Chapter 63

Qingzong Sect occupies a domain of a thousand li.

The so-called "thousand li" is not exactly a precise thousand li; Yunhe, having glanced at Ma Boyuan's map, may not know much about the current Qingyu Domain, but he already has a rough idea.

The Qingyu Domain stretches about 1,500 li from north to south and 1,100 li from east to west, and within it there are nine major cities, including Qingshan City.

Moreover, villages and towns are as numerous as cow hairs, and they are mainly concentrated in the eastern part of the Qingyu Domain.

This is because the westernmost part of the Qingyu Domain is the Heavenly Ridge Mountain Range!

The Heavenly Ridge Mountain Range is also called the "Demonic Beast Mountain Range"; it is home to a large number of demonic beasts, and it is said that even third-stage demonic beasts exist there.

Therefore, within the Qingyu Domain, one can actually take the cities of Heavenly Centipede City, Qingshan City, and Heavenly Origin City from north to south as a dividing line.

The western cities of Hongye City, Green Ridge City, and White Cloud City have a relatively sparse population, are mostly forested, and suffer constant demonic beast harassment, yet their resources are relatively abundant.

For example, the River Stream Market where Yunhe previously stayed is located to the northwest of Hongye City, even closer to the Heavenly Ridge Mountain Range.

Meanwhile, the three cities on the eastern side of the Qingyu Domain and their surroundings have a denser population, and demonic beast disasters are far less frequent; a large proportion of the disciples recruited by the Qingzong Sect each time come from the east.

Thus, the closer one is to the west, the more caution is needed while traveling; the nearer to the south, the lesser the danger, so Yunhe this time set out from the south and headed north all the way.

The main source of this rat plague is the Heavenly Ridge Mountain Range; the affected areas are not only Hongye City, Green Ridge City, and White Cloud City, but also Heavenly Centipede City and Heavenly Origin City.

After leaving Qingshan City, Yunhe took off the robe of a menial disciple and changed into ordinary brown-gray hemp clothing; this outfit was useful within Qingshan City, but once outside the city, it was hard to say.

While changing clothes, he also altered his appearance by controlling his muscles.

From a cultivator with a fairly proportioned body, he turned into a sturdy, broad-shouldered man with a fierce visage.

At the same time, inevitably, he also concealed his cultivation base.

One could say that his current appearance alone is enough to scare off many ordinary people.

His destination this time is a market located about a hundred li east of Heavenly Centipede City.

Heavenly Centipede City is situated at the northernmost part of the Qingyu Domain.

Going further north for a stretch, one enters the Spirit Beast Domain, which is the territory controlled by the Spirit Beast Sect of the cultivation world.

As the name suggests, the Spirit Beast Sect's cultivators mostly excel at beast taming, insect control, and poison cultivation; although their personal combat ability is somewhat weaker than that of other cultivators, when combined with the spirit beasts and spirit insects they painstakingly raise, they become quite formidable in battle.

And Heavenly Centipede City, located at the border of the two sects' territories, naturally sees active cultivators from both sides.

Likewise, the Blood Centipede Market, located a hundred li east of Heavenly Origin City, is the same.

Therefore, when Yunhe disembarked early from the Ink Cloud Boat and entered the market, he saw many cultivators leading spirit beasts through the streets.

The overall layout of the Blood Centipede Market is almost completely different from that of the River Stream Market familiar to Yunhe.

The entire market radiates outward from a huge and peculiar circular building at its center, with various houses interlocking like dog teeth, forming a larger circle.

Yunhe did not head straight for his destination; instead, he wandered seemingly aimlessly around the market for a few laps before entering a restaurant.

"Honored immortal, what would you like to order?"

The hunched waiter saw Yunhe come in and immediately went up to greet him.

Unlike the River Stream Market's surroundings, which are all mountains and forests teeming with demonic beasts and have blocked transportation and information, there are not many ordinary people inside the market.

In the Blood Centipede Market, Yunhe had already seen many ordinary people making a living here, so he was not surprised.

He spoke in a deep, gruff voice: "One jar of old liquor, two plates of side dishes, and another catty of meat."

After saying that, he glared and added: "Demonic beast meat!"

Seeing his fierce appearance, the waiter shrank his neck in fear, but upon hearing "demonic beast meat," his eyes lit up; he pulled off the rag from his shoulder to wipe Yunhe's stool and hurriedly said:

"All right, immortal, please wait a moment."

Not long after, the items Yunhe ordered arrived.

