Translator: Cinder Translations
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Zhao Dapeng had a joyful expression; the storage bag contained two thousand spirit stones and a hundred Profound Qi Pills. This was enough for him, a Qi Refining eighth layer practitioner, to cultivate for quite some time.
"Thank you, Elder Xia, for the reward. I will do my utmost to fulfill the elder's instructions."
Elder Xia nodded slightly, not putting the black coffin into her storage ring, but dragging it with one hand as she walked out.
Once outside the chamber, she summoned a flying boat and took off.
After sending Elder Xia away, Zhao Dapeng hurriedly left the small courtyard. He needed to find the merchants in the marketplace to arrange for a few strong mortal men or martial artists to come over.
Song Wen observed this scene and understood.
Zhao Dapeng was cultivating living corpses under the direction of the Beastmaster Sect.
Previously, he had seen Zhao Dapeng oppress the orphans next door just to find a partner for his younger brother.
At that time, Song Wen thought Zhao Dapeng treated his brother relatively well.
Perhaps it was driven by profit; or maybe over the years, Zhao Dapeng had grown weary of caring for his foolish brother, leading him to choose cruel methods to turn his brother into a half-human, half-monster living corpse.
During the three years of cultivating living corpses, his foolish brother had undoubtedly suffered tremendous torment, a cruelty that was horrific. If it had been a normal-minded person, they likely would have long been unable to endure the suffering and chosen to end their own life.
But why was the Beastmaster Sect going to such great lengths to cultivate living corpses?
Also, what was the essence of that living corpse, which fused both corpse energy and vitality?
After resting for a moment, Song Wen continued to refine pills.
He first tried to refine Explosive Blood Pills.
Taking out the Yellow Essence Mushroom he had purchased, just as he was about to begin refining, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
He still had over a thousand stalks of special Yellow Essence Mushroom containing vitality in his storage ring.
These Yellow Essence Mushroom stalks were different from ordinary ones and seemed unsuitable for pill refining.
Recalling the scene from before, when the silver corpse refined over a hundred stalks of special Yellow Essence Mushroom and showed signs of blood veins, Song Wen made a decision in his heart.
He decided to use all of these Yellow Essence Mushroom stalks to nurture the silver corpse; perhaps it would yield unexpected surprises.
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A month later.
Song Wen walked into the Flowing Clouds Pharmacy.
This was the largest pharmacy opened by the Beastmaster Sect in the East Huafang marketplace.
Seeing Song Wen enter, a beautiful maid approached him.
"Senior, may I ask what kind of pill you wish to buy?"
Song Wen replied, "I'm not here to buy pills; I've come to sell pills."
"May I ask, Senior, what pills you wish to sell?"
"Profound Qi Pills."
The maid said, "Please wait a moment. The Profound Qi Pill is a top-grade first-level pill, and I do not have the authority to decide on the purchase myself. I will go and request the manager to come."
A moment later, guided by the maid, a white-bearded old man approached Song Wen.
"Friend, I've heard you have Profound Qi Pills for sale?"
Song Wen nodded, reaching to his waist and retrieving a jade bottle.
The old man smiled warmly.
"Friend, don't be in a rush; let's go to my study to discuss this in detail."
With the old man leading the way, the two quickly arrived at an elegant study.
After sitting down, the old man said, "Friend, please take out the Profound Qi Pills. Before we trade, I need to verify the quality of the pills."
It was common knowledge in the cultivation world that the store would check the quality of pills before purchasing them.
Song Wen had no objections and handed the jade bottle to the old man.
The old man took the jade bottle and poured out a pill.
The pill had a pure color, ample spiritual energy, and emitted a refreshing fragrance.
The old man's face lit up with a smile.
"Friend, the quality of the pills you refined is quite good. If all the Profound Qi Pills in your possession are of this quality, our Flowing Clouds Pharmacy will take them all."
Song Wen waved his hand again, and two more jade bottles landed on the low table in front of him. Together with the one he had previously handed to the old man, there were three jade bottles, each containing thirty Profound Qi Pills.
