Chapter 92: Earning Spirit Stones and Driving Down the Price of the Happiness Pills for Fellow Daoists

Half a month later.

On Immortal Dwelling Island, the spirit ship would remain for two days.

Shen Lian arrived at the largest merchant house in the city, the Three Immortals Pavilion.

On the second floor, Shopkeeper Wei of the Three Immortals Pavilion received him.

"Fellow Daoist, this is the second-grade, middle-tier talisman paper you requested."

In the tea room, Shen Lian took the talisman paper handed over by Shopkeeper Wei and examined it in his hands, shaking his head slightly.

Its quality was only a little better than the second-grade, lower-tier talisman paper he already had.

At first he had thought that buying second-grade, middle-tier talisman paper would be more than enough, but he had not expected the difference between the paper he imagined and the paper actually sold as second-grade, middle-tier to be so enormous.

Seeing the expression on Shen Lian’s face, Shopkeeper Wei said, "Fellow Daoist, you are an expert, so you understand that good demon beast hides and fine materials are rarely used to make talisman paper."

Second-grade middle tier corresponded to the strength of the fourth, fifth, and sixth levels of Foundation Establishment. That produced a simple reality: if a demon beast hide from a fourth-level Foundation Establishment beast would do the job, who would be willing to waste a hide from a sixth-level one?

Moreover, the beast hides used for talisman paper were all cut from the scraps and edge pieces, stretched and tanned little by little.

The stack of talisman paper before Shen Lian was clearly made from the scraps of a demon beast roughly comparable to a fourth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator.

And yet, strictly speaking, it was absolutely second-grade middle-tier quality, with no defect at all.

When choosing between making do with an ordinary sound and refining a defensive magical artifact, cultivators would naturally choose the latter.

Second-grade upper-tier and even third-grade talisman paper was even harder to obtain in market towns and immortal cities. It would only appear at some higher-level auctions.

More than that, some high-level talisman masters would even hire people to hunt demon beasts or gather high-grade spirit plants, then personally tan the talisman paper themselves.

The same was true for alchemists and artifact refiners. High-tier cultivators all had their own small circles, and many spirit materials were exchanged within those circles.

Looking at the talisman paper before him, Shen Lian felt that in the future he might very well have to take the road of producing and selling his own goods.

If he had no spirit stones, he could earn them. But if he had spirit stones and no market, there was nothing to be done.

As for buying second-grade upper-tier talisman paper to use, setting aside whether it was easy to buy, the second-grade lower-tier spiritual ink nourished by fire-attributed spiritual power was simply not worthy of it.

Too high to reach, too low to settle for. It was awkward indeed.

After weighing it again and again, Shen Lian still bought the middle-tier talisman paper.

No other reason: for now, he would use whatever he had on hand.

One thousand spirit stones. Five times the price of the cheapest second-grade, lower-tier talisman paper.

Seeing that the stock which had been sitting unsold for years had finally moved, Shopkeeper Wei’s smile deepened even more.

"Immortal Dwelling Island is a small place. To be honest, Fellow Daoist, this batch of middle-tier talisman paper has been sitting in the shop for many years. If you want better-quality talisman paper, you can only try your luck in some larger immortal cities."

Shen Lian nodded and said nothing more.

That was true, but even in a larger immortal city, it would probably not be easy to find second-grade middle-tier or better talisman paper of finer quality.

For other talisman masters, the various grades of talisman paper were already sufficient. Talisman paper tanned from better beast hides instead wasted spirit stones.

Besides, the higher the grade of a demon beast’s hide and bones, the more important completeness became when refining magical artifacts.

No artifact refiner would sacrifice the quality of an artifact merely to save a little scrap beast hide.

Correspondingly, when hunting demon beasts, cultivators would also try their best to preserve the completeness of the carcass and bones.

Thinking of this, Shen Lian spoke again. "Do you have second-grade lower-tier talisman paper and spiritual ink?"

"Yes, yes."

Shopkeeper Wei answered at once. Immortal Dwelling Island was not large, and even Foundation Establishment cultivators only came a few at a time each year. The second-grade goods in the pavilion truly did not sell well.

