90: Chapter 90 Heavenly Silkworm Silk

The pale-faced scholar put the bracer on his forearm and injected his Qi into it.

A pale red hexagonal Spirit shield unfolded on the outer side of the bracer.

He lightly slapped the surface of the shield with his palm.

The Spirit shield suddenly released a flame impact.

The orange-red flames exploded from the shield's surface, scorching a corner of the pen holder on the counter with a loud boom—the brush inside was burned until only half a charred handle remained, and the smell of burning filled half the shop.

The young shopkeeper jumped up.

While brushing off the sparks that had splashed onto his sleeve, he stared at the Spirit shield on the bracer, his eyes nearly popping out.

He opened his mouth several times before managing to squeeze out a complete sentence.

"This—flame rebound? Both offensive and defensive?"

He gathered his wits, walked around the bracer twice, and had the pale-faced scholar activate the rebound Restriction again.

The second time, he saw it clearly—the flame impact was triggered automatically the moment the shield was struck, without the need for extra spellcasting.

"Two hundred thirty-five. I can't go any higher; my shop just opened, and I'm short on cash."

The pale-faced scholar smiled.

His goatee trembled slightly with the smile, and the sleeve of his Confucian robe swept across the counter.

"Deal."

Six hundred seventy-five Spirit Stones went into his pouch.

Added to the Spirit Stones remaining before his seclusion, he now had over seven hundred Spirit Stones in his Storage Pouch.

For the next half day, Jiang Yan appeared in the market in the square-faced guise he had used when entering the city.

Baicao Hall was the largest Spirit Medicine shop in Black Stone City; three storefronts had been opened up, and four clerks stood behind the counter, greeting customers simultaneously.

The labels on the medicine cabinets were dense—from auxiliary ingredients for Bigu pills to the main ingredients for peiyuan pills, from semi-Spirit Medicines to Rank 1 Spirit Medicines, the variety was twice that of Tiancao Hall.

The shopkeeper was surnamed Shen, an old man at Qi Refining Level 8; his hair was gray, but his back was straight, and he spoke in a measured, unhurried manner.

He took the list Jiang Yan handed him—Stone Heart Flower, Clear Spirit Grass, Cloud Pattern Orchid, all obscure Spirit Medicines—and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes tightened.

"Stone Heart Flower is cold in nature, Clear Spirit Grass is cool, and Cloud Pattern Orchid is neutral—this combination of three medicines is a formula for neutralizing fire poison. What kind of Medicinal Pill are you refining, Fellow Daoist?"

"An ancient prescription; I'm just gathering medicine according to the recipe."

Shopkeeper Shen gave an "oh" and didn't ask further.

He took out the medicinal Materials from the cabinets one by one, weighing each item on a small scale before wrapping it up.

The petals of the Stone Heart Flower were grayish-white, and after drying, they were as hard as paper, shattering at the slightest touch of a finger; he wrapped them in three layers of oil paper before securing them.

The leaves of the Clear Spirit Grass were slender like swords, dark green, and a very faint, crisp juice seeped from the broken ends.

The buds of the Cloud Pattern Orchid were the size of a thumb, with naturally occurring cloud-shaped patterns on the petals that shimmered with a pale blue luster in the sunlight.

None of the three medicines were expensive, but the quantity needed was large.

Added to a batch of main and auxiliary ingredients for refining peiyuan pills he also bought, he spent a total of one hundred seventy-six Spirit Stones.

Purchasing the Spirit Materials took even longer.

He went back and forth between several Spirit Material shops comparing prices; for the same piece of Geng Metal, the East Street shop asked for eighty Spirit Stones, while the West Street shop only wanted seventy-two, but the piece in West Street had three tiny cracks on the surface.

He finally bought two fist-sized pieces of Geng Metal in the West Street and a head-sized piece of Secret Silver in the East Street.

The silvery-white luster of the Secret Silver was exceptionally bright in the dim shop; it felt slightly cool to the touch, and when his Divine Sense probed inside, he could feel a very uniform crystal structure.

He bought the Cold Iron at a shop in the Central Street that specialized in buying and selling metal Spirit Materials.

The shopkeeper was a hunchbacked old man who spoke slowly, but the items on his shelves were arranged neatly.

The surface of the Cold Iron ingot was covered with a very faint layer of white frost, and it felt so cold that it made his fingertips numb; it was priced at thirty-five Spirit Stones.

Jiang Yan bargained it down to thirty, and the old man thought for a moment before nodding.

