Market

Lin Chan opened the mechanism on the Flowing Cloud Pill Pendant and used the Cleaning Spell to remove the impurities it had filtered out. There was enough to make a soybean-sized lump.

They were all materials that had not been thoroughly refined during pill-making, along with some burnt medicinal dregs—the portions that could not meld into the pill's potency.

Lin Chan found a jade bottle and collected the residue. Once he had gathered enough, he could use it as fertilizer to grow flowers and plants or something of the sort.

After setting aside the jade bottle used to collect the residue, Lin Chan took out the pills he had hidden away.

Just as he was about to put the Qi Gathering Pills he had not finished into the Pill Pendant, he suddenly thought of something.

"This Pill Pendant can isolate Pill Toxin. I might as well use lower-quality pills directly. That would save some Talisman Coins too. Right now, Talisman Coins really aren't enough."

With that thought, Lin Chan swallowed a Qi Gathering Pill.

After cultivating until his meridians felt faintly sore, Lin Chan finished up and went out. He went to Scripture Gorge to find Zhang He.

Zhang He was older and knew more about the sect. Lin Chan wanted to ask him where he could obtain discarded pills or inferior Qi Gathering Pills.

It did not matter if they contained a lot of Pill Toxin. The important thing was that they had to be cheap and plentiful.

He calculated that the Pill Pendant took five broad-bean-sized pills at a time and needed around ten days to exhaust their medicinal potency.

He would need at least fifteen Qi Gathering Pills a month.

The deacon of Tianquan Peak responsible for distributing pills only issued six high-quality Qi Gathering Pills each month. That was clearly not enough.

Therefore, he absolutely could not waste the Pill Pendant filtering high-quality Qi Gathering Pills right now.

Once he was wealthy in the future, then doing so would be reasonable enough.

"Old Zhang!"

Lin Chan had become quite familiar with Zhang He by now, so that was how he addressed him.

Zhang He stayed in Scripture Gorge every day, making him easy to find.

"Brother Lin."

Zhang He came forward to greet him.

"Old Zhang, do you know where I can buy the kind of Qi Gathering Pills with inferior quality?"

Lin Chan asked.

"Brother Lin, what do you need such pills for? With your status and talent, why would you need to cultivate with those? Using them would instead affect your future potential."

Zhang He immediately tried to dissuade him, afraid that Lin Chan was too young and, eager to break through, might stray onto the wrong path.

Young people were always like this, unable to wait.

"Old Zhang, you misunderstand. Don't I keep two Little Demons? Their cultivation is too slow, so I want to buy some to feed them."

Lin Chan had long prepared his excuse. The moment Zhang He asked, he gave it.

"I see."

Zhang He suddenly understood. There were indeed Inner Sect Disciples with ample Talisman Coins who did this.

However, Lin Chan was only at the early stage of Qi Cultivation, so he was clearly not among them.

Still, Zhang He had nothing better to do than meddle with someone else's purse, so he merely answered,

"Over at Outer Sect Square, a small market opens every two days. If Brother Lin wants to exchange things, you can go take a look."

There were several hundred, perhaps over a thousand, Outer Sect disciples. There was always a need to trade goods.

"I understand. Old Zhang, when is the next market?"

Lin Chan pressed.

Zhang He counted on his fingers and said,

"There will be one tomorrow morning."

"Good! Thanks, Old Zhang!"

Lin Chan nodded, then went to look for Dao books to read.

The next day, Lin Chan arrived early at Outer Sect Square. Sure enough, he saw people setting up stalls in an orderly fashion.

Pills, talismans, fragments of magical artifacts, Spiritual Medicine—almost all were important things related to cultivation.

Lin Chan was not someone who enjoyed aimlessly wandering around. He casually stopped before a stall selling pills.

The stall owner was a young girl with a Spirit Snake Bun, at the early stage of Qi Cultivation.

The girl saw what Lin Chan was wearing and immediately called out,

"Senior Brother! Come take a look!"

Lin Chan casually glanced over the goods. There were pills for expelling toxins, wound-healing salves, and some scented powders.

Lin Chan had never seen any of these things before. After giving them a rough look, he passed over them.

"Senior Brother, all these pills were refined by my older sister. I'm helping her sell them."

