Entering the Workshop, Exiting the Pill

The two people in the same carriage also jumped down and gazed toward the Desolate Ruins Market, yet they still exchanged no words.

Whenever their gazes happened to meet, the woman would offer a slight nod, but the old man remained as motionless as a wooden statue, silent and still.

Lin Changheng merely smiled indifferently, unbothered by this.

Only by remaining sufficiently transparent could he avoid potential trouble; if everyone were eager to engage with him or keep their eyes on him, it would be quite the opposite of ideal.

Soon, they arrived at the entrance of the market with the merchant caravan.

Lin Changheng immediately bid farewell to the caravan manager, who reminded him to return to this spot at noon in half a month's time to depart together.

He was warned that time waits for no one, and he must not be late.

Lin Changheng nodded in acknowledgment, turned, and paid a single Spirit Sand at the entrance to exchange for a token before heading into the market.

The blue-stone paved streets were lined with shops, their signboards overlapping like fish scales, while the street itself was a surging sea of people, shoulder to shoulder and bustling with activity.

It was far more expansive than the Zichuan Market where he had spent the last twelve years, and its prosperity was incomparable to the latter.

This market was newly established, a hub where resources converged, thriving like the midday sun; Zichuan Market, by contrast, was like the setting sun, its resources long since exhausted, failing to attract anyone.

Lin Changheng lowered his bamboo hat, observing as he walked; magical artifacts, medicinal pills, talismans, materials, puppets, spirit beasts—everything one could imagine was available.

After noting the locations of several shops, Lin Changheng did not stop, continuing to weave through the crowd.

He even encountered two patrols dressed in specialized uniforms.

After taking two large detours, Lin Changheng figured that no one could possibly be following him, so he ducked into a corner of an alleyway to change into a green robe and swap his human-skin mask.

Only after readjusting his bamboo hat did he swagger toward the shop location he had just memorized.

"Alchemy Pavilion."

This was a medium-sized shop with decent foot traffic; it was likely established by some clan, though not the Xu Family.

Lin Changheng observed from the outside for a moment, seeing no signs of noise or disputes, and those leaving the shop all appeared pleased and satisfied.

Its reputation seemed to be quite decent.

Since he intended to sell pills, caution was his priority.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

With a shift in his thoughts, Lin Changheng approached directly and rapped his knuckles against the open door panel.

The clerk, who had just seen off a customer and was busy tidying up the goods, heard the sound and immediately set aside his work, greeting him with a smile: "Please, come in, sir."

"What might you be needing? As long as it is a first-grade pill, my shop can generally satisfy your requirements."

As he spoke, he patted his chest in assurance.

Lin Changheng shook his head, his voice raspy as he replied: "Not quite. I intend to sell pills. Does your shop purchase them?"

The clerk was taken aback, as this was clearly a rare occurrence, but he maintained his professional smile: "We certainly do. May I ask what kind of pills they are? And what is their quality?"

He then added cautiously: "We do not accept anything below standard-grade pills."

The reason for this disclaimer was that the clerk saw the person before him covered quite thoroughly from head to toe, and the aura vaguely leaking out was only at the mid-stage of Qi Refining; he feared this might be a difficult customer and wanted to set the terms first.

He wished to avoid any future disputes or trouble.

"Naturally."

Lin Changheng did not overly suppress his aura; when traveling, if one hides their cultivation too aggressively, it is more likely to invite scrutiny, especially for those at the early stage of Qi Refining.

However, considering he should keep some cards close to his chest, he chose to present himself at the fourth level of Qi Refining.

"May I ask what kind of pills they are?"

"[Wood Origin Pill], and they are of exquisite quality."

Lin Changheng uttered the three words, then thought for a moment and added a clarification.

He had come on this trip specifically to sell exquisite-grade pills; being vague would serve no purpose, so he might as well be direct.

"Exquisite-grade pills?"