He bought three pieces of Copper Gold and two Silver Rhino Horns at a shop in the North Street.

The Silver Rhino Horns were of average quality, with worn marks at the tips, but the horn cores were intact, making them good Materials for refining armor-piercing Magical Artifacts.

The Sky Silk was the last item; he intended to refine a magical robe for himself.

He saw this bundle of silk thread at a shop at the entrance of the East Street that specialized in buying and selling Yao Beast Materials—a bundle as thick as a thumb, with threads as fine as hair, completely silvery-white, glowing with a soft pearlescent luster in the dim shop.

The shopkeeper's asking price was not low, claiming it was silk spun by a Rank 1 High Grade Sky Silkworm, impervious to blades, swords, water, and fire.

Jiang Yan bargained the price, and the deal was finally struck.

The total cost was about three hundred Spirit Stones.

It was already dark when he returned to West Seventeen.

The stone house to the east was pitch black, and the one to the north was as silent and still as usual.

Jiang Yan pushed open the stone door of the west house and stored the newly purchased Spirit Medicines and Spirit Materials into his Storage Pouch, categorized accordingly.

The auxiliary ingredients needed for the Zhuguo Pill were placed separately in a wooden box—Stone Heart Flower, Clear Spirit Grass, and Cloud Pattern Orchid, plus the cinnabar and alum he had bought earlier; most of the auxiliary ingredients were prepared, with only a few remaining.

After finishing all this, he sat cross-legged in the center of the Spirit Gathering Array.

He poured a High Grade peiyuan pill from the jade bottle—the pill was purplish-black, with pill patterns flowing on the surface, its medicinal fragrance restrained, and only when brought close to his nose could he smell a very faint, crisp aroma.

He put the pill into his mouth.

The moment the pill touched the tip of his tongue, it began to melt, and a wave of warm medicinal power poured from his throat into his abdomen, surging along his Meridians toward his Dantian.

The dark purple vortex in his Dantian accelerated as the medicinal power poured in, peeling away and converting the medicinal power layer by layer.

A slight sensation of distension and pain came from his Meridians—that was the normal reaction of his Qi washing over the inner walls of his Meridians.

He closed his eyes, his breathing steady.

After the Middle Stage of Qi Refining Level 6, every step forward was more difficult than the last.

The medicinal power of this peiyuan pill was slowly refined within the Dantian vortex; the color of the vortex barely changed, but the speed of its rotation was at least thirty percent faster than usual.

He sensed the speed of the medicinal power refinement and calculated in his mind the total amount of Qi needed to reach Qi Refining Stage 7.

It should be about enough if he took two or three more High Grade peiyuan pills.

After breaking through to the Late Stage of Qi Refining, once he had saved up enough cultivation resources, he would switch to a Righteous Path Cultivation Technique.

However, the scarcity of star grass in Black Stone City was a problem.

He had asked at Baicao Hall, and Shopkeeper Shen said that star grass was not produced in the Black Stone Mountains; occasionally, a Loose Cultivator might pick it from the depths of the Manghuang Mountains, but there had been no stock for the past half year.

He could refine Materials for other Body Refining Medicinal Pills, but the price was too expensive—the material cost for one dose of Body Refining Medicinal Pill was at least over one hundred Spirit Stones, and the efficacy was not as suited to the attributes of the "Star Saint Body" as the star pill.

He would see again in a while.

If he really couldn't buy it, he would just have to make do with other Body Refining Medicinal Pills for now.

The effect wouldn't be as good, but earning more Spirit Stones to pile up the quantity would also allow him to pile up a few levels of cultivation.

He opened his eyes.

The night-luminescent pearl in the cultivation room emitted a dim green light, casting blurred shadows on the walls.

Wind passed through the courtyard outside the window, and the mist at the mouth of the stone well was blown away and then gathered again, making a very faint, whimpering sound.

Jiang Yan took three pieces of Geng Metal from his Storage Pouch and rubbed them in his hands.

The cold sensation from the metal surface seeped from his palms into his Meridians, and his Divine Sense probed into the interior of the Geng Metal—the crystal structure was dense and uniform, making it a good material for refining offensive Magical Artifacts.

Then he put the Geng Metal away, closed his eyes again, and continued to operate the "Taixu Nourishing Spirit Art".

His Divine Sense slowly probed outward from the boundary of eight and a half zhang—eight point six zhang, eight point seven zhang, eight point eight zhang—each time it expanded by an inch, that pale golden halo in his Sea of Consciousness became a fraction more condensed.