Shopkeeper, Do You Buy Pill Formulae?

"I heard that the first thing many cultivators do after arriving in Yu Commandery is taste our Chen Clan's Azure Spirit Fish."

Chen Nianzhi listened with a smile and began harvesting the Spirit Peaches.

The Spirit Peach Tree grew quickly. This year, it had already reached Tier 1 High-grade and bore over a hundred and sixty Spirit Peaches.

He picked a hundred and thirty of them, planning to place thirty in the Clan Treasury, sell a hundred at Yuyang Market, and keep the remaining thirty-odd for cultivation and entertaining guests.

Early the next morning, Chen Nianzhi bid Old Granduncle and the two siblings farewell, then followed Chen Changlu and the others toward Spirit Isle Lake.

Since they had to bring live fish to Yuyang Market, they could only lead rented Firecloud Horses pulling the fish carts. Their journey was not particularly fast, and it took more than ten days before they finally arrived at Yuyang Market.

Yuyang Market was the only Cultivation Market within tens of thousands of li of Yu Commandery. The more than a hundred Immortal Cultivation Families of various sizes throughout Yu Commandery, along with several thousand scattered Rogue Cultivators, all basically relied on this marketplace to exchange what they had for what they lacked.

This marketplace had always been jointly controlled by the Six Great Families. By rights, the Chen Clan should have been one of them.

Yet sixty years ago, the Chen Clan had declined overnight. It lacked the ability to send a Foundation Establishment Cultivator to guard this place, so the tax revenues of Yuyang Market no longer included a share for the Chen Clan.

One had to know that Yuyang Market brought immense profits. Its annual tax revenue alone exceeded five thousand Spirit Stones. Even divided evenly among the Six Great Families, each could receive nearly a thousand Spirit Stones.

Unfortunately, precisely because Yuyang Market's profits were so enormous, the slightest carelessness could draw the covetous eyes of Demonic Cultivators and outside Rogue Cultivators. A great number of powerful cultivators had to be stationed here.

Among Yu Commandery's Six Great Families, aside from the Chen Clan, every family had dispatched a Foundation Establishment Cultivator to guard this place. Since the Chen Clan had contributed neither manpower nor effort, it naturally lost this enormous source of tax revenue.

This was Chen Nianzhi's first visit to Yuyang Market. As he looked over the market, curiosity appeared in his eyes.

Seeing his expression, Chen Changlu explained from the side, "Don't underestimate Yuyang Market."

"There are five Foundation Establishment Cultivators and more than five hundred Qi Refining Cultivators stationed here. If they join hands to activate the Heavenly Sword Demon-Slaying Formation, even ordinary Purple Mansion realm demons and monsters may not be able to gain any advantage."

As they talked and walked, they soon arrived at the Chen Clan's Evergreen Tower.

The Chen Immortal Clan still had three shops in Yuyang Market, one of which was rented out to another small Immortal Cultivation Family.

The two for their own use were Evergreen Tower and Evergreen Pavilion. Evergreen Pavilion was the clan's shop for purchasing cultivation goods such as pills and magical artifacts, while Evergreen Tower was one of the city's only three restaurants.

Ever since the Chen Clan opened up Spirit Isle Lake more than a decade ago and acquired such a worldly delicacy as Azure Spirit Fish, Evergreen Tower's business had grown increasingly prosperous, gradually surpassing the other two restaurants.

Especially in recent years, as Azure Spirit Fish production increased, Evergreen Tower's annual earnings had exceeded three hundred Spirit Stones.

This alone accounted for thirty percent of the clan's annual income.

Furthermore, Spirit Rice production from Spirit Isle Lake had increased in recent years, while the spiritual herbs the clan had cultivated for centuries had gradually matured. Thus, the clan's deficit had slowly been wiped away. Not only had it achieved a balance between income and expenditure, it even had a slight surplus.

If the Spirit Vein of Great Azure Mountain had not been mortgaged, and if the clan could still run the business of transporting Five Elements Essence from Heavenly Ruins Mountain, then the Clan Treasury's annual surplus might have reached seven or eight hundred Spirit Stones.

"Looks like this year's harvest really is quite good."

After the group brought the Spirit Fish to Evergreen Tower, the Second Elder came out to receive them.

With a smile on his face, he had everyone release the Spirit Fish into the fishpond in the rear courtyard. These Spirit Fish would not be sold out in a single day.

