Gou Zai created a blessed land in the immortal abode

Now that he no longer needed to cultivate spiritual fields for the Kong family, Li Chengming was much freer and no longer needed to spend a lot of time at Cuiyuan Peak.

The spiritual fields within the immortal abode are also tended by cloud dew insects.

This gave him plenty of time to search for information.

So he first asked his retainers at Cuiyuan Peak to keep an eye out for news about chalcedony, while he himself went to the market town at the foot of Guangling Mountain.

The market there was much larger than that of Cuiyuan Peak, and it had many independent cultivators from outside the area, as well as cultivators from some small factions.

Information flowed much more freely.

…………

Inside the market area.

Li Chengming strolled slowly along the main street, his eyes scanning the various stalls.

Pills, talismans, fragments of magical artifacts, animal hides and bones... a dazzling array, but most of them are of low quality, and truly good items are few and far between.

Li Chengming did not linger at the stalls, but went straight to the shops in the center.

Besides the Kong family's shops, there are also several shops belonging to Qi cultivation factions here.

The Meng family, the Lin family, the Da Chimen, and so on.

Li Chengming first entered the Meng family's shop.

The shop was elegantly furnished, and several cultivators were selecting items at the counter. He walked straight to the counter and asked the middle-aged cultivator who appeared to be in charge about the jade marrow.

"Chalcedony?" The steward frowned.

"This item is rare and our shop does not have it at the moment. However, if you are truly interested, please leave your name and we will notify you when it arrives."

Li Chengming nodded, leaving behind the title "Li Chengming, a retainer of the Kong family," and turned to leave.

Subsequently, Li Chengming went to several other places to inquire, and the answers were all the same: they all said they did not have chalcedony, but promised to keep an eye out for news in this area.

In this way, Li Chengming's goal can actually be considered achieved.

After all, he never expected to see chalcedony in the market today, and even if he did, he couldn't afford it now.

"Chalcedony originates from spiritual veins, so perhaps only those forces with spiritual veins have access to chalcedony."

As Li Chengming strolled through the market, he pondered:

"The Kong family does possess a spiritual vein, but they would never sell me the jade marrow."

Such a fine material as chalcedony was not even enough for the Confucius family to use themselves, let alone to share with a single retainer.

"Spiritual veins..."

He had no clue for the time being.

"Forget it, let's just wait. It's more important to get back to refining the pills first."

After obtaining one acre of Spirit Gathering Grass from Cuiyuan Peak, Li Chengming was able to refine a considerable number of Spirit Gathering Pills.

After returning to Cuiyuan Peak, Li Chengming spent a lot of time refining pills in his immortal abode.

The number of Spirit Gathering Grasses in the Immortal Abode decreased one by one, and they were replaced by Spirit Gathering Pills piled up in the pill bottle.

…………

Half a month later.

"We've run out of Spirit Gathering Grass again."

After putting the three Spirit Gathering Pills refined in the last batch into a jade bottle, Li Chengming relaxed a lot.

He then gathered all the jade bottles in the alchemy room together and counted the number of pills.

"Twenty-four...not bad."

"The quality is just average; if you were to sell it, the price would be much lower."

The normal price for a bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills is six pills, which costs one spirit stone.

Li Chengming pondered for a moment and said:

"Let's price it at eight pieces per bottle, which should sell for three spirit stones. Then we can buy some spirit-gathering herbs to continue refining pills."

Selling it this way would undoubtedly be a huge loss, considering that Li Chengming's expenses on alchemy these days have been quite high.

Leaving aside the spirit stones he received from Kong Chengli, the alchemy materials alone were worth far more than three spirit stones.

Thinking of this, Li Chengming couldn't help but secretly click his tongue in amazement.

No wonder people say that alchemy is an expensive profession.

If it weren't for the Kong family supplying him with spiritual herbs, and the acre of spiritual field within his immortal abode as a supplement, he simply couldn't support such consumption on his own.

"However, if we can consistently produce high-quality Spirit Gathering Pills, the profits will be considerable."

"If we could consistently refine high-grade Spirit Gathering Pills, that would be incredibly profitable."

…………

Li Chengming stood up, left the immortal abode, and headed towards the market town at the foot of Cuiyuan Peak.

The market was bustling with people, even more so than when he had visited half a month ago.

Many of them were unfamiliar faces, not the disciples of the mountain, but wandering monks from elsewhere.

"Good, good, the better the market develops, the more beneficial it is for cultivators like me."

Afterwards, Li Chengming found an empty spot and started setting up his stall.

Before long, someone came looking for them.

They were retainers of the mountain.

"Fellow Daoist Li, it's been a long time since you've set up your stall. Do you still have any Qi-Boosting Powder left today?"

Li Chengming looked at the other person and accurately called out their name:

"Fellow Daoist Fang, I will no longer sell Qi-restoring powder from now on."

Fang Yuan was taken aback upon hearing this, and eagerly asked:

"Why is that? Fellow Daoist Li's Qi-restoring powder is better than the Kong family's, but you feel it's too cheap? If it really doesn't work, Fellow Daoist Li, why don't you raise the price?"

Upon hearing that Li Chengming was no longer selling Qi-restoring powder, the other retainers nearby immediately gathered around, chattering amongst themselves:

"Yes, yes, Fellow Daoist Li, your Qi-restoring powder is the best I've used in my forty years of cultivation. How can I not sell it?"

As more and more people gathered, many uninformed rogue cultivators also came over to join in the fun.

Li Chengming immediately realized that this was a good opportunity to kill his Spirit Gathering Pill.

This is also an opportunity to further announce your desire to buy chalcedony.

Although these rogue cultivators were poor and didn't have many spirit stones, they had accumulated a lot of inside information by traveling around.

So he quickly stood up, cupped his hands in greeting to the crowd, and said:

"Fellow Daoists, please be quiet and let me explain."

"From now on, I will no longer sell Qi-restoring powder, because I am now an alchemist, so I will instead sell spirit-gathering pills."

"Fellow Daoist Li, you've become an alchemist?" someone in the crowd exclaimed in surprise.

Li Chengming smiled faintly:

"I was fortunate enough to be appreciated by Master Kong, who taught me the art of alchemy. I am still only at the beginner level, and the quality of the Spirit Gathering Pills I make is average. Therefore, I can buy eight pills for one spirit stone."

"Eight!"

Upon hearing this, the retainers and their followers' eyes lit up.

That's two whole coins more than the market price!

Even if the quality is a little lower, that's acceptable.

This immediately made many people eager to try it.

"Only three bottles available today, come forward quickly if you need them!"

Upon hearing that there were only three bottles, some people who were still hesitating immediately stepped forward.

"Fellow Daoist, give me a bottle."

Before long, all three bottles were sold out.

Seeing everyone about to leave, Li Chengming quickly said:

"From now on, I will sell Spirit Gathering Pills here on this day of every month. Also, if any fellow Daoist has any information about Jade Marrow, please let me know, and I will reward you accordingly."

After the news was released, the crowd did not disperse immediately; instead, many people gathered around to inquire about the chalcedony.

"Jadeite? That's a rare item. What do you need it for, fellow Daoist?"

"I've heard that this item comes from deep within a spiritual vein, and is extremely precious and rarely seen."

Li Chengming responded with a smile, offering no further explanation, only saying:

"If any of you have any information regarding my cultivation needs, whether accurate or not, please let me know, and I will reward you accordingly."