Fantasy: Starting with a bowl, you can exchange it for endless cultivation.

Gu Chen accepted the silver.

I'm going to have someone investigate these aristocratic families and salt merchants.

If they truly had no idea...

That's fine then.

There was no intention to use this to extort more money from them.

The power dynamics between salt merchants and aristocratic families were complex and intertwined.

Behind them are officials from various institutions of the Divine Dynasty and some top-tier or even transcendent forces within the Divine Dynasty.

Salt merchants and established families without a powerful background simply cannot develop their businesses.

There's no need to offend multiple forces for a little money.

That would be too unseemly.

It's best to know when to stop and when to stop. If you're paid, you should help others avoid trouble.

Gu Chen then returned to the Li Huo Prefecture Night Watch Division with Qian Fu and made a round of inspections.

He then returned to his residence.

They carefully counted the silver given by the salt merchants and aristocratic families.

It totaled more than 80,000 taels.

That's another considerable sum.

With this money, plus what he already had, and the resources from the three reward items he received, as well as the samurai sword and five Transformation Pills given to him by Yamamoto Rinji, he sold them.

He can accumulate enough silver for another month to buy pills to break through to the fourth-grade Core Formation realm.

the next day.

Gu Chen then refined five more batches of Bone Forging Pills for the Cheng family.

He earned 1,800 taels of silver.

Day three.

Gu Chen made some arrangements, asking Mu Lei and Qian Fu to handle the affairs of the Night Watch Division in Li Huo Prefecture on his behalf.

He went to the desolate state.

It may take a few days before I can come back.

After explaining.

Gu Chen left Li Huo Mansion.

During the journey, Gu Chen used the Bone Shrinking Disguise Technique to change his appearance and his clothes to resemble those of a rogue cultivator.

He revealed his true cultivation level to the outside world.

The aura of perfect transformation into the Ocean Realm.

Next, he went to the county seat of Yuehai County. After entering the county seat, Gu Chen headed directly towards the Medicine King Pavilion.

First, sell the Divine Aperture Pill, the Great Condensation Pill, the five Transformation Sea Pills, and the Piercing Cave Grass that you have on you.

Go to the pawn shop and pawn Yamamoto Rinji's weapon, the samurai sword.

Then he went to find his senior brother Luo Tianxing and they went to the city of Huangzhou together.

He's going to the welcoming banquet for the new Chief of the Wilderness State, and Luo Tianxing will definitely be there too.

Arriving at the Medicine King Pavilion in Yuehai County.

The scale here is larger than that in the prefectural city.

The Medicine King Pavilion has at least one branch in the prefectural city.

The strongholds in the county seat were even larger.

Step into the Medicine King Pavilion.

Gu Chen went straight to the point: "Shopkeeper, do you accept Great Condensation Pills, Divine Aperture Pills, and Sea Transformation Pills here?"

"Oh, right, there's also a thorny plant."

The manager of the Medicine King Pavilion was surprised to see that Gu Chen had come to sell a sixth-grade Breakthrough Pill, the Divine Aperture Pill, a seventh-grade top-tier pill, the Great Condensation Pill, and a fifth-grade Transformation Pill.

We dare not be negligent.

Especially the Divine Aperture Pill and the Thorn Hole Grass.

The Divine Acupoint Pill allows a powerful expert at the peak of the seventh-grade True Essence Realm to quickly open their acupoints, break through the barrier of their realm, and enter the sixth-grade realm. The Acupoint-Piercing Grass can stabilize their realm.

These two items together can almost guarantee that a seventh-grade expert will break through to the next level; it's practically a breakthrough package.

It rarely circulates outside the local area.

Each Divine Aperture Pill is worth at least 100,000 taels of silver, but usually, when they come across them, someone is willing to pay a premium for them.

Pit-weed, its value ranges from 30,000 to 50,000 yuan, depending on its quality.

One Great Condensing Essence Pill is equivalent to ten Condensing Essence Pills. Absorbing this Great Condensing Essence Pill during cultivation can save a lot of time spent refining pills. The market price is around ten thousand taels of silver per pill.

A normal cultivation pill of the fifth grade of Huahai Dan retails for two thousand taels of silver, but they will only offer a maximum purchase price of one thousand seven hundred taels.

"Senior, we accept all three types of pills and the Piercing Cave Grass. How many of the three types of pills do you have, and at what price do you plan to sell them?" The shopkeeper asked Gu Chen.

He is currently at the early stage of the Breaking Aperture Realm, having just broken through not long ago.

The Divine Elixir was useless to him.

But the thorn grass was useful to him.

It can help him stabilize his realm.

If the price is right, he plans to buy it for Gu Chen himself.

Use it to solidify your own state of mind.

Spiny grass is a special and valuable medicinal herb.

While stabilizing his realm, he can also soften the barriers of his acupoints, making it easier for him to open them later.

This indirectly reduced the difficulty for him to break through to a higher realm.

"Both the Great Condensation Pill and the Divine Aperture Pill are rare pills. I have one of each, and five of the Sea Transformation Pills," Gu Chen said. "As for the price, let's set it at 150,000 taels for the Divine Aperture Pill, 2,000 taels for the Sea Transformation Pill, 60,000 taels for the Piercing Cave Grass, and 15,000 taels for the Great Condensation Pill."

Gu Chen took out the pills and the acupuncture grass and placed them on the counter.

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper frowned slightly.

Gu Chen is asking for an exorbitant amount.

Although the Divine Aperture Great Elixir is rare, even with a premium, it's not worth 150,000.

The thorn grass also looks to be of good quality.

Even the best quality ones are worth at most 40,000 taels.

It's not worth 60,000 taels at all.

They usually buy Great Condensation Pills for around eight thousand taels of silver.

