Chapter 183 - 178: Yunyang Market Life
After Li Yuan settled down in Yunyang Marketplace, the first thing he did was run all over the Loose Cultivator gathering area in the southern part of the market, checking out the few stalls that regularly sold beast hides and Spirit Grass.
The price of beast hides in Yunyang Marketplace was nearly twenty percent higher than in Qinghe Marketplace.
The reason was simple. The Wang and Li families had been fighting for over half a year back in Qinghe Marketplace. That, combined with a Demon Beast uprising and frequent demon beast hunting on the front lines, had flooded the market with beast hides, pushing prices down to a low point.
Yunyang Marketplace hadn’t been affected by this. The Loose Cultivators who hunted demon beasts sold their goods on a regular schedule, leading to a stable supply and naturally higher prices.
A Gray Badger hide cost six Spirit Stones in Qinghe Marketplace, but here it was just over seven. An Iron-Spine Hyena hide was nearly three Spirit Stones more expensive. The difference for Horned Lizard hides was smaller, only about one Spirit Stone more.
It was more expensive, but when spread across the cost of each sheet of talisman paper, the difference wasn’t huge.
The price of Spirit Grass, however, was a bit cheaper than in Qinghe Marketplace. At two and a half Spirit Stones a bundle, he could save about half a Spirit Stone on each.
After returning to his courtyard, Li Yuan spent an afternoon processing the beast hides and making them into talisman paper.
The process was the same as before: de-fatting, soaking in medicinal liquid, infusing with Spiritual Power, pressing, and air-drying.
The next day, after the talisman paper had dried, he began making Talismans.
Fireball Talismans, Vajra Talismans, Rejuvenation Talismans, Qi Gathering Talismans, Heart-lock Talismans, and Blood Replenishing Talismans—he rotated between drawing all six types. His technique had reached Great Success, and when paired with his self-made talisman paper, it yielded a stable ninety-percent success rate. In a single morning, he produced over twenty finished Talismans.
He also drew two Spirit-Refining Talismans. The golden talisman paper was leftover material he had saved from Pill Refiner He; each one he used was one less he had.
At dusk, Li Yuan sorted the finished products and went out to sell them.
He didn’t go set up a stall in the Loose Cultivator gathering area.
Setting up a stall would indeed earn him more. The retail price in the Loose Cultivator area was twenty to thirty percent higher than the shops’ purchase price. Fireball Talismans of his quality could be sold retail for three or four Spirit Stones, whereas shops would only buy them for a little over three.
But setting up a stall was time-consuming.
From laying out the cloth to packing up, he would have to spend the better part of a day haggling with passing Loose Cultivators, letting them inspect the goods, and making change. The value he could generate by using that time to make Talismans or cultivate far exceeded the small extra profit.
Li Yuan chose consignment.
During his previous stay in Yunyang Marketplace, he had already dealt with several Talisman shops. There were many shops on the main street that bought Talismans, with commission rates ranging from five to ten percent. As long as the quality was good, they were easy to sell.
Li Yuan went to the purchasing shop where he had sold Talismans last time.
The Shopkeeper was the same skinny, middle-aged man. Seeing Li Yuan enter, he stood up from behind the counter.
"You’re back."
Li Yuan placed the Talismans on the counter.
The Shopkeeper placed his hand on the top few sheets, sensed the density of the Spiritual Power, and nodded.
"Good quality, same as last time."
The abacus clattered for a moment, and then he handed over the Spirit Stones.
After stacking the Spirit Stones neatly, Li Yuan put them into his storage pouch.
Besides this purchasing shop, Li Yuan also went to two others.
One was the Purple Abyss Trading Company in the middle of the main street, which specialized in consigning medium-to-high-quality Talismans. The Spirit-Refining Talismans sold very well when listed there.
The other was at the end of East Street. It was smaller, but it bought quickly and settled payments on the spot, making it suitable for moving large volumes.
After visiting the few shops, he had sold all the Talismans he made that day.
Similar days repeated themselves.
