107: Can get in, can't get out

Immediately after, he reached out and pointed at a sesame-seed-sized spot on the grain of rice. “This is Yan Country.”

Jiang Lan: “?”

This canvas was a full three feet square, which is about one meter in modern terms.

Although two-thirds of the area was empty, wasn't this sesame-seed-sized spot a bit too much?

Jiang Lan seriously suspected that these two dots were just ink stains left on the paper when ink dropped while drawing the map.

Swallowing, he looked at the map again.

He didn't know until he looked closely, but Jiang Lan discovered that there were over two hundred sesame-seed-sized spots on this map.

As for the other large blocks, there were only twenty to thirty in total.

Jiang Lan pointed at the large blocks on the map and asked:

“Are these all countries?”

“That is natural.”

Hearing Old Man Huang's reply, a storm raged in Jiang Lan's heart.

He had known that Great Yan was just a small country.

But now, he truly understood just how small it was.

If the map's scale was accurate, any larger shape on the map could probably fit thousands of Yan Countries inside.

“Do you understand now?”

“I understand.” Jiang Lan swallowed and nodded heavily.

“Tsk…” Old Man Huang returned to his seat and said to Jiang Lan: “You've seen it, so let's get to the main topic.”

He continued:

“From the number of people in my Zhenwu Pavilion, you can tell. Zhenwu Pavilion doesn't have many requirements for recruiting people. Ordinary Martial Artists who want to join only need to pay five taels of silver as a token gesture.

“However, while Zhenwu Pavilion is easy to enter, it's not a charity. It's impossible to get Mortal Shedding or even higher Realm Cultivation Techniques just by paying five taels of silver. For ordinary people, getting an introductory method is already quite good.”

Jiang Lan nodded.

He naturally understood this principle.

If those precious Cultivation Techniques could really be obtained so easily, wouldn't they have become as common as roadside cabbage long ago? Why would he have to spend so much effort for so long?

“Therefore, if you want Cultivation Techniques, you must have contributions.”

“Contributions?”

Jiang Lan felt that these contributions should be something like contribution points.

“Exactly.” Old Man Huang nodded slightly, “You can understand contributions as the common currency within Zhenwu Pavilion. As long as you have enough contributions, you can exchange them for anything, be it instruction from powerful individuals, Martial Skills and Cultivation Techniques, or divine Sharp Weapons.”

Jiang Lan's eyes lit up.

Other things weren't as important; what mainly attracted him were the Martial Skills and Cultivation Techniques Old Man Huang mentioned.

Martial Skills and Cultivation Techniques were his foundation in this world.

Even Cultivation Techniques that were not originally strong could be reborn after being modified by the System.

And the top-tier Cultivation Techniques within Zhenwu Pavilion were probably top-tier even across the entire Chihong Province.

If they were further modified by the System and underwent a complete transformation, Jiang Lan couldn't even imagine how powerful they would become.

“Then these contributions…”

Before Jiang Lan could finish speaking, Old Man Huang had already guessed his unspoken words and answered directly:

“There are three ways to earn contributions. The first is to donate silver. Ten taels of silver for one contribution point, which is quite fair.”

Jiang Lan fell silent for a moment.

“Then, how many contributions does a Mortal Shedding Realm Cultivation Technique require?”

“The types vary, roughly between ten thousand and thirty thousand.” Old Man Huang answered without much thought, blurting it out.

Jiang Lan: “…”

He had a bit of money, but ten thousand contribution points, converted to silver, was one hundred thousand taels.

One hundred thousand taels of silver—let alone having it, he couldn't even find a place to steal it.

Jiang Lan even doubted whether the entire Great Yan's national treasury contained that amount of silver, which was debatable.

As for even better Cultivation Techniques, those would require thirty thousand contribution points.

If he couldn't even get one hundred thousand taels, wouldn't three hundred thousand taels be even more of a pipe dream?

Jiang Lan didn't consider it further and directly asked:

“What about the second method?”

“The second method, of course, is to take on various tasks within the Pavilion. There are teaching tasks, errand tasks, and many others. Depending on the difficulty of the task, you can earn different amounts of contributions.”

Old Man Huang continued: “I won't keep you in suspense and will tell you the third method as well. The third method is to exchange the corpses of Jiao Demons. Depending on the Jiao Demon's strength, the contributions you receive will vary.

“If you slay a Mortal Shedding Jiao Demon, you can at least exchange it for several thousand contributions. Kill a few, and the Cultivation Technique you desire will be yours.”

Jiang Lan's eyes lit up.

Compared to donating silver and doing tasks, the third method of obtaining contributions was clearly more suitable for him.

Donating silver was out of the question; he simply couldn't get it.

Doing tasks… anything called a task was bound to be troublesome.

He already felt he didn't have enough time to search for Jiao Demons; where would he find the time to do tasks?

Moreover, even if he did, ten thousand contributions—how long would that take?

So, clearly, the third method was more suitable for him.

However, while killing Jiao Demons was easy, finding Jiao Demons was difficult.

The number of Jiao Demons in various large cities was scarce, and crucially, their strength wasn't great, and they were well-hidden, making them hard to find.

As for the powerful ones… if they were truly formidable, like the Jiao Demon Jiang Lan encountered before, they would flaunt their tails to the sky, afraid that others wouldn't know they were Jiao Demons.

However, such instances were truly rare.

Although Great Yan was not large, it was still a country.

Within the entire Great Yan, there were fewer than a hundred recorded Jiao Demon disturbances.

For a city to encounter one once every few decades was already considered unlucky.

In remote areas outside the city, there were occasionally some, but their quality was truly subpar.

Qi Gathering, Skin Refinement, and Bone Refinement Jiao Demons were extremely rare.

“Tsk…”

Thinking of this, Jiang Lan couldn't help but click his tongue.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he looked up at Old Man Huang and said:

“Although Jiao Demons can be exchanged for contributions, from what I know, the number of Jiao Demons isn't really that high…”

“Not high?” Old Man Huang's eyes widened, and he pointed to the empty space on the map behind him, “Did you see the empty areas on there?”

Jiang Lan's gaze swept over and he nodded.

Indeed, only about one-third of the map's area had things drawn on it.

The remaining two-thirds were completely blank, with nothing there.

However, Jiang Lan had previously thought that those empty areas were simply nothing, or perhaps oceans and uninhabited zones.

But Old Man Huang's next sentence astonished Jiang Lan.

Old Man Huang said:

“Those blank areas, if not entirely occupied by Jiao Demons, are at least ninety percent. You should know, this map was painstakingly compiled by countless Seniors of my Zhenwu Pavilion. As for the areas not compiled, it's not because there's nothing there, but because people can't enter them. At least, the Seniors of my Zhenwu Pavilion can't enter.”

Jiang Lan frowned slightly, “Can't enter?”

Old Man Huang said unhurriedly:

“Tsk… it's not that they can't enter, of course they can enter, but whether they can come out again, that's another matter.”