Human Clan Defender

Give me a discount.

Eighty silver taels per gram.

Shen Changqing suddenly felt that this sentence sounded strangely familiar. He immediately thought of what Huang Yan had said before when he was buying elixirs, and then, from Tang Hong, he understood just how much profit the other side was making.

Obviously.

At eighty taels per gram, the other party was probably making at least forty taels on each one, maybe even more than that.

Shameless profiteer!

He cursed inwardly, but on the surface Shen Changqing didn't show anything.

"Those Five Treasures Tea and Qi-Nurturing Tea you mentioned, how do they compare to Ice Spirit Tea?"

He asked seriously.

If the effects were decent, then spending some money in the Treasure Pavilion was still better than exchanging merit in the Demon-Subduing Division.

Merit points were precious.

Ji Qu could claim a two-hundred-to-one exchange rate—god knows how expensive black market exchanges might be.

At this moment.

Huang Yan showed a hint of embarrassment on his face.

"Lord Shen must be joking. Ice Spirit Tea is high-grade spiritual tea. How could Five Treasures Tea or Qi-Nurturing Tea compare? Their effects are probably only about fifty or sixty percent of Ice Spirit Tea's."

It's a pity that Ice Spirit Tea is quite rare—there's a price but no market for it among the Jianghu.

Even if you can find it, the price won't be less than two hundred taels."

It won't be less than two hundred taels.

Shen Changqing recalled that when exchanging in the Demon-Subduing Division, Ice Spirit Tea was available to Earth Rank Demon Hunters at a rate of one merit for two grams. Clearly, the Division was giving Earth Rank Demon Hunters a discount.

Fifty or sixty percent of the effectiveness—it didn't sound too bad at first glance.

But if you measured it by time—

Then the gap wasn't small at all.

To put it simply, if it took a year for Ice Spirit Tea to achieve an effect, other spiritual teas would need two years.

Which means—

It saves you a whole year.

Many times, time is life. Saving twice as much time—Shen Changqing felt as if he had lived a hundred years longer than others.

"What about Mind-Nourishing Tea, how does it compare to Enlightenment Tea?"

"—Uh, the effect of Mind-Nourishing Tea is probably only thirty percent or so of Enlightenment Tea."

Instantly—

Shen Changqing gave up on the idea of buying spiritual tea.

Compared with what the Demon-Subduing Division provides, the spiritual teas sold in the Treasure Pavilion were all basically defective goods—expensive, and not as effective.

To be honest—

He'd rather spend a little more to get high-quality spiritual tea.

Huang Yan instantly gave up on trying to sell him any spiritual tea.

No choice.

Spiritual tea was rare, yes, but also exorbitant. None of the spiritual tea in the Treasure Pavilion had sold in years, and finally seeing someone who could afford it, of course he wanted to push it a bit.

But alas—

This guy was simply too wealthy to bother with such spiritual teas.

"Lord Shen, please wait a moment. I'll bring the items over for you to take a look."

"No problem."

——

Leaving the Treasure Pavilion, Shen Changqing now had a long bundle slung over his back.

Back in his room—

He opened the bundle and revealed a wide, ornate brocade box.

Opening the brocade box, there was a set of white jade tea trays and tea ware.

Pure white jade all over.

Truly premium material.

Just this tea set had cost him twelve thousand silver taels.

Back in the day, Shen Changqing would never have spent twelve thousand silver taels on something this extravagant and impractical.

But now—

He didn't even frown as he made the purchase.

Twelve thousand taels was a lot, but since he'd be drinking spiritual tea long term, when averaged out, the daily cost was still within an acceptable range.

"It's a pity that the thirty thousand silver taels I got in Lin'an City is now less than ten thousand."

Shen Changqing sighed softly.

Thirty thousand taels, and now most of it was squandered away.

Looks like he'd need to find a way to earn more money soon. If he only relied on his Demon-Subduing Division salary, he'd never cover these expenses.

Even for Earth Rank Demon Hunters—

The monthly salary was only fifteen taels, pitifully small.

Brewing spiritual tea—

Tea ware was important, but the water quality didn't have any strict requirements.

So—

Shen Changqing just drew water from the courtyard well and started brewing.

The process wasn't complicated—

In fact, it was downright simple.

Once the spiritual tea was ready, he sat in the courtyard, the wooden table before him set with the white jade tea tray he'd just bought.

Under the sunlight, mist seemed to swirl within the jade tray, eye-catching and ethereal.

"I ought to build a pavilion sometime."

Shen Changqing thought of Jiang Zuo's pavilion. That guy's arrangement was pretty nice. Looking at his own yard, aside from a wooden stake and a well, there was nothing else.

He'd never had time before—

Now, he felt he could maybe pursue a bit of lifestyle quality.

Curls of mist drifted from the teapot, a wisp of fragrance even reaching the heart and mind. Shen Changqing felt his spirit lifted, and the dull ache in his head even faded a bit.

The spiritual tea brewed—

Pale green tea water, with a thin mist lingering above, as if it were spiritual energy gathered there.

