Fellow Daoist Long's Visit

Qin Ming mused to himself.

Manager Liao's connections must have been anything but ordinary. He could even receive advance news about matters involving the upper echelons of Immortal Cultivation World sects.

Building a good relationship with him would not necessarily be a bad thing.

"Thank you for telling me, Manager Liao."

"Is there anything else?" Qin Ming asked.

Manager Liao smiled faintly and suddenly said to him with meaningful emphasis, "Hehe, Fellow Daoist Qin, you truly keep a low profile!"

"I have an Unreasonable Request. When the Beast Fang Rice matures in two years, could you sell a portion of it to our shop?"

"Our pavilion can purchase it at a price ten percent above the market rate."

Qin Ming was startled. It had only been a few days, yet the other man already knew even this.

"Manager Liao truly has vast abilities. Even such matters in my Spirit Field cannot be hidden from you." Qin Ming did not agree immediately.

"The Beast Fang Rice has been planted, but I cannot guarantee that it will mature and be harvested in two years."

So that was it. Manager Liao had just paid him Spirit Stones according to the increased price of Spirit Rice, then revealed so much news about the Spirit Feather Sect.

In truth, he wanted to spend an extra twenty or thirty Spirit Stones to directly buy out Qin Ming's Beast Fang Rice channel.

As expected of a shrewd veteran of the business world!

"Of course, if Fellow Daoist Qin has any other conditions, those can certainly be discussed!" Manager Liao watched Qin Ming's reaction and immediately poured him a cup of tea.

"Fellow Daoist Qin is so young, yet you already possess such attainments in Spirit Plant cultivation. You must be exceptionally gifted. Harvesting Beast Fang Rice is surely a matter as steady as Mount Tai."

"Does your pavilion have any Body Refining Arts for sale?" After pondering for a moment, Qin Ming abruptly changed the subject.

Manager Liao naturally understood at once.

He immediately took out several Body Refining Arts and introduced them one by one to Qin Ming:

"'Nine Revolutions Yang Return Skill,' a top-grade Body Refining Art. It can be cultivated all the way to the Foundation Establishment Realm. Supremely yang and supremely unyielding, priced at three thousand Spirit Stones."

Qin Ming curled his lips and could not help thinking, The art is good, but the price is painfully touching too.

"'Ming King Body Tempering Art,' capable of opening 270 acupoints throughout the body and condensing true astral force. A high-grade Body Refining Art, priced at one thousand Spirit Stones."

"'Vajra Forging Origin Skill,' a mid-grade Body Refining Art. It takes thirty years of cultivation to achieve minor mastery, priced at five hundred Spirit Stones."

Manager Liao talked until his mouth was dry. After taking a sip of tea, he continued, "'Heavenly Demon Summoning Scripture,' eighty Spirit Stones."

"Wait!"

"Shopkeeper, please give this art a more detailed introduction."

"'Heavenly Demon Summoning Scripture'... Hmm. This art is quite good!"

"It sounds very full of righteous energy. I'll take it!"

Manager Liao: "..."

After pondering for a long while, Qin Ming decisively steeled his heart.

"This is a demonic-path art. Once you cultivate it, everyone under heaven will have the right to kill you," Manager Liao said.

"Then why are you selling it to me?"

"My apologies, I took out the wrong one."

"..."

An hour later.

Qin Ming left Juxuan Pavilion.

The cultivation arts in Manager Liao's hands were either completely beyond what Qin Ming could afford with his current wealth, or else would take decades to show any results once cultivated.

There was no path to seek an art.

Qin Ming could only stare helplessly.

Still, Manager Liao gave him a clear road in the end.

"Fellow Daoist Qin, there is a Ruan Family in the eastern district of Qingyang Market. Their family has fallen into decline, but they possess an ancestral Body Refining Art."

"I once offered one hundred Spirit Stones to purchase that art, but Daoist Ruan refused to sell no matter what. He insisted that I add some pills or medicinal materials that could strengthen qi and blood before he would part with it."

