A Moving Low-grade Spirit Stone

"Do you have any Fire Clearing Pills?" Wei Suo did not feel like wasting words with this fellow and asked directly.

"Fire Clearing Pills? Sure, but what do you want that pill for?" The old fox in an earthy yellow robe looked somewhat surprised.

"Someone has been buying Fire Scorpions lately. I want to catch some and sell them, so of course I need a Fire Clearing Pill to protect myself. What if a Fire Scorpion stings me by accident and I get poisoned by fire? Wouldn't that be the end of me?" Wei Suo casually made up an excuse.

"There really are fools buying Fire Scorpions? Well, that's true. With a Fire Clearing Pill to neutralize fire poison, there shouldn't be any problem." The old fox gave a chuckle and held up one finger. "We're acquainted, and you know the going rate. One Low-grade Spirit Stone per pill."

Wei Suo glanced at the old fox. "How much for a bottle of Qi Replenishing Powder and a Wind Evasion Talisman?"

"A bottle of Qi Replenishing Powder and a Wind Evasion Talisman are worth one Low-grade Spirit Stone. With the Fire Clearing Pill included, that makes two Low-grade Spirit Stones."

Wei Suo nodded crisply. "Four First-Order Fireball Talismans. How about it?"

"Four First-Order Fireball Talismans?" The old fox froze slightly, then immediately nodded again. "Four First-Order Fireball Talismans are worth two Low-grade Spirit Stones as well. Of course that works."

"Here." Wei Suo took out four Fireball Talismans he had made from his robes and handed them to the old fox.

"This..." The old fox carefully examined the four vermilion talismans in his hand, which radiated faint heat. "Wei Suo, where did you get these First-Order Fireball Talismans? The runes are quite unusual."

"Fine, I knew you wouldn't make the deal unless you tested one." Wei Suo rolled his eyes at the old fox and snatched one Fireball Talisman from his hand.

"Listen to you. After all these years, how could I not trust you? I was just afraid you'd been tricked and suffered a loss, so I wanted to ask clearly." Though he said that, the old fox did not stop moving. He immediately turned around and led the way, taking Wei Suo straight to a stone room behind the shop.

Blow your lousy shack to pieces. Standing at the door, Wei Suo cursed inwardly, then focused his attention on the Fireball Talisman in his right hand.

A faint purple qi welled up from Wei Suo's hand, wrapping around the vermilion talisman that glimmered with threads of red light. "Sizzle!" The Fireball Talisman rapidly began to burn, and a fireball swiftly grew from small to large in Wei Suo's hand. The heat it radiated instantly made his palm feel scorched, yet an odd sensation rose in Wei Suo's heart at the same time.

The last time Wei Suo activated this Fireball Talisman, he had been so excited over successfully refining it for the first time that he had not even noticed how he had sent it out. But this time, Wei Suo sensed that the fireball formed by the talisman seemed to be wrapped in a thin layer of his True Essence, with not a single wisp of flame leaking out.

Wei Suo lightly swept his right hand toward a wall inside the stone room. With a whoosh, the fireball shot out at once. Before it had traveled far in front of Wei Suo, it rapidly swelled to the size of a winnowing basket, and wisps of flame began to spill free.

Boom!

The entire stone room was almost instantly filled with flames shooting in every direction. Stone chips flew from the wall that had been struck, leaving behind a black crater.

Damn it! If the fireball formed after activating the Fireball Talisman was not blasted out in time, then after a while, his True Essence would no longer be able to contain it and it would explode in his hand. Yet, through the point where his True Essence struck, he seemed able to exert some control over the fireball's flight path through the air. Wei Suo was still savoring those sensations when a tongue of flame curled out from the room, nearly burning him again.

"These First-Order Fireball Talismans are of quite good quality." The old fox saw the flames spraying out and immediately stuffed the other three Fireball Talismans into his sleeve with a beaming smile. "Wei Suo, we have a deal. For the remaining Fireball Talisman, I'll give you a bottle of Qi Replenishing Powder, a Fire Clearing Pill, and a Wind Evasion Talisman."

