Despite the item's flaws, Chen Ganliu was still overjoyed. He put his rough wooden staff, Peach Mountain Seal, and all the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone he used for drawing talismans inside it, and immediately felt light and unburdened. He muttered to himself, This is what a cultivator's life should be like!
He did not even have a storage pouch, so he had to carry all sorts of things around in a bundle.
With such a bloated burden, how could he possess the carefree bearing and grace of one among the immortals?
After refining the Beast Skin Pouch, Chen Ganliu suppressed his restless emotions and began cultivating the Azure Emperor Jia Yi Art as usual.
The night passed uneventfully. The next morning, after getting up, he went to build a house for Daoist Wu Chang.
Seven or eight days later, Daoist Wu Chang moved into his new residence and praised Chen Ganliu's craftsmanship to no end.
By then, this small market at the Suiyang Immortal Market had dispersed. The various immortals who had come to trade had also departed one after another, leaving only twenty or thirty rogue cultivators who permanently resided at the Immortal Market.
Although these rogue cultivators often saw people come and go, most of them were at least familiar with one another's faces.
Because of Chen Qing and Daoist Wu Chang, Chen Ganliu settled into the Suiyang Immortal Market with ease.
Although the next major market was still far off and the next small market would not be held for another six months, cultivators still occasionally came to the Suiyang Immortal Market to trade. Chen Ganliu's business in low-grade talismans could continue, though it did not make much money.
Although Chen Ganliu mainly dealt in low-grade talismans,
everyone at the Suiyang Immortal Market who knew Chen Ganliu regarded him as an—Artisan Cultivator!
Two or three months passed in the blink of an eye. After Chen Ganliu saved up a small sum of Talisman Coins, he planned to buy a piece of Green Jade Stone and try his luck.
He had made some calculations as well. In his previous life, the person who obtained the White Emperor's Legacy had originally planned to refine jade talismans. The Green Jade Stone he had selected must have been especially suitable for "refining talismans."
If that piece of Green Jade Stone had entered the Suiyang Immortal Market later, Chen Ganliu naturally could not find it now. If it had entered the Suiyang Immortal Market long ago, it must have remained "unsold" for many years. Otherwise, it would not have been bought only several years later.
For this Green Jade Stone to conceal a copy of the White Emperor's Discourse Collection and three magic treasures—a sword and two hooks—its volume could not be small.
With these three conditions in mind, Chen Ganliu sifted through the "old stock accumulated over the years" held by several long-term rogue cultivators at the Suiyang Immortal Market. In the end, he selected a rogue cultivator named Ling Xiaozi and a piece of old Green Jade Stone he had collected.
The quality of this Green Jade Stone was abysmal. It was riddled with impurities and hardly distinguishable from ordinary rock. Its selling price was extremely cheap as well.
Using the excuse that he wanted to refine a batch of jade talismans, Chen Ganliu haggled for six or seven days.
Ling Xiaozi had never expected to sell it for a high price in the first place. After all, the Green Jade Stone's quality was truly too poor. It merely contained a slight trace of a Green Jade Stone vein, so he sold it to Chen Ganliu for thirty Talisman Coins.
After obtaining the Green Jade Stone, Chen Ganliu was beside himself with joy. Although he did not believe that he could be so lucky as to uncover "treasure" on his very first attempt, he was still filled with anticipation.
He deliberately activated the Illusion Talisman spell contained within the rough wooden staff to its maximum, shrouding his wooden house. Only then did he begin cutting open the inferior Green Jade Stone.
Chen Ganliu knew that the best course would have been to leave the Suiyang Immortal Market, find an uninhabited place, set up a formation, and then break open the Green Jade Stone. But if he failed to strike it rich this time, he might have to make several more purchases in the future. Leaving furtively every time he bought a piece of Green Jade Stone would be far too conspicuous and might instead arouse suspicion. What was more, he did not know any formations. He could only... make do this way!
Chen Ganliu had prepared an axe and chisel long ago. He chose an angle and tapped lightly. After only a few dozen strikes, the inferior Green Jade Stone split along a crack, shedding a large chunk of rubble and exposing its core—a vivid green greeted his eyes.
