“Liuyun Market…” Xia Yunzhao frowned in confusion. “Where is that? I’ve never heard of it.”
Shang Shuangze shook his head as well. “It may not be nearby.”
Then there was nothing they could do. If they could not even find the place, where were they supposed to collect the money?
Over the next few days, Xia Yunzhao did not go out again. He needed time to properly digest everything they had gained over the past few days: pills to refine, artifacts to make, and that newly acquired body-tempering cultivation method… all of it was good stuff.
After several days without refining pills, his hands were practically itching for it.
He first refined a batch of Dew-Condensing Pills to warm up. Fifteen minutes later, he stared at the five pills beside his hand and fell into thought.
The Hundred-Compartment Pouch had given him an idea. If a storage pouch could divide its interior into separate spaces, could a pill furnace do the same? Xiao Qing’s belly contained limitless space. If he could divide that space as well, wouldn’t he be able to refine several batches of pills at once?
He immediately took out all his Dew-Condensing Grass.
Dew-Condensing Grass itself was very common. He had found plenty in the mountains before, and after spending so long out there this time, he had accumulated more than five hundred stalks, enough for fifty batches of Dew-Condensing Pills.
He grabbed a hundred stalks of Dew-Condensing Grass, divided them into ten portions, and tossed them into the pill furnace at the same time. The Earthfire Art roared to life.
Xia Yunzhao concentrated, controlling the earthfire while simultaneously monitoring the condition of all ten portions of herbs inside the furnace. Sweat gradually beaded on his forehead.
Suddenly, the pill furnace trembled slightly. One portion of spirit herbs was ruined.
Xia Yunzhao’s expression did not change. He continued dividing his attention among the remaining nine portions.
Gradually, the fragrance of pills drifted out. At a certain moment, he opened his eyes and formed a hand seal. “Open!”
Crisp crackling sounds rang out from inside the furnace. All nine portions had actually succeeded!
Xia Yunzhao himself was delighted. “Come look…” He raised his head, only to find Shang Shuangze sitting directly opposite him, his gaze already resting on him. Shang Shuangze nodded. “Very impressive.”
Xia Yunzhao broke into a smile. “I didn’t expect it to work on the first try. Now my pill-refining speed is even faster!” He reviewed the process in his head. “With my current energy, I think twenty batches at once is my absolute limit. Any more than that and I won’t be able to keep track of everything.”
Shang Shuangze said, “At the Foundation Establishment stage, one can cultivate spiritual sense. Once your spiritual sense grows stronger, you will be able to refine more batches at once.”
“You can do that too?” Xia Yunzhao had learned something new. He packed away the pills. “Then wouldn’t those Golden Core big shots be able to refine hundreds of pills at once? Sure enough, I still have so much to learn!”
Shang Shuangze, however, did not think that was necessarily the case. Of all the pill cultivators he had met, never mind those at the Golden Core stage, even Pill Venerables rarely refined several batches at once. Talent like Xia Yunzhao’s was exceedingly rare in the world.
Xia Yunzhao put the pills away, divided another hundred stalks of Dew-Condensing Grass, and rubbed his hands together, eager to try again.
As expected, all ten batches succeeded this time!
He tried fifteen batches, then twenty… Sure enough, once he reached twenty, his energy could no longer quite keep up. Three batches failed, while seventeen succeeded.
Even so, his efficiency was still higher than that of ten ordinary pill cultivators combined.
The refined Dew-Condensing Pills piled up like little pebbles, and he ran out of porcelain bottles to hold them. Thus, the bamboo-joint pill jars made their triumphant return, round pills filling one bamboo section after another.
If the cultivators in the underground market saw this, their hearts would probably ache. Dew-Condensing Pills were essential for every Qi Refining cultivator! They eased the discomfort caused by tempering the acupoints. Without them, a cultivator had to suffer quite a bit. Many people would pay a high price just to keep a bottle on hand. Who would ever imagine that someone had so many Dew-Condensing Pills at home that he stored them in jars?
After finishing the Dew-Condensing Pills, Xia Yunzhao refined another whole jar of Fasting Pills.
Fasting Pills were also very popular among cultivators in the underground market. Xia Yunzhao had never had this much time before, so he usually stopped after refining seven or eight batches of each of these two kinds of pills. Now that his pill-refining efficiency had shot up, he simply let himself loose and refined every last bit of the raw materials he had accumulated!