Compared with ordinary demonic beast meat, Azure Spirit Fish was not only tender and delicious, but also freshly slaughtered, making it far more flavorful.

Many cultivators in Yu Commandery wanted to taste this delicacy, but Azure Spirit Fish were limited. Therefore, Evergreen Tower could only sell them in limited quantities every ten days. Before the proper day arrived, one could not have a taste.

After releasing the Spirit Fish, Chen Nianzhi made another trip to Evergreen Pavilion. He consigned a hundred Spirit Peaches there, earning four hundred and fifty Spirit Stones.

He had been doing this business for several years. Although he gave the clan ten percent of the Spirit Peach profits, it saved him the trouble of selling them himself and expanded the clan's business as well. It was a fine deal.

After finishing all this, he had an acquaintance lead the way to Inscription Pavilion.

Inscription Pavilion was a Mu Clan enterprise, one of Yu Commandery's Six Great Families. The Mu Clan was Yu Commandery's oldest family and had now endured for more than six hundred years.

Though the Mu Clan had not produced a Purple Mansion realm Patriarch in six hundred years, Foundation Establishment Cultivators had appeared generation after generation. Through generations of management, the Mu Clan had developed Yu Commandery's largest spiritual herb garden.

It was said that they possessed nearly a hundred mu of Spirit Fields, and the spiritual herbs they planted numbered several times those of the Chen Clan. Relying on this spiritual herb garden, which they had managed for centuries, they had fostered Yu Commandery's only Tier 2 High-grade alchemist.

Even Patriarch Jiang of Heavenly Ruins Mountain and the upper ranks of the Azure Sun Sect sometimes needed their high-grade spiritual herbs.

Because of this, the Mu Clan always found a way to obtain Foundation Establishment Pills. Including the three Mu Clan Foundation Establishment Cultivators on the Azure Sun Sect's side, their clan had a full seven Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Their clan chief, Mu Xuanming, was also an Eighth Layer of Foundation Establishment great cultivator, second only to Yu Commandery's strongest Lin Immortal Clan.

Chen Nianzhi was lacking a supplementary herb to improve his Alchemy Art, so Inscription Pavilion was the first place that came to mind.

Cultivators with exceptional appearances like his often drew attention. Coupled with his snow-white robes, jade-like bearing, and extraordinary aura, he caught the shopkeeper's notice the moment he entered Inscription Pavilion.

Like Heavenly Ruins Pavilion, spiritual herb shops such as Inscription Pavilion saw only a few customers all day. Those who bought spiritual herbs were generally regular customers, so there was only a single shopkeeper in the store at the moment.

The shopkeeper was a middle-aged female cultivator. Her eyes lit up the instant she saw Chen Nianzhi, and thinking that a major customer had arrived, she hurried over to receive him.

"I find you unfamiliar, Fellow Daoist. Is this your first time visiting Yuyang Market?"

"Yes." Chen Nianzhi nodded. "I am a disciple of the Chen Clan of Qingyuan Mountain. This is my first time at Inscription Pavilion, and I intend to buy some spiritual herbs."

"So you are a cultivator of the Chen Clan. My apologies, my apologies."

A trace of disappointment appeared on the woman's face. A Foundation Establishment Immortal Clan like the Chen Clan had its own spiritual herb garden, so they generally would not come to buy spiritual herbs from them.

Even if they did, they would only purchase high-grade spiritual herbs, or merely make up for a small shortage of herbs they lacked.

The former were generally Tier 2 or higher spiritual herbs, which the Mu Clan would not easily sell, while the latter usually brought little profit.

Though somewhat disappointed, the woman still said with a smile.

"May I ask what you wish to purchase?"

"I am still lacking one portion of Bellheart Grass for that batch of pills."

"Please wait a moment, customer. I will fetch it at once."

As she spoke, the female shopkeeper turned and went into the back room to retrieve the Bellheart Grass.

While waiting for the female cultivator to fetch the herb, Chen Nianzhi sat in the hall drinking tea. Then he noticed a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth walk inside.

The youth was clearly a Rogue Cultivator traveling abroad for the first time. His cultivation was merely at the Second Layer of Qi Refining, and he looked somewhat timid as he entered the herb shop.

The youth glanced at Chen Nianzhi. Seeing his extraordinary bearing and unfathomable cultivation, he mistook him for Inscription Pavilion's shopkeeper. He stepped closer and quietly asked, "Shopkeeper, do you buy pill formulae?"