He had no idea whether this counted as good luck or bad luck. The Green Jade Stone he had bought had a green core inside and actually possessed considerable inner beauty. Beneath its impurity-ridden exterior lay a piece of superior Green Jade Stone.
Chen Ganliu refused to give up. He tapped away carefully for two days, opening up seven or eight pieces of fine material suitable for making jade talismans, along with three pieces of mixed material. Yet he did not see the slightest trace of the White Emperor's Legacy.
He sighed and could only accept the result. He had not struck the genuine article in this round of "stone gambling," but the outcome was still fairly decent.
Jade talismans were entirely different from ordinary talisman paper. Ordinary talisman paper had limited capacity for carrying magical power, while jade talismans could bear far more magical power and be refined through many more layers.
In truth, jade talismans could already be considered a type of magical artifact. Refining a single one consumed dozens or even hundreds of times more effort, and the refining method was different as well. They could not be drawn with brush and ink; one had to use the Heart Talisman Technique. The threshold was far higher than that of drawing talismans.
In his previous life, although Chen Ganliu had reached the Second Layer of Qi Condensation, he had not comprehended the Heart Talisman Technique and lacked the ability to refine jade talismans. He would have had to find every possible way to dispose of the Green Jade Stone material. Doing so once or twice would not have been a problem, but over time, others would inevitably have spotted the flaw.
In this life, however, he had already made plans for refining jade talismans.
Of the Twelve Talismans of the Profound Gate, Chen Ganliu was most proficient in the Illusion Talisman. He planned to refine an Illusion Jade Talisman and make it the treasure that anchored his talisman shop.
He temporarily put away all the superior material. Although uncovering material good enough to refine jade talismans could not compare with obtaining the White Emperor's Legacy, it was still not something to flaunt, lest it invite trouble. From the three pieces of mixed material, he selected the poorest one. This counted as a brief seclusion of sorts. He spent five days refining the jade talisman until it had taken on a little form, then finally withdrew the rough wooden staff and dispelled the illusion shrouding the wooden house, his face etched with exhaustion.
Ever since Daoist Wu Chang had obtained his new residence, he had been rather friendly toward Chen Ganliu. When there was no market, these rogue cultivators had nothing much to do. He was old and had long known that he had no hope of breaking through again, so he cultivated according to fate in his daily life. When he saw Chen Ganliu put away the illusion, he openly walked into the house and asked with a broad smile, "Fellow Daoist Chen, did you gain anything from this seclusion?"
Chen Ganliu hurriedly said, "I managed to cut open a few pieces of material from the rough stone I bought a few days ago. Time was short, so I only refined one jade talisman, and its effects are not yet complete."
He displayed the three pieces of mixed material to Daoist Wu Chang. The latter had never imagined that this "young-looking" fellow cultivator had other designs. After glancing at the three pieces, he said with a broad smile, "Not bad, not bad. I never thought Fellow Daoist Chen was also proficient in the Heart Talisman Technique. At the next small market, your business will surely prosper."
The old Daoist pulled Chen Ganliu along and insisted on taking him home for a drink. Chen Ganliu was helpless and could only go with him. In any case, when there was no market, there were practically no outsiders at the Suiyang Immortal Market. There was nothing valuable in his house, so he had no fear of theft.
Chen Ganliu drank with Daoist Wu Chang for half a day and chatted for a while before returning slightly drunk.
Just as he arrived back at the door of his wooden house, he saw Chen Qing sitting inside for a while.
For the convenience of guests, the lower level of his small wooden house had only three walls and no doors or windows. He had even made several wide chairs and fitted them with very thick seat cushions and comfortable back cushions. Its guiding principle was that anyone could come and go as they pleased, making every guest feel at home.
Chen Qing was also an acquaintance of his, so she did not stand much on ceremony.
Seeing the female cultivator, Chen Ganliu smiled and said, "Sister Chen, why didn't you go to Daoist Wu Chang's house to call for me? Why sit here wasting away? It seems I have been a poor host."
Updated.
I wrote this chapter over three hours this morning, revising it again and again. I wanted to establish a daily-life rhythm for the protagonist and hopefully capture the feeling of a low-level cultivator.
Different from ordinary people, yet carrying the helplessness and troubles of a low-level cultivator—that peculiar flavor of a Mortal Immortal...
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