[Marrow Cleansing Pill] and "Spring Wood Longevity Art"

The Xuan Shi Sect Five-Person Team temporarily stayed in Qingshi County, intimidating all rogue cultivators into not daring to stir up any trouble.

This caused the legitimate transactions in the marketplace to flourish unprecedentedly.

Unified small stalls, clear pricing, and a safe environment ensured all trades proceeded in an orderly manner.

Yang Shi took the opportunity to sell off the Spirit Rice he couldn't finish eating this year.

At the market price of 1 spirit stone for 10 jin, he sold a total of 50 Low-grade Spirit Stones.

Adding the remaining 23 Low-grade Spirit Stones from the earlier Divine General Card sale, Yang Shi now had a hefty sum of 73 Low-grade Spirit Stones!

In the ancestral hall of the teahouse's backyard.

Yang Shi pulled out 12 Low-grade Spirit Stones from the pile and pushed them in front of Jiang Xiaobai.

"Use these 12 for your cultivation."

Jiang Xiaobai quickly shook his head: "I don't want them, Older Brother, go buy some pills that can help you with Body Tempering. I'll just slowly absorb the natural spiritual qi on my own."

"If I tell you to take them, take them. I asked Senior Brother Bai, and he said that at your stage, refining the pure spiritual qi of one Low-grade Spirit Stone per month will double your cultivation speed compared to only absorbing natural spiritual qi. Improving your strength is important for our family."

"Our... family." Jiang Xiaobai's face flushed red, then he twisted shyly and said: "Older Brother, in another three months, I'll be 18."

"Oh. As for the remaining 61 spirit stones, those are what we can use. We'll exchange them for a suitable Wood Cultivation Method for you and buy some other household goods."

"Hmph! I don't want that. Buy something for yourself instead." Xiaobai pouted and turned her head away, for reasons unknown.

"Let's wait for the Old Ancestor first. His Spiritual Sense can see the goods in this marketplace, so he'll surely pick the most suitable items for us."

Indeed.

Yang Genshuo could see the spiritual power on items, so naturally he could pick out the good stuff.

He had been flipping through the rogue cultivators' wares, but it had to be said—this was the lowest level of the trading marketplace, mostly frequented by Fetal Breath stage rogue cultivators and Innate Grandmaster martial artists.

Only a very few Qi Refinement cultivators were present.

Their goods were mostly common, with widely agreed-upon values, so there was basically no room for overpricing or underpricing, leaving no chance for bargains.

Yang Genshuo tirelessly went through every stall's items, finding two things suitable for Yang Shi and Jiang Xiaobai.

"Marrow Cleansing Pill?"

Yang Shi walked up to a stall in the marketplace and picked up a Small Jade Bottle from it. Inside was a black pill, its spiritual energy condensed within the bottle without dispersing, giving it a rather noble appearance.

"Boss Yang has good eyes. This Marrow Cleansing Pill is an authentic Grade 1 Pill. After taking it, it cleanses impurities in the body, optimizes bloodlines, enhances cultivation aptitude, and boosts cultivation. It's one of the essential pills for all cultivators. Want one?"

With the Old Ancestor's vetting, even though Yang Shi didn't recognize the Marrow Cleansing Pill, he wasn't worried about being scammed. But now, looking at it, his heart felt bitter.

"This tiny pill actually costs me 20 Low-grade Spirit Stones?"

The stall owner said: "Never mind enhancing physique and cultivation—just the improvement in aptitude alone is worth it! 20 Low-grade Spirit Stones is truly not expensive!"

A Marrow Cleansing Pill could only be taken once per person; taking more would be useless.

Most importantly, it was highly effective for Martial Cultivators.

After some haggling, it was settled at 18 Low-grade Spirit Stones.

"Only 43 Low-grade Spirit Stones left."

When Yang Shi arrived at another stall the Old Ancestor had indicated, he saw a Cultivation Technique Jade Slip.

"Spring Wood Longevity Art."

A Wood-element Qi Cultivation Technique, cultivatable up to the peak of Qi Refinement.

Its special feature was the ability to absorb Plant Essence to stimulate one's own potential and increase lifespan.

It came with three spells: All Things Growth Technique, Spring Wood Rejuvenation Technique, and Wood Spirit Incarnation.

"This is good, it suits Xiaobai."

Yang Shi glanced at the price—50 spirit stones—and his vision went dark.

"You're just a technique that can only cultivate to Qi Refinement—how dare you sell it for 50 Low-grade Spirit Stones?!"

