17: Dark Night

Leaving the Li Family Pill Shop, Zhang Qingxiao pushed through the heavy crowds and finally managed to squeeze into three other pill shops, where he gathered another one hundred sets of medicinal ingredients for refining Golden Marrow Pill.

As for the ingredients for refining Yellow Dragon Pill and Pi Gu Pill, he had arrived a step too late.

The various shops were basically sold out; the remaining one or two portions were not worth purchasing.

In addition, just in case, Zhang Qingxiao also purchased two Body Protection Talismans, one Golden Light Talisman, and two Light Body Talismans.

He did not purchase a single offensive talisman.

The offensive talismans for the Qi Refinement Stage were generally quite weak unless used in large quantities.

And Zhang Qingxiao was not yet wealthy enough to throw out ten, eight, or even a hundred talismans at once.

Furthermore, the power of his Fireball Technique, Spirit Arrow Technique, and Ice Technique was decent enough; there was absolutely no need to waste Spirit Stones on buying offensive talismans.

While passing by the Magical Artifact shop, Zhang Qingxiao lingered under the sign for a long time before finally walking in.

"Fellow Daoist, what kind of Magical Artifact do you need?"

"Just looking around!"

Seeing Zhang Qingxiao enter, the shopkeeper hurried forward to greet him enthusiastically.

Other shops were packed with people, their business booming. Only the Magical Artifact shop was not much different from usual, with few customers visiting. Against the backdrop of today's situation, it appeared even more desolate.

"What is the lowest price for a Storage Pouch in Spirit Stones?"

Without this thing, it was truly too inconvenient. If he hadn't been busy with Alchemy and maintaining his Cultivation speed recently, he would have come to ask about the price long ago to make plans.

"The cheapest Storage Pouch has a space of three cubic meters and costs ten Mid-Grade Spirit Stones."

"We happen to have one in stock; if you need it, Fellow Daoist, I will go get it for you right now."

The Magical Artifact shopkeeper's eyes lit up; this was a big deal. Selling one Storage Pouch would guarantee him a profit of at least one Mid-Grade Spirit Stone.

In the market area where Utility Disciples resided, it was not certain that even one could be sold in half a year. Truly capable Disciples would not purchase this item in the market area for Utility Disciples.

"I was just asking; there is no need to trouble the shopkeeper to get it."

Zhang Qingxiao never imagined that a Storage Pouch would be so expensive. In other Transmigration cultivation worlds, this item was distributed for free after joining a Sect. Here, not only was it not free, but the price was outrageously high.

Ten Mid-Grade Spirit Stones were equivalent to one thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Just for Golden Marrow Pill alone, it would take one hundred of them to buy one. And for other Alchemists, refining one hundred Golden Marrow Pills would take at least a year without eating or drinking.

"No problem, Fellow Daoist can come whenever you want."

"Our shop still has many high-quality Magical Artifacts; would you like me to show you?"

The Magical Artifact shopkeeper did not feel any dissatisfaction because of Zhang Qingxiao's words. From the medicinal ingredients in Zhang Qingxiao's basket, he had already guessed that the other party was an Alchemist who could refine Golden Marrow Pill, a Medicinal Pill that could speed up Cultivation in the Middle Stage of Qi Refining.

Even if the other party didn't have enough Spirit Stones now, he might have them to make a purchase at some point in the future. How could one be so shortsighted in business?

"No need to trouble the shopkeeper; I just remembered I have important matters to attend to. I will look next time. Farewell."

After saying this, Zhang Qingxiao turned and left the Magical Artifact shop. Originally, with two extra Mid-Grade Spirit Stones in his pocket, he had felt quite wealthy. After entering the Magical Artifact shop, he realized he was still a poor man.

When he arrived at the street specifically for selling various kinds of Yao Beast meat, he looked around and was surprised to find not a single stall selling Yao Beast meat. At this moment, he even doubted if he had come to the wrong place.

