Purchasing Spirit Herbs

A pretty, plainly dressed woman at the stall looked up, uncertainty on her face.

"Are you... Senior Brother Extreme Yin?"

The woman was Chen Yi, the only woman among the four mortals who had joined the sect alongside Song Wen.

Back then, she and the other three men who had joined with her had chosen to become spirit-plant farmers, a less risky path.

What surprised Song Wen was that, after barely two months, Chen Yi could already afford to run a stall in the market.

Running a stall there cost five Spirit Stones a day. In other words, she had to earn at least five Spirit Stones daily just to break even.

Spirit-plant farmers received only ten Spirit Stones a month. Song Wen could not help seeing Chen Yi in a new light for daring to set up shop here.

Song Wen took a closer look at her stall and saw that she sold nothing but spirit herbs.

He knew little about spirit herbs and could not identify their names or uses. Still, he guessed they could not be worth much, or she would not have displayed them so openly at a roadside stall.

Song Wen and Chen Yi had never spoken before, but having joined the sect together gave them a natural sense of familiarity compared with their other fellow disciples.

Besides, although Song Wen had seemed somewhat aloof when they first met, he had not been aggressive and contemptuous of others like Wu Sheng.

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 smoothly for you at the Corpse Dissection Cave?"

After a brief conversation, each had learned a little about how the other had been doing.

Of course, Song Wen could not lay all his cards on the table, and Chen Yi did not tell him every last detail either.

From Chen Yi, Song Wen learned what had happened.

After the four of them entered the spirit-plant garden together, Zhang Xiaofan had quickly displayed an exceptional talent for alchemy. By great fortune, a Golden Core elder had taken him on as a disciple.

Zhang Xiaofan, whose aptitude had once been unremarkable, had transformed overnight into the personal disciple of an elder of the Corpse Demon Sect's Pill Chamber. His status had changed as utterly as heaven and earth.

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

The three who had joined alongside Zhang Xiaofan were on good terms with him in private, so they had benefited greatly.

Zhang Xiaofan's master had granted him a sizable spirit field. But with alchemy to study, Zhang Xiaofan had no time to tend it, so the work fell to Chen Yi and the other two.

Simple and honest by nature, Zhang Xiaofan set aside thirty percent of the field's earnings to be split equally among the three as thanks for their effort.

The spirit herbs Chen Yi was selling today were the field's first harvest. Most were low-grade herbs commonly used by lower-level disciples of the Corpse Demon Sect for healing, alchemy, refining Corpse Puppets, and other purposes.

Nor would Chen Yi keep all the proceeds. 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?"

Azure Spirit Grass was a common supplementary ingredient in low-grade pills and a material often used to refine Corpse Puppets. It was an extremely common low-grade spirit herb and the food most often fed to Beetle Gu.

"Of course I do. I happen to have two stalks on my stall. You can have them, Senior Brother Extreme Yin."

She picked up two stalks and held them out to Song Wen.

The two stalks were in excellent condition, so vividly green that they looked as though they would keep growing if planted.

She assumed Song Wen needed them to refine a Corpse Puppet, which required only one or two stalks. Since Azure Spirit Grass was cheap, she intended to give them to him.

Song Wen did not accept her kind offer.

For one thing, two stalks were nowhere near enough. Beetle Gu ate a great deal, especially while growing, when they needed plenty of food. A single stalk of Azure Spirit Grass held little spiritual energy, so he would need far more.

For another, Song Wen disliked owing favors, especially over two inexpensive stalks of Azure Spirit Grass.

"Thank you for the offer, Junior Sister Chen, but I need quite a lot. I'd rather buy it with Spirit Stones."

"Oh? How much Azure Spirit Grass do you want, Senior Brother Extreme Yin?"

Chen Yi's interest stirred at his words. She had plenty of Azure Spirit Grass, but it was not easy to sell.

"I'll take a hundred stalks to start," Song Wen said.

According to the Blood Gu Art, a juvenile Beetle Gu could eat roughly one stalk of Azure Spirit Grass a day. If all his eggs hatched, a hundred stalks would feed a few Beetle Gu for only a dozen or so days.

Chen Yi's eyes brightened. "You need that much Azure Spirit Grass? Please wait a moment, Senior Brother. I'll see how many stalks I have."

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

Then she said with a hint of regret,

"Senior Brother Extreme Yin, I only have eighty-eight stalks left. Would that be enough?"

Chen Yi sounded disappointed, afraid she might lose Song Wen's large order.

"Eighty-eight? That'll do." Song Wen nodded.

Chen Yi hurriedly took a broad jade box from her storage bag. It held all her Azure Spirit Grass.

"That's eleven Spirit Stones in total, but ten will do for you, Senior Brother Extreme Yin."

Azure Spirit Grass usually sold for one Spirit Stone per eight stalks. Chen Yi's was in excellent condition, so selling it at the usual price was already a good deal.

Song Wen took 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 out of curiosity. When Song Wen looked at her in puzzlement, she hurriedly added, worried he had misunderstood.

"Don't misunderstand, Senior Brother Extreme Yin. I'm not trying to pry. If you need Azure Spirit Grass regularly, I can supply it."

"I'm not sure yet," Song Wen said. "If I need more, I'll come to you first, Junior Sister Chen. Give me a communication Jade Slip."

Chen Yi smiled. "All right."

The two then exchanged communication Jade Slips.

Song Wen had asked for Chen Yi's communication Jade Slip for more than just buying Azure Spirit Grass. She spent her days in the spirit-herb garden and had access to many herbs. She also had a personal disciple of the Pill Hall behind her.

Staying on good terms with her would give him another way to find rare spirit herbs and pills in the future.

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

He took out the Gu Cauldron, placed all eight insect eggs inside, then took out a Spirit Stone, crushed it to powder, and added it as well.

The spiritual energy slowly released by the powdered Spirit Stone would make the energy inside the Gu Cauldron denser and help the eggs hatch.

Song Wen then took out the Qi-Gathering Pills he had bought and began cultivating.

To his delight, cultivating with Qi-Gathering Pills and Corpse-Baleful Qi, together with the inexhaustible essence blood in his body, was considerably faster than taking Corpse Blood Pills.

The only trouble was that Qi-Gathering Pills were expensive. If Song Wen could not steal essence blood from the Corpse Dissection Cave and trade it for Spirit Stones, he could never have afforded them on his monthly stipend alone.