"Because of the longevity! In our pursuit of immortality, who doesn't want a longer life? One more year of Lifespan means one more chance to break through to Foundation Establishment. So, is this a Qi Refinement technique? No! It's a shortcut to the Foundation Establishment Realm!"

Watching the stall owner argue with conviction, Yang Shi's face twisted in pain.

He didn't believe it and went looking for other techniques at other stalls himself, only to find that techniques from Fetal Breath to Qi Refinement were all around 40 Low-grade Spirit Stones, and none were as suited to Xiaobai as this one.

After some bargaining, Yang Shi managed to cut the price down to 40 spirit stones and took it.

After going around, only 3 spirit stones remained.

The Yang Family's harvest for the year and the spirit stones from selling the card were almost all spent.

"Right, I still have 3 Spirit Fruits."

Lava Fruits.

Yang Shi saw someone outside selling them—a good Fire Element material, excellent for making Spirit Cuisine or alchemy.

They could sell for 5 Low-grade Spirit Stones each.

But Yang Genshuo stopped him.

"Keep feeding Little Fire. It can grow into a Guardian Spirit Beast."

Since this thing couldn't sell for much, it was better to use it to strengthen the Yang Family's power.

The marketplace was open for three days.

Amid laughter and cheerful chatter, the rogue cultivators were about to wrap up their trading tonight.

Ding Zhen took out a set of Blood Explosion Landmine Array from his Storage Ring, pondered it for a long moment, then put it away again.

"Boss, we're back."

"How did it go?"

"Still couldn't find any rogue cultivators who want to join our demonic path."

"..."

In these last three days, they'd finally remembered their real business, but no rogue cultivator showed any interest in joining the demonic path. They were all doing just fine here.

"Without hatred, jealousy, or rage... who are we supposed to absorb?"

Ding Zhen couldn't help recalling that day when he was still a child.

His father had taken him to the annual Rogue Cultivator Market and bought a Marrow Cleansing Pill, saying his talent was excellent. They were going home to feed it to him so he could become an immortal. But on the way, two greedy cultivators joined forces and killed them.

His master from Blood Soul Valley appeared, took him back to the valley, and taught him to take hatred as his faith, cultivate the demonic path, and one day slay his enemies.

Over the years, he had carried that hatred, but he never found those two cultivators.

Still, he followed his master's example and absorbed many like-minded people into Blood Soul Valley.

But the Qingshi Marketplace that Yang Shi had set up a few days ago... it lacked that certain flavor. He felt both disappointed and, oddly, a little relieved.

"Maybe this year, I won't see another 'me' appear."

"Let's go. We're heading back to the sect. There's no one here we're looking for."

His two subordinates hesitated. "Then... we're not setting off the Blood Explosion Landmine Array?"

Ding Zhen raised an eyebrow. "Who's going to set it? Who are we blowing up? How about you go bury it at Yang's Board Game Tea House, and after we leave—boom—they all die!"

The subordinate quickly shook his head. "No way. We demonic cultivators have our own code—demons among demons. We repay kindness with kindness and settle grudges with grudges. Boss Yang invited me for tea and even explained tactics to me. These past few days, I feel like my brain's starting to grow back. I can't do that."

"Same here."

Ding Zhen spread his hands. "Then what are you standing around for? Let's go. You waiting for the Xuan Shi Sect to find us?"

Watching these rogue cultivators who had sparred with him in heated debates about demonic cultivation and killing, Ding Zhen found he truly couldn't bring himself to strike this time.

Clap, clap, clap~

"Brilliant, brilliant. Ding Zhen, the executioner of Blood Soul Valley, actually has a day where he doesn't kill."

The door opened. Bai Heyu stood at the entrance with three junior brothers and sisters, clapping.

Just as Ding Zhen moved to flee, a powerful Qi Lock locked onto him, as if the slightest twitch would leave his head separated from his body in the next second.

"Foundation Establishment."

Murong Ziyan drifted in through the window.

"Since you saw the light at the last moment and pulled back in time, I'll spare your lives. Tomorrow, you'll come with me to the Xuan Shi Sect."

Late at night.

Ge Tan slipped silently into the Pinnacle Pavilion.

Growl~

A low, guttural roar jolted Liao Cao awake from his sleep!

He opened his eyes to see a massive wolf's head staring at him with blood-red eyes.

"Ah!!!"

Ge Tan sneered coldly. "Speak. Who killed my Ge Family's retainer?"