Chapter 2 (continued)

After gathering a full back basket of tender shoots, Shan Heyuan picked a few plain golden gourds that were almost too old, put them in a bag, and carried everything to town to sell.

Jingzhishan Town had several produce markets. Shan Heyuan carried his vegetables to his usual one, found an empty spot in a small alley outside, and set down his things to open his stall.

Those who had arrived early had already set up their stalls, and more people trickled in after Shan Heyuan.

People around him were selling all sorts of things: spirit medicines, pills, talismans, Law Artifacts, and even spirit swords. Their treasured light glittered so brightly that Shan Heyuan felt as though his eyes were about to be dazzled blind.

He looked for a moment, then looked away.

As fine as those things were, they were far beyond what he could afford. Besides, he was a mortal. Even if he could afford them, they would be no use to him.

Shan Heyuan had found a good spot, with a shop behind him.

It was midsummer, and a wooden air-cooling cabinet inside the shop was slowly releasing cool air. At his stall outside, he got to enjoy a little of the lingering coolness too.

The air was pleasantly cool, and Shan Heyuan turned to take another look.

Although he couldn't cultivate, he had been reading a lot of books on formations lately and knew roughly how it worked.

Two talismans were attached inside the cooling cabinet, an ice talisman and a wind talisman. The ice talisman froze the water held inside the cabinet, and the wind talisman sent the icy air out.

In fact, the cabinet wasn't necessary. A cultivator who could draw those two kinds of talismans only had to draw them and stick them somewhere suitable to make a simple cooling cabinet. It was much more convenient than the refrigerators Shan Heyuan had seen in his previous life.

After all, on Earth, one couldn't produce all kinds of refrigerators anytime and anywhere.

As Shan Heyuan was absorbed in thought, a voice came from in front of him. "Young fellow Daoist, how much are your earth spirit ginseng shoots?"

He hurriedly looked up and saw a cultivator sitting sidesaddle on a lion, looking down at his earth spirit ginseng shoots.

Shan Heyuan didn't know if the lion beneath the cultivator had grown impatient from waiting, but it opened its mouth in an enormous yawn, licked its mouth with a tongue covered in barbs, and fixed its amber eyes on him.

Goosebumps rose all over Shan Heyuan. He quickly avoided the lion's gaze and smiled at the cultivator. "Seventeen for one jin, thirty-two for two, and forty-five for three. How many jin would you like, fellow Daoist?"

The cultivator said, "Did the price go up today?"

Shan Heyuan grabbed a handful to show him. "Not at all. They've been seventeen a jin all month. My earth spirit ginseng shoots are plump, tender, and crisp, and they're full of Spiritual Qi. Seventeen is definitely not expensive. If you buy a couple more jin and keep them in your storage ring to eat at your leisure, it's cheaper than buying just one jin."

The cultivator picked up a cluster of earth spirit ginseng shoots and put it in his mouth. He chewed and savored them for a moment before saying, "All right, I'll take three jin."

Shan Heyuan looked up and smiled at him, deftly weighed out three jin, and threw in an extra handful before putting away the spirit pearls.

After that first sale, several cultivators who had been watching crowded over to inspect the earth spirit ginseng shoots.

The shoots he grew really were good: fresh and tender, with plenty of Spiritual Qi. Many cultivators bought three or six jin at a time. He hadn't had that many in his basket to begin with, and they soon sold out.

The plain golden gourds, on the other hand, didn't sell at all for a long time. Too many people were selling them, and his had no particular advantage.

He decided to give the plain golden gourds away to customers who bought at least six jin of earth spirit ginseng shoots.

Before noon, Shan Heyuan had sold all his earth spirit ginseng shoots, earning 367 spirit pearls.

That was a little more than he had expected. It seemed that doing business with cultivators really was more profitable.

Having earned some spirit pearls for once, Shan Heyuan found a noodle shop behind the market that served good food and ordered a bowl of spirit vegetable noodles.

After eating and resting for a little while, he made his way to a familiar secondhand shop.

Ma Rupei had brought him to this shop. He had just moved out then and needed to buy everything, but he didn't have many spirit pearls, so Ma Rupei had brought him here to buy the necessities and make do for the time being.

