The ancestor is incompetent!

Chapter 4: Black Smoke Python Heart Pill

As soon as he finished speaking, the stone tablet in front of him suddenly turned and turned into an arched stone door.

Li Yuan was delighted and walked into the door, stepping into the so-called world of ten thousand trees.

With a sweep of his divine sense, he discovered many hundred-year-old spiritual trees, countless and inexhaustible.

Further away there are countless overlapping forest shadows, which are obviously more precious spiritual trees.

"I am truly blessed with great wealth!"

Li Yuan laughed loudly in the forest in great surprise. It took him a while to calm down and his mind gradually became calm. Such a large number of spiritual woods, even if they were hundred-year-old spiritual woods, were not something that a mere Qi-cultivating cultivator like him would dare to sell!
Because the Wenshan Market, which is the closest to the mountain gate, was jointly established by the Qiling Sect and several surrounding forces. The hundred-year-old spiritual wood is extremely precious, and once it is sold, it will be traced back to oneself.

But you can't just go to a mountain of treasure and use it for nothing!

Li Yuan stared at the lush spiritual trees, and an idea suddenly occurred to him.

He decided to be patient for the time being, and wait until he had mastered the method of refining puppets, and then refine all these spiritual woods into puppets.

Even if he faces an enemy in the future and his own strength is not good, he can release more than a dozen puppets with a wave of his hand. Which Qi-cultivating cultivator would not feel scared when seeing this?
Li Yuan woke up from his dream and found it was already dark, so he returned to his residence without delay.

When he came to the stone table, he habitually touched the pearl, but he did not expect that the pearl had disappeared.

Li Yuan was startled and silently said in his heart: "Xuanyuan Wanmu Realm!"

The next moment, everything in front of his eyes turned upside down and he reappeared in the dense forest.

"This is...this is..."

Li Yuan was somewhat shocked, but more surprised. It seemed that the inherited treasure had merged with him, so he no longer had to worry about being killed for the treasure.

From then on, his heart calmed down and he began to practice the spiritual secret of the lower Yuan.

The osmanthus trees in the yard are withering and turning yellow day by day, snow is falling in front of the courtyard, and the mountains are freezing cold.

Winter passed and spring came, the snow melted into flowing water, and birds began to sing in the mountains. The four seasons continued to cycle, and before he knew it, Li Yuan was already 25 years old.

During these five or six years, Li Yuan had grown a lot taller, his figure had become taller, and his cultivation had also become much more profound.

He stepped over the long steps in front of the door. Many places in the seldom-visited courtyard were overgrown with weeds and moss.

In recent years, Li Yuan only went out to do chores. After finishing his chores, he returned to the attic to practice hard.

The True Art of Lower Yuan was truly extraordinary. He had practiced it for five years without encountering any bottleneck. He had purified himself from impurities, refined Qi and nourished blood, and strengthened Dantian. He had already reached perfection in the initial stage of Qi refining. All impurities in his body had been removed. The next step was to refine blood with Qi and transform all the mortal blood in his body into spiritual blood.

Unlike purifying the skin and flesh, blood is the foundation of a person. The first step is to change the blood in the heart, transforming ordinary blood into spiritual blood that possesses the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, so that one can enter the middle stage of Qi Refining.

Then he would have the opportunity to become a deacon disciple! Although the monthly salary of a deacon disciple is the same as that of an ordinary disciple, he has many privileges in general affairs.

The most important thing is that you can choose your own chores, and no longer have to obey the orders of the elders and do hard labor.

Li Yuan touched the spirit stones in his sleeve pocket. Over the past five years, apart from the three spirit stones used to maintain the restrictions in the cave, the total number of spirit stones, including the surplus from before, was 117.

This is his entire fortune, accumulated over more than ten years since he was twelve years old.

