Chapter 2

The next day, early morning.

Luo Chen got up early and packed the pills on the cutting board into five jade bottles, ten pills per portion.

He put on his only decent low-grade magic robe, carried his low-grade flying sword, and hurried out the door.

He had to get into the city early, otherwise, when it got bright, those better rogue cultivator stalls wouldn't be his turn.

Perhaps because it rained heavily all day yesterday, the roads in the outer city area seemed quite muddy.

The closer one got to the center of the outer city area, the more intense the smell, a mixture of feces, urine, medicinal fragrance, people, and monsters, became.

Especially with the mixture of the earthy smell, that feeling was truly unbearable.

However, Luo Chen was already used to it.

An hour later, he arrived at the city gate.

When entering the inner city, Luo Chen couldn't help but take a deep breath.

Sure enough, the air in the inner city was good!

"I heard that the inner city is built on a first-rank spirit vein, which is quite beneficial for the cultivation of Qi Refining stage cultivators."

"When I have money in the future, I must buy a house in the inner city area!"

Secretly cheering himself on, Luo Chen headed straight for the rogue cultivator area in the southwest corner.

In front of a blue stone slab, more than half of which was covered with yellow talisman paper and animal skin, an old man was busy there.

He set up the animal skin, stood up, and stretched, just in time to see Luo Chen's arrival.

"Fellow Daoist Luo, you are a bit later than me this time."

The old man's name was Chen Xiuping, at the sixth level of the Qi Refining stage, and he was an old-timer in Dahefang Market.

Having lived here for decades, he made a living by making talismans, and he also had a decent skill in tanning talisman skin.

With his income level, he could actually barely afford to rent a house in the inner city area.

But this old man was a bit stingy, preferring to live in a wooden house in the outer city area for one low-grade spirit stone a month rather than spend ten times the price to live in a stone house in the inner city area.

Even when setting up a stall to sell things, he calculated everything clearly.

Stalls in the rogue cultivator area required rent to be paid to the market manager.

One stall, monthly rent of one spirit stone.

The large two-party stall, if squeezed, could still squeeze out half a square meter after placing talismans and talisman skin.

He simply allocated this half square meter to Luo Chen, and then the two of them paid half the rent each.

Did Luo Chen lose out?

It couldn't be said that way; if he rented another stall, he would have to spend one spirit stone a month.

Moreover, not many cultivators liked to sell things with others.

So Luo Chen probably didn't lose, but Old Man Chen definitely made a profit.

After a simple greeting, Luo Chen set up his own things in front of the stall.

Twenty bottles of Grain Bigu Pills!

Looking at this quantity, Old Man Chen couldn't help but be surprised, "Fellow Daoist Luo, your pill refining level has improved again recently!"

No wonder he said so.

Luo Chen usually came to set up a stall once every seven days, coming four or five times a month.

And every time, the quantity of Grain Bigu Pills sold was around fifteen or sixteen bottles.

This time, he brought out a full twenty bottles!

From this, it could be seen that he must have made significant progress in the refining of Grain Bigu Pills.

In fact, it was indeed the case.

In seven days, excluding the day for setting up the stall and buying materials, the remaining six days, half were used for processing materials and half for refining pills.

That is to say, there were only three days of pill refining time in total.

In the past, Luo Chen would only produce two pots at most if he tried his best, gathering about five bottles of Grain Bigu Pills; the material loss rate was really a bit high.

But yesterday, his Grain Bigu Pill refining technique was promoted from the perfect level of proficiency to the Grandmaster level.

That last pot directly produced five bottles!

Coupled with good luck before, the loss was reduced to a very low level, which was why he gathered twenty bottles of Grain Bigu Pills this time.

"Where, where, practice makes perfect!" Luo Chen smiled modestly, but there was still some self-satisfaction in his eyes.

The Grain Bigu Pill refining technique that had just entered the Grandmaster level of proficiency still had some face, more or less.

Old Man Chen shook his head, "There are also a few fellow daoists who sell Grain Bigu Pills, but none of them can produce twenty bottles in five days like you."

After speaking, he reached out his hand towards the nearest bottle.

"You wouldn't have mixed in flour to make up the numbers, would you? As a senior, I have to keep an eye on you, don't smash the signboard of our stall."

Luo Chen watched him make a move with a smile, his hand already picking up a talisman filled with red lines.

"I heard that someone bought your Qi-Restraining Talisman last time, but it didn't have any effect, and their butt was bitten by a monster. Junior might as well take one back to study for you, we can't smash our family's signboard!"

Old Man Chen was anxious and didn't care about the pills in his hand, hurriedly snatching the talisman back from Luo Chen's hand.

"You sell five bottles of Grain Bigu Pills for one spirit stone, and you have the nerve to exchange them for my Qi-Restraining Talisman that costs three spirit stones each!"

"Give it back! Give it back!"

Luo Chen watched with a smile as the old man placed the talisman in the most conspicuous place with great care.

The Qi-Restraining Talisman was Old Man Chen's star product!

Among his many low-grade talismans that cost one spirit stone each, it was the most expensive, starting at a full three low-grade spirit stones.

In fact, the market for the Qi-Restraining Talisman was also the best, especially for those cultivators who went into the mountains to hunt monsters.

This kind of spiritual talisman that could cover blood energy for an hour could save a life at a critical moment, and its value was no less than many defensive talismans.

Sometimes, Luo Chen actually envied Old Man Chen.

Selling a talisman casually was at least one spirit stone, and he made a net profit of at least over one hundred a month!

Unlike himself.

In the past, he worked hard to earn twelve spirit stones a month, and after deducting costs, he only got six or seven spirit stones.

If he deducted half a spirit stone for rent, half for stall fees, and one spirit stone for daily food and drink, he could only have four or five left.

This was after transmigrating for a year and grinding for a long time to save money.

It was hard to imagine what kind of life the original owner lived in the early days.

But envy was only for a moment.

Luo Chen knew very well that among the four main arts of immortality, each had its own difficulties.

Pills rely on volume, with greater profits, but the difficulty lies in the entry of various pill recipes; every pill, from entry to proficiency, doesn't know how many pots are wasted.

Talismans rely on quality; every talisman can be said to condense all the essence, energy, and spirit of the cultivator when drawing it, and a slight mistake means losing everything.

Moreover, talisman makers often don't live very long, and I don't know why.

Just like Chen Xiuping, who looked old, but was actually only in his sixties, uh, it seemed he was indeed very old.

However, Qi Refining stage cultivators could theoretically live to be one hundred and twenty or thirty, so sixty-something was considered "young."

Switching to become a talisman maker was impossible; he would never spend his whole life writing homework there.

It was better to refine pills and roll balls.

And Luo Chen knew his own situation; the Grain Bigu Powder refining technique that had just entered the Grandmaster level could already double his income next.

Although a monthly income of ten was still not enough to support the cultivation of longevity (net income), at least it was moving in a good direction.

And, he could start a new project soon, couldn't he?

Just when Luo Chen was harboring beautiful hopes for the future, Old Man Chen pulled his sleeve.

"Business is here!"