5: Gossiping Neighbor

"That works!" Zhang Qingxiao replied, readily agreeing.

At a time like this, having a companion would be at least a bit safer.

"Zhou Yun, why aren't you greeting your Brother Zhang? We are all neighbors; you should get closer."

Seeing his daughter standing there in a daze, Zhou Quan hurriedly pulled her over and said with a huff.

Although his daughter Zhou Yun hadn't been to Zhang Qingxiao's house in the past few days, he was certain that Zhang Qingxiao could refine Pi Gu Pills.

While at home, Zhou Quan had probed his daughter's intentions several times, both overtly and covertly.

He knew she truly did not resent Zhang Qingxiao.

Naturally, he took this matter to heart.

Zhou Yun was very pretty and didn't take after her father at all. Her figure was quite voluptuous, with prominent curves, especially her exceptionally full chest.

However, her talent for immortal cultivation could only be considered average. She had started to Cultivate at seven or eight years old, and now, over ten years later, she was only at the Fifth Level of the Qi Refinement Stage.

Of course, this was also related to the fact that her family wasn't very wealthy.

If one could eat Medicinal Pills that increased Cultivation speed like candy every day, their Realm could still improve rapidly.

Hearing her father's words, her cheeks flushed slightly. She shyly greeted Zhang Qingxiao and then hid behind her father.

Zhou Yun's unusual behavior today made Zhang Qingxiao somewhat puzzled, but he didn't take it to heart.

He just felt a bit uncomfortable.

That guy Zhou Quan making his daughter call him Brother Zhang was clearly taking advantage of him, making him a generation lower for no reason.

Along the way, Zhou Quan spat as he talked, endlessly chattering about all sorts of trivial matters.

Zhang Qingxiao's head was buzzing; he felt as if countless flies were buzzing around his ears.

He wished he could seal Zhou Quan's mouth shut with superglue.

While regretting his decision to go to the market with Zhou Quan and his daughter, he secretly made up his mind to stay far away from Zhou Quan next time they met.

This guy was just too talkative; he was even worse than Tang Seng.

As they approached the market, the crowd began to thicken.

He was just about to say goodbye to Zhou Quan and head to the designated area for setting up stalls in the market when a slight commotion suddenly broke out in the crowd.

Zhang Qingxiao followed everyone's gaze and looked up, only to see a young Cultivator riding a Flying Sword, whistling through the air.

Many people watched the young Cultivator enter the market with complex expressions of envy, regret, and jealousy in their eyes.

After the young Cultivator entered the market, Zhang Qingxiao looked at the Low Grade Magical Artifact longsword in his own hand and suddenly felt it wasn't so appealing anymore.

"Sooner or later, I will also buy two Flying Swords to play with."

"One for Sword Flight, and one to hover above my head."

With this thought, Zhang Qingxiao immediately felt he had a goal.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, Zhou Yun and I need to go sell the prepared talisman skins. Let's travel together again when we return."

Upon entering the market, Zhou Quan had to go to another street dedicated to selling talisman skins, so he couldn't stick with Zhang Qingxiao.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, I still have other things to do. You can head back first after you sell your talisman skins."

Zhang Qingxiao gave Zhou Quan a strange look, thinking to himself that if he traveled back with him, he was genuinely afraid he wouldn't be able to resist beating him up.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, since you have things to do, go ahead and get busy."

"Anyway, we are neighbors; there will be plenty of opportunities to chat in the future."

Zhou Quan didn't mind, pulled his daughter along, and went to another street.

"Dad, can you not be so chatty in the future?"

"Didn't you see the look Brother Zhang had? He looked like he wanted to beat you up."

After turning a corner, Zhou Yun couldn't help but remind him.

"How dare he!"

"Your father, no matter what, is a Fifth Level Qi Refining Middle Stage Cultivator. As for him, it's not certain who would beat whom."

Zhou Quan glared with his ox-like eyes, looking displeased.

Zhou Yun frowned and looked at her father for a while, then couldn't help but roll her eyes.

A leopard cannot change its spots; she wondered if he wasn't afraid of getting beaten up one day.

Zhang Qingxiao naturally didn't know about the conversation between Zhou Quan and his daughter.

After entering the market, he first inquired about the price of Pi Gu Pills, then found a stall and began to set up shop.

