Chapter 114: Trading Joy Pills for Profound Spirit Jade Marrow Ore

In the quiet room, only Shen Lian, Qian Dai, and two attendants remained.

Shen Lian examined the copper slip, which was etched with ancient cultivation script. Both the top and bottom ends had small, drilled holes, likely intended for threading a cord. It was clearly a single fragment from a larger scroll of copper slips. Unfortunately, the ancient characters were blurred and indistinct, marred by a series of scratches across the surface.

Still, he was merely pulling a lottery for amusement; he did not care if it was a treasure or not.

"As you have seen, Fellow Daoist Lu, I have been working this route for many years and have earned the trust of the cultivators who travel it. You need have no concerns regarding our transactions."

Shen Lian nodded. Although the behavior of Qian Dai, the young master of the Qian family, was somewhat unconventional, his business practices were quite commendable.

"Regarding the raw Xuanling Jade Essence, I only have one piece the size of an infant's fist in my possession at the moment."

As he spoke, Qian Dai flicked his hand, and a piece of raw Xuanling Jade Essence landed in Shen Lian’s palm.

"This piece is too small to yield a complete, high-quality jade essence, but it can serve as a supplementary material for refining over a dozen magical artifacts. The price is 15,000 low-grade spirit stones."

After inspecting the raw stone, Shen Lian waved his hand, and a storage pouch flew out.

15,000 low-grade spirit stones translated to 1,500 Joy Pills. Given Qian Dai’s influence, these pills would certainly be resold for 20 spirit stones each, totaling 30,000 low-grade spirit stones. For Shen Lian, the cost of producing these Joy Pills was only about 3,000 spirit stones. Both were simply earning money based on their own capabilities; neither could call the other unscrupulous.

"How is the potency of your Joy Pills, Fellow Daoist?" Qian Dai pulled out a Joy Pill and took a gentle sniff. He squinted his eyes, though the excess fat on his face made it impossible to tell if they were open or closed. Although he was not an alchemist himself, he had heard of such things. The cost and difficulty of refining Joy Pills of this quality were on par with Yellow Bud Pills. Judging by the difficulty of refining Yellow Bud Pills, this "Fellow Daoist Lu" before him must be quite skilled; otherwise, he could not have so readily agreed to a selling price of ten spirit stones—his success rate in refining Joy Pills must be at least fifty percent.

However, he did not care about the success rate. A transaction where both parties derived sufficient profit was the only kind that could last. 1,500 Joy Pills seemed like a lot, but the Qian family controlled thousands of islands, there were other nearby cities and islands, and to the east lay the Sea Tribes. This small amount would disappear in an instant once distributed.

"You are welcome to try one, Fellow Daoist," Shen Lian gestured.

"Never mind. I am too frail; I fear my attendants would not be able to handle it." Qian Dai tucked the Joy Pill into his storage pouch. "Can you refine more advanced versions of such pills, Fellow Daoist Lu?"

Shen Lian looked at Qian Dai calmly. "I can refine 'Inverted Phoenix and Dragon Pills,' though the success rate is not very high."

As he spoke, Shen Lian produced a jade box. Upon opening it, several pills with visible blood-red streaks and an intoxicating, alluring aroma rolled out. He sent them flying toward Qian Dai.

"Joy Pills and Inverted Phoenix and Dragon Pills." After checking the pills, Qian Dai nodded. "It seems we have a foundation for a long-term partnership."

...

After concluding his business with Qian Dai, Shen Lian returned to his private compartment. He found that the door had been repaired, and a jade meditation cushion had been added to the bed. Sitting cross-legged on the cushion, he calmed his mind.

He had originally intended to take this spirit ship to the Canxing Archipelago to sell his Joy Pills in batches, but he had unexpectedly encountered a major client halfway through. Furthermore, he had successfully exchanged for a fist-sized piece of raw Xuanling Jade Essence. The process had changed, but the result remained the same.

"Qian Dai of the Qian family."

According to the chatter he had overheard, Qian Dai’s spirit ship had been wandering this route for several years, and his reputation was well-established. Many cultivators were not boarding for the first time. Observing the demeanor of the Foundation Establishment cultivators today, their indifference to the various scenes on the ship proved they were well-acquainted with Qian Dai’s methods.

He had a verbal agreement with Qian Dai: he would disembark at the Canxing Archipelago and stay for a time to conduct transactions. During that period, Shen Lian would provide Joy Pills and Inverted Phoenix and Dragon Pills in exchange for the raw Xuanling Jade Essence in Qian Dai’s hands. For now, the deal seemed quite favorable.

...

In the quiet room, Qian Dai examined the Inverted Phoenix and Dragon Pills, pulled out another Joy Pill, and tossed it to the attendant behind him.

