74: Drink your fill

"By the way, Qing Ming, is there any news about the Fourth-Tier Demonic Beast essence blood?"

After some small talk, Su Ling took out over ten thousand Spirit Stones and handed them to Qing Ming, asking casually.

Last night at the Drunken Immortal Tower, Zheng Cheng had vowed that he would definitely procure Fourth-Tier essence blood for him.

"Before I came, the shopkeeper specifically instructed me."

Qing Ming quickly replied, "We've already contacted other branches. Within a month at most, we can procure gold-thunder attribute Fourth-Tier essence blood for Big Brother Han."

"That's great!"

"Just send me a message through the communication jade slip then."

Su Ling's face lit up with joy; this was the best news he had heard in three months.

Having spent so much time behind closed doors making Talismans, his communication jade slip could currently only contact Zheng Cheng and Qing Ming.

"Alright."

Qing Ming nodded with a simple smile and then cupped his hands in farewell. "Big Brother Han, I have to return to the Treasure Pavilion for my shift, so I won't disturb you any longer."

"Alright, I'll see you out."

After seeing Qing Ming out of the Immortal Cave, Su Ling restarted the Formation and returned to the Artifact Refining Room.

From the jade jars of gold-thunder attribute essence blood, he took out five catties each for the azure roc wings to absorb.

He had been doing this almost every month for the past year.

Fortunately, he earned a large amount of Spirit Stones by drawing Talismans; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to afford such consumption.

But apart from that time with the Fourth-Tier Gold-Scaled Python essence blood, the subsequent third-tier essence blood and the thunder power from the Five Thunders Body Tempering Formation failed to elicit a reaction from the azure roc wings' artifact spirit.

Only the gold threads on the wings brightened slightly; the overall gray color gradually faded, and the azure became more vivid.

It seemed as if a faint trace of purple was peeking through.

Drawing the azure roc wings into his body, Su Ling walked over to the jade table in the corner, sat down, and picked up the ink abyss brush to begin sketching talisman patterns.

This had become a daily habit outside of his Cultivation.

By chance, Su Ling tried to integrate the Nether Abyss Ice Flame into his own mana and then inject it into the drawn Talisman.

As a result, the fire-attribute Talisman paper lasted for a few seconds before quietly turning into powder.

Whereas Talisman papers of other attributes couldn't even last until the ice flame infusion was complete before turning directly into dust.

After several attempts, Su Ling came up with a bold idea.

While preparing the fire-attribute Talisman ink, he deliberately added some ice-attribute Materials.

After months of experimentation, he finally formulated a Talisman ink that could carry the power of the ice flame.

Using fire-attribute Talisman paper as a base, he refined the extremely unique ice crow talisman.

Furthermore, the quality of the Talisman improved directly from Medium Grade to High Grade.

Since then, Su Ling's interest in researching fire and ice-based Talismans had grown even stronger.

Anyway, in the process of drawing Talismans, his mana would also be tempered.

It was like killing two birds with one stone... A month later, Su Ling finally condensed an imperceptible mana crystal within the eye of his Qi Sea.

This also signaled that his strength had officially entered the Peak Foundation Establishment.

His Divine Sense detection range also skyrocketed from the previous ten li to thirty li.

This was several times more than an average Peak Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Su Ling estimated that even Yun Qingluan, who specialized in the Profound Nether Soul Refining Canon, would not be able to reach this level.

After all, when Yun Qingluan advanced to the Late Foundation Establishment Stage, her Divine Sense range was only five li.

Whereas he himself, when he first advanced to the Late Foundation Establishment Stage, could already reach a range of seven or eight li.

Now, this thirty-li range was comparable to a Core Formation Mid-stage Cultivator.

Three days after Su Ling advanced to the Peak Foundation Establishment, Qing Ming arrived as scheduled.

Feeling the aura within him, Qing Ming couldn't help but offer his congratulations repeatedly.

After the small talk, Qing Ming quickly brought out three jade bottles. "Big Brother Han, this is the Fourth-Tier essence blood that just arrived today. Each bottle is five catties."

The three types of essence blood came from an Early Stage Fourth-Tier Gold-Thread Eagle, a Middle Stage Fourth-Tier Steel-Bone Bear, and a Late Stage Fourth-Tier Thunder-Thread Civet.