When he finally counted everything, he had refined more than two hundred Dew-Condensing Pills alone! There were a full one hundred and three high-grade pills, enough to last him all the way to Foundation Establishment.
There were more than one hundred and seventy Fasting Pills, sixty of them high-grade.
This also made it obvious that Fasting Pills really were somewhat harder to refine than Dew-Condensing Pills.
Bamboo jars filled with pills were stacked inside the cave dwelling, releasing wave after wave of pill fragrance.
Thoroughly satisfied, Xia Yunzhao packed the pills away, took out more raw materials, and prepared to try refining new pills.
Ten Basic Pill Recipes really was a treasure. It contained ten pill recipes in all, every one of them for a commonly seen low-level pill. Besides Bloodstanching Pills and Qi-Replenishing Pills, there were Stone-Skin Pills that increased defense, Light-Body Pills that increased speed, Detoxification Pills that neutralized poison, as well as Clearheart Pills, Origin-Nourishing Pills, and others.
He had so many resources on hand that, after counting them up, he discovered he had actually gathered all the materials needed for quite a few of the recipes. He immediately decided to try refining them all.
Pill refining also required learning broadly from many sources. Naturally, the more pill recipes he knew, the better.
The first thing Xia Yunzhao chose was the Bloodstanching Pill.
He had been eyeing Bloodstanching Pills for ages! Not only because they could be sold for money, but because he needed them himself. The Bloodstanching Pills he currently took had all been gifts from Fang family cultivators. What if one day they stopped giving him any? That left him feeling terribly insecure.
Right. And now he had another reason: Shang Shuangze needed his pills too.
The main ingredient of the Bloodstanching Pill was Bloodstanching Grass. Xia Yunzhao had never sold any of the Bloodstanching Grass he gathered, so by now he had accumulated more than enough to experiment with.
He carefully read through the pill recipe once more, then formed a hand seal and followed the instructions step by step: processing the spirit plants, tempering them with fire, refining them…
By the time the fragrance of pills drifted out, he had not even reacted yet. He instinctively opened the pill furnace and saw five pills rolling around inside.
This was the first time he had ever succeeded the very first time he attempted a new pill!
Did this mean his pill-refining skill had improved again?
His spirits lifted. He took out more Bloodstanching Grass and continued experimenting with renewed enthusiasm.
＊
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
During that half month of seclusion, Xiao Xia not only became proficient at refining Bloodstanching Pills and Qi-Replenishing Pills, he could even refine ten batches at once, completely exhausting his raw materials in the process. He also learned how to refine Stone-Skin Pills, Light-Body Pills, and Detoxification Pills.
Of those, he refined only one batch of Stone-Skin Pills, two batches of Detoxification Pills, and a few more Light-Body Pills, four batches in total. There was no point selling such small quantities, so he simply kept them for personal use.
As for the Bloodstanching Pills and Qi-Replenishing Pills, he once again picked out the high-grade pills and kept them for himself and Shang Shuangze, packing away all the rest to sell later.
During this time, Shang Shuangze did not go out even once. He simply cultivated with Xia Yunzhao inside the cave dwelling and stood guard over him while he refined pills.
Sometimes, when Xia Yunzhao grew tired from refining pills, he would stand up and walk around, wandering through the valley with Shang Shuangze to see whether any of the spirit plants in the fields had sprouted. Sometimes they would quietly hide nearby and watch the little civet sleeping with her kittens in her arms. It was incredibly soothing.
With the pills finished, artifact refining came next.
As usual, he started with something simple and refined five Water-Purifying Gourds first.
He did not know whether his luck was simply bad, but he still had not found any Thousand-Jointed Bamboo. The bamboo he was using now was still from the dozen or so stalks Xu Ziyu had tossed him back then.
Xiao Xia was not sure whether it was his imagination, but he had also become much more proficient at artifact refining. Not only did a Water-Purifying Gourd take less time to make, he even had plenty of materials left over. In the past, refining one Water-Purifying Gourd required three handfuls of Purified Sand. Now, two handfuls were enough.
That was good news. Purified Sand was not exactly easy to find.