The white-bearded old man examined the other two bottles of pills, then spoke.
"Each Profound Qi Pill is worth five spirit stones. I wonder if you are satisfied with this price?"
Upon hearing this, Song Wen frowned slightly.
On the market, the selling price for Profound Qi Pills is around ten spirit stones each.
If the pharmacy buys at five spirit stones, they can make a 100% profit on each sale.
The cost of the spirit herbs needed to refine a batch of Profound Qi Pills is about twelve spirit stones.
For an average first-level alchemist, the success rate for refining Profound Qi Pills is roughly fifty percent, resulting in six pills per batch.
Calculating this, the cost to produce a single Profound Qi Pill is about four spirit stones.
The alchemist, working hard to refine, would only earn one spirit stone in profit per pill, far less than the profits the pharmacy makes selling the pills.
Song Wen shook his head. "If you can only offer five spirit stones, I'll have to find other buyers."
As he spoke, Song Wen pretended to put away the three jade bottles.
"Wait a moment, friend."
The white-bearded old man hurriedly stopped him.
"If you're not satisfied with the purchase price, we can negotiate. How about six spirit stones?"
Song Wen continued to shake his head.
"Seven spirit stones. I can't go higher; that's the best price I can offer. Even the alchemists we regularly work with can only get this price."
Song Wen sat down again and took out the three jade bottles.
"Fine then!"
The identity of an alchemist was just a cover for Song Wen; he didn't rely on it for a living.
Since the old man offered a reasonable price, he decided not to linger on the negotiation.
Moreover, Song Wen simply didn't have the time to set up a stall and sell Profound Qi Pills.
"Thank you for being so straightforward."
The white-bearded old man put away the three jade bottles and took out two hundred and ten spirit stones to give to Song Wen.
"My name is Ning Feng; may I ask how to address you, friend?" After the transaction, the old man asked with a friendly expression.
"I'm Yan Feng; it's a pleasure to meet you, brother Ning."
"In this marketplace, I know all the alchemists who can refine Profound Qi Pills. You look unfamiliar, so you must be new to the East Huafang marketplace?"
"I arrived at the East Huafang marketplace just a month ago, and I hope to count on your guidance in the future, Ning friend."
Ning Feng stroked his silver beard and smiled warmly.
"Don't worry, Master Yan; I have some influence in this marketplace. If you encounter any difficulties, feel free to come to me. I will definitely help in any way I can."
Song Wen cupped his hands in thanks. "Thank you, friend."
"Five days from now, in the back yard of the Flowing Clouds Pharmacy, there will be a gathering for alchemists. Would you like to attend, Master Yan?"
"Thank you for the invitation, Ning friend. I will definitely be there on time."
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Time passed.
In the next two years, Song Wen focused on cultivating in the marketplace.
He lacked for nothing in spirit stones and didn't need to venture out to search for resources required for his cultivation. Moreover, he avoided trouble; even if some conflicts arose, he managed to evade them. Life during these two years was quite peaceful.
During these two years, he attended several gatherings hosted by Ning Feng for alchemists, getting to know some scattered alchemists and mastering three new first-level pill refining techniques. His alchemical skills became increasingly refined, and his understanding of alchemy deepened.
After more than two years of consolidation, the issues with the spiritual energy of Longevity Technique being unstable and lacking a solid foundation were mostly resolved.
However, he still hadn't succeeded in the research for the Explosive Blood Pill.
With only four stalks of Yellow Essence Mushroom available each month, his progress on developing the Explosive Blood Pill was severely limited.
In two years, he had only made about a hundred attempts.
It's worth mentioning that a year and a half ago, Song Wen had purchased suitable strong poisons from a scattered cultivator in the black market.
After arriving at the East Huafang marketplace, he had been busy refining Blood Qi Pills and improving his cultivation of Longevity Technique, leading to the neglect of Ten Thousand Poisons Body.
Now that he had acquired suitable poisons, he could finally start refining Ten Thousand Poisons Body again.
(End of the Chapter)
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