He fell off a cliff but unexpectedly gained a cultivation inheritance.

As dawn broke, the morning light shone through the spiritual mist of the Kunlun Secret Realm onto the Myriad Laws Square. Before six o'clock, the once quiet square gradually came alive. Disciples from various sects emerged from their residences one after another, moving in twos and threes among the stalls of different factions. Some stopped to examine the exhibits, while others negotiated prices and made exchanges in hushed tones. The sounds of voices and the clinking of magical artifacts mingled together, making it even noisier than the resource exchange on the first day.

Yesterday, Zhang Bufan had taken Ye Qingxue and Yue Ling'er to explore the sect's headquarters around the plaza and gained a general understanding of the various resources. Today, he volunteered to stay and stand guard in the main hall of the Immortal Sword Sect's headquarters, assisting Elder Ma Changsi in looking after the stalls along with several other disciples. The Immortal Sword Sect's stalls were set up in the corridor outside the main hall, divided into three rows of shelves, displaying spirit spring water, spirit herbs, and spirit ores respectively. Disciples were assigned to guard each row of shelves, and the order was well maintained.

Among the resources offered for exchange by the Immortal Sword Sect, the most competitive hard currency is the sect's specialty, spiritual spring water. Originating from deep spiritual veins, the spiritual spring water of the Huashan Secret Realm is pure and contains abundant, attribute-free spiritual energy. Its greatest advantage is that it can be directly consumed and absorbed by cultivators of all levels, without the need for time-consuming meditation and refinement, quickly replenishing the body's spiritual energy. Although the spiritual energy content of the same volume of spiritual spring water is only one-tenth that of a mid-grade spirit stone, this characteristic of being unaffected by cultivation level and readily usable greatly increases its value, making it equivalent to the same volume of mid-grade spirit stones in an exchange.

"Spiritual spring water is the sect's most prized resource for exchange. In the past three years, the production has been prioritized for disciples' cultivation. The two thousand catties we're offering this time are reserves stored in the treasury over the past few years." Elder Ma Changsi stood in the center of the stall and instructed the disciples on duty, "We exchanged out 1,500 catties yesterday alone. For the remaining 500 catties, be sure to pay attention to the exchange ratio. Prioritize exchanging them for thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, pills or formulas of Xuan-grade or higher, or refining materials of Xuan-grade or higher. Don't give up easily."

Everyone responded in unison, and Zhang Bufan, along with Ye Qingxue and Yue Ling'er, stood guard beside the spirit spring water shelf. Dozens of transparent jade bottles were displayed on the shelf, each containing ten jin of spirit spring water. The bottles were engraved with simple spirit-locking arrays to prevent the spiritual energy from leaking out. The jade bottles were crystal clear, and the spirit spring water inside was transparent, faintly shimmering with spiritual light. As soon as they were displayed, they attracted many cultivators to stop and inquire, with a constant stream of people asking about prices and exchanging for the water.

On the other side of the stall, Senior Brother Xie Ding, along with two junior brothers at the Qi Refining stage, stood guard in front of the spirit herb shelf. The spirit herbs displayed on the shelf were mostly surplus varieties produced from the sect's spirit fields, and most of them were common spirit herbs that were several decades old, such as Dew-Condensing Grass, Awakening Flower, and Placenta Grass. There were only fifteen plants that were over a hundred years old, and their quality was not top-notch. As for thousand-year-old spirit herbs, there were not a single one. In this era of depleted spiritual energy, thousand-year-old spirit herbs were strategic reserves for various sects, and even a first-class power like the Immortal Sword Sect was unwilling to easily exchange them.

Beside the outermost shelf of spirit ore, the alluring senior sister Liu Yan'er was busy with three Qi Refining stage junior sisters. The shelves displayed various spirit ores mined from the sect's secret mountain range, mostly yellow-grade materials. The only two types of Xuan-grade materials—Xuan iron and Xuan copper—were placed separately in brocade boxes, suitable for crafting Xuan-grade magic weapons. Liu Yan'er was already stunningly beautiful; her pink and white sect robe accentuated her slender figure, her eyes sparkling with affection, every movement exuding captivating charm. Coupled with the fact that her three junior sisters were also beautiful, they instantly attracted a large number of male disciples from other sects who vied to purchase them.

Many male cultivators, knowing the spirit ore was expensive, didn't even haggle, hoping only to say a few words to Liu Yan'er and leave a good impression. Several wealthy disciples from second-rate sects even exchanged several pieces of black iron at once, just to receive a gentle thank you from Liu Yan'er. In this frenzy, the sales speed of the Immortal Sword Sect's spirit ore far surpassed that of the spirit spring water managed by Zhang Bufan. Before the afternoon, the yellow-grade spirit ore on the shelves was completely sold out, and the few pieces of black iron and black copper remaining in the brocade box were also reserved by several cultivators.

"Senior Sister Liu is truly charming; the spirit ore sold out way too quickly," Yue Ling'er teased softly as she helped Zhang Bufan count the supplies he had exchanged, her eyes filled with envy. Ye Qingxue smiled and shook her head, her hands still busy sorting the exchanged spirit herbs: "Senior Sister Liu is already exceptionally beautiful and gentle, so it's natural that she's popular. We should focus on taking care of the spirit spring water and make sure nothing goes wrong."

