Chapter 36

The cold wind pierced the bones.

Fortunately, He Pingsheng was a cultivator; with a turn of his internal fire-element spiritual power, a warm current spread through his entire body.

No matter how heavy the snow or how fierce the wind, he felt no chill.

An hour later, the paper crane landed directly at the entrance of the Mount Matou marketplace.

He Pingsheng paid no mind to this one or two uses of the paper crane, and simply tucked it away.

He kept walking without pause.

Though the weather was bitterly cold and snow still fell from the void, not a single cultivator had left his stall.

He Pingsheng arrived at the familiar middle-aged man’s stall, glanced at his elixirs, and asked: “How much for a Pill of Gathering Qi?”

The middle-aged vendor glanced at He Pingsheng and failed to recognize him, saying: “Two spirit stones per pill. If you want a whole batch, I can give you a discount—twenty spirit stones!”

He Pingsheng silently extended his spiritual sense—and was stunned to discover he could now perceive the cultivator’s cultivation base.

Qi Refining Stage Eight.

Correct!

This…

He Pingsheng was stunned for a long moment: How was this possible?

In the cultivation world, cultivators could only perceive others’ cultivation bases from higher to lower.

Normally, one could at most see through the exact base of someone at the same level, never that of someone above oneself.

Yet now, he saw it.

He was only Qi Refining Stage Four—how could he see through an eighth-stage cultivator’s base?

“Huh…” He Pingsheng took a deep breath. He was certain this was due to the spiritual sense technique he had cultivated; there could be no other explanation.

“Alright… please hold two batches for me. I’ll go get something inside and be right back!”

He pointed toward the guild hall, then walked over.

Soon he reached the [Fenghe Zhuang].

But this time, he did not enter!

After all, this was where True Person Kumu frequently traded; if the shopkeeper Liu recognized him, it would be a major problem.

Beyond Fenghe Zhuang, shops lined the street in dense rows.

He picked one at random and stepped inside.

The shopkeeper was a bent, withered old man.

He Pingsheng dared not scan the old man with his spiritual sense; instead, he bowed respectfully.

After all, using spiritual sense to scan others without permission was extremely impolite.

“Hello,” the old man smiled. “Young man, what are you looking to buy?”

“I have nearly everything you might need!”

He Pingsheng said: “I’m not here to buy. I’m asking, Master Shopkeeper—do you buy [Sunfire Flower] pollen?”

“Oh?” The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow. “In the dead of winter, you have Sunfire Flower pollen?”

“You must have cultivated it near an exposed geothermal vent, right?”

He Pingsheng’s heart skipped: Almost gave myself away.

Fortunately, the shopkeeper had already provided his own excuse.

He Pingsheng went along with it: “I’m not sure. My master cultivated it and sent me to sell it.”

The old man said: “Alright… show me. How much do you have?”

He Pingsheng replied: “Only two vials… here you go!”

He pulled out two jade vials.

“Too little!” The shopkeeper took the vials, opened the lids—and gasped in shock. “This… this… is mid-grade?”

“Sssss…”

“Remarkable, remarkable! To cultivate mid-grade Sunfire Flower pollen in winter—truly impressive!”

“Your master is a remarkable person!”

“Alright, I’ll take these two vials of Sunfire Flower pollen.”

The old man capped the vials and said: “Young man, did your master say how much he wants for them?”

His eyes were small but sharp, radiating shrewdness.

He Pingsheng put on a simple, innocent expression: “I don’t know. My master didn’t say.”

The old man asked: “What sect are you from?”

He Pingsheng replied: “I come from the north.”

He did not name his sect—he didn’t want to, to avoid trouble.

Of course, he couldn’t just make up a sect—that would invite exposure.

Saying “I come from the north” means I won’t tell you.

You’d better understand.

“Alright, alright,” the old man said. “By standard rates, one vial of low-grade Sunfire Flower pollen is worth about a hundred spirit stones.”

“Yours are both mid-grade, excellent quality—we’ll give you three hundred.”

“Two vials, six hundred spirit stones total.”

“Is that acceptable?”

He Pingsheng nodded: “Fine… just the normal price.”

“Good!” The old man waved his hand toward the back. “Our shop has everything. Would you like to browse and buy something?”

He Pingsheng smiled: “No thanks. The spirit stones belong to my master—I wouldn’t dare spend them.”

Joking!

How could he buy anything here?

Later, he’d buy elixirs, spirit herbs—

Anyone would know he was a lone cultivator, a rogue without a master.

Wouldn’t that expose his lie?

“Alright!” The old man brought a cloth sack and dropped it on the counter. “Six hundred spirit stones inside. Count them.”

He didn’t need to say that.

He Pingsheng had spiritual sense—he scanned it once, and the number was clear in his mind.

Each spirit stone was small, about the size of a jujube.

But six hundred of them were still a lot.

He Pingsheng had no choice but to sling the sack over his shoulder.

Then he slowly walked out of the shop and strolled along the street.

There was no help for it—he had to walk around with the sack.

He couldn’t just stand here in front of everyone and transfer the spirit stones into his Treasure Basin, then into his body.

He Pingsheng’s actions immediately drew many onlookers.

But no one dared try to rob him—this was the Mount Matou marketplace.

He Pingsheng visited several more shops and bought many items.

Seven-leaf spirit grass, spirit apricots, immortal bamboo shoots, red fruit.

These were ingredients for [Pill of Gathering Qi]—he had to buy them.

He had a cauldron now; he’d try refining them when he returned. Maybe he’d succeed.

He bought twenty portions of each ingredient.

Of course, he couldn’t buy only spirit herbs—he needed elixirs too.

He bought two batches of Pill of Gathering Qi from the shop, and another two from the middle-aged cultivator’s stall.

Now, he had enough for the short term.

“Young brother!” the middle-aged vendor said. “You might also want to buy some [Pure Spirit Pills]. You’ll probably need them.”

He Pingsheng asked: “What are Pure Spirit Pills?”

The middle-aged vendor chuckled: “Young brother, you don’t know? Swallowing pills to cultivate is a shortcut—it lets you rapidly absorb spiritual power to fill your dantian. But every advantage has a downside. If you rely on pills too long, the pill toxins will accumulate in your body.”

“Over time, it harms your cultivation.”

“So cultivators take [Pure Spirit Pills] alongside pill consumption to purge those toxins.”

“Huh?” He Pingsheng rubbed his head. “Pill toxins?”

“They exist?”

"Of course they do!" the vendor said. "When refining pills, you can't completely remove all the impurities from the herbs. If there were zero impurities, wouldn't that be a supreme-grade elixir?"

He Pingsheng's brow twitched: "So... supreme-grade elixirs contain no toxins?"

"Obviously!" the vendor said. "Naturally. But supreme-grade elixirs exist only in legend—who could possibly refine them?"