Lu Ye had almost forgotten when he last replenished the Talent Tree's fuel. Since no new spirit runes had been born from it, he hadn't paid much attention to it.

However, it was foreseeable that as his cultivation increased, the consumption of the Talent Tree's fuel would also rise. This was because, under the same time conditions, he would be able to refine more cultivation resources.

To ensure his future cultivation, replenishing the Talent Tree's fuel had become an urgent matter!

Repairing the Boulder Mountain Saber and gathering intelligence on the Jade Conch were things that had to be done at the All Phenomena Merchants Guild, but replenishing the Talent Tree's fuel wasn't absolutely necessary there.

He didn't have many spirit jades in hand, so he was naturally as thrifty as possible.

He walked out of the guild, soared into the sky, and flew straight in one direction.

An hour later, he arrived at a deserted area near the edge of All Phenomena Island.

This place had no intersecting streets, as if it were a plot of land independently developed.

Transactions on All Phenomena Island were naturally dominated by the All Phenomena Merchants Guild, where the crowds were endless and the place was always bustling. The next in line were the shops lining the various streets of the island. The powers behind these shops came from different domains, and many goods inside them were specialties from those domains.

But evidently, All Phenomena Island had also considered that if there were independent cultivators who wished to sell items, there were always some who were unwilling to sell to the All Phenomena Merchants Guild and preferred to do business on their own, so a special area was developed here for those cultivators without shops to set up stalls and do business.

Flea market!

Lu Ye had wandered here unintentionally yesterday, so returning now felt rather familiar.

Without much investigation, he walked directly to a stall, picked up an irregular crystal about the size of a fist. The crystal was fire-red, like a fire crystal. When Lu Ye slightly activated the power of the Talent Tree, he could clearly sense the surging firepower contained within.

The quality of this object far surpassed that of the Earth's Core Fire from the Nine Provinces.

Lu Ye had come to this stall once yesterday, showed interest in this item, and had asked the stall owner about its name, learning that it was called a Dragon Breath Crystal. However, he simply inquired and didn't reveal any intention to purchase it, mainly because he wasn't sure of the price.

Today, having prepared himself, he now had a good idea about its price.

"Fellow Daoist, if you like it, just take it. It's not expensive, only priced at eight hundred spirit jades per piece!"

Lu Ye casually asked, "How is this thing formed?"

The stall owner replied, "As it's called Dragon Breath Crystal, it's naturally related to the Dragon Race. To be honest, Fellow Daoist, in my domain, a thousand years ago, a fire-type giant dragon came and settled in a quiet place. While it slept, its dragon breath fused with some nearby minerals, and over a thousand years, these Dragon Breath Crystals slowly formed."

Lu Ye nodded slightly. The stall owner's explanation matched what was recorded in the jade slip that Cao Xiang had given him, so it seemed he wasn't lying.

The jade slip Cao Xiang gave him not only recorded the prices of various fire-type treasures but also their origins and possible sources, making it quite detailed.

But it also informed Lu Ye that once Dragon Breath Crystals appeared, it wouldn't be just one piece, but a large batch!

In other words, this stall owner definitely had a large stock of Dragon Breath Crystals.

In front of him, Lu Ye took out the jade slip given by Cao Xiang: "Within the All Phenomena Merchants Guild, Dragon Breath Crystals only cost eight hundred. How can you also sell them for eight hundred?"

Normally, items sold at the flea market should be a bit cheaper than at the All Phenomena Merchants Guild to be competitive. Otherwise, if the prices are the same, why would anyone come to the flea market?

The stall owner looked at Lu Ye, then glanced at the jade slip in his hand, chuckling, "So, Fellow Daoist came prepared. In that case, I'll give you a ten-spirit-jade discount."

He didn't turn red. This is how business is done; there's no room for sentimentality. If someone doesn't know, you sell it for more, and if they know, you sell it for less.

Lu Ye didn't even blink, ruthlessly bargaining: "Five hundred!"

The stall owner was dumbstruck, "Fellow Daoist, you can't bargain like that."

"I need a lot!" Lu Ye looked at him calmly.

The stall owner replied, "No matter how many you need, I can't sell them for five hundred. This isn't my personal item. It's a product of my domain, and the spirit jades from the sale have to be taken back and shared with many people. I really can't give this price. If you want to buy for five hundred, you should check elsewhere."

"Five hundred fifty!"

"Fellow Daoist, I advise you to be kind. With your attitude, once you leave the All Phenomena Ocean, you'll get cut."

"Six hundred! If you're selling, I'll take it. If not, I'll leave!"

The stall owner gestured, indicating that Lu Ye could do as he pleased.

Of course, Lu Ye wouldn't actually leave. Bargaining required thickness of skin. If it succeeded, great; if not, no loss.

"Give me your lowest price!" Lu Ye looked at the stall owner. The reason he fancied this Dragon Breath Crystal was primarily because it was available in large quantities. If he went to buy other fire-type treasures, he might need to buy many kinds and then haggle for each one, which might end up being disadvantageous.

