Back in his early days, Senior Liao had suffered greatly in order to train his spiritual sense.
It was only after he developed the Soul Refinement Art and combined it with a large piece of Soul Nurturing Wood that he finally managed to train his spiritual sense effectively, becoming a cultivator with formidable spiritual power.
If one's spiritual sense could be strengthened, it might not show immediate benefits early on, but the advantages would become increasingly apparent in later stages of cultivation.
These benefits were not limited to combat; even when cultivation levels were comparable, a strong spiritual sense provided a significant edge.
Most importantly, it played a critical role in breakthroughs and surviving tribulations.
There was a long-standing belief in the cultivation world: the stronger one's spiritual sense, the greater the chance of reaching the final stages of cultivation.
Senior Liao hadn't previously discussed this with the sect because most of the disciples were not yet at the Foundation Establishment stage. Many didn't even have a basic understanding of spiritual sense. Talking about it too early would be pointless.
He had planned to wait until their cultivation levels were higher before explaining the importance of spiritual sense.
Jiang Youfu, although unclear on all the details, realized he had stumbled upon a stroke of good fortune. Delighted, he dug into the roasted pig Lin Xiao had praised earlier.
Meanwhile, Lin Xiao fell into deep thought.
He had never really considered the matter of spiritual sense, assuming that all cultivators were roughly the same in this regard. His own rapid progression in cultivation had left little time for him to focus on such things.
But now, after hearing Senior Liao's explanation, Lin Xiao understood that spiritual sense required training, and the methods varied from person to person. Moreover, not everyone could find an effective way to cultivate it.
It seemed he needed to look into this further.
For once, Jiang Youfu wasn't the one preparing spiritual meals. He was finally able to enjoy a meal cooked by someone else. While he thought his own cooking was quite good, he had to admit that the food at Xianxiang Tower was excellent, even if it lacked the high spiritual energy of his own creations.
Regardless, there was something undeniably pleasant about simply eating without having to prepare anything.
After they had eaten their fill, Senior Liao returned to the Soul Nurturing Pendant, and Lin Xiao and Jiang Youfu, satisfied, left Xianxiang Tower.
It was now midday, and the streets were noticeably less crowded.
Perhaps many people had gone to buy their tickets.
Over the past few days, Lin Xiao had already taken Jiang Youfu through most of the popular streets where cultivators gathered. With nothing pressing to do, he decided to visit Qixing Street again to see if there were any new pieces of information.
There was no harm in gathering more intelligence, especially when they had the time.
Thinking about it, Lin Xiao suddenly had an idea: in the future, whenever sect members went to trade at Duobao Pavilion, he could instruct them to take a detour to Qixing Street and collect any public information from the message walls to bring back to the sect.
It was a good idea!
Lin Xiao silently praised himself.
He decided to implement this plan going forward.
At any time, Qixing Street was the liveliest place in Yuanling City.
In such a vast city, there were always those who lacked sources of information, and there were always others who sought to trade information for various benefits.
These benefits weren't limited to material gains.
For example, many of the major cultivation families in Yuanling City often released non-essential information under their family names on Qixing Street's message walls, free of charge.
This practice was common in many cities.
Shops like Wanwantong, which specialized in selling information, generally wouldn't bother with such public, minor tidbits. However, if someone was foolish enough to pay for it, they certainly wouldn't turn down a sale.
Whenever they set up shop in a new city, Wanwantong made sure to offer generous gifts to the local powers. The major families didn't compete with them over selling information. After all, these families didn't rely on selling information for a living.
Moreover, cultivator clans were careful not to offend information networks like Wanwantong. While Wanwantong might provide large pieces of information to the big families as a courtesy, no one knew when a crucial piece of life-saving intel might only be available through them.
Thus, ever since Wanwantong established itself in Yuanling City, the two sides had coexisted peacefully.
Qixing Street was home to numerous message walls.
The most powerful families in Yuanling City each had their own large message wall, while smaller families shared the remaining walls.
Lin Xiao walked along these walls, browsing through the posted information.
Jiang Youfu was amazed as he looked at the various purchase notices. The prices attached to items he had never even heard of astonished him.
Lin Xiao was more nonchalant, simply scanning the information.
Seeing some of the high purchase prices, he began to wonder if they should spend the three free days before boarding the ship trying to earn a bit of money.
Now that he was in the Golden Core stage, it shouldn't be a problem to hunt down some lesser beasts for spirit stones, right?
Just then, he spotted a striking message posted on the Yuan family's message wall.
"10,000 spirit stones offered for an Icefield Spirit."
What?
10,000 spirit stones?
Lin Xiao immediately sent a sound transmission to Senior Liao, who was nestled in the Soul Nurturing Pendant:
"Senior, would you consider selling that Icefield Spirit?"
Hearing Lin Xiao's question, Senior Liao immediately realized what kind of message he must have seen. His spiritual sense quietly extended toward the message wall, and soon enough, he saw the offer for 10,000 spirit stones.
Senior Liao replied to Lin Xiao through their sound transmission:
"Hmph, boy, stop obsessing over money. If that Icefield Spirit is properly nurtured, it'll be worth far more than 10,000 spirit stones."
"But its abilities seem to overlap with our sect's Purification Art, so it's not that useful to us, is it?" Lin Xiao responded, sensing that Senior Liao wasn't inclined to sell, feeling a small pang of regret.
Seeing Lin Xiao's reluctance to let the matter go, Senior Liao couldn't be bothered to continue arguing. With a snort, he firmly rejected the idea:
"No way! If you don't want it, I'll pass it on to my disciple!"
——
Meanwhile, at Tianxuan Sect, one of the top sects in the Southern Spirit Realm, the annual secret realm trials had begun once again.
The sect's grand plaza was packed with Qi Refining disciples, all eagerly watching the elders on the high platform, filled with excitement and ambition. Each of them dreamed of using this trial to catapult themselves into the upper echelons of the sect's Qi Refining disciples.
Tianxuan Sect had ten different secret realms for its disciples to choose from, all of which opened around the same time.
Each disciple could freely select one secret realm for their trial.
In a short while, the elders would lead the disciples to the entrances of their chosen realms, marking the start of this year's secret realm trials.