Trade Fair

Within days.

Dantai Feiyue took the initiative to visit, carrying a basket of gifts.

Lin Changheng welcomed her warmly, but among the gifts he spotted a talisman, its strokes sharp as silver hooks and iron lines, its spiritual light full and vibrant.

It was unmistakably a Premium Grade Ice Talisman. His pupils contracted at once.

"This little woman happened to acquire it while working outside. I thought I'd present it to you, Lin, as a gift."

Dantai Feiyue smiled, her red lips parting slightly as she explained.

How could Lin Changheng take this woman's words at face value?

She must have drawn the talisman herself; she simply couldn't say so outright. Most likely, she was hinting at her own worth.

"She must be like me—able to refine Premium Grade pills, but too afraid to show them to others..."

Lin Changheng understood the feeling all too well. Tsk, what an interesting woman.

After they discussed their plans for cooperation, both host and guest were pleased. As he saw her off, Lin Changheng also presented her with a gift in return.

Dantai Feiyue returned to her little courtyard, holding two square wooden boxes.

Remembering the way Lin Changheng's pupils had contracted just moments ago, she couldn't help curling her lips into a smile.

She felt rather pleased with herself.

You always put on that unruffled, unshaken act every time we meet. Well, this time I finally made waves, didn't I?!

She had indeed drawn the Premium Grade talisman herself, and had given it to him deliberately.

She'd done it to secure a say in their dealings.

In the cultivation world, alchemists and talisman masters of the same rank stood side by side, but alchemists naturally held a higher standing, enjoying faintly superior status.

After all, pills were closely tied to cultivation. Some even said that cultivators could never avoid two things: fighting and popping pills.

That alone showed how high an alchemist's status was.

So Dantai Feiyue had brought out her Premium Grade talisman to demonstrate her superior skill in the Dao of talisman-making, protect her say in their dealings, and keep Lin Changheng from taking complete control in the future.

Feeling thoroughly satisfied, she opened one of the wooden boxes. Mm, a Wood Origin Pill, its medicinal fragrance rich and enticing. The quality was quite good!

His attainments in alchemy were genuinely impressive.

That only made her more certain that her thoughts, concerns, and actions had all been perfectly appropriate.

She opened the other wooden box.

Huh???

A pill, round as a piece of jade, appeared before her. She gave it a light sniff and caught a crisp, clean medicinal aroma, its fragrance concentrated and lingering.

What was this?

A Premium Grade Wood Origin Pill?

Could he refine Premium Grade pills too?!

After checking again and again in disbelief, Dantai Feiyue's smile abruptly froze. Her lips parted slightly, but not a single word came out.

Then she recalled Lin Changheng's strange expression when he had returned the gift, and finally understood what he'd meant. Her teeth ground in anger as her ample chest heaved violently, white waves surging without end.

Using my own methods against me?

That man... was truly hateful!!

The end of the month arrived.

The Clan Trade Fair was held on the inner bank of the Black Water River, and its location rarely changed.

By the time Lin Changheng and Xu Fugui arrived, many Xu Family cultivators had already set up tables in two rows, laid out their wares, and started calling out to customers.

Dozens of people milled about between them, browsing and inspecting the goods. It was almost as lively as Zichuan Market had once been.

"Big Brother Lin, let's set up here."

Xu Fugui spotted an empty space among the stalls and hurriedly called Lin Changheng over.

"Sounds good."

Lin Changheng went along with it and walked over, his eyes sweeping across the stalls on either side. He saw spiritual grain, spirit tea, and medicinal herbs grown by Xu Family cultivators, along with talisman paper, talisman ink, and small chunks of ore... All were low-grade, and their quality was ordinary.

When he reached Fugui's side, Lin Changheng took a hammer-shaped magic weapon from his robe and placed it on the table.

Then he waited.

"Big Brother Lin, this magic weapon..."

Xu Fugui also took out some secondhand items he'd used in the early stages of Qi Refining and laid them on the table. Turning around, he spotted the hammer-shaped magic weapon and asked in surprise.

"I got it from a rogue cultivator last time. It's a little worn and not much use to me, so I might as well sell it."

He had barely finished explaining when a young male cultivator from the Xu Family walked over. "How much for this magic weapon?"

"Twenty spirit stones."

Lin Changheng named a reasonable price.

"That cheap?" The young cultivator was delighted at first, then furrowed his brow and deliberately started picking faults. "But this magic weapon's in pretty poor shape. It even has all these dents, and..."

"Sorry, the price is firm."

Lin Changheng knew exactly what he was trying to do and cut off his haggling before he could get started. "It's priced that way precisely because of those flaws. Unless you expect to buy an intact magic weapon for twenty spirit stones? How about I give you the spirit stones, and you sell me one?"

"Uh..."

The young cultivator gave an awkward smile. Seeing Lin Changheng turn his gaze away, he fell silent. After his expression shifted several times, he gritted his teeth and bought the magic weapon.

"Hm?"

Lin Changheng hadn't expected his first time setting up a stall to go so smoothly. After putting away the spirit stones, he turned to Xu Fugui and said, "Keep selling for a while. I'll take a look around the nearby stalls."

"All right."

He strolled along, looking from stall to stall.

Suddenly, Lin Changheng's nose twitched. He caught a faint whiff of blood.

He turned to look. At a stall selling materials for talisman-making on the left, a member of the Xu Family had just opened a white porcelain bottle and was inspecting its contents.

"Talisman ink?"

A thought stirred in Lin Changheng's mind.

He approached the stall selling talisman-making materials and pretended to be deeply interested, inspecting the goods and asking the stall owner question after question.

After some discussion,

a look of understanding appeared in Lin Changheng's eyes.

So demonic beast blood wasn't only used in alchemy; it was needed for talisman-making too!

He'd been so focused on alchemy that his perspective had narrowed, and he'd overlooked this. He'd never known about it.

For instance, the bristles of talisman brushes were usually made from the soft fur of妖兽;

talisman paper, which held spiritual power, was made from demonic beast hide;

and talisman ink was made by combining demonic beast blood with cinnabar and other ingredients.

Ordinary talisman ink was made with regular demonic beast blood. Only Premium Grade talisman ink required demonic beast essence blood.

"I don't suppose you have any Premium Grade talisman ink for sale?"

"No..." The stall owner shook his head.

Lin Changheng left, though he planned to ask Dantai Feiyue about it later. Perhaps it would give him another way to obtain essence blood.

He returned to the stall he shared with Fugui.

After giving it some thought, Lin Changheng took out seven or eight more standard-grade pills and placed them on the stall. He chatted idly as he waited.

As if it had just occurred to him, he remarked that logically speaking, land reclamation and killing demonic beasts should leave them drowning in essence blood. Why hadn't he seen any demonic beast meat or other parts in the clan? He wanted to try some.

"Demonic beast meat?" Xu Fugui was taken aback and scratched his head. "I did hear a little about that from Han Ling."

"Oh? Tell me about it. I'm quite curious."

Seeing how eager Lin Changheng looked to learn, Xu Fugui chuckled. "She said that on the Wilderness border, the upper sect set up a supply and trade hub to help cultivators turn their goods into cash. They partnered with several Aristocratic Clans and a number of Foundation Establishment families to buy up all kinds of resources from the Wilderness, so cultivators wouldn't have to carry their materials around everywhere."

"By now, that supply and trade hub has grown to rival a market, with every kind of service. Our clan does much the same. We only bring back a small amount of urgently needed resources; everything else gets sold right there."