My Brother Wang Never Licked Poisoned Blades

For the Great Dao, Luo Chen decided to splurge for once!

Inside the Spirit Medicine Pavilion, beneath the smiling gaze of the counter attendant, Luo Chen painfully took out five hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

"Five bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills. We look forward to your next visit!"

Of the eleven hundred Spirit Stones he had just acquired, nearly half had vanished in an instant.

Anyone would have felt the pain.

But Luo Chen knew full well that this batch of Spirit Stones had to be spent at this stage.

Logically speaking, he should have spent them on expanding the All Wonders Pill business, rapidly raising his proficiency and then generating enormous net profits.

Only then could he escape his current straits and embark on a sustainable path of cultivation.

But the external environment had changed!

He had killed two cultivators in succession and looted the inheritances of three Corpses.

Especially that cultivator surnamed Gao—his wealth had been so abundant that his background might well have been extraordinary.

What if someone came knocking, ignored the regulations Jade Cauldron Sect had issued in Great River Market, and forcibly tried to kill him?

With his Qi Refining Fourth Layer strength, how could he resist?

The Soul Severing Nail was indeed formidable, but it was not invincible.

Wang Yuan had once calmly escaped after taking a nail, then turned around and killed two men.

Even if Luo Chen had failed to kill that third Short-Lived Ghost at the time, Wang Yuan would certainly have cut him down with his blade.

Wang Yuan was only at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer. There were plenty stronger than him.

Therefore, Luo Chen could not indulge in wishful thinking.

Moving into the Inner City was one solution.

Rapidly improving his realm was another.

After experiencing the effects of the Qi Nourishing Pill last time, Luo Chen knew that, for the rest of his life, he likely could not separate cultivation from swallowing pills.

He had tried it last night. The Perfect-Grade Evergreen Art combined with a First-Order Spirit Vein had improved him, but not to the point of a qualitative transformation.

To achieve a qualitative transformation, he would have to accumulate it slowly over time.

Time?

What Luo Chen, who had only seventy-five years of lifespan, lacked most was time!

So taking pills was a must. There was no way around it!

After carefully putting the five bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills into his Storage Bag, Luo Chen's steps became slightly hesitant.

In the end, he gritted his teeth and headed toward Spirit Source Studio.

Fortunately, he was a cultivator. If an ordinary mortal had to grit their teeth and hand over Spirit Stones every day, their teeth would have been ground to pieces.

Spirit Source Studio was a shop established in Great River Market by Five Elements Divine Sect, one of the Extreme Eastern Six Great Upper Sects.

Five Elements Divine Sect was famed throughout the world for its Five Elements Spells. Most of the sect's experts possessed an extraordinarily exquisite command of the Five Elements Spells.

Among cultivators who mainly relied on Magic Treasures and talismans in battle, that counted as a style all its own.

Compared to fighting, Five Elements Divine Sect preferred applying the Five Elements Spells to production.

Its cultivation of all kinds of spirit plants could be called the foremost in the Six Regions.

Even Medicine King Sect, which was likewise skilled in cultivating spirit plants, could only slightly surpass Five Elements Divine Sect in the field of medicinal herbs.

Beyond that, Five Elements Divine Sect had virtually no rivals.

To say nothing else, the Spirit Rice most commonly consumed throughout the Cultivation World of the Six Regions was basically all produced by Five Elements Divine Sect.

Although other sects more or less maintained private plots to grow spirit grain, for some reason, the Spirit Rice they produced was far inferior to Five Elements Divine Sect's in both taste and spiritual energy content.

It could only be said that, in the area of spirit plant cultivation, Five Elements Divine Sect's competitiveness overwhelmed all Six Regions.

Luo Chen entered Spirit Source Studio, spent one Spirit Stone on ten catties of Spirit Rice, then walked up to the counter.

"May I take a look at the spell catalog?"

The pretty young clerk's eyes lit up, and she briskly pulled out a book.

"Which spell would you like to purchase, sir?"

"Mid Qi Refining Stage? Have you learned all the essential spells yet? If not, then I wholeheartedly recommend this set of spells. It costs only five Mid-Grade Spirit Stones."

