Nanshan Village

Ning Xiaochuan had no confidence at all that he could earn three hundred million coins within three months.

But since he had already made the promise, he naturally had to do his utmost.

Ning Xiaochuan had already inspected Begonia Manor's treasury. Most of its coins had been transferred away by the Marquis Mansion, leaving only 1.3 million Small Coin.

Now that the autumn harvest had just ended, they would have to wait until next year to collect a year's Annual Tribute.

In other words, if Ning Xiaochuan wanted to raise three hundred million Small Coin now, he could only rely on himself.

"Given my current speed of refining Mysterious Medicine, I can refine at most twenty Nourishing Heart Grass a day. One Nourishing Heart Grass can yield four drops of Heart Nourishing Elixir, and one drop can sell for ten thousand Small Coin. That means I can earn eight hundred thousand Small Coin a day. In three months, that would only be seventy-two million Small Coin. No... no... Even if I refined Nourishing Heart Grass beyond my limits every day, I still couldn't earn three hundred million Small Coin within three months."

Ning Xiaochuan furrowed his brow tightly. "It seems there is only one way. If I can become an Intermediate Heart Nourisher, then I can refine Intermediate Pills. One Intermediate Pill can fetch at least one million Small Coin at auction. Only by becoming an Intermediate Heart Nourisher will I have a chance of gathering three hundred million Small Coin within three months—perhaps even more."

Ning Xiaochuan could now refine one Nourishing Heart Grass into four drops of Heart Nourishing Elixir, which already met the standard of an Intermediate Heart Nourisher. All he lacked was raising his cultivation to the Divine Body Realm! Only Divine Body Realm cultivation could support a Heart Nourisher in refining "Intermediate Pills."

Other Heart Nourishers might not necessarily become Intermediate Heart Nourishers even if they reached the Divine Body Realm.

Becoming an Intermediate Heart Nourisher was many times harder than a martial artist cultivating to the Divine Body Realm. It involved a Heart Nourisher's control over Mysterious Medicine, their innate talent, their pill-refining techniques, and whether their Martial Heart Palace was sufficiently powerful.

Only when all these factors reached an extremely high level could one become an Intermediate Heart Nourisher.

For many people, cultivating to the Divine Body Realm was merely the first step toward becoming an Intermediate Heart Nourisher.

But for Ning Xiaochuan, the moment he cultivated to the Divine Body Realm, he would immediately become an Intermediate Heart Nourisher.

"I must reach the Divine Body Realm within three months!"

Ning Xiaochuan took the Gold Thread Purple Wood Box from his bundle and pressed both hands against the box covered in golden thread-like patterns. An immense surge of Earth Martial Essence Qi flowed through his palms and into his body.

Boom!

The speed of Ning Xiaochuan's blood flow rapidly increased, rushing with a rushing sound. Originally, he could complete three circulation cycles in one minute.

Now, stimulated by the Earth Martial Essence Qi, he had actually reached four cycles per minute.

It was as though a Martial Venerable were empowering him from above, and his cultivation speed soared at breakneck pace.

For ten consecutive days, Ning Xiaochuan remained in secluded cultivation.

He rarely interacted with the stewards and servants in Begonia Manor. Yu Yan brought his meals to his room.

Among Begonia Manor's servants, there were certainly spies planted by Ning Qianwu. Ning Xiaochuan had no desire to let anyone know that he could already cultivate Martial Dao Profound Qi.

Over those ten days of secluded cultivation, the Profound Qi within Ning Xiaochuan's body expanded rapidly. Countless crimson streams of qi revolved around his body, forming a sphere two meters in diameter that enveloped him.

"Condense!"

All the Martial Dao Profound Qi converged in his palm, transforming into a crimson Profound Qi Sword three feet long. It was crystalline and translucent, like a sword forged from ruby.

Although the Profound Qi Sword was not as terrifying as the Demon Sword inside Ning Xiaochuan's body, it was still incomparably sharp and contained immense energy.

Bang!

