Buying Pills

"Hong Yu, take a few trusted aides and guard this place. In the future, if any disciples of my Blood Baleful Demon Sect come here, seize those you can. For those you cannot, remember their faces and send word to your master. Remember—do not let a single one go."

Elder Lin transmitted his orders to the female disciple.

"Yes, Master!"

The female disciple bowed and accepted the order.

Afterward, the two elders gave the order to return to the sect.

Everyone soon left the Four Underworld Mountain Range, mounted their Flame Horses, and galloped away.

Only most of the saddles were empty.

Eight hundred had come; fewer than eighty returned. A loss rate of ninety percent made one's heart tremble.

"I finally muddled through."

Lu Lin secretly let out a breath of relief.

He was not afraid of being searched. Everything was hidden inside the Martial Dao Melting Furnace's inner space; no matter how the other party probed, they would never find it.

What he feared most was the "Soul Searching Technique."

If the two Foundation Establishment elders had truly gone ruthless and searched their souls one by one, his secrets would surely have been exposed.

Fortunately, the other side had not used such a method.

It seemed the Soul Searching Technique was not without restrictions. Either there were certain constraints, or there were some unknown drawbacks...

To him, that was naturally a good thing.

Three days later, everyone returned to the Blood Baleful Demon Sect.

The seventy-odd menial martial artists each returned to their assigned areas.

Two hundred people had gone from the Black Iron Vein on this trip, and in the end, only seven had actually survived.

"Hmm? Lu Lin? Your luck isn't bad. You actually came back alive from Four Underworld Mountain."

The instant the Goatee Steward saw Lu Lin, he was clearly startled, surprise showing on his face.

He knew some of the inside story and was well aware that this trip to Four Underworld Mountain could be called a journey where nine died and one lived.

No matter what, he had never expected that Lu Lin, a mere third-level Body Tempering menial, could survive such a perilous situation.

"Reporting to the steward, it was only luck."

Lu Lin cupped his fists and secretly glanced at him.

It seemed the steward's injuries had already healed.

"Luck?"

The moment the Goatee Steward heard those two words, a nameless fire shot up in his heart.

Why didn't he have that "luck"? The family wealth he had painstakingly saved had been stolen clean overnight; every time he thought of it, his heart felt as if it were being cut by a knife.

"Hmph. Since you came back alive, get down into the mine immediately! Remember, you're at the third level of Body Tempering now. You must hand in fifteen jin of black iron ore every day—not a single tael less!"

The Goatee Steward barked coldly and waved his hand impatiently.

"Heh. Your family wealth was stolen, so you take your anger out on me? Third level of Body Tempering—when would that require fifteen jin?"

Lu Lin sneered inwardly, but he could not be bothered to argue.

With his current mining skill and strength, fifteen jin only meant digging for a little while longer.

He silently pondered when he should "pay another visit" to the man's residence.

After returning to the communal bunkhouse, Lu Lin picked up his iron pickaxe and bamboo basket, then walked straight toward the mine pit.

A few days later, it was time for the day of rest again.

Lu Lin went to Blood Baleful City once more. After disguising himself, he arrived at Lingyuan Pavilion.

Lingyuan Pavilion specialized in refining pills, mainly the various pills needed by martial artists. Most were supplied to the Blood Baleful Demon Sect, but they were also open to Rogue Cultivator martial artists; the prices were simply much higher.

"Guest, how may I help you?"

As soon as he entered Lingyuan Pavilion, a pretty, refined woman came forward to greet him.

"Can you make decisions here?" Lu Lin asked directly.

The woman was slightly taken aback, then immediately realized that a major customer had arrived and hurriedly said, "Please wait a moment, guest. I'll go invite the shopkeeper right away."

Before long, an old man walked out. It was precisely the shopkeeper who had traded with them last time.

"Is the guest here to purchase pills?"

The shopkeeper welcomed Lu Lin into a tea room and ordered someone to brew a pot of fine tea before finally asking.

Lu Lin lifted the teacup and took a light sip. He only felt fragrance lingering on his lips and teeth, and inwardly sighed that this tea was far superior to any tea leaves he had drunk in his previous life.

"That's right. I want to purchase a batch of pills needed for martial-artist cultivation: Qi and Blood Pills, Tendon Refining Pills, Bone Refining Pills, as well as Bone-Protecting Pills and Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pills."

Lu Lin said.

"This is the complete set of pills for martial artists' cultivation. May I ask how many you need, honored customer?"

The shopkeeper smiled warmly.

"The more, the better."

"The more, the better?" The shopkeeper paused in slight surprise, lowered his head, pondered for a moment, and said, "Most of the pills in the pavilion must be supplied to the Blood Baleful Demon Sect. What we can sell to outsiders is... truly limited."