During the day, he processed beast hides, made talisman paper, and created Talismans. In the evening, he delivered them in batches to several shops for consignment. Every few days, he would go to the Loose Cultivator gathering area to restock on beast hides and Spirit Grass.
Over time, Li Yuan became familiar with the shopkeepers and assistants at the various shops.
The Shopkeeper at the purchasing shop eventually stopped even inspecting the goods. He would take Li Yuan’s Talismans and directly buy them at the highest price, without looking through or checking them.
The owner of the Purple Abyss Trading Company would chat with him for a bit each time they met, sometimes telling him in advance which Talismans were selling well and which were not.
A few of the regular stall owners in the Loose Cultivator gathering area also got to know Li Yuan. The one who sold beast hides knew he would come by every few days and would set aside the best-quality ones for him. The stall owner selling Spirit Grass would sometimes seek him out when he got new stock to ask if he wanted any.
Life went on at a steady pace, and Spirit Stones flowed in consistently.
But his expenses were also considerable.
Cultivation required pills. Qi Gathering Pills were the most common pills for aiding cultivation. A bottle of five cost twenty Spirit Stones and would last about five days. His stock of Evil Essence Pills was also dwindling; he used two to three per day to coordinate with his Evil Qi Body Tempering and Iron Bull Skill cultivation.
These were daily expenses, adding up to about ten Spirit Stones a day.
What really made Li Yuan stop and take stock of his finances, however, was another expense.
That night, after finishing his cultivation, Li Yuan took out the formula for the Breaking Element Pill from his storage pouch, spread it on the table, and looked it over.
Seven ingredients. He already had the Spirit Essence Fruit, and he had gathered the three supplementary ingredients as well.
He was still missing the three main conventional ingredients.
Cui Xin Lotus, Nine-Turn Lingzhi, and Purple Mansion Profound Liquid.
He had known for a while that he was missing these three, but he had never specifically inquired about their prices. Over the past few days, as he made his rounds in the marketplace, he had casually asked at a few medicinal herb trading companies.
Cui Xin Lotus: one thousand two hundred to one thousand five hundred Spirit Stones per stalk, depending on the quality.
Nine-Turn Lingzhi: starting at one thousand Spirit Stones for one over fifty years old, and over two thousand for one a hundred years old.
Purple Mansion Profound Liquid: eight hundred to one thousand Spirit Stones a bottle, depending on purity.
The three together would cost at least three thousand Spirit Stones. For good quality items, it would be four thousand or even more.
Li Yuan calculated his current income and expenses. If he continued spending at this rate, it would take him one or two years to save up enough Spirit Stones.
Most Loose Cultivators would never even reach this threshold in their entire lives. Some old Loose Cultivators who had been cultivating for thirty or forty years might save for half their lives just to afford one of the main ingredients.
But Li Yuan still felt it was too slow.
But there was no use in being anxious. Spirit Stones had to be earned one by one.
All he could do was continue to improve his talisman-making efficiency, expand his sales channels, and cut down on expenses.
Li Yuan put away the pill formula and didn’t dwell on it any longer.
The next morning, Li Yuan went out to the Li family’s shop in the southern section of the main street.
It was the same assistant, wearing a dark gray short robe. The subtle pattern on his collar matched the one on the Li family’s Token.
"Iron Wall Pill."
The assistant pulled out a porcelain bottle from under the counter.
"One bottle contains five pills. Fifty Spirit Stones."
"I’ll take two bottles."
He set down one hundred Spirit Stones and put the two bottles of Iron Wall Pills into his storage pouch.
He returned to his courtyard and closed the door.
He tipped out an Iron Wall Pill and put it in his mouth.
When the pill reached his stomach, a searing heat exploded from its base, drilling along his spine and into the bones of his limbs. The "Bone Marrow Forging" entry amplified the pill’s effects by thirty percent, and "Spirit Liquid Assimilation" stacked another thirty-percent boost to his Spiritual Power.
He began to circulate the Iron Wall Body Refining Skill.
