Translator: Cinder Translations
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After leaving the dining hall, Song Wen disguised himself and arrived at a small town where the mundane members of the Su family lived.
There were a few scattered shops run by cultivators in the town. Song Wen planned to try his luck and see if he could buy ghost needle grass and yellow essence mushroom.
The town had both mortals and cultivators living together, and the shops were arranged chaotically, with no apparent order.
Song Wen spent almost an hour going through all the herb shops in the town, but the results weren't ideal. He only found ghost needle grass but couldn't find yellow essence mushroom.
Although ghost needle grass is a second-tier spiritual herb, it has limited uses and is of low value.
Yellow essence mushroom, being a commonly used second-tier spiritual herb, seemed to be intentionally withheld, as no store was selling it.
As Song Wen walked through the alleys of the town, he suddenly realized that he was passing by Su Shan's residence.
Scanning the area with his spiritual sense, he discovered that Su Shan was at home.
Curious about what kind of demonic cultivation Su Shan was practicing, Song Wen dropped his disguise and changed into the appearance of "Master Yuan," then approached and gently knocked on the door.
Creak!
A moment later, Su Shan's wife, Chen Hong, opened the door.
Seeing that it was Song Wen, Chen Hong stepped aside and said, "Master Yuan, please come in."
After leading Song Wen into the courtyard, she called loudly into the house, "Husband, Master Yuan is here."
With that, just like their first meeting, she returned inside the house.
From their two encounters, Song Wen could roughly judge that this woman was a frugal and conservative woman, who preferred not to show herself in front of strangers.
A moment later, Su Shan emerged from the side room.
The moment he appeared, Song Wen could clearly smell a strong stench of rotting corpses emanating from him.
He had just been in contact with a rotting corpse!
This meant that there were rotting corpses hidden in Su Shan's courtyard, and there were likely more than one.
Song Wen gave Su Shan, who was walking toward him with a smile, a meaningful look.
He was raising corpses in his own courtyard. Wasn't he worried that the unborn child might be tainted by corpse qi?
"Master Yuan, what brings you here today?" Su Shan asked.
"Ah! Don't ask. The alchemy room suddenly increased the workload. I've been refining pills for days, leaving me physically and mentally exhausted. I came out to relax and stretch my bones. I happened to pass by your house, so I thought I'd knock, and it turns out you're home," Song Wen lied smoothly.
His tone was casual, as if Su Shan was an old friend, sharing his hardships as though Su Shan were no stranger.
Perhaps affected by Song Wen's words or feeling the closeness in his tone, Su Shan lowered his guard and began to vent.
"Who wouldn't agree! Five days ago, the family suddenly tightened security. I've been guarding the mountain gate for three days and nights, and only got a break yesterday."
Song Wen glanced at the inner room and softly asked, "I noticed that your wife's belly has gotten quite large. Is she due soon?"
Su Shan nodded, "Yes, probably within half a month."
Song Wen smiled and cupped his hands, saying, "Then let me congratulate you, Brother Su, on your upcoming son."
Su Shan's expression subtly changed, appearing a little unnatural, but he quickly covered it up.
"Thank you..."
After some casual conversation, Song Wen got up to leave.
As he left the courtyard, Song Wen glanced at the side room.
Beneath the side room was a secret chamber, and within it were three rotting corpses, which were already showing signs of decay, making them the lowest level of walking corpses.
It seemed that Su Shan didn't quite know what he was doing, as the corpses were in such poor condition that they resembled bodies about to rot completely.
After walking a distance away, Song Wen looked back at the courtyard, where the gate had been closed once again. He muttered to himself, "Since you're determined to refine corpses, I'll give you a hand."
That night, Su Shan discovered that a wooden plank on the wall of his side room had unknowingly been eaten through by insects, leaving a crack.
Through the crack, he saw an extremely old cloth bag hidden inside the wall.
Su Shan pried open the wooden panel on the wall and took out the cloth bag.
It seemed that the bag had been stored for too long, as a gentle touch caused a corner to break apart, revealing the edge of an ancient book.
