My construction materials are weird

Inside the Merit Hall.

Looking at the forty or fifty strange individuals, Sun Tong realized for the first time that there were so many diverse trades.

But remembering Xuan Huang's instructions, she said, "Do you feel any regret for not participating in this Grand Competition?"

These people were not highly cultivated and were introverted, so after Sun Tong asked, no one stood up to represent the group and answer.

Sun Tong was prepared and continued, "Master Xuan said that Qingyun Mountain is in dire need of revitalization, and the future is infinitely bright.

However, in the initial stages, reconstruction is inevitable. You are all talented individuals, so don't dwell on temporary gains or losses. Cultivation is a road without an end in sight. Don't compete for the moment; we are competing for a lifetime."

"Therefore, I will ask again: are you willing to join the Merit Hall?"

"Willing."

"I am willing."

At this moment, it wouldn't do to remain silent, so everyone spoke up.

"Very good. Since you have all chosen to join, I welcome you on behalf of Master Xuan. From now on, we will all be colleagues, so don't be too nervous.

The Merit Hall is the department that manages Qingyun Mountain on behalf of Master Xuan. In the future, your resources will be allocated according to your contributions..."

Sun Tong then explained the rules to everyone.

"Now, register one by one according to your specialties. Then, you can tell me what resources and materials you need. If I can't solve it, there is Master Xuan, and you can also post tasks externally.

In short, I will try my best to meet everyone's requirements, and your job is to cultivate and research the various trades."

Sun Tong then looked at everyone's cultivation levels. They were generally low. Gu Du Wutong had the highest cultivation, only at the third level.

Currently, the cultivators on Qingyun Mountain, except for the Merit Hall, have service personnel from all major forces starting at the fourth level.

That's right, even the service personnel of the four major forces start at the fourth level.

This is because Qingyun Mountain gathers luck and faith. Just staying here will be propelled by luck and faith.

Therefore, the major forces can only choose the best of the best, and the service personnel also start at the fourth level.

Besides, so-called service is actually very simple.

When spirit talismans have spirit plant and demon plant materials, and beast fur as materials, some simple talismans in the major forces are not so precious.

For example, Dust Removal Talismans and Cleansing Talismans are the main talismans for talisman masters to level up. Talisman masters in major forces start with these simple talismans.

Therefore, many such talismans will accumulate.

They are very cheap, and internal purchases are even cheaper.

You don't even need merit points. After all, they are for practice. The materials are provided by the major forces for you to practice, but the talismans you draw are taken back by the major forces, or taken back according to a ratio, such as one to nine.

A simple talisman can complete a day's work without delaying the cultivation of experts.

Therefore, after choosing the best of the best, Qingyun Mountain currently starts at the fourth level.

Even in the Merit Hall, the starting level has reached the fourth level.

Don't think that the talents of the various ladies recruited by Sun Tong are not good, but this is compared to the roll kings of Qingyun Mountain.

Compared to the cultivators in Nanshi, the talents of the ladies in the Merit Hall are not bad.

Moreover, the blessing of luck and faith here is much stronger than scattered cultivators. Even the major forces dare not compare.

Only the leaders of the major forces can compare with the people of the Merit Hall in terms of luck gathering.

Also, there is no shortage of elixirs and cultivation techniques, so they naturally improve very quickly.

The strongest, Sun Tong, is now at the seventh level of body refinement and the fourth level of spirit refinement.

With Xuan Huang occasionally giving her special treatment and Jianmu taking her to experience the will of heaven, Sun Tong's cultivation is no less than the top ten figures of the major forces.

The Herald Crow has also been refined by her to produce spiritual intelligence. Strictly speaking, if Sun Tong uses the Herald Crow's abilities, her true strength would rank in the top five on Qingyun Mountain.

The only threats are the Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist figures.

Looking at these artisans, Sun Tong felt that the average cultivation level of the Merit Hall had been lowered again.

Therefore, she said, "Although you have specialty skills, don't forget about cultivation. Remember that cultivation is everything. Without strong cultivation, everything is empty talk. An artisan at the entry level cannot create first-order transcendent skills."

These words made everyone blush.

Only after ascending Qingyun Mountain did they realize how many experts there were.

Anyway, walking up from the foot of the mountain, they encountered many cultivators, and each cultivator gave them a feeling of being overwhelmed by a mountain.

"Yes."

Everyone knew their shortcomings, and the Grand Manager's education was correct.

"Alright, everyone, familiarize yourselves for now. Then..." Sun Tong smiled and said, "Then comes the first benefit of joining the Merit Hall: we can freely enter the dream realm to watch the battles of this Grand Competition."

To watch the first round of competition, each cultivator needs to spend one merit point, and one merit point can only watch the dream bubbles of ten cultivators.

