The fluffy white clouds drifted like clusters of brocade flowers in the clear and transparent blue celestial vault.
Two tad beasts soared side by side, one a slender and elegant Qingyu Crane in black and white, the other a grey-feathered, agile-bodied sand goose.
The crane’s cry was bright, the goose’s call was heavy, like the harmonious sound of a zither and a harp.
Li Lingyu watched as the tad beasts left the disciples riding Talisman Birds far behind, glancing at the rapidly passing forest below, and subtly shook her head.
The tad beasts descended in the Qi Refining Hall area of Red Copper Mountain, and Ji An and his companion walked a stretch of mountain path, stopping at the Dharma Prohibition’s entrance.
He took out a Communication Talisman Sword and input information into it with his Divine Sense, lightly tossing it, a silver Spirit Light entered the Dharma Prohibition.
"Senior Sister, please be patient, let’s wait for a while."
"No rush," Li Lingyu gently stroked the white feathers on the back of the Qingyu Crane and sighed softly,
"I’ve gotten used to traveling on riding beasts these days. I would definitely feel uncomfortable using Talisman Birds for transportation again.
The sect’s launch of the leasing business should help sell more riding beasts."
After enjoying a faster mode of travel, if they have enough Crystal Stones, most disciples would likely choose to purchase flying tad beasts.
"After the Senior Sister establishes her Foundation, she will surely purchase a tad beast and a flying ship as soon as possible."
Although Foundation Establishnt cultivators could ride the wind using their own abilities, the speed is not advantageous compared to flying tad beasts, so cultivators often need the aid of external tools for travel.
Besides dedicated flying artifacts, Foundation Establishnt cultivators can also ride magical artifacts for flight, and if high speed is not a priority, the magical power consumption is much lower than riding the wind.
It is said that once sword cultivators reach the level of unity with their swords, they can fly through the sky and earth using their flying swords, known as Sword Escape. The escape speed is faster than people several small realms higher than themselves, unrivaled among peers.
"A tad beast is necessary to buy, but the flying ship isn’t.
For Foundation Establishnt cultivators, unless traveling with multiple people, a flying shuttle is better."
Li Lingyu laughed, noting that flying shuttles can only carry two people but prioritize speed and utility.
The two of them were chatting idly when a fiery escape light flew in from afar.
"Junior Brother and Junior Sister, sorry to keep you waiting!"
Zhang Yuanshan’s hearty laughter ca through. He had learned from Zhao ngyao that Ji An had entered Ningcui Cliff’s lineage, realizing Ji An was bound to establish his Foundation.
According to the hierarchy, Ge Ying from Ningcui Cliff was his Elder, renowned in the sect for alchemy and planting.
Thus, he directly called them Junior Brother and Junior Sister, showing a clear sense of closeness.
Ji An saluted, "Sorry for the disturbance today, we need to trouble you, Senior Brother."
He then introduced them to each other, and after exchanging greetings, the three of them flew to Zhang Yuanshan’s grotto mansion.
At the grotto mansion, Zhang Yuanshan instructed the attendant:
"Brew a pot of Silver Needle Tea."
"Sorry for troubling you, Senior Brother, we’ve co today with a request.
My Senior Sister and I happened upon so artifact refining items, and we aren’t sure what they are; we ask for your guidance, Senior Brother."
Ji An said as he took out everything from the storage bag.
There were two magic artifact embryos and a dozen or so pieces of ore material.
Zhang Yuanshan picked up a magic artifact embryo, wondering inwardly where it ca from.
The magic artifact was already halfway refined, only lacking the inscription of runes and the addition of Dharma Prohibition. No artifact refiner would sell semi-finished products because they’re difficult to price well, waste effort, and ti.
He cast a spell, a yellow fla sprouting from his fingertips to roast the magic artifact embryo, verifying what materials it contained.
