Spirit Nurturing Stone

"Things went fairly smoothly, right?"

After Xuelan used a hot towel to wipe Yan Qingshan's forehead, she spoke up. Qingling, meanwhile, held a basin and soaked his feet. With two beauties, one grown and one young, waiting on him together, he felt like he could hardly bear such indulgence!

"Not bad."

Yan Qingshan shook the Storage Ring he carried with him and took out three scrolls. "Two Profound-tier Mid-grade cultivation techniques and combat skills, plus an alchemist's inheritance notes. These three things are treasures that money can hardly buy."

"The Mo Clan of Yancheng really is a renowned force in the empire's Eastern Province. Two sets of Profound-tier Mid-grade cultivation techniques and combat skills, and even a Fourth-grade Alchemist's inheritance."

Xuelan and Qingling also flipped through the things Yan Qingshan had brought back. Profound-tier Mid-grade cultivation techniques and combat skills, a Fourth-grade Alchemist's inheritance notes—given their humble origins, these were things they had never dared imagine even in their dreams.

Seeing that Qingling and Xuelan's attention was almost entirely focused on the alchemist's notes he had brought back, Yan Qingshan merely shook his head with a smile and stroked his Storage Ring. As the most honored profession on the continent, alchemists had always been figures people admired and envied.

"This thing..."

Yan Qingshan sat on the bed. A flash of light flickered from the Storage Ring in his hand, and silver-gray ores fell onto the bedside one after another. After closing his eyes, he reached out and searched among the many ores for a moment before pinching one of them.

A flash of pale green Dou Qi appeared, and pale silver grit rustled down. A faint gray glow emerged in his palm.

Yan Qingshan opened his palm. The gray light faded, revealing what had been hidden within.

It was a thumb-sized gray stone, smooth as jade all over without the slightest flaw. Within its core, a faint blue glow slowly writhed, vivid as a firefly sealed in amber.

"Could this... be the legendary Spirit Nurturing Stone..."

Yan Qingshan stared at the inconspicuous little stone in his palm, scarcely able to believe he could have such luck.

"Young Master, what is that?"

Qingling's little head leaned over from the side. Naturally, she was extremely interested in the glittering little stone shining in Yan Qingshan's palm.

Xuelan, who had been reading the notes, also looked over and could not take her eyes off it. Girls had always found it hard to resist sparkling things like this.

"This should be the legendary Spirit Nurturing Stone, an exceedingly rare heavenly treasure. It is said that only high-grade Nashi Stones have an extremely small chance of yielding one when mined."

Yan Qingshan held the gemstone that was suspected to be a Spirit Nurturing Stone before his eyes and examined it closely. Comparing it with the information he had copied from ancient books, he could basically confirm that it truly was a Spirit Nurturing Stone. "This Spirit Nurturing Stone is incredibly precious. It is worth even more than a Fifth-grade Medicinal Pill, and is a rare treasure even high-grade alchemists desperately desire."

Yan Qingshan remembered that Old Ya had mentioned in the original work that a tiny Spirit Nurturing Stone was worth far more than a Fifth-grade Blood Lotus Pill and Ice Spirit Cold Spring combined. That showed just how precious it was.

Ordinary Nashi Stones could be used to make low-grade Storage Rings, and even the cheapest Storage Ring was worth tens of thousands of Gold Coins, far more precious than ordinary graded medicinal pills. Mid-grade Storage Rings cost more than ten times as much, while high-grade Storage Rings were treasures that could not be bought at any price.

On the Dou Qi Continent, only powerful experts or members of major factions with extremely high status were qualified to obtain high-grade Storage Rings. This showed just how rare such things were.

Compared to high-grade Storage Rings, however, Spirit Nurturing Stones were undoubtedly so scarce that they were pitifully few. Describing them as rarer than phoenix feathers and qilin horns would not be an exaggeration.

"What!"

"The Mo Clan actually gave away such a precious treasure!"

Both Qingling and Xuelan were stunned. The scrolls and notes from before had also been extremely valuable, but they could at least be measured in Gold Coins. A Fifth-grade Medicinal Pill was a treasure capable of making even a Dou Wang take notice. Something like this was probably the most precious foundation of a clan!

Yan Qingshan smiled. "They didn't give it to me willingly. They simply lacked the knowledge, and I picked up a bargain. A treasure may be good, but there still needs to be someone capable of recognizing it!"

Xuelan and Qingling both nodded, deeply agreeing with Yan Qingshan's words. A treasure could only find its best home in the hands of someone destined for it.

Wutan City was especially lively this year. At the beginning of the year, Xiao Yan, the Third Young Master Xiao of one of the three great families, had broken through to become a Dou Zhe, becoming a genius known throughout the empire.

Yet only a few months later, Xiao Yan's cultivation had stagnated and had even inexplicably begun to regress. After this news spread, Xiao Zhan, the Xiao Family head, paid a heavy price to invite numerous physicians and even certified alchemists to examine Xiao Yan's condition. In the end, none of them found any answer.

The fall of a genius was something no one had expected, yet it was news that made many people happy. After this, the Xiao Family's prestige in Wutan City plummeted. Though they could still maintain a relative advantage over the other two great families, they no longer possessed their former overwhelming dominance.

