Chapter 140

Liao Lao served spirit tea for Qian Chen and chatted with him excitedly: "When I read the 'Pill Quality Theory' in the past, it recorded the conversation between Ge Hong, the Immortal, who refined pills on Baicao Mountain, and the fire-burning Daoist boy. That Daoist boy was the ancestor of Baicao Mountain later."

"The ancestor of Baicao Mountain asked Ge Hong, the Immortal, how to refine the Immortal Divine Pill."

"The Immortal told him that when the Supreme refined pills in the past, he used demon internal pills as materials, slaughtering countless demons to refine demon pills. After refining, taking the demon blood pill could obtain the tyrannical blood qi of demons, and both the physical body and strength would be extremely powerful. So the human race slaughtered demons to refine pills one after another, gradually becoming powerful. They were able to contend with the strong groups among demons."

"But demons have long lifespans, and the powerful divine ability practitioners of the human race gradually aged and died one after another. The human race was unable to connect, and it attracted the peeping of demons..."

"So the Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi collected hundreds of herbs as medicine, refining grass-wood pills, which could prolong life and cure all diseases after taking them."

"After the human race was long-lived and powerful, they finally stabilized their position. They prayed to the gods and demons high above, fearing their divine abilities and magic power, immortality and power. The Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi could only refine pills with gold-stone minerals, taking the immortality of gold nature, refining gold-nature pills, and finally allowing the human race to live forever, no longer praying to gods and demons."

Qian Chen smiled slightly and said: "I have also heard this story, but I didn't learn it from the 'Pill Quality Theory.' When this story existed, Baicao Mountain should not have written the 'Pill Quality Theory' yet!"

Qian Chen sighed and continued to tell the story: "In the end, the immortal human race began to challenge gods and demons, but fell under the tyrannical divine abilities and magic power and boundless divine might of gods and demons."

"The Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi observed gods and demons and found that they didn't eat blood food, nor did they collect spirit herbs and grass-wood, only decorating their bodies with the gold minerals they dug, refining them into divine weapons and magic weapons. He didn't understand how these gods and demons became powerful. Until one day, he saw a god or demon swallowing the sun and moon and adopting the five qi, and then he suddenly realized the secret of the power of gods and demons."

"The Supreme adopted qi and refined pills, swallowing the universe in nine turns, and finally refined the Immortal Divine Pill."

"After taking the Immortal Divine Pill, the human race was finally immortal and divine, possessing the same divine abilities and magic power, and the power to compare with gods and demons!"

Liao, the chief steward, yearned: "This is the origin of the human race's cultivation path! The path of qi refining originated from the ancient gods and demons swallowing innate qi, the Golden Core Great Dao originated from the Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi refining pills, and the Primordial Spirit path originated from the innate gods and demons gestated by heaven and earth. After the primordial spirit, I don't know, but it must also be the path opened up by human predecessors like the Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi."

"Nowadays, the path of qi refining, core formation, and spirit refining has become the orthodoxy of cultivation, but our human race has gradually forgotten the Great Dao left by these predecessors and great powers. The Central Lands cultivation world has already declined. In the vast Kyushu, in recent years, there has even been little news of the achievement of primordial spirit true immortals."

Liao Lao sighed: "It must be the trouble of aristocratic families!"

Qian Chen didn't speak. He heard the thick unwillingness from Liao Lao's mouth. It seemed that when he was young, he also had a story. But now he could only live in this market, acting as a chief steward who appraised rare treasures for others.

As far as Qian Chen can see.

Rogue practitioners in the Central Lands, or rather, practitioners without the background of aristocratic families—are too bitter!

Like Daoist Zhen, they grow wildly, gasping for a breath of spiritual energy in the gaps left by aristocratic families.

On one hand, they fight with small aristocratic families in various places, and on the other hand, they have to plan for the resources of cultivation, and their eating appearance is inevitably ugly.

Or like the old chief steward, no matter how great his ambitions and pursuits were when he was young, when he is old, he can only live in this immortal city built by aristocratic immortal sects, relying on their protection to survive.

In this unspeakable silence, Zhou Kang returned with the San Shan Talisman. He felt the slight vibration of the jade talisman in his hand, and said to Qian Chen, who had changed a pot of spirit tea: "Distinguished guest, the cave dwelling has been arranged. It is outside the market, and it is a cave dwelling provided for inner sect disciples of Wuling Immortal Sect. There are immortal sect disciples on the left and right, quiet and elegant."

Although Qian Chen is preparing to go to the capital Jiankang, he does things with a sense of proportion and order. Now that he has refined the Five Thunder Pills and cultivated the thunder technique, it is the first big thing in his heart, and other things have to be pushed back.

Therefore, he nodded and said: "The deacon can lead the way in front!"

Zhou Kang led Qian Chen to fly slowly out of the market. Even if it is a middle-class immortal sect like Wuling Immortal Sect, the annual consumption of forbidden arrays to maintain such a large market is not small, and every inch of land in the market is worth an inch of gold. Although there are places for visiting guests to stay, the furnishings there are luxurious, but the place is a bit narrow.

