The Qingchuan Merchant Association was crowded with shops, making it one of the busiest places in Qingyuan Market.
Countless Divine Ability Practitioners gathered there to trade and search for what they needed.
After Lu Qingyan sent him away, Lu Ming first bought Lu Mengmeng some of her favorite pastries and snacks, then wandered around, letting his gaze linger on the pill shops, pharmacies, divine ability houses, and divine ability weapon forges. The pill shops naturally sold medicinal pills and were the busiest of all, while the divine ability houses traded in divine ability techniques at steep prices, and the forges made divine ability weapons.
Lu Ming felt the little cloth pouch tucked inside his robes. It held three hundred grains of heavenly gold sand, which Lu Qingyan had just given him.
That amount of heavenly gold sand clearly wasn't enough for Lu Ming to splurge in those places.
So after wandering around for a while, Lu Ming stopped in front of an unusual shop.
Its owner was a dark-skinned old woman with a mouthful of yellow teeth and a pipe between her lips. Many small boxes were laid out before her, each containing a yellow mud ball.
"Half-Pill Shop."
Lu Ming glanced at the shop's name and understood. Inside each yellow mud ball was a medicinal pill, but these pills were unfinished products, greatly diminished in both potency and grade.
The owner had covered the original "half-pills" in a special yellow mud, making them impossible to identify. Anyone who wanted to buy one could only pick by luck. Those with bad luck would end up with a worthless pill containing only a trace of medicinal potency, while the lucky might strike a bargain and obtain an unfinished pill that had retained much of its quality and potency for a very low price.
It was rather like gambling on pills.
Many people enjoyed this sort of thing and hoped to find a bargain, so the Half-Pill Shop did good business too.
"Thirty grains of heavenly gold sand for any one you choose. There are quite a few Bone-Tempering Pills in here, even Dharma Pattern Pills..." The old shopkeeper glanced at Lu Ming and spoke casually.
Lu Ming clicked his tongue. Thirty grains of heavenly gold sand was far too cheap. A finished Bone-Tempering Pill was worth several hundred grains at the very least, and Dharma Pattern Pills were even more expensive. They were used by Great Divine Ability Practitioners in their cultivation and were worth over a thousand grains of heavenly gold sand.
Although these were only unfinished products, the discount still made them quite a bargain.
No wonder so many people came here to try their luck.
Lu Ming wasn't particularly interested, but he was bored waiting for Lu Qingyan, so he copied the others, picking up a mud-covered pill and making a show of examining it from every angle.
He even circulated his Primordial Qi, trying to sense what lay inside.
"Heh."
The old shopkeeper took a puff from her pipe and blew out a cloud of pungent smoke. She sneered. "Kid, with your meager skills, you think you can find out what's inside? How would I stay in business if you could? Never mind you-even those veteran Great Divine Ability Practitioners wouldn't have any luck."
The people around them burst into laughter as well.
Lu Ming remained calm and showed no anger. Pretending not to hear, he played with a few more mud balls before preparing to leave.
But just as he was about to put down the mud ball he had picked up, Lu Ming's eyes changed almost imperceptibly. At that instant, he felt a strange movement from his Divine Ability Bone.
With a thought, Lu Ming probed his Divine Ability Bone and sensed the source of the movement.
The Fire Lotus Mark.
Lu Ming discovered that when he held the mud-covered pill, a flicker of flame seemed to flash across the Fire Lotus Mark, which gave off a faint suction.
Lu Ming was very familiar with that suction. Every time he used a Bone-Tempering Pill, the Fire Lotus drew in and refined its medicinal potency the same way.
This development stirred Lu Ming's heart.
Could the Fire Lotus Mark have a special way of sensing the pill Qi in medicinal pills too? Even when the pills are covered in special yellow mud, they still can't escape the Fire Lotus's senses.
Heh, it really is a treasure chest.
Lu Ming was delighted, but he showed none of it on his face. Rather than buying the mud ball outright, he put it back and continued making a show of choosing.
Lu Ming went on to probe several more mud balls, and the Fire Lotus Mark reacted to a few of them.
Just as Lu Ming was about to act, a slender, fair little hand suddenly reached over from beside him and grabbed a mud ball. At the same time, a light voice said, "If I were you, I'd choose this one."
Lu Ming paused and turned around. Three lovely young women, each with a different bearing, had appeared beside him at some point.
The girl who had reached out wore an emerald-green dress. Her skin was like snow, and she had a slender waist, full breasts, and a graceful figure that stirred the heart.
The other two women beside her were equally beautiful. Standing together, the three drew many furtive glances from the people around them.
"Miss Zhou?" Lu Ming recognized the woman in green. She was Zhou Fuling, the niece of Market Master Zhou Xuan.
"We meet again."
Zhou Fuling smiled faintly at Lu Ming, then gestured to the two women beside her and briefly introduced them.
"Li Shuang, Yan Zhizhi."
Dressed in white that outshone snow, Li Shuang gave Lu Ming a slight nod, her pretty face calm. She was quite close to Jingyi at home, and Jingyi often spoke of Lu Ming, so although she had rarely seen him before, her affection for Jingyi naturally extended to him, and she was fairly friendly toward him.