They weren't exactly rare, but they weren't Fourth-Tier Yao Beasts that could be seen everywhere either.

"So much!"

Su Ling had a look of surprise; he didn't expect Zheng Cheng to find so much Fourth-Tier gold-thunder attribute essence blood for him. "What about the price?"

"Depending on the grade, the normal prices are ten thousand, twenty thousand, and fifty thousand Spirit Stones per catty, respectively."

Qing Ming chuckled. "However, the shopkeeper said that since these items were procured in his own name, you only need to pay half price."

"Half price?!"

Su Ling was startled; Zheng Cheng had originally told him it would be a twenty percent discount.

He didn't expect that after a round of drinks, it would be given to him at half price.

If he wasn't mistaken, this should be Zheng Cheng's employee benefit as a shopkeeper.

Zheng Cheng hadn't told him in advance, probably fearing that Su Ling wouldn't accept this kindness!

After all, even employee benefits weren't available at all times.

"Big Brother Zheng is very thoughtful."

Su Ling sighed softly and chose to accept it.

At a twenty percent discount, it would have cost three hundred and twenty thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

The stock he had on hand was roughly that amount.

At fifty percent off, it only cost two hundred thousand Spirit Stones.

"I've refined quite a few ice crow talismans lately; I'll give them all to you!"

After thinking for a moment, Su Ling simply handed over the fifty ice crow talismans in his storage bracelet, along with about three hundred other second-tier talismans, ten or so third-tier Vajra Talismans, and two hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones to Qing Ming.

Because the High Grade second-tier ice crow talisman possessed both ice and fire attributes, the price given to the Treasure Pavilion was three hundred Spirit Stones.

Normally, the price of a High Grade Talisman was only around two hundred Spirit Stones each.

Before the National War, the retail price had been hyped up to five hundred Spirit Stones each.

In reality, Su Ling's drawing cost was around eighty Spirit Stones.

This was mainly because the Talisman ink required for the ice crow talisman resulted in excessive consumption.

All these Talismans added up to nearly fifty thousand Spirit Stones.

"That's wonderful! With so many ice crow talismans, we can drive the sales of many other Talismans."

Qing Ming was all smiles as he busied himself looking for Spirit Stones in his Storage Pouch. "I'll give you the Spirit Stones right away."

"No need, just consider it my thanks to Big Brother Zheng."

Su Ling shook his head. "You just need to hand them to Big Brother Zheng personally."

"Uh, this..."

Qing Ming looked troubled, somewhat hesitant to accept.

"Listen to me, hurry back and report. I still have to Cultivate!"

Su Ling laughed and pushed him toward the exit.

Having obtained so much Fourth-Tier gold-thunder attribute essence blood, he now only wanted to see what changes would occur in the azure roc wings.

He was in no mood to keep back-and-forthing with Qing Ming.

Watching the Immortal Cave's Formation restart, Qing Ming could only shake his head with a wry smile and turn to leave.

This matter was best reported to Shopkeeper Zheng as soon as possible... Inside the Artifact Refining Room, Su Ling lined up the three jars of essence blood.

"Let's start with the Gold-Thread Eagle!"

Releasing the azure roc wings, as his mana circulated, a blood line about the thickness of a little finger extended from the jade jar.

It poured along the bones of the azure roc wings.

That thirsty emotion emerged once again from within the azure roc wings.

Five catties of essence blood were sucked dry in just over ten breaths.

The gold threads on the azure roc wings became visibly brighter.

"If you like drinking it, I'll let you drink your fill!"

Su Ling raised an eyebrow and repeated the previous operation, pouring the Steel-Bone Bear essence blood over them.

After over ten breaths, the essence blood was once again completely absorbed.

That thirsty emotion became even more pronounced, even transmitting directly into Su Ling's mind through his soul imprint.

"Such a big change, let's continue!"

The Late Stage Fourth-Tier Thunder-Thread Civet essence blood, carrying faint arcs of electricity, landed on the azure roc wings.

A full five catties of thunder-attribute essence blood were absorbed completely by the azure roc wings in just ten short breaths.

A faint purple light emerged from the edges of the wings.