The clerk's shock was immediately apparent, and he let out a low exclamation before hurriedly offering an apology and heading to the back courtyard to fetch the shopkeeper.

A middle-aged cultivator walked out quickly from the back, smiled at Lin Changheng, and told the clerk to return to his own duties.

"May I ask how many you intend to sell, fellow Daoist? And might I examine them?"

To his surprise, the cultivator in the bamboo hat let out a raspy laugh and, instead of answering, countered: "How many can your shop handle?"

"Hahaha, we can handle as many as you have. My shop is backed by a clan of Foundation Establishment experts, so there is no need to worry about that."

The middle-aged shopkeeper was full of confidence.

"And the price?" Lin Changheng asked with great care.

"The price follows the standard: seventy percent of the current selling price. With the current land reclamation underway, [Wood Origin Pill]s of exquisite quality that boost cultivation can sell for four Spirit Stones—that is, two Spirit Stones and eighty pieces of Spirit Sand."

"If your quantity is truly substantial, I can offer you three Spirit Stones per pill. How about that? That is the maximum authority I have as the shopkeeper."

The middle-aged shopkeeper quoted a very sincere price, which made Lin Changheng nod slightly in approval.

Not bad at all.

If these pills were sold back to the Xu Family, the price would be two spirit stones and ten grains of Spirit Sand.

The difference between the two was vast; ninety grains of Spirit Sand were worth nearly one spirit stone.

With that in mind, Lin Changheng pushed a cloth bag forward: "Then I shall trouble the shopkeeper to take a look."

Facing the three long wooden boxes before him, which were sealed with spirit-locking talismans, the middle-aged shopkeeper's eyes lit up. He took out a bronze mirror and began his inspection.

The dazzling golden light left him slightly dizzy. After a moment, he took a deep breath and said:

"These are all premium pills! Sixty in total! That comes to one hundred and eighty low-grade spirit stones."

"What do you think, fellow Daoist?"

"Not bad." Lin Changheng nodded, then added, "I wonder if one hundred of those low-grade spirit stones could be exchanged for medium-grade ones?"

The middle-aged shopkeeper froze, a look of hesitation crossing his face. After a brief internal struggle, he replied, "You must know, fellow Daoist, that while one hundred low-grade spirit stones are theoretically worth one medium-grade spirit stone, in practice, one hundred is not enough to trade up; it requires more."

The bamboo hat obscured Lin Changheng's face, preventing the shopkeeper from reading his expression. Seeing that he remained silent, the shopkeeper sighed after a long while and conceded, "Very well, as you wish."

Only then did Lin Changheng respond: "My thanks."

The middle-aged shopkeeper was a decisive man. Without further ado, he quickly produced a pile of spirit stones, which totaled eighty-one after a careful count.

One of them was particularly crystalline, appearing to shimmer with a brilliant luster to the naked eye.

A medium-grade spirit stone!

With the transaction complete, Lin Changheng did not leave immediately. Instead, he deliberated before asking:

"May I ask, shopkeeper, does your shop have any pill recipes for sale?"

"Pill recipes?"

The middle-aged shopkeeper's heart stirred. He had initially pegged this cloaked visitor as seventy percent rogue cultivator and thirty percent alchemist, but after this question, he felt it was seventy percent alchemist and thirty percent rogue cultivator.

Unsure of how to proceed, he pondered for a moment before answering, "Pill recipes have always been closely guarded secrets; this humble shop does not sell them to the public."

"Is that so?"

Having received this answer, a flash of disappointment crossed Lin Changheng's face beneath his hat. He did not bother asking about medium-grade pill recipes, assuming they were even more strictly guarded.

He offered a word of thanks and turned to leave, only to be called back by the middle-aged shopkeeper.

"Fellow Daoist, if you are looking for pill recipes, I fear it will not be easy, as everyone guards their own treasures and refuses to let them leak out. However, it is not entirely without a way..."