Chapter 96 The Classic of Herbs

Sitting on the beast, Li Lingyu took out an elegant light blue porcelain bottle and used her fingers to apply black ointment to the injured areas on her arms and legs.

A strong medicinal smell wafted in the air. After applying it once, she handed the porcelain bottle out.

"Muscles scorched by fire elemental energy don't heal easily on their own, so apply some medicine."

Ji An guided the gray-feathered sand goose closer, took the ointment and applied it himself. He immediately felt a cooling sensation spread, and the burning pain was greatly reduced.

"Thank you, senior sister. This medicine is much better than the one I prepared."

Ji An bowed in thanks, and the two of them took out a spirit stone and held it in their hands, absorbing its spiritual energy.

Although they mainly use talismans in battle, their own magical power is still considerable.

After flying more than ten miles away from the battle site, the two landed in a forest.

"Senior sister, I'll keep watch first, you continue to recover your magic power."

As Ji An spoke, he released the spirit-seeking rats.

Because of the stone turtle's devouring, his magic power was now only 30%, and he had less than 70-80% of the magic power in his body, so he felt insecure.

"Thank you for your trouble, junior brother," Li Lingyu said without ceremony. After swallowing a pill, he sat down cross-legged and began to refine it by circulating his cultivation technique.

After the two took turns keeping watch and recovering their magical power, they rode their beasts again and took off, arriving at the next market town before the sun set behind the mountains.

After fighting side by side, the trust between them deepened even further.

Either of them would be completely outmatched by that Foundation Establishment stage cultivator if they faced him alone; they could be said to have a life-or-death bond.

They rented two rooms at an inn in the market, where the two gathered to weigh their gains and losses.

Ji An handed over the storage bag:

"Senior sister, please erase the divine imprint on it so I can count how many talismans were used."

"OK."

Li Lingyu's eyes shone brightly. She placed the remaining twenty-odd talismans on the table, took the storage bag, and began to use her divine sense to erase the marks.

Storage bags are not exclusive to cultivators. They can be opened as long as the original owner's divine sense imprint is erased, which can also be considered as training one's divine sense.

After counting the remaining talismans, Ji An shook his head slightly. This battle had used nearly eight hundred talismans, which was equivalent to throwing spirit stones at people.

He picked up the yellow flag artifact and smiled knowingly. This artifact was actually a high-grade artifact, even better than the Stone Turtle Shield.

They thought they had lost everything, but in the end they actually killed a Foundation Establishment cultivator, making up for all their losses. Of course, they were very satisfied.

After erasing the last trace of the storage bag, Li Lingyu probed into it with her divine sense and took out all the contents, placing them on the table.

She picked up the jade slips one by one and placed them on her forehead, saying with some dissatisfaction:

"A flying boat, a few unfinished magical artifacts, and some ores and metal materials. I am not familiar with the materials used for refining artifacts and do not know their value."

The jade slip contained a second-tier manual of weapon crafting techniques and insights, which was different from what I expected.

Ji An alone spent a lot of spirit stones at the Jiexiu shop. She originally thought she could get at least one or two hundred spirit stones, but she didn't have a single spirit stone in her storage bag.

The Golden Spirit Sect is renowned for its weapon-refining skills, so weapon-refining inheritance is of little use to them, even less useful than weapon-refining experience.

After saying that, she handed over the storage bag.

Ji An took the storage bag, probed it with his divine sense, and smiled:

"The space inside is not small, so it's still possible to sell it for seventy or eighty spirit stones."

"The artifact's blank and ore should be returned to the sect and appraised by a trusted artifact refiner. Since it can be carried by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, it must be quite valuable."

He took out a blank jade slip, copied the weapon-refining inheritance, and then said:

"After all, the other party is not a real desperado; how could they possibly bring all their belongings when they rob someone?"

We only hope that the sect can gain enough profits from the Qingzhushan Market based on our report, so that we can also get a share.

Li Lingyu put the inheritance jade slip into her storage bag, and then took out the captured flying sword and magical artifact:

"What should we do with these two high-grade magic artifacts? Do you want them, junior brother?"

Ji An shook his head. He was in dire need of spirit stones right now, so he would exchange them for Foundation Establishment Pills first before thinking about anything else.

"Sell them all and exchange them for spirit stones. If Senior Sister wants them, you can give them to me in spirit stones."

"The original magic artifact is damaged. I want that defensive magic artifact, which I will be able to use after I reach the Foundation Establishment stage."

Ji An pondered for a moment and said:

“My stone tortoise shield is also damaged. How about this, after we return to the sect, we find a weapon refiner to assess the value of everything, and sell everything that is no longer needed.”

After repairing our damaged magical artifacts and replenishing the talismans I used, we'll split the remaining spirit stones equally. What does Senior Sister think?

Even close brothers should keep clear accounts; it's always better to clarify some things.

“What you say is exactly what I was thinking.”

When Ji An and his companion arrived at Qingyun Immortal City along the original route, it was already three days later. The next day, they would catch the sect's flying boat carrying goods back to the sect.

Controlling their beasts to land on the platform, the two presented their respective sect jade tokens and entered the immortal city for free.

Li Lingyu sighed softly and said in a muffled voice:

"I don't know how many other disciples know about this, let's go straight to the weapon-refining shop."

"No matter how many people know about it, it's impossible to sweep up all the goods in Immortal City."

"Senior sister, I'll lend you some spirit stones later."

