"Brother Yellow Dragon, I don't have much worth offering, but I know you cultivators are keen on Spiritual Roots. I snatched this from a Taiyi Realm demon. Its fruit was bright red, and the taste hit even harder than your Crimson Blood Wine!"
As Wu Tong spoke, he unconsciously pursed his lips, as though recalling a flavor he could never forget.
"Too bad none of us in the Witch Race know how to grow these things. So I ate the leaves, branches, and trunk too, bit by bit!"
"All that's left is this nasty-tasting stump. I tossed it in my cave and forgot about it."
"It still looks a little alive. Think it's useful? If it is, let's call it a trade for your wine!"
He looked at Yellow Dragon expectantly.
"If it's no use, wait here in the tribe. I'll go snatch a few more from the Demon Race!"
Yellow Dragon paid it little attention at first. The stump had almost lost all its spiritual energy and looked like nothing more than dead wood.
What delicacies could the Witch Race possibly have eaten?
But when he took the stump from Wu Tong, he sensed a fleeting trace of unusual Dao resonance.
His interest stirred. Calming his mind, he summoned a faint glow to his fingertips and sent it slowly into the stump, probing it with care.
A moment later, delight blazed in his eyes!
Within the withered stump lay a spark of scorching fire-element essence, and locked deep inside it was the faintest trace of life!
A stump with such an aura could not have come from ordinary innate spiritual wood. It had to be the remnant of a graded Spiritual Root. An Innate Spiritual Root, though, was beyond what a mere Taiyi Realm demon could possess!
Its essence had drained away too severely, and its life force had nearly withered completely. There was no telling how long it would take to revive it.
Then Yellow Dragon saw the teeth marks on it, and the corner of his mouth twitched. How many treasures had Wu Tong ruined like this?
Still, obtaining a Spiritual Root was worth any amount of time.
"It's useful! I like it!"
Yellow Dragon suppressed his excitement and told Wu Tong, "There's only a trace of life left, but now that it's in my hands, it won't die. Once I've grown it, I'll treat you to its fruit!"
Yellow Dragon took out another jar of Crimson Blood Wine and handed it to Wu Tong. "If you find anything else like this, bring it to me, Brother Wu Tong. I'll make sure you get a fair trade."
Delighted, Wu Tong hugged the wine jar and grinned from ear to ear.
That stump made Yellow Dragon realize something!
The Witch Race cultivated by absorbing the earth's turbid energy, strengthening their bodies, and refining their vital blood. They neither cultivated their Primordial Spirits nor absorbed spiritual energy. To them, everything in the world fell into two categories: "edible" and "inedible."
When they hunted demonic beasts or acquired Spiritual Roots and immortal herbs, they generally ate them outright to strengthen their vital blood.
Anything that did not directly strengthen their vital blood, or simply tasted bad, was tossed aside and forgotten in some corner.
Yet what the Witch Race deemed "useless" might be priceless treasure to cultivators!
Thinking of the jars of wine in his Mysterious Yellow World, Yellow Dragon quickly formed a plan to make a fortune.
Early the next morning, he set up a large platform on a relatively open patch of grass in the tribe and laid out a simple stall.
He did not call out to attract customers. He simply brought out a dozen or so smaller stone jars, each holding roughly ten catties of Crimson Blood Wine.
He hired Wu Tong to stand guard there for the price of one jar a day.
When Yellow Dragon lifted the lid from one jar, the potent, enticing aroma seemed to come alive, slipping into the noses of the nearby witches.
The rich scent of fruit wine stirred their vital blood.
Soon one, then two, then ten witch warriors were drawn over by the unfamiliar fragrance. More and more gathered, swallowing hard as they stared at the rippling crimson liquid in the stone jar.
"Ahem. Everyone, listen up! This is Crimson Blood Wine, brewed using my secret method. It tastes excellent and can aid witch warriors in their cultivation. Even Great Witch Houyi praised it!"
Once a sizable crowd had gathered, Yellow Dragon spoke loudly enough for every witch to hear.
The witches exchanged bewildered looks. For a moment, they had no idea what he was talking about.
Seeing this, Yellow Dragon took out several stone bowls and poured the blood-red wine into them. Its enticing aroma grew stronger as it flowed, and some of the witches kept swallowing.
If Wu Tong had not been standing beside him, Yellow Dragon suspected they would have simply grabbed the wine.
"Go ahead and try it!"
He handed the filled bowls to the witches at the front.
They had long since run out of patience. Each took a bowl and drained it in one gulp. Their faces instantly flushed, and then their eyes fixed on the other stone jars.
Looking at the eager crowd, Yellow Dragon said, "Bring me anything strange or rare. Whether it's the remains of a Spiritual Root or precious metal ore, you can trade it to me."
Just then, Wu Tong proudly pointed at the stone jars in front of Yellow Dragon and called out, "See those? I traded that old stump I'd eaten down to almost nothing for dozens of jars like these!"
His words sent a shock through the crowd!
"What? Wu Tong got dozens of jars for that rotten stump?"
"I think I've got a few old bones at home that I couldn't chew through..."
"I've got some stone pills in my cave. They're hard enough to crack teeth, but I never got around to throwing them out..."
"Quick! Go look!"
Coming from Wu Tong, a Taiyi Realm witch, those words—and his living example—worked better than any explanation.
The gathered witch warriors erupted into chatter, then scattered, racing one another back to their homes...!
And so the first market in the Primordial World opened!
Before long, all manner of things were piled around Yellow Dragon: strange vines, dry and twisted yet faintly lustrous; animal bones etched with natural Dao markings; unusual ores containing wisps of different innate essences; and dozens of plants reduced to broken stems and roots, mostly leftovers the witches had discarded after eating the parts richest in spiritual energy.
Unfortunately, after Yellow Dragon examined them, only a few still held any life. Just two had reached the grade of Spiritual Roots.
For the next several months, Yellow Dragon set up his stall there almost every day.
Once the witches of the Houtu Tribe tasted Crimson Blood Wine, few could resist it. Every day, tribespeople brought all sorts of peculiar objects to trade.
Yellow Dragon inspected each one carefully. If he detected even a trace of extraordinary life force or unusual energy within it, he exchanged a small jar or several jars of Crimson Blood Wine for it.
His stores of Crimson Blood Wine dwindled at an astonishing rate. Soon he had traded away more than half.
But compared with what he gained, that was a trivial cost.
He acquired countless rare Immortal Herbs and Medicines and more than ten Spiritual Root remnants that still held a trace of life!
He even obtained an intact Acquired Spiritual Root. A Great Luo witch had tasted the Crimson Blood Wine and heard that Spiritual Roots, immortal herbs, and similar things could be exchanged for it.
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