He opened his mouth—

Shen Changqing swallowed both the mist gathering above the teacup as well as the spiritual tea inside.

The warm tea slid down his throat and burst into surging energy in his belly.

At once—

A clear current rose from his belly and rushed straight into his mind.

With that clear current surging, Shen Changqing's hand paused on the teacup. He closed his eyes, quietly feeling for any changes in his body.

Some time later—

He opened his eyes again.

"My depleted energy recovered a bit, but fully bouncing back is not going to be that fast."

After some private calculation—

Shen Changqing figured he'd recovered about three percent of his lost energy.

One cup of spiritual tea—three percent restored.

Thirty cups or so would offset the previous drain completely.

"I brewed about three grams of leaves this time, but I'm not sure how many cups one pot can make."

Thinking about it, Shen Changqing kept moving, pouring out tea from the pot.

After each cup—

He had to pause for a quarter hour or so, letting his body absorb the energy.

When he poured out the ninth cup, the tea in the pot was almost gone. Shen Changqing refilled it with water, then circulated his Heavenly Centipede True Qi to bring the cold water to a boil.

He repeated this several times—

By the fifth brewing, the effect of the Enlightenment Tea had dropped sharply.

Where before one cup could restore about three percent of the loss, now it barely restored one percent.

Still—

Even so, Shen Changqing felt his spirit had become much more vigorous.

"Three grams of spiritual tea is just enough to balance my daily consumption. At this rate, one hundred grams would only last me about a month."

"A hundred merit points worth of spiritual tea only covers one month of cultvation consumption. The advancement after Grandmaster is way too demanding!"

You don't realize it until you actually calculate—

Converted into silver, he was burning through twenty or thirty thousand silver taels every month.

In an instant—

Shen Changqing felt a toothache coming on.

This kind of expense—there's no way a mere Earth Rank Demon Hunter like himself could afford it.

But—

He didn't have a choice.

After all, he had to cultivate. Otherwise, how could he ever improve?

And according to Dongfang Zhao, to become a Defender Envoy, at the very least, his Spiritual System had to reach the stage of True Intent Manifestation.

If he wasn't at that stage—

There was no way to become a Defender Envoy.

And even if he reached that stage, it only meant he had a chance to become a Defender Envoy—not a hundred percent guarantee.

"Whether to improve my own strength or to one day become a Defender Envoy, my Spiritual System absolutely must break through. Otherwise, if I run into someone accomplished in True Intent Manifestation, I'll still be at a disadvantage.

Demon Evil are also mostly focused on spiritual attacks. If I achieve a breakthrough in my Spiritual System, I'll have an advantage against them as well."

Shen Changqing felt that the main enemies he would face now were probably Demon Evil.

The Demon-Subduing Division's main job was also dealing with Demon Evil.

Even though the Heavenly Centipede True Qi carried the properties of Pure Yang True Qi, which countered Demon Evil quite a bit, if his Spiritual System broke through too, his advantage would become even greater.

"I wonder just how strong high-level Demon Evil really are!"

Up to now—

He'd only ever fought Resentment Level and below Demon Evil. He'd never even seen anything above that, let alone fought one.

No, that's not quite right.

The Demon-Subduing Prison did have Demon Evil of that level.

But—

The Demon-Subduing Prison was sealed. Even though there were Demon Evil there, their aura was sealed too, impossible to detect.

Fortunately, otherwise, with their aura loose, the patrolling Probationary Demon Hunters would get killed, one by one or two by two.

Thinking of the Demon-Subduing Prison—

Shen Changqing remembered how he'd obtained Slaughter Value there before.

However—

The Demon-Subduing Prison wasn't a place just anyone could enter. Probationary Demon Hunters could go in because of missions, but now that he was an Earth Rank Demon Hunter, it was actually harder for him to enter.

What's more—

He'd already made it through all five levels of the Demon-Subduing Prison.

The first two levels were alright—there were maimed Demon Evil from which he could harvest Slaughter Value, but the last few layers were all living Demon Evil. There was no way to gain any Slaughter Value there.

Up to now—

He still didn't understand what the Demon-Subduing Division was doing by keeping those things locked up.

He glanced at the sky outside—

Shen Changqing didn't waste any more time. Since his spirit had been replenished, he just went back to comprehending Martial Dao True Intent, hoping for more insight.

The same bloody heaven and earth.

The same Bloody Iron Cavalry.

The difference was, this time, as soon as Shen Changqing appeared, he found himself transformed into a member of the Bloody Iron Cavalry, no longer just a bystander like the first time.

The cavalry charged across heaven and earth, existing solely for destruction.

But alas, the world was decayed, all living things seemingly extinct, and no matter how the cavalry rode, there were no more beasts to slay, not like last time.

As he became one with the cavalry, his heart and mind gradually merged with them.

He didn't know how long passed—

His spirit depleted once again, and accompanied by a stabbing pain, Shen Changqing withdrew from his Sea of Consciousness.

PS: Promised no more debt, so that's it! Double monthly ticket bonus ends tonight at midnight. If you have tickets, please vote now, everyone!