Purchasing Spirit Grass

At the stall, a pretty-faced woman in plain clothes looked up, uncertainty on her face as she said,

"You are... Senior Brother Extreme Yin?"

This woman was named Chen Yi. Among the four mortals who had entered the sect alongside Song Wen, she was the only woman.

Back then, she and the other three men who had entered with her had all chosen to become spirit plant farmers, a profession with relatively little risk.

What surprised Song Wen was that after barely more than two months, Chen Yi was already able to set up a stall in the marketplace.

One had to know that setting up a stall in the marketplace required a daily fee of five spirit stones. In other words, one had to earn at least five spirit stones a day just to avoid losing money.

A spirit plant farmer's monthly stipend was only ten spirit stones. For Chen Yi to dare set up a stall in the marketplace made Song Wen see her in a new light.

Song Wen fixed his gaze on her stall and found that it was selling nothing but spirit grass.

He knew very little about spirit grass and could not identify their names or uses. Still, he assumed these spirit grasses were not particularly valuable; otherwise, they would not have been openly displayed for sale at a roadside stall.

Although Song Wen and Chen Yi had never interacted before, they had entered the sect together. Compared with their other fellow disciples, they naturally felt a certain closeness.

Moreover, Song Wen had seemed somewhat cold when they had first met, but he had not been as aggressive and overbearing as Wu Sheng, looking down on everyone else.

A smile appeared on Chen Yi's face.

"It really is you, Senior Brother Extreme Yin. I didn't expect us to meet again so soon."

"Senior Brother Extreme Yin, has everything been going well for you over at the Corpse Dissection Cave?"

After a brief conversation, they each gained some understanding of the other's recent circumstances.

Naturally, Song Wen could not possibly reveal everything, nor would Chen Yi recount every last detail.

From Chen Yi, Song Wen learned that

after the four of them entered the spirit plant garden together, Zhang Xiaofan had quickly displayed extraordinary talent in alchemy. By great fortune, he had been accepted as a disciple by a Golden Core elder.

Zhang Xiaofan, whose aptitude had originally been mediocre, had transformed in a single leap into the direct disciple of an elder from the Corpse Demon Sect's Pill Chamber. His status had undergone an earth-shaking change.

When one man attained the Dao, even his chickens and dogs ascended to heaven!

The three people who had entered the sect alongside Zhang Xiaofan had been on good terms with him in private, so they had received tremendous benefits as well.

Zhang Xiaofan's master had bestowed upon him a sizable spirit field. Yet Zhang Xiaofan, who needed to study alchemy, had no time to tend it, so the task of managing the spirit field fell to Chen Yi and the other two.

Simple and honest by nature, Zhang Xiaofan took thirty percent of the spirit field's profits and divided it equally among the three, treating it as payment for their labor.

The spirit herbs Chen Yi was selling today were the first batch produced by the spirit field. They were mostly low-grade spirit grass, commonly used by low-level disciples of the Corpse Demon Sect—for healing, alchemy, refining Corpse Puppets, and so on.

The proceeds from selling the spirit herbs did not all belong to Chen Yi. She would return and divide them with the other three according to their agreed shares.

"Junior Sister Chen, do you have any Azure Spirit Grass here?"

Azure Spirit Grass was a commonly used supplementary ingredient for refining low-grade pills and one of the spirit materials often used in refining Corpse Puppets. It was an extremely common low-grade spirit herb, as well as the Beetle Gu's most common food.

"Of course I do. I happen to have two stalks at my stall. I'll give them to you, Senior Brother Extreme Yin."

She picked up two stalks of spirit grass from her stall and handed them toward Song Wen.

These two stalks of Azure Spirit Grass were of excellent quality, lush and emerald green, as though they would continue growing if planted back in the soil.

She assumed Song Wen wanted Azure Spirit Grass to refine Corpse Puppets. Refining a Corpse Puppet required only one or two stalks, and Azure Spirit Grass was extremely cheap, so she intended to give it to him outright.

Faced with Chen Yi's kindness, Song Wen did not accept.

