Chapter 235

He Pingsheng left the small courtyard!

He then walked along the road, stopped a Qi Refining cultivator halfway, and learned that the largest merchant association in the city was just across from the Magistrate's Mansion.

It was called the Crimson Moon Merchant Association.

He Pingsheng rode in a carriage and arrived at the Crimson Moon Merchant Association's entrance in half the time of an incense stick's burn.

He stored the carriage in his Storage Bag.

The rabbit was placed inside his Spirit Beast Bag.

He Pingsheng strode forward and entered the Crimson Moon Merchant Association.

The Crimson Moon Merchant Association looked much like the Coral Merchant Association in Dingxiang City.

As soon as he stepped inside, a Qi Refining disciple in a blue Dao robe approached and bowed respectfully to He Pingsheng: "Elder, welcome!"

"Tell me what you need—I'll handle your shopping arrangements!"

He Pingsheng nodded. "Good… let's go in together!"

The two entered the merchant association.

He Pingsheng said: "I'd like to see the maps first—one of Liang State, and the other of Hongshi County."

"We have them, Elder. Follow me!"

Every merchant association sells maps; these can be copied endlessly, and selling them is pure profit.

Soon they reached a shelf lined with rows of jade slips.

The jade slips came in two colors: red and green.

The red ones contained the full map of Liang State; the green ones held the map of Hongshi County.

"How many spirit stones?" He Pingsheng asked the female cultivator.

The female cultivator replied: "One thousand spirit stones total!"

"If you purchase, we'll gift you a detailed map of Hongshi City as well!"

The price wasn't high.

Without hesitation, He Pingsheng took three maps.

"This… take a look," He Pingsheng handed her another white jade slip: "Inside are the ingredients for three elixirs. Check if your merchant association has them all."

"Please wait a moment," the female cultivator said apologetically. "Elder, these ingredients are exceedingly rare—I've never seen them myself. I must consult our Elder!"

He Pingsheng waved his hand. "Go ahead."

The female cultivator left; He Pingsheng wandered the merchant association on his own.

Besides the ingredients for the three elixirs—Opening Meridian, Nourishing Spirit, and Expanding Meridian—he also wanted to buy some array materials.

He hadn't yet set up the second-rank Spirit Gathering Array.

He also planned to install arrays in his courtyard—for himself and Qiao Huizhu.

Though he and Qiao Huizhu were intimate, even becoming Dao companions, he could not let her know about the Treasure Basin.

It wasn't a lack of trust—it was a matter of great importance; fewer people who knew meant greater safety.

Additionally, He Pingsheng wanted to study third-rank arrays.

So far, he still couldn't properly set up a third-rank array.

While He Pingsheng was browsing, the female cultivator returned with a middle-aged male cultivator.

He Pingsheng felt a chill run down his spine.

Clearly, the male cultivator had scanned his cultivation base with his spiritual sense.

If you use your spiritual sense, then I won't be impolite to use mine either.

Hummm…

He Pingsheng sent a thread of his own spiritual sense to sweep over the male cultivator.

The male cultivator was at Foundation Establishment sixth layer—higher than He Pingsheng's level.

"Greetings, Daoist!" the male cultivator said. "I'm the Elder of the first floor of this association—my surname is Ling. You may call me Elder Ling, or simply Daoist Ling."

"Hmm," He Pingsheng bowed again. "Daoist Ling, I'm surnamed Xu…"

He Pingsheng was using his senior brother Xu Kunlun's name.

"Daoist Xu," Elder Ling shook the jade slip in his hand. "You're refining Opening Meridian, Nourishing Spirit, and Expanding Meridian elixirs—are you trying to remove a disciple's spiritual roots and meridians?"

Such things were unmistakable in purpose.

He Pingsheng wasn't surprised. He nodded. "A junior disciple had a qi deviation during cultivation and had to restart from scratch."

"I'm preparing elixirs for him."

"Good," Elder Ling said. "But the chance of success in restarting cultivation is slim—Opening Meridian, Nourishing Spirit, Expanding Meridian—all three steps must succeed in one go."

"Never mind…"

Seeing He Pingsheng's expression darken, the man added: "We can supply two sets of ingredients for the Opening Meridian elixir. For the Expanding Meridian elixir, we're missing one key ingredient—Dongxiao Flower. Though rare, it's not impossible to find; visit a few more associations, and you'll likely acquire it."

He Pingsheng nodded.

Elder Ling said: "The real difficulty is the second one—the Nourishing Spirit elixir."

"Its four main ingredients are Xuyu Fruit, Tianxiang Cardamom, Kumazǐ, and Three-Colored Lotus Root."

"We only have the Three-Colored Lotus Root."

"You'll need to find the other three yourself."

"Xuyu Fruit isn't hard to find. Kumazǐ is a poison—very difficult to locate. But Tianxiang Cardamom… hahaha… Brother, I've been an Elder here for thirty years and have never seen this ingredient."

He Pingsheng's face darkened.

Something unseen for thirty years.

That was truly exceedingly rare.

"Brother," Elder Ling said, "if this isn't for your own child, I advise you to give up."

"To be blunt—even if you spend a fortune gathering all the ingredients and successfully brew all three elixirs, the chance of a normal person succeeding in using all three consecutively is one in ten thousand."

"Too hard."

Yes, too hard.

But how could He Pingsheng give up?

He shook his head. "Thank you for the warning, Daoist Ling. Here's what I'll do—give me two sets of every ingredient you have."

"I'll find the missing ones myself."

"Fair enough," Elder Ling nodded. "I'll prepare them. Anything else?"

He Pingsheng also bought several sets of second-rank array materials and one set of third-rank array materials.

"Six sets of second-rank elixir ingredients—even incomplete—they're rarer than Spirit Gathering elixir materials. I'll price them at Spirit Gathering elixir rates: four hundred spirit stones per set."

"That's two thousand four hundred for the ingredients, one thousand for the three maps, and ninety-four thousand for the array materials!"

"Total: ninety-seven thousand four hundred. I'll round down—pay me ninety-seven thousand spirit stones."

Elder Ling placed all items on the counter.

He Pingsheng carefully inspected each one, confirmed there were no errors, then stored them all in his Storage Bag.

Then he paid the spirit stones.

Over ninety thousand—nearly all of it was for a single set of third-rank array materials.

It was that extravagant.

Third-rank items were simply too expensive.

"Elder… please wait…"

As He Pingsheng stepped out of the Crimson Moon Merchant Association, the blue-robed female cultivator who had assisted him called out.

He turned and looked at the Qi Refining twelfth-layer cultivator. "What is it?"

The female cultivator spoke hesitantly: "I wish to offer you additional services, in hopes of receiving some compensation."