462: Chapter 462 Soul-Nourishing Incense

Among those gazes, there was awe, envy, and also hidden jealousy and curiosity. After all, this was not only the person possessing the "border guarding true seal," but also a legendary figure who had leaped to become the personal Disciple of the Formation Peak Master, long since becoming a mythical existence in the eyes of the Sect's low-level Disciples.

Su Ming's expression was calm; he had long since grown accustomed to such gazes. The Way of Cautious Survival was not about blindly acting like a subservient weakling; in the face of absolute hierarchy and status, appropriately displaying one's majesty could instead save a lot of unnecessary trouble.

He walked straight to the deepest part of the hall, to the special counter dedicated to receiving Inner Sect and True Disciples.

The deacon behind the counter, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly sprang up as if he had springs on his buttocks the moment he saw that purple robe. His originally stern face instantly squeezed out a smile as bright as a blooming chrysanthemum.

“Oh, so it is True Disciple Su who has graced us with his presence! I wonder what instructions the True Disciple has for today?” The deacon bowed and scraped, his tone complimentary to the extreme.

Su Ming did not waste words, directly handing over his identity token from his sleeve and reciting the list he had already calculated.

“Two items. spirit communication jade marrow and star pattern silk, one portion of each in above-average quality.”

“Understood! Please wait a moment, True Disciple Su!” The deacon took the token, not daring to ask a single extra question, and immediately turned to enter the premium storehouse at the back.

While the deacon was retrieving the goods, Su Ming separated a thread of Divine Sense and probed into the identity token in his hand.

In the contribution points column, a clear number appeared: 21,350 points.

Looking at this number, a faint, imperceptible smile hooked at the corner of Su Ming's mouth.

A small portion of this was what he had accumulated himself previously, but the vast majority were dividends that had been continuously flowing in from the Repair Hall over the past few months.

Ever since he implemented the “Assembly Line Operation” and the “Standard Damaged Parts Training Method,” and handed the position of Chief Deacon to Wang Defa, the machine of the Repair Hall had begun to run completely. It monopolized the low-to-mid-end Formation maintenance business of the Outer Sect and even parts of the Inner Sect, bringing a stable and generous passive income to him, the “mastermind behind the scenes,” every month.

“Old Wang’s handling of matters is indeed reliable.” Su Ming sincerely thanked Wang Defa in his heart. With this stable source of wealth, he could finally be considered to have some confidence to stand tall in this Immortal Realm.

Before long, the deacon returned at a light trot, holding two exquisite jade boxes.

“True Disciple Su, please inspect the goods. This spirit communication jade marrow is taken from the core of the South Barren Spiritual Jade Mine and has very few Impurities; this star pattern silk is spun by a second-rank mutated Star-Spotted Silkworm, it is absolutely top-tier High Grade.”

Su Ming opened the jade boxes and glanced at them. The spirit communication jade marrow was warm to the touch and its spiritual power was pure; the star pattern silk was as thin as a gossamer, shimmering with points of starlight under the light.

“Not bad. Deduct the contribution points.”

“spirit communication jade marrow is eight hundred points, star pattern silk is three hundred points, for a total of one thousand one hundred points.” The deacon nimbly deducted the value on the token and respectfully handed the token and the jade boxes back to Su Ming.

Su Ming put the items into his Storage Pouch and did not stay long in the Logistics Hall, turning to leave.

After exiting the Logistics Hall, Su Ming did not directly summon his Flying Sword to return to the Star Gazing Cliff, but instead walked down the steps and turned into a slightly cramped alleyway nearby.

This was the outskirts of the market, and also a “flea market” spontaneously formed by the low-level Disciples of various peaks.

Unlike the Logistics Hall, which was a formal and strict official institution with clearly marked prices, this place was filled with a relaxed and grassroots atmosphere. On both sides of the alley, there were no proper shops; most of the stall owners were Outer Sect Disciples or Menial Workers at the Qi Refinement Stage. They simply spread a piece of ragged cloth on the bluestone floor and laid out various odds and ends they had obtained from their experiences that they no longer needed or had phased out.

