Chapter 356 - 345: Meeting Old Zhang Again

Chapter 356: Chapter 345: Meeting Old Zhang Again

In the early morning, the clamor of Mist Forest Marketplace began earlier than usual.

Li Yuan stood before his stone house, watching the streams of people coming and going on the main street, feeling the rhythm of the entire marketplace.

The influx of outside Cultivators, while straining the marketplace’s capacity, also brought a flow of resources.

Mist Forest Marketplace had transformed completely from a simple refuge supported by Li Yuan alone into a self-sustaining, multi-industry border hub.

Maintaining the full operation of the marketplace’s various industries consumed a vast amount of auxiliary materials and basic resources at an incredible rate.

Li Yuan gave Chen Yi a few instructions on daily affairs, then left Mist Forest Marketplace and headed straight for Yunyang Marketplace to make a large purchase.

Yunyang Marketplace was even more crowded than the last time he had visited.

The expanded city walls were not yet fully enclosed, and the open ground outside was already covered with temporary tents. Li Yuan didn’t linger in the shop district, diving straight into the bulk materials trading area. With his substantial reserve of Spirit Stones, he swept through, buying up all sorts of Low Tier Array materials, Alchemy auxiliary herbs, and the cinnabar and paper used specifically for creating Talismans.

After half a day, his storage bag was stuffed to the brim.

With his shopping complete, Li Yuan took a detour to the Loose Cultivator street stall area of Yunyang Marketplace.

This place was a motley mix of good and bad, and one could occasionally find something valuable. His gaze swept quickly over the stalls on both sides.

Li Yuan’s steps halted as he passed a stall selling Low Tier beast hides and damaged Talismans.

The stall owner was a young man in his early twenties, dressed in a worn gray robe. He was hunched over, tidying up a few ruined talisman papers.

"Zhang Qiu," Li Yuan said.

The young man’s hand trembled. He jerked his head up, a look of confusion in his eyes the moment he saw Li Yuan.

He seemed to recognize him.

"I’m Inspector Li," Li Yuan said, looking at Zhang Qiu with a smile.

"Senior... Senior Li!" Zhang Qiu scrambled to his feet, wiping his hands on his clothes, at a loss for what to do.

He was Old Zhang’s grandson.

"Why are you running a stall in Yunyang Marketplace?" Li Yuan asked, glancing at the poor-quality goods on his stall. "And Old Zhang?"

Zhang Qiu gave a bitter smile and sighed.

"After the Li family left, things changed at the Li family’s marketplace. The Wang family and an elder from the Primordial Yang Sect took control." Zhang Qiu lowered his voice. "Business there became harder and harder. On top of that, rumors of Demon Cultivator activity grew more intense. The situation was bad, so my grandfather gritted his teeth and moved us to Yunyang Marketplace."

"We were pretty lucky. It’s crowded here in Yunyang, but we’ve managed to find a foothold."

Li Yuan nodded. This was a common story among Loose Cultivators during wartime.

"What is Old Zhang’s Cultivation level now?"

"My grandfather broke through to the Qi Refining Fourth Level." As he said this, Zhang Qiu’s expression darkened. "But he’s old, and his Qi and Blood have long been in decline. He forced this breakthrough by swallowing a Breaking Evil Pill and using its medicinal power to blast open his meridians."

’A Breaking Evil Pill. I didn’t expect Old Sun’s pills to be sold all the way out here.’

"He’s still at home recovering from his injuries," Zhang Qiu said, his head bowed.

"Take me to see him," Li Yuan said.

Zhang Qiu nodded. He casually rolled up his gray cloth, stuffed it into his robes, and led the way.

The two of them wound through a dense shanty town on the outskirts of Yunyang Marketplace for about the time it takes to burn half an incense stick, finally stopping in front of a cramped wooden shack.

The light inside the shack was dim, and the air was thick with the bitter smell of medicine and a sense of decay.

Old Zhang was lying on a dilapidated wooden plank bed. His face was sallow, and his eyes were slightly closed as he circulated his energy to heal.

Hearing the noise, he opened his eyes.

When he clearly saw the figure standing behind Zhang Qiu, his cloudy eyes widened abruptly.

