County Town Market

After resting for a day at the Herb Gathering Hall, Ye Qin finished his daily meditation. Feeling that his progress was far too slow and his mood somewhat stifled, he left the hall's residence and wandered into the city of Zhuqi County.

Looking at the bustling streets, Ye Qin felt a mix of familiarity and strangeness, and he couldn't help but sigh.

Ever since he arrived in Zhuqi County and joined the Herb Gathering Hall, he had never truly strolled through the city. Usually, he was either busy learning to identify and gather herbs or occupied with meditation; he had no heart for wandering the streets.

He first went to the Jin Firm, the largest money shop in Zhuqi County, and withdrew the more than one hundred and eighty Silver Leaf he had saved from five or six years of herb gathering. For an ordinary family, this was a significant sum. One Silver Leaf could be exchanged for one hundred copper coins, and ten copper coins were enough for an average man in the county to eat his fill for a day. All his money was equivalent to five years of food expenses for an ordinary man.

With the money tucked in his pocket, Ye Qin pondered what valuable items he could buy to enhance his strength. He didn't put much stock in the upcoming fight against the inner hall disciple in ten days. What he was truly anxious about was finding spirit stones that could assist in cultivating the Sitting-in-Forgetfulness Sutra and help nourish the Dew Grass.

Ye Qin knew there was a trading square in the western district specifically for people in the jianghu to conduct business. Additionally, there were several decent jade shops in the city that sold jade, though he didn't know if they carried the kind of spirit stones he needed.

With this in mind, Ye Qin headed toward the trading square in the northwest district.

As the number of outsiders from the jianghu increased in Zhuqi County, the number of people trading in the square also surged. It was currently dusk, and the entire market was exceptionally lively, with hundreds of jianghu travelers either sitting on the ground with their wares or browsing and haggling.

Walking among these jianghu figures, Ye Qin did not appear out of place. He was over sixteen, strong and healthy, with a steady, powerful gait and a restrained, sharp gaze; he was not much different from these other travelers.

Over the past few years, as his own strength had grown significantly, Ye Qin had long since lost any sense of awe for those burly jianghu heroes and knights.

The Medicine King Gang's Medicine Conference was still some time away, so the true experts of the jianghu had not yet arrived in Zhuqi County. Most of the people in the market were second or third-rate travelers, and there were no top-tier experts, nor were there many who could catch his eye.

Ye Qin scanned the stalls one by one, carefully selecting items. However, most of the goods did not suit his needs. There were all kinds of weapons and armor—broadswords, long swords, spears, bows, darts, iron armor, soft inner armor, bracers, leg guards, leather boots, and so on. The prices weren't expensive, costing only a few dozen Silver Leaf each, but they weren't what he wanted.

Occasionally, he would find a low-level martial arts manual on a stall that he could practice. Unfortunately, the price was too high, requiring several Gold Leaf. It would be better to buy a low-level manual directly from the Secret Manual Room at the Herb Gathering Hall, which only cost one Gold Leaf.

Besides, he no longer had any interest in such low-level manuals.

Furthermore, the stalls contained some strange raw materials of all shapes and sizes. There was iron ore for blacksmithing, pitch-black iron blocks said to be meteorite iron, and numerous medicinal herbs like bear gall, rhinoceros horn, rhinoceros tendon, and tiger shinbone. Many stalls also had low-grade medicines in porcelain bottles, such as Hemostasis Powder, Pain Relief Powder, and Golden Wound Medicine. There were a few mid-grade medicines like Collateral Activating Powder, and high-grade medicines like Black Tendon-Mending Ointment, though these were quite rare.

Medicines like Hemostasis Powder, Pain Relief Powder, and Golden Wound Medicine were clearly labeled, and their prices were stable at one Silver Leaf per portion. The mid-grade Collateral Activating Powder, however, cost ten Silver Leaf per portion. High-grade medicines like the Black Tendon-Mending Ointment were quite scarce and had no listed price.

Ye Qin saw a stall filled with goods that featured a bottle of Black Tendon-Mending Ointment. His heart stirred, and he stepped forward to inquire.

"Brother, how much for this Black Tendon-Mending Ointment?"

The vendor, a swarthy middle-aged man, saw Ye Qin asking about the price and immediately gave a thumbs-up, praising, "Little brother, you have a sharp eye! This Black Tendon-Mending Ointment is a rare treasure for those traveling the jianghu. If you happen to have your hand or foot tendons severed by an enemy's weapon during a fight, as long as you reconnect the tendons within a day and apply this Black Tendon-Mending Ointment, you can fully recover in two or three months without any impact on your future training. If you want it, little brother, I'll give you a discount: one Gold Leaf per bottle."

"What if the tendons were severed four or five years ago? Can they be reconnected?"

Ye Qin asked.

The swarthy man's expression stiffened, and he quickly waved his hand. "What kind of joke is that? Tendons severed four or five years ago couldn't be mended even if a god came down! This medicine saves those who can be saved; it can't save those who are beyond help. Besides, I don't see you having any severed tendons, little brother!"

"Of course it's not for me. It's for a brother of mine whose calf tendon was injured, and that happened four or five years ago. Since this medicine is useless, forget it. There's no point in buying it."

"Sigh, don't be in such a hurry to leave, little brother. I have plenty of other good things here, all essentials for traveling the jianghu; surely there's something you can use. How about a bottle of Collateral Activating Powder? It can activate the meridians throughout the body and clear out those blocked by stagnant blood. It only costs ten Silver Leaf. It's better to be prepared; keep a portion on you, and you won't have to worry about your meridians being blocked due to injury in the future."

"My meridians are perfectly fine. Why would I spend so much money on a Collateral Activating Powder I don't need?" Ye Qin shook his head, turned, and walked away, intending to check other stalls.

"Don't go, little brother, I have more good stuff here."

The swarthy man put on a pained expression and pulled an herb manual he had been hiding in his robes.

"Judging by your attire, you must be a disciple of the Herb Gathering Hall here in Zhuqi County. I have an herb manual here, the Illustrated Guide to Rare Herbs, which records dozens of absolutely rare and precious herbs and the formulas for refining them. You might find it useful."

"The Illustrated Guide to Rare Herbs, dozens of rare and precious herbs?"

Hearing this, Ye Qin stopped in his tracks and couldn't help but find it amusing.

Could there really be anyone within Ping Province who possessed more herb records than the Herb Gathering Hall of the Medicine King Gang? That was an absolute joke. Over the past few hundred years, the Medicine King Gang had collected countless herb manuals from the jianghu. If the Medicine King Gang didn't have a record of it, it would be inconceivable.

However, he still turned back to the stall, took the Illustrated Guide to Rare Herbs from the swarthy man's hand, and flipped through it casually. If he could find even one or two herbs he hadn't seen before in this manual, he would buy it.

Ye Qin shook his head continuously as he looked through it.

The herbs recorded inside were indeed rare, but he had long since seen them in the Herb Gathering Hall's records. This Illustrated Guide to Rare Herbs was completely worthless.

He patiently flipped to the back pages, but when he saw a familiar-looking herb drawn on the page, his hand trembled almost imperceptibly, and he quickly slammed the Illustrated Guide to Rare Herbs shut.