After a few more visits, Shan Heyuan found that the shop's goods really were good, and the prices were low. It was much more economical than buying new things elsewhere.

These days, the things he most often came here to buy were the materials needed to set up a Spirit Gathering Formation, such as talisman slips and talisman ink.

The owner was behind the counter. When Shan Heyuan came in, he looked up and greeted him, then lowered his head to watch the image-recording stone beside him again.

Image-recording stones were a little like televisions, except each stone had fixed content, unlike televisions on Earth, where one machine could receive many channels.

Shan Heyuan took a curious look. The recording showed a fight between two young cultivators. Judging by the setting, it was probably some sort of contest rather than a fight to the death.

The owner noticed Shan Heyuan's gaze and said, "A recording from Sword Reverence Academy."

Shan Heyuan nodded to show he understood, then went to pick out secondhand talisman slips from the baskets nearby.

There were many kinds of base materials for talismans. Paper talismans were the most common, followed by wooden ones. Both were common, inexpensive materials. Beyond those were special materials such as jade, stone, cloth, and metal. Shan Heyuan had heard that some mighty talisman cultivators could even draw talismans directly on tribulation lightning.

For now, though, he had no use for any of those.

He only wanted to find some suitable wooden talisman slips to set up a Spirit Gathering Formation.

Paper talismans were actually much cheaper, but they contained less Spiritual Qi and were easily damaged when it rained. If the Spirit Gathering Formation couldn't keep up, it would affect the growth of the earth spirit ginseng.

Taking everything into account, wooden talismans were more economical.

The owner kept the talisman slips in baskets and sold them by the jin.

The wooden talisman slips came in five grades. The most expensive cost 799 per jin, and the cheapest cost thirty-nine. Shan Heyuan walked up to the basket priced at 169 per jin, planning to pick out two jin.

He had no cultivation and couldn't draw talismans, so after buying the slips, he would have to ask the talisman master in the village to draw them for him.

The village talisman master was skilled and charged relatively little, but he had a bad temper. If the slips weren't good enough, the fellow might throw up his hands and quit.

Shan Heyuan picked carefully through them, doing his best to find the broad, flat slips.

As he searched, he suddenly heard a faint sound like tearing silk. Then his fingers stung, and blood welled out in an instant.

A moment later, he realized what had happened. He drew his hand out with a hiss and saw that all five fingers had been cut. The deepest cut was on his index finger, nearly halfway through the pad, and blood was bubbling out like a spring.

No wonder it hurt so much!

He hurriedly gripped his injured hand and held it to one side to keep the blood from dripping into the basket and staining the talisman slips.

The owner, who had been watching the recording, hurried over. "Did you cut yourself?"

Shan Heyuan endured the pain and nodded. "I accidentally touched a sharp talisman slip."

The owner took his hand and looked at it. "It's not too serious. I'll put some hemostatic ointment on it."

With that, the owner took a small jade box from a drawer and opened it, revealing a bright green ointment inside.

Without ceremony, the owner scooped out a blob of ointment with a thick finger and smeared it over the wounds. Then he pulled out a piece of cloth and deftly wrapped and tied it around Shan Heyuan's hand.

The owner said, "There. Take the cloth off when you get home. It should be mostly healed by tonight. Do you still want these talisman slips? I'll give you twenty percent off."

Shan Heyuan nodded. "Yes! Can I pick out a few more?"

The owner waved a hand. "Go ahead. Be careful, and don't cut yourself again."

Shan Heyuan didn't want to cut himself again either.

He carefully turned the slips over with his uninjured hand, doing his best to pick out the large, flat ones.

When he had cut himself, his blood had dripped into the basket. To avoid affecting the next customer, he also took out all the slips stained with blood.

In the end, he bought three jin and seven liang of talisman slips, which should be enough to last him two months.

It was getting late, so Shan Heyuan didn't linger in town. He hurriedly bought the daily necessities he needed and rode a brine shrimp back.

When he returned to the village, he had intended to take the talisman slips straight to the talisman master, but when he got there, he found the man wasn't home. He had no choice but to take the slips home for now.

He had spent the whole day rushing about and working, without stopping once.

After dinner, once he had tidied up the house, Shan Heyuan undid the strip of cloth around his injured hand, intending to take a bath.