Ginseng Chicken Soup, Crystal Roasted Meat, Liquor Shrimp, Five Treasures Thick Soup... Twenty-seven recipes unfolded before their eyes, one after another, with prices ranging from one hundred to five hundred spirit stones each.
'Rui, which recipes do you think we should buy?' Li Shiren secretly transmitted his voice to him.
'Ginseng Chicken Soup, Crystal Roasted Meat, Liquor Shrimp, Five Treasures Thick Soup, Tri-Mystic Fish Balls...' Li Zhirui listed more than a dozen recipes in one breath, each carefully selected based on the eight spirit beasts currently bred by the family.
Li Shiren nodded inwardly, his thoughts were nearly identical; he looked up and asked, "Do you have any first-grade Spiritual Liquor Recipes?"
The cultivator's smile widened as he responded repeatedly, "We do, we do, please wait a moment, senior."
"Hold on, would you mind fetching something else for me? I'd like to take a look at the Water Method Alchemy pill recipes," Li Zhirui quickly said, seeing the man's reaction.
"Of course!" With that, the man left the room.
Li Shiren's brow furrowed slightly, disapprovingly he asked, "I don't object to your choice of alchemy, but why choose the most difficult Water Method Alchemy?"
'Uncle Ren, have you forgotten I don't have a Fire Spirit Root?' While the lack of a Fire Spirit Root doesn't mean one can't practice alchemy, Li Zhirui's peculiar situation came from his Water-Wood Dual Spiritual Roots!
One suppresses fire, the other fears fire, leading Li Zhirui to struggle with controlling flames. Yet, precise control of flames is critical for alchemy, making this path untenable for him.
"Then why not consider other skills? You have a great talent for Beast Taming," Li Shiren's brows were still not relaxed, clearly disapproving of Li Zhirui's decision.
Alchemy is not simple, and Water Method Alchemy is even more challenging, more of a niche, with high-grade pill recipes being exceedingly rare.
If Li Zhirui took this path, upon reaching higher realms, he'd have to modify the recipes himself—a wasteful expenditure of time and effort!
Li Zhirui fell silent then; he couldn't possibly disclose his possession of a portable space to a second person, not even to someone with whom he had a great relationship. It was out of the question!
Li Shiren felt a slight headache coming on; his nephew was usually such a thoughtful character, yet in some matters, he showed extreme stubbornness.
'Esteemed guests, here are the liquor recipe and the pill recipes,' fortunately, the cultivator returned at that moment, dissipating the awkward atmosphere between the uncle and nephew.
Eagerly, Li Zhirui examined the jade slip to see if he could find the pill recipes he desired.
Seeing his eagerness, Li Shiren let out a silent sigh.
Yellow Sprout Pills to increase mana, Jade Spirit Pills, Nourishing Soul Pills for nurturing the spiritual soul, Blood Replenishing Pills to restore vitality... a total of thirty-six first-grade Water Method Pill Recipes dazzled Li Zhirui, and he yearned to possess them all.
Alas, despite years of cultivation, Li Zhirui had only amassed just over three hundred spirit stones, enough to choose only two pill recipes at most.
Fortunately, Li Zhirui knew his priorities; from these recipes, he selected two that were most beneficial for his current situation and for which he had the corresponding spiritual medicines in his space: the Jade Spirit Pill that both cultivators and spirit beasts could consume, and the Spirit-Replenishing Pill, which was in high demand in the marketplace.
The former would accelerate his and Da Qing's cultivation speed, while the latter could be sold for spirit stones.
After the transaction, Li Zhirui was left with just a few dozen spirit stones in his hands.
Li Shiren, unconcerned with Li Zhirui's choices, picked the Impurity-Removing Liquor and Clear Boiled Liquor from the spiritual liquor recipes; together with the previously chosen spiritual cookbooks, he paid a total of five thousand five hundred spirit stones.
However, before leaving, the shop gave Li Zhirui several packs of first-grade Spirit Seeds, which together were worth no more than twenty spirit stones.
