The Marketplace!

This is a place for trade between outer sect disciples and some handymen; it cannot compare to the prosperity of a true immortal city, yet it is fully stocked with medicinal pills, talismans, and materials.

Li Qingshan mingled with the crowd, appearing to stroll aimlessly while actually keeping his ears pricked to capture any useful information.

He found a general store with a slightly larger storefront, managed by a shrewd, chubby cultivator who appeared to be only in the middle stage of Qi Refining.

"Shopkeeper, I wish to exchange spirit stones."

Li Qingshan's voice was raspy as he took out the two middle-grade spirit stones.

The chubby shopkeeper's eyes lit up; middle-grade spirit stones were not common. After carefully inspecting them, he smiled and said, "Old man, according to the rules, one middle-grade spirit stone exchanges for one hundred and five low-grade ones. For two, I will give you two hundred and ten. How about that?"

He attempted to drive the price down.

Li Qingshan shook his head and said slowly, "The market rule is one to one hundred and ten." Although he was a newcomer, he had already made sure to inquire about the going rates while wandering around earlier.

Seeing that the man was well-informed, the chubby shopkeeper could only offer a dry laugh: "You have a sharp eye, old man. We shall do as you say."

He readily counted out two hundred and twenty low-grade spirit stones.

The reason Li Qingshan dared to exchange middle-grade spirit stones was that he had learned many outer and inner sect disciples did not lack them, so producing them would not be overly conspicuous.

After all, the Spring Autumn Sect was a major sect in the Eastern Wasteland, with a Nascent Soul ancestor presiding over it. Having seized many spirit stone mines in recent years, the disciples within the sect were quite wealthy.

"Shopkeeper, do you have any pills here that can improve cultivation?"

Li Qingshan wanted to purchase some medicinal pills.

Relying solely on the waste products from the Waste Pill Hall was not enough; he needed something better.

"Of course I do! Old man, are you buying these for your descendants to cultivate? I'm not bragging, but the pills in my shop are all premium goods, refined by disciples of the Pill Hall. They are much better than those sold by the fellows setting up stalls!"

The chubby shopkeeper's eyes brightened, and he began to pitch enthusiastically.

He brought out four or five types of spiritual pills and laid them before Li Qingshan.

"These are low-grade Qi-Gathering Pills, five for one spirit stone. These are low-grade Qi-Boosting Pills, ten for one spirit stone. There are also middle-grade Clear Spirit Pills, one for one spirit stone, and middle-grade Azure Flower Pills, which are top-tier healing pills. Even if a middle-stage Qi Refining cultivator is severely injured, they can be up and jumping around immediately after taking one. They only cost three spirit stones each..."

The chubby shopkeeper boasted incessantly, painting his spiritual pills as peerless treasures rarely seen in this world.

However, Li Qingshan could tell at a glance that those pills were only of inferior quality; there were no middle-grade ones, let alone supreme-grade.

"Shopkeeper, do you have any supreme-grade spiritual pills with four pill patterns?"

Li Qingshan's heart stirred as he asked.

"Supreme-grade spiritual pills? Old man, have you lost your mind? In the entire Spring Autumn Sect, there are barely a few people capable of refining supreme-grade pills!

Supreme-grade spiritual pills are perfect pills, free of any pill toxins, and are extremely expensive! Take these Qi-Gathering Pills, for example; if they were perfect-quality, a single one would cost at least twenty spirit stones. Who could afford to eat those?"

The chubby shopkeeper said with a huff.

"So that is how it is! This old one has been ill-informed. Very well, give me some of these pills. I will take one bottle of Azure Flower Pills, and ten bottles each of the Qi-Gathering Pills and Clear Spirit Pills!"

Li Qingshan said.

It was more reassuring to convert these spirit stones into spiritual pills.

"Alright! Rest assured, old man, my pills are honest and fair; I guarantee you will be satisfied!"

The chubby shopkeeper's eyes lit up as he said excitedly.

"Shopkeeper, my descendant has just entered the sect and does not know much about the situation here. Could you introduce me to which disciples have deep backgrounds and should not be provoked? I want to save my descendant from offending the wrong person and losing their life for nothing!"

