No Merchant Without Treachery

The sun in the sky had already set two of its orbs, leaving only the largest one hanging askew over the distant mountain peaks.

The weather was gradually turning cool.

Yet Chen Xian's private courtyard was blazing hot.

As the temperature rose, the Rattan Blood Sugar in the iron pot slowly dissolved into a thick syrup.

This syrup started out a pale red, but as the boiling continued, it gradually turned a rust-red hue.

It looked just like a pot of thick, bubbling blood plasma, gurgling with bubbles.

Staring at the bloody syrup in the pot, Chen Xian suddenly felt a stir in his heart, as if an inner voice said: "The syrup is ready."

It was an ethereal, intangible intuition, quite mysterious.

He immediately took out a chopstick, dipped the tip into the syrup, and plunged it into a bowl of cold water set aside.

"Sizzle."

A very faint cooling sound rang out. When he pulled the chopstick out, the syrup on its tip had already solidified into a crystal resembling a natural ruby.

He gently pinched the extended sugar thread with his fingers, and the sugar crystal snapped with a crack.

"It really is done!"

His heart jolted. This was his first time boiling syrup from Rattan Blood Sugar, and yet he had nailed the timing and heat perfectly?

He instantly understood this was the boost from [Masterful Pill Crafting].

Incredible!

Strictly speaking, this counted as a form of pill refining, right?

Only, others used a pill furnace, while he used an iron pot.

With the syrup ready, the rest was simple.

Dip the fruit, coat it in the sugar shell of candied hawthorn.

He had just picked up a skewer of hawthorns, ready to dip, when another idea suddenly popped into his mind.

What if he tried putting a Spirit-Guiding Pill in?

Back before his transmigration, those who made candied hawthorn would add some agar jelly powder and sugar syrup to enhance the texture and flavor.

This was the cultivation world. Compared to foods that could aid cultivation, ordinary candied hawthorn seemed to have no competitive edge?

Chen Xian thought and acted!

He went back to his room, reluctantly took out a Spirit-Guiding Pill worth 10 contribution points from his pill box, ground it into powder, and poured it into the syrup.

The syrup bubbled and gurgled, and before long, it had fully merged with the Spirit-Guiding Pill powder.

"It better work! This pot cost me 15 contribution points!"

He carefully coated the new-style syrup onto various fruit skewers.

"Slap!" He smacked it down onto a smooth, oiled stone slab.

The surface of the candied hawthorn quickly solidified into a blood-red sugar shell. Upon closer inspection, it even emitted a faint red glow, like a string of exquisite rubies.

The appearance had directly jumped up a tier!

After working nonstop for half an hour, all the varieties of candied hawthorn were finally finished.

The pot of Rattan Blood Sugar was almost completely used up.

Chen Xian scraped a piece of solidified sugar from the bottom of the pot and tasted it. As the sugar melted, a faint trace of Dao energy drilled into his body.

It wasn't much, but it was there!

And beyond that, there seemed to be an even purer force of blood and qi mixed into the Dao energy, nourishing his meridians.

Chen Xian felt his sore, aching old bones ease up instantly, the discomfort fading almost in moments.

With his blood and qi replenished, his whole spirit perked up a bit.

"Incredible!"

Not only did it have the qi-guiding effect of a Qi Induction Pill, but it also nourished the meridians. His blood-sugar hawthorn had become a tonic!

The fifteen contribution points were well spent. Even if he couldn't sell them, he could eat them himself.

He counted the skewers already stuck into the straw bundle and those just solidified on the stone slab—eighty-eight in total.

An auspicious number, good symbolism.

"I'll price them at one contribution point per skewer, two contribution points for three. I'm going to get rich today!"

Chen Xian's confidence soared.

No time to waste. While the sky was still light and the sect market was still open, he quickly hoisted the candied hawthorn straw bundle onto his shoulder and headed out.

A quarter of an hour later.

Outer Sect, Sunset Valley, the sect market.

"Uncle-Master, I'll see you off here. In the market, you can set up a stall anywhere you like, as long as you don't block the way—just find an empty spot."

The female disciple who had let Chen Xian ride her Tailwind Sword helped him dismount and bowed respectfully in farewell.

"Good child, I won't ride your sword for free. I'll pay you with a skewer of sugar-coated hawthorns as fare."

"No need... this disciple is on a diet lately and doesn't care for sweets."

