Chapter 182 - 177: Future Plans
Seven days later, Li Yuan delivered the third batch of thirty Mind-Refining Talismans to Pill Refiner He’s courtyard.
Pill Refiner He picked out a few to inspect, as was his custom. He didn’t say whether they were good or bad, just nodded and put the Talismans away.
"Our contract ends here."
Pill Refiner He set his white porcelain teacup on the stone table, stood up, and walked into the main house.
There were no extra pleasantries, no words of farewell. The contract was over, and that was that.
Li Yuan didn’t linger either and turned to leave the courtyard.
Back in his own rented courtyard, Li Yuan sat at his desk, unsure of what to do for a moment.
His contract with Pill Refiner He was finished, his agreement with the Wang family was resolved, and Old Sun was perfectly capable of watching the shop by himself. He had no pressing tasks to complete and nowhere he had to be.
He could continue to stay on the outskirts of the Secret Realm, but the conditions here were average at best. The concentration of Spiritual Qi in the settlement couldn’t compare to a proper marketplace, and the spending power of Loose Cultivators was limited. While Talisman sales weren’t bad, the volume was low. It was also inconvenient to purchase materials for Alchemy; he either had to make a trip to Yunyang Marketplace or wait for someone to bring them out from the Secret Realm.
Furthermore, the situation on the outskirts of the Secret Realm was hardly peaceful. Members of the Li family were still active in the area, and reinforcements from the Wang family had just arrived. The clandestine struggle between the two sides was far from over. If he stayed here, he would inevitably get dragged into it.
Yunyang Marketplace.
The thought came to Li Yuan.
Yunyang Marketplace was the largest marketplace in the Primordial Yang Sect’s territory, more than ten times the size of Qinghe Marketplace. Herb shops, Magical Artifact stores, Loose Cultivator gathering areas—it had everything. The variety and quality of talisman-crafting materials were far richer than on the outskirts of the Secret Realm, and Alchemy herbs were also much easier to buy.
More importantly, there were more people. More people meant more information, more trade, and more opportunities.
Li Yuan needed the supplementary ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill, a large amount of talisman-crafting materials to maintain his income, and various pills and Cultivation Techniques to continue upgrading his Entries. It wasn’t that these things were unavailable on the outskirts of the Secret Realm, but the selection was too limited, and the prices were poor.
Yunyang Marketplace was better suited for his current situation.
Li Yuan made his decision.
That afternoon, he went to the shop to let Old Sun know.
"I’m going to stay in Yunyang Marketplace for a while."
Old Sun was cleaning the residue from a Pill Furnace and didn’t even look up. "Go ahead. I’ll watch the shop."
"Alright."
Early the next morning, Li Yuan packed his things and set off.
The journey from the outskirts of the Secret Realm to Yunyang Marketplace was about a day and a half’s travel along the main road. Li Yuan activated his Divine Movement Step to travel, moving at nearly twice the normal walking speed. He spotted the grayish-brown city walls of Yunyang Marketplace before dusk.
The city walls were thirty to forty feet high, and the gate was wide enough for six or seven people to walk abreast. A short line had formed at the entrance. The entry fee was two Spirit Stones, the same as his last visit.
Li Yuan paid the Spirit Stones and entered the city.
The main street was bustling with people, its green flagstone pavement worn smooth and shiny from countless footsteps. Shops lined both sides in dense rows—Magical Artifact stores, Pill Shops, Talisman shops, and Materials Shops, their signs packed one after another. The Loose Cultivator gathering area was in the southern part of the marketplace, with dozens of times more stalls than on the outskirts of the Secret Realm, selling all sorts of strange and curious things.
Li Yuan didn’t rush to browse; his first priority was to find a place to stay.
The last time he came to Yunyang Marketplace, he had stayed in a courtyard on the outskirts where the Spiritual Qi concentration was average. This time, he planned to find a place deeper inside, one with abundant Spiritual Qi to facilitate his Cultivation.
He walked north along the main street for a while before turning into a side alley. The alley was lined with courtyards specifically for rent to Loose Cultivators, managed by dedicated personnel who collected rent monthly. The closer to the center of the marketplace, the denser the Spiritual Qi, and the higher the rent.
Li Yuan found a suitable place midway down the alley.
It was a private, self-contained courtyard with one main building and a side house, enclosed by a gray stone wall with a wooden gate and an iron lock. The courtyard wasn’t large, but its location was excellent, situated near a branch of the Spirit Vein on the north side of the marketplace. The Spiritual Qi concentration within the courtyard was nearly double that of the outer areas.