"Rat demon meat?"

He poked the demonic beast meat on the plate with his chopsticks twice, and Yunhe's mouth twitched slightly.

Although it is a rat-type demonic beast rather than a real rat, he still felt a bit uneasy about it.

His gaze swept over many tables in the shop, each having more or less some rat-type demonic beast meat, giving him a certain understanding of the scale of this rat plague.

Thus, he sat by the window, drinking while listening to the conversations of cultivators inside and outside, and combined with what he had observed from his earlier strolls, he gradually gained a deeper understanding of this market.

After sitting for a long time and obtaining the information he wanted, he then tossed down a low-grade spirit stone and several spirit crystals, rose, and left.

This time, he did not linger in the market; he first went to a few pill shops near the market's center.

By selling a single spiritual plant each, he exchanged them for nearly five hundred low-grade spirit stones; adding to the spirit stones he had originally saved, the number of low-grade spirit stones in his storage bag instantly rose to eight hundred twenty!

Such a "fortune" is truly not something an ordinary late-stage Qi Refining cultivator could just produce.

After all, for a cultivator, spirit stones should be quickly converted into strength; otherwise, low-grade spirit stones are no different from ordinary stones.

"Sigh, every time I sell spiritual plants I feel my heart bleeding; if I could refine them into pills, they'd be worth several times more."

This is also why Yunhe, before learning the recipe for the Foundation Establishment Pill, began trying his hand at alchemy.

Subsequently, he went to an artifact-forging shop located on the edge of the market's center.

After his inquiries and investigations,

this shop enjoys a very good reputation among nearby cultivators; the proprietor's forging skills are exquisite, the success rate is not low, and he conducts business with great integrity, never having been accused of embezzling clients' materials.

If only one or two people said that, Yunhe would of course scoff.

But after entering this market, he had already heard at least ten people mention this forging shop.

At the same time, he also learned that

the shop's owner, although merely a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, keeps at his side an ancestral second-stage early-phase demonic beast, the earth-fire turtle.

Relying on this second-stage demonic beast to establish himself in the market, he also uses the earth-fire turtle's flame for forging; it is said that he has successfully refined more than one spiritual artifact.

Originally Yunhe had some doubts, but considering that this place is near the northern Spirit Beast Domain, and given the long lifespan of demonic beasts, it no longer seemed strange.

Upon entering the forging shop, a dark-skinned, sturdy middle-aged man came forward to greet him.

He clasped his fists in a salute and said politely:

"Fellow Daoist, are you looking to buy a magical artifact, or have one custom-made?"

"Custom order." Yunhe glanced at him askance, then added, "I'm looking for Master Wei."

A moment later.

In the rear courtyard's room, an old man with white beard and hair but a sturdy physique clasped his hands and said, "I am Wei Quan; what kind of magical artifact do you wish to have custom-made, fellow Daoist?"

"I want to have a spiritual artifact custom-made."

Having said that, Yunhe's eyes fixed firmly on Wei Quan opposite him.

"A spiritual artifact?"

Wei Quan started, then gave Yunhe a doubtful once-over again; thanks to minor success in the Turtle Breath Body Forging Technique and the ability to project his divine sense, not only could this late-stage Qi Refining cultivator not see through Yunhe's depths, even a Foundation Establishment early-stage great cultivator might not be able to.

Yunhe narrowed his eyes.

"I wonder if Master Wei can refine it?"

Wei Quan came to his senses, hastily performed a salute, and his attitude became much more respectful.

He couldn't gauge Yunhe's cultivation base, after all, having operated in the market town for years, he'd seen all kinds of cultivators.

It's not uncommon for Foundation Establishment great cultivators to conceal their cultivation base.

But no matter what, Yunhe's strength certainly wouldn't be weak.

"I'd like to examine the materials first," Wei Quan said, inhaling and suppressing his excitement.

For someone like him, whose cultivation base is hard to advance further and who devotes himself entirely to artifact refining, nothing excites him more than being able to refine high-grade materials.

Yunhe thought for a moment, gave a slight nod, patted his storage bag, and took out a fire-red feather that glowed faintly.

Upon seeing the feather, Wei Quan's pupils contracted slightly, then turned to delight.

"The flight feather of a second-tier beast, the Red-backed Arrow-wing Falcon!"

It's actually the feather of a second-tier beast!

However, he didn't immediately give an answer, but began pacing back and forth in the room.

