Daoist Wealth sought partners solely for the sake of safety.
Mo Caihuan's heart stirred slightly as she asked, "Does the Immortal Master also use spirit stones to make purchases?"
"If you want spirit stones, that is not entirely out of the question," Daoist Wealth said with a cheeky smile. "One Low-Grade Spirit Stone in exchange for ten mirrors. How does that sound?"
Mo Caihuan stated, "Five."
"Aiya, young in years yet high in ambition! One Low-Grade Spirit Stone for nine mirrors. I am the one who has to go peddling them in all the markets, you see-it is terribly tiring, and moreover quite dangerous..." He brought up his own hardships in order to drive down the price.
The two engaged in a desperate tug-of-war, finally settling on one spirit stone for eight mirrors, and proceeded to negotiate further.
The dishes were all served, yet the two of them were still haggling.
The old man, driven by greed, drank a tiny sip of the Immortal Wine and immediately felt his body alternate between freezing and burning. He hastily circulated his inner force to digest this surge of power and dared not drink another drop.
"This Immortal Wine is something mortals have no fortune to enjoy," Daoist Wealth chuckled.
"The Immortal Master knew this would happen from the start?" Mo Caihuan already knew he was an utter skinflint.
"Heh heh," Daoist Wealth said. "It is safer to discuss business here; mortal restaurants are crowded and full of buzzing tongues."
"Then once we have prepared the goods, how shall they be sent over?" Mo Caihuan asked.
"I will go fetch them. Just give me an address. On the fifteenth of every month, I shall go to pick up the cargo. How about that?"
"Very well, but this month it is already too late. Since today is already the third, ten-odd days are simply not enough. On the fifteenth of next month, go to Old Wharf Street in Jia Yuan City. There is a courtyard over there with a cypress tree inside, quite easy to recognize. We shall complete the delivery at the small courtyard."
"No problem," Daoist Wealth chuckled. "In that case, let us write a contract."
With all the proper airs, he looked much more like a businessman, entirely devoid of the haughty arrogance common to immortal cultivators. Mo Caihuan believed this was solely because she had ties to the Covering Moon Sect, which was why the other party was treating her with such courtesy.
Daoist Wealth wrote out another order form, produced three glowing spirit stones the size of pigeon eggs, and said, "This is the order for the first batch of goods, and this is the deposit. For the first batch, I order ten spirit stones' worth of goods."
"I will certainly keep a strict check on the quality of the goods and deliver on time."
"Then a pleasant cooperation to us."
"A pleasant cooperation." Following that, Mo Caihuan asked quite a few questions regarding the Covering Moon Sect, and the fat man was quite happy to answer.
After finishing the meal, the two bid farewell at the restaurant entrance: "Farewell."
Leaving the market, Mo Caihuan knew her trip this time had not been in vain. As for the danger the fat man spoke of, it genuinely existed; she knew the Yue Kingdom's emperor was capturing rogue cultivators to refine them through blood sacrifices.
Countless rogue cultivators had been turned into fodder by him.
Yet this had nothing to do with her, as the emperor deigned not even to glance at mortals.
Return home.
Following the calculated route, she first flew to Azure Cloud Prefecture, dismantled the hot air balloon, and then took the waterway.
On the boat, Mo Caihuan carefully perused the Overbearing Blade Art. This was truly a top-tier martial art. She had collected quite a few secret manuals and read a fair share of them, accumulating a certain amount of experience.
The caliber of a martial arts manual depended entirely on whether the circulation of inner force was fast, and whether the physical body could keep pace with that speed of the inner force.
If one relied solely on inner force, there was a limit to the speed, which was why experts invariably used a form of qi for guidance-such as Righteous Qi, baleful qi, corpse qi...
These types of qi also belonged to a form of spiritual qi, save that some possessed an affinity with spiritual qi while others clashed with it. Different environments produced different qi, and mortals could even alter qi through their own actions; this was known as the Unity of Heaven and Humanity.
Spiritual qi would interfere with human actions, just as human actions could reshape spiritual qi.
For instance, every word and deed of a scholar was brimming with righteous qi, causing the spiritual qi in their vicinity to transform into Righteous Qi. Every word and deed of a martial artist was domineering, causing the surrounding spiritual qi to transform into overbearing qi...
With this modified qi, one could accelerate the guidance of inner force to temper the body. If one wished to advance further, one had to use overbearing qi to guide spiritual qi into the body, developing Magic Power through spiritual roots.
"Without spiritual roots, the Overbearing Blade Art will not be stronger than the Diamond Art." She put down the manual with a trace of regret, and drew out a blue-glowing stone the size of a pigeon egg.
Spirit stones were excavated from mines and possessed a multitude of uses. Aside from serving as a universal equivalent, they could be utilized in artifact refining, employed to activate magic arrays, and could also assist in cultivation...
However, Low-Grade Spirit Stones were of extremely inferior quality and poor efficacy, placing them squarely in the category of general equivalents.
According to the fat man's accounts, within the Covering Moon Sect, an ordinary Qi Refining Stage disciple received a wage of two spirit stones a month. Should they perform well, an elder might grant them a raise.