Shen Lian also saw it. The Three Immortals Pavilion was genuinely poor.

He bought out all the talisman paper in stock, more than a dozen stacks, along with five bottles of spiritual ink.

By the time he left, Shopkeeper Wei was all smiles as he escorted him to the door. Even after Shen Lian had gone far away, he could still see Shopkeeper Wei waving there outside the entrance.

The spirit ship would not depart until the day after tomorrow. After leaving the Three Immortals Pavilion, Shen Lian did not hurry back. Instead, he found a tavern and prepared to sort out his next plan carefully.

In the tavern, while drinking, he took out a jade slip to examine the spirit ship’s route and the number of islands along the way.

Because he had left Yushan Island in haste, he had chosen the earliest departing spirit vessel.

This spirit vessel took a circuit route around the northwestern region of the Ten Thousand Stars Sea, a journey lasting more than nine months and passing through more than fifty island seas of varying size.

Its final stop was Aoshi Immortal City in the northern reaches of the central sea region of the Ten Thousand Stars Sea.

Aoshi Immortal City was an immortal city under the control of the Xuanhai Sect, no less prosperous than the Black Whale City he had visited before.

The islands and sea regions along the route from Immortal Dwelling Island to Aoshi Immortal City all lay in the outer reaches of the power of Core Formation forces. At most, they were home to Foundation Establishment families.

There was no doubt that the spirit materials sold in the shops on those islands would not be very high-grade.

If he wanted to buy White Spirit Jade Marrow, the chances of finding second-grade middle-tier or upper-tier materials were slim.

He would have to wait until he reached Aoshi Immortal City before finding a way.

"A piece of White Spirit Jade Marrow costs more than three thousand spirit stones."

Thinking of the White Spirit Jade Marrow and the price of second-grade upper-tier spiritual ink, Shen Lian felt the back of his teeth tighten.

The three demonic cultivators he had killed before had yielded more than thirty thousand spirit stones, and that amount would only buy six pieces of White Spirit Jade Marrow.

But White Spirit Jade Marrow alone was not enough. He would also need spiritual ink.

More importantly, there was the later nourishment of the jade talismans. One Heaven-Evolving Jade Talisman had consumed the spiritual power of fifty-seven Spirit Gathering Pills to nourish it. Counting six pills per furnace, he would need to refine ten furnaces.

Ten sets of Spirit Gathering Pill materials would cost twenty-three thousand spirit stones.

In all, a single Heaven-Evolving Jade Talisman would cost at least thirty-five thousand spirit stones.

Add to that at least half a year of nourishment, and the cost was simply too great.

He had to earn spirit stones. A lot of them.

Thinking of the more than fifty stopping points along this journey, Shen Lian had a plan in mind.

Since he could not buy second-grade middle-tier or higher-grade resources for the time being, he would make do with second-grade lower-tier ones first.

His initial goal was to prepare ten... fifteen... twenty... sets of the ordinary Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Thunderfire Talisman Array.

When he reached Aoshi City, he would see how things stood. If he truly could not buy talisman paper and spiritual ink of good quality, then he would buy demon beasts and make them himself.

How could a talisman master let materials starve him to death?

After having a light meal, he left the tavern and flew a hundred li beyond Immortal Dwelling Island, plunging straight into the vast ocean.

Half an hour later, Shen Lian emerged from the water wearing a different appearance. Not far away, a figure wrapped in a long robe appeared.

It was none other than his Foundation Establishment puppet, Ding Three.

By using the thread-condensing method in the Myriad Spirits Immortal Puppet Art to temper his soul, his divine sense, once condensed into threads, had expanded from eight hundred and sixty zhang to one thousand three hundred zhang.

He could control a puppet to act independently within the range of his divine sense.

At this moment, within Shen Lian’s sea of consciousness, his divine sense formed a line, and another perspective faintly manifested before him.

"Fellow Daoist Ding, after you."

Ding Three’s long robe fluttered violently as he rose into the air and flew toward the direction of Immortal Dwelling City.

Shen Lian trailed far behind.

