Chapter 27: Bad News

Inside the auction hall.

With the appearance of the Marrow-Cleansing Pills.

The atmosphere of the auction instantly reached its peak.

After several rounds of unusually fierce bidding.

Finally, at the high price of four thousand five hundred spirit stones per Marrow-Cleansing Pill, they were secured by three Late-Stage Qi Cultivation cultivators.

Even Gu Qingzhao rarely showed a trace of a smile.

She exchanged a few pleasantries with Su Yuqing in the private box, then went out to handle follow-up matters.

After it ended.

Qin Ming and Su Yuqing immediately took their leave and departed.

Through this experience, Qin Ming grew even more eager about the art of pill refining.

From this single auction alone, Su Yuqing earned over ten thousand spirit stones, excluding the auction house's commission fees.

'Next time, I must succeed in refining pills!'

Qin Ming silently vowed in his heart.

"Brother Su, didn't you say that if I helped you plant spiritual crops this year, you would grant me one request?"

"I wonder... if I wish to borrow your pill refining room to practice the art of pill refining, would that be... permissible?" Qin Ming stammered as he voiced his request.

After all.

This involved the other party's privacy, and his request.

Was indeed a bit presumptuous.

Hearing this, Su Yuqing paused for a moment, sized Qin Ming up twice, then opened his mouth and laughed: "Brother Qin, you truly will not give up until you reach the Yellow River..."

"Let me tell you the bottom line: the art of pill refining prioritizes talent above all, and the most crucial factor is the cultivator's own divine soul strength!"

"During the pill refining process, one must constantly multitask, splitting attention two ways, three ways, or even more; just controlling the fire technique and merging the medicinal embryos—these two tasks alone cannot be sustained without powerful divine soul support."

"In the path of pill refining, talent determines the upper limit; otherwise, it is merely a futile waste of time."

Upon hearing the other speak thus, Qin Ming's eyes instead lit up! Divine soul strength was not something that couldn't be enhanced... For him, he just needed to work hard at farming! "I still want to try again; if I make no progress in this path within this year, then I will give up this idea for good."

Qin Ming spoke thus to Su Yuqing.

"Very well then, since I promised you."

"Naturally, my word is as good as nine cauldrons; as long as I am not using the pill refining room, feel free to use it."

"In any case... I won't be staying here much longer..."

Su Yuqing lifted his head, gazing into the distance, and spoke slowly.

Hearing this, Qin Ming's expression turned greatly joyful.

'I can also get a free ride on this earth-fire vein.'

While the two were speaking.

Suddenly, the shadow of a massive object covered the sky above Qingyang Market.

Qin Ming looked up at the sky in surprise.

A huge Dharma Boat, over a hundred zhang in length, entered his line of sight; atop the Dharma Boat were constructed three stories of exquisite and magnificent buildings.

At first glance, including the interior cabins, there were at least several thousand rooms.

The enormous Dharma Boat, like a primordial behemoth, possessed a majestic momentum, displaying the foundation of a sect.

In an instant.

All the cultivators within the market also noticed this situation.

They all looked up.

Everyone fell into shock.

Yet Qin Ming had already learned of this matter from Shopkeeper Liao, so his expression remained calm, with little change on his face.

"Look quickly!"

"Even the Lingyu Sect's Duyuan Dharma Boat has arrived!"

"Could it be that something is about to happen again?"

Gazing at the sky above, Su Yuqing also revealed an expression of deep thought.

The Lingyu Sect's Duyuan Dharma Boat docked beside the market, and people began to file out continuously from the ship.

Leading them were five Foundation Establishment elders.

Following behind were four inner sect disciples clad in blue robes with golden threads.

Each radiated heroic spirit, emitting fluctuations of Late-Stage Qi Cultivation magic power.

"Even the core disciples have been mobilized."

"I fear that a major catastrophe is absolutely about to occur in Qingyang Market."

"What exactly has happened?"

Among the crowd of lower-level cultivators in the market, unrest began to stir. Qin Ming's expression also turned grave as he sank into deep thought.