The girl smiled and struck up a conversation.

Lin Chan carefully smelled the pills and inspected their quality. Compared with the ones he received each month, these were much worse.

"Senior Brother, my name is Xie Yuban, and my older sister is Xie Gejing. When will Senior Brother go lecture at the Dao arena? I'll go listen."

Seeing that Lin Chan was young and handsome, an Inner Sect Disciple with a bright future, the girl could not help talking more and more. She even forgot to promote her pills.

"I don't lecture at the Dao arena."

Lin Chan shook his head. Holding the box the girl used for display, he asked,

"Do you have any pills of even lower quality than these?"

Seeing Lin Chan speak to her, the girl's little face reddened as she hurriedly tried to remember.

"My sister should still have some, but those are all Low-Grade Pills. They can only be sold outside to Rogue Cultivators."

The girl quickly said.

"It's fine. Can you take me to see them?"

Lin Chan asked.

"Senior Brother, where is your Cave Dwelling? I can deliver them to your Cave Dwelling later."

Xie Yuban said shyly.

"You can come find me at Scripture Gorge this afternoon."

After saying that, Lin Chan set down the box and went to look at the other stalls.

Among Shu Mountain's seven main peaks, Tianquan Peak was not a peak focused on pill refinement. None of its several Inner Sect elders were skilled in it, and consequently, few of their disciples knew how either.

If the Inner Sect Disciples did not know how, then there was even less need to mention the Outer Sect Disciples.

Thus, there were only two stall owners selling pills in total. Lin Chan also had the other one bring pills to Scripture Gorge that afternoon so he could inspect their quality and see which was more suitable.

That afternoon, both groups brought inferior Low-Grade Pills to Scripture Gorge.

After weighing everything, Lin Chan still chose the pills of Xie Yuban and Xie Gejing. One Mortal Talisman Coin bought twenty pills.

It was not because Lin Chan had been tempted by beauty. He had little interest in the two sisters. It was simply that Xie Gejing offered the best price, and her pills had decent medicinal potency.

Of course, Lin Chan had also considered using discarded pills.

However, although discarded pills were cheaper—even as cheap as Bigu Pills—they were almost entirely useless waste filled with Pill Toxin. Lin Chan had no choice but to give up on them.

Otherwise, he could have saved even more Talisman Coins.

When Xie Yuban and Xie Gejing returned to their residence, Xie Yuban immediately said with delight,

"Mother! Senior Brother Lin chose our pills! Hehe!"

"I already told you, call me older sister. Calling me Mother makes me sound old."

Xie Gejing lightly knocked Xie Yuban on the head.

She had told Xie Yuban that within the sect, they were to address each other as sisters.

"But there's no one here!"

Xie Yuban said in a coquettish tone.

Though Xie Gejing looked to be only in her early twenties, that was merely because she knew how to preserve her health and maintain her looks.

She was now nearly forty.

Of course, compared to Inner Sect True Person elders with crane-white hair and the face of a child, that was nothing.

As for their current Cave Dwelling, it belonged to an Inner Sect senior brother they knew. He needed to leave for several years of training, and since the Cave Dwelling would be empty anyway, he rented it to them.

"Mother! I'd never even seen that Senior Brother Lin before. He should be about my age, right?"

Xie Yuban thought with a smile.

She knew that the Inner Sect was full of old monsters.

"Probably."

As one of the few pill refiners among Tianquan Peak's Outer Sect, Xie Gejing knew a little about the Inner Sect senior brothers as well.

She had indeed only heard of such a person in the past few years.

However, most senior brothers who knew him did not think highly of him. Some even spoke of him with disdain.

Of course, no matter how useless an Inner Sect Disciple was, they were not someone two insignificant Outer Sect Disciples could presume to judge.

"Cultivate properly. Don't let your thoughts wander down crooked paths!"

Seeing Xie Yuban grinning foolishly, Xie Gejing lightly tapped her forehead again, this time with a little more force.

Otherwise, Xie Yuban would not remember the lesson.

Xie Gejing feared that Xie Yuban would follow the same old road she had once taken. Even now, she deeply regretted giving birth to Xie Yuban. Otherwise, perhaps she could have gone farther.