After refining the Water-Purifying Gourds, he made another ten Spirit-Binding Ropes. He was reluctant to sell the Spirit-Binding Ropes and kept them all for himself. If he ever captured a valuable slaughter beast in the future and did not want to kill it immediately, he could tie it up instead.
Once his hands were fully warmed up, he finally took out the artifact blueprint for the Hundred-Compartment Pouch.
The Hundred-Compartment Pouch was a Level-One magical artifact, but the materials it required were not particularly common. The most valuable material, and also its primary ingredient, was a Level-One Voidspace Stone.
Voidspace Stones were used to divide and separate space. Although he only needed a Level-One Voidspace Stone, any Voidspace Stone was valuable regardless of level.
By coincidence, the two crystals Xia Yunzhao had obtained from the Floating Ark’s control room were both Voidspace Stones.
The Floating Ark also contained spatial arrangements, and Voidspace Stones were precisely what it used to divide those spaces.
The difference was that these two Voidspace Stones had originally been Level Three, but after their spiritual energy had dissipated for more than a thousand years, they had now fallen to roughly Level One.
Xia Yunzhao took out the two white, glittering stones, clenched his fist, and declared solemnly, “We only have these two Voidspace Stones. If I fail even once, one of us won’t get a Hundred-Compartment Pouch!”
Shang Shuangze thought for a moment. “I can go without one.”
“Hey!” Xia Yunzhao’s solemn expression broke as he laughed. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me I’m definitely going to succeed?”
Shang Shuangze chuckled softly. “How could anyone succeed every single time? Besides, it doesn’t matter if you fail. The first time I practiced swordsmanship, I cut my own palm.”
Xia Yunzhao stared at him in surprise. “I thought you were some kind of swordsmanship genius?”
Shang Shuangze thought back. “My talent was indeed quite good, but that does not mean I never encountered difficulties.”
Xia Yunzhao felt deeply understood. “Same here. The Bloodstanching Pill is the only one I succeeded at on my first try. I failed the first time I refined the Qi-Replenishing Pill and the Stone-Skin Pill too.”
If this conversation between two talent monsters ever got out, who knew how many people would die of jealousy? Fortunately, no one else knew about it.
After adjusting his mindset, Xia Yunzhao finally began refining the Hundred-Compartment Pouch. It was the most difficult magical artifact he had ever attempted to make.
The puppet did not count. He had merely repaired Yun Yi, not refined it from scratch.
The sun rose in the east, climbed to the middle of the sky, then sank beyond the western mountains. An entire day passed.
During that time, Yun Yi came to report that one of the spirit plants in the fields had sprouted. Shang Shuangze did not let it disturb Xia Yunzhao. Instead, he went out to take a look himself and instructed Yun Yi to care for it properly.
The cave remained quiet until the moon hung high in the sky. At last, Shang Shuangze sensed a spatial fluctuation and opened his eyes. He immediately knew. It worked!
Xia Yunzhao truly was the most talented person Shang Shuangze had ever met, whether in artifact refining, pill refining, or cultivation.
Sure enough, when he walked inside, he found Xia Yunzhao holding a storage pouch in his hand, lost in thought.
He asked, “How did it go?”
Xia Yunzhao beckoned him closer. “Look. I inscribed an Aura-Concealing Rune on it. Now its aura is suppressed, so it looks just like an ordinary storage pouch.”
Shang Shuangze looked carefully. Sure enough, the Hundred-Compartment Pouch had originally shone with brilliant light, but constrained by the rune, it now looked rather dull and dusty.
Xia Yunzhao continued, “I was thinking, if I inscribed a rune on a person’s body, could it hide their cultivation?”
“There are indeed magical artifacts that conceal cultivation.” Shang Shuangze affirmed his idea. “But I know little about magical artifacts, so I cannot say whether they use runes.”
“Then let’s try it!” Xia Yunzhao had always been a man of action, and his curiosity was equally strong. He immediately took out a set of Protective Vine Armor and carved an Aura-Concealing Rune onto it.
When he put it on again, the aura around his entire body really did sink and fade. Shang Shuangze sensed him for a moment. “You feel like an ordinary person, but if I probe carefully, I can still detect your cultivation.”
