Chapter 142

The disciple of the One Qi Pavilion saw that Brother Qian Chen was asking for such rare treasures right from the start, yet remained very calm, so he became even more cautious. "Gale and malevolent qi are truly too precious. If it were those on the Heavenly Gale and Earthly Malevolent list, even if all the immortal sects in the world pooled their resources, they might not be able to gather a few portions. Our pavilion, however, does not have the gale and malevolent qi of the thunder element that the honored guest seeks."

Fortunately, Brother Qian Chen hadn't held much hope to begin with, so no look of disappointment appeared on his face.

This left the One Qi Pavilion disciple unsure whether Brother Qian Chen truly wanted the item, or if he saw that their One Qi Pavilion was a large shop with great momentum and was deliberately naming something they couldn't possibly produce to dampen their spirits.

He could only accompany him with a smile. "Since what the honored guest seeks is so precious, we must invite you to the second floor. This floor only contains some mixed primordial qi, which naturally does not catch the eye of an expert."

Brother Qian Chen swept a glance and saw that on the shelves and tables all around, green-skinned gourds were placed one after another.

These gourds, large or small, all possessed some spiritual energy. Although they were not as vibrant as the red gourd tied to Brother Qian Chen's waist, they already counted as a type of low-grade spiritual medicine.

The green-skinned gourds contained spiritual energy, which could preserve the contents very well. With a sweep of Brother Qian Chen's spiritual sense, he could sense the primordial qi stored within the gourds. The amount of primordial qi stored inside was not small, about as much as Brother Qian Chen could gather in a day. But Brother Qian Chen was already approaching the limit of primordial qi that one could gather in the Penetrating Law Realm; for an ordinary rogue cultivator, it would take at least nearly three months of bitter collection.

Purchasing a gourd like this would be convenient for Qi Refining and practicing spells. With a minor sect's Daoist method, refining one such gourd of primordial qi would be enough to complete it.

Even for more powerful spells, it would take at most three gourds.

But none of this primordial qi suited Brother Qian Chen; the quality was too low and mixed, and there was even mixed blood qi refined from a woman's menstrual cycle, with a price even higher than usual. Of course, most of the primordial qi was common stuff like Yin cold qi, Azure Wood spiritual qi, Li Fire primordial qi, and Gui Water vapor, which Brother Qian Chen looked down upon even more.

The quantity was enough for him to gather in a day.

But what Brother Qian Chen gathered was at least at the level of Ice Soul primordial qi.

If he just wanted to collect some water vapor, Brother Qian Chen could gather a gourd's worth with a wave of his hand at any large lake or marsh.

Could that gourd of Gui Water vapor refine a finger-thick strand of Gui Water essence?

Brother Qian Chen shook his head inwardly. "A rogue cultivator who needs this kind of mixed primordial qi would rather toil for a year to gather it themselves than spend such a price to buy it. And those who can afford this price would mostly look down on this primordial qi."

The Supreme Dao favored gourds; Brother Qian Chen didn't care for the mixed primordial qi, but the green-skinned gourds made him feel quite good.

He pointed casually. "Do you sell these gourds?"

It was the first time the One Qi Pavilion disciple had encountered such a case of buying the box but returning the pearls, so he hesitated. "These gourds are vessels grown by our sect to contain primordial qi; they aren't worth much money. If the honored guest wants them, we can just offer some as a gift."

It just so happened that the jade bottles for storing elixirs were running out! Using these small gourds, the size of two fingers, to hold spiritual pills wouldn't be bad.

Brother Qian Chen nodded slightly and followed him to the second floor. The layout of this second floor was the same as the first, only the vessels displayed to hold primordial qi were not just gourds. There were jade bottles the size of half a person, carrying magic power fluctuations, blue-and-white porcelain fired with magic, and green-skinned gourds held in the arms of young boys, about half the size of a person, as well as clay pots fired from pottery.

Because the primordial qi on this floor had reached the level of Taiyin cold qi, Ice Soul primordial qi, Gui Water essence, and Li Fire essence, even if it was still somewhat mixed compared to what Brother Qian Chen could sense and obtain, it could be used after some rough refining back home. Of course... the price was also dozens of times higher than downstairs; without a hundred letter talismans, one wouldn't even consider it.

These primordial qi types had extreme properties, so they had to be contained in corresponding vessels. For instance, jade bottles were great for storing Taiyin cold qi and Ice Soul primordial qi, but if one used a gourd, it would likely freeze and crack in a few days. And if Gui Water essence were placed in a clay pot, it would be fine, but if it touched a trace of jade, it would likely nourish the jade until it was crystalline and moist, like a pool of clear water, while the essence itself would gradually be consumed.

