Chapter 1 Arrived

A chaotic scene within the Mind Realm, a figure descended and manifested.

"Arrived," Xu Jingming said with a smile, looking at the vast land suspended outside. This land was about three to five times the size of a real universe. At the center of the land was a huge, low-lying, deep-cyan tree, its canopy covering most of the land.

"Ancient Tree Realm." Xu Jingming looked at this place. "The most prosperous trading location in the Nanting 3609 Territory."

The Nanting 3609 Territory was the new home territory of the human race. This territory now had three Third Realm experts at the half-step, who were also the undisputed three overlords of this territory.

Ancient Tree Realm, North River Boat, Emperor Dragon Island—these three forces were also the three major trading hubs of the territory.

"Of the three Third Realm experts at the half-step in this territory, Emperor Dragon Island Lord reportedly is the personal disciple of a Third Realm being. Emperor Dragon Island Lord has a fearsome reputation in the surrounding thousands of territories," Xu Jingming said with some amazement.

That senior 'Gu Jinshi', who could be called invincible among Third Realm experts at the half-step, was only an honorary disciple of Lord Yu Huo.

Honorary disciple, registered disciple, personal disciple—the difference between these three statuses was vast.

Personal disciple meant that the Third Realm existence valued this disciple very much and also invested emotion in the disciple.

From this, one could see the deterrent power of Emperor Dragon Island Lord's identity.

"No one wants to be enemies with a personal disciple of a Third Realm existence," Xu Jingming thought. "But precisely because the background is too great, Emperor Dragon Island Lord acts domineeringly. The trading rules of Emperor Dragon Island are also the most stringent."

"On the contrary, Ancient Tree Realm greatly protects the rights of weak higher-dimensional lifeforms and is also the fairest, and it is also the most prosperous here. Most importantly, the strength of Ancient Tree Realm Lord far exceeds that of Emperor Dragon Island Lord!"

In terms of background, Emperor Dragon Island Lord was the strongest.

In terms of strength, Ancient Tree Realm Lord was undoubtedly the strongest; even in the surrounding territories, the strength of Ancient Tree Realm Lord was generally recognized.

The one from North River Boat was the most ordinary.

"Whoosh."

Xu Jingming took a step out of the Mind Realm and flew toward Ancient Tree Realm.

The vast land of Ancient Tree Realm had a city, with over ten thousand higher-dimensional lifeforms living there long-term, most of them being employees of the shops, of course.

"Brother Wu Ming, you haven't been here in a while."

"Old Brother Wu Ming, I just got a new batch of goods from the Abyss. Want to take a look?"

As Xu Jingming walked among them, some Eternal Realm higher-dimensional lifeforms took the initiative to greet him.

Many higher-dimensional lifeforms of the Mind Realm lineage were great merchants in higher-dimensional space! After all, they could easily travel through many territories and easily transport goods. Moreover, they had many avatars, which could handle various tasks such as transportation, guarding, negotiation, and combat.

Xu Jingming's avatars were distributed in the surrounding two to three thousand territories, looking at goods in the trading locations of each territory.

Xu Jingming would also do some business of buying low and selling high. Moreover, he also worked part-time as a 'purchaser for Myriad Star Island'. The Dean, the Tower Master, the Island Lord, and Chi Meng all had only one true body, so Xu Jingming was responsible for the human race's purchasing and Myriad Star Island's purchasing.

Xu Jingming greeted his friends along the way and soon arrived at his destination.

"Old Brother Wu Ming, you've arrived." A beast with thick wings took the initiative to greet him.

"Brother Black Lake," Xu Jingming said as he walked over. "Is the goods I wanted ready?"

Black Lake was an Eternal Realm at the peak of the Mind Realm lineage and a well-known giant merchant in the Nanting 3609 Territory! Many of Xu Jingming's transactions were completed with Black Lake.

"Don't worry." Black Lake led Xu Jingming into a separate space inside the shop, and the two sat down.

"The sin beads you wanted." Black Lake handed Xu Jingming a cloth bag. Xu Jingming took it and saw that the bag was a small storage treasure containing colorful sin beads.

Sin beads were materials produced in the Mind Realm.

If Xu Jingming spent a little more time traveling in the Mind Realm, he might be able to discover some sin beads, and even more precious Mind Realm materials.

"A total of 9,000 sin beads," Black Lake said. "Worth 180,000 drops of Abyss True Blood."

Xu Jingming also handed the other party a storage bag. The beast Black Lake checked it and smiled, "The weapons and materials you gave are barely enough to抵 (dǐ, offset) 180,000 drops of Abyss True Blood."

"The goods I gave are more than enough to offset 180,000 drops of Abyss True Blood," Xu Jingming glanced at him.

"The market is tough now, and a lot of goods are stuck in my hands, hard to sell," Black Lake said with a smile. "Or, you could help me buy a few more items? I just received a Mirage Treasure refined by a Third Realm expert at the half-step. Brother Wu Ming, aren't you good at mirages? If you buy this Mirage Treasure, your strength will definitely greatly increase. I can give you a low price for this treasure."

"How low?" Xu Jingming asked.

"Only needs 1 drop of Abyss Mother Blood." Black Lake smiled brightly. "Cheap enough, right?"

"Can't afford it," Xu Jingming said, getting up.

In recent years, he had been trapped in the myriad-race world, and his numerous avatars outside were very low-key, not involved in any disputes. His way of making money was mainly to buy low and sell high between multiple territories and to purchase goods for other higher-dimensional lifeforms. He also sent a large number of Black Lotus avatars to find ruins. After more than five thousand years, he had only accumulated less than 200,000 drops of Abyss True Blood in wealth.

This time, he had spent almost all of it to buy sin beads, and he was now particularly poor!