“That’s because your cultivation is higher than mine!” Xia Yunzhao thought for a moment and immediately came up with two or three possible improvements. “Forget it. I’ll deal with this after I finish refining the Hundred-Compartment Pouches. There’s no rush.”
With the experience of the first one, the second Hundred-Compartment Pouch was much easier to refine and was soon completed.
Shang Shuangze removed the unstable storage magical artifact from his waist, hung the Hundred-Compartment Pouch there instead, and carefully straightened it.
Xia Yunzhao looked him over from head to toe and suddenly felt that Shang Shuangze was missing far too many things.
His hair was so beautiful, so he should have a protective magical artifact made into a hair ornament! It had to look good and have strong defenses. He needed a magical robe too, preferably refined in white. Boots as well. Flowing Cloud Shoes would suit him perfectly, except Xia Yunzhao still had not gathered all the materials… And when other cultivators fought, they had magical treasures in one hand and magical artifacts in the other. He could not just let Shang Shuangze charge in with nothing but a sword. He needed offensive magical treasures too…
As he was thinking, Shang Shuangze raised a hand and held something out in front of him.
Xia Yunzhao looked down. Right, the familiar spiritual-power orb… He suppressed a laugh. “What’s this?”
Shang Shuangze said, “A strand of my sword intent is sealed inside. It can withstand one strike from an early Golden Core cultivator. It can be stored inside the Hundred-Compartment Pouch. Keep it for self-defense.”
“No wonder there have been spiritual-power orbs of every size floating around the house these past few days. So you were practicing this?” Xia Yunzhao lifted the spiritual-power orb in his palm. Sure enough, it could be placed inside the Hundred-Compartment Pouch, so he hurriedly stored it alone in a separate compartment.
Shang Shuangze gave a quiet acknowledgment. “I’m not very proficient yet. I’ll make more for you in the future.”
Then he looked at Xia Yunzhao. “Where are we going today?”
Xia Yunzhao said, “The underground market! We’ll sell everything we ought to sell, and once it’s all gone, we’ll have money!”
Shang Shuangze nodded, and the two set out together.
Shang Shuangze had just started to release a spiritual-power orb when Xia Yunzhao suddenly cried out, “I forgot about this!”
He tossed out the unused Low-Level Defensive Formation Diagram. It unfurled in midair and covered the entire valley, after which he took out the necessary materials and placed them one by one.
Only yesterday had he realized that he had already gathered every material required for the formation diagram.
“Now we don’t have to worry about anyone sneaking in to rob the place.” Once the formation diagram was set up, an invisible barrier enveloped the entire valley. Xia Yunzhao added, “This formation can withstand attacks from Foundation Establishment cultivators…”
Shang Shuangze raised an eyebrow.
Xia Yunzhao: “…Of course, not a Foundation Establishment cultivator like you, but it’s good enough. Let’s go.”
The two entered Qingxi City together and arrived at the entrance to the underground market, where heaps of rubbish still lay everywhere. Xia Yunzhao dragged Shang Shuangze quickly past them and plunged inside. In an instant, the roar of voices filled his ears.
Xia Yunzhao rubbed his ears and looked up, stunned. “Good heavens. How long has it been since I was last here? How did it get this much bigger?”
“It expanded ages ago. It’s doubled in size.” A fellow cultivator wearing a green mask casually answered from beside him. “Ever since the Mist-Barrier Period began, more cultivators have been arriving in Qingxi City by the day. Even this still isn’t enough space. Plenty of cultivators arrive too late to get a stall and have to set up outside the main market.”
With that, the cultivator pointed. Xia Yunzhao looked and, sure enough, people had even set up stalls right by the entrance. Quite a few buyers had gathered around them too.
He cupped his hands in thanks and immediately headed toward the Ji family member guarding the entrance. “Did you keep the stall I reserved before?”
Stalls in the underground market could be reserved. As long as the deposit was paid in full, a stall could be held for a month. Xia Yunzhao had paid the deposit before leaving last time, but he had worried that with business so good lately, the Ji family might not need one particular stallholder badly enough to keep their promise.
The Ji family member whose face was half covered in scars glanced at him. “Which one?”
Xia Yunzhao pointed it out.
The Ji family member said, “It’s reserved. You can go straight there.”
“Good, thank you.” Since he had a stall, there was no hurry. He strolled leisurely in that direction and asked, “Have you been to the underground market before?”