With the arrival of the Lingyu Sect's elite cultivators.

Three days later.

Another massive Dharma Boat, of a grade no lower than that of the Lingyu Sect, docked near Qingyang Market.

Above it, a banner representing "Jin Yungu" fluttered in the wind.

On the Dharma Boat were entirely elite cultivators of the Jin Yungu, dressed in red robes.

After the people of the Jin Yungu arrived, they also began to set up camp near the market.

In an instant, the number of cultivators within Qingyang Market surged violently, becoming overcrowded.

Even the houses in the shantytown were rented out completely.

Subsequently, Lingyu Sect and Jinyun Valley simultaneously announced the formation of a joint army.

They would establish a "Yunze Xiancheng" at Wufeng Mountain, located five hundred li from Qingyang Market.

As soon as this news broke, there was an uproar, with all sorts of discussions arising.

Qin Ming sat alone in his room, silently pondering his future plans.

Nowadays, with so many people in the shantytown, cultivators of all sorts and backgrounds were mixed together like fish and dragons.

Even with Lingyu Sect's patrol teams, they simply could not manage such a large crowd.

Various incidents of murder and treasure snatching were about to emerge endlessly once again.

Although Qin Ming's current strength meant he no longer feared cultivators at the sixth layer of Qi Condensation,

the moment he thought that even a late-stage eighth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator like Fellow Daoist Long had been dumped as a corpse into the river channel,

a sense of crisis still washed over him.

Qin Ming began boiling Xue Huang Mi again and, following the beast-skin scripture he had obtained, started cultivating the sixth layer of the "Hundred Treasures Glazed Sutra."

Late at night, cultivation ended.

The qi and blood power within his body had grown significantly stronger.

"This won't do; I must move inside the market proper."

After pondering for a moment, Qin Ming immediately sent a message talisman to Shopkeeper Liao, asking if he had any way to secure a rental quota within the market.

Very quickly,

Shopkeeper Liao sent a reply.

"Fellow Daoist Qin, you know the situation lately."

"Nowadays, housing prices within the market have multiplied several times over; unless we wait for the joint army from Lingyu Sect and Jinyun Valley to finish building that immortal city, I'm afraid no space will be freed up for quite some time."

"However... some time ago, I heard people from Lingyu Sect mention something: Family members of Fellow Daoist Ruan went to the Duties Hall to report that the soul lamp Fellow Daoist Ruan left at home had been extinguished."

"The few remaining descendants of the Ruan family could not afford the subsequent rent for the courtyard and have already processed the procedures to terminate the courtyard lease."

"Thus, the quota for the Ruan family courtyard has become vacant."

"I will inquire around to see if there is any possibility of securing it."

Upon hearing this, Qin Ming couldn't help but curl his lips.

'Isn't that a coincidence? Fellow Daoist Ruan was personally sent on his way by my own hands.'

'It seems like a lucky hit from a slanted shot.'

Mid-April.

Qin Ming was working in the fields.

Elder Gu's dharma boat arrived above the spirit fields.

Du Haifu, the labor supervisor, had also come along.

After gathering all the spirit farmers together,

Elder Gu, with a rigid expression devoid of any emotion, announced in a commanding tone: "Due to the tight situation at the front lines, the sect has dispatched a large number of reinforcements."

"During the period before Yunze Xiancheng is completed,

the spirit rice tax for all you spirit farmers will be increased by an additional ten percent on top of the original amount."

As soon as this news broke,

the spirit farmers below erupted into an uproar! "Ah?! An increase again?"

"That means an eighty percent tax rate!"

"Are you letting people live at all?!"

Cai Laojiu stood beside Qin Ming, his face clouded with gloom and despair.

"Alas, Brother Qin, what are we to do!"

Qin Ming also frowned tightly; this meant that although his tax had been halved previously, it would now be increased back by ten percent.

In other words, the total spirit rice tax rate would be forty-five percent.

He couldn't help but think to himself: 'Leeks aren't harvested like this! They haven't even grown tall yet.'

(End of Chapter)