Ning Xiaochuan swung his arm, sending sword qi slashing forth and splitting a two-meter-tall bronze cauldron in the distance in half. Dust burst from within the cauldron, while its two halves crashed to the ground and shattered the stone slabs beneath them.

One sword strike had split apart a bronze cauldron! Such was the power of the Profound Qi Sword. It was enough to make Ning Xiaochuan invincible among those at the same level, and even dare to face experts of the Profound Qi Eighth Level.

"I used Earth Martial Essence Qi to cultivate for ten days, yet my cultivation has only reached the peak of the Profound Qi Seventh Level. My cultivation speed is still too slow."

To others, such cultivation speed would already have been utterly terrifying.

But Ning Xiaochuan was deeply dissatisfied.

Hearing the commotion, Yu Yan hurriedly pushed open the door and entered. When she saw the disorderly furnishings in the room and the bronze cauldron in the middle split in two, she was so shocked that she stood dumbstruck. Her eyes blinked twice as she asked, "Young Master Ning, you... you had a Cultivation Breakthrough?"

Ning Xiaochuan shook his head. "No. Yu Yan, do you know where nearby Mysterious Medicine is sold?"

"Of course, at the market in Nanshan Village. Young Master, why are you buying Mysterious Medicine? Only esteemed Heart Nourishers can fully make use of a Mysterious Medicine's medicinal properties." Yu Yan assumed that Ning Xiaochuan wanted to raise his cultivation by consuming Mysterious Medicine, so she reminded him.

After all, if a martial artist directly consumed Mysterious Medicine, they could only make use of one-tenth of its medicinal properties. That would be far too wasteful.

She did not know that Ning Xiaochuan was also a Heart Nourisher.

Nanshan Village was one of the border markets outside the Imperial City.

Though it was merely a border market, it had towering city walls. Beacon Towers, Arrow Towers, and catapults had even been built atop those walls.

The entirety of Nanshan Village resembled a bustling little city. Martial artists traveling from the Tian Nan Region, Jiang Nu Region, and Mo Ling Region to the Imperial City all passed through here, making Nanshan Village one of the most mixed and disorderly border markets outside the Imperial City.

It was worth mentioning that the Yulan Empire possessed vast territory and governed by dividing its lands into regions, with a total of sixty-three regions.

Below "regions" came "plains," "prefectures," "provinces," "counties," and "towns."

Within Nanshan Village was an old street specifically for buying and selling Mysterious Medicine. Every sort of person could be found here—an unruly jumble, with demons and monsters all gathered together.

On both sides of the old street stood lavishly decorated shops. Others simply spread out a straw mat, placed all kinds of Mysterious Medicine on it, and began calling out their wares.

"Young master, you're here to buy Mysterious Medicine, aren't you?"

An old man grabbed a purplish-brown tree root from his straw mat. The root was as thick as an arm and covered in vein-like patterns. "This is a Blood Ancestor Root I just dug up from Nanyue Mountain. It is absolutely three hundred years old. The old shopkeeper of Profound Leaf Abode offered me fifteen thousand Small Coin for it, but I refused to sell. This thing is worth at least twenty thousand Small Coin."

Ning Xiaochuan looked at the "Blood Ancestor Root" in the old man's hand, smiled, shook his head, and walked onward.

The old man hurried after him. "How about eighteen thousand Small Coin? Sixteen thousand will do too! Even if you don't want the Blood Ancestor Root, I have other Mysterious Medicine here—Gastrodia Elata Gall, Devil's Comb Grass..."

Ning Xiaochuan did not turn back and continued forward.

Yu Yan asked curiously, "Young Master, these mountain folk dig up their Mysterious Medicine from Nanyue Mountain. Since they do not want the Heart Nourishing Hall to buy it up at low prices, they set up stalls to sell it themselves. Yu Yan may not understand Mysterious Medicine, but even she knows that spending sixteen thousand Small Coin on a Third Grade Profound Medicine is quite a bargain."

Ning Xiaochuan smiled and shook his head. "Do you truly think they are all simple, honest mountain folk? Take the 'Blood Ancestor Root' that old man brought out just now. It indeed had three hundred years of age, but it was not a Blood Ancestor Root. It was a Blood Tree Root, and there was not a trace of Profound Qi inside it."

