Capital Set a Trap for Lu Ping
[On the third day, you began reading the Fire Crow Technique.]
[You had borrowed this Law Technique because its title page said it was a suspected fragment of a Cultivation Method from High Antiquity.]
[Every transmigrator had to uncover a hidden treasure. How could you, Lu Ping, go without one!]
[The Fire Crow Technique required you to first capture a crow-type Demon Beast, erase its independent spiritual awareness from its soul, then refine it into a Fire Crow Seed and implant it in your Dantian to nurture it.]
[The effect was roughly to turn a physical Demon Beast into a spirit Demon Beast, with an attack power about equal to that of an ordinary crow.]
[So the Fire Crow Technique turned a Demon Beast that had developed spiritual awareness into an ornamental pet.]
[After reading the Fire Crow Technique, you wanted to smash the Jade Slip, but you couldn't bear to pay ten times its value in compensation.]
[It seemed you were a failed example of a transmigrator trying to uncover a hidden treasure.]
[You also borrowed the Earth Escape Technique, Lightness Technique, Water Shield Technique, and Entangling Technique.]
[Seven days later, you concluded that all your talent points were in Fire Element Law Techniques.]
[You turned your attention back to fire techniques, Poison Pills, and hidden weapons.]
[You began modifying Thousand-Hand Guanyin. You were a cultivator now, after all, and had Traits to rely on. Improving a mundane martial arts technique was hardly beyond you.]
[You wanted to become a true Thousand-Hand Guanyin. You wanted to turn "thousand-hand" from an adjective into a number.]
[Thousand-Hand Guanyin—what an impressive name.]
[But reality was cruel. You increased the number of flying knives from twelve to twenty-four, then to forty-eight. You were still nine hundred and fifty-two hands short of a "thousand hands."]
[The pauper still hadn't faced reality.]
Lu Ping: "..."
Great System, are you making fun of me???
[That evening, Qian Dafu came over again.]
[He stood outside the Ding Character No. 13 Cave Abode and looked around. Only after making sure no one was there did he lower his voice.]
["Senior Brother Lu, are you in?"]
[The stone door of your cave abode opened, and Qian Dafu slipped inside. Smiling, he handed you a Storage Bag.]
["Senior Brother, I brought all the medicinal herbs you wanted."]
["The prices over at Greenwood Market were thirty percent lower than at the hall."]
[You took the Storage Bag and checked it. There was nothing wrong with the herbs.]
[Qian Dafu's talent for alchemy was average, but he was meticulous in his work.]
[More importantly, he now thought you were a good person.]
[Workplace People-Pleaser activated.]
[You had sent him on the errand because you didn't want to leave a record of every medicinal herb purchase at the Alchemy Hall's Internal Affairs Office.]
[All the Alchemy Hall's Internal Affairs Office had to do was reconcile its accounts of how many pills you refined, how many herbs you bought, and how many finished pills you sold each month, and it could roughly calculate your pill success rate.]
[It was too risky to let the Greenwood Sect know your trump card.]
[You casually took out a bottle of Qi-Replenishing Pills and handed it over.]
[Qian Dafu froze for a moment, then bowed solemnly.]
["Senior Brother, this is too much."]
[You said mildly,]
["Keep it. I'll have plenty of need for you in the future. Don't disappoint me."]
[Your voice grew somewhat low on the last sentence.]
[Qian Dafu immediately accepted the Qi-Replenishing Pills, but then edged half a step closer.]
["Senior Brother, Shopkeeper Zhou of the Green Grain Shop asked me to pass on a message."]
["He said a batch of goods had arrived and asked if you'd be interested in taking a look. The sooner the better."]
[Two hours later, you entered the Green Grain Shop.]
[Shopkeeper Zhou was sitting behind the counter, working an abacus. When he saw you come in, a broad smile immediately spread across his face.]
["Junior Brother Lu, it's been so long. I've missed you terribly. See, the moment I got something good, you were the first person I thought of."]
[Smiling, Shopkeeper Zhou took three wooden boxes from beneath the counter.]
[He opened the first box, revealing a small bottle of Fire Vein Spirit Liquid.]
[Shopkeeper Zhou explained,]
["Add a drop of Fire Vein Spirit Liquid when refining Fire Element pills, and it steadies the fire and enhances their properties. They say it can increase their medicinal potency by at least thirty percent."]
