The facts told him that the difference really was quite significant. A standard room at five spirit stones per day had much denser spiritual energy than a daily rental. Cultivating inside for one day was equivalent to a day and a half in a daily rental.

In other words, cultivating for three days in a daily rental with six spirit stones was equal to two days in a standard room, but... it would cost ten spirit stones.

Which is more cost-effective? Of course, cultivating in the standard room is more worthwhile. Although it costs four more spirit stones, it saves a whole day.

For cultivators, time is the most useless thing—one meditation session and hundreds of years can pass. But at the same time, time is also the most valuable. A level nine Wandering Immortal can live for two hundred years, and if one steps into the Spirit Immortal realm, as long as the cultivation method is decent, one can live at least three hundred years.

If one can reach a higher level in the shortest possible time, spirit stones really aren’t a problem.

So after trying it for a day, he directly tossed an orange spirit stone to the inn, a mid-grade spirit stone. “Register me for twenty days first, I’m going to break through.”

The inn didn’t think much of it. Many people came here to break through, mainly seeking a place without disturbance.

And this guest in room 9303 really gave off the air of someone who wasn’t short on money. Ever since he entered the room, he hadn’t stepped out at all, even having his meals delivered directly by the attendant.

During this period, there was a rather intense fluctuation of spiritual energy in the inn, probably someone at Wandering Immortal level four trying to break through to level five. However, the inn’s spirit-gathering array covered all the rooms, so it didn’t attract much attention.

On the twentieth day, Andrew Brooks finally finished his closed-door cultivation. He had successfully broken through to the peak of level three. Comparatively, level four was not so easy to reach—that was already the mid-stage of Wandering Immortal.

He settled the bill. Besides the one hundred spirit stones for the room, he had also spent more than thirty spirit stones on food. And that was without taking any pills to boost his cultivation, which showed just how massive the resources needed for focused cultivation were.

After leaving the inn, he first went to the pawnshop, as the thirty days were almost up.

The shopkeeper had long forgotten who he was, but upon seeing the pawn ticket, a strange look immediately appeared on his face. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, “Pardon me for asking, but do you have any more of this kind of spider silk?”

“Why do you care if I do or not?” Andrew Brooks glared at him, still quite displeased about the low price the man had offered before. Now that he had the money to redeem his pawn, he wasn’t about to bother with this guy. “I’m here to redeem it.”

The shopkeeper could only purse his lips helplessly. Ever since someone from the Blood Sand Marquis’s household had inquired about this spider silk, he’d had it appraised, only to discover that this unremarkable white strand was actually the famous silk of the Cleansing Spider.

The Nightmare Spider, also known as the Cleansing Spider, existed in the Ascension Passage. Not only did it devour ascenders, but it could also effectively clear out some spatial debris, hence the nickname.

As mentioned before, this kind of spider silk possessed spatial power, making it a strategic resource for medium or larger-scale battles. A single strand wasn’t much, but it was still quite valuable.

The strand in the shopkeeper’s hand was worth about a hundred spirit stones on the market, but it was so rare that it was basically priceless. If someone really wanted to buy it, it could easily fetch five hundred spirit stones.

And a single Nightmare Spider could produce at least ten times, even twenty times, as much silk as this strand.

The shopkeeper regretted it at the time—he should have set the price at fifty spirit stones. If the owner redeemed it, the pawnshop would make more profit; if not, it would be easy to sell at a high price.

Now the owner had come to redeem it, and his attitude was quite poor. The shopkeeper could only blame himself for lacking discernment and not being polite enough at the time.

Of course, he still had to try, “If you have more of this spider silk, our pawnshop is willing to buy it at a high price.”

“High price... how much?” Andrew Brooks frowned and asked.

“For just a strand like this... thirty spirit stones,” the shopkeeper offered, not very sincerely. But that was normal—the other party had once been so poor he couldn’t even scrape together two spirit stones and had to pawn things. If he didn’t take advantage now, when would he?

Andrew Brooks didn’t reply, just handed over three spirit stones, took back the small strand of spider silk, and turned to leave.

The shopkeeper was waiting for him to haggle, but when he saw him turn and leave directly, he got a bit anxious. “If you really want to sell, the price is negotiable.”

“I have no intention of selling at all,” Andrew Brooks replied without even turning his head. “I was just asking.”

“Damn it...” the shopkeeper muttered under his breath in frustration. But to him, it was just a not-so-successful deal, even if the other guy’s response was a bit infuriating.

Then more people came and went at the pawnshop. The next morning, a young man at Wandering Immortal level two entered, followed closely by two middle-aged men at Wandering Immortal level eight.

These two were from the Zheng family of the Blood Sand Marquis. Seeing the young man come in to pawn something, they said nothing. After the young man left, they were about to leave as well—this was their routine these days. Whenever a level one or two Wandering Immortal entered the pawnshop, they would follow in to take a look.

The Zheng family was determined to get the Nightmare Spider.