I, Who Hate Marine So Much, Have Become A Future Nika?

Chapter 7: The Law of Wealth and Companionship

Although the benefits of synchronizing with a Law Treasure-level longsword are numerous, Zhong Cang believes that he is not yet capable of doing so.

...The sword shadows in his own consciousness are too weak. It is too difficult, too difficult to synchronize with a Law Treasure-level flying sword.

The fusion of man and sword is useful. After advancing in the Ignorant Heart Sword Art, another characteristic is obtained: Sword Heart, which has even greater power.

However, before Zhong Cang could fully understand the Sword Heart characteristic, there was a knock on his courtyard door.

Upon opening it, Zhong Cang found his uncle, Zhong Kangping, standing outside.

"Uncle, why are you here? Is there something wrong?"

After looking at Zhong Cang, whose mental state was completely different from before, Zhong Kangping nodded and then shook his head, saying, "Cang'er, I'm glad you're working hard in your cultivation, but cultivation is not about shutting oneself away. It's not enough to rely solely on seclusion."

"Wealth, companionship, the law, and the land. These are the four elements that we cultivators need to cultivate. Without wealth, one cannot sustain the Dao. To learn alone without friends will lead to ignorance..."

Zhong Kangping lectured Zhong Cang with a bunch of principles.

After listening to his words, Zhong Cang also understood his meaning. He was being told to go out more, communicate with fellow cultivators, and not stay at home all the time.

If Zhong Cang were a normal cultivator, what Zhong Kangping said would be correct.

Indeed, cultivating alone is not as fast as improving through mutual communication among fellow cultivators.

After all, "when three people walk together, there must be one who can be my teacher." From others, Zhong Cang can learn what he lacks.

This is also the reason why "companionship" is listed as the second element in the four elements of cultivation.

However, Zhong Cang is not normal. He doesn't need a master's guidance or communication with fellow Daoists. The characteristic of "Heaven Rewards Diligence" allows him to improve as long as he cultivates.

Therefore, Zhong Cang feels that he can improve faster by practicing alone rather than spending time communicating with fellow cultivators.

Thinking about this, Zhong Cang, with a furrowed brow, began to contemplate how to politely refuse his uncle's request.

However, before he could figure it out, Zhong Kangping mentioned the real purpose of his visit... He did want Zhong Cang to go out, but not just for making friends. He had found a job for Zhong Cang.

"Without friends, one will be ignorant, but without wealth, one cannot sustain the Dao. Cang'er, I have found a position for you in the outer sect. If you are willing, I can take you there today."

...

This time, Zhong Cang was moved. Companionship is not necessary for Zhong Cang, who possesses the characteristic of "Heaven Rewards Diligence."

However, wealth, the law, and the land, these things cannot be ignored even by Zhong Cang.

As for the land, Zhong Cang is currently using the bamboo forest as his training ground, practicing there every day. Although there is a lot of spiritual energy in the bamboo forest, a large portion of it is still impure.

If he could be in a Grotto-Heaven blessed land, Zhong Cang would skip the step of "separation" and improve his cultivation efficiency.

The law is something Zhong Cang lacks. If there were stronger and more suitable secret techniques, just like the Ignorant Heart Sword Art, Zhong Cang's cultivation speed could be further accelerated.

As for wealth, although it does not directly play a role, it is the most important.

With enough spirit stones, he can directly purchase elixirs to quickly improve his cultivation.

Or he can buy items like Nurturing Spirit Incense and Bodhi Beads to enhance his spiritual recovery speed and comprehension, allowing the length of the Ignorant Heart Sword Art to increase once again.

Even the cultivation technique he lacks the most and the "Grotto-Heaven blessed land" can be obtained with wealth.

Within the Cloud Firmament Sect, there are many places with abundant spiritual energy.

Unfortunately, these places require sufficient spirit stones and contributions to enter.

Wealth is undoubtedly the first among the four elements of cultivation.

And now, Zhong Cang's uncle has found him a way to earn money.