"Tell Qian Ya to find someone to test the efficacy. And check the rest of these pills as well."

"Yes."

After the attendant left with the pills, she returned after a long while, her face flushed red. "Young Master, Qian Ya had someone test them. He said... he said the potency is very strong."

"Mm."

Leaning back in his wide chair, Qian Dai squinted, his chubby fingers tapping against the armrest. "Send this batch of pills to the Sea Tribes' territory. Triple the price; sell them for thirty spirit stones each."

"By the way, do not let my Senior Sister know that I am selling these kinds of pills."

...

Over the next two months, the spirit ship stopped at various islands, with Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators coming and going. As an observer, Shen Lian watched Qian Dai sell his wares to the successive waves of cultivators boarding the ship, organize trade fairs in the quiet rooms, and take on commissions to find various spiritual items for Foundation Establishment cultivators. After some observation, Shen Lian felt at ease.

Half a year later, on a remote island in the Canxing Archipelago, Shen Lian awoke from his meditation. With a flick of his divine sense, the Five Elements Spirit Puppet, located in a cave dwelling on another island ten miles away, turned into a streak of light, grabbed a transmission jade slip, and arrived before him.

Now, through the thread-condensing method of the Immortal Puppet Technique, the range at which he could control the Five Elements Spirit Puppet had reached 2,500 zhang—a full fifteen miles. This distance was enough to rival some early-stage Golden Core cultivators. Of course, Shen Lian was extending his divine sense through a secret technique, which could only be used to control the puppet; if he were to truly compete with a Golden Core cultivator in divine sense, he would be the one to suffer.

Even though he had learned much about Qian Dai through his time on the spirit ship, he still took precautions. He kept his transmission jade slips in a different cave dwelling ten miles away, conveniently split between two different islands.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, I have ordered someone to deliver the raw Xuanling Jade Essence you need to the Wind and Thunder Pavilion on Canxing Island."

Hanging the transmission jade slip back onto the storage pouch at the Five Elements Spirit Puppet’s waist, Shen Lian tidied up his cave dwelling and prepared to head to Canxing City to collect the raw jade essence.

...

A day later, at the Wind and Thunder Pavilion in Canxing City—an agency Qian Dai had specifically established at various ports to coordinate with his spirit ship—Shen Lian, dressed in wide robes, walked down the street. He observed from a distance that the Foundation Establishment cultivator guarding the pavilion was roughly at the fifth level of Foundation Establishment.

The Five Elements Spirit Puppet, disguised as "Lu You" and wearing the robe from the spirit ship, walked into the pavilion.

"Please, Fellow Daoist Lu." Inside, a red-faced old man led Shen Lian to a quiet room on the second floor. After they sat down, the old man took a piece of raw Xuanling Jade Essence from his storage pouch, similar in size to the previous one. "Fellow Daoist Lu, the Young Master sent word that it should be the same as last time."

After carefully inspecting the raw stone, Shen Lian nodded and handed over a storage pouch containing the counted Joy Pills. After verifying the count, the old man nodded. "The quantity of pills is correct, Fellow Daoist Lu."

"If you have anything to say, you can send a message directly to the Young Master. I am not responsible for the details of the sales."

Shen Lian took out his transmission jade slip and sent a pulse of divine sense. Seeing this, the old man took the storage pouch and left the room. About a dozen breaths later, the jade slip lit up.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, have you received the raw Xuanling Jade Essence?" Qian Dai’s voice came from the slip.

"I have received it." Shen Lian toyed with the raw jade essence in his hand. "Fellow Daoist Qian, this piece is a bit small. Besides being used for refining artifacts, it isn't enough to cut out a single piece of pure Xuanling Jade Essence."

Both pieces had been about the size of an infant's fist, just barely insufficient to cut into a standard-spec Xuanling Jade Essence.

A moment later, Qian Dai’s voice replied, "Larger raw stones are quite expensive."

"No matter, I will still pay with Joy Pills."

"Very well. That will require you to wait a little longer, Fellow Daoist. Also, do you still want more of this size?"

"I do."

"How many?"

"Collect as many as you can, Fellow Daoist. The more, the better."

In the quiet room, Shen Lian put down the jade slip. As a descendant of a Golden Core family, it shouldn't be a problem for him to collect seven or eight pieces within a year.

...

On the spirit ship *Sea Wind and Thunder*, Qian Dai handed the dimming jade slip to his attendant. After turning around, the attendant hung the slip on a bare, cyan-colored spirit tree that lacked any leaves. This tree was quite strange, divided into seven levels from top to bottom, each layer shaped like an umbrella. Hanging from each level were varying numbers and types of jade slips.

On the seventh, topmost level hung three purple jade slips. On the fourth, fifth, and sixth levels, there were only five or six slips each. The first, lowest level held the most, followed by the second and third.