[The second wooden box contained several scarlet talismans: Fire-Avoidance Talismans.]
[Shopkeeper Zhou explained at length, and you agreed that both items were indeed quite good. They were just too expensive.]
[You hadn't forgotten the fact that you were a pauper.]
Lu Ping: "..."
[The third wooden box contained only a Jade Slip.]
[This time, Shopkeeper Zhou deliberately offered no introduction.]
[That was a little interesting, and it actually piqued your curiosity.]
[Shopkeeper Zhou saw your reaction and knew he had whetted your appetite. Rather than deliberately putting on airs, he pushed the Jade Slip over.]
["Junior Brother Lu, Alchemists generally aren't good at fighting. That's why keeping a Demon Beast to protect you is a good choice."]
[You didn't take the bait, merely looking at him impassively. Go on, keep talking.]
[Shopkeeper Zhou was a seasoned merchant, all right. He wasn't embarrassed in the slightest.]
["As it happens, I have a lead on the nest of a crow-type Demon Beast."]
[Your expression didn't change, but you had some doubts. You had just been about to give up on the Fire Crow Technique, and information about a crow-type Demon Beast had immediately turned up?]
[Shopkeeper Zhou, however, seemed to see through your thoughts.]
["Junior Brother Lu, these are Black-Feather Fire Crows. Their nest isn't too far from the Greenwood Sect, in the western part of the Greenwood Mountain Range."]
["The information was brought out by Rogue Cultivators in the mountains. As for whether it's true, our shop thinks there's at least a seventy percent chance."]
[You sensed that Shopkeeper Zhou probably knew something, so you asked him outright,]
["Do you have a crow's soul?"]
[Shopkeeper Zhou gave him an "I knew it" look and laughed.]
["So, Junior Brother Lu, you really do want to practice the Fire Crow Technique?"]
[The Fire Crow Technique was on the first floor of the Scripture Repository, so it was no secret.]
[You were certain now: capital had set a trap for you.]
[All the old hands knew the Fire Crow Technique was a trap.]
[Yet plenty of newcomers still poured Spirit Stones into it for the sake of a "suspected fragment from High Antiquity."]
[For the Greenwood Sect, every loan meant ten Spirit Stones.]
[After those disciples discovered it was useless, choosing another Law Technique cost them another ten Spirit Stones.]
[Meanwhile, the shops in Greenwood Market sold whatever related goods they pleased based on the Fire Crow Technique, creating another industry chain.]
[Shopkeeper Zhou shook his head.]
["I don't have any Demon Beast souls on hand. They're hard to preserve. Even if I did, they wouldn't be just this price."]
[You stopped dwelling on it, pointed at the Jade Slip, and asked,]
["How much for this?"]
[Shopkeeper Zhou held up five fingers.]
["Fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones."]
[You looked at the Jade Slip, and the feeling of your sword cultivator dream shattering in front of the Scripture Repository came rushing back.]
[Fifty Spirit Stones, just for the location of a bird's nest—and it might not even be real!]
[You gave him a serious reminder.]
["Shopkeeper Zhou, you could make money faster by robbing people."]
[Shopkeeper Zhou's smile didn't change.]
["Come now, Junior Brother Lu. Robbery is so risky, while business is so reliable."]
[You were speechless for a moment, then said, "What if the information is false?"]
["Then wouldn't there be even less risk?"]
[You fell silent for two breaths, unable even to argue with that.]
[Seeing that you hadn't left, Shopkeeper Zhou continued,]
["Junior Brother Lu, I won't hide it from you."]
["Black-Feather Fire Crows aren't ordinary Demon Beasts. They live in flocks, breathe fire, and are fast, too."]
["An ordinary Qi Refining cultivator going there would just be an extra meal for them."]
["Against Demon Beasts like these, it takes at least a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator to be confident of taking them down head-on."]
[He glanced at you.]
["Junior Brother Lu, your future in the Dao of Alchemy is boundless. It wouldn't be worth going to a place like that yourself."]
[Options appeared.]
[A: Give up on the information about the Fire Crows.]
[B: Buy the information first and plan your next move carefully.]
[C: Buy the Jade Slip on the spot, then travel through the night to hang a banner outside the crow nest: "Greenwood Sect expanding recruitment for outsourced fire-breathers: no base pay, no five social insurance contributions." Try to trick the whole nest of Fire Crows into becoming a fully automated fire-tending crew for the alchemy assembly line.]