Luo Chen's eyelid twitched.

Five pieces. Five hundred!

"Our Five Elements Divine Sect's masters have personally annotated all of them. We guarantee that you'll reach Entry Level quickly."

"If you have learned them all, you could also consider the improved Five Elements Spells developed by our Five Elements Sect. For example, this Firebird Spell evolved from the Fireball Spell! It consumes the same amount of spiritual energy, yet its transformations are endlessly varied. When you're short on Spirit Stones, you can even set off Firebird fireworks for others and earn some pocket money."

"This one is good too—the Water Element Small Cloud Rain Spell. It's perfect for watering flowers!"

"The price? Naturally, it's fine goods at a fair price! Only three Mid-Grade Spirit Stones!"

Luo Chen left Spirit Source Studio in a daze.

Spells?

He had not bought a single one!

They were simply too expensive. A Firebird Spell evolved from the Fireball Spell dared to ask for three Mid-Grade Spirit Stones—that was three hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones!

He would have to be insane to spend money on that.

As for the several spells he truly wanted, their prices left his brain starved of oxygen.

It was all because he was poor!

Five Elements Divine Sect was famous throughout the world for its mastery of the Five Elements Spells, but it had also dabbled deeply in other spells.

Thus, every Spirit Source Studio sold some spells.

They might all be common low-tier spells, but after being annotated by Five Elements Divine Sect's masters, they made it easy for cultivators to reach Entry Level.

If they were improved spells, then they were even more impressive.

That was why Luo Chen had wanted to take a look.

Yet the prices made him recoil at the sight of them.

"Looks like I can only go to the Rogue Cultivator Market and hunt for those three-no spells."

No sect backing, no expert annotations, no after-sales guarantee.

When he arrived at the Southern City Rogue Cultivator Market, the flow of people was sparse and the place seemed somewhat deserted.

The grand market had only been held not long ago, and the smaller market would not begin until three days later.

With the mindset of poking at a date tree whether or not there were dates, Luo Chen began wandering around the market.

Yet after making a circuit, he was somewhat disappointed.

It was neither a small market nor a grand market. The stallholders were all long-term vendors, selling goods with stable output.

Things like Cultivation Methods and spells definitely did not count as goods with stable output.

They all depended on those who licked blood from blade edges to produce them.

"Licking blood from blade edges every day—aren't they afraid their blades are poisoned? Didn't see a single one today. Did they all get poisoned to death?"

Luo Chen cursed in displeasure and prepared to leave.

Yet as he was exiting the market, he ran into someone he knew.

The moment he saw him, Luo Chen's heart blossomed with joy, and a little deer began pounding wildly in his chest.

"Wang, my brother!"

Sure enough, my brother Wang never licked poisoned blades!

Wang Yuan shot him a glance and walked toward his stall.

Luo Chen trotted after him like an eager little lackey.

What did he mean, like a little lackey? Luo Chen was under Wang's protection. That was that!

Wang Yuan spread a piece of gray cloth across the ground, then waved a hand. A densely packed heap of items appeared atop it.

Bloodstained Magic Tools of every kind, all sorts of books and Bamboo Slips, and even a yellowed Jade Slip.

Looking at that large pile of goods and the dense bloody stench clinging to them, even Luo Chen's eyelids twitched.

"Wang, you've had quite the harvest lately!"

Wang Yuan's mouth twitched. "Not all of it is mine."

Luo Chen had asked around before. Wang Yuan truly was not solely in the business of killing people for treasure or brawling at village entrances.

He had a proper job.

He handled dirty goods of unclear origin for the Mountain Shattering Gang, and could earn considerable profits from it.

That was why Luo Chen saw Wang Yuan at every market, large or small.

It was a job with a bright future.

"No fights outside lately?"

How could battles between cultivators be called fights?

Wang Yuan let his eyelids droop. "They stopped. We'll fight again in a few days."

Gang clashes were this well-mannered?

Luo Chen was a little dumbfounded.

Still, it was a good thing. Otherwise, how would Wang Yuan have had time to set up a stall?