The Confucian and Taoist Sages of Mortal Cultivation

Chapter 107 Ghost Ship

"Oh?" Seeing Feng Sanniang's hesitant manner, Yang Qingyuan asked with a stern face, "With such a great reputation as the Six-Linked Palace, you don't even have the Dust-Clearing Pill, do you?"

Upon hearing this, Feng Sanniang parted her lips slightly and explained, "Of course it is."

"However, Fellow Daoist Yang is also well aware that the Dust-Reducing Pill can increase the success rate of Core Formation by one-tenth, making it a priceless treasure."

"Our Six Halls already have many managers and guest elders at the Pseudo-Core Formation stage, all hoping to get a Dust-Clearing Pill so they can break through the bottleneck of the Core Formation stage."

"Therefore, even if the alchemists of our Six Halls manage to refine the Dust-Reducing Pill, it will be immediately divided up by the managers at the Pseudo-Core Stage."

"In this way, if a customer wants to purchase the Dust-Clearing Pill, spirit stones alone won't suffice."

"And it's not just our Six-Hall Alliance; other forces are in the same situation."

Yang Qingyuan recalled that Han Li obtained the Dust-Reducing Pill by helping the Six-Linked Palace to suppress the Infant Carp Beast, so he replied, "Fellow Daoist Feng, judging from your tone, even if you can't buy the Dust-Reducing Pill with spirit stones, there should be other ways to exchange it for Dust-Reducing Pills from the Six-Linked Palace, right?"

Feng Sanniang parted her lips slightly and said, "Of course."

"Our Six-Linked Hall has an unwritten rule that if we encounter a difficult situation and there is a shortage of manpower within the hall, we can issue a reward to recruit people from outside."

"Since it's a bounty, we naturally need to offer a reward that will win people's hearts."

"Right now, our Six-Hall Alliance has a mission that requires a large number of Pseudo-Core Stage cultivators, and the reward is Dust-Reducing Pills."

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan pondered for a moment and asked, "What mission?"

Feng Sanniang, her expression grave, explained, "To be honest, Fellow Daoist Yang, our Six-Linked Palace has established three fishing grounds in the waters near Kui Xing Island, where we raise a group of special spirit beasts called 'Silver Dragon Fish.'"

Although the Silver Dragonfish is only a level two demon beast, it is a treasure from head to toe. In particular, the essence blood of the dragonfish contains a trace of dragon blood, which is a top-grade material for refining pills. Even some pills for the Core Formation stage require the essence blood of the Silver Dragonfish as a medicinal guide.

"A bottle of essence blood can often sell for thousands of spirit stones."

"Normally, the three fishing grounds of the Silver Dragonfish are shrouded in an array and are guarded by a dedicated manager."

"But a month ago, a ghost ship suddenly appeared in the waters near the fishing grounds."

Han Li, who was standing next to him, was also quite surprised to hear the words "ghost ship" and cast a curious glance at him.

Feng Sanniang continued to explain, "This ghost ship is elusive and can ignore the formation, silently entering one of the fishing grounds and draining the life essence of the fish farm manager and twenty silver dragonfish."

"By the time our Sixth Hall's Core Formation Elders reacted and arrived at the fishing grounds, the ghost ship had already vanished without a trace."

"After learning that the fishing grounds had been destroyed, the temple master deducted half a year's salary from all the managers of our Kui Xing Island branch temple."

"Even I was implicated."

"At first, I thought that was the end of it, but I never expected that the ghost ship would break into the vicinity of the second fishing ground seven days ago and drain the dragonfish of its life essence."

"Several foundation-building managers of the fishing grounds did not escape the disaster."

"But this time, our branch's Core Formation elders intervened in time and successfully blocked the ghost ship, which led to a great battle."

"But it turned out that there were hundreds of vengeful ghosts on this ghost ship, and even a ghost king in the early stage of Core Formation."

"After a fierce battle, even the elders of our Six Halls didn't gain any advantage."

"The ghost ship sank to the bottom of the sea and disappeared again."

"We still haven't dared to inform the headquarters about this matter."

"Now, of the three fishing grounds, only the last one remains, and we absolutely cannot afford any more accidents."

"Fortunately, our branch's Core Formation elder, during his battle with the ghost ship, embedded a magical artifact with tracking capabilities, the Black Coffin Nail, into the ghost ship's hull, thus enabling us to sense its location."

"Therefore, our elder issued a bounty to recruit cultivators at the Pseudo-Core stage to destroy that ghost ship."

"The rewards include dust-reducing pills."

"If Fellow Daoist Yang is willing to participate in this operation, regardless of whether it succeeds or fails, our Six-Linked Hall is willing to offer Fellow Daoist Yang a Dust-Clearing Pill."

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan fell into deep thought.

He possesses a strong sense of righteousness, so even if he encounters a ghost at the Core Formation stage, he can escape unscathed even if he cannot defeat it.

But unless there was no other choice, Yang Qingyuan didn't want to take the risk lightly, so he asked, "May I ask if Fellow Daoist Feng has the formula for the Dust-Clearing Pill?"