After a while, he put the embryo down, shaking his head slightly:
"These two are both defensive magical artifacts, with Red Mountain Copper as the main material, added with Windmill Copper and Profound Iron Essence. However, the artifact refining technique was a bit rough, and with the improper proportion of materials, it wasted quite good raw materials."
Zhang Yuanshan then picked up the ores to identify them, carefully weighing them, then laughed:
"This black one is Purple Gold Copper ore, these gray ones are teorite Iron ores, and this pale yellow tal is Windmill Copper.
They are all materials for refining top-grade magical artifacts; Purple Gold Copper and teorite Iron can be used as materials for refining Tier Two spiritual artifacts, and they are quite valuable."
Li Lingyu’s eyes showed a hint of delight; spiritual artifact materials are much more valuable, and she looked towards Ji An.
After their eyes t, Ji An said,
"Senior Brother, could you give an estimate of the value of these items?
Neither the magic artifact embryos nor the materials are of any use to us, so we want to sell them to get so Spirit Stones."
The attendant served the Spirit Tea, and Zhang Yuanshan smiled:
"Let’s have a sip of tea first."
They each took a sip from their teacups, and Zhang Yuanshan pondered,
"If sold within the sect, the magic artifact embryos can only fetch the price of the materials. I estimate the two embryos total about a hundred and eighty Spirit Stones.
The Purple Gold Copper ore can be sold for one hundred and twenty Spirit Stones... Junior Brother and Junior Sister could look for other appraisers elsewhere, but this estimate shouldn’t be too far off."
Hearing the price quote, Li Lingyu’s eyes sparkled, and she nodded slightly.
Ji An saw his Senior Sister’s expression and understood:
"Senior Brother, would you be interested in taking these materials?"
"If you both trust , I would certainly be willing to buy them; Tier Two materials are quite enticing for ."
"You’re joking, Senior Brother, of course we trust you."
If they didn’t trust you, they wouldn’t have sought you out, Ji An thought.
Before coming, he intended to request a Jade Slip from the other regarding common ore materials, but now he didn’t ntion it, as bringing it up would have cooled the atmosphere.
"In total, it’s four hundred and ninety Spirit Stones. To make it even, I’ll offer five hundred.
"However, I can only co up with three hundred spirit stones now; for the rest, I need so ti, one month later I can gather the remaining spirit stones."
Zhang Yuanshan felt a bit embarrassed, as the expenses after Foundation Establishnt had increased greatly, coupled with the fact that he had a batch of artifact refining materials tied up, so three hundred spirit stones was his limit.
Ji An took out the Stone Turtle Shield and Celestial Net Umbrella and said:
"Alright, we have one more request. Brother, please help repair these two magical artifacts."
Zhang Yuanshan picked up the magical artifacts to examine them, squinting slightly:
"Have you run into a conflict with other cultivators?"
Both the shield and the umbrella surface had many marks from sharp objects, and the Celestial Net Umbrella was punctured with several large holes.
"We were just unlucky, ran into a tribulation cultivator outside the sect."
This kind of matter didn’t need to be kept secret, Ji An briefly recounted the event but did not ntion the location or the level of enemy.
"Actually attacking sect disciples, did Junior Brother report it to the Law Enforcent Hall?"
Zhang Yuanshan said angrily; the sect had an unwritten rule that all must unite as one when involved in external conflicts.
"It’s already been reported to the Law Enforcent Hall.
Brother, the storage bag is also refined by artifact refiners, I want to ask, is there any way to detect certain things in a storage bag?"
Ji An was thinking about the dicinal powder rubbed on the spirit stones.
"So Heaven and Earth spiritual objects form their own space, with Dao patterns naturally coinciding, which those great cultivators research to draw and create space prohibitions.
Storage bags are refined by artifact refiners using low-tier space materials combined with space prohibitions; indeed, there are secret techniques to probe into the contents of storage bags..."
Zhang Yuanshan briefly introduced the principle behind the refinent of storage bags, sighing:
"High-tier storage bags are better, as their prohibitions are strict and difficult to peek into, but if a high-tier cultivator masters this probing secret technique, the storage bags of low-tier disciples beco transparent to them."