So if you want to see more, you need to continue spending money.

The Merit Hall does not need these.

Sun Tong will also participate later, with the Merit Hall serving as the supervisor of this competition.

Although in the dream realm, the Door of Dreams controls everything, and no one can cheat at all.

But the procedures still need to be in place. If someone feels it is absolutely unfair, they can report it to themselves.

You can even report the four major forces.

Huff!

The rookies who had just joined the job returned to the homes of the Merit Hall staff not far away after the Grand Manager's training.

Then they immediately entered the dream to watch the start of the competition.

...

Time and space changed.

In the Door of Dreams, the participating cultivators and the cultivators who paid to watch entered the dream realm.

From the outside, there were countless bubbles flashing, and each bubble was a cultivator.

The bubbles formed a large lake, and in the center of the lake, a figure appeared, it was Wang Zihua.

He was pulled out of his dream bubble by the Door of Dreams, and then the Door of Dreams transformed into a stage, and Wang Zihua stood on the stage.

There were no audience members under the stage... There were no human-shaped audience members.

But there were densely packed bubbles, and each dream bubble was a cultivator.

The cultivators looked at Wang Zihua on the stage from their dream bubbles, which was equivalent to watching the stage from below, even more clearly.

Moreover, it was not crowded, and everyone had their own dream bubble, a large space, not crowded at all.

Moreover, here, the ability to communicate was opened by the Door of Dreams.

The outside world distinguishes people by appearance, but here, the distinction by telepathy is more accurate than looking at people.

Several bubbles gathered together.

"One merit point can only watch ten people. I heard that nearly ten thousand people are participating this time. If I watch them all, my merit points won't be enough."

A ripple came from a bubble.

"Who told you to watch them all? Just watch the ones you are interested in. Or watch the exciting competitions of various projects. Can you even watch them all?" A surrounding bubble said.

"I said? Why are so many people participating? I thought there wouldn't be many people. Good fellow, there are nearly ten thousand."

"The main reason is that the cultivators in Nanshi can also participate. Qingyun Mountain currently has a balanced number of people, at most thirty thousand, only less, not more.

It won't increase in the future, but there are many in Nanshi, and cultivators are constantly rushing there. I heard that in today's Nanshi, there are nearly three hundred thousand entry-level cultivators alone. Think about it."

"Good fellow, I haven't been down Qingyun Mountain to Nanshi for a long time. Are there so many people?"

“Nanshi is constantly expanding and has never stopped. The urban area is continuously growing. I heard from a friend that it is expected that in the next few years, after the number of cultivators reaches one million, it will enter the Qingyun Mountain model, and those who cannot gain a foothold will withdraw from Nanshi.”

“So many people, even if all the cultivators from the entire Xia country come, it might not be enough, right?”

A bubble asked. The ratio of cultivators to ordinary people is one in a thousand. Out of a thousand people, one has the talent for cultivation.

Which means it requires one billion people.

The entire Xia country might not even have one billion people at the moment.

“You can't calculate it that way. One in a thousand is for other places. Although Nanshi doesn't have the Qi Luck gathering and belief blessing like Qingyun Mountain, it far exceeds other places. The current cultivator ratio in Nanshi is five hundred to one, half less than the average one in a thousand.”

This person added, "Besides, this is a plan for the next ten years, not something that can be achieved in a short time. Moreover, don't forget the small worlds, everyone.

In the future, creatures from the small worlds will also make pilgrimages to Qingyun Mountain and then settle in Nanshi.

...I think one million cultivators is not many. If more small worlds are connected, it wouldn't be surprising if Nanshi has ten million cultivators.”

Everyone was stunned.

“What you said is really possible. Stretching the time to ten years makes sense. Nanshi is indeed different, better than other places.”

The cultivator ratio for the entire Blue Star is about one in a thousand. Some places might be one in several thousand.

Nanshi is currently five hundred to one, but this is because too many cultivators have come, neutralizing Nanshi.

The indigenous residents of Nanshi are still undergoing transformation due to the gathering of Qi Luck. Some elderly people cannot transform much, but newborns and children will be driven by Qi Luck to develop cultivation talent.

This is a field-to-field change.

If there are cultivators appearing around you every day, when there are more cultivators, their own aura will change the surrounding environment.

“Out of these ten thousand participants, at least half will be eliminated after the first round. After the second round, there will be at most a thousand left. These final thousand will be the pinnacle showdown of the five major categories and some minor categories.”

“I heard that the Demon Medicine Zhang Huaque, the Madman Yuan Tianchun, the Chemical Engineering Doctor, the Wild Taoist, etc., have all participated. The experts from the major forces have also come out in full force. I wonder if we can place bets. I'm optimistic about the Madman Yuan Tianchun.”

