110: Chapter 110 Staying in the Immortal Market

It was only then that he realized how vast the Yue Kingdom was; he had been traveling for a month and a half and was still within its borders.

One day, while passing through a certain area, he was startled to see a row of magnificent, golden buildings on a distant mountain, looking exactly like the scenery of the Chiyan Sect.

When he first saw it, he was taken aback, thinking he had circled back.

After rubbing his eyes and looking again, he realized the scenery was different.

Upon asking passersby, he learned it was the Weiming Sect of the Yue Kingdom, also a major Sect, though it had fewer people at the Ninth Level of Qi Refining compared to the Chiyan Sect.

Xia Shaoxin felt full of melancholy.

Back then, he had longed to join a Sect, live happily as a cultivator, and grow old in a fairyland on earth.

Yet, having only stayed for two or three years, he was forced to leave the largest Sect in the Yue Kingdom.

He wondered if any major Sect would take him in when he reached the Tang Kingdom.

He heard that there was an Immortal Market run by the Sect on the outskirts of the Weiming Sect; a thought crossed his mind, as over the past month, he had finished his qi gathering pills and had no time for Alchemy.

Perhaps he should visit the Immortal Market, see if there were any new Materials, and perform some sacrifices.

Upon arriving, he was greatly astonished. Although the Weiming Sect's strength was inferior to the Chiyan Sect's, the scale of its Immortal Market was even larger, essentially a city in itself.

Inside the city, there were several streets filled with shops.

The center of the city was a large open space for people to set up stalls.

After chatting with a few people, he learned that the Weiming Sect did not set up a market within the Sect itself; everything was traded in the outer market, and outsiders were allowed to come and trade.

This was a matter of Sect philosophy. The Chiyan Sect believed that good things should rot within the Sect and only trash needed to be sold to outsiders.

The Weiming Sect believed that exchanging what one has for what one lacks, and letting the highest bidder win, better promoted the Sect's development.

After strolling around the Immortal Market city, he found that although this Immortal Market was larger, there were no new Materials; he had seen everything in the Chiyan Sect and had already sacrificed them all.

It seemed that the Yue Kingdom was just like this; if he wanted to obtain new Materials, he would have to go and see the legendary strongest Tang Kingdom.

To his surprise, he learned that there were Alchemy Rooms for rent within the Immortal Market, convenient for passing Alchemists to buy Materials and sell their goods there.

The Weiming Sect's mindset was so open that it was breathtaking.

It seemed this Sect cared more about doing business than cultivating.

He casually made some purchases, buying some cheap Materials, acquiring a few Magical Artifacts, and buying some spirit talismans.

He actually rented an Alchemy Room from the manager of the Immortal Market city.

The only downside was that he couldn't rent it by the day; he had to pay for half a year.

The upside was that the rent for half a year was only three Spirit Stones, which was not expensive.

Xia Shaoxin stayed there for a month, stocking up on three months' worth of qi gathering pills for himself and selling several batches of Medicinal Pills to the Immortal Market.

He suddenly realized that this kind of place might be better suited for him.

The Immortal Market was run by the Weiming Sect, responsible for security, and the transactions were honest and reliable.

At least within the Qi Refining Realm, he did not need to join a Sect.

From the Lower Stage of Qi Refining to the Qi Refining Upper Stage, he had learned all the Pill Formulas; once his Realm reached the level, he would just refine new Medicinal Pills to consume.

The biggest benefit of the Chiyan Sect was the Spirit Cave, with spirit rice and Spirit Stones being secondary.

Ordinary Disciples without a Spirit Cave would have a very slow cultivation speed, but he had the Shangqing Profound Mirror, his Alchemy costs were extremely low, and he could Cultivate by relying on Medicinal Pills, so he didn't necessarily have to go to a Sect.

If he could obtain Pill Formulas for after Foundation Establishment, then after Foundation Establishment, it wouldn't matter whether he was in a Sect or not.

One day, after finishing a batch of pills, he normally consumed a qi gathering pill and then circulated his Cultivation Technique to digest the medicine.

Unexpectedly, his Dantian surged, and he was overjoyed; he was about to break through his Realm.

Sure enough, after a while, he broke through to the Third Layer of Qi Refining.

