Bad News

Inside the venue.

With the appearance of the Marrow Cleansing Pills.

The auction's atmosphere instantly reached its peak.

After several rounds of exceptionally fierce bidding.

The pills were ultimately taken by three Late Qi Refining cultivators at the steep price of four thousand five hundred Spirit Stones per Marrow Cleansing Pill.

Even Gu Qingzhao revealed a rare trace of a smile.

She exchanged a few pleasantries with Su Yuqing in the private room, then left to handle the follow-up matters.

After it ended.

Qin Ming and Su Yuqing immediately took their leave.

After this experience, Qin Ming grew even more envious of the art of alchemy.

From this single auction alone, Su Yuqing had earned more than ten thousand Spirit Stones after deducting the auction house's fees.

Next time, I have to succeed at refining pills!

Qin Ming secretly swore to himself.

"Brother Su, didn't you say that if I helped you grow Spirit Plants this year, you'd grant me one request?"

"I was wondering... if I wanted to borrow your Alchemy Room to practice alchemy, would that be possible?" Qin Ming hesitantly voiced his request.

After all.

This involved the other party's privacy, and his request.

Was indeed somewhat presumptuous.

Su Yuqing was taken aback upon hearing this. He sized Qin Ming up twice, then said with a smile, "Brother Qin, you really won't give up until you reach the Yellow River, will you?"

"Let me be frank with you. In the art of alchemy, talent comes first, and the most important thing is a cultivator's own soul power!"

"During pill refinement, one constantly needs to divide one's attention between two, three, or even more tasks. Just controlling the Fire Control Art and fusing the medicinal embryos alone require powerful soul power as support, or else it will be impossible to keep going."

"In the path of alchemy, talent determines one's upper limit. Otherwise, you're merely wasting your time for nothing."

Rather than being discouraged by this, Qin Ming's eyes lit up!

Soul power could be strengthened too.

For him, all he had to do was work hard at farming!

"I still want to give it a try. If I achieve nothing in this field within the year, then I'll give up on it completely."

That was what Qin Ming told Su Yuqing.

"Fine, then. Since I promised you."

"Of course, my word is as good as nine tripods. As long as I'm not using the Alchemy Room, you may use it as you please."

"Besides... I won't be staying here much longer."

Su Yuqing raised his head, gazed into the distance, and spoke slowly.

Qin Ming was overjoyed upon hearing this.

I can freeload off this vein of earth fire too.

As the two spoke.

A colossal shadow suddenly passed over the skies above Qingyang Market.

Qin Ming looked up at the sky in surprise.

A massive dharma vessel, over a hundred zhang long, entered his sight. Three levels of exquisitely luxurious rooms had been built atop it.

At a glance, including the cabins within, it had no fewer than several thousand rooms.

The enormous dharma vessel was like a primordial behemoth, majestic and imposing, displaying the foundation of a great sect.

In an instant.

All the cultivators in the market noticed it as well.

They all looked up.

Everyone was stunned into silence.

Qin Ming had long since learned of this from Manager Liao, so he remained composed, with little change in his expression.

"Look!"

"Even the Spirit Feather Sect's Abyssal Crossing Ark has come!"

"Could something else be happening?"

Su Yuqing looked at the sky as well, an expression of deep thought appearing on his face.

The Spirit Feather Sect's Abyssal Crossing Ark docked beside the market, and people began filing off the vessel without end.

At the head were five Foundation Establishment Realm elders.

Behind them followed four inner sect disciples clad in blue robes threaded with gold.

Each was brimming with heroic spirit, and Late Qi Refining spiritual power fluctuations emanated from their bodies.

"Even core disciples have been deployed."

"I'm afraid a tremendous upheaval is bound to occur in Qingyang Market."

"What exactly happened?"

The cultivators below in the market began to stir uneasily.

Qin Ming's expression also turned solemn as he sank into thought.

Following the arrival of the Spirit Feather Sect's elite cultivators.