After leaving the shop, Li Shiren didn't hurry to depart but instead took Li Zhirui towards a corner of the marketplace. The two of them did not speak along the way, simply walking in silence.
Soon, a scene with stalls lining both sides of the street came into view.
"You wanted to learn Water Method Alchemy, didn't you? The Spiritual Medicine and Spirit Water here are cheaper than those in stores, but whether they're real or fake, you'll need to discern that yourself," Li Shiren said indifferently.
A delighted expression crossed Li Zhirui's face as he said, "Thank you, Uncle Ren!"
"The family has a few Pill Furnaces; you don't need to buy one," he said, and then handed over a storage bag, adding, "Here are a hundred Spirit Stones; remember to return them to me early."
Li Zhirui thanked him once again and then walked with happy strides towards a stall laden with a large amount of Spiritual Medicine.
"Jade Root Grass, Hidden Spirit Fruit..." To concoct the Jade Spirit Pill, a total of five types of Spiritual Medicine were needed. The store sells one set for twelve Spirit Stones, but here it costs only eleven.
Li Zhirui spent one hundred and ten Spirit Stones to buy ten sets of herbs, and then twenty Spirit Stones to buy a gourd of Spirit Water.
In fact, such a small amount of materials was nowhere near enough for practice; Li Zhirui mainly bought them as a cover for the Spiritual Medicine in his space. After all, it would be impossible for him to master Alchemy just by looking at the Pill Recipe, right?
At the same time, Li Zhirui also noticed that several gazes had been following him since he started buying Spiritual Medicine, but as soon as he returned to Li Shiren's side, those gazes immediately withdrew,
Li Zhirui's face was expressionless, but he took note of this and warned himself that if he came alone next time, he absolutely could not be so conspicuous.
"Are you done?" asked Li Shiren, suggesting they could stroll more if there was nothing else needed.
Seeing Li Zhirui nod, Li Shiren then led him away from the marketplace.
After returning to Da Rong Island, the two handed over the cookbook and the Spiritual Liquor Recipe to the Clan Leader. "Did you have any thoughts on your trip to the marketplace?"
"There are many cultivators coming and going in the marketplace, making it quite lively. Although there are already several inns in the marketplace, I've noticed that their main purpose is accommodations for cultivators, so there's a big market for selling Spirit Food. Moreover, our family breeds Spirit Beasts, which is our advantage," Li Zhirui spoke with eloquence, sharing all he had observed and thought.
Li Shiqing didn't voice any opinion but instead said, "Hmm, I see. You've had a tiresome day racing around; go rest first."
Li Zhirui bowed to the two elders and then turned to leave.
"Do you agree with what Zhirui said?" Li Shiqing inquired.
Li Shiren nodded, "Zhirui observes very thoroughly, and all he said was correct."
Li Shiqing had a clear picture in his mind. Changing the topic, he asked, "You are also aware of the current situation of our family; resources for cultivating Spirit Chefs are limited, so we can only concentrate on a select few. Who do you think would be suitable from our clan members?"
After carefully considering, Li Shiren mentioned a few names and then explained, "The requirements for a Spirit Chef are not lower than those for an Alchemist, so the most important aspect is Divine Sense and the control over the heat."
The clan members Li Shiren mentioned either had a Fire Spirit Root or were in the latter stages of Qi Cultivation with relatively strong Divine Sense, fulfilling at least one qualifying condition.
"Hmm, let's go with them," reflected Li Shiqing, also feeling that these individuals were quite suitable. As for the two Spiritual Liquor Recipes, they would be an easy matter to deal with since the Li family had a wine master.
Li Zhizhun was the eldest of the Zhi generation. His Contracted Spirit Beast was a second-order Liquor Monkey. In order to meet the needs of his Spirit Beast, he used the family's sole liquor recipe to experiment and, to everyone's surprise, he succeeded!
The reason the family did not continue to nurture Li Zhizhun in pursuing the path of a wine master was because the prices at which the Beast Taming Sect bought Spiritual Liquor were too low, making almost no profit; hence the family had shelved these plans.