Yan Zhizhi, however, had a languid air. She merely lifted her pointed chin slightly, looking somewhat arrogant. Young people from divine ability clans like hers generally looked down on the mud-legged disciples of the Divine Ability Hall. If she hadn't discovered earlier that Lu Ming possessed a high-grade Divine Ability Bone, she wouldn't have come over to greet him at all.
Hearing their surnames, Lu Ming knew who the two women were. No wonder they were so proud-they were members of Qingyuan Market's two great divine ability clans.
He cupped his hands briefly, then looked at the mud ball Zhou Fuling held. He was a little surprised, because it was one of the mud balls the Fire Lotus Mark had reacted to earlier... From the way Zhou Fuling spoke, could she also sense pill Qi through the yellow mud covering?
"Miss Zhou, do you think the pill inside this mud ball has stronger medicinal potency?" Lu Ming asked curiously.
"I've been learning pill refinement from my uncle, so I'm fairly familiar with the fragrance of pills. This mud ball wasn't sealed completely, so I caught the faintest trace of it. If you're looking for a bargain, you can choose this one," Zhou Fuling said with a smile.
Lu Ming understood. She had smelled it with her nose... Her sense of smell was remarkably sharp.
"What? You don't believe me?" Zhou Fuling raised a slender brow.
Before Lu Ming could reply, she tossed the mud ball to the old shopkeeper and said, "I'll buy it. Remove the yellow mud for me."
Only the shopkeeper could clean away the special yellow mud completely. If buyers handled it themselves, the slightest mistake would affect the medicinal potency of the already imperfect pill.
At the same time, Zhou Fuling flicked her fingers, sending thirty grains of heavenly gold sand, glittering like golden gravel, flying in front of the old shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper quickly accepted them, placed the mud ball in a pool at her side, and swiftly washed it with a special liquid. A few breaths later, the yellow mud was gone, and a pill in fairly good condition appeared before everyone's eyes, giving off a faint medicinal fragrance.
"Oh, it's a Mid-Grade Bone-Tempering Pill. It's held up pretty well-it must be worth at least a hundred-odd grains of heavenly gold sand." The sight of the pill drew exclamations from many people nearby, and they looked at Zhou Fuling with a measure of admiration.
Li Shuang and Yan Zhizhi were also amazed. Given their status, they naturally thought little of an unfinished Mid-Grade Bone-Tempering Pill, but the skill Zhou Fuling had shown in identifying it was still surprising.
It seemed the newly arrived market master was also an alchemist well versed in pill refinement.
Zhou Fuling took the Mid-Grade Bone-Tempering Pill, which still had fairly good medicinal potency, and offered it to Lu Ming. A little pleased with herself, she asked, "Well?"
Lu Ming gave her a thumbs-up but didn't take the pill. "You chose it, Miss Zhou. I can't accept a reward I haven't earned."
"If I refined a pill in this condition, my uncle would scold me. I don't want it." Zhou Fuling simply pushed the pill into Lu Ming's hand, acting quite imperiously.
Lu Ming could only accept it. So be it. The thing was worth over a hundred grains of heavenly gold sand, after all. Even if he didn't use it, he could give it to Lu Qingyan to deal with.
"Can you smell what's in the other mud balls too, Miss Zhou?" Lu Ming asked with feigned curiosity, sweeping his gaze over the pills in their boxes.
Judging by the Fire Lotus Mark's earlier reactions, there were still some pickings to be had at this shop. Zhou Fuling and the others might think little of them, but Lu Ming didn't mind. Even Lu Qingyan had personally stepped in to salvage the hall's partnership with the Qingchuan Merchant Association, so Lu Ming felt he should do his part for the family too.
Zhou Fuling shook her head. "I can't smell any more, and I don't want to, either."
Beside her, Yan Zhizhi gave a little laugh. "You're quite greedy."
Lu Ming smiled and paid them no further attention. He turned and took some mud balls from the boxes, ten in all. Among them were some the Fire Lotus Mark had reacted to, along with a few he had chosen at random. Picking out every one of them would have been far too conspicuous.
"I'll buy these. I feel like my luck's pretty good today," Lu Ming said to the old woman with a smile, tossing her the little cloth pouch filled with three hundred grains of heavenly gold sand.
"Oh, you're really willing to spend!" Seeing that Lu Ming was such an easy mark, the old shopkeeper could barely close her mouth for smiling. Foolish customers who chose so many at once were rare. Did he really think her shop was a place to pick up bargains?
At Lu Ming's actions, Li Shuang frowned slightly, while Yan Zhizhi curled her lips and gave a soft sneer. He was a mud-legged fellow from the Divine Ability Hall after all. Finding one bargain had stirred his greed, and now he wanted a bigger helping.
Zhou Fuling said nothing, but the smile on her pretty face faded somewhat. She had wanted to make Lu Ming's acquaintance because he possessed a high-grade Divine Ability Bone, but she hadn't expected him to be so fond of gambling at such a young age, or to have no idea when to stop. With a temperament like that, even with a high-grade Divine Ability Bone, his future achievements probably wouldn't amount to much.
So she shook her head, stepped back half a pace, and watched with a cold eye.