Substitute Formula

Li Shuidao arrived at the market, where crowds surged and vendors shouted out their wares.

"Jade for sale! Fine spirit jade! Come take a look! Vivid colors, brimming with Spiritual Energy!"

"Newly forged sabers! One slash, and blood will gush!" The vendors' cries rose and fell around him.

Li Shuidao narrowed his eyes. The Purple Poison Powder recipe surfaced in his mind.

Purple Poison Powder recipe: one liang and four qian of Evergreen Grass; one liang and two qian of bitter snake sweet; one liang and two qian of toad gall; one liang and four qian of three-immortal grass.

Put the Evergreen Grass, toad gall, and bitter snake sweet into a grinder and grind them into powder. Wash the three-immortal grass, chop it into fine pieces, then mix it evenly with the powdered herbs. Stir-fry over low heat for the time it takes an incense stick to burn. Once the herbs turned deep purple, the Purple Poison Powder was ready.

Every Li Family disciple had studied this recipe and was required to memorize it. It was common knowledge.

Li Shuidao had naturally learned it too, but rather than memorizing it by rote, he understood it, integrating the recipe into his system of Yin-Yang Balance and the five elements engendering one another.

Toad gall belonged to water, bitter snake sweet belonged to fire, and Evergreen Grass belonged to wood. The three-immortal grass determined the medicinal properties—the properties of water, fire, and wood.

"All things in the world tend toward Yin-Yang Balance and harmony among the five elements. The three-immortal grass anchors the properties of the three poisons—water, fire, and wood—misaligning the five elements and throwing Yin and Yang into disarray. That is the poison's nature, and its medicinal principle." He murmured the thought to himself, eyes half-closed.

In theory, every ingredient in Purple Poison Powder except for the three-immortal grass could be substituted.

Gathering all the Spirit Grass needed to make Purple Poison Powder from the market stalls was almost impossible. Far too many people knew the recipe, and making this basic medicine took no special skill.

Everyone was buying Evergreen Grass, toad gall, bitter snake sweet, and three-immortal grass at high prices, and had been doing so for a long time.

Bitter snake sweet was the rarest of them, and the most expensive.

Evergreen Grass came next. Though the Spirit Grass was plentiful, it was used in many kinds of pills, so it was rarely seen on the market. Unless the price was outrageous, it was snapped up almost as soon as it appeared.

At the market, the only things he could buy in any quantity were toad gall and three-immortal grass.

Three-immortal grass was used in almost no pills other than Purple Poison Powder, so it was easy to find at the market.

After wandering through the bustling market for a while, Li Shuidao's eyes suddenly lit up.

Three-immortal grass!

It was in excellent condition.

"How much for this three-immortal grass?" Li Shuidao asked.

"Twenty Jade Coins per stalk for first-tier three-immortal grass," the vendor announced.

Li Shuidao furrowed his brow.

One stalk of three-immortal grass could make at most three portions of Purple Poison Powder. Twenty Jade Coins was far too expensive. He might as well buy finished Purple Poison Powder from Hundred Herbs Hall.

He had to haggle—at least down to ten Jade Coins a stalk for it to be worth buying.

"Five Jade Coins a stalk. How about it?" Li Shuidao made his offer, intending to bargain with the vendor and walk away with the grass for ten Jade Coins.

"Ten Jade Coins a stalk! I'll take all the three-immortal grass here." A young man in a green robe walked over and bought every stalk without hesitation, then strode off.

Li Shuidao: "..."

Seeing his disappointed expression, the vendor smiled. "Fellow cultivator, when you come across something truly good, you have to act decisively. Otherwise, you'll miss your chance and regret it too late."

"You speak the truth, sir." Li Shuidao cupped his hands politely.

"An apt pupil." The vendor pulled another handful of Spirit Grass from his Storage Bag. Every stalk had dried up, clearly picked some time ago and poorly preserved. Its Spiritual Energy had dissipated badly.

"These stalks of three-immortal grass aren't in the best condition. How about I sell them to you cheap?" The vendor didn't expect to get a good price for such poor-quality Spirit Grass, but he didn't want to waste it either, so he offered it to Li Shuidao.

