Zhao Hao left his Cave Abode and headed straight for the hall where inner disciples collected their monthly stipends.
Lu Gui was the one on duty inside.
"Senior Brother Zhao! You've come out of seclusion!"
The moment he spotted Zhao Hao, Lu Gui rubbed his hands and hurried over, bowing even lower than last time, until his waist was bent almost ninety degrees.
His gaze swept over Zhao Hao out of habit. The flattery on his face froze instantly, and his eyes went round.
"Q-Qi Refining third layer?!"
One month! In just one month, a mortal who couldn't even truss a chicken had soared straight to the third layer of Qi Refining!
Lu Gui's heart pounded as though an invisible hand had clenched around it. Shock came first, followed by wild joy that swept through his entire body.
I'd bet on the right horse!
The thousand spirit stones he'd scraped together by emptying his pockets had been the wisest investment of his life!
In a few years, Zhao Hao's cultivation would probably surpass his. Perhaps even his own chance at foundation establishment would lie with Zhao Hao.
Unsurprised by his reaction, Zhao Hao spoke calmly.
"My stipend for this month?"
"It's here! Here! Of course it's here!"
Lu Gui jolted out of his wild delight, deftly retrieved twenty low-grade spirit stones and a porcelain bottle of Qi Gathering Pills from behind the counter, and presented them with both hands.
"Your stipend, senior brother."
Zhao Hao accepted them without showing the slightest intention of leaving. He asked directly, "What ways are there to earn spirit stones quickly in the sect?"
Lu Gui paused, then thumped his chest. "You've asked the right person, senior brother!"
He lowered his voice and began explaining with a mysterious air.
"If you want fast money, senior brother, nothing beats the foundations of our three lineages."
"For our Corpse Refining Lineage, naturally, it's killing people and refining their corpses. A refined Walking Corpse of a high enough grade can sell for over a thousand spirit stones!"
"The Soul Refining lineage extracts souls and refines spirits. Vengeful souls and vicious ghosts are hard currency on the black market, too."
"As for the Blood Refining lineage, they specialize in hunting demonic beasts, or... raising some 'blood feed' in captivity and selling their blood essence."
Zhao Hao's eye twitched as he listened to this utterly inhuman explanation.
Good grief. A demonic sect indeed-even its spirit-stone schemes were criminal.
"Besides those, is there anything a little safer?"
"There is." Lu Gui scratched his head. "It's just slower. The usual hundred arts of cultivation: alchemy, artifact refining, talisman-making, and so on."
"Alchemy and artifact refining require huge initial investments. They're not worth it. Talisman-making is the simplest. Just buy some materials and draw them in your Cave Abode. The earnings aren't much, but at least it's safe."
Something else occurred to him, and his expression grew more serious.
"But senior brother, the waters run deep in alchemy. The Alchemy Hall controls most of the pill trade in the markets under the sect."
"If you want to enter the trade, you'd best register with the Alchemy Hall first. Otherwise, you'll probably run into trouble."
"You also have to give them priority when selling your pills, at a discount. Otherwise, you won't be able to buy any medicinal herbs with even a little age on them anywhere near the sect."
Zhao Hao took note of this.
It seemed that making his own pills would be troublesome in the future.
Zhao Hao silently filed that away, then turned to leave.
"You don't know the way, senior brother. I'll take you to the market!" Lu Gui hurried after him.
With Lu Gui leading the way, they soon reached a market at the foot of the mountain.
People came and went here, making it far livelier than the sect grounds.
After agreeing to meet at the exit in two hours, Zhao Hao slipped into the crowd alone.
Zhao Hao began browsing the market.
The shops here came in all sorts of strange varieties.
Several first-tier puppets stood outside one shop. Insert spirit stones, and they could move like people and perform simple tasks.
Another shop had a particularly chilling line of small print beneath its sign: "All varieties of blood feed, fresh corpses, and finished refined corpses. Discounts for bulk purchases!"
Zhao Hao stepped inside, and a thick wave of corpse qi mingled with the stench of blood hit him in the face. The prices listed on wooden boards along the wall made his eye twitch.
One mortal corpse: one low-grade spirit stone.
One early-stage Qi Refining cultivator's corpse: fifty low-grade spirit stones!
One finished early-first-tier refined corpse: one hundred low-grade spirit stones!
Mid-first-tier: three hundred!
Late-first-tier: one thousand!
Zhao Hao's heart bled.
Last night, he'd sacrificed two refined corpses worth more than a thousand spirit stones in total!
Had he known the market sold fresh corpses, he could have sold those two refined corpses and exchanged them for dozens of fresh ones. His spiritual root might have become capable of absorbing spiritual qi on its own, letting him cultivate on fully automatic idle mode!
