Last chapter of the week, hope you enjoy
Ten days later…
Chu Yan was heading back to his hut after finishing his chores. Along the way, he displayed not a tiresome expression, but a worried one.
For the past ten days, his cultivation had risen considerably. He already reached to the peak of first layer and could breakthrough to the second layer at any time, but that was the problem.
If it only took him ten days to breakthrough to the second layer, then this kind of cultivation speed could only be described as monstrous. It could even be compared to the cultivation speed of a Heavenly Spiritual Root. The reason for his monstrous speed was his efficiency with the 'Heavy Dark Water' breathing technique because he had been training it for over ten years. Another reason was the consistent usage of the spiritual liquid.
Once he broke through to second layer, he would definitely not be able to hide his cultivation. If this news ever reached Qi Tianlie, then his secret might be exposed and Qi Tianlie would do anything in his power to eliminate him.
"I need to think of a way to go around this."
Chu Yan mumbled in his heart. Right now, the most important thing is to hide my cultivation level until the Inner Peak Examination. If I can pass the examination, then the higher ups will take notice of me and by that time it will be harder for Qi Tianlie to harm me.
Tonight, Chu Yan descended the Flying Dragon Peak.
Yu Hua sect was located at the nine highest peaks in the Piercing Sky mountain range. Because of that, it gathered many other wandering cultivators to live around the peaks for trading. The Flying Dragon Peak was among one of those peaks and it had more than ten market squares below its peak.
Wo Long Market Square…
"Zijing Fairy Flower baozi, one low-grade spiritual stone for five. Not only can it instantly fill your Spiritual Qi back, but it can also work as a pill for any man who wants to have a good night with women. Do not miss out on this deal~"
"Fallen Red apple-shaped lollipop, traditional Immortal's cuisine, the best treat to give your grandsons and daughters as it can polish their foundations. You only need to pay one low-grade spiritual stone for one."
"Black Vine Armor! Top grade defensive artifact. It can block a full attack from a complete stage of Tempering Qi phase. Only for five hundred low-grade spiritual stones."
"Cloud Vein Staff made with Cloud Vein Steel. It is a lower grade spiritual artifact that can pierce through an early stage foundation establishment cultivator. You can get this for only ten medium-grade spiritual stones."
"Selling all different kinds of lower grade talismans, prices are negotiable. Those who wants to scam please stay away."
"Encyclopedia of many Tempering Qi phase techniques. The only ones you can't find are the ones you can't imagine."
The air around the square was livelier at night than day.
The two sides of the street were packed with stalls. Each stall had a big lantern in front of them, making the whole square as bright as the moon. The stalls were normally crowded for they were the best place for scavenging treasures. If your eyes were sharp, you might be lucky to find goods, but you could also get scammed if you weren't careful.
Chu Yan's objective today was to sell some of his spiritual liquid, so he only went to the safer standard shops.
He had finally found the time period for spiritual liquid conversion. The spiritual liquid that the small furnace produced could fill four standard jade bottles, and one bottle was enough for a whole day training for his body. The small furnace could produce spiritual liquid every three days, which means he would have one bottle extra after every three days.
He had saved up to three bottles during the ten days and they were his assets for today's trading.
There were more than one hundred different kinds of shops located in the Wo Long Market Square while the shop who had the biggest scale, and the best reputation, was the Lin Lang building.
The Lin Lang building consisted of four stories, and only the first story was opened to Tempering Qi cultivators.
At this moment, a person who was wearing a straw hat, with his face covered in gray cloth stepped in the Lin Lang building. This type of outfit was normal more than half of the people dressed similarly while looking through the goods.. In the cultivation world, where the strong killed the weak, you could easily become a target if you didn't have any background while in possession of quality goods.
A waitress dressed in traditional eastern palace dress greeted the straw-hat person with a smile.
"Greeting mister, may I inquire what items are you looking for?"
Chu Yan pulled his straw hat lower, and said with a low voice, "Can you bring me to your manager? I have some items I want to pawn."