An ordinary cultivator in the early stage may not be able to afford a low-grade magic weapon even after accumulating for decades. Only Li Yuan is a disciple of a sect and does not have to worry about skills and cave dwellings. Moreover, the Qi Ling Mountain Gate is built on a medium-sized spiritual vein. Even though this medium-sized spiritual vein is pitifully short, it is still medium-sized. Therefore, the spiritual energy in the entire mountain gate is two points richer than that of ordinary low-grade spiritual veins.

In addition, Li Yuan changed to practice the Lower Yuan True Art, which was five or six times faster than before. That's why he didn't need to use spirit stones to practice and didn't buy elixirs to improve his cultivation. Finally, he managed to gather so many spirit stones.

"I'd better resist the urge to buy a magic weapon."

He thought carefully for a moment and resisted the urge to buy a magic weapon. The lowest-grade magic weapon would cost hundreds of spirit stones, and he also wanted to buy a Blood-Exchange Heart Pill to break through to the middle stage.

Transfusing heart blood is extremely dangerous, and without the help of elixirs it may take several months.

This Blood-Changing Heart Pill was made from the heart of a demon beast, supplemented by more than a dozen kinds of spiritual medicine. It was very useful for breaking through the middle stage, so it was extremely valuable to Qi Refining cultivators, and one pill cost fifty or sixty spirit stones.

Li Yuan calculated the time and found that there were still more than twenty days before the next time he had to do chores, which was just enough time for him to make a trip to Wenshan Market.

So he packed up his things, locked the restrictions, and used his light body technique to walk towards the sacred peak.

There is no so-called good deed system in the mountain gate, and spirit stones are used as the transaction currency. This is the requirement of the Linglong Sect, and no one in the entire continent dares to refute it.

Therefore, there is no place to exchange spiritual objects in the mountain gate. If you want to buy and sell spiritual objects, you can only go to Wenshan Market within a radius of ten thousand miles.

Fortunately, Qilingmen is the closest to Wenshan Market, only 200 to 300 miles away. As long as you walk fast, you can get there by sunset if you set out in the early morning. This is for ordinary cultivators like Li Yuan who don't have flying instruments.

When he arrived in front of a cave, Li Yuan saw a sign hanging on the door with the word "Out" written in large letters. He could only turn around helplessly.

The only fellow disciple he could trust in the mountain gate was Ruan Jinghu. Since he was not at home, he must be doing chores or out.

Then I can only go alone.

There was no way. Li Yuan was weak, and his magic was terrible. His family could not afford good magic tools and talismans. He had a mountain of treasures but could not expose any of them, otherwise he would die quickly.

He headed south and came to the main gate of Qi Lingmen. There were two deacons in the middle stage of Qi Refining guarding the gate. Behind them stood two gigantic armored wood puppets, which were at least in the late stage of Qi Refining, but they were in a sleeping state.

Li Yuan had no idea what other tricks were used in other dark places.

"Brother Zhao, I want to go to Wenshan Market to buy some things. I hope you can let me in."

Li Yuan stepped forward and handed over his identity token. After checking it, the disciple surnamed Zhao said with a smile: "Junior Brother Li, you must be careful when going down the mountain alone. Why don't you ask a few fellow disciples to go with you?"

"Junior brother doesn't have many connections and has always liked to practice hard, so he is used to working alone." Li Yuan took back his token and said with a wry smile.

"Oh, so this is Junior Brother Li Yuan!"

Another disciple who was guarding the gate could not help but interrupt after hearing this, and said with a smile: "Junior brother, there are many talisman shops in Wenshan Market, remember to buy more and keep them with you in case of emergency, so as not to be injured by those ordinary warriors again."

"Yes, thank you for your advice, senior brother!" Li Yuan still had a smile on his face, watching the disciple cast a ray of magic light onto the jade plate behind him, and a line of words appeared.

"At 2:00 pm, Lingfeng disciple Li Yuan went to Wenshan Market."

He bowed and said, "Two senior brothers, goodbye!"

The Qi Ling Sect reveres ancient ways, and therefore places great emphasis on the moral character of its disciples. As a result, fellow disciples are very friendly with each other. Even if there are conflicts and hatreds, the serious crime of harming fellow disciples will result in the soul being extracted and refined into a puppet.

