Lingxian Sect. Did that not mean the Deity Transformation cultivator was very likely real?

Even if they took a step back and assumed the news about the Deity Transformation cultivator was false, Xiushui City’s commercial district was still reason enough to settle there. After all, a place capable of attracting the attention of so many major sects was bound to be worth visiting.

Any independent cultivator who still had even the slightest desire to advance in cultivation would not be willing to miss this opportunity. It was a rare chance for them to come into contact with all kinds of cultivation resources.

In the past, the major sects had always produced and consumed resources within their own circles. Cultivation resources rarely made their way outside. Even when they engaged in trade, they only occasionally exchanged goods with familiar sects and royal families. Independent cultivators had never had anything to do with it.

As a result, the number of people arriving in Xiushui City aboard the various sects’ spirit ships over the past few days was truly enormous.

Fortunately, Xiushui City was large enough to accommodate them all.

The only ones who suffered were the employees of the City Lord’s Residence.

With the sudden surge in arrivals, the staff of the City Lord’s Residence had no choice but to convene an emergency meeting and activate the contingency plan they had discussed beforehand.

The first matter they had to address was lodging.

After traveling such a long distance, no one was going to stay for only one day and then leave. Cultivators could go without sleep and wander around all night, but their family members could not.

Furthermore, whenever a sect or royal family arrived, they came with a large contingent of people. Lodging had to be arranged for all of them as well.

The inns currently operating in Xiushui City were completely inadequate to accommodate so many visitors.

Fortunately, this issue had been taken into consideration when Xiushui City was built. The city had been made large enough, which naturally meant it needed a corresponding amount of lodging.

The northwestern part of Xiushui City was a district specially designed to receive visiting cultivators.

Lin Xiao had designed this area specifically according to cultivators’ preference for living in secluded cave abodes. Looking out across it, one could see vast stretches of mountains. All sorts of pavilions, towers, waterside halls, and courtyards were scattered along the mountainsides, while flowers, grasses, and trees were arranged in a pleasing, natural fashion.

The isolation formations and barriers surrounding the area had even been designed to create an additional effect, filling the surroundings with drifting clouds and mist.

At a glance, it looked like an excellent place for cultivating immortality—exactly the sort of place cultivators yearned for.