After a while, Ji An and his companion rose to take leave, Zhang Yuanshan handed over three hundred spirit stones, saying:
"Junior Brother, take this first; the cost of materials for repairing the magical artifacts will be deducted next ti."
...
Outside Red Copper Mountain, Li Lingyu slowed down the flying speed of her tad beast and said:
"Junior Brother, I need to return the tad beast to Luoxia Mountain, so let’s part ways here."
She planned to go into seclusion after returning, aiming to prepare for Foundation Establishnt.
"Alright, the seized flying ship is not easy to sell for the mont, you can temporarily keep it for travel, Sister."
After the two parted, Ji An flew to the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall to purchase so talisman grass seeds.
Talisman grass had reached its harvest period and presumably already been collected by Huang Feihu and others, needing to be replanted.
Having extra contribution points on hand this ti, he bought enough talisman grass seeds for a hundred acres and twenty acres of jade corn seeds to save ti in the future by preventing frequent trips.
After leaving Miscellaneous Affairs Hall, Ji An went to Jade Water Marketplace to find Wei Songnian.
His master had restricted his outings, so the sale of talismans would have to be entrusted to Wei.
"Rest assured, Junior Brother, I’ll handle this easily."
Wei Songnian noted down the list of supply shops, patting his chest as he promised.
His heart told him the benefits after taking a master were undeniably different, and it seed likely in the future that Ji An would establish a foundation earlier than him.
"If in the future I manage to open a shop in Cyan Cloud Immortal City, I’d have to rely on Junior Brother for supplies."
"No problem, I might be able to create so popular talismans by that ti."
Ji An paused for half a mont and then continued:
"Senior Brother, my Spirit-Seeking Rat found a certain spirit stone in a shop containing a special dicinal powder."
He didn’t continue but Wei Songnian understood his implication.
"When did this happen?"
"First appeared two months ago, and a second ti a few days ago."
Wei Songnian’s eyes spun a few tis, speaking in a deep tone:
"Junior Brother, how do you plan to handle this?"
"For now, I’ll keep it quiet and settle accounts slowly later, so selling talismans through Senior Brother poses so risk."
Ji An said, because this issue could rely prove suspicion against the other party; unless solid evidence was captured, it remained fruitless to report to the sect.
In Cyan Cloud Immortal City, those operating shops had so connections here and there.
"I’ll be cautious, but don’t worry, I’ll take the sect’s flying ship when going to the Immortal City, and when returning, travel together with one or two dozen fellow late-stage Qi Refining disciples.
On the contrary, Junior Brother needs to stay vigilant."
Wei Songnian said, patting his forehead:
"Elder Ge commanded that when Junior Brother leaves the sect again it will be as a Foundation Establishnt cultivator, so this shouldn’t be a concern."
Once the discussions concluded, Ji An flew back to Jade Water Lake’s spirit field.
Indeed, the talisman grass had been collected, and after casting spells to plant new seeds, he returned to the small courtyard, took out two Wood Elent Beads to activate and diffuse Wood Elent spiritual energy throughout, then sequentially cast Fla Fire Spell and Thick Earth Technique.
Wood grows fire; properly replenishing Wood Elent spiritual energy can stimulate the dicinal properties of fire-attribute spirit plants. This was a minor technique learned from his master’s dicinal garden.
After half an hour passed, and having absorbed most of the Fire Elent spiritual energy, he perford a spell to release the Small Cloud Rain Technique.
Clouds churned above the courtyard, and the spirit plants spread their leaves under the gentle rain.
Ji An left the small courtyard, shutting off the prohibition, then mounted the grey-feathered sand goose to fly to Huang Feihu’s courtyard.
Outside the courtyard, several wooden stands were erected, stacked with bundles of golden-hued talisman grass, and inside a handful of people were busily making talisman paper with fervor.
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