Chapter 242: Danger Hidden Within Danger

In the blink of an eye, he had become a wealthy man with fifty thousand low third-grade spirit stones. This fortune, even among his peers in the Taichu Sect, should be considered rich, right?

“No wonder so many people are keen to go down the mountain and kill rogue cultivators. It turns out that the sect’s wars have this kind of benefit. Although it’s a bit dangerous, fortune favors the bold. The speed of earning spirit stones is just too fast!” Thinking of how he had just walked away with the jade slip, as if he didn’t care about the merits, and recalling the astonished expressions of the other disciples, Qin Haoxuan couldn’t help but laugh out loud. In truth, it wasn’t that he didn’t care about the war contribution points; he simply didn’t know what they were for. If he had known at the time that they could be exchanged for spirit stones, he would have surely rushed over to exchange them immediately.

He said to the still-grinning Ye Yiming, “Senior Brother, what are you standing there in a daze for? Let’s go exchange for spirit stones!”

Arriving at the registration office, Qin Haoxuan took out the jade slip and exchanged all his contribution points for spirit stones, a total of one hundred and forty low second-grade spirit stones and five hundred low third-grade spirit stones. The elder in charge of the exchange’s eyes turned red. Even as an elder, he couldn’t earn this much money in a single day.

After receiving the spirit stones, Qin Haoxuan was about to go back and rest when Ye Yiming smiled mysteriously. “You’re going back already? With so many spirit stones, aren’t you going to go for a stroll in the small market and buy something?”

“A small market?” Qin Haoxuan stopped in his tracks, a look of surprise on his face. “There’s a market here?”

Ye Yiming nodded with a smile. “Of course. This war has been going on for over a month. Our Taichu Sect disciples have killed quite a few rogue cultivators, and those cultivators have a lot of miscellaneous things on them. If they can’t use them, they sell them to others who need them in exchange for spirit stones. After a period of such private transactions, this small market formed.”

At this moment, Qin Haoxuan was a rich man. He immediately made a decision. “Let’s go! Of course we’ll go for a stroll!”

Ye Yiming led him through a series of winding paths to an open area without any tents. Qin Haoxuan looked up and, hey, there were quite a few Taichu Sect disciples. These disciples were either here to sell things or had a few spare coins burning a hole in their pockets. Seeing many people setting up stalls and shouting their wares, although it was far from as bustling as the Yixiantian market, to have such a place in this desolate wilderness, for Qin Haoxuan, who was swaggering with a pocketful of spirit stones, was no different from a wolf finding a flock of sheep. He looked at the stalls, his eyes shining.

He had gotten a good deal at the Yixiantian market, buying the materials for the Thousand-Mile Talisman for very few spirit stones. So, he polished his eyes, hoping to find another steal here.

However, after wandering around the stalls for a while, the wealthy Qin Haoxuan did not find anything he liked. The items from these rogue cultivators were strange and varied, with all sorts of unorthodox spiritual arts, as well as talismans for disguise, escape, concealing one’s aura, or killing enemies. Although these talismans had some effect, compared to his own Thousand-Mile and Mortal Talismans, the difference was immeasurable. Moreover, the Taichu disciples selling things here were all very shrewd, and their prices were all marked accurately. He couldn’t find any deals at all.

Seeing that he hadn’t taken a fancy to anything, Ye Yiming said, “Let’s go and see the shop opened by the sect. Maybe you’ll find something you like there.”

“The sect has also opened a shop here?” Qin Haoxuan said with surprise.

Ye Yiming smiled faintly and pointed to the only tent in this open area. “That’s the shop opened by the sect. If you want to buy things from the sect, now is a good chance. As long as you have spirit stones, whether it’s combat spiritual arts, all kinds of pills, talismans, or even various materials, they have it all. And the prices are even cheaper than the shops in Yixiantian.”

Qin Haoxuan was taken aback and asked with confusion, “Why is it cheaper than Yixiantian?”

“This is for the sect to cultivate promising disciples!” Ye Yiming patiently explained to this future star of the Nature Hall. “Our generation of disciples, if we don’t kill enemy rogue cultivators to obtain spoils of war and war contributions, we don’t have many spirit stones ourselves. And the disciples who can kill enemy rogue cultivators are mostly relying on their own strength; very few succeed purely by luck. The disciples without ability are instead killed by the enemy. Only the capable disciples can kill the enemy and obtain spirit stones! For the sect, selling some cultivation resources a little cheaper to promising and capable disciples is a form of cultivation in disguise. Cultivating a batch of promising disciples is of great significance to any cultivation sect.”

After he finished, Qin Haoxuan had a sudden realization. Although the sect earned a little less, it cultivated a batch of core disciples. For the sect, this was a deal with no downside. Only with enough core disciples could the sect prosper for a long time.

Walking into the shop opened by the Taichu Sect, the shelves were filled with all kinds of goods. There were combat spiritual arts, pills, talismans, and many materials for alchemy or talisman crafting. The prices were indeed cheaper than those in Yixiantian.