Small islands had the advantages of small islands: there were no particularly powerful Foundation Establishment cultivators there. Fourth- and fifth-level Foundation Establishment cultivators were already the ceiling, and Puppet Ding Three could move unhindered.

Moreover, Shen Lian had specially allowed the Five Elements Spirit Puppet to take charge of Ding Three’s body, making control all the more effortless.

On the surface it looked like one Foundation Establishment cultivator, but in truth it was two Foundation Establishment combatants.

If great danger arose, the Five Elements Spirit Puppet could, according to the environment, merge into the surroundings of metal, wood, water, fire, or earth, abandoning the Foundation Establishment puppet without hesitation.

For this reason, Shen Lian had placed several Heavenly Gang Thunderfire Talismans at the core of Ding Three’s body, ensuring a self-destruct if necessary.

In the city’s central district, Shen Lian entered a tavern, asked for a private room, and sat down.

Three hundred zhang away, in another pharmacy, the puppet Ding Three, wrapped in a loose robe, was purchasing herbs.

This attempt to use one person and two bodies was, in truth, an initial trial to see how effective it would be.

The herbs Shen Lian bought under the identity of Ding Three were not of high grade at all; they were all first-grade materials.

The islands along the spirit ship route were not wealthy. Much like the previous Thousand Leaf Island, he had sold over a thousand first-grade Yellow Sprout Pills and nearly shaken the local pill market.

As for second-grade pills, setting aside whether he could even gather the materials, there were only so many Foundation Establishment cultivators on an island. Could the Foundation Establishment cultivators of a family really bear to buy many?

Since he could not sell second-grade pills, Shen Lian simply chose to start from the bottom and seek some happiness for cultivators.

He sold Ecstasy Pills and Pleasure Pills.

It was not that he refused to sell cultivation pills. Rather, whenever he took out these two kinds of pills, the relationship between buyer and seller would unconsciously draw closer.

At a glance, they were clearly kindred souls.

These two kinds of pills could be used by anyone from Qi Refinement cultivators at any level all the way up to Foundation Establishment ancestors.

In the dull and tedious journey of cultivation, who did not need a little joy now and then?

Shen Lian also had no intention of selling to ordinary customers. On each island, he would find only one or two pill shops, general stores, or establishments of fragrant women to make his sales.

The normal market price for a Pleasure Pill was twenty spirit stones. He sold them for fifteen, and for every hundred pills purchased, the unit price would drop by one more spirit stone.

Ecstasy Pills normally sold for sixty to seventy spirit stones. He sold them for forty, and when ten were bought, he would give one extra.

That way, the shopkeepers would still make a profit as well.

Another reason was that the materials for these two pills were easy to find and even easier to refine. With an iron cauldron, he could stir-fry dozens of Pleasure Pills in one batch.

After buying the herbs, Shen Lian and Ding Three each flew out of Immortal Dwelling Island. In a remote place outside the island, Ding Three plunged directly into the depths of the ocean and vanished.

Earlier, Shen Lian had obtained from Pei Huo’s body a concealment technique called the Extinguishing Spirit and Veiling Soul Method.

He had also studied it a little while on Thousand Kings Island.

Outside Immortal Dwelling Island, he changed his appearance and attire, disguising himself as someone with the aura of a ninth-level Qi Refinement cultivator.

He found an inn on the island, took out the second-grade lower-tier pill furnace from before, lit it with spirit charcoal, and began seeking happiness for his fellow Daoists.

The next afternoon, Shen Lian walked out of the inn and disappeared beyond the island.

When he returned again, he had once more become a Foundation Establishment cultivator and was heading toward the spirit ship docked in the city.

The spirit ship was anchored in the eastern plaza of Immortal Dwelling City, where there were also many shops. To avoid drawing attention, Shen Lian did not buy any spirit materials there.

He took out his spirit ship jade token, passed through the crowd in the plaza, and prepared to board the ship.

"Hm..."

The Spirit-Patterned Divine Sense Talisman贴 on the inside of his dao robe was triggered on its own, and Shen Lian’s expression did not change as he swept his gaze around.

At that moment, faint ripples spread across the sea of his divine sense.

A familiar scent of blood drifted into his perception.