I planted the spiritual roots for my people, and they bestowed upon me a body inscribed with incense

"Senior Yunyan, may I ask what brings you here after our last meeting?"

Upon hearing this, Ouyang Yunyan smiled. "Just call me Fellow Daoist Yunyan."

The reason I summoned Fellow Daoist Li here is that I have something I wish to discuss with you.

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan looked puzzled.

"Cooperation? Is there something I possess that Fellow Daoist Ouyang doesn't have?"

Ouyang Yunyan nodded, and then said:

"Fellow Daoist Li, this is fine iron ore."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan's expression froze.

"This was bestowed by the Prince himself. Does Fellow Daoist Ouyang Yunyan intend for your elders to break their promise?"

Upon hearing this, Ouyang Yunyan shook her head.

"Not so, Fellow Daoist Li, do you really think that with your mere Qi Refining Level 3 cultivation, even if I don't make a move, you can protect even a tenth of your strength?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan slowly said:

"Aren't nine-tenths of Daqing's forces still here? Who would dare to act recklessly?"

Seeing that Li Yuan was a hothead, Ouyang Yunyan was troubled for a moment, then slowly said:

"Openly, no one will come, but who can't change their identity and become a cultivator?"

"Even if these cultivators kill me and destroy my Li family, this thing will eventually be returned to Daqing, unless you don't want to return this mine to Daqing."

At this point, Li Yuan's expression changed, and he quickly shut his mouth, looking at Ouyang Yunyan with a serious expression.

Seeing this, Ouyang Yunyan slowly said:

"Return this to whoever gave it to you. However, it is still nominally yours, understand?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan nodded repeatedly.

Seeing her appearance, Ouyang Yunyan slowly spoke again:

"Don't worry, even without this mine, I will still give you sufficient compensation." After saying that, Ouyang Yunyan took out a Qiankun bag for Li Yuan.

"There are two hundred spirit stones in here, which is a three-year allowance. Shut your mouth, or no one can save you."

Seeing that Ouyang Yunyan's eyes were fierce and she looked completely different from before, Li Yuan quickly shut his mouth, took the spirit stones, and left the place.

On his way home, Li Yuan was already sweating profusely. "I never imagined that a prince would be trying to empty the Daqing treasury," he thought, shaking his head as he recalled the playful smile on the face of the Xu family patriarch as he left.

"Ouyang Yunyan gave him these two hundred spirit stones, saying it was a three-year share, which probably means she has completely bought out the Li family's mine."

Soon, Li Yuan returned to the Li family. After thinking for a long time, Li Yuan finally realized that the matter of the mine was probably not so simple. His appearance as an outsider had probably offended some people in higher positions.

Li Yuan didn't believe that no one had noticed the Mosa people mining this fine iron ore within their territory. He suspected that someone had received a bribe and was pretending not to know.

Now that Li Yuan has unknowingly exposed this, he must have incurred Li Yuan's wrath.

After returning to the Li family, Li Yuan thought for a while. Now that the deed was done, he could only improve his strength to deal with the dangers that lay ahead.

Li Yuan then took out the Qiankun bag given to him by Ouyang Yunyan. He now had two hundred spirit stones, which was enough for him to buy three complete sets of materials needed to refine the "Thousand Rivers Gathering Meridians Technique".

As long as he can refine a set of array flags, Li Yuan will be able to gather all the earth vein energy from the mountains and rivers within a hundred miles. The cultivation environment he creates will surely allow him to make rapid progress.

With this in mind, Li Yuan decided to make a trip to the market town where the Great Qing Kingdom was located right now, and try to complete this matter as soon as possible so that he could settle down and focus on his cultivation.

The round trip would probably take more than a month. Since he was going to the market for cultivators, Li Yuan thought he should bring the white snake along so that they could look after each other on the way.

Upon arriving at Zhushan, whenever Li Yuan was away, the White Snake would use Li Yuan's Spirit Gathering Array to cultivate. After spending a long time together, Li Yuan and the White Snake have now become people they can trust.

Li Yuan gestured towards the white snake wall, and the white snake climbed onto Li Yuan's shoulder. After giving some instructions to Li Daqiang, Li Yuan set off on his journey.

The location of the market town of the Daqing Dynasty that Xu Qingfeng mentioned is about a thousand miles away from Qingshan County. You have to cross Huaihai County next to Qingshan County to reach Tianyang County.

This market town was located in Tianyang County, which was under the jurisdiction of Tianyang Prefecture.

The main reason is that there is a huge spiritual gathering place near Tianyang. Its spiritual energy concentration is not far from that of the spiritual veins and some spiritual eye places. It is expected to give birth to new spiritual veins. Therefore, many cultivators in Daqing cultivate here. Over time, a huge market has formed here.