The vendor grimaced for a moment, then noticed that Lu Ye genuinely wanted to buy, so after a brief contemplation, he said, "To be honest, Fellow Daoist, the lowest price set by my elders before I left my domain was seven hundred and fifty per piece. Seeing your sincerity, I'll make the decision to sell it to you for seven hundred and sixty. Any lower, and it simply won't work!"

"If seven hundred and fifty is your lowest price, why are you asking me for more?"

The vendor was speechless: "I'm here setting up a stall to sell things; you've got to let me earn a bit of hard-earned money, right? It's not easy for anyone out here, Fellow Daoist; we need to understand and support each other! I've been setting up my stall here for a long time. With this time, I might as well search for spirit jade in my home world. Whatever I find would be mine."

"Fine... alright!" Lu Ye reluctantly agreed, realizing he couldn't haggle anymore and acknowledging that the vendor had a point; he indeed needed to let him make a bit of profit.

The Dragon Breath Crystal was forty pieces of spirit jade cheaper than at the All Phenomena Merchants Guild, which wasn't insignificant.

After counting the spirit jade in his possession, he left five hundred or so pieces for cultivation, and gave the rest to the vendor, eventually getting twenty-four Dragon Breath Crystals.

The bulk of the spirit jade he possessed still came from the Spirit Jade Vein in the Taichu Realm. Although he had consumed some while exploring stellar space outside the Nine Provinces, he also managed to find some along the way. Overall, he didn't incur a loss and even had a small surplus.

Later, at Mount Fangcun, he gave Nian Yuexian fifteen hundred pieces of spirit jade, leaving him with just over thirteen thousand.

Recently, he first obtained some spirit jade from Tang Jun's storage ring and then killed three bandits, gaining a small amount. The trio were quite poor...

The energy contained in the twenty-four Dragon Breath Crystals, who knows how long it'll last!

Lu Ye suddenly realized that his comfortable days hadn't lasted long before he was worrying about cultivation resources again.

Back in the Nine Provinces, when his cultivation wasn't high, he constantly thought about how to earn merit, and later about earning battle merit. Now, he doesn't need any merit or battle merit; what he needs right now is spirit jade, and a lot of it...

The vendor, having sold the Dragon Breath Crystals, was in high spirits and said, "Fellow Daoist, next time you need goods, just come to me!" Clearly, he still had quite a bit in stock.

"How long have you been setting up your stall here?" Lu Ye asked casually.

The vendor looked wistful: "Almost three years! Ah, better not talk about it. But soon someone will take over for me, the stall won't change, so Fellow Daoist can come directly."

In a place like this, finding a suitable stall location isn't easy, so many vendors take turns with companions from their home domain to maintain the stall, following the principle of people changing but not the stall, which also makes it easier for old customers to find.

If the Nine Provinces could freely travel to the All Phenomena Star System, and if there were any special products to sell, they might adopt this model too. After all, the Nine Provinces' foundation doesn't allow for occupying a shop here.

Bidding farewell to this vendor, Lu Ye also felt wistful.

When he came here, he had some wealth, but in just a few deals, it was almost gone.

All Phenomena Island was bustling, yet Lu Ye didn't know where he should go for a moment.

In ten days, he needed to retrieve his Boulder Mountain Saber from the All Phenomena Merchants Guild, so what should he do during this time? There were accommodations on the island, but staying in such a place clearly required quite a bit of spirit jade, and Lu Ye didn't want to waste money like that.

Idly waiting wasn't realistic either. After contemplating, he shot up into the sky and flew off the island.

There were some things he wanted to verify and try.

A moment later, as he left All Phenomena Island, Lu Ye noticed a crisp sound from the Passage Order hanging from his waist. Looking down, he saw that the pitch-black token had cracked, clearly rendered useless.

This meant that ten days later, he would have to spend five pieces of spirit jade to enter All Phenomena Island again.

As he flew and searched, he couldn't stray too far from All Phenomena Island, but staying too close wasn't convenient either, as the closer to All Phenomena Island, the busier it got with cultivators coming and going.

A day later, Lu Ye finally found a suitable spot and descended.

Moments later, he landed on a reef island about ten zhang in diameter.

Acting alone like this wasn't safe. All Phenomena Island and many large Spirit Islands prohibit private fights, but no one would care about you on the All Phenomena Ocean. In other words, if someone disliked Lu Ye and bullied him now, no one would stand up for him.

Lu Ye remembered encountering an encirclement of a Spirit Island on his way here.

But some things have to be done despite the risk; when it comes to cultivators' actions, there's no such thing as absolute safety.

To be safe, Lu Ye still set up some arrays on this reef island for protection, so that in case of an attack, he at least had some reaction time.

Only then did he sit cross-legged, quietly sensing the surrounding environment.

The water of the All Phenomena Ocean is condensed from extremely dense stellar space energy. Although it condenses without dissipating, it somewhat affects the surrounding cultivation environment, especially the spirit islands on the sea surface.

Under his perception, Lu Ye could detect that the place he was in contained more stellar space energy than in a normal stellar space.

This stellar space energy is to the Constellation what nature's spiritual energy is to cultivators below the Constellation level.