The monthly rent was fifteen Spirit Stones, three times as expensive as his place on the outskirts of the Secret Realm.
Li Yuan paid three months’ rent: forty-five Spirit Stones.
After moving in, Li Yuan first sat cross-legged in the courtyard for a while to get a feel for the environment.
The Spiritual Qi concentration was indeed excellent. The Spiritual Essence condensing effect of the Spirit Absorption Pill was more pronounced in a high-Spiritual Qi environment. When he cultivated, the speed at which Spiritual Qi rushed in was noticeably faster than on the outskirts of the Secret Realm.
Once he was settled in, Li Yuan went out to do some shopping.
He went to a Materials Shop in the northern part of the marketplace and bought a large batch of talisman-crafting materials. Talisman paper, Spiritual Ink, Spirit-Attracting Sand, Soul-Stabilizing Powder—he bought a two-month supply of all the common auxiliary materials in one go.
The quality and variety of materials in Yunyang Marketplace were truly a cut above what was available on the outskirts of the Secret Realm. For talisman paper of the same grade, the fiber density here was more uniform, and its Spiritual Power permeability was better. The purity of the Spiritual Ink was also a notch higher, resulting in less Spiritual Power loss during talisman drawing.
After spending one hundred and twenty Spirit Stones, his storage bag was stuffed full of materials.
Returning to his courtyard, Li Yuan closed the gate, spread out some talisman paper, and drew a few Rejuvenation Talismans and Vajra Talismans to warm up.
With the feel of Great Success paired with high-quality materials, his success rate was a stable ninety percent.
The following days fell into a regular rhythm.
During the day, he crafted Talismans. Once he had accumulated a certain number, he would take them to the Loose Cultivator gathering area to sell or leave them at a Talisman consignment shop in the marketplace. The spending power of Loose Cultivators in Yunyang Marketplace was far greater than on the outskirts of the Secret Realm. Rejuvenation Talismans and Vajra Talismans sold very well, and the Mind-Refining Talismans were in such high demand that their price was twenty percent higher than on the outskirts.
In the evenings, he practiced Alchemy. He still had some pill recipes and medicinal herbs that Old Sun had given him. He continued to work on refining Qi Replenishing Pills, and his proficiency in Alchemy slowly climbed.
At night, he cultivated. He operated the Spirit-Introducing Skill at full capacity. Guided by the Entry from the Blood Coagulation Pill, his Spiritual Power and Qi Blood circulated in unison. The Spiritual Power boost from the Realm-Breaking Pill, combined with the Spiritual Essence condensation from the Spirit Absorption Pill, resulted in multiple overlapping effects that rapidly advanced his Cultivation.
Half a month later, at the end of a Cultivation session, Li Yuan felt a change in his Dantian.
The speed at which Spiritual Power revolved in his Dantian began to slow, and the amount of Spiritual Power gained from each full circulation was diminishing. It wasn’t that his Entries had stopped working; rather, his total Spiritual Power was approaching the upper limit of the Qi Refining Eighth Level.
He hadn’t hit the bottleneck yet, but he could already feel a wall waiting for him up ahead.
The threshold of the Qi Refining Ninth Level.
Li Yuan ceased his cultivation and rose to his feet. He walked to the window, gazing at the moonlit flagstones in the courtyard.
’I need to start seriously thinking about Foundation Establishment.’
Breaking through to the Qi Refining Ninth Level was only a matter of time. But after the Ninth Level came Foundation Establishment, a threshold of an entirely different magnitude.
Foundation Establishment didn’t strictly require a Foundation Establishment Pill. With the large number of Entries he had accumulated, his chances of breaking through were already far greater than those of other Cultivators.
However, a pill would offer greater certainty, and he wasn’t far from obtaining a Foundation Establishment Pill anyway.
He was just missing three common main ingredients. Although they were expensive, he could afford them if he saved up.
Gathering the ingredients was one thing; finding someone to refine the pill was another matter entirely.
The Breaking Element Pill required a Foundation Establishment Stage Pill Refiner to create, and the only one he could currently find was Pill Refiner He.
’No need to rush that. I should handle what’s in front of me first.’
’But the prerequisite is breaking through to the Qi Refining Ninth Level.’
’I could either break through by Cultivating directly, without relying on a Foundation Establishment Pill.’
’Or, I could gather all the materials, refine the Breaking Element Pill, and break through to Foundation Establishment.’
’No rush. One step at a time.’
Li Yuan returned to his bed, circulated the Spirit-Introducing Skill once more, and continued his Cultivation.