The cave dwellings truly provided for the disciples of Wuling Immortal Sect and distinguished guests close to the sect are still in the Wuling mountain range outside the market.

The Immortal Peak where the market is located winds for a hundred miles, and the Great Spirit Peak where the cave dwelling is located is nearby. This peak runs from northeast to southwest, about hundreds of miles long and dozens of miles wide, with over a hundred cave dwellings located on it. It is equivalent to any disciple of Wuling Immortal Sect having a private mansion with a radius of several miles... This is still a deacon disciple whose status is not high.

If it were a true transmission disciple...

Anyone has a peak, hundreds of mu of spirit fields, and forces radiating to several mountain peaks around. Dozens of outer sect and inner sect disciples rely on them, hundreds of servants, and the pomp is unimaginable.

Qian Chen, a rogue practitioner who walks the world alone, cannot imagine that some people only need to cultivate as soon as they enter the cultivation gate, and have dozens of guards who are proficient in martial arts to handle things under their hands, dozens of collateral descendants of the family, and characters like Zhou Kang running errands under their hands. There are hundreds of maids and servants serving them, some specifically serving immortal flowers and spirit herbs; some managing mounts; some learning ancient characters, with a lot of knowledge; and some arranging troops and formations, planning for the master; calculating heavenly secrets, planning for the master.

And the disciples who are responsible for farming spirit fields and managing various industries to handle things for them are all over the inside and outside of the immortal sect.

In such a large market, Qian Chen has seen many Wuling disciples responsible for guarding shops and entertaining guests, all of whom have this status.

In this way, everything can be handled in an orderly manner. True transmission disciples only need to focus on cultivation and consolidate their status. With one order, hundreds of people run for them, which is a benefit that rogue practitioners like Qian Chen cannot imagine.

This is the natural order of aristocratic family disciples. Some people are born just to cultivate, while some people are born as servants prepared for others, and even the cultivation techniques they cultivate are extremely shallow.

When Qian Chen killed his way into Jin Chuan Gate, he had roughly seen such a scene.

The disciples of the Pei family were all commanded by a true transmission direct descendant, commanding dozens of collateral branches to kill Qian Chen regardless of their lives, and were then beheaded by Qian Chen. In Qian Chen's view, the magic power used by these people was extremely shallow, and the magic treasures used were not worth looking at, often only able to splash Qian Chen with a cavity of hot blood.

And those Pei family disciples with profound cultivation and extraordinary magic treasures, when they were beheaded by Qian Chen in two or three strokes, there were not many who had this backbone.

Those aristocratic family disciples said that the Pei family was slaughtered by Qian Chen, but Qian Chen actually kept his hand. For example, those collateral disciples, as long as they were not particularly ignorant of life and death, Qian Chen also injured and knocked out quite a few. Instead, those direct descendants whose status was obviously noble, Qian Chen often didn't care about their begging for mercy. I think these people were killed by him, so the Pei family was "slaughtered."

Looking at this difference between high and low, noble and cheap, Wuling Immortal Sect, Qian Chen felt even deeper.

Zhou Kang led Qian Chen into a courtyard on the edge of the Great Spirit Peak. The location of this courtyard was excellent. Looking out from the courtyard wall, the surroundings were lush, the green mountains were beautiful, the streams were murmuring, and the eyes were full of emerald green that made people feel relaxed and happy. There were three main rooms in the courtyard, five or six side rooms, more than ten mu of spirit fields and medicine fields, and seven or eight strange pines and exotic cypresses.

A winding spring flowed slowly through the backyard and injected into a pool, which was extremely quiet and elegant.

In the three main rooms, the furnishings were elegant, the tables, shelves, and books were complete, full of classical home styles. Even if Qian Chen graduated from his previous life, working overtime every day until his head was bald and tired, he could only dream of this kind of classical mansion. The six side rooms had study rooms, painting rooms, warm rooms, flower rooms, and a medicine room with a purple copper furnace was located in the southeast corner.

Even the silver silk charcoal piled next to it was carved into the shape of a beast head.

"Guan Zhong once said that we should encourage wealthy merchants and nobles to consume, and it is best to carve even the firewood burned. Only in this way can we promote the circulation of wealth, which can be called the ancestor of consumerism. But if he came to this world to see, he would know that this world of aristocratic families, where personal attachment has reached the extreme, even if it is luxurious to the extreme, it only consumes labor! It will not promote the circulation of wealth and commercial prosperity at all."

Qian Chen looked at the beast-head silver silk charcoal faintly, and thought silently in his heart.

He finally knew why the Central Lands had the deepest foundation, but the market development was not as good as overseas. Those aristocratic families just wished that their own servants collected mulberry leaves for their clothes and Daoist robes, their own agricultural slaves raised spirit silkworms, their own female servants wove magic clothes, and if the technology of the outer arts of cultivation, alchemy, weapon, talisman, and array was not too high, they would also support dozens of servants who practiced this, planting spirit herbs, processing, and refining pills in one-stop service.