Xu Jingming could not afford 1 drop of Abyss Mother Blood.

"Selling for 1 drop of Abyss Mother Blood, it's probably a practice piece by a Third Realm expert at the half-step," Xu Jingming thought. If a Third Realm expert at the half-step spent endless effort to refine a weapon, the price would be several times higher.

Of course, Xu Jingming was focused on that silver paper and didn't want to be distracted by mirages for the time being.

"Old Brother Wu Ming, don't rush to leave." Black Lake stood up. "A friend of mine wants to see you."

"See me? What's the matter?" Xu Jingming asked, puzzled.

"It's a good thing." Black Lake smiled, and soon an eight-headed lifeform walked in from outside. All eight of his heads looked at Xu Jingming with smiles, very enthusiastically: "Brother Wu Ming, I've long heard that a new Mind Realm expert has appeared in our territory. I've finally met you today."

When Xu Jingming saw the other party, he immediately recognized him and nodded, "Brother Ba Chi, do you have something to say?"

There were only so many Eternal Realm higher-dimensional lifeforms in the entire territory. Except for a very few who were particularly well-hidden, Xu Jingming had information on almost every Eternal Realm higher-dimensional lifeform.

"I and two other friends are preparing to explore a dangerous place," the eight-headed lifeform said with a smile. "We are now in urgent need of a Mind Realm expert to join us. We don't need you to do too much; we just need you to help us scout the way and understand some of the situation inside the dangerous place. We'll take care of the real dangers and troubles."

"Oh? Scout the way?" Xu Jingming nodded slightly.

He was really a little interested.

Before, when he was trapped in the myriad-race world, he didn't accept these invitations because he didn't want to be distracted.

Now that he was out of the myriad-race world, he could explore some dangerous places.

Mind Realm experts were good at probing, and if an avatar was lost, it was a small matter, and a second avatar could be sent quickly.

"Which dangerous place is it?" Xu Jingming was quite interested. Of course, he didn't want to go to dangerous places that were too dangerous.

"It's not convenient to disclose it for the time being, but I can tell you that it's a dangerous place in our own territory," the eight-headed lifeform said. "The degree of danger is naturally limited. We are willing to pay 50,000 drops of Abyss True Blood. You only need to send an avatar to follow us. Just help us scout the way."

"50,000 drops of Abyss True Blood?" Xu Jingming shook his head—too little! Far below the going rate!

"If you think it's too little, it can also be like this: You take 10% of the treasures we explore!" the eight-headed lifeform said.

He himself takes 10%, and he is the one charging in the front?

Scouting the way sounds simple, but in reality, he is the first to encounter danger!

"A total of four Eternal Realm lifeforms, and I get 10%, and I'm still scouting the way in the front?" Xu Jingming looked at the other party with a smile that wasn't a smile.

"If we really encounter trouble, we don't need you to take action," the eight-headed lifeform explained.

"This good thing, why don't you ask Brother Black Lake to help?" Xu Jingming said.

This offer was too low.

"Brother Black Lake has already reached the peak of the Eternal Realm. You, Wu Ming, have just become an Eternal Realm. Your strength is still weaker after all. You can't deal with big troubles, and we will ultimately deal with them. Giving you 10% is not a small amount," the eight-headed lifeform said.

Xu Jingming glanced at him, got up, and walked out.

The eight-headed lifeform didn't try to persuade him further, watching Xu Jingming leave.

"Ba Chi, you offered too little," Black Lake shook his head. "I've already helped you contact seven Eternal Realm experts of the Mind Realm lineage, and none of them agreed. And the price you gave Wu Ming was the lowest!"

"He's just a newly promoted Eternal Realm, and he thinks 50,000 drops of Abyss True Blood is too little, and dividing 10% is too little," Ba Chi frowned. "Isn't it just sending an avatar?"

"There is also a risk in scouting the way with an avatar," Black Lake said. "Some dangers involve karma and pollution, which will also affect all avatars. Therefore, historically, the Mind Realm experts who scout the way... their share is higher than that of other members."

Ba Chi shook his head. "I'll discuss it with my companions. Even if I raise the conditions, I have to hire a powerful Eternal Realm of the Mind Realm lineage. In my opinion, this newly promoted Eternal Realm, Wu Ming, is only worth this price."

...

Xu Jingming didn't care. Over the years, he had been doing some buy-low-sell-high business in multiple territories, and failed negotiations were common.

"I didn't expect to be looked down upon."

Inside the beast skin space of the Mind Realm territory, Xu Jingming was still studying the huge silver paper. "That's right, in the eyes of outsiders, I have only become an Eternal Realm for a few thousand years."

"But they don't know that it only took me about ten thousand years to cultivate from a low-dimensional lifeform to the Eternal Realm." Xu Jingming was still very confident. Being able to break out of the myriad-race world already represented his talent.

Successfully coming out of the myriad-race world, he also received such a precious reward.

Xu Jingming's many avatars were refining mind weapons with sin beads as materials and nurturing them afterward, while carefully comprehending this silver paper.

Because he had the experience of refining them the first time, Xu Jingming could refine a mind weapon spear with the materials of 1,000 sin beads. This time, the materials he bought were enough to refine nine mind weapon spears.

Not considering the labor costs of refining and nurturing, the material cost alone averaged 20,000 drops of Abyss True Blood for each mind weapon spear.

One had to know that ordinary Eternal Realm weapons, even finished products, were only around 10,000 drops of Abyss True Blood, and the cost was even lower! From this, one could see how high the cost of mind weapons was.

"It's just an ordinary Eternal Realm mind weapon. It's far inferior to a Third Realm weapon; I can only rely on quantity." Xu Jingming had no choice; he was too poor. Buying these materials had exhausted his accumulation.

Time passed silently. Before he knew it, more than a thousand years had passed.