Although it was a mixed bag, the prices were much cheaper than at the Logistics Hall, and occasionally one could encounter some strange and unusual items not recorded by the official channels.

Su Ming slowed his pace, tucking his hands into his sleeves, his gaze casually sweeping over the stalls on both sides.

His purple robe appeared somewhat conspicuous here; when the stall owners saw him coming, they fell silent one after another, nervously sizing him up with their peripheral vision.

The items on the stalls were truly miscellaneous. There were incomplete Low Grade Magical Artifacts with severe spiritual energy loss; unknown Medicinal Pills that were pitch black and emitted a burnt smell; crudely drawn low-level Fireball Talismans; and various Yao Beast bones and low-quality Spiritual Plants stained with mud.

Su Ming paused in front of a stall where several damaged Formation Plates were displayed. With a slight probe of his Divine Sense, he saw that the Array Patterns within had long since fractured and collapsed, and the core hub was completely burnt out. The quality was so poor that it wasn't even worth taking back to the Repair Hall for "refurbishing."

He shook his head and did not stay, continuing deeper into the alley.

Just as he was about to reach the end of the alley, an extremely inconspicuous little stall suddenly caught Su Ming's attention.

The stall owner was an Outer Sect Disciple who appeared to be only at the third level of Qi Refinement. He huddled awkwardly in a corner, and on the faded white coarse cloth before him sat only a few hand-copied texts on rough paper, along with several yellowed scraps of paper with curled edges.

Su Ming's gaze bypassed those useless travelogues and low-quality Cultivation Techniques, accurately locking onto one of the scraps of paper.

On the edge of this yellowed paper, written in extremely neat small characters, were four words:

“soul nurturing incense Formula.”

Su Ming's heart gave a sudden leap.

Ever since his Master in the ring had fallen into a deep sleep to recover, he had been searching for ways to nourish a soul body. While the soul nurturing wood marrow given by the Grand Elder was indeed a top-grade item, it belonged to the category of potent medicine, whereas the recovery of his Master's remnant soul likewise required the long-term nourishment of daily care.

He crouched down, not using any spiritual power, but simply scrutinizing the contents on that scrap of paper with his naked eyes.

“Main ingredient: three mace of silver-spotted heart-clearing orchid; auxiliary ingredients: one tael of Spirit-Calming Grass, half a mace of century-old Sunken Yin Wood dust... grind into powder, mix with Rootless Water, and it can be completed after drying in the shade for three days.”

The production method was written in extreme detail, and from the perspective of the medicinal logic of 'sovereign, minister, assistant, and envoy,' the logic was rigorous and definitely not some nonsense made up to deceive people.

What made Su Ming even more interested was that the most expensive main ingredient in this formula, the “silver-spotted heart-clearing orchid,” just happened to be a mutated variety he was growing in large quantities in the Formation fields of Qingxi Valley and Star Gazing Cliff.

This was practically tailor-made for him.

“How much is this formula?” Su Ming looked up and asked in a flat tone.

When that Qi Refinement Stage Outer Sect Disciple heard the question, he jerked his head up. When he clearly saw the True Disciple purple robe on Su Ming's body, he was so frightened he trembled all over and stuttered, “In... in response to the True Disciple Junior Martial Uncle. This... this was copied by this Disciple from a deserted ancient cultivator's Immortal Cave. I-if the Junior Martial Uncle likes it, it... it only costs thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.”

Thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

For an Outer Sect Disciple in the Early Stage of Qi Refinement, this was a huge sum that could keep him fed for several months. But in the eyes of the current Su Ming, this didn't even count as the spare change of the Spirit Stones in his Storage Pouch.

Su Ming directly counted out thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones full of spiritual energy from his Storage Pouch and placed them in front of the stall owner.

“I'll take the formula.”

The stall owner looked at the pile of Spirit Stones and bowed in deep gratitude toward Su Ming's departing back.

“Thank you, Junior Martial Uncle!”