As night began to darken, Bi Changsheng disguised himself as Ximen Xue. He pulled a completely black hooded cloak over himself, put on a mask he had chosen at random, and headed for a remote little tavern in Ningyun City.
The little tavern had already closed for the night. The moment Bi Changsheng entered, he saw several people dressed much like him, concealing themselves from head to toe.
At the tavern's back door, Bi Changsheng followed the others and paid the several martial artists guarding the entrance one hundred taels as an entry fee before entering through the back.
While chatting with Fang Yaoyang, Bi Changsheng had learned that this cultivation ghost market only charged one hundred taels for entry. However, every transaction inside required paying the Divine Fist Sect a ten-percent handling fee. All transactions here depended entirely on one's own judgment, and the Divine Fist Sect offered no guarantees whatsoever. That was also why this place was called a ghost market.
Although this place was called a cultivation marketplace, quite a few martial artists participated as well. Thus, it also sold plenty of resources for martial artists' cultivation, though they were of a somewhat higher grade—at the very least, resources needed by martial artists in the Qi and Blood Realm and above.
From the outside, the tavern's back door appeared to lead straight into a small room. Yet when Bi Changsheng passed through it, he seemed to pass through a layer of mist before arriving in a narrow alley. Clearly, someone had set up an array formation at the back door.
The alley was three meters wide and over a hundred meters long. Stalls filled both sides, while quite a few people passed back and forth through the middle.
After taking a look at the pedestrians, Bi Changsheng noticed that some people did not conceal their appearances like most others. Instead, they openly revealed their faces, and those around them gave them a wide berth. Clearly, these people possessed extraordinary status.
Unfortunately, Bi Changsheng, who rarely went out, did not recognize a single one of them.
After entering the ghost market, Bi Changsheng began walking around as well. He first followed the alley back and forth, visiting every stall, occasionally stopping to chat with the stall owners.
After making a full circuit, Bi Changsheng discovered that nearly seventy percent of the goods at all the stalls were cultivation resources for martial artists. Only the remaining thirty percent concerned cultivation resources for cultivators. This was supposed to be a ghost market established specifically for cultivators, yet this showed just how scarce cultivators were in Great Gan.
Among the stalls selling resources for cultivators, Bi Changsheng even saw cultivation techniques for sale. Each manual cost at least one hundred thousand taels.
With the Crimson Blood Pill as a money-making weapon, the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion brought Bi Changsheng more than seventy thousand taels in revenue every day. In the half-month since the Crimson Blood Pill had exploded in popularity, Bi Changsheng's fortune had already soared to nearly two million taels.
However, because Bi Changsheng still did not understand much about cultivators, he did not rashly purchase any cultivation techniques.
The materials for refining spiritual liquid were not particularly rare, so Bi Changsheng saw them at several stalls. After carefully selecting among them, he arrived before one particular stall.
"Does the guest need anything? I have cultivation manuals, heavenly treasures, and all sorts of other things..."
Like Bi Changsheng, this stall owner concealed his figure and appearance, making it impossible to see him clearly. When he saw Bi Changsheng stop before his stall, he greeted him enthusiastically.
"I'll take all these spirit crystals and Spirit Grass."
Bi Changsheng did not waste words. He pointed at the dozen or so unremarkable little stones and several faintly glowing weeds on the stall.
Those little stones were the spirit crystals Bi Changsheng had mentioned. They were fragments of Spirit Stones and the primary materials for refining spiritual liquid, providing it with Spiritual Power.
Using complete Spirit Stones to refine spiritual liquid would actually produce better results. However, complete Spirit Stones were extraordinarily precious in Great Gan, where spiritual energy was thin. Even if ordinary cultivators possessed any, they would generally keep them for their own cultivation. Bi Changsheng had searched the entire ghost market without finding a single one, so he could only settle for using spirit crystals instead.
Those few faintly glowing weeds were the Spirit Grass Bi Changsheng had mentioned. In essence, they were ordinary weeds that had accidentally absorbed spiritual energy.