With a few quick motions, he opened the cloth bag, and an old book made of beast hide appeared before him.
Su Shan couldn't help but feel excited, believing he had discovered something extraordinary.
He opened the book and began to carefully read it. To his surprise and delight, the book detailed exactly what he needed: a corpse-refining technique.
This corpse-refining method was something Song Wen had once found in a storage bag within the Withered Blood Secret Realm.
In the demonic path regions, this corpse-refining technique was not considered profound, though it had its merits. However, in the orthodox realm, where demonic cultivation techniques were scarce, it was already considered a decent corpse-refining method.
The most remarkable aspect of this corpse-refining technique was that it focused on strength in numbers.
There was a specific method mentioned for controlling a large number of corpses, allowing the practitioner to command dozens to hundreds of walking corpses at once. However, refining many corpses meant that resources would be spread thin, which was the main reason Song Wen had abandoned this technique.
...
After leaving Su Shan's courtyard, Song Wen did not return directly to his residence. Instead, he disguised himself and headed to the North Market to search for yellow essence mushroom.
He first visited several large herb shops, which were operated by the Su family, the Beast Controlling Sect, and other neighboring cultivation forces, but none of them sold yellow essence mushroom.
Next, he went to the stalls run by rogue cultivators and some smaller herb shops.
Finally, in a small, obscure shop in a corner, he found a lead on the yellow essence mushroom.
The shopkeeper was a man in his thirties, with a cultivation level of the seventh layer of the Qi Refining stage. He had a sharp chin, thin lips, and a rat-like appearance, with a thin mustache, giving him a shifty look.
When the shopkeeper heard that Song Wen wanted to buy yellow essence mushroom, his eyes lit up. He lowered his voice and said, "Fellow Daoist, yellow essence mushroom is a widely used second-tier spiritual herb, and it's practically monopolized by the major cultivation forces. It's very hard to find it outside."
"However, you've come to the right place. I have yellow essence mushroom here and can supply it regularly, but the price..."
Song Wen knew the man was trying to raise the price, but since he urgently needed yellow essence mushroom, as long as the price wasn't too outrageous, he was willing to accept it.
"Just give me the price. If it's reasonable, I'll buy some. If it's too high, I'll have to walk away."
"How many years old do you need?" asked the shopkeeper.
"Over fifty years," Song Wen replied.
The shopkeeper raised two fingers. "Two thousand spirit stones per stalk!"
Song Wen frowned, his expression becoming cold.
"Isn't that a bit excessive?"
According to Rong Jingyun's jade slip on medicinal knowledge, yellow essence mushroom was widely used and cultivated by many larger sects, and it occasionally grew in the wild. It wasn't worth two thousand spirit stones—two hundred would be more reasonable.
The shopkeeper smirked and said, "Two thousand spirit stones, no bargaining. Also, I don't have any in stock. You'll have to pay a deposit of fifty spirit stones first, and you can pick it up tomorrow!"
Song Wen's frown deepened. In the cultivation world, it was always cash for goods—no one paid deposits first.
Seeing Song Wen not respond, the shopkeeper pointed to the shop's entrance and said, "If you think it's too expensive, feel free to leave. But in this North Market, I'm the only one selling yellow essence mushroom."
"You can try your luck with the rogue cultivator stalls. Maybe you'll get lucky and find one or two stalks."
The shopkeeper looked as if he was certain Song Wen would comply.
No one else in the entire North Market was likely to sell yellow essence mushroom.
Even if a rogue cultivator found yellow essence mushroom in the wild, they would either trade it privately with someone they knew or sell it to the larger powers for a low price. No one dared to openly sell it in the market, as that would be asking for trouble.
The orthodox forces' monopoly on important second-tier spiritual herbs was no joke.
A flash of killing intent briefly crossed Song Wen's eyes.
He reached to his waist, took off his storage bag, and poured out fifty spirit stones.
"I'll reserve one stalk."
The shopkeeper beamed with joy and quickly gathered up the spirit stones.
"Fellow Daoist, you can pick up your yellow essence mushroom tomorrow morning."
(End of the Chapter)
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