The female disciple waved her hands repeatedly, about to refuse.

Chen Xian looked her up and down. At one meter seven, she barely looked a hundred jin—what was there to lose?

If she kept dieting, those two plump grapefruits up front would shrink!

His white brows furrowed as he plucked a strawberry hawthorn skewer from his straw bundle and shoved it into her hand. "What diet? Take it! Why are you being polite with me?"

"Alright~"

The female disciple accepted it helplessly and casually stored it in her Mustard Seed Bag.

Watching Chen Xian hobble into the market leaning on his straw bundle, she sighed. "Can Uncle-Master really make money selling this?"

After all, what was so tasty about a string of mortal fruits?

Chen Xian stepped through the market's stone gate and entered the street.

It was already evening, but the market was bustling. From one end to the other, countless disciples came and went.

There were even some outsiders not wearing disciple robes selling things here.

Chen Xian didn't rush to sell his sugar-coated hawthorns. Instead, he took a look around.

From what he could see, most of what was sold here were low-grade Dao artifacts, manuals, and pills, along with some blood beast materials.

The sect disciples running stalls were relatively honest—their goods mostly came from their own refining or from sect missions outside.

As for those outsider stallholders...

Their stalls either had rust-spotted spears, swords, and axes, or tattered books and talismans.

According to these stallholders, they'd either accidentally fallen off a cliff and found a cave dwelling with treasures, or discovered a secret realm and obtained these broken ancient cultivation manuals from it.

Chen Xian sneered inwardly: "Ancient? More like last week!"

Maybe there really was good stuff among it, but the odds were probably no different from finding a needle in a haystack?

These people clearly wanted to fleece the Sword Sect disciples, yet the sect didn't intervene. Chen Xian found it very strange.

Until he saw a pill-selling stall. The stallholder's sleeve was embroidered with a three-legged pill furnace. Judging by his robes, he should be an inner disciple from Pill Peak.

The pills he sold were all genuine.

Qi Induction Pills were among them.

"How much for this Qi Induction Pill?" Chen Xian asked casually.

The disciple looked Chen Xian up and down. Seeing an unfamiliar old man, he grinned and said, "One hundred Dao Silver per pill. Buy a bottle of ten, and I'll count it as eight hundred."

"How much???"

Chen Xian was so shocked he nearly wanted to shove all his sugar-coated hawthorns into the guy's face.

The market was located at the outer sect, connected to the mortal world. Contribution points could be exchanged for mortal silver, and vice versa.

By the ratio, one contribution point equaled one tael of Dao Silver, and the reverse held true.

Didn't that mean this kid was selling him one Spirit-Guiding Pill for a hundred contribution points?

"You little brat! Why don't you just rob me?"

Chen Xian's old face darkened. He was old, but not senile—was this disciple treating him like a fat pig to slaughter?

He wasn't buying, but did he look that easy to fool?

"Hey! That's my price, old man. Take it or leave it! Go ask at any other pill stall—it's the same price!"

The Pill Peak disciple, confronted by Chen Xian, instead stuck out his neck and glared back, looking cocky.

"Hey, hey, hey, Jian Shan, look closely—that's our Uncle-Master, not an outsider!"

Just then, his friend beside him, selling hammer Dao artifacts, tugged his sleeve and whispered a reminder.

"What? What did you say?"

The disciple named Jian Shan quickly swept his gaze over Chen Xian's face three times, immediately shrank his neck, and put on a new smile.

"Old sir, were you just asking me how much this Qi Induction Pill costs?"

Jian Shan instantly seemed like a different person, his earlier arrogance gone.

He glanced around to see if anyone was watching, then leaned in close to Chen Xian and whispered:

"I was just joking with you! This Qi Induction Pill is ten Dao Silver per pill. Buy a bottle, and I'll count it as eighty. I'll even throw in a free bottle of Blood Vitality Pills."

"Outsiders get outsider prices; Uncle-Master gets Uncle-Master prices, hehe."

Seeing his two-faced act, Chen Xian finally understood why the sect didn't bother with those outsider scammers.

So everyone was just fleecing and tricking each other.

"You really live up to your name, kid! Hmph!"

Chen Xian ignored him, snorted, and turned to leave. He needed to find a spot to sell his sugar-coated hawthorns.

He'd have to change his earlier pricing too—one skewer for ten Dao Silver, buy five get one free.