Brother Qian Chen picked out a few bottles of Thunder essence and Xun Wind essence. If one didn't go to high altitudes to gather Thunder essence, one could only collect a little when it rained and thundered during the rainy season. For Brother Qian Chen, this was also a relatively troublesome matter.

Moreover, Brother Qian Chen was just about to refine Five Thunder Pills, and things like Xun Wind essence, Jia Wood, and Yi Wood essence all required relatively large quantities, so he bought them here while he was at it.

Counting it up, when the Lord of Samsara refined the Great Sage Thunder Sound Zither, he charged Brother Qian Chen two hundred merit points just to wash and refine the spider silk with Thunder essence...

What was the concept of two hundred merit points? For five hundred merit points, Brother Qian Chen could have the celestial boy serving in the Heavenly Market Enclosure take action. The starlight and various primordial qi that poured down that day were not only not inferior in quality to those Thunder essences, but in quantity, they were hundreds of times greater than what the Lord of Samsara provided. Even if the quality of the Lord of Samsara's refining was better, Brother Qian Chen could do it himself with just a few more moments of effort.

The material costs in the Land of Samsara were simply black-hearted to a certain degree.

Therefore, when Brother Qian Chen scattered his talisman money here, he truly didn't treat it as money; a gourd of Thunder essence was only five Three Mountain talismans—buy it!

Brother Qian Chen scattered over two hundred Three Mountain talisman notes, sweeping away all the primordial qi he needed for alchemy. The One Qi Pavilion disciple's eyelids twitched wildly at the sight, and even the young boys holding the vessels for the primordial qi couldn't help but let out low gasps. The One Qi Pavilion disciple looked carefully twice at the vermilion magic seals on the Three Mountain talismans, his face twitching uncontrollably, and he couldn't help but look at Brother Qian Chen a few more times.

"The Three Mountain talismans of the Land of Samsara are worth about one merit point each. Of course, the selling price is discounted by ten times..."

"According to the exchange rate of the Lord of Samsara, one portion of Thunder essence is about one hundred and twenty merit points; that's a twenty-four-fold price difference!" Brother Qian Chen couldn't help but sigh inwardly: "When it comes to prices, the Central Lands are still the best."

Brother Qian Chen had also wondered why the prices of gale and malevolent qi, and even refined primordial qi, in the Land of Samsara were so exaggerated.

Later, he understood a little.

Although the Central Lands were in decline, they were still the Earth Immortal Realm, one of the heavens. It wasn't that the price of primordial qi in the Land of Samsara was too high, but that the primordial qi here was more abundant than in other realms of the cosmos. It was so abundant that if one were to resell primordial qi, one could make a profit even with the Lord of Samsara's ten-fold price difference. The Lord of Samsara's prices had to face the entire cosmos, so naturally, there would be room for arbitrage due to the different specialties of each realm.

But doing so was damaging the origin of the world where the reincarnator was located. Although the primordial qi siphoned away by the reincarnator didn't even count as a drop in the bucket, one could tell from the fact that Brother Qian Chen had to rack his brains to repay the creation for refining a pill...

The Heavenly Dao of a realm, or rather, if a realm had a Heavenly Dao, it was quite stingy and held grudges.

If you take its things, you will eventually have to pay it back with interest!

"Is there more?" Brother Qian Chen had bought out nearly a third of the goods on this floor. He swept a glance at the rest, which no longer caught his eye, before turning to ask the One Qi Pavilion disciple.

The One Qi Pavilion disciple no longer dared to doubt Brother Qian Chen's financial power. Seeing him not even blink when purchasing thunder-element primordial qi, he knew that if he brought out a portion of Thunder essence malevolent qi, the man might really buy it on the spot.

He said respectfully, "Honored guest, please go to the third floor... Although our pavilion does not have Thunder essence malevolent qi, we still have a few types of slightly inferior Yin malevolent qi."

"Oh?" This piqued Brother Qian Chen's interest. Gale and malevolent qi were fine in the Central Lands, but in the Lord of Samsara's place, they were usually priced in merit points. If one could buy them, even if the price was slightly higher, it would be a huge profit in terms of the cosmos.

Ascending to the third floor, it was much more spacious than downstairs. A dozen or so bottles, jars, urns, and gourds were scattered about, and many decorations and arrangements surrounded these items, truly setting off their immense value.

Brother Qian Chen saw a small urn with a green dragon frolicking in the sea, containing a pool of clear water. With a sweep of his spiritual sense, it was Gui Water True Water.

Even the small urn with the green dragon frolicking in the sea was a magic treasure refined with two layers of seals.