Spiritual Power poured into the depths of his muscles along the Cultivation Technique’s pathways. The absorption channels opened by the Iron Wall Pill allowed the Spiritual Power to surge straight in. The Spiritual Blood Dual Cultivation from the Blood Coagulation Pill made his Qi Blood follow in sync, and both Qi Blood and Spiritual Power washed over his muscle fibers in alternating waves.
One cycle, two cycles, three, four.
With each completed cycle, the fiber density deep within his muscles increased.
For the next few days, Li Yuan took one Iron Wall Pill each day, coordinating it with his Iron Wall Body Refining Skill cultivation.
During the day, he carved out several hours from his talisman-making to practice his technique, and at night, he cultivated the Spirit-Introducing Skill to advance his Cultivation.
With the dual enhancement of "Bone Marrow Forging" and "Spirit Liquid Assimilation," the effects of the Iron Wall Pill were fully amplified, and his progress in the Iron Wall Body Refining Skill soared.
On the night of the ninth day, Li Yuan finished the last cycle of the Iron Wall Body Refining Skill for the day, withdrew his power, and stood up.
He stretched his shoulders and wrists, then clenched and unclenched his fists.
The change was obvious.
It wasn’t an improvement in one specific area, but an overall enhancement. From his fingers to his forearms, his shoulders to his torso, and down to his legs and feet, the density and toughness of every muscle were a huge step up from nine days ago.
When he clenched his fists, the feeling of power in his knuckles and forearms was extremely solid. The muscle definition beneath his skin was clearer than before—not a bulging look, but tight, dense, as if compressed.
A panel flickered into view.
[Cultivation Technique: Iron Wall Body Refining Skill - Proficient (0/800)]
Proficient.
The most crucial change in advancing the Iron Wall Body Refining Skill from Skilled to Proficient wasn’t in strength, but in the coordination between Spiritual Power and muscle.
At the Skilled stage, Spiritual Power could only pour into the deep muscle layers with the help of an Iron Wall Pill opening the absorption channels. Normally, without the aid of a pill, Spiritual Power could only penetrate to the middle layers of the muscle.
After reaching Proficient, the absorption channels that had been repeatedly forced open by the Iron Wall Pills no longer closed completely.
Even without taking a pill, his Spiritual Power could now seep into the deep muscle layers, just much more slowly than with a pill’s help. However, the channels themselves had been permanently widened, so the effects of taking Iron Wall Pills in the future would be even better.
His Qi Blood had also increased.
After reaching the Proficient stage of the Iron Wall Body Refining Skill, the efficiency of mobilizing Qi Blood during the technique’s circulation was nearly thirty percent higher than at the Skilled stage. The Qi Blood was no longer passively following the Spiritual Power, but actively coordinating with its rhythm. Their synergy was like interlocking gears.
The increase in his total Qi Blood was palpable. Li Yuan closed his eyes and sensed the capacity of his Sea of Qi and Blood; it felt more than twenty percent fuller than before.
"Qi Blood Self-Generation," "Qi Blood Abundance," "Blood Qi Reflux," "Qi Blood Nourishment"—several permanent, Qi Blood-related entries were constantly active. The optimization of Qi Blood circulation after mastering the Iron Wall Body Refining Skill to the Proficient stage added another layer. With these several lines intertwined, the increase in his Qi Blood level was far greater than any single one could provide alone.
Li Yuan put away the remaining Iron Wall Pills. He still had two pills left in the second bottle, which he saved for later.
Pushing further past the Proficient stage would require a longer period of accumulation, and the marginal effects of the Iron Wall Pill would diminish. There was no rush.
He returned to his bed plank, sat down cross-legged, and began to circulate the Spirit-Introducing Skill.
The Spiritual Blood Dual Cultivation from the Blood Coagulation Pill allowed his Qi Blood to circulate in sync with his Spiritual Power. Now that his Iron Wall Body Refining Skill was Proficient, the efficiency of his Qi Blood circulation was even higher. Wherever the Spiritual Power went, the Qi Blood followed, the two streams moving in near-perfect unison.
His Cultivation advanced, one cosmic cycle after another.