He asked around and finally understood the reason. It turned out that those Utility Disciples capable of hunting Yao Beasts had basically all accepted Sect missions. Naturally, no one was setting up stalls to sell Yao Beast meat.

Hearing this news, Zhang Qingxiao was stunned. If no one sold Yao Beast meat in the future, what would he eat? He couldn't just eat Spirit Rice or Pi Gu Pill every day...

Since there was no Yao Beast meat for sale, he couldn't be bothered to scramble for other things. He still had quite a bit of stock at home, enough for him to eat for a year or two without any problems. The war between the Chang Sheng Sect and the Guiyuan Sect could not possibly last that long.

He returned home vigilantly, and the person sent by Immortal Li had already delivered the medicinal ingredients to his home. He checked the quantity, and it was correct. Zhang Qingxiao placed all the medicinal ingredients he had carried back and those delivered by the Li Family Pill Shop into the Pill Refining Room.

"Zhou Yun, cook a little less Yao Beast meat at noon."

"It might be impossible to buy Yao Beast meat recently, and our stock at home isn't very large, so we still need to be frugal."

After putting away the medicinal ingredients, Zhang Qingxiao saw Zhou Yun was about to start preparing lunch and quickly gave instructions.

"I know."

"Brother Zhang, our family still has some; if it's not enough to eat, just take it from our house. Anyway, my father doesn't like to eat it."

Zhou Yun replied. She had originally intended to cut five catties of Yao Beast meat, but this time she only cut half. Fortunately, her words were not heard by her father, or he would surely have been angered to death. Did he not like to eat it? It was clearly because Yao Beast meat was too expensive, and he couldn't bear to eat it.

Zhou Quan, who was frantically scrambling to buy various foods in the market, suddenly sneezed, and a sense of foreboding arose in his heart. He felt that something might be missing from home.

When he returned home, panting as he carried one hundred catties of rice and twenty catties of flour, he saw the cured meat hanging in the kitchen, with only one pitiful piece left. His head buzzed...

His first reaction was that his home had been robbed, but when he saw that none of the other valuable items in the house were missing, he immediately understood that it wasn't a robbery at all, but that it had been taken by his spendthrift daughter.

He didn't even need to think to know it had been given to Zhang Qingxiao.

"What kind of sin have I committed..."

"She hasn't even married over there yet; it would be one thing if she didn't bring things home, but she's actually moving things out of the house..."

Putting down the rice and flour, Zhou Quan was about to rush into Zhang Qingxiao's house to confront him. Walking to the door, he stopped abruptly.

Thinking about how Zhang Qingxiao had been living better and better recently, and that it was his own idea for his daughter to go to Zhang Qingxiao's house, he could only sigh helplessly.

During this time, although the relationship between Zhang Qingxiao and Zhou Yun had not progressed further, it was not completely without progress. He had also managed to take advantage of quite a few benefits.

If he went over just because of a few pieces of cured meat, not only would he appear petty, but it might even cause his daughter's efforts over the last three months to be wasted in vain.

At noon, when Zhou Yun brought back the food, Zhou Quan saw there wasn't even a single piece of meat in it and gave her another lecture. He nagged for two whole hours before stopping.

In the evening, after Zhang Qingxiao finished refining a batch of Golden Marrow Pill, he did not take the Golden Marrow Pill to Cultivate with Spirit Stones as usual. He just sat cross-legged to restore his Qi.

Tonight was the first day the Chang Sheng Sect had closed its mountain gates, so it would certainly be different from usual. Although Zhang Qingxiao had made many preparations, he still had to be alert and respond cautiously.

Not long after nightfall, several shrill screams came from outside the alley. At the same time, there were sounds of arguing and smashing items. It was clearly a gang crime.

Zhang Qingxiao got up, went to the courtyard, and looked out through the courtyard gate. Three or four figures were walking back and forth in the alley, and he immediately held his breath.