In another yellow-skinned gourd, which was full of spiritual energy and only slightly inferior in quality to the one at Brother Qian Chen's waist, a lightning snake was coiled—it was a spiritual object formed from Thunder essence.

There was also a peach blossom that never withered, inserted in a jade bottle, overflowing with Jia Wood qi; it was clearly a spiritual object that could be used to refine high-grade magic treasures.

There were four jars and urns containing malevolent qi, three of which were only fit to be refined into Seven Malevolent Banners, which Brother Qian Chen didn't even bother to look at. Only a bronze bottle containing Wutu True Gold malevolent qi caught Brother Qian Chen's attention. The overall quality of this strand of Wutu True Gold malevolent qi was indeed not inferior to the Profound Yin Frost malevolent qi Brother Qian Chen had discovered under that desolate house!

Although it was slightly less pure, its essence was more mellow. If one could find a corresponding Gantian Gale qi, one could refine an external pill or Core Formation pill of the seventh rank or higher.

"It's a pity. There isn't much Gantian Gale qi that can be paired with Wutu True Gold malevolent qi. Besides Gantian Five Elements True Gale, there are only a few types of Yi Wood and Gui Water gale qi that can be paired. If one could gather relatively abundant gale qi and have all five elements complete, it would be possible to refine a fourth or fifth-rank Core Formation pill."

Brother Qian Chen felt a slight pity. Gale and malevolent qi were extremely precious, and it was even harder to find corresponding pairs.

If not for this, Brother Qian Chen wouldn't have nearly exterminated a sect just to snatch the malevolent qi he needed. And Pei Pei Junhu wouldn't have been unable to form a core for so long, showing off his "firm Dao heart" to Brother Qian Chen for the sake of an opportunity.

But buying such precious resources was never a mistake.

At the very least, refining it into a magic treasure could produce a magic treasure of excellent quality. For instance, the small earth-splitting hoe Brother Qian Chen obtained from the Sun-Chasing Divine Lord was now gathering dust in his Universe Bag; if he refined this Wutu True Gold malevolent qi into it, it would also be a decent earth-escape magic treasure.

At this moment, a young master in white Confucian robes, surrounded by several servants, slowly approached the third floor.

He swept a glance at Brother Qian Chen, treating him as a mere idler, and didn't take him to heart.

As he walked, he said to the young disciple of the One Qi Sect accompanying him, "Is that lightning essence electric snake really as you say? Can it swallow lightning and is it suitable for refining lightning-avoidance magic treasures?"

"That is natural... This lightning essence electric snake was obtained by Uncle-Master Master Zongde when he killed a Great Demon undergoing tribulation in the Hundred Thousand Mountains of the Southern Wilderness and extracted its thunder tribulation. Later, Uncle-Master Master Zongde bestowed the Great Demon's core upon a nephew of his, and he actually managed to refine the core and form a core. That person wasn't very outstanding in the sect, but just because he pleased his uncle, he actually obtained such an opportunity."

"The sect was in an uproar for a few days."

The young master in white Confucian robes smiled. "Why should you envy him, Qian Shidi? Refining a demon core to form a core usually only results in an eighth or ninth-rank pill. If you can form a core with your own magic power, with the hope of a middle-rank pill, isn't your future ten times better than his?"

"Brother Tao, you jest! If I form a core with my own magic power, wouldn't I be old and decrepit by the time I succeed?" The One Qi Sect disciple sighed. "At the sect's annual Core Formation Assembly, the Sect Master and the elders examine the disciples and bestow the One Qi Eight Tripod Furnace Pill, which helps with core formation. Only if one can obtain this pill can one hope for a middle-rank pill!"

That Master Tao smiled without a word, knowing that this person was currying favor with him just to get him to persuade his family to give him a push.

But... was he even worth a One Qi Eight Tripod Furnace Pill?

The One Qi Sect was a superior immortal sect; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to refine this supreme immortal pill that helped with core formation. This person's family background wasn't high, so how much favor would he have to waste to push him to a high position? How could someone of his branch even dream of the One Qi Eight Tripod Furnace Pill?

Master Tao himself had to expend a lot of thought and favor just to obtain one.

Seeing that he didn't reply, the One Qi Sect disciple couldn't help but feel disappointed. He could only try harder to curry favor, saying to the One Qi Sect disciple following Brother Qian Chen, "Qian Shidi Yan, go get that lightning essence electric snake for Master Tao!"

That Qian Shidi Yan turned to look at Brother Qian Chen with some hesitation. Although Brother Qian Chen hadn't made his final choice yet, he had arrived first, after all.