The Floating City was thronged with people, and many mortals could see immortals flying in and out during the day.
In the eyes of mortals, these immortals were supposed to be attending meetings in the Heavenly Palace, discussing matters of sealing demons, upholding justice, and rewarding mortals. But in reality, these so-called immortals were nothing more than one among the myriad beings.
The cultivators who came here for trade brought a large number of spiritual herbs and medicines, greatly boosting Zhang Wei's collection business.
Zhan Hua approached Zhang Wei and spoke about the recent problems with his body.
"I feel a significant depletion of my inner energy lately. If I don't meditate to gather spiritual energy from heaven and earth, my inner energy disappears for no reason."
Zhang Wei asked with great interest, "Disappears?"
"Yes, it doesn't scatter outside the body, but mysteriously vanishes within it."
Vanishes within the body?
Could it be that it was consumed?
The power of the Gourmet Cells was unparalleled, but it came with a fatal flaw: they required a vast amount of energy to maintain. After all, everything in the world comes with a price.
The Gourmet Burial Art was born to reduce this massive consumption. When inactive, one seals themselves, greatly reducing their power but also their energy expenditure.
The prerequisite for using the Gourmet Burial Art is a high degree of control over one's body, which is a basic requirement for both cultivators and martial artists.
Zhang Wei then said, "For the Gourmet Cells, the spiritual energy within you is also a form of food. Although it's consumed, it also silently satisfies the cells' needs. I have a method that can reduce this consumption."
Zhang Wei explained the Gourmet Burial Art. Zhan Hua understood quickly but then showed a puzzled expression, "But why is such an interesting skill rarely seen being used?"
"That's because... when one is weak, they don't need to worry about food. When one becomes strong, they have already pledged allegiance to me. All those who pledge allegiance to me are freed from the torment of hunger. As for why I... I was once weak too."
He recalled his initial days after transmigration, toiling day and night within the great ice glacier, just to accumulate enough capital.
And now...
Collecting more was merely a habit and a gourmand's peculiar indulgence, an irresistible urge at the sight of something new.
Time truly flies!
Currently, the immense consumption of the Gourmet Cells allowed Zhang Wei to create more dishes to satisfy his palate, thus honing his culinary skills further!
While he was happily chatting with Zhan Hua, Gang Tu ran over quickly from a distance, his whale-like eyes filled with joy.
"Oh, have you developed something new?"
Gang Tu laughed heartily, "Not me, it's Jia Quan. That fellow has finally cultivated inner energy. He's been researching the path of cultivation recently!"
"Inner energy... He didn't choose the faster-progressing internal energy?"
"Yes, he had a conversation with Zhan Hua and the others about refining artifacts and alchemy a while ago and became completely engrossed. But he couldn't understand the application of various material sciences, which led him to choose the path of cultivation."
Good.
Zhang Wei liked people with a spirit of research; this was about truly mastering the system of cultivation.
Zhang Wei had heard stories in the past that cultivators were depicted as all-rounders, possessing formidable forging skills and knowledge of various herbs, which perfectly aligned with Jia Quan's interests.
"Hmm... In that case, I'll give Jia Quan all the metals, woods, and other materials acquired through trade. Let him consume them freely, don't worry about wasting resources."
After dealing with Jia Quan's matter, Zhang Wei went to the outermost resource trading area.
To enter the city for trade, one had to exchange for Gourmet Coins. One Gourmet Coin could purchase approximately 280 catties of Rock Rice.
Zhang Wei set the market price of Rock Rice at 5 spirit stones, allowing even many impoverished cultivators to trade.
However, it required a full 1400 spirit stones to exchange for one Gourmet Coin, making it difficult to enter without significant capital. One could only trade with scalpers at stalls outside.
Relying on Zhang Wei's enterprises, the temporary marketplace here was quite prosperous!
Zhang Wei's prices for acquiring spirit artifacts were extremely low, making it a poor deal. Cultivators could first go to the temporary marketplace and exchange with vendors for spirit stones, and then exchange those for spiritual herbs or the like.
Zhang Wei's prices for acquiring spiritual herbs and spirit beasts were extremely high, leading to a surge in the price of spiritual herbs within the cultivation circles, reaching a point where they were hard to come by.
Since Zhang Wei accepted everything, a large quantity of ingredients was sold, with the most numerous being Millennium Jian. It could not be artificially cultivated, but it grew wild in abundance in deep mountains and old forests, so it wasn't rare.
The usable ones were high-quality with accumulated years, possessing at least ten years of medicinal efficacy to be noticed by cultivators.
The price per hundred stalks was one spirit stone and fifty.
If a cultivator at the first level of Qi Refining had experience, they could gather a harvest daily, earning six to seven spirit stones per year. Seeking herbs in the mountains was quite profitable. However, one had to be wary of ferocious beasts in the mountains, as a cultivator at the first level of Qi Refining could not even fully utilize a complete mystic art, only possessing a nascent sense of qi.
The executive officer in charge of operations was from the Heavenly Gate Sect, responsible for identifying item prices.
The executive officer said, "City Lord, today we've collected over a million stalks of Millennium Jian alone. I never imagined that the small prefecture of Chongzhou would have so much Millennium Jian!"
Healing medicine...
Over a million stalks in a single day was astonishing. After drying and grinding them into powder, at least one hundred thousand healing pills could be produced, or an even greater quantity of ointments.
Xi Feng picked up a stalk of Millennium Jian and put it in his mouth, then refused, his brow furrowed slightly, "It tastes a bit bitter. The nutrition is okay... but it's no different from ordinary grass. Are you sure this thing is edible?"
The executive officer said with a wry smile, "This is a medicinal herb, after all. Where are things that satisfy the palate in the cultivation world? As for its use... I'm not skilled in culinary arts either!"
Xi Feng looked at Zhang Wei and said, "Boss, what should we do about this? I suggest sending these herbs to the Culinary Academy as a bounty assignment, having senior chefs write papers, create recipes, and research how to prepare them."
That seemed quite reasonable.
As for ingredients, there were no bad ones, only people who didn't know how to cook them. Before crayfish entered China, who knew they could be so delicious.
Liked The Collector from Toriko.
Treasure Bag reminds you: Remember to collect after reading.