Ji An said that since the other party had accompanied him on the long journey, he should at least show some appreciation.

Li Lingyu glanced over, her beautiful eyes smiling:

"Junior brother is very generous, so I won't stand on ceremony."

Ji An lent the other party two mid-grade spirit stones, and the two went to the weapon-refining shop area together.

They skipped over the sect's shops and began their shopping spree.

Having visited nearly half of the hundred shops and set aside enough money for the inn and tomorrow's flying boat, Ji An finally spent all the spirit stones he had.

Although he slightly increased the purchase price, the shops would not trade too many Five Elements spiritual items to him, since they were all normally operating shops and needed to reserve some for refining weapons.

"Senior sister, go to Yingxianju and book two rooms. It's cheap there. I need to give the remaining talismans to the partner shops."

Ji An handed the spirit stone to his senior sister, who then took it and left.

He shook his head slightly and strode towards the talisman area. He needed to explain things properly to the shops he was cooperating with today.

The remaining talismans are worth at most a little over a hundred spirit stones. After buying talisman ink and talisman brushes, there won't be many spirit stones left.

Half an hour later, Ji An walked out of a shop, holding a talisman in his hand. He glanced back at the signboard, which read "Pang's Treasure Talisman Shop" in bold, black ink characters, exuding a unique and elegant charm.

He lowered his head slightly, a cold glint in his eyes.

He had just received the spirit stones from the trading talisman and had the spirit-seeking rat sniff them. The beast issued a warning, and a spirit stone was covered with the same powder as last time.

Should we ask a broker to find out about the shop's background?

Ji An thought about it for a while and then gave up on the idea.

Brokers usually have a cooperative relationship with the shops, so asking around rashly might alert them.

The following day, after returning to their sect by flying boat, Ji An and his companion hurriedly rode their beasts back to Ningcui Cliff and paid their respects to their master.

After hearing their story, Ge Ying was both shocked and furious. Fortunately, they had brought a large number of talismans with them this time, otherwise, they would have been in grave danger.

If these two disciples were to meet with misfortune, she would not only lose the disciples but also twenty mid-grade spirit stones, and the sect would lose two future Foundation Establishment cultivators, not to mention that one of them was an extremely talented spirit farmer.

A cold glint flashed in her eyes, and she sneered:

"How dare they ambush and kill my disciple! How audacious!"

Tomorrow I will go to the Enforcement Hall to see Senior Brother Chen and I will definitely seek justice for you.

"Rest assured, this concerns the sect's reputation, and the Enforcement Hall will handle it strictly."

In the Western Continent, the three sects are the absolute hegemons. If a disciple with potential is hunted down, it will inevitably attract the attention of the sects.

"Give me the magical artifacts and other items that can reveal your identities that you have seized, so that the sect can use them as evidence that the other party is a traitorous cultivator. This will help us negotiate with the Qingzhushan Market."

Li Lingyu reluctantly took out two high-grade magic artifacts and handed over several magic jade slips, keeping all the spoils of the tribulation cultivator.

Ge Ying laughed and scolded:

"You're useless. After you finish this business, all these things will still be yours."

The enemy is the shopkeeper of the weapon-refining shop. As long as it is proven that the other party is a cultivator who has undergone a tribulation, the sect and the market will seize all the items in the shop that belong to that person.

At that time, you will receive both the bounty for killing a Foundation Establishment cultivator and the sect's reward.

"With me here, you won't be shortchanged by a single spirit stone."

"Thank you, Master," Li Lingyu said sweetly.

"Hmph, neither of you are allowed to leave the sect before you reach the Foundation Establishment stage!"

The sect's cultivation of spiritual veins has reached a critical juncture. Once the news of the mandatory mission is released, we will inevitably have to temporarily consolidate our forces.

Ge Ying took out several jade slips, made copies of them, and tossed them to Ji An:

"Here you go. This is the Herbal Classic compiled by our sect, which introduces various spiritual herbs and medicines as well as their cultivation methods."

It contains most of the spiritual plants commonly used in the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages. Study it carefully; I'll test you in a few days.

"Thank you, Master."

Ji An cupped his hands in greeting, saying that he understood his master's expectations of him.

He scratched his head, revealing a simple, honest smile:

“Master, I feel that my knowledge is insufficient and I am eager to improve. I wonder if you have any knowledge about the various spiritual trees?”

The transmission of techniques, secret formulas, and various kinds of knowledge is priceless, and it's even more appealing if it's free.

Ge Ying squinted and said:

"Don't bite off more than you can chew; first thoroughly study the Hundred Herbs Classic."

It contains hundreds of kinds of spiritual plants, along with descriptions of their medicinal properties. You need to memorize all of this; it will keep you busy studying for a long time.

After leaving the cave, Ji An asked:

"Senior sister, do you know any weapon refiners?"

It's time to assess the spoils. At this stage, it's more practical to exchange these unused items for spirit stones.

"The few weapon refiners I know are only at the Qi Refining stage, and I worry that they cannot assess the true value of the weapon blanks and ores."

Do you have any recommendations, junior brother? At the very least, they should be a Foundation Establishment stage weapon refiner.

If you don't know them, we'll have to ask other senior students to help introduce you.

"I happen to know a Foundation Establishment stage weapon refiner who is from the same academy as me, and we have a pretty good relationship."

If my senior sister trusts me, we'll visit him tomorrow.

Li Lingyu chuckled:

"How could I not trust my junior brother? Let's go together tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)