Chapter 10

Of course, there were plenty of people with ideas like Li Mengze’s. Zhang Qing sold quite a lot of talisman papers today, but he hadn’t managed to exchange them for what he truly wanted. Neither he nor his brothers nor his master were skilled in pill refining, and the secret realm opening this time was a grand one, a once-in-a-century event. Upon entry, everyone would be randomly teleported, meaning he and his brothers would be separated. Because of this, they all needed more life-saving items; the usual limited supply of pills was now even more inadequate. So, the brothers had discussed making extra talisman papers this month, hoping to trade for pills if possible, or at least some spirit stones, so they could buy pills themselves—though the price of pills was already soaring, and in the last few days, only those with the highest bids would be able to get any. The spirit stones they held weren’t enough to buy much.

With such thoughts, Zhang Qing’s mood was understandably low. Especially after a day full of buyers, so few were willing to trade pills, and the only one who did used the most worthless Fasting Pill—he found it both laughable and infuriating.

As he pondered this, his view was suddenly shadowed by a figure. Zhang Qing, with little interest, spoke offhand, “First-level attack talisman, five spirit stones each. Defense talisman, four spirit stones. Each increase in grade adds five spirit stones. What do you want?” He looked up at the woman before him—her appearance was so ordinary, she’d be lost in a crowd at a glance.

As he was about to look down again, a gentle breeze brought a faint scent of medicine to his nose. Instantly, Zhang Qing’s eyes lit up—this might be an alchemist.

His enthusiasm grew, “Fellow Daoist, my master is a Golden Core Elder from Taiyi Peak, a famous master of talisman crafting. He can now make fifth-grade talismans usable by Nascent Soul cultivators. Look, these are made by my senior brother—third-grade talismans, both attack and defense. The most precious thing is these talismans conserve a quarter of your spiritual power when activated, and they work in a heartbeat’s time. They’re not expensive at all. If you pay in pills, a bottle of mid-grade Spirit Replenishing Pills can buy ten second-level talismans.”

Li Mengze thought this man’s change of face was quick, but the price was fair, and the talisman quality excellent. In combat, even a single heartbeat can decide victory or defeat.

Fair price and good product—if spirit stones were needed, Li Mengze might haggle, but with pills, she had no such worries.

She readily traded Spirit Replenishing Pills and Barrier-Breaking Pills for one hundred each of flight talismans, attack talismans, and defense talismans. Zhang Qing was so delighted his eyes narrowed with joy.

After looking around, he leaned close to Li Mengze, lowering his voice mysteriously, “Fellow Daoist, do you need fourth or fifth-grade talismans? They’re made by my master for us disciples’ protection. If you want them, you only need Gathering Spirit Pills to trade.”

He was so excited he forgot that even whispers were as clear as speaking aloud to cultivators.

Fortunately, this was Kunlun’s market; though some noticed, no one cared. Those with good masters didn’t worry, as their masters would prepare for them. Those without could not afford such things anyway. Only a couple glanced over and then walked on as if nothing had happened.

Gathering Spirit Pills were not as simple as Spirit Replenishing or Qi Replenishing Pills. Both Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators could use them to quickly restore spiritual power. Gathering Spirit Pills and Gathering Qi Pills were more suitable for Foundation Establishment cultivators. One Spirit Replenishing Pill could restore a quarter of a Qi Refining cultivator’s spiritual power, and even less for Foundation Establishment. Qi Replenishing Pills were a bit better, restoring about a third. For Foundation Establishment, these two pills were barely better than nothing.

But Gathering Spirit Pills and Gathering Qi Pills were different. One could quickly restore half a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s spiritual power, the other up to seventy percent, though the effect was less for higher realms.

Actually, Zhang Qing was just testing the waters. He really did have some talismans his master had given him. His master cared for his disciples, often gifting them talismans he made. Since they rarely used them, they’d accumulated quite a few. He hadn’t expected to sell them, as Gathering Qi and Gathering Spirit Pills were very important for Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Li Mengze asked, “What kind of talismans?” She had plenty of fourth and fifth-grade talismans, given by her uncle and father—both were artifact refiners, so she was always well supplied, even able to escape death by detonating magical treasures or spiritual tools in a crisis.