But it was too late for regrets now.
There was still a late-first-tier iron corpse in his Storage Bag, bestowed upon him by his master, True Person Corpse Heart.
Keeping that thing around was a lurking danger. Who knew what contingency the golden core old devil had planted in it? Better to exchange it for tangible resources. That was the way to survive in a demonic sect!
Having made up his mind, Zhao Hao approached the counter and addressed the drowsy shopkeeper.
"Do you buy refined corpses?"
The shopkeeper raised his eyelids and listlessly pointed toward a private room nearby.
Once inside, Zhao Hao took out the late-first-tier iron corpse.
The shopkeeper had still been languid, but his eyes lit up the instant he saw the iron corpse. He circled it twice, clicking his tongue in admiration.
"Excellent, excellent. A seasoned refining technique, a fine choice of corpse, and a stable aura. It even has the potential to break through to the second tier!"
He rubbed his hands and looked at Zhao Hao, shrewdness gleaming in his eyes.
"Fellow Daoist, I'll offer six hundred low-grade spirit stones for this refined corpse!"
Zhao Hao remained expressionless.
Without a word, he pulled the black inner Disciple Token engraved with his name, "Zhao Hao," from his Storage Bag and slapped it crisply onto the table with a crack.
The sharp collision of token and tabletop was particularly piercing in the quiet room.
Only then did Zhao Hao speak unhurriedly. His voice wasn't loud, but every word was icy.
"My master is True Person Corpse Heart. He said this refined corpse was worth at least a thousand spirit stones."
"You just said it has the potential to reach the second tier. When I return, I'll be sure to ask my golden core master to come and properly thank you for your 'keen eye for a pearl.'"
The fat on the shopkeeper's face quivered violently. His smile froze, and beads of sweat the size of beans broke out across his forehead.
True Person Corpse Heart's... personal disciple!
The shrewdness on his face instantly turned into abject flattery. He bowed repeatedly to Zhao Hao, his head bobbing like a pestle pounding garlic.
"Oh! So it's you, senior brother! A misunderstanding! An enormous misunderstanding!"
"Senior brother, look at these poor eyes of mine. This is just a small business... One thousand! One thousand low-grade spirit stones it is! Let your junior brother round it up for you!"
As he spoke, he swiftly counted out a thousand low-grade spirit stones and handed them over respectfully.
Zhao Hao accepted the spirit stones without a change in expression.
"How much do you charge for early-stage Qi Refining cultivators' corpses?"
"Fifty for anyone else, but forty-five apiece for you, senior brother!" the shopkeeper declared, thumping his chest.
"I'll take five."
After spending two hundred and twenty-five spirit stones and putting five fresh corpses into his Storage Bag, Zhao Hao turned and left under the shopkeeper's almost servile gaze.
With his wealth soaring, he was in no hurry to return.
First, he bought a Bronze Mask that blocked probing spiritual senses from a general store and put it on. Then he found a deserted alley and changed into an ordinary gray cloth robe.
Once he had done all this, the aura around him shifted under his perfected Mysterious Yin Breath Concealment Art, making him seem like an utterly unremarkable rogue cultivator at the fifth layer of Qi Refining.
He had an even more important objective on this trip.
Entering the largest pill shop in the market, Zhao Hao deliberately lowered his voice.
"Pills for mid-stage Qi Refining cultivation."
"Essence Condensing Pills? Three low-grade spirit stones each."
"I want twenty bottles."
Five pills per bottle meant twenty bottles contained a hundred pills, costing three hundred spirit stones in total.
At the same shop, he also bought two thousand blank talisman sheets, two portions of talisman ink, and a low-grade magical artifact talisman brush in one go. Only after paying three hundred and forty-two low-grade spirit stones did he quietly leave.
Carrying the hefty sum of nearly five hundred spirit stones, five corpses, a hundred Essence Condensing Pills, and an enormous supply of talisman-making materials, Zhao Hao felt more well-stocked than ever.
After changing back into his original clothes, he emerged from a shop selling spell jade slips and was about to turn into an alley when he ran straight into someone.
The man wore brocade clothes, had a slightly plump build, and carried an oily smile on his face.
It was his seventh senior brother, Wu De.
At the sight of Zhao Hao, Wu De paused, then the playful smile on his face grew meaningful.
He looked Zhao Hao up and down, his gaze lingering briefly on the Storage Bag at his waist, then sidled closer with a conspiratorial wink.
"Well, well, isn't this my Ninth Junior Brother?"
Wu De leaned in close and let a quiet sentence drift out, audible only to the two of them.
"What, was the 'plaything' I gave you no good?"
He chuckled and licked his lips.
"Or have you... already broken it, junior brother?"