Acquiring Fire Scorpions

"Look, look! Absolutely authentic Five Poisons Sect Five Poisons Talismans! Usable by those in the first level of the Sea of Consciousness Realm, convenient and fast. They're essential talismans for home or travel, or for silencing people!"

"Top-grade Qi Replenishing Pills, only the last two left! Selling at a low price, don't miss out if you pass by."

"Buying all sorts of Magic Treasures fragments, fair prices, no cheating."

"Great Wilderness Map for sale, the fastest shortcut to Wild Chicken Mountain, guaranteed reputation, 100% safe."

"Buying Bluestone Fish Bones! Buying Bluestone Fish Bones! Bone for bone, crystal stone for crystal stone."

"Heart-wrenching sale of a family heirloom Qi Refining cultivation method manual, buy quickly if interested."

"Forming a team to go to Ghost Tomb to kill Stone Corpse Beasts. Those below the third level of the Sea of Consciousness Realm need not apply."

On an open space outside the east gate of Lingyue City, a large crowd was loudly hawking their wares.

"What good is a Bluestone Fish Bone anyway? There are still idiots buying Bluestone Fish Bones," said a burly man with thick eyebrows, carrying an axe, with great disdain.

"That's not even the biggest idiot. I heard someone recently figured out a talisman formula that can refine Water Arrow Talismans using Bluestone Fish Bones. Although I heard those Water Arrow Talismans are incredibly weak, not even qualifying as first-tier magic talismans, at most half-tier magic talismans, they're still somewhat useful," said a thin man with shifty eyes next to him. "The biggest idiot is that I even saw someone buying Fire Scorpions last time."

"Monkey, are you kidding me? Someone's actually buying Fire Scorpions?"

"Buying fresh Fire Scorpion carcasses! Fresh Fire Scorpion carcasses wanted, rotten or preserved ones are not accepted!" Before the burly man with thick eyebrows could finish speaking, he heard someone shouting loudly.

"No way?" The burly man with thick eyebrows was stunned. "There really are such idiots?"

"Green-Haired Old Man, are you absolutely sure you're not tricking me?"

As the sun set, in the small stone house, Wei Suo looked at the six Fire Scorpion carcasses with immense heartache. "If you dare to trick me, I'll definitely throw you into a cesspit."

The one considered an absolute, unparalleled idiot at the small market outside Lingyue City's east gate that morning was, of course, Wei Suo.

There was a reason why the people at the small market thought Wei Suo was a super-duper idiot. Fire Scorpions were only low-tier demonic beasts. Apart from their scorpion tails which could be used for refining, they were otherwise useless. Moreover, Fire Scorpions appeared sporadically, making it troublesome to hunt a sufficient quantity. Therefore, most people didn't bother hunting Fire Scorpions specifically to sell. At most, when hunting other demonic beasts or gathering other materials, they would kill Fire Scorpions if they encountered them.

As a result, Fire Scorpions were usually unwanted. When someone did want them, they might not even be available in the market, and their price would consequently be quite high.

It was like the brothel called Willow Lane in the city. There were quite a few attractive women there, but you wouldn't find any who were three feet tall and three feet around the waist. If you had peculiar tastes and wanted such a plump woman, they might find one for you, and the price wouldn't necessarily be lower than for their top courtesans.

Like today, Wei Suo spent one low-grade Spirit Stone to buy six Fire Scorpions.

One low-grade Spirit Stone might not be much to others, but for Wei Suo, who was so poor he was contemplating using his underwear as his only pair of pants, it was a fortune. After spending that one low-grade Spirit Stone, Wei Suo only had one last low-grade Spirit Stone left in his pocket.

"Don't worry, trust me, you won't regret it. Can I have some Fire Scorpion Blood first? I haven't had Fire Scorpion Blood in over ten thousand years, I'm so weak." The Green-Haired Old Man looked at the six Fire Scorpions lying on the ground, his eyes practically shining, his mouth watering profusely.

"Dream on. Hurry up and tell me how to do it. If it works, I'll let you drink some. If it doesn't, you can go drink from the cesspit."

The Green-Haired Old Man was at his wit's end with this guy and could only say speechlessly, "Alright, bring me a Fire Scorpion. Cut along the black line on its back. Be careful not to cut too deep."

"Oh..."

Wei Suo moved a Fire Scorpion onto the stone table. Although this Fire Scorpion wasn't large, it was still incredibly heavy, like a rock. On the way back, Wei Suo had been too preoccupied with the heartache over the crystal stones to examine the Fire Scorpion's appearance closely.

Now, looking closely, he realized that apart from its body being much larger than ordinary scorpions, many other aspects were different from ordinary scorpions. Its entire carapace was crimson, like the shell of a red-hot lobster. Its tail was about the same length as its body, like a small steel whip. The tip of its tail resembled a red steel needle, emitting a faint wisp of heat.

As the Green-Haired Old Man had said, on the largest red carapace on the back of the Fire Scorpion, which had a hole in its head, there was indeed a distinct black line.

"Damn it, this is so hard?"

Wei Suo first grabbed a kitchen knife, then a black knife that looked like a butcher's knife. He hacked and chopped for a long time, and finally got a small chisel. After tapping for a while, he finally managed to pry open the red carapace along the black line.

The Green-Haired Old Man rolled his eyes. He had served over fifty masters, but he had never seen such an idiot who took so long to pry open a Fire Scorpion's shell.

However, he didn't dare to say anything more. If he really angered this idiot, he might actually find a cesspit and throw him in. Then he would truly become the first artifact spirit to drown in a cesspit.

"See the red bone underneath? Carefully take it out whole, don't break it."

"Don't you want the blood? What's this bone for?"

"Ordinary Fire Scorpion blood is useless. It's the marrow blood from this bone that's useful. Quickly, put it into the gourd. Once it dries, it'll be unusable."

"Okay, Green-Haired Old Man, what's next?"

"Crush the Silver Candle Grass and Fire Tail Flower into juice, mix them in a seven-to-three ratio, boil for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, then put it into the talisman mold to dry into talisman paper."

Wei Suo fiddled around for a while longer, crushing the Silver Candle Grass and Fire Tail Flower into juice separately. Then, as the Green-Haired Old Man instructed, he carefully measured them with a bottle, mixed the two juices in a seven-to-three ratio, and put them together.

"Damn it, this smells awful! Green-Haired Old Man, you're not playing a trick on me, are you?"

The two juices were originally silver and crimson, with no strong odor. However, after boiling them on the stove for the time it took an incense stick to burn, as the liquid boiled vigorously and bubbled continuously, the liquid turned into a viscous crimson liquid and emitted a pungent, salty fishy smell.

"This smell is correct. You can take it out and make talisman paper. Once it's made into talisman paper, the smell will naturally disappear," the Green-Haired Old Man nodded with certainty.

Wei Suo, half-believing, took out a black, two-part square talisman mold. He had picked up this mold by chance once. It was an ordinary item, and since he didn't know how to refine talismans, it had been lying under his bed. He never expected it to be useful now.

"So clumsy, such a spendthrift."

Seeing the grass juice overflowing from the mold's cavity as Wei Suo poured it, the Green-Haired Old Man felt a pang of heartache. But then he thought about how these two spirit grasses were now growing everywhere, and he was speechless again.