"Look, look! That guy is leaving the city carrying a whole pile of Tiger Stripe Grass and Yellow Fuzz Mushrooms."

"Haha, look at his hair. It looks like it was scorched by fire..."

"What the hell do you know? What do you mean it looks scorched? It was scorched, all right? Once I strike it rich, let's see whether you'll still be laughing."

Outside Lingyue City's north gate, Wei Suo carried a huge bundle of grass whose leaves bore patterns like tiger hide, along with a large sack of yellow-fuzzed mushrooms. Snorting inwardly, he ran with all his might toward Great Green Mountain.

Though he had inevitably used up one Fireball Talisman at the old fox's place, Wei Suo had at least learned from him that there were said to be quite a few Fire Scorpions near the Purple Copper Mine Pit in Great Green Mountain, roughly three hundred li north of Lingyue City.

The Tiger Stripe Grass and Yellow Fuzz Mushrooms Wei Suo carried were the materials the Green Robe Old Man had said could lure Fire Scorpions. Though these two things were not as plentiful as Silver Candle Grass and Fire Tail Flowers, they were useless to other cultivators as well. Thus, Wei Suo, carrying such a load of Tiger Stripe Grass and Yellow Fuzz Mushrooms, looked as foolish as foolish could be.

The Tianyi Sect had set up Teleportation Arrays in many places outside Lingyue City. Many low-level cultivators without flying evasion treasures traveled directly through these Teleportation Arrays to wherever they wished to go. But even the shortest-distance array cost at least two to three Low-grade Spirit Stones for each use. Therefore, poor wretches like Wei Suo usually relied on their own two legs.

After doing this for so long, Wei Suo, who still knew no evasion arts, had become an exceptionally fast runner. Like a puff of smoke, he finally arrived at his destination, the Purple Copper Mine Pit, around noon.

The Purple Copper Mine Pit had once been rich in purple copper ore, but all of it had been mined out sixty years ago. The entire mine stretched twenty to thirty li deep and looked no different from a canyon. Heaps of useless rocks excavated from the mine lay scattered everywhere, and there were many deep mineshafts. Since nothing was produced here anymore, there was not a single person around the entire Purple Copper Mine Pit besides Wei Suo.

Including what he had already possessed, Wei Suo now carried two bottles of Qi Replenishing Powder, one Fire Clearing Pill, one First-Order Wind Evasion Talisman, two First-Order Fireball Talismans, one Low-grade Spirit Stone, and his Earth Shield Treasure Talisman, which could still be used once.

"Green-Haired Old Man, whether I can strike it rich depends entirely on you."

After checking that everything he carried was in order, Wei Suo chose a relatively open area, gathered a pile of dry firewood, and lit it with a flint stone. He then spread the Tiger Stripe Grass and Yellow Fuzz Mushrooms he had brought evenly over it.

A somewhat pungent yellow-green smoke rose into the air. Before half an incense stick's time had passed, a dark red Fire Scorpion suddenly darted out from the grass downwind ahead of him.

"Wahahaha! It really works!"

One Fire Scorpion contained enough Fire Scorpion Blood to refine roughly four Fire Talismans. At a fifty percent success rate, that meant two Fireball Talismans, and the market price of two Fireball Talismans was one Low-grade Spirit Stone. So, in Wei Suo's eyes, this Fire Scorpion was a moving Low-grade Spirit Stone. Seeing it run was like seeing a Low-grade Spirit Stone run. The instant it sprang out, Wei Suo's eyes nearly shone with golden light as he leaped down from a nearby rock and charged at it.

The Fire Scorpion had not even figured out what was happening when it saw a man charging toward it in wild excitement. "Sss! Sss!" While it was still stunned, the two Azure Water Blades Wei Suo released had already struck its head with flawless accuracy, slicing off half its head. The first Fire Scorpion to appear did not even let out a cry before it twitched once on the ground and went still.

(Those red votes yesterday were really powerful—they broke four thousand in a single day. If everyone keeps it up today, my updates will be just as powerful!)