Upon hearing this, Feng Sanniang was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled and said, "Fellow Daoist Yang, you wouldn't happen to be planning to personally refine the Dust-Clearing Pill, would you?"

"This is truly a pipe dream."

"Refining the Dust-Slaying Pill requires hundreds of materials, including rare spiritual herbs and rare demon beast cores."

"It's almost impossible for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to gather all these materials."

"However, since Fellow Daoist Yang wants the pill formula, I will copy it for you."

Upon hearing that pill formulas were for sale, Han Li, who was standing nearby, couldn't wait to say to Yang Qingyuan, "Senior Brother Yang, since we're already here, why not buy a few more pill formulas?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan nodded slightly and said to Feng Sanniang, "Fellow Daoist Feng, in addition to Heavenly Fire Liquid and Snow Spirit Water, I would also like to purchase a batch of pill formulas from your shop, the more the better."

Feng Sanniang remained calm, took out a cyan jade slip from her storage bag, and replied, "A pill formula for the Qi Refining stage costs five spirit stones, a pill formula for the Foundation Establishment stage costs sixty spirit stones, and a pill formula for the Core Formation stage costs two hundred and sixty spirit stones."

"This is the catalog of pill formulas. Please take a look, fellow Daoist."

Han Li, standing nearby, was also quite surprised and incredulous upon hearing such a cheap price. He thought to himself, "This pill formula is treasured by cultivators in Yue Kingdom and cannot be traded for spirit stones at all."

"How come it's so cheap here in this chaotic star sea?"

Yang Qingyuan took the catalog of pill formulas, flipped through it, and found that it contained nearly a hundred pill formulas for the Qi Refining stage, more than a dozen pill formulas for the Foundation Establishment stage, and nine pill formulas for the Core Formation stage.

Among them is the formula for the Dust-Reducing Pill.

"I'll take all these pill formulas." After pondering for a moment, Yang Qingyuan took out dozens of mid-grade spirit stones from his storage bag and placed them on the table.

Seeing that Yang Qingyuan could still remain calm after throwing away thousands of spirit stones, Feng Sanniang was slightly surprised. She patted her storage bag, took out more than ten jade slips, and placed them on the table.

Han Li rubbed his hands together, cast a burning gaze at Yang Qingyuan, took out a storage bag from his robes, handed it over, and said, "Senior Brother Yang, I, Han, will share half of the spirit stones with you, in exchange for copying the pill formula once."

"However, I don't have enough spirit stones on me, so I'll use the treasures in this storage bag as spirit stones for now."

Yang Qingyuan released his divine sense and scanned the storage bag, discovering that the treasures inside were the eight-hundred-year-old Huangjingzhi mushroom and the eggs of hundreds of spirit insects.

"Alright then." Although Yang Qingyuan wasn't interested in these items, he agreed since copying the pill formulas wouldn't cost him anything.

Han Li was overjoyed, took the prescription, and began copying it down, but then a strange look appeared on his face.

"These pills actually require demon cores as the main ingredient?!" Han Li looked utterly astonished.

Feng Sanniang laughed and said, "This fellow Daoist probably has no experience in alchemy."

"If you don't use demon cores as the main ingredient for alchemy, then what do you use?"

Han Li then realized that he had almost exposed his identity. He chuckled twice and silently began copying down the pill formula.

Yang Qingyuan changed the subject and asked Feng Sanniang, "Fellow Daoist Feng, what is the price of the Snow Spirit Water and Heavenly Fire Liquid?"

Upon hearing this, Feng San Niang took out two jade boxes emitting a yellow glow from her storage bag, placed them on the table, and casually opened the boxes.

Inside the box on the left was a clear, watery liquid that emitted a chilling aura.

The other box contained a pool of bright red liquid, radiating intense heat.

Han Li, who was standing nearby, was also amazed, but considering that it would take him another sixty or seventy years to break through to the Core Formation stage, he did not speak.

Feng Sanniang then explained, "The Snow Spirit Water and Heavenly Fire Liquid in these two boxes are plentiful, enough for two cultivators to reach the Core Formation stage. They are priceless treasures."

"However, if Fellow Daoist Yang is willing to participate in the siege of the ghost ship, then we will consider this Snow Spirit Water and Heavenly Fire Liquid as a token of our Six Alliance Palace's appreciation."

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan considered it for a moment and replied, "I will allow myself to consider this matter further."

Immediately afterwards, he took out a jade-green medicine box from his storage bag, handed it to Feng Sanniang, and introduced it, "This is an eight-hundred-year-old Huangjingzhi. I wonder if I could buy the Snow Spirit Water and Heavenly Fire Liquid?"

Seeing that Yang Qingyuan still wouldn't budge, Feng Sanniang could only force a smile, inspect the Ganoderma lucidum in the box, and replied, "That's enough. This Ganoderma lucidum is eight hundred years old. In terms of value, it's no less than Heavenly Fire Liquid and Snow Spirit Water."

"However, if Fellow Daoist Yang changes his mind within three months and is willing to lend a helping hand, he may come to me again."

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"I'll leave the Dust-Clearing Pill for you, fellow Daoist."

Yang Qingyuan nodded slightly, put away the two kinds of spiritual water, and then left with Han Li and the others.