The three great families of Wutan City thus fell into a state of peace maintained by mutual restraint. Meanwhile, another major branch power in Wutan City besides the City Lord's Manor—the Mitel Auction House—also welcomed a new overseer, an extremely young and remarkably capable beauty.

At Wutan City's western gate, a small convoy of more than ten carriages slowly entered the city. The curtains of the carriage in the middle were pulled open, and several gazes roamed out from within.

"So this is Wutan City. Once we're here, we're not far from Young Master's hometown, right?"

Inside the carriage, Qingling's tender little hands massaged Yan Qingshan, easing his fatigue.

"Mm, not far. But we won't be going back to Qingshan Town today. We'll first make a trip to the Mitel Auction House, then rest for the night in Wutan City before heading back tomorrow."

Yan Qingshan responded to Qingling as he lounged contentedly against Xuelan, resting on her long legs and shifting into a more comfortable position. Having just finished cultivating, he felt that after working so hard for so long, he deserved to enjoy himself a little.

"Are you all right?"

Xuelan carefully worked Yan Qingshan's aching limbs to improve his circulation. Together with Qingling, she helped apply medicine to him. Having seen Yan Qingshan's arduous cultivation, she finally understood how much this man had sacrificed to become stronger.

"It's nothing. I'm fine!"

Yan Qingshan mumbled in reply and closed his eyes. These comfortable days of being waited on truly made him reluctant to let go. He felt he had been spoiled rotten—it was all Qingling and Xuelan's fault. Tonight, he would have to punish them properly and make the two choose one to warm his bed.

This convoy of carriages had been brought all the way from Stone Desert City by Yan Qingshan. Most of them belonged to mercenary families, people connected to Xuelan.

After Qingling's mother died, Xuelan and several sisters she knew well had played a major role in helping Qingling survive in Stone Desert City.

The generation of Xuelan's parents, including Qingling's mother, had basically all borne grudges against the Snake-People. Naturally, they did not have favorable attitudes toward Qingling, who carried Snake-People blood.

However, perhaps because Qingling's mother had been a familiar neighbor to them, though they did not treat Qingling kindly, they would not go so far as to make trouble for a little girl.

After Qingling's mother died, as long as it was within their means, they tacitly allowed their children and younger family members to provide aid to the pitiful orphan girl.

Among these people, Xuelan's family had the best circumstances. Her father's cultivation was not weak, and he could serve as a mid-level leader in a mercenary group, with several trustworthy brothers under him.

Yan Qingshan was preparing to take Xuelan and Qingling away, so naturally he would settle Xuelan's family as well. Thus, after persuading Xuelan's father, everyone in this caravan was a brother willing to follow Xuelan's family away, along with their families.

These people's cultivation was not particularly high, but quite a few were seasoned mercenaries. Under Yan Qingshan's guidance, Xuelan's father had even broken through to become a Seven-star Dou Zhe. They met Yan Qingshan's requirements for forming the foundation of a small force of his own, so he brought them back with him.

At the front of the convoy, Xuelan's father and several core members organized the personnel and operations of the caravan. As for the employer Xuelan had found, they had not initially been particularly happy with Xuelan's thoughts and choice.

But after Yan Qingshan offered a sufficiently high price, and later even gave them a Profound-tier Cultivation Technique, Xuelan's father became incomparably enthusiastic. He practically wished his daughter could remain in Yan Qingshan's carriage compartment every day.

After entering Wutan City, the caravan found a guide at the city gate. Once Yan Qingshan gave the order, the convoy was soon led toward the Mitel Auction House on Wutan City's most prosperous street.

The Mitel Auction House was a branch force of the Mite'er Family Commerce Association, one of the Jia Ma Empire's three great families. Its current overseer, Mite'er Ya Fei, was a person of special status even within the Mittel Family.

"It's quite lively. It seems an auction is being held."

Yan Qingshan had Xuelan's father and the others let the three of them off on a street near the auction house. After telling them to arrange temporary lodging for themselves, the group of three entered the auction house. An auction happened to be underway today, and many people had come. The beautiful Xuelan and Qingling naturally drew some attention.

Led by a female attendant, Yan Qingshan and the other two entered the main hall where the auction was in progress. In the dim surroundings, wave after wave of noisy clamor poured into their ears, making Yan Qingshan's group frown.

The auction hall was enormous, easily capable of holding a thousand people. At this moment, under the lights in the center of the hall, a beautiful woman dressed in a red gown was using a soft, alluring voice that could make one's bones go weak to explain the functions of the item in her hands to everyone present.

This woman had a fiery, bewitching figure. She was a great beauty men were very willing to spend money on. She was extremely skilled at using her advantages, displaying her charm to the fullest.

Amid her crisp, sultry voice, the price of that item—which was not actually all that rare—was steadily climbing at a feverish pace.

Blue light flickered in Yan Qingshan's sharp eyes as his gaze swept across the entire hall. Naturally, he noticed that most of the gazes were directed toward the beautiful woman in the center.

Wutan City Mitel Auction House's chief auctioneer: Ya Fei, the overseer of the Wutan City Mitel Auction House, a beauty known to almost everyone. Her mature and seductive charm had made countless men fall at her feet.