The attendant hung the slip used to communicate with Shen Lian on the lowest level, where the quantity was the greatest. Qian Dai leaned back in his wide chair, his chubby fingers tapping the armrest.

"Mo'er, how many pieces of raw Xuanling Jade Essence can we source currently?"

The attendant thought for a moment. "Young Master, if we exert ourselves, we should be able to collect over a dozen small raw stones within half a year."

"As for the large stones that can yield pure jade essence... the various sects in the Ten Thousand Star Sea have an agreement to restrict the sale of Xuanling Jade Essence on the market. The Profound Corpse Sect also defaults to this agreement. If we were to sell them..."

"A bunch of bumpkins who have never seen the world. They go to such lengths just for a secret realm left behind by an early-stage Nascent Soul sect." Qian Dai snorted dismissively.

"Not long ago, my Senior Sister sent word that she had also gone to the Sea King Sect’s secret realm. I don't know what’s so good about it." As he spoke, Qian Dai looked at one of the purple jade slips hanging on the seventh level of the cyan spirit tree.

"Sigh..." With a long sigh, Qian Dai’s gaze wandered over the tree. "...They tell me to make more friends and cultivate good karma, but among these 'friends,' not one is capable. Sly, sycophantic types are all I see, and there’s even one selling Joy Pills..."

Qian Dai felt discouraged. After working for so many years, he had not made a single friend with potential. His master told him to befriend those with potential and even provide help on their cultivation path, but could someone tell him which of the people on this tree had potential? A bunch of nobodies—hardly any had a chance of reaching the Golden Core stage, let alone Nascent Soul...

"Young Master, do not be troubled. This is not your fault; it is only because we are trapped in this sea area and unable to reach more cultivators."

"It is so hard to leave." Qian Dai shook his head. He could not take that step; at least, not yet.

"Collect as much as you can. The more, the better."

At that moment, Qian Dai suddenly recalled the last sentence from the transmission.

"He has quite an appetite."

...

Half a year later.

Shen Lian, in the midst of cultivation, received another message from Qian Dai.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, be sure to prepare enough pills this time."

"Three days from now, my spirit ship, the *Sea Wind and Thunder*, will dock at Canxing Island."

Three days later, outside Canxing City, the tattered spirit ship roared from a distance. Enveloped in a gale, it slowly descended from the heights, slamming onto the ground with a loud *thud* when it was three feet above the surface, causing all the cultivators present to stagger.

In a restaurant not far from the Wind and Thunder Pavilion, Shen Lian watched the ship land. Before long, he saw the chubby Qian Dai fly into the pavilion with his small attendant. Shen Lian was not in a hurry; he continued to eat his meal calmly.

Not long after, the spirit puppet headed toward the Wind and Thunder Pavilion. This time, he used a Five Elements Spirit Puppet clone, though he had integrated it into a common puppet and used various talismans to mask the aura of death.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, please." The red-faced old man from before led Shen Lian to the second floor.

"Fellow Daoist Qian." Entering the quiet room, Shen Lian saw Qian Dai sitting in his exclusive chair. On the wide table in front of him sat a large wooden box.

"You’ve arrived, Fellow Daoist Lu. Let’s inspect the goods first." As he spoke, spiritual energy surged, and he turned the opening of the wooden box toward Shen Lian.

Shen Lian opened the box. *Oh?* There was quite a lot this time. No wonder Qian Dai had come in person. Inside the box were thirteen fist-sized raw Xuanling Jade Essence stones and two head-sized ones.

Shen Lian’s gaze swept over them and landed on one of the larger stones. It was square. He recognized this shape.

Qian Dai’s eyes squinted again as he observed Shen Lian.

In the restaurant, Shen Lian’s eyes also narrowed. It seemed he had underestimated Qian Dai’s abilities. To have collected so much raw Xuanling Jade Essence in just half a year! After all, these things appeared randomly in ore veins; even coordinating from various sources would take a great deal of time. More importantly, one of these was cut into a square shape, similar to the ores he had salvaged from Sea Origin Island.

Could it be that these were obtained from the Profound Corpse Sect? This only went to show that Qian Dai possessed an incredibly powerful network. He had expected to get seven or eight pieces, but not only had he exceeded the quota, he had done it in half the time. This chubby fellow was truly capable.

Moving his gaze away from the square raw stone, Shen Lian looked at Qian Dai and smiled. "It seems, Fellow Daoist Qian, that you intend to keep me here to refine Joy Pills for you exclusively."

"What are you saying? When has Qian Dai ever forced a sale? My ancestor, who is at the peak of the mid-stage Golden Core—nearly late-stage—cares about his reputation." Qian Dai pointed to the wooden box with his squinted eyes.

"Pick as many as you like, Fellow Daoist Lu."