Zhang Bufan nodded, his gaze sweeping over the passing cultivators as he secretly calculated in his mind. At this moment, only a little over a hundred catties of spirit spring water remained. Among the supplies he had exchanged were three hundred-year-old spirit herbs and a Xuan-rank weapon-refining manual. Although not particularly rare, they were still quite useful. As he pondered, a slightly hesitant figure slowly walked to the spirit spring water shelf and stopped.

He was a male cultivator in his fifties, at the Qi Refining stage, wearing a gray robe, his hair slightly disheveled, his face haggard, his hands tightly clutching an old storage bag. He lingered in front of the shelf for a long time, his eyes filled with longing when they fell on the jade bottle, yet his expression was very conflicted, as if he were making some difficult choice.

Seeing this, Zhang Bufan stepped forward and asked in a gentle tone, "Fellow Daoist, would you like to exchange for spirit spring water?"

The male cultivator snapped back to his senses. Seeing Zhang Bufan's extraordinary bearing and profound cultivation (late Foundation Establishment stage), he quickly bowed respectfully, saying, "Greetings, Senior! This junior... this junior does indeed wish to exchange for a few bottles of spirit spring water, but... but I do not have any mid-grade spirit stones on hand. I wonder if I could exchange them for other items?"

Zhang Bufan's heart stirred, and he asked, "I wonder what you wish to exchange it for? As long as the value is equivalent, that's fine."

A flicker of hesitation crossed the male cultivator's eyes, but then, as if having made up his mind, he took out a cyan jade slip from his storage bag, presented it with both hands, and said in a low voice, "Senior, this is a Xuan-grade pill formula jade slip passed down from my family, called the 'Youth-Preserving Pill.' I would like to exchange it for a bottle of spiritual spring water. Is that alright?"

"A Profound-Rank Pill Recipe?" Zhang Bufan's eyes lit up as he reached out and took the jade slip. He could clearly sense the faint spiritual energy contained within the jade slip, indicating that it contained a high-level pill recipe. Profound-Rank pills were specifically for Foundation Establishment cultivators and were extremely valuable; even just the recipe was enough to exchange for several bottles of spiritual spring water.

Elder Liu, who was tidying up accounts nearby, quickly walked over upon hearing this, his expression filled with anticipation: "Oh? What kind of profound-grade pill formula is it? Let me take a look."

Zhang Bufan handed the jade slip to Elder Liu, who infused it with a wisp of spiritual energy. The patterns on the jade slip instantly lit up, and the contents of the pill formula clearly appeared in his mind. However, after a moment, Elder Liu's expression faded. After reading it, he casually returned the jade slip to Zhang Bufan, shook his head, and said with a hint of disappointment, "So it's a Youth-Preserving Pill. Although this pill is of the Profound Rank, it's of no benefit to cultivation. It can only allow Foundation Establishment cultivators to maintain their appearance for life. It's purely a useless item."

Having said that, he turned and returned to his seat, no longer paying attention to the matter—for cultivators, the fundamental goal is to advance in cultivation and pursue longevity; appearance is merely a shell, and such a formula that can only modify the exterior is naturally not worthy of his attention.

What Elder Liu considered useless was entirely different in the eyes of the female cultivators. Upon hearing the words "maintain youthful appearance for life," Ye Qingxue's eyes lit up instantly, and she instinctively moved closer to Zhang Bufan, her gaze fixed intently on the jade slip. Yue Ling'er was even more delighted, tugging at Ye Qingxue's sleeve and whispering, "Sister Qingxue, if only we could refine a Youth-Preserving Pill, then we'd be this beautiful forever!"

Liu Yan'er, who had just seen off a group of cultivators exchanging spirit ore, overheard their conversation. She paused, then gracefully approached with her two junior sisters. A flicker of emotion crossed her alluring eyes, and her gaze towards the jade slip held a clear longing. Clearly, regardless of cultivation level, the promise of eternal youth held a fatal attraction for women.

Seeing Elder Liu's dismissive attitude, the male cultivator's heart sank, and he quickly explained, "Senior, although this Youth-Preserving Pill cannot aid cultivation, it is still extremely rare..."

Zhang Bufan raised his hand to interrupt him, his fingertips tracing the jade slip, his mind already made up. Although the Youth-Preserving Pill was useless for cultivation, the Xuan-rank pill formula itself had some value. Moreover, it would make Ye Qingxue and Yue Ling'er happy, so this exchange was not a loss.

"Fellow Daoist, while this Youth-Preserving Pill formula is of no benefit to cultivation, it is still quite rare," Zhang Bufan said with a smile. However, since this formula is useless to the sect, it cannot be exchanged for the sect's spiritual spring water. Lu Fan then took out a bottle of spiritual spring water from his storage ring and handed it to the cultivator, saying, "I'll use this bottle of spiritual spring water in exchange for your pill formula, how about it?"

The male cultivator was stunned, clearly not expecting Zhang Bufan to be so agreeable. His face instantly lit up with joy, and he quickly took the jade bottle, bowing deeply to Zhang Bufan: "Thank you, senior! Thank you, senior!" He had thought that the other party would lower the price or even refuse to exchange the item, but now he was overjoyed. He carefully packed the jade bottle, turned around and hurriedly left, afraid that Zhang Bufan would change his mind.