The mountain sect does not restrict disciples from traveling, but records must be kept so that if a disciple encounters danger outside, it can be easily found and investigated.

Not long after Li Yuan left the mountain gate, he saw a huge green precious leaf flying in the sky, with twenty or thirty children standing on it, led by an old Taoist who had a strong aura of the late stage of Qi Refining. He only glanced at Li Yuan in the air and stopped looking. It was obvious that his disciple was out.

Li Yuan stood where he was and bowed respectfully. This was the elder of the mountain.

Seeing the children behind him, he couldn't help but feel emotional, as another round of new disciples had joined the sect.

The Qi Ling Sect accepts disciples every three years and holds a deacons meeting every five years.

Most of the disciples were recruited from the four states and one city under his rule. Children between the ages of six and twelve were examined to see if they had spiritual roots. Those with spiritual roots would naturally be taken to the mountain, taught to read and write, and then begin practicing at the age of twelve.

"I wonder if there are any talented spiritual roots entering this year?"

Li Yuan sighed, then turned and went down the mountain to Wenshanfang Market.

Along the way, he always held the Vajra Talisman in his hand. This is a low-grade defensive talisman. When activated, it will form a golden magic shield to protect the body.

The experience six years ago when he was almost pierced through the throat by a mortal swordsman left him with a lifelong lesson to be cautious at all times and not to underestimate anyone.

Fortunately, this road was close to the mountain gate and it was daytime, so from time to time one could see the light of escape flying away in the sky. When the sun set and night fell, Li Yuan finally arrived at Wenshan Market, breathless.

Before entering the market, he changed into ordinary clothes, took off the uniform of Qi Ling Sect disciples, put on a mask, and then went up the mountain.

I saw a mountain peak being flattened in the middle, turning into a flat land, and various buildings were built on the flat mountain surface.

At this moment, the lights are just coming on, and the night is actually much more lively than the day. Various lanterns are hung up, and various colorful lights are flashing to illuminate the plaques of each house, making it seem as if it were daytime.

There are people coming and going on the streets, including foreign monks dressed in different styles, and monks wearing masks and cloaks, giving people the illusion of prosperity.

Li Yuan came to the entrance of the market town, took out a special token from his sleeve pocket, handed it to the guard, and then opened a light door to let him in.

The entire Wenshanfang City was jointly built by four forces, namely the Qiling Gate in the southeast, the Qingfeng Pavilion in the northeast, the Qinghe Xu family in the northwest, and the Tongshan Wang family in the southwest.

The middle area between the four families is the Wenshan Market, where the Qiling Sect only accounts for 20% of the profits.

Qingfeng Pavilion accounts for 10%, Qinghe Xu family accounts for 20%, and Tongshan Wang family accounts for 50%.

The reason for this is naturally the difference in strength between the parties. The Tongshan Wang family is the first family in the south. There are several true foundation-building cultivators in the family, and even a great cultivator who has reached the ninth level of foundation-building. No one dares to say anything even though the profits they get are greater than those of the other families.

After entering the market, he first went to look at the small vendors on the roadside. Everyone wants to find a bargain, but not everyone is so lucky.

He had been here twice before, and after walking around for a whole day he didn't find any bargains, and instead was cheated out of several spirit stones.

This time, they returned empty-handed as well. Those casual cultivators dared to put anything on their stalls. As long as it looked unusual, they would put it there even if it was an ordinary item.
After walking around for a while, Li Yuan shook his head helplessly. He didn't have any magical eyes, so he might not be able to spot the treasure even if it was right in front of him. So he turned around and went to the center of the market.

There are seven or eight very imposing-looking buildings close together here. They are naturally the shops opened by the four major forces in the market town.

Such as their own Baikuitang, Baifu Pavilion of Qingfeng Pavilion, Baiqitang of Tongshan Wang family, and Miaodan Pavilion of Qinghe Xu family.