Li Qingshan's heart stirred as he asked.

The chubby shopkeeper smiled slightly and said, "You've asked the right person! When it comes to understanding the Spring Autumn Sect, if I, Wang Hao, claim second place, no one dares to claim first! I have a Cultivation Compendium here; it's only ten spirit stones. Is the elder interested?"

With that, the chubby shopkeeper produced a thick book with the four ancient characters for "Cultivation Compendium" on the cover.

"This Cultivation Compendium not only records the situation of all the major sects in our Eastern Wasteland and various cultivation secrets, but it especially details the situation within our Spring Autumn Sect, including a list of disciples with deep backgrounds who must not be provoked!"

The chubby shopkeeper spat as he talked, continuing his sales pitch.

"Too expensive! One spirit stone!"

Li Qingshan shook his head.

"Eight stones, I cannot go any lower. That is the cost price!"

"Two!"

"Five, then. Any lower and I'll be losing money..."

In the end, after a round of haggling, they settled on a price of three spirit stones for the Cultivation Compendium.

Li Qingshan flipped through it briefly; the content was indeed very detailed, and he was quite satisfied.

He happened to be lacking this type of book.

Li Qingshan pointed casually at one of the names and asked, "Shopkeeper, who is this Ye Lingshuang? Why is she ranked first among the disciples who must not be provoked?"

He understood in his heart that in this Cultivation Compendium, even Zhang Hongxiu was only ranked fifth.

Yet Ye Lingshuang was first.

It was clear she truly had a deep background.

"You don't know Ye Lingshuang? Tsk tsk, she is a true disciple of our Spring Autumn Sect, a cultivator at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, and the number one fairy of the Spring Autumn Sect—peerless in talent and grace!"

It's said that in the past two years, Senior Sister Ye Lingshuang is preparing to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm! The reason she can't be provoked, besides her powerful strength, is more importantly, it's rumored she has a connection with that legendary Nascent Soul Grand Elder!"

The stout shopkeeper quickly said.

"A connection with a Nascent Soul Grand Elder? Hiss... such a powerful background?"

Li Qingshan gasped, feigning shock as he asked.

"That's just a rumor, who knows? But at least, she has a Golden Core expert backing her up. Either way, you can't offend her!"

The stout shopkeeper explained.

"I understand, thank you, shopkeeper!"

Li Qingshan nodded, then put away all the spirit pills and the Cultivation Compendium, and left the general store.

With dozens of low-grade spirit stones remaining, Li Qingshan planned to upgrade them all to mid-grade spirit stones. This way, once his cultivation grew stronger, he could exchange them for more cultivation resources.

Clutching his bulging spirit stone pouch, Li Qingshan felt a bit more confident.

After leaving the general store, he didn't buy any finished pills. Instead, he specifically sought out disciples who were selling at stalls and looked rather impoverished.

In a corner, a young disciple with a distressed expression had several bottles of pills and some materials laid out before him.

Li Qingshan squatted down, picked up a bottle labeled "Hemostasis Powder," and then picked up a bottle of "Qi-Returning Pill." Both were the most common, first-tier low-grade items.

"How much for these?" Li Qingshan asked.

"Hemostasis Powder: five Spirit Sand. Qi-Returning Pill: ten Spirit Sand per bottle."

The young disciple said listlessly.

The prices were indeed very cheap.

One low-grade spirit stone was equivalent to one hundred Spirit Sand.

Although the Qi-Returning Pills were of poor quality, they were much cheaper than those in the general store.

Li Qingshan looked around, then pointed to dozens of dull-colored, irregularly shaped pills in a small cloth bag next to them: "What about these?"

"These are all failed pills from my alchemy attempts. They're useless. If you want them, take them all for one Spirit Sand as a bonus."

The young disciple waved his hand.

Li Qingshan rejoiced inwardly but showed no outward emotion: "Never mind, I see you're having a hard time. I'll take two bottles of this Hemostasis Powder and Qi-Returning Pill each, and give me these failed pills too. That'll be thirty Spirit Sand in total."

He gave a few extra Spirit Sand.

The young disciple was immediately grateful and quickly packed the items and handed them to Li Qingshan.