Purchases

After the reconciliation feast He Degong had arranged, the He Household caravan prepared to set out just after noon.

As everyone said their farewells, He Degong's warmth toward Kang Dabao rose another notch. He held Kang Dabao's hand and chatted for a full quarter of an hour, though whether it was because of Yuan Jin's warning or Jiang Qing's abilities was anyone's guess.

Kang Dabao finally managed to extricate himself from He Degong and walked over to Jiang Qing.

It only took fifteen years for a snot-nosed brat to grow into a fine young man, Kang Dabao thought with sudden emotion, looking at his junior brother, who was now considerably taller than he was.

"There's no need to say much. You're tired of hearing my usual reminders. Just remember that nothing else matters. Whatever happens, come back in one piece."

Kang Dabao patted Jiang Qing on the shoulder and spoke in a low voice.

"Go on, and be careful," Yuan Jin said from beside them.

"Don't worry, senior brothers!" Jiang Qing nodded and climbed into a luxurious four-wheeled beast carriage.

"Brothers, we'll be setting out now. The next time we return, I'll hold a feast so we can drink and make merry together!" He Degong and the dozen or so Qi Refinement cultivators also boarded their respective beast carriages.

His caravan was actually quite large, its assorted goods filling nearly a hundred wagons.

The black camel beasts pulling the wagons were large and docile, fine beasts of burden that could ordinarily carry ten thousand jin without trouble. Yet even they puffed out white vapor and panted a little as they started pulling the loaded wagons.

A caravan of this size would have ranked among the very best in the small market towns Kang Dabao frequented.

Only after the caravan had vanished from sight did Kang Dabao take Yuan Jin back to the little courtyard.

He also had to consider what he needed to buy and take back to the sect. He had been away for some time, and with no one watching over things at home, he was still somewhat worried.

Over the next few days, he visited nearly every shop in Xuanwei City and picked up quite a few useful things.

Seriously speaking, as a sect leader, improving the sect's overall strength should have been far more important than raising his own cultivation. That was what he urgently needed to do now.

The Red Light Cloud Dipper Formation, a First-Tier Superior-Grade killing formation, could release a hundred Red Fire Techniques against enemies and cover an area ten li in every direction from its center.

With that kind of power, it should ordinarily have had no trouble holding off a dozen or more average Peak Qi Refinement cultivators.

It was not a particularly sophisticated or profound formation, but it had the advantage of being simple and easy to use, making it well suited to the Chongming Sect's needs.

What was more, although its original price was 1,100 Spirit Stones, he had gotten it for only 870, paid for with those hard-to-sell Law Artifacts!

After his setback with Huo Ying last time, Sect Leader Kang Da had scored a splendid comeback!

The difficulty was that the formation needed a Spirit Vein to power its formation plate. The Chongming Sect had no Spirit Vein, so it could only use Spirit Stones. Keeping it running for a single month cost twenty Spirit Stones, and the amount needed when fighting an enemy would double.

Thus, Kang Dabao ultimately decided not to sell the Lesser Cloud and Mist Formation. He planned to make do with it under normal circumstances and activate the Red Light Formation only when guests came or enemies actually attacked. That would be more economical.

As for Technique Methods, although that group of martial uncles had stripped the scripture repository bare, Kang Dabao, whom the old sect leader had long ago chosen as his successor, still had the originals hidden away.

The present-day Chongming Sect lacked neither common five-element Technique Methods nor collections on alchemy, artifact refining, formations, and talismans.

Besides, treasures of that sort were hard to find even in Xuanwei City. And even if he came across any, their value was beyond what the few melons and dates in Kang Dabao's pocket could afford.

Kang Dabao casually visited a few bookshops before losing interest. Finding overlooked treasures seemed to happen only in storybooks; Sect Leader Kang Da had never encountered it in either of his two lives.

So he turned his attention to several spirit medicine shops, comparing their wares again and again and successfully earning himself quite a few dirty looks.

