After giving Bai Lin her instructions,
Li Ping headed down the mountain himself. On this trip,
his first task was to arrange an identity token that would let Bai Lin enter and leave Immortal Peach Mountain.
His second was to stop by the Market Ward and sell all the pills in his Storage Bag, then see whether he could buy a suitable escape art or a spell for a desperate, life-or-death struggle.
Arranging the identity token was simple. Li Ping merely spoke to the Meng Family's steward, who immediately handled it for Bai Lin as requested.
Of course, it was only a jade token for entering and leaving Immortal Peach Mountain.
For now, he would not give Bai Lin permission to enter his Cave Abode freely.
Only in the future, once she truly became one of his own, would she qualify for his trust.
Finding a secluded corner, Li Ping put on his full Black Market outfit and once again became the Dark Walker.
He looked over his disguise with satisfaction before heading toward the Spirit Treasure Pavilion.
Whether selling pills or buying sinister cultivation methods and spells, he did not want to expose his identity.
Unfortunately, concealing his identity by covering his face was far too crude. One glance made him look furtive and up to no good, and anyone familiar with him could still recognize him from his build and habitual movements.
The finest way to conceal his identity would be to alter his body and face, transforming completely into an unfamiliar person.
For instance, the legendary great divine ability of the cultivation world, the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, granted the power of countless transformations once mastered. It suited Li Ping's needs perfectly.
The second floor of the Spirit Treasure Pavilion.
Miao Rou gave the masked figure before her a peculiar look. Shaking her head inwardly, she smiled and said, "How may I be of service, fellow Daoist?"
"Glad you asked, glad you asked." A cracked-gong voice emerged from Li Ping's throat. "I have some business for your pavilion."
As he spoke, he slapped the Storage Bag at his waist, and several hundred bottles of Qi-Boosting Pills and Qi-Gathering Pills landed on the table before him. "This old man intends to sell all these pills. Your pavilion can afford them, I trust?"
"What is this?" Miao Rou could not help being astonished when Li Ping produced so many pills.
But after a brief inspection revealed that they were all Low-Grade First Tier and middle-grade first-tier pills, her expression returned to normal.
Low-Grade First Tier pills came twelve to a bottle, worth around ten spirit stones.
First-tier middle-grade pills were worth twenty spirit stones a bottle.
They were hardly anything precious.
A moment later, however, her face lit up with delight.
First-tier middle- and lower-grade pills might not command high prices, but there were so many here!
Several hundred bottles, roughly half Low-Grade First Tier and half middle-grade first-tier pills—this was a sizable deal.
Moreover, unlike low-tier Spirit Talismans, pills that advanced cultivation were in high demand among cultivators. There would be no trouble selling them.
The Spirit Treasure Pavilion could buy them and resell each bottle for one or two spirit stones more, earning several hundred spirit stones in the process.
Right, Spirit Talismans. At the thought of them, the image of Li Ping, that Second-Tier Talisman Maker, immediately flashed through Fairy Miao Rou's mind. But the strangely dressed cultivator before her soon eclipsed him.
A Pill Refiner was far more distinguished than a Talisman Maker, especially one this prolific.
Although he wore a mask and might be ugly, and his voice made him sound quite old,
Miao Rou believed
that it did not matter if a male cultivator was old and ugly. What mattered most was his ability to earn spirit stones, and Pill Refiners earned far more than Talisman Makers.
By that comparison, Talisman Master Li Ping was not even fit to carry the shoes of this "old, ugly Pill Refiner" before her.
Without realizing it, Miao Rou adopted a seductive tone. "Forgive my discourtesy. I had no idea you were a Pill Refiner, fellow Daoist."
"Heh..." Li Ping chuckled, neither confirming nor denying it.
Soon, with Miao Rou deliberately trying to cultivate his goodwill, the Spirit Treasure Pavilion purchased all the pills Li Ping had brought out at their proper prices. His previously depleted Storage Bag now held several thousand more spirit stones.
Although Pill Refiners required a large initial investment, their ability to earn spirit stones truly ranked first among the hundred cultivation arts.
Even Formation Masters and Artifact Refiners fell short.
After all, pills were consumables, whereas Magic Artifacts and formations were durable goods.
And to some extent, for most cultivators, pills that advanced their cultivation took priority even over Magic Artifacts.
If formations and Magic Artifacts were houses and cars, then pills were Maotai liquor.
You could go without buying a house or a car, but if you begrudged spending money on Maotai, did you even want to get ahead?
After settling the pill sale, Li Ping produced a shopping list of the spirit herbs needed to refine the first-tier upper-grade Qi-Nourishing Pill.
As pills that advanced the cultivation of late Qi Refining Stage cultivators, Qi-Nourishing Pills were highly sought after in the Immortal City. A bottle could fetch a steep price of nearly fifty to sixty spirit stones.
Yet their cost was only a little over ten spirit stones, making them extremely profitable.
In any case, to the Longevity Art, the primordial aura of any first-tier upper-grade pill was the same.
Given a choice, he would naturally refine whichever earned the most spirit stones.
In fact, the most profitable first-tier upper-grade pill was the Qi Condensation Pill, which helped cultivators break through the bottleneck to the late Qi Refining Stage. A single pill cost more than an entire bottle of twelve Qi-Nourishing Pills.
However, the spirit herbs it required were too rare. Even searching the entire Immortal City might not yield enough for more than a few batches. That did not meet Li Ping's need for large-scale production, so he could only abandon it with a pang of regret.
The spirit herbs required to refine first-tier upper-grade pills generally had to be at least fifty years old.
The Spirit Treasure Pavilion had little stock of herbs that old. Even after buying all of them, Li Ping only gathered enough ingredients to refine thirty batches of Qi-Nourishing Pills.
Judging from experience, that would not be enough to satisfy the Longevity Art's appetite.
But that was fine. Aside from the Spirit Treasure Pavilion, he would visit other shops shortly. Many tracts of first-tier spirit land could grow fifty-year-old herbs, and land meeting those conditions was plentiful around the Immortal City.
With visits to a few more shops, he should be able to gather enough.
Putting the spirit herbs into his Storage Bag, Li Ping turned to the spells he needed. "Keh keh... Shopkeeper Miao, does your shop sell any escape arts with fast flying speeds? Serious side effects are no problem."
As he spoke, his gaze roamed brazenly over her body, as though he were admiring a piece of merchandise.
With a disguise thrown on and his true face hidden, Li Ping unconsciously began letting himself run wild.
"Oh? You wish to purchase an escape art, fellow Daoist?" Miao Rou ignored the brazen gaze of the "old, ugly Pill Refiner" before her. Instead, she swept him a seductive glance. "You must be joking, fellow Daoist. Everything our Spirit Treasure Pavilion sells is of the finest quality. None of it would have any side effects."
At that, Li Ping could not help frowning. Escape arts without side effects were not even within his consideration.
An escape art without side effects was something anyone would dare practice. That was no good for him.
If someone hunting him had higher cultivation and used the same escape art, how was he supposed to get away?
Since he was already here, Li Ping did not mind spending a little more time. "Bring them all out for me to see!"