Accompanied by the familiar voice, a figure pushed the door open and walked in.
Chu Ning felt a slight stir in his heart. In the next moment, he pinched a spell, Thorn Technique!
The two Iron Wire Vines near the gate suddenly flew out, wrapping around the visitor, rendering them immobile.
However, Chu Ning didn't continue to activate the spell, so the Iron Wire Vines didn't continue to constrict or grow thorns.
Still, even this was enough to give the visitor quite a scare.
"Hey, hey, it's me, Qiu Shunyi!"
The visitor was indeed Qiu Shunyi, and at this moment, his slightly tanned face was full of astonishment.
"Oh my, so it's Shunyi."
Chu Ning laughed heartily, activated the spell, and all the Iron Wire Vines retracted.
Qiu Shunyi, still with lingering fear, patted his chest, then turned to look at Chu Ning, glaring and asked:
"Didn't you recognize it was my voice just now?"
Chu Ning chuckled, "I actually didn't pay attention."
In fact, he was thinking that the Thorn Technique was indeed quite effective for restraining people.
If he had activated the spell a bit further, Qiu Shunyi would have had a hard time.
At this moment, Qiu Shunyi spoke a bit enviously:
"This is the Thorn Technique, huh? I didn't expect you to master it so quickly."
Chu Ning nodded lightly.
"This is a spell that comes with the Cyan Wood Evergreen Technique, once you reach the Second Layer of Qi Refining and get the complete cultivation technique, you can start practicing. How about you, have you reached the Second Layer?"
"Hehe, I broke through to the Second Layer just yesterday."
Qiu Shunyi smiled with a bit of pride. Although it took nearly five months, he ultimately managed to break through from the First Layer to the Second Layer, so he was quite pleased.
Chu Ning congratulated him, and only then did Qiu Shunyi state his purpose for coming.
"I'm here to invite you to the market, are you coming?"
"To the Market?" Chu Ning was slightly surprised to hear this.
Speaking of the market, one has to mention the terrain of the Cyan Gorge Mountain Range where the Cyan Creek Sect is located.
The Cyan Gorge Mountain Range stretches thousands of miles from east to west, and over a thousand miles from north to south. There are seven sects built relying on this mountain range.
The Cyan Creek Sect is one of the sects closest to the east side, and about a thousand miles to the west of it is another sect, named Wind Canyon.
Among these thousand miles of mountain range, there are various cultivation clans, some affiliated with the Cyan Creek Sect, others with Wind Canyon.
Because these cultivation clans needed some trade, a market gradually formed.
Initially, it was just small-scale, with some cultivation clans occasionally trading.
And since it was inconvenient for servant disciples to enter the sect, some of them also started participating in the trade.
Gradually, as more people participated in the trade, the market grew bigger.
Eventually, even sects like Cyan Creek Sect and Wind Canyon set up shops in the market.
There are three somewhat larger markets along the thousand-mile journey from Cyan Creek Sect to Wind Canyon, and the nearest to the Cyan Creek Sect is Qinghe Square, a hundred miles away.
Chu Ning had already known this information before, but he had never been there, so he was a bit surprised to hear Qiu Shunyi mention going.
Qiu Shunyi quickly chimed in: "Yeah, to Qinghe Square, it's bustling and fun.
Previously, Senior Brother Shang took me there once, and last month I went by myself again. I was going to invite you, but you happened to be away, so I came a bit earlier today specifically."
Chu Ning was a bit surprised after hearing this. He didn't expect Qiu Shunyi had already been to the market twice, so he curiously asked:
"We don't have any Spirit Stones on us, what are we going to the market for?"
Saying this, Chu Ning slightly sighed in his heart, as this was actually the main reason he hadn't gone to the market before.
Spirit Stones are currency in the Cultivation Realm.
In the Cyan Creek Sect, servant disciples, unlike inner and outer disciples, do not receive a monthly distribution of Spirit Stones and must earn them through labor.
For example, if Chu Ning wanted to obtain Spirit Stones.
He would have to wait a few months until the Spirit Rice and Ink Spirit Bamboo mature, after submitting a portion to the sect, he could exchange the surplus for Spirit Stones.
"We don't have Spirit Stones now, but we can take a look. Later, when we have Spirit Stones, we can buy whatever we want," Qiu Shunyi said with a cheerful laugh.
"Also, staying here all day farming is quite boring. It would be much better to go to the market and see the lively scene."
Hearing this, Chu Ning was a bit tempted. Since he entered the sect several months ago, he hadn't been out yet.
Just about to agree, Chu Ning hesitated for a moment and asked, "Is there any danger?"
"None!" Qiu Shunyi immediately laughed.
"Qinghe Square is only a hundred miles away, who would dare harm the Cyan Creek Sect's people there.
Oh, and if we're lucky, if there are seniors or elders going out, we might not even need to walk, we can take a flying boat there.
You might not know, but the sect allows us new disciples to ride the flying boat for free the first 6 times.
Of course, when we come back, it's unlikely there will be a flying boat available, so we'll have to return on our own."
Feeling reassured hearing this, Chu Ning walked out with Qiu Shunyi.
The two of them arrived at a large square within the mountain gate.
This mountain gate is the larger Cyan Creek Sect mountain gate, located near the foot of the mountain.
Further into the depths of the Cyan Gorge Mountain Range is another sect gate of the Cyan Creek Sect, entering that would lead to the Outer Sect.
Chu Ning hadn't been to that place yet either.
Upon reaching the square within the mountain gate, there were already a few people standing there.
Qiu Shunyi introduced a companion for Chu Ning who was also going to the market, named Lv Xingyuan, who was now Qiu Shunyi's neighbor.
The other was also part of this batch of new disciples.
Speaking of which, Chu Ning's current neighbor, Qi Chongmao, was someone he often ran into as well.
However, being fond of peace and solely focused on cultivation, Chu Ning would only greet them each time without further interaction.
But Qiu Shunyi, being as sociable as ever, soon became friendly with the neighbors.
The reason why everyone was waiting here instead of leaving right away, Qiu Shunyi told Chu Ning, was that if you waited a bit, you could usually hitch a ride on a higher-level flying boat.
However, on the return trip, it would depend on luck. If none were available, they'd have to rely on Wind Control to return early.
After chatting for a while, an elder indeed arrived at the square from within the sect, piloting a flying boat.
They greeted the elder and mentioned they were going to the market.
The elder didn't say much and just let everyone board the flying boat.
This flying boat was smaller compared to the one Chu Ning and others had taken from Cyan Creek City, but it was just the right size to seat the seven or eight people present.
The flying boat flew along, taking less than half an hour to land outside a gate tower.
As Chu Ning walked down the flying boat, he looked up and saw three large characters on the gate tower.
Qinghe Square.