In addition, there are shops of other forces such as Linglong Pavilion.

The art of elixirs and alchemy is something that is sought after by thousands of people, but not everyone can afford to practice it.

Li Yuan walked into the Miaodan Pavilion, and a mortal servant greeted him with a big smile on his face, "Master, what kind of elixir do you want to buy?"

"I want to exchange the Blood Heart Pill."

Li Yuan directly explained his purpose, and the servant smiled and said, "Master, wait a moment!"

He trotted to the counter and led the middle-aged man who looked like the shopkeeper over.

"Haha, my surname is Xu, what is your name, fellow Taoist?" the shopkeeper Xu asked with a smile.

"I am a casual cultivator, my last name is Wang."

Li Yuan replied, wearing a mask and talking nonsense.

“So it’s Fellow Daoist Wang. It seems that you have completed the purification of filth and expelled impurities, and are now in the middle stage.

I would like to congratulate you in advance.

It's been hard to hunt monsters lately, so we're running short of materials. We only have three kinds of Blood-Exchange Heart Pills in our store right now." Shopkeeper Xu waved his hand, and three jade bottles appeared on the counter.

"Oh? I wonder which three they are?" Li Yuan was a little surprised. There were many monsters in the southwest of Guangyuan Mountains, so the blood, flesh and bones of monsters were mostly used in refining elixirs. Therefore, the elixirs refined from different monsters were also different.

“This is made from the heart of an iron-scaled fish, and is more suitable for cultivators of the Kan, Xuan, Gang, Xin, Yin, and Jin paths.

This is made from the heart of the evil fire bird and is more suitable for most fire-based cultivators such as Ziwu Fire.

This is made from the heart of the black smoke python, and is more beneficial to cultivators with negative and neutral qualities such as Guishui. Which one do you want to buy?" Shopkeeper Xu explained with a smile.

"How much do these heart pills cost?" Li Yuan did not answer immediately, but asked again.

Shopkeeper Xu pointed at the jade bottle and said, "Iron Scale Fish Heart Pill, 88 spirit stones each, Evil Fire Bird Heart Pill, 74 spirit stones each, Black Smoke Python Heart Pill, 78 spirit stones each."

"What?" Li Yuan's face darkened, and he pretended to be angry and said, "Are you lying to me? An ordinary Heart Pill is only fifty or sixty Spiritual Stones, or at most seventy Spiritual Stones. Why is your store so expensive?"

"Hey, fellow Daoist, calm down!" Shopkeeper Xu hurriedly explained, "Monster beasts are scarce recently, and many things are overpriced. And fellow Daoist, you also know that it is too expensive to refine the Heart Pill using only spiritual medicine in our Guangyuan Mountains. There is no alternative, so we can only raise the price to protect our capital.

In a few years, I'm afraid the price of this Heart Pill will increase by half! How could I deceive fellow Taoists? If this gets out, where will the reputation of my Xu family be?"

Li Yuan was slightly surprised. He had occasionally heard this in the mountains. In recent years, there have been fewer and fewer monsters in the Guangyuan Mountains. This man was not lying.

When he gritted his teeth, he really did it, he wasn't pretending.

He directly took out seventy-eight spirit stones and said, "Then let's take this Black Smoke Python Heart Pill."

"Thank you for your understanding!" Shopkeeper Xu smiled and waved his sleeves, took the spirit stone, and handed him the bottle containing the Black Smoke Python Heart Pill.

Li Yuan took the bottle, glanced at it to confirm it was correct, then turned around and left with a dark face.

He originally wanted to buy a few more talismans for self-defense, but now that his budget has exceeded, he is in financial difficulty.

As for digging up the spiritual wood in the Ten Thousand Woods Realm and selling it, he only dared to think about it and never really did it. Otherwise, a complete hundred-year-old spiritual wood would be worth hundreds or even tens of thousands of spiritual stones, and he would die if he walked out of this market.

(End of this chapter)