These immortal sects and aristocratic families are engaged in self-sufficient large manor economies.

That's why Qian Chen felt that the development of outer paths such as alchemy, painting talismans, and even refining magic treasures was unimaginably low in the Central Lands, and even Essence Pills became legends.

From what he saw and heard, perhaps only overseas, there were huge markets where hundreds of immortal boats and ships gathered, tens of thousands of rogue practitioners gathered, and pills, magic treasures, arrays, and various cultivation resources and rare treasures gathered. This is the huge change in the class after overseas broke the cultivation aristocratic families, so that overseas rogue practitioners could no longer be self-sufficient like the Central Lands aristocratic families, and select talents and exchange resources through various social activities and gentle evaluations.

Overseas rogue practitioners and sect practitioners were forced to be involved in the tide of marketization.

They will inevitably kill each other, and even nakedly rob and occupy various resources. Those sects must also have no gentleness, no romanticism, only the most shallow order of respect for strength. Qian Chen has seen this slightly barbaric temperament in Senior Brother Yan Shu.

"But why, I seem to like that secular atmosphere full of hostility more?"

"Am I really more suitable for cultivating immortals in the Black X Society?"

He turned to send Zhou Kang away and instructed: "I might be in closed-door cultivation for nearly a month, and I will close the main room and medicine room with magic power. I'll tell you first. The spirit herbs sent over can be temporarily placed in that vacant side room. When I leave the closed-door cultivation, I will inform you."

Zhou Kang had seen many such Daoist practitioners who closed their doors to cultivate, so he promised: "This cave dwelling has been vacant for a long time, it doesn't matter if the Daoist friend lives for three or five years."

Isn't it?

Qian Chen's spending in the market for one day is almost equivalent to the business volume of Wuling Market for half a year. Especially spirit herbs, he almost bought out the inventory of Wuling Market for a year by himself.

Qian Chen sighed secretly: "This is one of the largest markets in the south, which shows how much the resources of the Central Lands are imprisoned in the upper-level aristocratic families. No wonder Wuling letter talismans are not as good as San Shan Talismans, and San Shan Talismans are not as good as Essence Spirit Pills... This Central Lands Great Jin is really a place where you can't buy many things even if you have money. If there are no hard currencies that those aristocratic families value very much, they would rather let the resources be idle than trade them to rogue practitioners, letting the resources flow."

"These rogue practitioners in the Central Lands have no cultivation techniques, no flowing resources. I turned around the market today, and there are not many boutique magic treasures and pills, and there is no place to buy cultivation techniques at all! All cultivation methods are called classics, and you either have to join an immortal sect, or you can only beg the main family to pass them on by relying on the identity of a collateral branch. No wonder even Daoist Zhen, who has good alchemy technology, is very down and out... In this world, if you don't be a dog for an aristocratic family, you can't get the resources needed for cultivation at all!"

"It's a pity... I knew that Daoist Zhen had the backbone not to be a dog for an aristocratic family, so I shouldn't have refined him into a god and demon. It would be more respectful to end him with a sword!"

"These rogue practitioners in the Central Lands are so difficult to mix, I should leave some opportunities for them."

Qian Chen thought about it, his method of refining spirit pills with the "Supreme Alchemy Book" seems to be able to deduce several cultivation techniques for core formation from the pill formulas. Although he cannot deduce the method of achieving the primordial spirit, this is already a good inheritance in the Central Lands. There is an opportunity for middle-grade core formation! If there is a chance, it can be spread out.

He waved his hand to release the Heavenly Net Umbrella, dropping clear light to seal most of the courtyard.

Walking into the medicine room, he waved his hand to sweep the purple copper furnace and silver silk charcoal, which had no forbidden laws and were just for decoration, to the side, and released the Supreme Eight Views Furnace. The price of this alchemy furnace was as high as 30 morals, which was higher than the average round magic treasure of good quality. It had three round feet on the ground, and the furnace body had three layers. In addition to two large and small gourd-like pill rooms, there was also a furnace cover like a pavilion tower.

The furnace body was decorated with divine beast flying eaves and flame patterns.

This alchemy furnace brought its own dry essence true fire. As long as Qian Chen urged his magic power, he could drive this true fire to refine spirit pills. Although it was far inferior to the purple-green Doushuai fire that Qian Chen was thinking about, it was more suitable for refining spirit pills than the violent Tai fire.

Of course, Qian Chen found that the Tai fire poison dragon he subdued had particularly sufficient firepower when refining weapons. Although it was difficult to tame and drive, once successfully tamed, the quality of the refined magic treasure was better, and it must be the same for refining pills.

Although the dry essence true fire can be manipulated as one wishes, it is just a little bit short.

Making Qian Chen feel no challenge...