The price of Pi Gu Pills had basically stabilized over the past few days.

He still sold them at the price of twenty-four taels of gold per pill.

This was the time when the market had the most foot traffic, and the Pi Gu Pills were sold out in less than a quarter of an hour after being set out.

He gained a total of nine Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Making sure no one was watching him, he packed up his belongings, shouldered his basket, and went to the Medicinal Pill shop.

He bought forty portions of medicinal herbs at the price of ten portions per Spirit Stone.

Leaving the Medicinal Pill shop, he wandered the streets again, preparing to buy some food and items for self-defense.

"How much for a Body Protection Talisman?"

"Eight Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Quality guaranteed, honest business. How many do you want, Fellow Daoist?"

Hearing this price, Zhang Qingxiao turned and walked away.

"What kind of Yao Beast meat is this?"

"First-tier Early Stage Flower Spirit Pork. The meat is fresh and tender, with a faint hint of Spiritual Qi. It was just slaughtered last night. Three taels of gold per jin. Would you like to try a few dozen jin to get a taste, Fellow Daoist?"

"Fellow Daoist, wait, don't go. If you think it's expensive, make a counteroffer."

"Will you sell it for one tael of gold per jin?"

Zhang Qingxiao stopped and tentatively offered a price.

"Deal!"

"How many jin do you want, Fellow Daoist?"

The meat-selling Cultivator said without hesitation, fearing that the customer in front of him would leave.

"Let me have one jin to try first."

Zhang Qingxiao suddenly felt that he had offered too high a price, but he was too embarrassed to leave, so he could only bite the bullet and buy one jin.

"Fellow Daoist, are you messing with me?"

"One jin? I can't even cut that for you."

"Forget it, this piece of meat is over ten jin. Just give me ten taels of gold."

The meat-selling Cultivator cut off a large piece of Yao Beast meat and tossed it accurately into Zhang Qingxiao's basket.

Zhang Qingxiao painfully pulled ten taels of gold from his bosom and placed it on the counter.

He visited several more stalls selling ordinary food, bought a few dozen jin of ordinary rice, various seasonings, and some vegetables.

The Spirit Stones in his pocket went from five to four.

He came to a shop selling books, bought a low-level Body Refining Cultivation Technique and a set of incomplete sword techniques, and all the Spirit Stones in his possession left him.

To learn Cultivation Techniques or spells from the Chang Sheng Sect's library, one needs contribution points, which he didn't have, so he could only buy them with Spirit Stones at shops in the market.

It really was: money earned in the market is spent in the market; don't even think about taking a single cent home.

On his way back, Zhang Qingxiao took a detour to make sure no one was following him before returning home.

He put away all the things he had bought and brought the large piece of Yao Beast meat to the kitchen.

He weighed it in his hand; the piece of Yao Beast meat was estimated to be nearly twenty jin, which made him feel a bit more balanced.

He placed the meat on the chopping board, picked up a kitchen knife, and chopped down hard.

The Yao Beast meat's muscle fibers were tough and very elastic, but fortunately, it hadn't reached the point of being impervious to blades.

After some vigorous chopping, the large piece of Yao Beast meat was finally cut into more than a dozen small pieces.

He sprinkled salt on it, put it in a large basin, and prepared to marinate it for a few days before smoking it into cured meat.

The weather had been quite hot recently. If he didn't marinate it, it would spoil in less than two days.

After processing the meat, he steamed some rice, stewed some meat, boiled a few vegetable leaves, gulped down the meal, and immediately returned to his room to take out the Body Refining Cultivation Technique and the incomplete sword techniques to study them carefully.

The Body Refining Cultivation Technique was called the Tiger Leopard Body Tempering Art, which was originally a method for Mortals to refine their bodies; it was very simple to Cultivate.

It was paired with a set of Tiger Leopard Fists to exercise the body.

Zhang Qingxiao didn't know how effective it would be.

At the time, he only had four Low-Grade Spirit Stones left, and he couldn't afford anything better.

The sword technique was a bit better. According to the records on the Secret Manual, this set of incomplete sword techniques had once allowed a Mortal to enter the Dao through the sword and become an immortal Cultivator.

Presumably, it wouldn't be too bad.