Moreover, going out to work will inevitably involve communication with fellow cultivators, which can cure Zhong Cang's reclusive nature. It can only be said that Zhong Kangping truly cares about Zhong Cang.

However, although there are many benefits to earning spirit stones, Zhong Cang values his cultivation time more.

Because of this, he is conflicted.

However, after some consideration, Zhong Cang still chose to go and take a look.

One reason is that he didn't want to expose the fact that he had gained something from his cultivation, and this also gave him no reason to refuse Zhong Kangping's arrangement.

Another reason is that Zhong Cang believed that with his uncle's guilt towards himself, the job he found for him probably wouldn't take up too much of his cultivation time.

As it turned out, Zhong Cang's speculation was correct.

After he agreed, Zhong Kangping immediately used a Law Weapon to bring Zhong Cang to the training ground of the outer court.

Cultivation cannot be done in isolation, and Cloud Firmament Sect does not allow random fighting, so the training ground was built.

Every day, there are a large number of disciples from the outer court who come here to practice with others. This is both to improve their own abilities and to highlight their flaws in battle and then make improvements.

Each training ground has a referee, which is also a position in the outer court.

Unfortunately, these positions require at least the fourth level of Qi Refining to hold, and Zhong Cang is not qualified.

In fact, most of the positions within Cloud Firmament Sect require at least the third level of Qi Refining, which Zhong Cang does not have.

This is also why he said that the fourth level of Qi Refining is a threshold for Cloud Firmament Sect.

Fortunately, Zhong Kangping really cares about Zhong Cang. Even though he doesn't have the qualifications for a position, this uncle still found a job for him.

The outer court training ground is large, and many people come here every day, but not everyone can find a suitable opponent.

In response to this, poor disciples from the outer court choose to wait or slowly search, and eventually find like-minded friends.

But there are also some family descendants who are unwilling to waste time and will spend spirit stones to find sparring partners.

And Zhong Cang's job is related to this.

Of course, he is not a sparring partner. Fighting against the descendants of cultivation families is risky, and a slight mistake could result in serious injury.

Deaths during training also happen from time to time.

Zhong Kangping, who values Zhong Cang, naturally wouldn't let him do such a dangerous job.

The position he found for Zhong Cang is the leader of the sparring partners' management.

... Family descendants need sparring partners, ordinary cultivators need spirit stones, and it's a willing buyer and a willing seller. Sparring partners in the training ground are also common.

However, the training ground is huge, and the family descendants don't know the skill level of the cultivators willing to be sparring partners.

In the face of this situation, it is impossible for those family descendants to spend time searching.

Compared to finding opponents themselves, they are more willing to spend some spirit stones to get help.

And where there is demand, there is a market. The demand from family descendants has created many intermediaries in the training ground.

Moreover, because intermediaries can make a profit, over time, they have become the mainstream of sparring partners in the training ground, and individual sparring partners have been squeezed to near extinction.

"This is similar to the real estate rental market in my previous life, where most of it was done through intermediaries."

At the same time, where there is profit, there is competition. These intermediaries in the gray area compete with each other and form several major factions.

From his uncle's words, Zhong Cang learned that the leaders of each faction in the training ground are Foundation Building Stage cultivators, and only they can keep most of the spirit stones they earn.

However, although these Foundation Building Stage cultivators take the majority of the spirit stones, they don't have time to stay here, so most of the managers of the intermediaries in the various factions of the training ground are Qi Refining Stage cultivators.

And these Qi Refining Stage cultivators don't handle trivial matters themselves; the ones who actually do the work are the lower-level managers.

Zhong Kangping is also a Qi Refining Stage cultivator, and he is friends with one of the intermediary managers in the training ground.

After some pleading, Zhong Cang became a subordinate of this manager.

"Young Fellow Daoist, I entrust my nephew to you."

"No problem, I won't let him suffer... Xiaotao, you are the same age as Xiaocang, take him to choose a few sparring partners."

"Yes, father."

(End of this chapter)