He felt the oppressive Spiritual Power radiating from Li Yuan, an aura as profound as a deep abyss and as unmovable as a great mountain, even though it was deliberately restrained.

That was the spiritual pressure of the Foundation Establishment Stage.

"Senior... Li, you’ve come."

Old Zhang tried to sit up, but Li Yuan stepped forward and pressed down on his shoulder, keeping him from rising.

"There’s no need for formalities."

Old Zhang leaned back against the bed plank, gasping for a few breaths before saying with a bitter smile, "I heard that a certain Pavilion Master Li had emerged at Mist Forest Marketplace, but I never imagined it was actually you."

He truly hadn’t known that the Li Yuan before him, who had already broken through to Foundation Establishment, was the current Pavilion Master of Mist Forest Marketplace.

Li Yuan didn’t respond to that. He thought for a moment, then took out three jade vials from his storage bag and placed them on the wooden table beside the bed.

"This one is a Lifespan Extension Pill." Li Yuan pointed to the vial with a Sealing Spirit Talisman on it. "This is a Healing Pill, and here are some Tier One cultivation pills."

These pills were expensive, but when you got down to it, they were only worth two or three days of Li Yuan’s current income.

Old Zhang stared at the jade vials on the table, his expression silent, but his lips were trembling.

"This... this is too precious. I am ashamed to accept it."

"Your notes on talisman-making were a great help to me back then. You deserve this."

Old Zhang didn’t refuse again. He solemnly cupped his fists from his bed and bowed deeply.

Li Yuan didn’t stay in the wooden shack for long. After telling Zhang Qiu to take good care of Old Zhang, he turned and left Yunyang Marketplace.

It was still early when he returned to Mist Forest Marketplace.

Li Yuan wasn’t in a hurry to return to his stone house for Alchemy. Instead, he took a stroll through the Loose Cultivator stall area on the main street, as a way of inspecting the daily order.

As he reached an inconspicuous stall in the southern district, his gaze suddenly fixed on a stone placed at the edge of a tattered cloth.

The stone was only the size of a fist. Its surface had a translucent, jade-like texture, and inside, a slowly swirling, milky-white mist seemed to be sealed within.

’A green-entry item.’

Li Yuan squatted down, his fingers touching the surface of the stone.

[Equippable item detected]

[Item Entry Grade: Green]

[Note: Item does not belong to you. Cannot be equipped. Detailed information unavailable.]

Li Yuan’s expression didn’t change as he looked up at the stall owner.

"How much for this jade stone?"

The stall owner, a middle-aged man at the Mid-stage of Qi Refining, immediately perked up when someone asked for a price. "Pavilion Master Li has a sharp eye! I dug this up from an abandoned Spirit Ore mine in Yunzhou. It has excellent luster and would be a first-rate material for an Array Base or for carving into a Magical Artifact. Take it for ten Low Grade Spirit Stones."

Without wasting words, Li Yuan tossed down ten Low Grade Spirit Stones and took the stone in his hand.

The moment the transaction was complete and ownership of the item changed, the full panel prompt immediately popped up.

[Equippable item detected: Spiritual Essence Jade Marrow Ore (Complete)]

[Equippable Entry Preview: Spiritual Essence Consolidation (Green)]

[Effect: Spiritual Power will be slowly and spontaneously generated within the body.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Soak in a Spirit Vein node for thirty days.]

A gleam flashed in Li Yuan’s eyes.

’Spiritual Power will be slowly and spontaneously generated within the body.’

This was completely different from abilities like [Earth Vein Resonance], which "restores Spiritual Power when standing on the ground," or [Spirit Beast Blood Essence], which "increases the recovery speed of Spiritual Power."

This was creation from nothing.

No need for deliberate meditation, no need to absorb external Spiritual Qi. As long as he had the entry equipped, Spiritual Power would spontaneously generate within his body. In harsh environments where Spiritual Qi was thin, or even in a Land of Absolute Spirit, this ability was practically an inexhaustible trump card.

As for the permanence condition—soaking it in a Spirit Vein node for thirty days—that was no difficulty for him at all.

The Spirit Vein nodes beneath Mist Forest Marketplace were all under his control.

Li Yuan calmly put away the Spiritual Essence Jade Marrow Ore and turned, striding quickly towards his stone house.