The Blood Ancestor Root was a spiritual root nurtured by the earth. It belonged to the category of Mysterious Medicine and was exceedingly valuable.

A Blood Tree Root was merely the rootstock of a blood tree. If Ning Xiaochuan wanted some, he could buy a whole basketful at any time.

After hearing Ning Xiaochuan's explanation, Yu Yan immediately grew unhappy and turned to expose that old swindler's true face.

Ning Xiaochuan stopped her with a smile. "Look at their shabby clothes, their callus-covered hands, and their rough skin. It shows that they are poor people who run about everywhere for the sake of survival. Many of them are forced into cheating out of helpless necessity. If you expose them, I fear their wives and children will go hungry for several days. Let them off this once!"

Although there was plenty of fake medicine among the stalls lining both sides of the old street, there was also quite a bit of genuine Mysterious Medicine. As long as one had sharp enough eyes, one could distinguish the false from the real.

Ning Xiaochuan had come to the border market to buy Blood Accumulation Grass or Blood Toad Wood. Only by using Blood Accumulation Elixir and Blood Toad Elixir could he activate the Demon Sword seeded within his Blood Aperture and rapidly raise his cultivation.

Of course, Ning Xiaochuan could also use the Demon Sword's power to drink human blood. In that case, his cultivation would rise even faster.

But that method was simply too evil and could only be used when there was no other choice. If he relied on drinking human blood to increase his cultivation for too long, he would inevitably embark upon the demonic path.

Ning Xiaochuan's eyes narrowed slightly, as though he had spotted something good. He walked over to a stall, crouched down, and picked up a blood-red leaf.

"Don't touch that! That leaf is the most precious treasure at my stall. You may look, but you may not touch." The stall owner was rather flustered and exasperated, as if Ning Xiaochuan had touched his wife.

Ning Xiaochuan lifted his head and saw that the stall owner was a skinny youth around his own age, with messy hair. The youth held a book whose pages had been worn through from repeated reading and glared at Ning Xiaochuan indignantly.

On the battered pages of the book were written the four words, "Heaven and Earth Profound Qi."

So he was cultivating Martial Dao Profound Qi while tending his stall.

Given his family circumstances, he could only afford a low-level cultivation manual like Heaven and Earth Profound Qi.

Ning Xiaochuan placed the blood-red leaf back onto the straw mat and smiled. "Stall owner, I would like to know where you got this leaf."

The youth set the book in his hands on a stone bench, then immediately became animated and beamed with excitement. "This young master is someone who knows his goods. This leaf has quite an extraordinary origin and extremely high medicinal value. I was originally reluctant to sell it, but seeing that you and I are kindred spirits, how about I let you have it for fifty thousand Small Coin?"

He changed faces incredibly quickly. Just moments ago, he had been furious beyond measure, yet now he welcomed Ning Xiaochuan with a smile.

"Fifty thousand Small Coin? Why not just rob us? This rotten leaf is clearly no Mysterious Medicine at all. You must be another swindler." Yu Yan's pretty face was full of anger. She looked lively and adorable, and she could not stand anyone who tried to cheat her young master out of money.

Fifty thousand Small Coin for one leaf? Unless it was a leaf from Gold Thread Purple Wood or a leaf from the Ten Thousand Year Divine Mulberry, that was more like it!

The youth naturally knew that the leaf's true value was not even worth five hundred Small Coin. But Ning Xiaochuan was dressed in rich, splendid clothing and had even picked up the leaf himself, so the youth assumed he was a wealthy fool who knew nothing about Mysterious Medicine.

That was why the youth had suddenly been seized by the urge to butcher Ning Xiaochuan for a fortune.

But seeing that the other party did not seem to be someone ignorant of the trade, he was about to change his price when Ning Xiaochuan spoke first.

"Fifty thousand Small Coin!"

Ning Xiaochuan paused, then nodded. "That is quite a fair price!"