Earning Spirit Stones

On his way back, Qin Huaian casually visited several pill shops, buying one portion from each, along with four portions of the supplementary ingredients needed to refine Breakthrough Essence Pills.

After returning to his cave abode, Qin Huaian counted the Spirit Stones he had earned this time. After deducting the cost of purchasing Essence-Breaking Herbs and the supplementary ingredients for Breakthrough Essence Pills, and adding the Spirit Stones he had left from before, he still had a total of 320 Mid-Grade Spirit Stones and 22,950 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Alchemists really did make money fast!

He first refined the Essence-Breaking Herbs he had purchased. Over the next few days, Qin Huaian refined one batch each day. This time, he was quite lucky—all four batches succeeded.

In the days that followed, Qin Huaian spent half of each day cultivating the Yi Wood True Formula and the other half cultivating the Spirit Tempering Formula. Whenever he cultivated the Yi Wood True Formula, he would take one of the True Essence Pills he had obtained last time.

It had to be said that the effects of the second-rank True Essence Pill far surpassed those of the Qi Recovery Pill. Qi Recovery Pills now had very little effect on Qin Huaian, but when he took a True Essence Pill, his cultivation speed could double.

One True Essence Pill could now sustain his cultivation for around six hours. He had obtained four bottles last time, with ten pills in each bottle. At his current rate of consumption, these True Essence Pills could last him for over a month.

That day, an insight into the Spirit Tempering Formula surged into Qin Huaian's mind. The deduction of the Mastery Grade Spirit Tempering Formula was complete.

Qin Huaian circulated the Mastery Grade Spirit Tempering Formula. After more than half a day, he discovered that its Divine Sense cultivation speed was roughly twice that of the Entry Grade version.

Qin Huaian opened the Data Panel:

Cultivation: Qi Refining (Seventh Layer 10/100)

Inner Vision (Late Stage 53/100)

Techniques: Yi Wood True Formula (Major Accomplishment, can be optimized)

Spirit Tempering Formula (Mastery 1/100, can be deduced)

Fireball Technique (Perfection)

Spirit Eye Technique (Major Accomplishment, can be optimized)

Skystride Hundred Transformations (Major Accomplishment, can be optimized)

Basic Swordsmanship (Minor Accomplishment 1/100, can be deduced)

Skills: First-Rank Alchemist (Qi Recovery Pill: Minor Accomplishment 30/100, can be deduced; Breakthrough Essence Pill: Major Accomplishment, can be optimized)

After reaching the Seventh Qi Refining Layer, the growth of his cultivation progress had slowed considerably. At this rate, it would take roughly a year to reach the Eighth Qi Refining Layer.

"Optimize the Yi Wood True Formula!"

[Consume 40,000 Spirit Stones, and the Mirror Body can optimize the Yi Wood True Formula to Perfection Grade, requiring 16 days; consume 80,000 Spirit Stones to halve the time required.]

"Consume 40,000 Spirit Stones to optimize it."

Qin Huaian decided to optimize the Yi Wood True Formula to Perfection Grade first. His cultivation progress had to be raised; cultivation was the foundation of everything.

Tomorrow would be Ghost Market day again. He would sell the eight Breakthrough Essence Pills he had refined over the past few days, then see if he could purchase more Essence-Breaking Herbs.

Early the next morning, Qin Huaian arrived at the West City Ghost Market once more. This time, he was already familiar with the ropes. After paying the Spirit Stones to enter, he still took the same stall as last time.

The moment he set out the eight bottles of Breakthrough Essence Pills, many people gathered around him. It seemed that more people had heard about the Breakthrough Essence Pills he had sold at the last Ghost Market, and some had come specifically to wait for him.

"Fellow Daoist, how are you selling the Breakthrough Essence Pills?" someone asked. Since everyone wore masks, those cultivators were unsure whether he was the same person who had sold the pills last time.

"Greetings, everyone. My Breakthrough Essence Pills are 13,000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones each. If you sell Essence-Breaking Herbs to me, you may receive priority purchase rights for the Breakthrough Essence Pills. I purchase Essence-Breaking Herbs for 3,000 Spirit Stones each," Qin Huaian stated his prices.

"Fellow Daoist, I have one Essence-Breaking Herb. I want to buy one Breakthrough Essence Pill."

"I have two Essence-Breaking Herbs. I want one Breakthrough Essence Pill too."

