Spirit Stones

The girl and the old beggar settled on a price, and she bought all the spirit stones for six thousand Talisman Coins.

There were twenty or thirty spirit stones in the pile, which came to roughly two hundred Talisman Coins apiece. Chen Ganliu had cultivated in his previous life, at least, and knew that unrefined raw stones were fairly priced at this rate. The old beggar's earlier quote had indeed been a rip-off.

The girl took out a Beast Skin Pouch. After inspecting each spirit stone, she put them all inside. Two were of particularly poor quality, and she looked displeased. Then her eyes flickered, and she tossed them to Chen Ganliu. "Third Great-Grandmother won't let you accompany her for nothing. I'll give you these two spirit stones."

The girl waved her hand and skipped away.

Chen Ganliu secretly rejoiced. Because he had been worried about traveling alone and facing danger on the road, he had practiced the Great Vehicle Myriad Flower Fist Manual given to him by Spiritual Gate, even though he disdained it.

The fist manual had five layers, but even all five combined were only equivalent to Qi Refining Layer One.

Although the fist technique was profound, its foundation lay in martial internal force. With abundant internal force, one could master the fist technique in a single bound, but without enough internal force, one could not unleash its full profundity.

Chen Ganliu had cultivated the Azure Emperor Jia Yi Art to the Golden Essence Jade Liquid realm. His true qi was several times more abundant than that of someone who had cultivated the Great Vehicle Myriad Flower Fist Manual to the fifth layer. After all, how could an immortal cultivator's true qi compare with a martial artist's internal force?

With his foundation, he advanced through this fist manual at astonishing speed. Although it had only been a little over ten days, he had already cultivated it to the third layer, and trained his entire body to possess several hundred jin of strength.

This was also the advantage of martial internal force: it could alter the sinews and temper the bones, cleanse the marrow and toughen the skin, and increase the strength of one's arms.

If not for his martial internal force, Chen Ganliu would never have been able to move two heavy spirit stones at such a young age. Even with the cultivation of a Golden Essence Jade Liquid body at Qi Refining Layer One, he would have been unable to do so. He was holding the two large spirit stones and was just about to follow when he discovered that the girl had walked extremely quickly this time. In the blink of an eye, she had vanished, clearly no longer needing her little follower. He could only unhappily find an empty patch beneath a large tree and set down the spirit stones, grumbling, "Fine, go on, then. But give me back my deer."

That white deer, however, had merely been an ordinary wild deer and was not worth much. These two spirit stones were enough to buy one or two hundred of them, with money to spare.

In his previous life, Chen Ganliu had once possessed two Low-grade Spirit Stones. Things like spirit stones were mostly transformed from the bones of Ancient Exotic Beasts or Primordial Mighty Ones. Those unearthed were generally raw stones, filled with impurities, and had to be refined through secret methods before they could become spirit stones capable of storing true qi.

Refined spirit stones were hard currency in the cultivation world. Many cultivators carried a batch with them, usually filling them with true qi in advance and drawing on that true qi to replenish themselves whenever the need arose.

In theory, Chen Ganliu should have been delighted to obtain two spirit stones for nothing. But he had no Storage Magic Treasure, and these two low-quality spirit stones were extremely heavy, each weighing dozens of jin. They were awkward to carry. To the girl who called herself Little Fox Immortal, these things were merely objects she could casually bestow, but to him, they were the only valuable possessions he owned. He also did not dare leave them lying around. How am I supposed to store these things? I can't keep watch over them all day and do nothing else. Should I set up a stall and sell them too?

Chen Ganliu placed the two raw stones on the ground. Suddenly, his heart stirred, and he thought, Perhaps I can refine them with magic?

"But refining spirit stones isn't something that can be done in a day. I'm afraid it could take several months, and I might not even be able to lighten the burden on my body."

Only major sects possessed techniques for refining spirit stones. Some sects even had specialized spirit stone refiners who accepted outside commissions. Refining a single spirit stone cost a considerable sum. Immortal Encounter Sect was a major sect of the age and likewise possessed its own secret technique for refining spirit stones. As a Servant Disciple, Chen Ganliu had not been blessed enough to learn such a precious technique, but his senior female disciple was a Golden Core Peak cultivator, with every secret art of the sect at her fingertips.