“Of course,” Shang Shuangze replied. “I came here before hoping to find a pill cultivator, but I did not find one.”
Xia Yunzhao laughed. “Then your timing was bad. If you’d happened to run into me, you would’ve found a pill cultivator.”
As they chatted, Xia Yunzhao glanced to the side and made a surprised sound. “Qingmu Pavilion? Isn’t this the plant cultivator Fellow Daoist Ning mentioned?”
He leaned in to look. The little shop was extremely distinctive, almost entirely wrapped in greenery. Spirit plants grew across its outer walls and roof. Some he recognized, while others were unfamiliar.
Xia Yunzhao thought, If they let spirit plants grow on the outside walls like that, aren’t they worried someone will steal them?
Shang Shuangze said, “There’s a formation.”
Xia Yunzhao immediately understood. Right. Even he had protected his remote, deserted valley with a formation. Of course someone running a shop in the underground market would have one too.
His curiosity about the plant cultivator immediately grew. He peeked inside. The shop was arranged very neatly, with tiered bamboo shelves in the front hall holding processed spirit plants, most of them common varieties.
A small tea area occupied the side room, where a young cultivator sat drinking tea. Without even lifting his head, the cultivator said, “If the guest is curious, you may come in and have a look.”
Xia Yunzhao knew the man was speaking to him and stepped inside without hesitation. “Then I won’t stand on ceremony.”
From inside, he could see much more clearly. The shop was fairly spacious. Besides processed spirit herbs, the bamboo shelves also held living spirit herbs planted in red clay pots, one little pot after another arranged at varying heights. The effect was quite charming.
Xia Yunzhao spoke honestly. “Your shop is beautiful.”
The young cultivator smiled. “Yes. I think so too.”
Xia Yunzhao walked around the bamboo shelves and found a counter behind them. A wooden sign hung above it: HIGH PRICE PAID FOR DETOXIFICATION PELLETS.
“Huh? Why not buy Detoxification Pellets from Wandan Hall?” Someone who could afford to run a shop like this should not be too poor to buy them, right?
The cultivator snorted. “I don’t get along with Wandan Hall. I won’t buy pills from them.”
Wandan Hall really did manage to offend people everywhere… Xia Yunzhao smiled. “When you say a high price, how high are we talking?”
The cultivator raised an eyebrow. “You have some?” He looked Xia Yunzhao up and down, then glanced at Shang Shuangze. “You came as a pair, so that possibility didn’t occur to me. Looking at you now, could you be the cultivator who used to set up a stall and sell pills here?”
Xia Yunzhao waved a hand. “Never mind all that. Just tell me what you’ll pay.”
The cultivator was equally straightforward. “The market price for a Detoxification Pill is one thousand spirit pearls each. Wandan Hall always sells them for triple that. I’ll pay you triple too: three thousand spirit pearls per pill. How does that sound?”
“Deal!” Xia Yunzhao slapped his palm on the counter, and a pill appeared there.
“Straightforward! I like it.” The cultivator stood and paid him. “Want to be friends? I’m Qingmu. What should I call you, Fellow Daoist?”
Qingmu… Xia Yunzhao silently stared at him. Just how thick-skinned did someone have to be to hang his own name over the front door?
Qingmu remained completely unmoved. “My name sounds good, and it suits the place.”
Xia Yunzhao said helplessly, “I’m Xia Yunzhao. This fellow Daoist is Shang Shuangze.”
Only when he heard Xia Yunzhao introducing him did Shang Shuangze give Qingmu a slight nod.
Qingmu could feel that Shang Shuangze’s gaze and even his aura seemed to envelop Xia Yunzhao. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he addressed only Xia Yunzhao. “Since you’re a pill cultivator, you must need spirit plants. Why not buy them from me? My spirit plants are all excellent quality.”
Xia Yunzhao smiled. “Not only do I not need to buy spirit plants, I’m actually here to sell some. I heard you buy them. What do you say? Interested in doing business?”
“Sell?” Qingmu understood immediately. “Gathered from Liancui Mountain?” He tapped the counter. “Put them here and let me have a look. Wild spirit plants vary greatly in quality, so they’re often priced individually. I’ll pay above market price for high-quality plants, but I don’t want inferior ones.”