It's impossible to give 15,000 taels.

The shopkeeper said, "Senior, the price is too high. Although the Divine Aperture Pill is a sixth-grade breakthrough pill, many transcendent forces have the method to refine it. It's just that the pills will not flow into the outside world."

"My Medicine King Hall has this kind of pill. Normally, it is sold at a premium of 10,000 taels of silver, but when sold to our own internal staff, it is sold for a maximum of 90,000 taels of silver."

"You want to sell one of these pills to us for 150,000 taels of silver? That's completely impossible. The same goes for the Great Condensation Pill and the Sea Transformation Pill. The Sea Transformation Pill is just a common fifth-grade cultivation pill, and we usually buy it at 85% of the retail price."

"As for the seventh-grade Great Condensation Pill, although it can reduce the cultivation time of True Essence Realm experts, if you sell a Great Condensation Pill at three times the price, others can buy thirty Condensation Pills for the same price, so no one will be willing to buy it."

"I'll buy the Divine Aperture Pill for 102,000 taels of silver, the Sea Transformation Pill for 1,800 taels (90% of the retail price), and the Great Condensation Pill for 11,000 taels of silver."

"As for that Thornthorn Grass, I'll buy it from you privately, and I'll offer you 42,000 taels. What do you think, Senior?"

His price is absolutely fair.

His main goal was to sell Gu Chen's Spiny Cave Grass, but he was afraid that if he offered a low price, Gu Chen wouldn't be willing to sell it to him and would leave without paying, resulting in a loss.

They bought it at a premium, but it was Yaowang Pavilion's money that was being spent, not his.

The money of the government can be called money.

At most, the Medicine King Pavilion will produce a little less.

Anyway, he didn't get much commission.

Offering a price to keep Gu Chen and acquiring the useful Thorn Acupuncture Grass from him would be the best course of action.

"The Divine Aperture Pill costs 102,000 taels, the Great Condensation Pill costs 11,000 taels, the Sea Transformation Pill costs 1,800 taels, five of them would cost 9,000 taels, and the Piercing Cave Grass costs 42,000 taels. All of them together would cost 164,000 taels." Gu Chen pondered for a moment and concluded that this was roughly the price.

The shopkeeper had no intention of cheating him; in fact, he gave him an extra four or five thousand taels.

Gu Chen said, "Add another two thousand taels to the total price. Add all these items together, and give me 166,000 taels. Four is an unlucky number, so let's change it to six for good luck."

Gu Chen looked at the shopkeeper.

"This..." The shopkeeper hesitated.

These pills would earn the Medicine King Pavilion several thousand taels of silver.

Add another two thousand taels.

I estimate I'll only earn one or two thousand taels.

That's it.

As long as Yaowang Pavilion makes a profit, that's fine.

"Okay," the shopkeeper agreed.

He put away all the pills and silver.

Then he took out 166,000 taels of silver and handed it to Gu Chen.

Gu Chen accepted the silver from the shopkeeper.

Leave the Medicine King Pavilion.

Then they headed to a pawnshop in the county town.

He took out the samurai sword that Yamamoto Rinji had given him.

Place it in front of the pawn shop counter.

The manager of this pawnshop is also at the sixth-grade Breakthrough Realm.

However, Gu Chen's current aura is that of a Perfected Sea Transformation Realm cultivator, which is hard for him to fathom, so he dares not be negligent.

The shopkeeper asked, "Senior, do you wish to pawn this knife?"

"Not bad." Gu Chen nodded and asked, "How much silver can this high-grade Xuan-level weapon be sold for?"

The shopkeeper picked up the samurai sword, examined it carefully, and confirmed its quality.

He replied, "Senior, this weapon is indeed a high-grade Xuan-level treasure, but it is a Japanese samurai sword. In the Divine Dynasty, most powerful people would oppose using it, so its value is probably far less than that of an ordinary high-grade Xuan-level treasure."

"I know, just tell me the price." Gu Chen looked at the shopkeeper.

"Eighteen thousand taels of silver!" the shopkeeper quoted the price.

"Too few." Gu Chen shook his head.

The price of a Xuan-level treasure weapon ranges from ten thousand to one hundred thousand taels of silver.

A typical high-grade Xuan-level treasured sword costs between 50,000 and 80,000 taels of silver.

He had previously sold two Japanese samurai swords for 45,000 taels, which is equivalent to 22,500 taels per sword.

The shopkeeper's initial offer was similar to that of the pawnshop owner he visited in the prefectural city last time; he was only willing to offer less than 20% of the original price.

"Senior, these island nation weapons aren't very popular in the Divine Dynasty. Rank doesn't represent value," the shopkeeper explained. "I can only give you 22,000 taels at most. If you're not satisfied, you can ask around elsewhere."

"This price is definitely the highest price the pawnshop can offer," the shopkeeper said, looking at Gu Chen.

"Twenty-four thousand taels," Gu Chen said.

"That's too high, at most twenty-two thousand five hundred taels." The shopkeeper shook his head.

"Alright then." Gu Chen nodded.

The price is the same as the two from last time.

He was too lazy to argue with the shopkeeper anymore.

The shopkeeper took out 22,500 taels of silver and gave it to Gu Chen, then took the Japanese samurai sword away.

Gu Chen took the silver and left the pawnshop.

One hundred and sixty-six thousand taels plus twenty-two thousand five hundred taels.

He suddenly received 188,500 taels of silver.

In addition to what he received from Yamamoto Rinji, as well as what the noble families and salt merchants offered as tribute, and what he obtained from refining elixirs over the past two days.

He now had a total of 320,000 taels of silver.

In a month at most, if he can raise another 60,000 taels, he will reach 380,000 taels.

I've saved up enough silver to buy pills to break through to the early stage of the Core Formation Realm.