Lu Lin was not surprised by this.

Pills were precious and difficult to refine. Even pills used by martial artists were hard to obtain, always priced but unavailable.

Otherwise, that bald, burly man and his group last time would not have ambushed the Demon Sect's martial artists to seize Tendon Refining Pills and Blood Qi Pills.

"How about this? This old man will first let you look over the price list, and then you may decide on the quantity. What do you think?"

"Fine." Lu Lin nodded.

A price list was soon handed to Lu Lin:

Blood Qi Pill, sixty taels each;

Tendon Refining Pill, one hundred taels each;

Bone Refining Pill, three hundred taels each;

As for Bone-Protecting Pills and Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pills, the prices were even higher, at one thousand taels and two thousand taels respectively.

Lu Lin's eyelids twitched slightly.

These prices were outrageously high.

One Inferior Spirit Stone was only worth three hundred taels. Even with all his wealth, he could not buy many.

"Shopkeeper, if I pay with Spirit Stones, can there be a discount?"

"You wish to use Spirit Stones?" The shopkeeper's eyes lit up at once, and even his breathing quickened slightly.

"I'll pay entirely with Spirit Stones." Lu Lin nodded.

"If you settle the full amount with Spirit Stones, honored customer, you can directly enjoy a fifty-percent discount! In addition, this old man will also do his utmost to allocate more pills for you."

"Directly fifty percent off?" Lu Lin was startled.

Paying with Spirit Stones actually gave such a large discount?

"That is correct, directly fifty percent off." The shopkeeper nodded solemnly, his gaze burning.

With his experience, he should not have lost his composure like this, but Spirit Stones were simply too hard to come by.

Whether Inferior Spirit Stones or higher-grade Spirit Stones, almost all were in the hands of immortal masters, and immortal masters themselves were also desperately short on Spirit Stones, so very few flowed into the mortal world.

Though Spirit Stones had market prices, they were often priced but unavailable. For example, Inferior Spirit Stones were priced at three hundred taels, but even if one offered five hundred, one might not be able to buy any.

Lingyuan Pavilion had been founded by two Rogue Cultivator immortal masters. Their alchemy skills were quite good, but refining spirit pills consumed time and materials, and success was difficult. On the contrary, martial artists' pills were comparatively easier to refine.

They had opened this pavilion to sell pills to martial artists and amass wealth, but their ultimate goal was still to purchase cultivation spiritual items, such as Spirit Stones, magic tools, and so on.

When the Blood Baleful Demon Sect purchased pills from them, they mostly paid with gold and silver, rarely using Spirit Stones.

And when ordinary martial artists came, they had only gold and silver all the more.

Lu Lin was buying pills with Spirit Stones, so they were naturally extremely welcoming, and they were also willing to give the greatest discount on the price.

"Good. Then I'll order two hundred Tendon Refining Pills, two hundred Bone Refining Pills, and one hundred each of Bone-Protecting Pills and Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pills. Shopkeeper, calculate how many Spirit Stones are needed."

Lu Lin still had Blood Qi Pills left at present, so he would not buy Blood Qi Pills for now.

"In that case, Inferior Spirit Stones will be counted at four hundred taels each, and Low-grade Spirit Stones at five thousand taels each. If all the pills are paid for with Inferior Spirit Stones, it will require four hundred seventy-five stones; if with Low-grade Spirit Stones, then thirty-eight stones will be enough."

"Inferior Spirit Stones counted at four hundred taels each?" Lu Lin remembered that when he had sold them to other shops before, they had only been three hundred taels, and his heart immediately ached.

Profiteers!

"Fine. Then it's settled."

"Honored customer, the batch of pills you want is quite large in quantity. In particular, Bone-Protecting Pills and Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pills are not easy to refine, so it will be difficult to prepare them all in a short time. We will need some lenience in time."

"How long?"

"Within one month."

"Fine, I'll come back next month to collect them."

After the two signed the contract, Lu Lin paid ten Inferior Spirit Stones as a deposit, then left Lingyuan Pavilion.

After that, he went around the market district again, but gained nothing, so he went to Ten Thousand Scroll Pavilion and bought a martial arts cultivation method, the Diamond Art.

When this art was cultivated to major completion, the body would be like diamond, indestructible and unbreakable, extremely adept at defense.

After his previous battle with the cultivator, Lu Lin deeply understood how terrifying cultivators' attacks were. They were simply able to pierce through anything. Only by continuously improving his defense would he have a little more confidence if he faced a cultivator again in the future.

In any case, he still had Blood Qi Pills left from last time, just right for cultivation.

After returning to the communal bunk room and seeing that no one was around, Lu Lin took out the Diamond Art and began to read through it.