"Sure thing! The spirit crystals are one thousand taels apiece, and the Spirit Grass is five hundred taels per stalk. That comes to fifteen thousand taels in total."
Seeing how generously Bi Changsheng spent, the stall owner became even more enthusiastic. He diligently packed up the twelve spirit crystals and six stalks of Spirit Grass for Bi Changsheng.
"I've bought so many things. Could you throw in these two books as well?"
After accepting the spirit crystals and Spirit Grass from the stall owner, Bi Changsheng pointed at the two books on the stall.
The stall owner followed the direction of his finger and saw that Bi Changsheng was pointing at Miscellaneous Talks on Cultivation and the Calculations Sutra.
Miscellaneous Talks on Cultivation was a relatively comprehensive book introducing the common knowledge of cultivators, so it was widely circulated throughout Great Gan and was practically worthless. As for the Calculations Sutra, in the stall owner's eyes, it was merely a book full of pretentious, mysterious nonsense.
Thus, the stall owner readily agreed and picked up both books to hand to Bi Changsheng.
"No problem. I'll throw these two books in for you."
There were several stalls in the ghost market selling spirit crystals and Spirit Grass, and their prices were all more or less the same. The reason Bi Changsheng had chosen this stall was precisely these two books.
He wanted Miscellaneous Talks on Cultivation to broaden his horizons a little. As for the Calculations Sutra, Bi Changsheng had casually flipped through it before and felt that the book was not simple, so he wanted to study it.
In any case, they were free gifts. Even if he had judged wrongly, he would not lose anything.
Having obtained everything he wanted, Bi Changsheng left the cultivation ghost market directly. He hurried along and soon returned to the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion.
After returning to the pavilion, Bi Changsheng prepared to begin refining spiritual liquid. He would slowly read and study the two books when he had time.
Bi Changsheng first took the spirit crystals, Spirit Grass, and the other materials he had prepared earlier out of his Storage Ring. He then added the materials to a small bowl according to the requirements. Finally, he crushed the Spirit Grass and spirit crystals, added them to the bowl, and stirred everything together. Just like that, a portion of spiritual liquid was complete.
Spiritual liquid had originally been developed so that even ordinary people could draw talismans, so the refining process was naturally very simple.
After refining the spiritual liquid, he began drawing talismans. For his first attempt, Bi Changsheng chose a Divine Movement Talisman. After calming his mind and focusing his spirit, he dipped a brush into the spiritual liquid and began drawing on the talisman paper he had prepared beforehand.
Because he had already basically mastered drawing two kinds of talismans, Bi Changsheng successfully drew the Divine Movement Talisman without a hitch this time as well. The difference was that spiritual light flickered across the talisman drawn with spiritual liquid, forming a true talisman imbued with wondrous power.
After successfully drawing the talisman, Bi Changsheng saw that two-thirds of the spiritual liquid remained in the bowl. Since spiritual energy would gradually dissipate from spiritual liquid after it was refined unless it was preserved by a special method, Bi Changsheng decided to draw two more Divine Movement Talismans.
The following attempts were successful without exception.
After finishing them all, Bi Changsheng went to the courtyard to test the Divine Movement Talisman's effects. He took out one and slapped it onto himself. At once, he felt a strange power spread throughout his body, making him feel much lighter.
Bi Changsheng began circulating his movement technique and dashed wildly around the courtyard. He discovered that the Divine Movement Talisman had increased his speed by roughly twenty percent.
Only after half an hour did that power dissipate.
Inside an elegant room on the second floor of Dan Cao Hall, a middle-aged man sat in a chair reading a book.
"My lord, I'm back."
Suddenly, a figure wrapped entirely in black appeared before him and bowed.
"How did it go? Have you finished investigating the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion's background?"
The middle-aged man set down the book in his hand and spoke to the suddenly appearing Men in Black in a low voice.
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