Firstly, two stalks of Azure Spirit Grass were nowhere near enough. The Beetle Gu had a huge appetite, especially during its growth stage, when it needed to consume a large amount of food to grow. The spiritual energy within a single stalk of Azure Spirit Grass was not especially rich, so naturally, the quantity needed would increase greatly.

Secondly, Song Wen did not like owing favors, especially over merely two stalks of cheap Azure Spirit Grass.

"Thank you for your kindness, Junior Sister Chen, but I need a fairly large amount. I'd rather buy it with spirit stones."

"Oh? How much Azure Spirit Grass does Senior Brother Extreme Yin want?"

Hearing Song Wen's words, Chen Yi immediately became interested. She had quite a bit of Azure Spirit Grass, but it was not easy to sell.

"Give me a hundred stalks to start with," Song Wen said.

According to the records in the Blood Gu Art, a Beetle Gu in its larval stage could eat roughly one stalk of Azure Spirit Grass per day. If all the insect eggs in his possession successfully hatched, a hundred stalks of Azure Spirit Grass would only be enough for several Beetle Gu to eat for a dozen-odd days.

Chen Yi's eyes lit up slightly. "Senior Brother Extreme Yin needs so much Azure Spirit Grass? Please wait a moment, Senior Brother. Let me see how many stalks I have in total."

As she spoke, Chen Yi sent her spiritual sense into her storage bag.

Then, looking somewhat regretful, she said,

"Senior Brother Extreme Yin, I only have eighty-eight stalks of Azure Spirit Grass left. Is that enough for you?"

Chen Yi sounded somewhat disappointed, afraid that she would lose such a large order from Song Wen.

"Eighty-eight stalks? That's enough." Song Wen nodded.

Chen Yi hurriedly took a broad jade box from her storage bag. All her Azure Spirit Grass was stored inside this jade box.

"Eleven spirit stones in total. Ten spirit stones will do for Senior Brother Extreme Yin."

Azure Spirit Grass generally sold for one spirit stone per eight stalks. Chen Yi's Azure Spirit Grass was of excellent quality, yet she was still selling it at this price, making it quite a bargain.

Song Wen accepted the jade box and handed Chen Yi ten spirit stones.

"Senior Brother Extreme Yin, what do you need so much Azure Spirit Grass for?"

Chen Yi asked curiously. Seeing Song Wen look at her in confusion, she worried that he had misunderstood her intentions and hurriedly added,

"Senior Brother Extreme Yin, don't misunderstand. I'm not trying to pry into your private affairs. If Senior Brother has a long-term need for Azure Spirit Grass, I can supply you."

Song Wen said, "I'm not too sure about that myself. If I need more in the future, I'll definitely come to Junior Sister Chen first. Give me a communication jade slip."

Chen Yi smiled. "All right."

Afterward, the two exchanged communication jade slips.

Naturally, Song Wen had not asked for Chen Yi's communication jade slip merely to buy Azure Spirit Grass. Chen Yi spent her days in the spirit herb garden and could come into contact with many kinds of spirit grass. Moreover, behind her stood a direct disciple of the Pill Hall.

Being on good terms with her would give him another channel for finding scarce spirit herbs and pills in the future.

After bidding Chen Yi farewell, Song Wen headed straight back to his cave dwelling.

He took out the Gu Cauldron, placed all eight insect eggs inside, then took out a spirit stone, smashed it into powder, and put the powder inside as well.

The spiritual energy slowly released by the spirit stone powder could increase the concentration of spiritual energy within the Gu Cauldron, aiding the insect eggs' hatching.

Then Song Wen took out the Qi-Gathering Pills he had purchased and began cultivating.

To Song Wen's delight, cultivating with Qi-Gathering Pills and Corpse-Baleful Qi, together with the inexhaustible vital blood in his body, was much faster than consuming Corpse Blood Pills.

The only problem was that Qi-Gathering Pills were rather expensive. If Song Wen could not steal vital blood from the Corpse Dissection Cave and exchange it for spirit stones, he absolutely could not afford them on his monthly stipend alone.