Along the way, Li Yuan and the white snake were either eating or traveling. Although the white snake was small, it could catch any kind of prey. Li Yuan also made sure to treat himself well, thanks to his barbecue skills from his previous life.

And so, twenty days later, Li Yuan and the White Snake finally entered Tianyang County. Once in Tianyang County, it was only a day's journey from the market town.

Li Yuan did not rush on his journey this time, but planned to rest for one night in Tianyang County before continuing his journey.

They randomly found an inn and rested there. This place was much more prosperous than Shangluo Mountain City, and Li Yuan even encountered cultivators with cultivation levels on the street.

After resting for a night, Li Yuan headed towards the market town where Xu Qingfeng was. The market town was easy to find. Not long after Li Yuan left Tianyang County, he encountered a female cultivator at the second level of Qi Refining. After a few words, Li Yuan quickly determined the location.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, Li Yuan stopped in a forest. Looking at the gate in the forest ahead, Li Yuan knew that this was the only market town in the Great Qing Kingdom. Qingyang Market Town.

Upon arriving at the gate, after checking and confirming that Li Yuan was not an evil cultivator, he was allowed into the Fangfang Market. To Li Yuan's surprise, he had to spend one spirit stone to obtain an identity token for his first visit to the market.

Reluctantly, Li Yuan paid a spirit stone and entered the market. Upon entering, Li Yuan immediately sensed the difference; the spiritual energy was significantly denser than outside, and this area was located on the outskirts of the market.

After wandering around the market for a full time, Li Yuan finally decided to enter a shop, mainly because the number of people in this shop was about 10-20% higher than in other shops.

Upon entering the shop, Li Yuan took out the entire list of materials he wanted to sell. The receptionist, seeing that he was a big customer, quickly called in the manager.

Looking at the list, the manager addressed Li Yuan:

"Fellow Daoist, my name is Wang Quan, and I am the manager of Xiuzhen Pavilion."

"I can find most of the materials you mentioned, but Dragon Spirit Wood and Ink Beast are probably hard to find now."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan nodded and then said:

"In that case, please ask the steward to prepare three copies of all the other materials."

Upon hearing this, Steward Wang hurriedly invited Li Yuan to sit down, instructed a maid to make him tea, and then went to fetch the materials.

Seeing how young Li Yuan was and how generous he was, the maid couldn't help but feel a desire to curry favor with him. After brewing the tea, she came to Li Yuan's side.

"Young master, please have some tea. You are not from Tianyang, are you?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan frowned.

"What's it to you?" Upon hearing this, the maid was not angry, but slowly replied:

"Please calm down, young master. I was not trying to find out about your background. It's just that I have some information about the Dragon Spirit Wood that you need."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan sized up the maid and then said:

"Oh? Fellow Daoist, you're being so kind?"

"Of course not," the maid chuckled, then said:

"This also requires you to give something in return, fellow Daoist."

Li Yuan didn't want to waste time with him, so he immediately said:

"Just say it. If I can give it to you, you'll naturally get your share."

Upon hearing this, the maid's face lit up with joy.

"Just two months ago, a customer came to my shop, and I heard from him that a Dragon Spirit Tree grows in a certain place. Fellow Daoist, you can go and find it for yourself."

"This place costs five spirit stones to buy, but for you, fellow Daoist, it only costs three spirit stones. Whether you buy or not is entirely up to you."

Seeing that he didn't seem inclined to lie, Li Yuan then spoke:

"Okay, so you've sold this information to someone else before?"

Upon hearing this, the maid shook her head. This Dragon Spirit Wood can only be used when refining very special magical artifacts. It is neither precious nor very useful, so the demand is very small.

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan nodded in satisfaction and then readily took out three spirit stones.

"Have you considered the consequences if you deceive me?"

The maid took the spirit stone.

"Don't worry, senior, I'm right here and I certainly won't lie to you." After saying that, the maid handed Li Yuan a map and then pointed to the location marked on it.

Li Yuan glanced at the map and then put it away.

Li Yuan then spoke to the maid:

"Have you ever seen this ink beast before?"

Upon hearing this, the maid shook her head, seemingly having thought of something, and then spoke to Li Yuan:

"Senior, this ink beast is quite rare. Our shop has only ever acquired ink beast skins twice."

"However, the shop has paintings of ink beasts. If you would like, senior, you can take a look at them."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan nodded, admitting that he truly did not know what the ink beast looked like.

Soon, a maid brought out a lifelike portrait from the inner room. Li Yuan stared at the ink beast in the painting, momentarily stunned. Wasn't this the unicorn he had encountered in the Great Heng Mountain?

Li Yuan examined the portrait more closely and found that it was indeed identical to the unicorn he had seen. This gave Li Yuan, who was unable to gather the necessary materials, renewed hope.