Four stalks of First-Tier Superior-Grade Qingxin Grass for sixty-one Spirit Stones, and fifty First-Tier Lower-Grade Turning Wheel Fruits for thirty Spirit Stones.

These were for Han Yundao and Duan Anle.

By Kang Dabao's estimate, the two had already spent more than three years tempering themselves in medicinal baths. Between them, a single stalk of Qingxin Grass and two Turning Wheel Fruits should have been almost enough for Drawing Spirit into the Body. The rest could be kept in reserve.

Eight liang of First-Tier Superior-Grade Red Crystal Sand for 108 Spirit Stones, and two bottles of First-Tier Superior-Grade Essence Clarity Liquid for 260 Spirit Stones. These were all supplementary materials for cultivating ocular techniques.

According to what the sect's elders had passed down, those quantities were enough to cultivate the Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes for half a year.

In all his years as sect leader, this was the first time Kang Dabao had spent so many Spirit Stones on himself at once. If he still failed to master the Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes, Sect Leader Kang Da reckoned the pain of the expense might wake him in tears in the middle of the night.

One First-Tier Superior-Grade spirit beast pouch. Even now, Kang Dabao was still deeply saddened whenever he remembered how his "tortoise son" had fallen into the hands of the Four Ghosts of the Liu Household.

The tortoise had been with him for ten-odd years, yet had never spent a single day in a spirit beast pouch, making its nest in his inner pocket instead.

The usefulness of spirit beasts was beyond question. If that White-Armored Land Tortoise had not protected its master, the Four Ghosts of the Liu Household might well have been kicking Kang Dabao's head around like a ball by now.

He spent most of a day visiting several spirit beast shops in Xuanwei City and saw plenty of rare and exotic beasts, but in the end he left empty-handed.

Several of the young beasts were clearly quite good, and there was even a whole group of White-Armored Land Tortoises like his "tortoise son." Yet somehow none of them quite caught his eye, and Kang Dabao ended up putting his plans to raise another spirit beast on hold.

Sect Leader Kang Da, who had never been particular and could make do with anything, had become stubborn about this, and he found it strange himself.

He had originally planned simply to pick one at random and raise it, preferably one that could see him off at the end of his life and still protect his descendants.

But somehow...

Still, there was no hurry. He could set the matter aside and choose one later.

Kang Dabao went out again and headed for the grandest puppet shop in Xuanwei City. A stone stele bearing the vigorous, powerful character "Craft" stood before its doors.

The shop had been opened by the Lu Craftsman Sect, a major sect of the puppet-making path in the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty.

Unlike at ordinary puppet shops, the pretty maid standing at the entrance had a considerably higher cultivation than Kang Dabao, though she appeared to be less than half his age.

The shopkeeper reading behind the counter was not particularly welcoming either. When he saw Kang Dabao step over the threshold, he merely gave him a professional smile and gestured for him to enter. Then he picked up his Daoist text and resumed reading, leaving Kang Dabao to examine the wares.

The dazzling assortment of puppets opened Kang Dabao's eyes: there were puppets to assist with cultivation, alchemy, and artifact refining; puppets for combat, teaching, and raising spirit beasts...

They truly had everything.

There was even a combat puppet with the strength of the False Core realm. Kang Dabao guessed that even the Dingnan Niu Household, which possessed the whole of Xuanwei City, probably could not find anyone capable of standing against it.

Kang Dabao did not even look at that puppet's price tag. He imagined that selling off everyone and everything in the Chongming Sect would not be enough to cover even the loose change.

After looking around, Kang Dabao found there was not one he disliked.

Among them was an Armored Sword Puppet series whose name Kang Dabao had heard long ago. Today, he finally got to see it.

Sect Leader Kang Da gazed at them with longing, but unfortunately, he could not afford them.