Three days later.

Another enormous dharma vessel, no less impressive than the Spirit Feather Sect's, docked near Qingyang Market.

A flag bearing the words "Goldcloud Valley" fluttered in the wind above it.

The vessel was filled with Goldcloud Valley's elite cultivators, all dressed in red dharma robes.

After Goldcloud Valley's people arrived, they too began setting up camp near the market.

For a time, the number of cultivators in Qingyang Market exploded, leaving it packed to the brim.

Even every house in the Shantytown had been rented out.

Afterward, the Spirit Feather Sect and Goldcloud Valley jointly announced the formation of an allied army.

Five hundred li from Qingyang Market, at Five Peaks Mountain, they would establish a Cloudmarsh City.

The news caused an uproar, and discussions erupted everywhere.

Alone in his room, Qin Ming quietly considered his future plans.

Now that the Shantytown was crowded, cultivators from all Three Religions and Nine Schools were mixed together like fish and dragons.

Even with the Spirit Feather Sect's patrol squads, there was simply no way they could manage so many people.

Incidents of murder and treasure snatching would begin springing up one after another again.

Qin Ming's current strength no longer made him fear cultivators at the sixth level of Qi Refining.

But when he thought of how even a Late Qi Refining cultivator at the eighth level like Fellow Daoist Long had been discarded in a river.

A sense of crisis still washed over him.

Qin Ming cooked some Blood Locust Rice again and began cultivating the sixth layer of the "Hundred Treasures Glazed Scripture" according to the Beast Hide scripture he had obtained.

Late at night, his cultivation ended.

The Vital Energy Force within his body had grown considerably stronger.

"No, I still need to move inside the market."

After pondering for a moment, Qin Ming immediately sent Manager Liao a voice transmission talisman, asking whether there was any way to secure a rental slot within the market.

Very soon.

Manager Liao sent a reply.

"Fellow Daoist Qin, you know what the situation has been like lately."

"Right now, housing prices in the market have already multiplied several times. Unless we wait for the allied army of the Spirit Feather Sect and Goldcloud Valley to finish building that Immortal City, I doubt any space will open up anytime soon."

"However... some time ago, I heard something from the Spirit Feather Sect. Daoist Ruan's family went to the Hall of Affairs and informed them that the Soul Lamp Daoist Ruan left at home had gone out."

"The remaining members of the Ruan Family couldn't afford the courtyard's subsequent rent, so they've already completed the procedures to terminate the lease."

"The rental slot for the Ruan Family courtyard is now vacant."

"I'll ask around and see whether there's any chance of securing it for you."

Upon hearing this, Qin Ming could not help but curl his lip.

Well, isn't that a coincidence? Daoist Ruan personally sent himself on his final journey.

Talk about hitting the mark by accident.

In mid-April.

Qin Ming was working in the fields.

Elder Gu's dharma vessel arrived above the Spirit Fields.

Overseer Du Haifu came along as well.

After gathering all the Spirit Farmers together.

With not a trace of emotion on his rigid face, Elder Gu announced in a commanding tone, "Due to the urgent situation at the front lines, the sect has dispatched a large number of reinforcements."

"During the period before Cloudmarsh City is completed."

"The Spirit Rice tax for all of you Spirit Farmers will increase by another ten percent on top of the original amount."

As soon as this news came out.

All the Spirit Farmers below erupted into an uproar!

"What?! Another increase?"

"That makes it an eighty percent tax!"

"Are they even going to let us live?!"

Cai Lao Jiu stood beside Qin Ming as well, his face a picture of gloom and dreariness.

"Ah, Younger Brother Qin, what are we supposed to do now?"

Qin Ming's brows were tightly furrowed as well. This meant that although his tax had been halved, another ten percent would now be added back.

That made his total Spirit Rice tax forty-five percent.

He could not help but think to himself:

You can't harvest leeks like this! They haven't even grown in yet.