The price of a single Foundation Establishment Pill was roughly three thousand spirit stones, meaning a Qi Refining Stage cultivator would have to labor for 125 years to earn the cost of a Foundation Establishment Pill. Naturally, Foundation Establishment Pills were considered rare medicinal pills; having money did not guarantee one could acquire them, whereas the average lifespan of a Qi Refining Stage cultivator was merely a hundred-odd years-meaning the vast majority of Qi Refining Stage cultivators would never be favored by Foundation Establishment.
"No wonder my cheap master's heart leaped the moment he laid eyes on the Ascension Token, netting 3000 spirit stones for nothing." Holding the spirit stone, she muttered to herself, "According to Daoist Wealth, the spiritual qi of Low-Grade Spirit Stones is chaotic, whereas the higher the grade, the purer the spiritual qi. There are Pure Water-Attribute Spirit Stones, and there are also Pure Wood-Attribute Spirit Stones... High-Grade Spirit Stones are practically impossible to find. Low-grade spirit stones are abundant, yet of little utility."
She gripped the spirit stone, hoping to use her inner force to draw out the spiritual qi within and temper her physique.
Yet the spirit stone showed no reaction whatsoever.
She placed the spirit stone on the table, took a deep breath, pointed the index finger of her right hand at the spirit stone, and pronounced, "Striking the Ox Through the Mountain."
Her inner force concentrated at the center of the spirit stone, attempting to drive the rotation of the spiritual qi.
The spirit stone released a burst of light, but rapidly dimmed once more. Following this, Mo Caihuan attempted the feat multiple times with much the same effect; under the stimulation of Striking the Ox Through the Mountain, the spirit stone flickered on and off like a breathing light, yet the spiritual qi contained within refused to enter her body.
"Let us try a different method." She picked up the spirit stone, clasped it within her palm, took a deep breath, and everything grew still.
Her inner force retracted entirely. The inner force that normally circulated the Minor Circuit autonomously vanished of a sudden, leaving her meridians utterly empty.
She dispersed her inner force entirely into the flesh and blood of her body, clearing out her meridians and inviting the spiritual qi to enter.
There were certain things in the world of immortal cultivators that could not be broken-this held true for the Lower Realm, and it held true for the Upper Realm as well. Take, for instance, the ironclad rule of Possession: Possession could only be performed once. It was thus in the Lower Realm, thus in the Upper Realm, and thus in the Immortal Realm. Once was once, and even immortals were powerless to shatter the rules.
These rules were the Great Dao, the foundation of the world.
Mo Caihuan surmised that the movement of spiritual qi must likewise abide by the Great Dao; thus, if her own physical body entered the state of the Great Dao, the spiritual qi would unquestionably flow toward her.
The first manifestation of the Great Dao that came to mind was potential energy, wherein high potential energy transferred toward low potential energy. Gravitational potential energy converted into kinetic energy, electric charges migrated from high electric potential to low electric potential, heat transferred from high-temperature objects to low-temperature objects...
Spiritual qi perhaps likewise transferred from high pressure to low pressure, which was why she emptied her meridians, hoping to create a low spiritual pressure region and allow the spiritual qi to enter.
Her palms felt icy cool. Whether it was merely her imagination or not, it felt as though some form of energy was entering her body.
"Could it truly be effective?" She had not held out any hope for it herself, never expecting that the spiritual qi within the spirit stone would trickle into her meridians strand by strand.
It was exceedingly slow, sluggishly crawling like a snail.
For spiritual qi to enter her body at all was an auspicious omen, indicating that she truly might be capable of challenging the ultimate pinnacle of Body Tempering. Should she genuinely become capable of contending against a Nascent Soul with her mortal flesh, she might even be able to attempt smuggling herself across to the Upper Realm when the time came.
Naturally, all of this was far too distant; simply at this sluggish pace of cultivation, she feared she would grow old and die before ever achieving Great Completion.
Haste brings no success, she chanted silently to herself.
Throughout the entire journey, she kept the spirit stone clutched in her hand.
Lan Province had been unified by the Whale-Jiao Society, and those who felt the greatest terror were the surrounding gangs. Everyone knew the Whale-Jiao Society could mobilize the strength of an entire province, making them far too formidable compared to those gangs that shared a province among themselves.
Everyone was on edge, terrified that the Whale-Jiao Society would expand outward, causing a massive influx of scouts into Jia Yuan City to gather intelligence.
The Whale-Jiao Society, however, showed no abnormal movements, simply developing steadily and constructing ever-larger steel-smelting blast furnaces.
What had previously been mere child's play was now being pursued in earnest, as they prepared to step into the Steam Age.
A steam engine was utterly indispensable, for mining required steam input to circulate air and pump out underground water; only by resolving the problem of survival beneath the mines could one truly mine.
If these issues could not be resolved, any talk of development would be out of the question.
The power of the steam engine could convey air deep underground and likewise transport underground water to the surface. Abundant coal and iron ore both lay buried beneath the earth, and without steam engines, humanity could only mine surface deposits, yielding insufficient production.
Mo Caihuan's return was likewise focused on development rather than external expansion. She had to forge Lan Province into her own stronghold first.