Yang Kai simply tidied up the cave, finding a suitable spot to serve as his bedroom.
Shortly after, he left the cave and took a stroll around Dragon Cave Mountain, which spanned a thousand li in every direction, running through his mind the various grand arrays used to gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
He had come across many such formations over the years. Back in the Tongxuan Continent at the Tianxiao Sect, at the Nine Heavens Holy Land, at the Ghost Ancestor's residence in the Suspended Continent, and a few years ago at Zong Ao's territory on Rain Waterfall Star — he had seen formations like these everywhere.
Since he had decided to stay here, he naturally needed to set up a more comfortable cultivation environment for himself.
Yang Kai's research into formations was limited. What he knew best were the spirit arrays used for alchemy. But the Dao of formations was vast, with ten thousand paths that all led to the same destination. After years of immersion, he also knew how to set up a spirit-gathering array.
This required the cooperation of geographical advantages, supplemented by certain materials, and arranged through various methods to form a proper formation.
Though Dragon Cave Mountain was not large in area, Yang Kai discovered that the natural conditions here were excellent. The cave that Wuyi had found for him was near several mountain peaks, and those peaks surrounded the cave on all sides. Using them as a foundation, he could set things up quite nicely.
As he wandered through the mountains, he kept recalling what Grand Elder Xu Hui had once told him when he was the master of the Nine Heavens Holy Land — including matters pertaining to the mysteries of the Nine Peaks' formations.
Before long, he had worked out a plan.
He didn't return to the cave but instead headed directly for Heavenly Fortune City, fifty li away.
Heavenly Fortune City fell under the Shadow Moon Hall's sphere of influence. Even though the Haake family was right nearby, they had no right to control the city, because the entire city was quite wealthy — far too much for any minor peripheral family to seize.
The Haake family merely operated a few businesses within the city, earning cultivation resources from passing warriors.
Upon entering Heavenly Fortune City, Yang Kai found it bustling with people and lined with shops. In terms of prosperity, it was in no way inferior to cities on Rain Waterfall Star or Water Moon Star — and perhaps even surpassed them.
The shop owners were mostly disciples of the Shadow Moon Hall. There were also people from the Hall's affiliated forces. They connected with customers from all directions here, raking in profits day after day. Every shop was a money tree.
There were no guards at the city gate collecting crystals — the Shadow Moon Hall allowed anyone to enter and leave the city freely.
Yang Kai walked along with great interest, his pace unhurried as he browsed through one shop after another.
Before long, he made a surprising discovery — in this city, and indeed throughout the entire Dark Star, the value of Holy Crystals was much higher than on other cultivation stars.
For example, a bottle of Yuan-Warming Pills for cultivation, which cost three hundred low-grade Holy Crystals on other cultivation stars, only cost two hundred here.
Something worth five hundred low-grade Holy Crystals elsewhere only required about four hundred here.
The isolation from the outside world had given the Dark Star its own system of value assessment. The scarcity of Holy Crystals made them far more valuable. With very few Holy Crystals, one could obtain a great deal.
Yang Kai was delighted.
Because in his Black Book's space, he had a full forty-seven thousand high-grade Holy Crystals. The conversion between different grades of Holy Crystals was one to five — meaning one high-grade Holy Crystal could be exchanged for five mid-grade Holy Crystals, and one mid-grade Holy Crystal for five low-grade Holy Crystals.
Calculated out, he had over one million low-grade Holy Crystals. He could buy whatever he wanted.
He only purchased some ores and materials he needed.
Then, with great enthusiasm, he headed to a place called the Artifact Refining Pavilion.
Every city had a place like this where people could have artifacts refined for them. This was true whether on the Tongxuan Continent or in the Star Field. In any city where warriors gathered in large numbers, such a place was bound to exist.
Not every warrior knew how to refine artifacts. When they needed one, they would seek out a skilled artifact refiner. This way, those refiners got practice and earned handsome compensation.
The Artifact Refining Pavilion in Heavenly Fortune City was also a subordinate institution of the Shadow Moon Hall. The dozens of artifact refiners stationed inside were mostly from the Shadow Moon Hall, though some were hired. These hired refiners would share their earnings with the Shadow Moon Hall after receiving payment. Although the Hall took a large cut, these people were relatively free — they could leave at any time and were not under the Shadow Moon Hall's jurisdiction.
When Yang Kai arrived, he was immediately struck by the lively scene inside.
There were at least close to two hundred warriors of varying strength lined up, waiting for the Artifact Refining Pavilion's refiners to craft artifacts for them.
The moment Yang Kai appeared, numerous gazes — some cold, some hot — turned toward him. Some were even quite wary, as if afraid he might cut in line.
This scene reminded him of how it had been back at the Nine Heavens Holy Land when they refined pills for others, and the crowds outside the Nine Peaks. At that time, many people had been willing to wait outside the Nine Peaks for a month or two — or even longer — to request that the Holy Land's alchemists help them refine pills.