Zhang Qing was thrilled—he saw a fat sheep right before his eyes.

Li Mengze had no idea she was being seen as easy prey. If she did, she’d find it amusing and perhaps teach him a lesson about who was truly the fat sheep.

“I have flight talismans, explosion talismans, freezing talismans, bramble talismans, and protective talismans that can block a Nascent Soul cultivator’s strike.” These were the more common types—he had better ones, but he wasn’t about to sell his very best.

Li Mengze understood his thinking. She’d spent nearly ten years in the workplace, after all. Every talisman maker saved the most powerful for themselves. The types he offered were useful but not essential.

Such talismans had their uses, but weren’t worth paying a high price for.

“Two bottles of Gathering Spirit Pills. Two of each type you mentioned. Take it or leave it; I’ll check elsewhere if you don’t agree.”

Li Mengze waited for his reaction. Zhang Qing was stunned—his fat sheep had turned into a miser.

In the end, Li Mengze walked away with ten fifth-grade talismans for the price of two bottles of Gathering Spirit Pills. She found it amusing—her last life’s guidebooks were right: “I’ll check elsewhere and compare prices” always works better on sellers.

Zhang Qing wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. In normal times, these talismans could fetch two bottles plus five mid-grade Gathering Spirit Pills. But now, with news of the secret realm, the prices of pills and formations had soared, while talisman prices remained unchanged. It made talisman makers like him sigh in frustration.

He carefully stowed the pills, waiting for the next customer. No matter what, he’d achieved his goal for the day—a great success.

After trading talismans, Li Mengze had barely walked a few steps before she heard a childish voice in her mind, “Quick, quick, quick! Good treasure!”

Following the direction indicated by her artifact spirit, she found a stall—a Qi Refining cultivator’s booth. The seller looked near the end of his lifespan, as even Qi Refining cultivators usually appeared much younger than their actual age. This one was at the sixth level, his face deeply wrinkled, clearly unable to advance further.

His stall was cluttered, with several spirit herbs that had lost their vitality—only good for making inferior pills, of little use, tossed aside. The majority of the items were magical tools, mostly suitable for Qi Refining cultivators. She searched the booth but found nothing matching her artifact spirit’s claim of a treasure.

She began to doubt its treasure-finding skills, thinking she should discount its words a bit.

The artifact spirit, oblivious to her assessment, tried its best to describe the treasure. Finally, amid the junk, she found an egg-shaped item as it had described.

It looked exactly like an egg, shell and all. After identifying it: white-shelled egg, rich in nutrients.

She bought the egg for two low-grade spirit stones, then tossed it into her storage space. It showed no sign of life, clearly not a spirit beast. As for a magical tool—who would ever forge an egg-shaped magical artifact? She couldn’t imagine how it could be used.

As she neared the end of the street, she discovered something interesting. In the cultivators’ market, ordinary people were also present, setting up stalls just like the cultivators, selling spirit plants, spirit rice, and common foodstuffs. Business seemed good; at least Li Mengze saw several people buying from them.

Delicious food tempts everyone. Even the greatest cultivators can’t resist their favorite wine. So Li Mengze felt no embarrassment imagining delicious roasted meat and fresh vegetables, mouth watering all the while.

She promptly joined the buyers. She had no time to enjoy it now, but she could eat well in the secret realm—endlessly eating Fasting Pills was a dreary affair, especially since those had no flavor options.

After the month-long market ended, Li Mengze poured all her spirit stones onto the bed, counting them like a miser, one by one. Whether in her past life or this one, she’d never known poverty, but money earned by oneself tasted sweeter than anything freely given.

After counting them over and over, satisfied, she put the spirit stones back into her storage bag. She didn’t keep them in her space for a simple reason—the artifact spirit was a bottomless pit. No matter how many spirit stones she put in, they'd all be absorbed, unlike the spiritual energy it drew from her body, which was measured and even returned to her. For a money-lover like her, she would never let her spirit stones disappear into the space.