Cultivating Immortality from the Book of Life and Death

Chapter 364 Preparing Spirit Stones. (First Update!)

Invitation?

I happen to have one on hand!
Zheng Que nodded slightly and immediately replied, "I have an invitation!"

As he spoke, just in case, he quickly opened his storage bag, took out the invitation, and handed it to Lu Maohong, "Senior Lu, is this the one?"

"This was given to me by Linghu Yuniang."

The moment the invitation left the storage bag, it emitted a chilling fragrance, like plum blossoms blooming in winter.

Zheng Que noticed that, whether it was because the auction was imminent or because they were now in Qingrao Prefecture, the invitation, which was originally nothing special except for its great splendor, now had the three characters "Qingrao Prefecture" outlined in ancient seal script emitting a faint light that flickered rhythmically, reflecting off the gold-painted city tower and refracting specks of gold light.

Lu Maohong took the invitation from Zheng Que and immediately noticed the hidden patterns of pavilions and towers hidden among the beautiful flowers and grasses, as well as the ancient seal script characters "Xuanyuan" on the wax seal. He nodded immediately: "Yes!"

"This is the invitation to the Xuanyuanfang Auction."

"Linghu Yuniang was able to get this, she probably stole it from somewhere."

"Using an invitation from such an illegitimate source to enter the auction could cause some trouble."

"However, now that you have the magistrate as your backer, you don't need to worry about that..."

"The most important thing right now is to prepare as many spirit stones as possible!"

"Don't end up wanting something you like, but then regretting it because you don't have enough spirit stones."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Que quickly calculated the number of spirit stones he currently possessed, as well as those in Chen Zhentao's storage bag, and promptly replied, "I currently have approximately 30,000 low-grade spirit stones and a little over 400 mid-grade spirit stones on me."

"May I ask, senior, are these spirit stones enough?"

Lu Maohong was slightly taken aback, seemingly not expecting Zheng Que to have so many spirit stones.

But he quickly came to his senses and said seriously, "With so many spirit stones, it's definitely enough to buy some ordinary things at the auction."

"The problem is that you might be eyeing a rare treasure. The competition will be fierce, and throwing in this amount of spirit stones won't even make a ripple."

"This concerns the imperial examination; there is nothing more important than this at present."

"Since the prefect values ​​you highly now, you shouldn't worry about saving face. It would be best to visit the prefect again and borrow some spirit stones from him."

Borrow spirit stones from the magistrate?
Zheng Que understood that Lu Maohong brought up the Xuanyuanfang auction because he didn't expect to be able to scrape together any spirit stones; instead, he was pinning his hopes on Xiang Songnian.

However, Lu Maohong only knew that Xiang Songnian valued young talents, but he did not know the fundamental reason why Xiang Songnian valued talents!
If he cannot prove his strength and potential by passing the imperial examination on his own merits... then whether he is still qualified to continue to receive Xiang Songnian's attention is a question!

Thinking of this, Zheng Que did not explain, but calmly replied, "There is no need to trouble the prefect with the matter of spirit stones."

"I have a group of ghost servants who are of decent quality. Apart from lacking intelligence, each of them has mastered more than ten ghost skills and Yin arts."

"These ghost servants should fetch a good price."

A ghost servant possessing more than ten ghost skills and Yin arts?

Lu Maohong was immediately startled and quickly said, "Take a look. If it really is a ghost servant with more than ten ghost skills and Yin arts, then it will definitely be able to be auctioned off this time!"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Li immediately shook his head. The batch of ghost servants he was talking about had not yet been manufactured, so how could he show them to the other party?
While pondering, Zheng Que said, "Those ghost servants are not on me right now. If you are interested, senior, you can bring them with you when you come tomorrow."

"The most urgent task is to find out roughly how many spirit stones one of these ghost servants can sell for?"

Upon hearing that Zheng Que had not brought the batch of ghost servants with him, Lu Maohong was immediately disappointed. However, he quickly calmed down, pondered for a while, and then said seriously, "If it's going to be auctioned, I can't say for sure what the exact price will be."

"It mainly depends on how many cultivators participating in this auction practice the 'Ghost Control' technique..."

"However, selling one of them for at least a few thousand low-grade spirit stones should definitely not be a problem."

"Furthermore, it also depends on the cultivation level of these ghost servants."

“The ghost servants in the early stages of the [Tongue-Pulling Prison] are definitely not as good as the ghost servants in the mid and late stages of the [Tongue-Pulling Prison].

A single one can sell for several thousand?

Zheng Que was taken aback. It seemed that he had sold the butcher's "evil spirit" at the Merit Office in Taiping County at a considerable loss.
Although the butcher's "fierce spirit" only had four kinds of ghost skills and dark arts, it was intelligent!

In a flash, Zheng Que quickly regained his composure and immediately said, "In that case, there's no need to worry about spirit stones."

"Besides these, does Senior know of any other points that need attention during the Immortal Trial?"

Lu Maohong shook his head and said in a gentle voice, "That's all the information my comrades from Hengshui County have to tell me."

"They also have cultivators participating in the immortal examination this year."

"It's that young cultivator I met at the door yesterday. His name is Shang Zhaozu, and he's the grand-nephew of the lord of Hengshui County."

Hearing this, Zheng Que nodded slightly.

He had some impression of Shang Zhaozu; the other party's cultivation level was at the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining.

However, the opponent's strength did not meet Xiang Songnian's expectations; otherwise, the old cultivator who led the group in Hengshui County would not have had his legs broken and been carried out in full view of everyone...

Thinking of this, Zheng Li immediately said earnestly, "Thank you for your efforts in inquiring about this matter for me, senior."

"How much did it cost you, senior, to obtain this information?"

The information that Lu Maohong had found out was indeed a great help to him.

The cultivators from Hengshui County were complete strangers to Lu Maohong before. Given that there were cultivators from their county participating in the Immortal Examination, their willingness to share this information with Lu Maohong must have earned him a considerable sum.

Zheng Que naturally cannot let Lu Maohong bear this expense on his own.

Upon hearing this, Lu Maohong shook his head slightly and replied with a smile, "Zheng Que, you're being too polite."

"By helping you now, I am helping myself."

"If you can truly pass this immortal test, I will also receive many benefits from the Prefect."

"But if anything happens to you during the Immortal Trial, then this opportunity to establish your foundation will be the final reward the Prefect will give me..."

"As for this information... it didn't cost a single spirit stone!"

"This was obtained by exchanging the information you gave me about the Heavenly Grade Dao Foundation with those people in Hengshui County."

"This kind of information related to the immortal examination cannot be bought with ordinary spirit stones."

"We can only exchange it for information of equal value..."

(End of this chapter)