Originally, Lin Xuan wanted to go back to his cottage to eat, but he was suddenly attracted to a stall and stopped. In fact, he was not the only one, there was already a crowd around the stall.
Lin Xuan walked over, curious as to just what kind of treasure could draw such a large crowd of cultivators.
The owner of the stall was a muddle-headed youth who looked to be in his early twenties. With so many people surrounding him, he was very nervous and his face was flushed. There were a wide variety of seal1s placed in his stall.
Items created when cultivators sealed their techniques into special seal paper were called seals. Using seals, when facing enemies, one did not need to use spiritual power and use was instantaneous. So the benefits to using them were clear.
To high-level cultivators, seals useless, but to low-level cultivators, they were very useful and precious. In particular, when dealing with enemies, having one extra seal could be the difference between victory and defeat.
But correspondingly, the production of seals were very complicated. Not only did it require the correct kind of sealing paper, it also required a large amount of spiritual power, and has had a low success rate. The high levelled the technique, the harder it was to make. Therefore, seals were precious and rare items in the world of cultivation.
Lin Xuan strolled around the market for four hours and had not seen any stalls selling seals. And yet here was a stall with so many of them. Taking a rough estimate, there were almost a hundred of them.
No wonder it attracted so many cultivators.
Lin Xuan pushed to the front and after taking a look at the seals placed in the stall, was greatly disappointed. He never thought there would be high-level seals for sale here, but there was not even a single mid grade seal.
The seals that were for sale were all low grade, and they were the most basic and lowest of the low-grade techniques. For example, the Hail technique, the blaze technique, the Quicksand technique, the Rock Fall technique, the Briers technique, etc. There was plenty of variety, but these kinds of techniques, even Spirit Condensation first layer cultivators could easily use, what was the point of purchasing them?
Therefore, even though there were many cultivators around the stall, not a single one was will to purchase anything. Finally, after a long time, a voice, with a ridiculing tone asked: “Stall owner, what are the prices for your seals?”
The youth flushed even more and lowered his head. Adopting an expression that worried the surrounding cultivators, he said: “One low-grade Purified Essence pill for two seals.”
“Hmph! This kind of low-grade technique can easily be executed, and you still want that much for it. Your want for pills has driven you insane.”
The crowd also ridiculed him for a while, then slowly dispersed. The youth flushed some more, then sighing, he began to pack up his stall. He had already been here for two days, but he had not sold a single seal.
It was not because low levelled seals were useless, for cultivators with low spirit power, they were a good choice for self-defense. There were two reasons that caused them to be difficult to sell.
Firstly, Foundation Establishment cultivators would definitely not purchase these, because these kinds of low levelled techniques were not worth their time, so they would naturally not waste spirit stones or pills on this kind of exchange. Secondly, for Spirit Condensation cultivators, although they can execute these techniques, it would consume spiritual power and was slower to execute. So of course, they would want seals. But the problem was, they were poor, so it was beyond their grasp, and they could only insult what they could not have2.
That was to say, these kinds of low levelled seals, Foundation Establishment cultivators don’t want them, and Spirit Condensation cultivators either can’t afford them or did not think it was a good deal. And thus, he was stuck in an embarrassing situation where he could not please either side.
This simple and honest youth was from the Seal Mountain. One can tell from the sect’s name that the cultivators there would be adept at creating seals.
These seals were all crafted by him, but because his cultivation level was low, he could only make some of the lowest levelled seals.
The youth actually wanted to sell the seals for a cheaper price so he would be able to sell them fast. But the problem was that crafting seals was not an easy task. Not to mention the fact that seals needed specialty seal paper, they still needed precious materials such as beast or fiend blood, and the success rates were not high.
These almost one hundred seals had already consumed all of his wealth. One pill per two seals was really not expensive, he would just be breaking even.
But these kinds of low levelled seals were of little value and were hard to sell.
The youth arrived before Lin Xuan and had been here for three days. There were numerous cultivators checking out his stall, but not a single seal had been sold.
Be disheartened and with the fact that it was time for the midday meal, he decided to pack up his wares.
This whole time, Lin Xuan did not make a single sound, but he had other ideas in mind. He wanted to purchase these seals. This only reason being, although there low levelled techniques were garbage, but as long as there was enough of them, he could still blot out the sky and cover the ground, smashing them down on the enemy, they would still have overwhelming power.
For example, these one hundred seals. If they were all used at the same time, even a Foundation Establishment expert need to frantically defend. And even if they could not wound the enemy, they would definitely at least give the user enough time to escape.
Of course, in the world of cultivation, other than Lin Xuan, would else would be so wasteful? With the ability to purify, what does Lin Xuan lack? He didn’t lack pills, so one pill per two seals was a very simple transaction.
But Lin Xuan did not try to purchase them immediately because pulling out fifty Purified Essence pills would attract too much attention. Lin Xuan would not do this kind of stupid thing that would only lead to disaster.
He would need to find a more secluded place to buy them.
Coming up with this plan, Lin Xuan followed the other cultivators and walked off, but he did move far away and only casually strolled about neared the stall. Of course, all of his attention was focused on that stall selling seals.
Not long after, the simple and honest youth dishearteningly packed up his items, getting ready to leave the plaza. Lin Xuan quietly followed him.
After leaving the marketplace, the number of cultivators suddenly dropped. Checking to see that no one had noticed him, he quietly stepped behind a large tree and removed an item from his storage bracelet that was concealed in his bosom.
It was a membrane like item that had a very lifelike face painted upon it. This was not a treasure of the cultivation world but was instead from the secular world. Martial artists often used these disguising masks.
As the name suggests, after putting it on, it would change a person’s appearance and conceal their identity. Although in the cultivation world there are more advanced ways to do this, such as some advanced techniques to change facial features. But Lin Xuan’s level was too low and he simply had no way to learn these techniques, so he could only go with his second best option.
He had purchased this mask in the secular world on his way to the Soaring Cloud sect. This was his first journey, so he needed to be fully prepared to participate in the gathering of cultivators. But this also proved that Lin Xuan really did not waste his time thinking and preparing because he already had a use for this mask.