In his previous life, Chen Ganliu had cultivated for decades without accumulating much property. Naturally, he had been unwilling to spend a fortune buying finished spirit stones, and even less willing to pay Talisman Coins to hire a spirit stone refiner from a major sect. In private, he had pleaded with his old wife and learned Immortal Encounter Sect's secret technique for refining spirit stones. He had then taken two Low-grade Spirit Stone raw ores and painstakingly refined them himself over a year and six months.

The raw stones he had taken were poor in quality to begin with, and his refining technique had been crude. Thus, the two spirit stones he ultimately produced were extremely ordinary. One could store seventy percent of his own cultivation, while the slightly better one could store one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty percent. Their durability was poor as well. After the slightly better one had been used dozens of times, excessive storage and extraction of true qi had already caused signs of collapse, so he could hardly bear to use either of them.

Just as Chen Ganliu was pondering how to arrange his future days, he heard a female cultivator say, "Little Daoist friend, would you be willing to sell these two spirit stones?"

A middle-aged female cultivator stood before him, dressed in blue robes with plain features and an appearance around thirty years of age. She was looking him up and down.

He had some impression of this female cultivator. She had set up a stall in the immortal market, selling various small magic treasures suitable for cultivators at the second or third layer of Qi Refining. He had passed by several times earlier and taken quite a few looks.

Many cultivators who had just broken through possessed no suitable magic treasures. Personally refining one required a great deal of time and would delay serious cultivation, so they preferred to buy something usable at the immortal market and replace it with another magic treasure after their cultivation grew higher.

There was little threshold for this business. Anyone could do it, and what they earned was hard-earned money.

Chen Ganliu hurriedly called out, "I'm willing to sell!"

Although he had considered refining the two raw stones himself, it would ultimately take far too long. His cultivation was low at present, and he had no use for spirit stones. He might as well sell them and exchange them for some Talisman Coins.

The female cultivator pondered for a moment, then handed him a peachwood seal. "This is a Peach Mountain Seal refined from a Mountain Talisman. I haven't refined it through many layers, so it can strike with at most a few thousand jin of force. How about I exchange it for these two spirit stones?"

Chen Ganliu reached out and accepted the peachwood seal. After estimating its value, he thought, This magic artifact should be worth around five hundred Talisman Coins. Exchanging it for two inferior raw stones would be worthwhile. It's just that this sort of magic artifact is too ordinary and lacks any distinctive features, so it might be difficult to sell. Fortunately, I'm short of a protective weapon for killing. Keeping it for my own use would be fine.

Chen Ganliu's cultivation was too low, limiting the power of any magic artifact he refined himself. That was why he had chosen to refine a crude wooden staff with the Illusory Character Art. He said, "I'm the one getting the better deal."

He circulated his true qi and sensed that the Peach Mountain Seal contained no aura. He realized that the female cultivator had never refined it and had originally made it for sale, which pleased him even more.

A magic treasure that had never been refined was easier to refine, saving the step of erasing its former owner's aura.

He was only at Qi Refining Layer One. Even if their cultivation were equal, erasing the former owner's aura from a magic treasure would take seven or eight days. If the former owner's cultivation were higher, it would likely take even longer. A blank magic treasure was far more convenient.

The female cultivator was also faintly pleased. She often sold magic treasures at Suiyang Immortal Market and had long wanted to find two spirit stones, but business in low-grade magic artifacts brought little profit, and Talisman Coins were tight.

She had just seen the girl buy a pile of spirit stones and toss two of them to Chen Ganliu, which had stirred her interest. She came over to discuss a trade.

She had originally thought that if Chen Ganliu refused the Peach Mountain Seal, she could offer three hundred and eighty Talisman Coins instead. Anything more, and she could only endure the pain and give up. She had not expected Chen Ganliu to be so easygoing and agree immediately.

She took the two spirit stones and put them into her sleeve. After the two exchanged a few words, Chen Ganliu learned that the female cultivator was named Chen Qing, was an unaffiliated cultivator, and lived year-round at Suiyang Immortal Market. He consequently felt a stronger desire to befriend her.

There will be an extra update after midnight today...

Well, I really am getting old. My hands and feet are slow, and I can't increase my speed.

Readers who saw the old version know that I originally had no saved chapters. I revised it all over again, and right now I truly have no backlog. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't be so stingy with extra updates...

Please let me take it slowly...

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