His gaze swept over the offensive spiritual arts without a moment’s pause. He knew that his own offensive methods were too numerous. He had spiritual sense attacks, the Advent of the Ghost God, the Formless Sword, Talisman Beasts, and Xing’s personal protection, as well as the Thousand-Mile Talisman that even a Spirit Tree Realm cultivator couldn’t catch up to. Although these spiritual arts were not bad, they were simply incomparable to his own. His gaze then swept over a pile of talismans, also without stopping. In his eyes, who possessed a fragment of The Great Art of Talismans, these things were completely substandard. As for the pills, he was even less interested. There were also some offensive weapons like Talisman Swords, which he didn’t even bother to look at.

Following behind him, Ye Yiming could only feel helpless. This junior brother of his had too many tricks up his sleeve, many that even he didn’t know about. The cultivation resources he possessed would make even the sect drool. It was normal for him not to be interested in the things here.

After wandering around for a while, Qin Haoxuan finally walked over to some materials. These were not particularly remarkable, only able to be refined into some medicinal powders that could strengthen one’s meridians after consumption. And these powders were not a one-time effect; they needed to be taken over a long period of time to have any effect. Bored, Qin Haoxuan bought some of these materials, preparing to go back and refine a few bags of Meridian Strengthening Powder. Although the effect was slow, it was better than nothing.

Returning to the tent, he began to prepare the medicine according to the recipe. As he was doing so, Xing kept casting strange looks at him. After he had failed to refine the powder for the third time, he finally couldn’t hold it in any longer. He walked over to his side and said, “What’s with you today? You’re so distracted. With your level of refining medicinal powders, and the strength of your spiritual sense, it’s impossible for you to fail even a few bags.” Ye Yiming also cast a concerned look over.

Qin Haoxuan stopped what he was doing, organized his thoughts, and then said with a serious expression, “Although I intimidated Qin Yang and Liao Qiankun today, and indirectly warned Li Jing behind them, he is not my biggest threat here. The biggest threat is Master Chi Lian’s two disciples.”

“Master Chi Lian’s two disciples?” Ye Yiming said, losing his voice. “Aiya, I was so happy I forgot. Master Chi Lian has two disciples here, his eldest, Xi Mufan, and his third, Linghu Gang. Xi Mufan is an expert at the Thirtieth-Leaf of the Spirit Sprout Realm, and Linghu Gang also has the strength of the Twenty-Fifth-Leaf. The two of them are very formidable, but they’ve been keeping a low profile, so not many people have paid attention to them.”

Qin Haoxuan frowned. He remembered the second disciple, Wan Yao, whom he had met a month ago, who had also been at the Thirtieth-Leaf. If not for the appearance of Yunhe, he wouldn’t have known how to escape from his hands. Although Xi Mufan was also at the Thirtieth-Leaf, in terms of both cunning and combat strength, he was much stronger than Wan Yao.

His voice was low as he said, “This time it was Li Jing who plotted against me, grouping me with them. But what about next time? What if I’m grouped with those two? I’m no match for either of them. The moment we’re out in the wilderness, those two are not to be trifled with.”

Ye Yiming frowned, and Xing also began to think with a thoughtful expression.

Lan Yan, who had been meditating silently in a corner, suddenly opened her eyes, a sharp glint in them. “What are you afraid of? Just fight them directly! How do you know you can’t win if you don’t fight?”

“A Thirtieth-Leaf… a Twenty-Fifth-Leaf. Unless I use all my tricks,” Qin Haoxuan said. “But without a sure chance of winning, I don’t dare to fight them rashly. What if I’m killed?”

Lan Yan smiled mysteriously. “I do have a way for you to know the outcome of a fight with them without having to actually fight.”

“What way?” Qin Haoxuan’s two eyes were shining as he looked at her.

She smiled slyly. “You must agree to one condition.”

Hearing this, he decisively shook his head. “I know what you want, but that’s impossible. Forget it. If I run into them and die, then I die. At least I’ll be clean, and won’t be targeted by a certain someone anymore.” His gaze deliberately swept over Lan Yan and Xing.

Lan Yan gave him a sidelong glance, hesitated for a moment, and then said, “You’re ruthless. Fine, granny will help you for free this one time. Go and find some of their hair or blood, and bring it to me.”

Qin Haoxuan thought for a moment. He had no excuse to get close to them, let alone the courage to do so. So, he honestly shook his head. “Where am I supposed to get their hair and blood?”

At the side, Xing’s eyes rolled, as if he had thought of something. He then dealt a retaliatory blow to Qin Haoxuan, who had just verbally jabbed him. “It’s not that difficult. But for someone as stupid as you, it’s normal not to be able to think of it.” As he spoke, he deliberately paused for dramatic effect.

Qin Haoxuan was not angry. He walked over to him, draped an arm over his shoulder, and said with a warm smile, “Buddy, if you have a way, just say it.”

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