“Don’t worry. They’ll only be better than average, never worse.” Xia Yunzhao lifted a hand, and a haystack-sized pile of spirit plants appeared. These were only the ones he had no use for. If a spirit plant was even slightly useful, he could not bear to sell it.
Abundant spiritual energy radiated from the pile, even affecting the spirit herbs growing inside the shop. The little plants in their clay pots swayed back and forth under the surge of spiritual energy, making it obvious that the quality was indeed excellent.
Qingmu nodded slightly and crouched down to identify them carefully. Friends were friends, but business still had to be handled properly.
He inspected them extremely quickly, almost able to judge the quality of each spirit plant in a single glance.
He was also wearing a magical artifact that concealed his cultivation, so Xia Yunzhao could not tell his cultivation level. Still, he guessed Qingmu’s cultivation was not low, and that he certainly possessed some relevant cultivation method.
After roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Qingmu stood up. “Your spirit plants really are good. I’ll take all of them. Twenty-four thousand three hundred spirit pearls in total. Go over the amount yourself and make sure it’s right.”
Xia Yunzhao’s own estimate was about the same, so the two completed the transaction.
He had not even opened his stall yet and had already earned more than twenty thousand spirit pearls. Xiao Xia was delighted.
Qingmu did not use a storage pouch. He simply picked up the entire pile of spirit plants and carried them toward the back. Through the rear door of his shop was a courtyard filled with plot after plot of spirit fields, all planted with spirit plants.
Curious, Xia Yunzhao asked, “Can I go take a look?”
“Why couldn’t you?” Qingmu pointed with his chin. “Come on in.”
Xia Yunzhao grabbed Shang Shuangze and hurried over. The moment he entered, dense spiritual energy washed over his face. “There’s this much spiritual energy here?”
Shang Shuangze said, “A Spirit-Gathering Formation.”
Xia Yunzhao: “Oh, right, a Spirit-Gathering… Ah!” He suddenly slapped his thigh. “The Spirit-Gathering Formation!”
His voice was a little loud this time, and Qingmu looked over curiously. Xia Yunzhao hurriedly lowered his voice. “The Spirit-Gathering Formation we brought back from the Floating Ark. We forgot to set it up!”
Shang Shuangze looked at him. “I already set it up.”
Xia Yunzhao: “Huh? You did?”
Amused, Shang Shuangze said, “These past few days, you have been refining more than ten batches of pills at once, consuming several times as much spiritual energy as before. Did you ever notice the spiritual energy running dry?”
Xia Yunzhao thought about it. It really had not… “I thought my cultivation had improved… So it was the Spirit-Gathering Formation. This formation really is useful! It saved me quite a few spirit stones!” He asked, “What about you? Can you feel any difference?”
Shang Shuangze said, “When I am inside the formation with you, I absorb spiritual energy faster than usual.” The increase was quite limited, because a low-level Spirit-Gathering Formation was not particularly useful to him… but it was useful nevertheless, because of the person in front of him.
“That’s great!” Xia Yunzhao was indeed happy for him. “Then from now on, whenever you cultivate, you have to call me over!”
“Mm.” Shang Shuangze answered softly again.
Qingmu watched the two of them say they wanted to look around, only to step inside and stop moving entirely, standing with their heads close together and murmuring privately… He made an expression as though his teeth hurt and went back to planting the spirit plants he had just bought into the fields.
Xia Yunzhao walked over and asked, “What are you doing? Aren’t these spirit plants already mature?”
“Mature isn’t enough.” Qingmu said, “You know spirit plants are valued by age, right?”
Xia Yunzhao nodded. “I know a little.” Resilient Vine, for example, was divided into plants older than a hundred years and those younger than a hundred years.
Most other low-tier spirit plants, however, did not seem to require much age.
Qingmu said, “Spirit plants older than a hundred years and those younger than a hundred years don’t sell for anything close to the same price. I can cultivate the plants I bought from you until they’re over a hundred years old, then sell them and make a huge profit.”
Xia Yunzhao asked in confusion, “You have to wait a whole hundred years?”
Qingmu pointed at the formation stones beside the spirit fields. “I have a time formation here. One day inside is equivalent to one year, so it only takes three months.”
Xia Yunzhao froze. A time formation? There was something this good in the world?!