The cold wind bit to the bone.
Fortunately, He Pingsheng was a cultivator. With a circulation of the fire-attribute spiritual power in his body, a warm current spread through him.
No matter how heavy the snow or fierce the wind, he no longer felt cold.
An hour later, the Paper Crane landed directly outside the entrance to the market at Horsehead Mountain.
He Pingsheng did not mind using up an activation or two, so he simply put the Paper Crane away.
Without stopping, he walked on.
Although the weather was freezing and snow still drifted through the air, not a single cultivator was missing from the stalls.
He Pingsheng approached the familiar middle-aged man's stall, looked over his pills, and asked, "How much are the Qi-Gathering Pills?"
The middle-aged stallholder glanced at He Pingsheng but actually failed to recognize him. "Two spirit stones apiece. If you want a furnace batch, fellow Daoist, I can give you a discount-twenty spirit stones!"
He Pingsheng silently swept his divine sense outward and was shocked to discover that he could actually see the cultivator's cultivation level.
Eighth level of the Qi Refining Stage.
That was right!
This...
He Pingsheng remained stunned for a long moment. How was this possible?
In the Cultivation World, cultivators could only discern cultivation levels from above, looking down.
Under normal circumstances, they could at most see through the cultivation of someone in the same realm. They could not discern the precise cultivation level of someone stronger than themselves.
Yet now, he had done just that.
He was clearly only at the fourth level of the Qi Refining Stage, yet he could see through someone at the eighth level?
"Whew..." He Pingsheng took a deep breath. He was certain this had to be a benefit of practicing his divine sense cultivation technique. There was simply no other explanation.
"All right... please set aside two batches for me. I'm going inside to pick up a few things. I'll be right back!"
He Pingsheng pointed toward the trading houses, then headed that way.
Before long, he reached the Abundant Harmony Manor.
This time, however, he did not go inside!
After all, this was where Withered Wood True Person frequently did business. It would be decidedly awkward if Shopkeeper Liu recognized him.
Beyond the Abundant Harmony Manor, shops stood packed together like scales on a fish and teeth on a comb.
He chose one at random and went inside.
The shopkeeper was a gaunt old man with a stooped back.
He Pingsheng did not dare sweep his divine sense over the old man. Instead, he respectfully cupped his hands in greeting.
After all, casually scanning someone with divine sense was a very impolite thing to do.
"Hello there." The old man smiled. "Young man, what would you like to buy?"
"I have most of the things you might need here!"
He Pingsheng said, "This junior isn't here to buy anything. I just wanted to ask whether you purchase blazing sun flower pollen."
"Oh..." The shopkeeper raised his brows. "You have blazing sun flower pollen in the dead of winter?"
"They must have been grown somewhere earthfire emerges, yes?"
He Pingsheng's heart jolted. I nearly gave myself away.
Fortunately, the shopkeeper had supplied an excuse himself.
He Pingsheng went along with the current. "I'm not sure either. My master grew them and sent me here to sell the pollen!"
The old man said, "All right... take it out and let me have a look. How much do you have?"
He Pingsheng said, "Only two bottles... please take a look!"
He took out two jade bottles.
"A little on the scant side!" The shopkeeper brought the jade bottles closer and opened their lids. He immediately gasped in surprise. "This... this... it's actually middle grade?"
He drew several sharp breaths.
"Remarkable, remarkable... to grow middle-grade blazing sun flowers in the dead of winter. Truly impressive!"
"Your master is an extraordinary person!"
"All right, I'll take these two bottles of blazing sun flower pollen..."
The old man capped the bottles and said, "Young man, did your master tell you how many spirit stones he wanted for them?"
His small eyes were keen and focused, giving him an extremely shrewd look.
He Pingsheng, however, put on an honest, guileless expression. "I don't know... my master didn't say!"
The old man asked, "Which sect do you belong to?"
He Pingsheng said, "This disciple came from the north!"
He did not name a sect outright. He did not want to say anything that might leave trouble waiting for him, did he?
Of course, he could not casually invent a sect either, since that would make it easy to expose a flaw in his story.
When I say I came from the north, it means I don't want to tell you!
You'd best know when to stop, old sir.
"Fine, fine, fine. Never mind!" the old man said. "By the usual rates, one bottle of low-grade blazing sun flower pollen is worth around a hundred spirit stones!"
"Both of yours are middle grade and of good quality. We'll offer three hundred each!"
"Two bottles, six hundred spirit stones in total!"
"Does that work for you?"
He Pingsheng nodded. "Yes... the normal price is fine!"
"Good!" The old man waved again and pointed farther inside. "Our shop has everything. Would you like to look around and buy something?"
He Pingsheng smiled. "No, thank you... the spirit stones belong to my master. I wouldn't dare spend them!"
What a joke!
How could I possibly buy anything here?
If I turned around and bought pills, spirit herbs, and the like...
One look, and he'd know I was a rogue cultivator, a stray with no master.
Wouldn't that expose everything I'd said earlier?
"All right!" The old man brought over a cloth sack and dropped it onto the counter. "There are six hundred spirit stones inside. Count them!"
There was really no need to say that.
He Pingsheng had divine sense. With a single sweep, he knew exactly how many were inside.
An individual spirit stone was quite small, only about the size of a jujube.
Six hundred of them, however, still made quite a load.
He Pingsheng had no choice but to sling the cloth sack over his back.
Then he slowly left the shop and began browsing along the street.
There was nothing for it. He could only carry the sack as he shopped.
He could hardly put all those spirit stones into the Treasure-Gathering Basin and then draw it into his body in full view of so many people, could he?
He Pingsheng's actions immediately attracted countless people, who stopped to stare.
Still, he did not need to worry about anyone trying to rob him here. After all, this was the market at Horsehead Mountain.
He Pingsheng visited several more shops and bought quite a few things.
Seven-leaf spirit herbs, spirit apricots, immortal bamboo shoots, and vermilion fruits.
These were the ingredients for refining Qi-Gathering Pills, so he had to buy them.
He had an alchemy furnace now anyway. He could try when he got back. What if he succeeded?
He Pingsheng bought twenty portions of each ingredient.
Of course, he could not buy only spirit herbs. He also needed to purchase some pills.
He bought two batches of Qi-Gathering Pills from a shop, then another two from the middle-aged cultivator's stall.
That would be enough for the time being.
"Young brother!" the middle-aged stallholder said. "Actually, you could buy some Clear Spirit Pills too. You'll probably need them!"
He Pingsheng asked, "What are Clear Spirit Pills?"
The middle-aged stallholder chuckled. "You may not know this, young brother, but taking pills to cultivate is a shortcut. It lets you quickly refine spiritual power and fill your dantian. Still, everything has its benefits and drawbacks. If you rely on pills to cultivate for a long time, the pill toxin in them will accumulate in your body!"
"As the days and years pass, it will hinder your cultivation instead!"
"So when cultivators take pills, they should supplement them with Clear Spirit Pills to purge the pill toxin from their bodies!"
"Huh?" He Pingsheng rubbed his head. "Pill toxin?"
"There's such a thing?"
"How could there not be?" the middle-aged stallholder said. "When refining pills, it's impossible to remove every impurity from the herbs. If there wasn't even a trace of impurity left, wouldn't that make them supreme-grade pills?"
He Pingsheng's brows twitched. "You mean supreme-grade pills contain no pill toxin?"
"Obviously!" the middle-aged man said. "Of course they don't. But supreme-grade pills exist only in legends. Who could possibly refine them?"
Before you continue