"I don't think it is worth it."

"Perhaps you could try your luck there."

"But you need not place too much hope in it."

What Manager Liao meant was that Qin Ming now had Beast Fang Rice close to successful cultivation. If he used it as an extra incentive, perhaps he could move the other party.

In return for this information, he also agreed that once the Beast Fang Rice matured, he would sell a portion to Juxuan Pavilion.

The deal was concluded.

Both sides were delighted.

The moment he stepped out of the shop.

He ran into a large Spirit Feather Sect patrol team hurrying toward the outskirts of the market in great haste.

They looked as though they were bracing for a major enemy, their presence imposing.

"Greetings, Daoist. May I ask what happened?" Qin Ming casually asked a passerby watching the commotion.

"I heard they're going to kill demon beasts?"

"But don't worry. Our market is extremely safe inside. Even a Foundation Establishment Realm demon beast cannot break through the market's Second-Order Protection Array."

"As long as you don't run around recklessly, you'll be fine."

Qin Ming fell into thought.

He then followed Manager Liao's directions and went to the Ruan Family in the eastern district of the market.

Yet when he arrived, he found the Ruan Family's gates tightly shut.

Cultivators living nearby told him that Daoist Ruan had gone out to handle some business and would not return for another three or four months.

Qin Ming had no choice but to come back later.

He returned to the shantytown.

Evening.

Inside the house, Qin Ming was preparing dinner.

He was somewhat distracted.

Qingyang Market was quite safe, but the protection array's range did not extend to their shantytown!

Knock, knock, knock!

At that moment, a burst of knocking interrupted his thoughts.

Qin Ming warily opened the door.

To his surprise, the visitor was Fellow Daoist Long.

What a rare guest indeed!

"Fellow Daoist Qin, I heard that the yield and quality of Spirit Rice on your side are both quite good. I would like to purchase some from you."

Fellow Daoist Long got straight to the point.

After weighing his words, Qin Ming forced out a smile. "That is true. The recent Spirit Rice yield has been decent, but most of it has already been sold."

Fellow Daoist Long frowned upon hearing this, but his attitude remained mild. "May I know how much Spirit Rice Fellow Daoist Qin still has? I will take however much you have, all at the market price."

"Fellow Daoist Long, I heard that Spirit Rice prices in the market will rise by around fifty percent in the next few days." Qin Ming hesitated slightly.

Though he did not wish to offend this Late Qi Refining cultivator before him, neither did he want to let someone take advantage of him for nothing.

Fellow Daoist Long was clearly taken aback.

He could not help scrutinizing Qin Ming. Very few people knew the news of the Spirit Rice price increase.

Although it would be announced to the public in a few days, within Qingyang Market, it was known only to a small circle of Late Qi Refining cultivators and several factions.

"Fellow Daoist Qin is quite well-informed."

"Since that is the case, I will purchase it at the increased price. What do you think?" Fellow Daoist Long said decisively.

Qin Ming nodded in agreement. "I currently have around fifty jin in stock that I can sell. There is no more than that. You will have to wait until the next season."

After completing the Spirit Rice transaction.

Fellow Daoist Long bade farewell and hurried away.

Qin Ming did not dare offend the man beyond all repair either.

After all, the nearby alleys were all under his protection.

"Alas, even Late Qi Refining cultivators have begun making preparations. It seems the heavens truly are about to change."

"Rising Spirit Rice prices are a good thing for me."

"But it also means that the surrounding environment is growing increasingly harsh."

Qin Ming ate a meal of Spirit Rice.

He went into the bedroom, sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion atop his bed, and began circulating the Evergreen Skill.

There were still two 'Faint Mana' Affixes remaining in his Sea of Consciousness.

"Today is the day!"

With a thought from Qin Ming, one 'Faint Mana' Affix vanished.

The mana surging from his dantian began circulating through its heavenly cycle again and again.

It continuously scoured and widened his meridians.