Seeing his demeanor, Yunhe was not annoyed; instead, he felt a bit more assured of him.

At least, he's not the sort who, upon seeing good materials, can't walk away; at least he'll first weigh his own abilities.

After a while, he turned to face Yunhe, clasped his hands seriously, and said:

"Fellow Daoist, I can refine it, but I dare not guarantee the success rate; I can only guarantee that I will do my utmost!"

He really hasn't gotten his hands on such materials for a long time; he's itching to work with them.

Actually, as a fairly capable artifact refiner, his regret over wasted materials after a failure is absolutely no less than that of the client.

Yunhe gave a slight nod.

Whether refining artifacts or pills, failure is always possible.

Even if we asked the Qingzong Sect's artifact refiners to make it, would success be guaranteed?

Rather than selling these materials for spirit stones, it's better to gamble on them.

After all, as far as spirit stones go, he actually isn't lacking much; if worst comes to worst, letting his Demon Beast Body sweep the area should still yield plenty of spiritual plants.

What he lacks is immediate combat power.

And also, in case he fails to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill this time, he's preparing his Demon Beast Body to hunt second-tier beasts for the future.

"I require confidentiality."

Yunhe said, thus agreeing to the matter.

Hearing this, Wei Quan's eyes lit up, and he hastily said:

"Of course, of course, I can swear an oath of my heart demon, and simultaneously form a secret contract with you, fellow Daoist!"

As an artifact refiner, I've encountered far too many clients needing confidentiality.

There's long been a highly practiced and very reliable procedure that gains the approval of the vast majority of cultivators.

Under Yunhe's gaze, the other party swore an oath, not only on himself but also on the second-tier beast he possesses.

Afterwards, the two signed the secret contract, thus ensuring everything was foolproof.

"Many thanks!"

Yunhe clasped his hands, his tone sincere.

He then took out several storage bags.

"Sure enough, it's the materials of a second-tier beast, the Red-backed Arrow-wing Falcon—great, great!" Seeing the materials in the storage bags, Wei Quan grinned from ear to ear, "Huh, this is... Qian Xu Yin?"

He widened his eyes and looked at Yunhe.

There are actually materials from two second-tier beasts!

He became even more certain that Yunhe was a Foundation Establishment great cultivator, and moreover one of the stronger among them.

His attitude immediately became much more respectful again.

Afterwards, the two engaged in a lengthy discussion about what kind of spiritual artifact could be refined from these materials and what effects it should have.

Only when night fell did Yunhe leave the artifact shop.

As for payment, Yunhe originally intended to pay with spirit stones, but Wei Quan said that if the refining succeeded and there were leftovers, he would give those remaining materials to him and add a few spirit stones.

To him, high-grade materials are far more valuable than spirit stones.

Thus Yunhe rented a cave dwelling in the market town.

While waiting for the refining results, he changed his appearance daily and went out to gather information.

For example, the extent and severity of the rat plague, the strength of rat-type demon beasts, etc.

There were also some news unrelated to the rat plague.

For instance, clashes between the Spirit Beast Sect and the Return to Origin Sect flared up again, causing several collisions among cultivators; near Heavenly Centipede City there were rumors of hauntings; also, some second-tier beasts that lost territorial battles were driven out of Heavenly Ridge Mountain; the Wu family's pill refiner supposedly succeeded in refining a batch of Foundation Establishment Pills, etc. —information that couldn't be verified as true or false, and some even sounded rather fantastical.

Half a month later.

Yunhe walked out of the artifact shop feeling satisfied.

After strolling several rounds inside the market, he left, then immediately darted into the forest, traveling by earth escape.

After ensuring complete safety, he then took out a feather fan from his storage bag.

This is the Spiritual Artifact—a Red Sheath Fan—crafted by the artifact-refining master Wei Quan, whom he commissioned this time!

Although a lot of materials were wasted during the refining process, it was ultimately successfully refined, and its effects and functions also left Yunhe very satisfied.

As for Wei Quan, he ended up in a worse state, his whole appearance looking extremely weak.

But he remained very excited, frankly saying that this artifact refining had brought him a bountiful gain, and that the success rate for future artifact refining would certainly be higher; therefore, even though the remaining materials were few, he generously waved his hand and let Yunhe pay far fewer Spirit Stones.

Everyone was happy.

Just uploaded; the update schedule may be a bit unstable for now, but we will try to fix it later, and then we will inform all fellow Daoists of the exact time~~bow~~

(End of chapter)