She led Chu Yan to the back court of the first story without saying anything more when she saw how cautious Chu Yan was. No one dared to mess with the Lin Lang building due to their high reputation, so she was not scared if Chu Yan wanted to try anything harmful.
He was led into a small room in the huge back court. After she left, there were only two persons remaining in the room.
The fat middle-age man who was wearing a cotton robe gave a slight smile "No one else is here besides the two of us, May I see the items that this brother is willing to pawn?"
Chu Yan threw a jade bottle at him.
The middle-age fat man caught it in his hands. He sniffed the content as he opened the bottle and the word startled was written all over his face.
Although he tried to hide it, Chu Yan still saw it. He was certain that the liquid would fetch a good amount. "Please give me a price, my master is still waiting for me to buy him a couple of spiritual herbs, I can't waste too much time here."
"Spiritual liquid might be valuable, but it is still quite a common product in the square market. This bottle should be worth only eighty lower-grade spiritual stones."
The fat manager had already calmed down his expression, but he was shocked within his mind. This kid's origin is not simple as it seems.
(Spiritual stones are the currency in the cultivation world, 1 upper-grade spiritual stone= 100 medium-grade spiritual stones= 10,000 lower-grade spiritual stones)
"Hah, please don't make such a joke with me. I believe that, with your eyes, you can see that my master's spiritual liquid is among those of superior quality. You can have it for one hundred and fifty lower-grade spiritual stones."
Chu Yan knew that a regular grade one spiritual liquid should amount to one hundred spiritual stones. However, the one that the small furnace produced was better in terms of quality.
"Haha~ no problem then! I will buy it for one hundred and twenty as a friendship token to our first business. Your spiritual liquid might be good, but I can't raise the price any further or I'll make a loss."
His eyes formed a line, while showing a difficult expression.
"I'll take it."
Chu Yan was overjoyed. A hundred and twenty spiritual stones was not a small number. The outer disciples only received one spiritual stone per month, regular disciples could obtain five while core disciples received ten.
It was a massive sum for him since one bottle equated to a year's worth for a core disciple.
"May I ask if the manager has any accessories that can hide cultivation? I would like the best quality one."
"There is not an item we don't have, please wait for a bit my brother."
The fat manager called in the waitress after hearing Chu Yan's words.
In a short while, the waitress came back with a trailer.
"This is called 'Condensed Aura Bead'. It is a lower-grade accessory, which can hide your cultivation against anyone in Tempering Qi phase."
A bead emitting a faint yellow light was laying within the box as the fat manager opened it.
"I believe you have something better than this."
Chu Yan gave a bland reply.
"This next one here is called the 'Spiritual Blocking Stone', a medium-grade accessory that can block any cultivators from Foundation Establishment and below from seeing your cultivation."
He opened the second box, a close to transparent stone was laying inside of it.
"What is the price of this one?"
This rock should do the trick since Qi Tianlie is the only Core Formation cultivator within the Flying Dragon Peak and he might not summon me again after seeing that I have five-elemental root.
"Five hundred spiritual stones."
Chu Yan slightly frowned after hearing the price "I came here in a rush, so I only brought three bottles of spiritual liquid, I do not have any more than that."
The fat manager expressed a difficult face, slowly turned into a painful one "Alright then, I will sell it to you only because the quality of your spiritual liquids are good."
"If so, then add a facial disguise product with it, such a product shouldn't cost more than a couple of spiritual stones."
After Chu Yan left, the fat manager could no longer hide his excitement. "Such a high-quality grade one spiritual liquid, if I sell them to those bosses, one bottle can fetch me at least three hundred spiritual stones since they will need them for their younger generation. I wonder where did this kid came from? Who can take out three bottles of such great quality?!"
Even though the fat manager had many questions concerning Chu Yan's background, it was a taboo to go in-depth of such matters. Their reputation was built around being the most trustworthy shop. If they lost that reputation, their business would go down the drain.
Translated by: LazyPica
Edited by: VIS