Finally!

Boom!

When the mana within Qin Ming's dantian accumulated to a certain critical point.

It was as though a thin membrane had been torn apart.

"Qi Refining Stage Third Layer!"

The mana fluctuations around Qin Ming rose to another level.

"Phew—"

Qin Ming exhaled a breath of turbid air.

"After so many years, I finally don't have to rot away in Qi Refining Stage Second Layer."

He could not help sighing with emotion, realizing that in this little more than a year, he had changed greatly.

As long as I develop steadily, Foundation Establishment is not impossible.

Qin Ming felt the Evergreen spiritual energy in his dantian, which had grown by nearly more than twice as much.

Amid his joy, he did not become carried away. "Qi Refining Stage Third Layer is still not secure. I must raise my strength as soon as possible."

"The Immortal Cultivation World changes like wind and clouds. Those at the bottom of the Qi Refining Stage are like cannon fodder. Only at the Foundation Establishment Realm can one barely gain a foothold. My fate must ultimately remain in my own hands."

At present, he was living under another's roof, with countless inconveniences.

He could also be swept into the vortex of sect struggles at any moment, unable to control his own fate.

To be exempted from the Spirit Feather Sect's corvée and regain his freedom, he needed only fulfill any one of three conditions.

First, his cultivation had to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Second, among the hundred arts of cultivation, any one had to advance to the second-order level.

Third, he had to hand over any one Foundation Establishment resource.

He understood that he needed to work toward these three directions as well.

And next.

Breaking from Qi Refining Stage Third Layer to Qi Refining Stage Fourth Layer.

Would be a tremendous trial for Qin Ming.

Qi Refining Stage Fourth Layer signified an immortal cultivator entering the Qi Refining Mid Stage.

Strictly speaking, it was the first true bottleneck in cultivation.

It would be countless times harder than his recent breakthrough to Qi Refining Layer 3.

Ten days later.

Most cultivators within Qingyang Market and the surrounding shantytowns had learned that the prices of Spirit Rice, meat, and other daily necessities had risen sharply.

The prices of spirit artifacts, pills, and talismans also began climbing one after another.

Ever since Qin Ming had planted Beast Fang Rice, overseer Du Haifu's patrols of his Spirit Field had gradually become more frequent.

Things had not been peaceful lately, so Du Haifu had even specifically increased the number of people patrolling around the Spirit Fields.

During this period, aside from casting the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art to increase the fertility of the Spirit Field.

Qin Ming immersed himself in studying Spirit Plant knowledge.

Beyond that, he searched for a suitable Body Refining Art.

Qin Ming's Beast Fang Rice had yet to mature, so there was no use rushing.

In the blink of an eye.

Three months passed.

Within the Spirit Field.

Perhaps Qin Ming's luck had been exhausted during this period.

From the four mu of Golden Spirit Rice fields in the second season, he harvested only two 'Faint Mana' Affixes.

Fortunately.

After Qin Ming broke through to Qi Refining Stage Third Layer, his mana had doubled, so he no longer suffered from mana failing to last when casting the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art as he had before.

The second season's Golden Spirit Rice yield also hit another new high, exceeding nine shi.

This time, after paying his Spirit Rice tax, Qin Ming did not rush to sell it.

Instead, he kept a larger portion in storage for unforeseen needs.

Manager Liao wanted to purchase more while prices were rising.

Qin Ming had already prepared an excuse.

He also told him about Fellow Daoist Long coming to purchase Spirit Rice from him.

Recently, the price of Spirit Rice in the market had soared all the way up, rising by more than sixty percent from its original price.

Qin Ming had also made a small fortune.

For the first time, the Spirit Stones in his Storage Bag had surpassed the hundred-and-fifty mark.

He bought another Low-Grade Golden Light Talisman and a Low-Grade Azure Spirit Sword from Manager Liao, spending another twenty-five Spirit Stones.

"In times like these, you can't get by without some gear to protect yourself."