One cultivator said.

“Qingyun Mountain is not allowed, but Nanshi has betting markets. However, betting on Yuan Tianchun is useless. There are not many participants in the art of formation to begin with. He is also far stronger than others. The bookmakers are not stupid. Betting on Yuan Tianchun might even require a handling fee.”

“That's true. In pill concocting, there are experts from major forces and the Demon Medicine Zhang Huaque competing fiercely. In talisman-making, the Chemical Engineering Doctor, the Wild Taoist, and various forces, especially the Confucian school, are competing. Formation? Not many participate. Yuan Tianchun is too strong.”

Betting markets still exist. Gamblers are everywhere and cannot be banned.

“What about beast taming? Who are you optimistic about?”

The five major categories this time are pills, artifacts, talismans, beast taming, and spiritual plants, but everyone is most concerned about pills and talismans. Although Xuanhuang has released three major techniques for beast taming and spiritual plants,

Unfortunately, the time is too short, and there hasn't been much breakthrough.

In beast taming, Sun Bole and others from the Beast Taming Sect are favored.

For spiritual plant planting and cultivation, everyone was originally optimistic about Wang Zihai, but unfortunately, Wang Zihai, as the host, cannot participate this time.

The rest is the competition between the major forces.

The major forces are strong in every aspect, but everyone prefers to see geniuses emerge from independent cultivators, perhaps because it's more relatable.

——

“Hello, fellow Daoists, I am Wang Zihai, the host of this competition. Thank you for your participation...Under the supreme guidance of the Xuanshi and supervised by the Merit Hall, the four major forces...A total of 9739 people participated in this competition, including 2034 in alchemy and 3637 in talisman techniques...”

With Wang Zihai's introduction, the competition officially began.

When everyone heard that 3637 people participated in talisman techniques, they were surprised. So many people participated.

Could it be that anyone who knows a little bit about drawing talismans participated?

Talisman techniques are the most complete system created by Xuanhuang and one of the earliest to be popularized, hence the most participants.

Secondly is alchemy, which existed before Xuanhuang established Qingyun Mountain, so there are also many participants.

There would have been more, but this is after eliminating the previous mass-produced products such as the Great Return Pill. The participants this time are all cultivators of Qingyun Mountain's new alchemy methods.

It's no longer mass production, but individual furnace refining.

I don't know if it's progress or regression.

But if you want to refine pills needed by cultivators, especially new pills, you really can't mass produce them. It all depends on each person's control ability.

Perhaps mass production will gradually become popular in the future, but it's not possible yet.

These participants all have their own unique skills, making it difficult to mass produce. They are still exploring themselves.

“It's starting, it's starting.”

As Wang Zihai gave the order, the cultivators participating in alchemy began the first round of competition.

In their dream bubbles, countless rays of light appeared, and then the rays of light flickered and turned into seemingly real spiritual herbs.

The first step is identification. Each one needs to be carefully identified, stating its medicinal properties and meridian tropism. If your ability is sufficient, you can also state the ascending, descending, floating, sinking, and preparation methods. In short, it's very personalized.

The Dream Gate, as the central hub, will select the top one thousand people in this alchemy competition and then conduct the second round.

The same is true for talismans, but instead of comparing the identification of spiritual herbs, it's direct hands-on operation.

Starting with simple spiritual talismans and gradually increasing the difficulty.

In the first round of talismans, two people received special attention.

One is the Wild Taoist, and the other is the Chemical Engineering Doctor.

When everyone saw the comparison of drawing talismans, someone muttered dissatisfiedly: "I bet on these two people, but how can they compete in drawing talismans? Their specialty is researching new materials. Can they draw talismans better than the experts from the major forces?"

Finding out that this was the competition, many people were dissatisfied.

“If the talisman competition doesn't compare this, what does it compare? You tell me what to compare?”

“But, but, they, they...” This person stammered.

Indeed, if the talisman competition doesn't compare talismans, what does it compare?

Compare innovation?

You can experiment with innovation in pills, you can innovate in the materials for talismans, but try innovating the spiritual patterns of talismans?

The three hundred and sixty-five runes are the basic runes deduced by Xuanhuang.

It was said before that runes are the condensation of rules, which require experts to summarize and comprehend before reversing them.

It is impossible for weaklings to deduce the spiritual patterns condensed by rules. It's impossible.

Therefore, although the two seem to have innovated materials, strictly speaking, it's not a big deal.

The preciousness of the two lies in their ability to constantly research, such as the Chemical Engineering Doctor's desired talisman magic weapon, and the Wild Taoist's desired research on talisman treasures.

This is where the genius of the two is reflected. Competing in drawing talismans is really not as good as the old talisman masters of the major forces.

...