Gou Zai Fei Men made up myths

I visited several stalls, and the situation was pretty much the same. Although the stall owners were much more respectful than before, their prices were all inflated.

Shen Mo wasn't in a hurry. He watched patiently, occasionally asking about the market prices of unrelated materials, just like he was genuinely comparing prices from different vendors.

Su Xiao followed behind, starting to get anxious. She whispered, "Sect Leader, their price..."

"It's alright," Shen Mo replied calmly. "Let them guess. The more composed we are, the less they'll know about us."

As they were talking, the two arrived at the center of the market, in front of a large shop—a branch of "Baibaoge".

Shen Mo paused for a moment, then stepped inside.

The shop assistants clearly recognized them, but their attitude was completely different from that of the stall owners outside. They were neither overly enthusiastic nor disrespectful, but rather displayed a professional politeness.

"Sect Leader Shen, Miss Su, welcome." A middle-aged steward who appeared to be in charge greeted them with a cupped-fist salute, "What would you two like to order?"

Shen Mo said directly, "We need to purchase a batch of basic array materials: ten portions each of Qinggang stone powder, Flowing Cloud Sand, and low-grade spirit ink. We also need some common medicinal herb seeds or seedlings for refining 'Grain-Clearing Pills' and 'Qi-Returning Powder'."

A hint of surprise flashed in the butler's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure and nodded, saying, "Please come with me to the counter to check the sample pricing."

Upon arriving at the counter, the price quoted by the butler was surprisingly fair, no different from the market price. In fact, because the purchase quantity was slightly larger, he even offered a small discount.

"Your prices are fair." Shen Mo glanced at the steward.

The steward smiled slightly and said neither servilely nor arrogantly, "The Hundred Treasures Pavilion has always been honest and fair to all, with transparent pricing. Headmaster Shen is a guest of our pavilion, so naturally we must follow the rules."

Shen Mo nodded inwardly. This large shop was indeed well-organized and wouldn't easily change its attitude because of temporary rumors. This stable trading environment was exactly what he needed.

He gestured for Su Xiao to pay the bill.

The transaction went very smoothly. While waiting for the shop assistant to prepare the goods, the steward casually whispered a reminder: "Sect Leader Shen, there have been many rumors circulating lately, mostly about your sect and Black Wind Stronghold... We should be cautious."

Shen Mo remained expressionless and thanked him, "Thank you for the reminder, Steward. The innocent will clear themselves."

The steward smiled and said no more, but this veiled reminder already showed the attitude of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

After finishing her shopping and leaving the store, Su Xiao visibly breathed a sigh of relief and said in a low voice, "Big stores like this are really reliable."

Shen Mo hummed in agreement, but his gaze swept to another direction in the market. There, several uniformly dressed men with sharp eyes were coldly watching them. They were the members of Black Wind Stronghold!

They had clearly seen Shen Mo and his companion, their eyes filled with malice and undisguised hostility, but they did not come forward to provoke them, only watching from a distance.

Shen Mo sneered inwardly. Hei Yun Sha seemed to be seriously injured; his men only dared to spy from afar. He deliberately stopped and glanced in that direction, his gaze calm yet carrying an invisible pressure.

When those Black Wind Stronghold members met his gaze, they instinctively looked away or pretended to look elsewhere.

"Let's go," Shen Mo said to Su Xiao, his tone indifferent, as if he had just casually glanced at a stone by the roadside.

Under the watchful eyes of many, complex people, the two calmly left the market.

On the way back to the mountain, Su Xiao couldn't help but say, "Sect Leader, today's trip to the market shows that the Black Wind Stronghold incident has indeed had a significant impact. However, those stall owners seem to..."

"They're just trying to take advantage of our misfortune, or testing our strength," Shen Mo interjected. "It's human nature. You need to be more careful in your future transactions. Large shops like Baibaoge are worth considering as long-term partners."

"Xiao'er understands." Su Xiao nodded, then asked curiously, "Sect Leader, why did you ignore those Black Wind Stronghold people just now?"

Shen Mo gazed at the distant, layered mountain peaks and slowly said, "Why bother with vicious dogs barking at the sun? What my Qingyun Sect needs to do now is to accumulate strength and solidify its foundation. When we are flourishing in the future, these petty villains will naturally disappear."

His words were calm, yet carried an undeniable confidence and power.

Su Xiao watched the back of his senior brother, the sect leader. The sunlight shone down, elongating his slightly thin figure, yet it seemed to support a stable sky.

Instantly, her belief in following the sect and reviving Qingyun became even stronger.

After returning from Qingtai Market, Shen Mo and Su Xiao put away the purchased supplies one by one.

Looking at the neatly stacked array materials and medicinal seeds, Su Xiao's face showed little joy, but rather a hint of worry that was hard to conceal.

"Sect Leader Brother," she said, her voice filled with heartache as she counted the rapidly depleting spirit stone pouch.

"The materials to reinforce the maze array cost thirty-five spirit stones, and the seeds of medicinal herbs such as 'Dew-Condensing Grass' and 'Three-Leaf Flower' needed for the Bigu Pill and Qi-Returning Powder cost another twenty. In addition, the daily necessities of grain, oil, salt, and iron... This trip alone cost nearly sixty low-grade spirit stones."

She raised her eyes and looked at Shen Mo, her brows furrowing slightly: "With the spiritual eye restored, everyone's cultivation consumption has increased significantly. Senior Brother Shi Tie has been strengthening his muscles and bones, and his appetite is astonishing."

"With only expenses and no income, the remaining forty-odd spirit stones probably won't last a month. Moreover... if we want to try alchemy in the future, the costs will be even greater."

Shen Mo listened quietly, his gaze sweeping over the medicinal herb seeds and the few bottles of low-quality, nearly ineffective "Qi Gathering Pills" piled up in the corner, which he had previously rummaged through Mo Yuan's "relics".

These pills were dull in color and had lost much of their potency. They were so bad that even if given away for free in the market, no one would want them. They were always treated as trash and thrown away in a corner.

"Pills... are indeed a major expense." Shen Mo spoke slowly, his fingers unconsciously tapping the table. "Even the lowest grade 'Qi Gathering Pill' costs five low-grade spirit stones in the market. If you use it to break through your bottleneck or help Junior Brother Tie to cultivate Qi, it's easy to spend dozens of spirit stones every month."

Su Xiao nodded in deep agreement, her pretty face clouded with worry: "That's exactly right. But without the aid of elixirs, relying solely on hard work will be far too slow, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to cope with future crises..."

Just as Su Xiao was filled with worry, Shen Mo's gaze was fixed on those few bottles of discarded pills, and a strange light flashed in his eyes.

A bold and crazy idea, like a bamboo shoot breaking through the soil, suddenly burst out of his mind!

As a seasoned game planner in his previous life, he had witnessed far too much "nostalgia premium" and "antique marketing".

A bottle of ordinary baijiu, as long as the quality isn't too bad, can be sold for more than ten times the price by changing the packaging to a retro style and adding a story about a century-old tradition.

A modern handicraft, after being aged, can attract a large number of people when placed under the lights of a museum!

So... what about the cultivation world? What if... what if these almost ineffective pills could also be "packaged" as ancient elixirs with rich medicinal properties?

Once this thought takes hold, it can never be stopped!

"Junior Sister Xiao," Shen Mo suddenly spoke, his tone filled with an indescribable excitement, "tell me, what would be the value of a batch of 'Ancient Elixir' refined by our patriarch, whose medicinal power has slightly diminished due to its age, but which still retains a trace of ancient Daoist principles?"