"Oh my, every Breakthrough is untraceable." He felt wonderful inside.

Having both refined pills and broken through today, he was quite tired and fell asleep instantly.

The next day, he habitually took out a qi gathering pill and stuffed it into his mouth.

The qi gathering pill rolled down his throat and dissolved instantly, but his Dantian didn't ripple at all.

He suddenly realized that he was at the Third Layer of Qi Refining, and the qi gathering pill no longer had much effect; he had to switch to the lingyuan pill.

He was dumbfounded; he had just finished refining enough qi gathering pills for three months, and now they were all useless.

It wouldn't be a waste, though; qi gathering pills were a hard currency, and as long as he dared to take them to the market, they would sell quickly.

He suddenly thought that the Third Layer of Qi Refining was the last layer of the Lower Stage, and breaking through to the Qi Refining Level 4 was not just one layer, but a major hurdle.

To successfully break through this major hurdle, he had to consume one of three types: the tongming pill, the Qingling Pill, or the feiyun pill.

These three types of Medicinal Pills had similar effects, only the Materials were different; he had mastered all the Pill Formulas, and which one he refined depended entirely on his mood.

Actually, these auxiliary Medicinal Pills were not absolutely necessary.

Those with strong talent could break through on their own. Even if they had to eat them, most people were short of money and would only eat one or two.

Xia Shaoxin knew that he had been deeply eroded by poisonous miasma since childhood, so eating one or two batches would be of no avail; he had to refine more batches and eat all of them.

He had no choice but to continue lingering in the Immortal Market, slowly selling off all the qi gathering pills.

He refined three months' worth of lingyuan pills for himself, and refined several batches of tongming pills, Qingling Pills, and feiyun pills.

Before he knew it, he had stayed at the Weiming Sect's Immortal Market for nearly three months.

Walking in the Immortal Market every day, he got to know a few Loose Cultivators, and his relationship with them was slightly better than a nodding acquaintance, counting as half a friend.

This day, a shocking piece of news spread in the market: the Sect Head of the Chiyan Sect, Wu Yin, had successfully achieved Foundation Establishment.

The Yue Kingdom had no Foundation Establishment Cultivators, so this news was extremely explosive.

Xia Shaoxin was traveling under a pseudonym, and no one knew his relationship with the Chiyan Sect.

"Elder Qian must be losing his mind!"

He didn't know if Elder Qian was dead or not, but if he was still alive, he must be feeling incredibly stifled.

He didn't know that Elder Qian Yunchang had left this world with the most stifled feeling.

He heard that the Sect Head of the Weiming Sect had personally gone to the Chiyan Sect to attend the Foundation Establishment ceremony.

"The Chiyan Sect is lively, but unfortunately, it is a boring result."

People in the Immortal Market were all discussing the Chiyan Sect's Foundation Establishment, but no one was discussing the taisui evil pill.

Thinking carefully, the Chiyan Sect must have deliberately concealed it.

The Zhuyun Courtyard Forbidden Ground would be the Chiyan Sect's trump card in the future, and they would definitely not leak the secret.

Since no one was discussing the taisui evil pill, Elder Qian was naturally silent.

In this world, as long as you have achieved Foundation Establishment, it doesn't matter if you were a jerk or a beggar before; you will be respected by others.

This principle, Xia Shaoxin had understood when he successfully refined his first wisp of True Qi.

Going from a Utility Disciple to an Inner Sect Disciple was crossing a chasm; going from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment was crossing an even larger chasm.

He made a greater determination in his heart: "If Wu Yin can achieve Foundation Establishment, why can't I!"

He just needed time and a quiet environment.

He had refined enough pills these days to make it to the Tang Kingdom, and he hoped the Tang Kingdom would also have a similar Immortal Market.

As the saying goes, the tree desires stillness but the wind will not cease.

That night, he was resting when suddenly, the alarm on the door of the rented Alchemy Room courtyard sounded.

After renting the Alchemy Room, to prevent others from disturbing him, he had learned from Liu Tingting's approach and bought a Magical Artifact in the Immortal Market to use as a warning.

Tonight, the Magical Artifact worked, waking him up.

This meant someone was trying to break in.