Li Shuidao's eyes lit up. The three-immortal grass only determined the medicinal properties; it didn't need to be brimming with Spiritual Energy.

He put on a troubled expression. "These herbs have all dried up, and they've lost a lot of Spiritual Energy. I don't even know if they're still usable. Give me a price, sir." Li Shuidao asked how much.

Seeing that the young man understood how things worked, the vendor chuckled and named a price. "Take all of them for twenty Jade Coins."

Li Shuidao nodded, then counted out twenty Jade Coins from the cloth pouch at his waist and handed them to the vendor.

Once the deal was done, Li Shuidao turned and left for another part of the market.

"How much for these three stalks of rootless frost grass?" Li Shuidao crouched down and asked.

"Eighty Jade Coins!" the vendor replied.

"Too expensive!" Li Shuidao shook his head and declined.

"Then I'm afraid we have no deal!" The vendor spread his hands, looking indifferent.

Li Shuidao shook his head. He had only a hundred Jade Coins left. If he spent too much here, he wouldn't have enough for what he needed later, so he turned and walked away at once.

"Wait—" the vendor called after him.

"You willing to come down on the price?"

"Fine, fine... You name a price."

"Thirty Jade Coins." Li Shuidao named a price that suited his means and seemed fair to him.

"Deal!" the vendor agreed readily.

Li Shuidao took thirty Jade Coins from his clothes, set them on the stall, then left.

Next, Li Shuidao spent another thirty-five Jade Coins on a few stalks of blazing-fire thistle. All that remained was to find wood-element Spirit Grass.

Of the wood-element Spirit Grass, Evergreen Grass was the best choice. Its medicinal properties were mild and balanced, making it ideal for reconciling Yin and Yang. Otherwise, the medicinal properties of the rootless frost grass and blazing-fire thistle clashed too violently; they might explode on the spot.

Evergreen Grass was common, but many pill recipes called for it, so any that appeared was snapped up immediately.

As Li Shuidao walked along the market street, he looked over the stalls lining the road, pondering what herb could replace Evergreen Grass. He searched for a long time without finding any useful clues, then suddenly heard a commotion.

"You swindler! The Evergreen Pills you sold me are all duds!" someone shouted as a crowd gathered to watch.

Evergreen Pills!

A pill that prolonged the lives of cultivators below the Spirit Refining Realm. Its main ingredient was Evergreen Grass.

A dud wasn't a fake pill; it was simply a failed one.

Though Evergreen Pills were only first-tier pills, they were difficult to make, and their success rate was said to be very low.

Whether someone could successfully make Evergreen Pills was therefore considered a measure of whether they qualified as a first-tier alchemist.

The vendor must have been practicing alchemy, but his character was rotten, so he had put his failed pills out for sale as if they were good ones.

With a little guesswork, Li Shuidao could tell what had happened.

The goat-bearded vendor was far more shameless than Li Shuidao had expected. He put on an angry face and snapped, "Who's this lunatic? Why are you making trouble for no reason? I've always treated everyone fairly, young and old!"

"Are you going to claim you didn't sell me these pills?"

"I didn't! What proof do you have that you bought them here? I don't even know you. You're spewing filth and framing me—you're clearly trying to shake me down!" The vendor was scrawny, but he had plenty of fire when it came to cursing people.

"I'm furious! This is more than anyone can put up with! I'll kill you!" The customer lashed out in anger!

"Stop!"

"Let's see who dares!"

Suddenly,

A cultivator with a silver hook hanging at his waist rushed over.

A silver hook!

The insignia of a Silver Hook Guard from the Law Enforcement Hall.

The man had been an ordinary passerby just a moment before. The next instant, he had flashed his silver hook, revealing his identity.

Cultivators from the Five Poisons Sect's Law Enforcement Hall were always lying low in the market. Whenever anyone started a fight or caused trouble, they immediately stepped in to punish the troublemakers and keep order.

But the customer was now blazing with rage, completely out of his mind. Even with a Law Enforcement Hall cultivator facing him, he still showed no sign of backing down.

"Impertinent!" the Law Enforcement Hall cultivator barked. "Surrender at once!"