"I have an Essence-Breaking Herb as well..."

Qin Huaian was somewhat dumbfounded. Hadn't they said Essence-Breaking Herbs were hard to come by? Why did so many people suddenly have them?

What he did not know was that Essence-Breaking Herbs were indeed rare, but alchemists capable of refining Breakthrough Essence Pills were equally scarce. Not every First-Rank Alchemist could refine Breakthrough Essence Pills.

Moreover, selling an Essence-Breaking Herb to other shops would generally only fetch a little over 2,000 Spirit Stones. Yet here with Qin Huaian, they could sell one for 3,000 Spirit Stones and also purchase ready-made Breakthrough Essence Pills at 13,000 Spirit Stones each.

Thus, after many people learned of his rules, they racked their brains to acquire Essence-Breaking Herbs so they could gain priority in purchasing Breakthrough Essence Pills.

"One at a time, everyone. Don't crowd. Fellow Daoist, here are your pills. Please keep them safe." Qin Huaian sold off his bottles of Breakthrough Essence Pills one after another.

Soon, all eight bottles were sold out. He received a total of 68,000 Spirit Stones and twelve Essence-Breaking Herbs. Some people bought only one pill but sold him two Spirit Herbs at once. Naturally, Qin Huaian welcomed all comers.

Some people still returned empty-handed, unable to purchase any Breakthrough Essence Pills.

Qin Huaian told them that he would come back to sell more when there was a chance, and only then did they slowly disperse.

Once most people had left, Qin Huaian stopped purchasing Essence-Breaking Herbs. Instead, he strolled leisurely around the trading hall.

He had no intention of buying anything. It was still morning, and not many people were leaving the Ghost Market. He could not leave so early, or it would easily arouse suspicion.

As noon approached, more people entered the trading hall, and many began heading out. Qin Huaian mingled with the crowd and left the Ghost Market.

He wandered through the Western District and South City for a long time, selecting many different shops and purchasing twelve portions of supplementary ingredients for refining Breakthrough Essence Pills.

By the time he returned to his cave abode, the sun had already set.

Qin Huaian cultivated the Spirit Tempering Formula throughout the night. The next day, he was full of energy as he prepared to begin refining pills once more.

Half a month later, before the Ghost Market opened on the fifteenth of the month, Qin Huaian had finished refining all twelve portions of ingredients. In total, he successfully refined ten batches of Breakthrough Essence Pills.

Qin Huaian still sold them at the same price as before. Since he had more pills this time, he thought it would take longer to sell them all.

But unexpectedly, even more people were waiting at the Ghost Market to buy his pills this time. After rapidly selling them all, Qin Huaian obtained 215,000 Spirit Stones and seventeen Essence-Breaking Herbs.

Not everyone had brought Essence-Breaking Herbs this time.

Once again, he waited until noon before leaving the Ghost Market. Afterward, Qin Huaian did not go purchase supplementary ingredients for alchemy.

He felt that he could not sell Breakthrough Essence Pills at the Ghost Market again anytime soon. Going again might attract the attention of interested parties.

Although there had been quite a few people this time, and Qin Huaian had sold many Breakthrough Essence Pills, for a great city with hundreds of thousands of cultivators, this small amount of pills could not even stir the slightest ripple.

But to be safe, he still decided not to visit the Ghost Market again for the time being.

He now had enough Spirit Stones to cultivate for a long time. He could not earn Spirit Stones simply for the sake of earning Spirit Stones; that would be putting the cart before the horse.

The day after returning from the Ghost Market, an insight surged into his mind. Qin Huaian knew that the Perfection Grade Yi Wood True Formula had arrived!

At that moment, Qin Huaian was cultivating the Spirit Tempering Formula. He stopped and began circulating the Perfection Grade Yi Wood True Formula.

Qin Huaian could clearly feel his cultivation speed increasing. The Perfection Grade Yi Wood True Formula cultivated two to three times faster than at Major Accomplishment.

At this rate, if he focused solely on cultivating the Yi Wood True Formula, he might be able to attempt a breakthrough to the Eighth Qi Refining Layer in about half a year. The Spirit Stones had truly not been spent in vain!

Qin Huaian decided to stop refining Breakthrough Essence Pills and temporarily cease purchasing supplementary ingredients for alchemy. He would cultivate properly for a while first, and at the same time let the attention surrounding him at the West City Ghost Market cool down.