AN:
I think from now on, I'll make terms a bit more clear
Cultivation will now be in Levels, Stages and Realms
Levels:
1st level of Qi Gathering, 2nd level of Qi Gathering, 3rd level of Qi Gathering...
Stages:
Qi Gathering (1st stage), Foundational (2nd stage), Core (3rd stage)...
I guess normally the stages are just called by name, but since I'm doing branching cultivation paths, referring to them as stages is easier sometimes.
And Realms will be the biggest unit, usually around 5 stages.
Mortal Realm (1st realm), Spirit Realm (2nd realm), Transcendent Realm (3rd realm)...
Mei didn't have a lot of Jade, she wasn't too interested. After scanning the shelves a few times, she ended up just staring at the grass and plants.
They were lush green, which was odd considering they were under shade year round. Surely even spirit plants needed sunlight?
"Eh!" went Xiuying, suddenly, catching Mei's attention. "You don't have Meridian Cleansing pills?"
"No. Do I look like some kind of master alchemist to you? Go to the pill workshop for that." Yang Ning frowned.
"Oh..."
As Mei continued to stare, her eyes caught something darting through the grass. Before she could process the thought, she quickly snatched it up, holding it in the air.
It was a small brown snake, only the length of her forearm. It squirmed in her hands, making her entire arm vibrate, but she held on tight. For such a small snake, it was surprisingly strong!
"Eeek!" shouted Wang Wei.
He quickly distanced himself.
"A snake? There are these here?" Xiuying was shocked. "Are they dangerous?"
"Just throw it away." Yang Ning said. "These snakes are harmless and only eat bugs."
Mei stared at it for a bit more. It hissed at her.
"Actually, I think I might be craving snake soup," she said.
"What?" Wang Wei said. "You eat those?!"
"I used to catch snakes in the forest... my mom makes really good snake soup." Mei mused.
The snake suddenly started writhing more violently and bared its fangs.
"But it's so cute..." Xiuying looked sad.
"IT"S NOT CUTE!" Wang Wei shouted from afar.
"Well if it's tasty, does it matter?" said Yingyi.
Liu Qiang poked it on the nose, quickly moving his finger away as it snapped at him.
"Enough!"
Yang Ning banged the table.
"One, stop wasting my time and buy something," he said. "Two, you should avoid eating spirit beasts."
"Why?" Mei asked.
"They tend to be quite intelligent for some reason, so it's not good for karma." he reached an arm out and loosened Mei's hand. "At some point, you might as well be eating a person."
The snake quickly climbed up his hand and hid behind his head, afraid. Then, plucking up some courage, it hissed at her.
"Right..."
Well... if she cooked the snake, it probably won't be as good as the octopus's cooking anyway. But it was probably just her dismissing it as sour grapes.
Wait, if that's the case, isn't that super annoying? Imagine if she killed some tasty powerful beast and ended up not being able to eat it because it was smart...
"What if the beast is evil?" she asked. "Would that be fine?"
"No idea. I'm just saying as a virtuous cultivator-" he paused. "Wait, why am I explaining this stuff to you? Buy something or get lost!"
He plucked the snake off his head and flung it with all his strength. Somewhere in the distance, Mei heard a man's shriek.
"Sorry..." said Xiuying.
Yang Ning nodded, pleased that his effort finally paid off.
Xiuying ended up buying various healing pills and some for focus, while Wang Wei bought some random herbs. Seeing that three of them weren't buying anything, Yang Ning decided to speak up.
"I've noticed that other than that boy over there, none of you have bags," he said. "I have some on sale, each for a single Jade."
Typical salesman, trying to convince people to buy more things...
Still, Mei's eyes lit up, immediately taking a Jade out. She definitely needed a bag of holding.
As Yang Ning took out several bags, Mei was quite impressed. All of them looked quite nice, like the bags she saw the richer people in the town wear, not just drawstring bags like she expected.
She reached out for a bag with a long strap, designed to be slung across a shoulder and undid the two metal clasps holding it shut, then looked inside.
To her dismay, it was just a normal bag.
"I thought they were supposed to have more space inside?"
"The cheapest spatial bags are at least a thousand Jade. I figured outer disciples wouldn't have enough money for that."
A THOUSAND? And she thought the cost of the teleportation array made her want to cough blood.
"Nevermind then..."
But out of the entire group, Xiuying seemed the most shocked.
"They're that expensive?" she glanced at her ring.
Slightly envious, Mei suddenly wondered if any elders could lend her one of their old storage items...
"Of course they're expensive! Only cultivators of the 5th stage and above can make them. Spatial manipulation isn't an easy feat."
5th stage... wasn't that Nascent Soul? Mei was shocked.
If it was that hard to make, then maybe that price was even a little low. But she was still quite bummed out by how much she would have to save to get one.
"I also have some candies on sale," said Yang Ning. "They're made with spirit fruits, so it helps with cultivation too."
From the shelves, she could see that the multicoloured candies came in 3 jar sizes, one small enough to wrap her fingers around, one about as large as a mug and lastly, a jar the size of a head.
They looked so good! Mei almost never had the chance to eat them before.
There had to be at least... 100... no... 200... 300 candies inside? Mei couldn't tell.
Unfortunately, it was also the most expensive jar, costing 5 Jade. The smaller jars were rip-offs compared to how much candy was inside too.
Mei knew she probably shouldn't spend the last of her money, but right now, she was really craving those candies. Logically, she should buy a small jar so she could buy other things, but her inner cheapskate refused to get a worse deal.
"There are a lot of flavours: apple, longan, moonfruit, hawthorn, lychee..." Yang Ning continued, listing tons of random fruits.
"Urgh..."
After paying for the goods, Mei walked off grumpily with her friends, a bag slung over her shoulders stretched to the shape of a giant jar. Probably should have gotten a backpack instead...
She unscrewed the jar and grabbed a pink candy. Mmm! Tasted like peach.
Maybe the price was worth it after all. She could just spend another day working to make back the money.
Later that night, while forcing herself to cultivate, Mei somehow managed to eat 75% of the candies in the jar.