A single Armored Sword Si-Model Puppet at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining cost 1,500 Spirit Stones, and once activated, it consumed twenty Spirit Stones for every hour it remained in operation.

The Lu Craftsman Sect was one of the foremost sects in the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty, with more than one Nascent Soul patriarch. Even a low-level cultivator tucked away in a remote corner like Kang Dabao had heard its name resound like thunder.

The combat abilities of puppets made by such a sect were measured against disciples of major sects. They would surely far surpass the small sects and low-level Rogue Cultivators around Cloud Horn Prefecture.

Even at the same Sixth Layer of Qi Refining, a puppet facing someone like Wang Daoqiong might be able to cut down one opponent with each stroke of its sword.

The goods really were good, but they really were expensive too.

Those major sects must have had so many Spirit Stones they had nowhere to burn them, opening a shop in such a poor backwater.

Kang Dabao had heard that, apart from the Dingnan Niu Household showing the sect some respect and having the city lord's residence hold its nose and order a squad of ten Armored Sword Puppets, the Lu Craftsman Sect had not made another sale.

But he reckoned they would not lose many Spirit Stones either. If the Dingnan Niu Household dared charge the Lu Craftsman Sect rent, Kang Dabao would salute every member of the household as a true hero. When he attended the funeral feast for those hundreds of heroes, he would be sure to take a few extra bites.

Kang Dabao gazed longingly for a while, then bowed farewell to both the shopkeeper and the pretty maid at the entrance. Immediately afterward, he turned and entered the Ingenious Craftsman Fort's shop, where he ordered a training puppet.

This puppet was fairly good too. It could simulate enemies below the Qi Refining Seventh Layer with different cultivation levels and different Law Artifacts for the sect's disciples to practice fighting against.

A cultivator Kang Dabao knew had once told him about this kind of puppet, and Sect Leader Kang Da had been thinking about it for who knew how long. After listening to the shopkeeper's attentive explanation, he felt quite satisfied.

Besides, a shop run by a Foundation Establishment sect was much more affordable. The asking price was only 720 Spirit Stones, and using it for a whole day consumed no more than twenty Spirit Stones.

At that rate, the Chongming Sect could grit its teeth and use it around ten times a year. What was more, the purchase included three on-site repairs.

Eager at the sight of his prize, Kang Dabao tried operating it in an open space provided by the shop and found that the puppet was a notch weaker than he had imagined.

After setting it to Qi Refining Fifth Layer mode, Kang Dabao held nothing back and easily defeated it in just one or two exchanges.

Its strength was as far beneath the Lu Craftsman Sect's Armored Sword Puppets as mud was beneath the clouds. At best, it could barely match Wang Daoqiong's level.

There was nothing to be done. Who did not want to buy the best? But the Chongming Sect could only afford the cheap one!

Even then, he had traded in what little remained of his Spirit Stones along with Bai Bian's flying sword, and spent considerable breath haggling over the price before he could exchange them for the puppet!

After buying the training puppet, Kang Dabao had fewer Spirit Stones left than when he had attended the exchange gathering at Niu Gui'er's. They were barely enough to cover the sect's daily operations, and he could not do anything major with them.

Thus, all that remained of the Chongming Sect's reserves were the four heads of the Liu brothers, already well marinated.

"Born to be poor." Kang Dabao sat in his guest room counting on his fingers for a long while, then shook his head and sighed. He stretched lazily, went to the kitchen, and heated up two pork hocks to eat.

After washing his hands clean, he took out paper and brush and scrawled a letter to Yuan Jin in seven or eight strokes. Finally, he called Duan Anle and Han Yundao, hitched up the donkey cart, and leisurely left the city.

"Fuck, I still haven't managed to visit the Huang Household Old Shop or the Wondrous Cloud Pavilion!" Halfway there, Kang Dabao, who was lying on the donkey cart, suddenly pushed himself upright and slapped the wooden boards with a series of bangs.