"That is correct. In our cooperation, each Blood Burning Pill will be transacted at a price of one hundred spirit stones."
"Of course, this price is considerably lower than what it fetches at auction. In compensation, each time the black market opens, we will take the initiative to notify you of what treasures will be available."
Tianxingzi said slowly, "Not only that, but if there is something you fancy, you can secure it in advance without having to bid against others."
"Furthermore, if there are resources you require, you are entirely welcome to inform us. This old man will spare no effort to procure them for you."
Hearing these exceedingly generous terms of cooperation, Luo Chen had to admit his heart stirred.
At one hundred spirit stones per Blood Burning Pill, the price was a bit lower than at an ordinary auction.
But with a stable distribution channel, volume made up for margins.
Everyone understood that reasoning.
Moreover, if he established ties with the Zhenlong Black Market, he would no longer need to worry about many matters.
Fencing illicit goods, purchasing resources, hunting for rare bargains—he could be one step ahead of everyone in all of them.
In particular, there was another factor he had to take into account.
Namely, the procurement channels for raw materials!
Currently, most of the Luotian Association's procurement channels for various medicinal herbs came from the Lianyun Merchant Alliance.
That faction could hardly be called friendly toward Luo Chen.
They only agreed to cooperate now because he was borrowing the prestige of the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect like a fox parading in the tiger's wake.
If his bluff were exposed one day, his alchemy throat would be choked in their grasp.
Now, if he agreed to cooperate with the Zhenlong Black Market, Luo Chen would effectively be walking on two legs.
At the very least, ever since his first contact with the Zhenlong Black Market, they had extended goodwill toward him.
Whether it was the "word of advice" or their taking the initiative to bid a high price for his Blood Burning Pills today, both were clear signals of goodwill.
Still, some things needed to be disguised.
Luo Chen pondered for a moment and shook his head slightly.
Before Tianxingzi could feel disappointed, he said, "I cannot make the decision on this matter alone. I must return and discuss it with my friend before I can give you an answer."
Tianxingzi had a sudden realization. "Indeed, that is only reasonable."
"You may also convey this old man's terms to your friend. Both of you will enjoy the same Zhenlong VIP treatment!"
Hearing this "VIP treatment," Luo Chen's lips twitched slightly.
Sure enough, even in the cultivation world, plenty of people used such gimmicks!
Although the cooperation had not yet been finalized, Luo Chen already had some thoughts brewing.
"Senior Tianxingzi, might your side be able to procure more Clarity Liquid?"
"Clarity Liquid?"
Tianxingzi had seen and noted Luo Chen's bid for the Clarity Liquid just now.
The other party indeed had a great demand for this elixir.
Presumably, it was for the legendary effect of long-term application causing ocular mutations in a cultivator!
Unfortunately...
"My apologies, but this item is tightly controlled by the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect, and rarely leaks out. Even today's bottle was obtained purely by luck."
Luo Chen felt a wave of disappointment.
Soon, however, the other party cheered him up.
"How about Moisturizing Pearl Liquid? It is more suitable for Qi Refinement cultivators, and it is far easier to come by."
Luo Chen was overjoyed. "Then I leave it to Senior. Regarding the price, we certainly will not let your side lose out."
"A trivial matter." Tianxingzi waved his hand. "Now that Dahe Market lacks the Spirit Herb Pavilion, many pills are indeed difficult to purchase. As long as you have a need, feel free to voice it."
Quite a big tone!
Luo Chen's eyes lit up.
Pulling no punches, he named three pills on the spot.
Hearing them, Tianxingzi could not help but smile wryly.
"Little Friend's appetite is truly not small. Aside from Golden Quality Jade Liquid, the other two pills are not easy to procure."
"Even with your esteemed organization's strength, it cannot be done?" Luo Chen frowned.
Tianxingzi slowly shook his head. "Spirit Purifying Pills are a specialty of the Medicine King Sect and usually only circulate at large auctions, and mostly in Tier 2 form. Tier 1 Spirit Purifying Pills yield too little profit, so they are typically reserved for internal use."
There was such a reason?
Luo Chen could not help recalling that back by the Lancang River, neither Pang Renxiong nor Miao Wen could produce Tier 1 Spirit Purifying Pills.
In the end, they had only given him five bottles of Tier 2 pills.
It seemed that was indeed the case.
However, he could actually use Tier 2 Spirit Purifying Pills as well; it was just slightly more troublesome.
"Tier 2 will do as well!"
Hearing this, Tianxingzi could not help but cast a surprised glance at Luo Chen.
"Fellow Daoist is purchasing them for your alchemist friend?"
Luo Chen made something out of nothing. "Mm!"
"Tsk, tsk. It seems I still underestimated that person. To think they are actually a fellow Daoist at the Foundation Establishment stage."
When was I at Foundation Establishment?
Luo Chen felt bewildered.
Soon, though, he realized what had happened.
Tier 2 pills could usually only be consumed by Foundation Establishment True Cultivators.
If a Qi Refinement cultivator used them, there was a very high probability they would be unable to withstand the immense medicinal power.
His ability to use them was solely thanks to guidance from Master Pang Renxiong, a Golden Core Master.
In all likelihood, Tianxingzi was unaware of the trick where the alchemy technique Pure Heart Hand could break down Spirit Purifying Pills.
Having thought through this point, Luo Chen did not dispel the misconception.
Creating the impression that he had a Foundation Establishment alchemist friend backing him would undoubtedly be far more advantageous for future cooperation.
After his sigh of admiration, Tianxingzi spoke of the final pill Luo Chen needed.
"Foundation Establishment Pills... those are truly difficult to procure."
Luo Chen was slightly disappointed.
Even the Zhenlong Black Market...
Wait, no!
He said they were difficult to procure, not impossible!
He immediately said solemnly, "If Senior can purchase a Foundation Establishment Pill for me, I will definitely convince my friend upon my return to cooperate fully with your side!"
Tianxingzi shook his head. "That will depend on circumstances. Given this old man's... At any rate, I will do my best."
His hesitant, self-censoring manner struck Luo Chen as rather strange.
Still, having this channel was unquestionably excellent.
With the local Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion wiped out and the Medicine King Sect's properties completely gone, his original hope of relying on the Dahe Auction to acquire a Foundation Establishment Pill had become bleak.
If he went to another market town where he was a stranger in an unfamiliar land, it would likely be just as difficult to take part in the feast of dividing up Foundation Establishment Pills.
For now, the only thing he could count on was the Zhenlong Black Market.
For a faction bold enough to besiege and kill a Jade Cauldron Golden Core sword cultivator to claim they could not procure a few Foundation Establishment Pills was practically a joke.
'Perhaps this cooperation really warrants serious consideration.'
Luo Chen pondered internally, not intending to refuse Tianxingzi.
Aside from cultivation resources, raw medicinal ingredients were also something he had to take into account.
This batch of Blood Burning Pills was made from all the raw ingredients he had hoarded previously.
If he wanted to continue refining Blood Burning Pills, he had to purchase the corresponding medicinal materials.
Explosive Ape monster blood and Heavenly Sun Fruit were manageable, as they could be obtained from the Lianyun Merchant Alliance.
Yet for the primary ingredient, Earth Fire Fiend, not a single establishment in Dahe Market could currently provide it.
If he did not want this path of wealth cut off, cooperation was the only way forward.
'I'll leave Tianxingzi hanging for a bit first!'
He could not agree to the partnership too easily; at the very least, he needed to see the other party's sincerity first.
Once the two reached an understanding, Tianxingzi lowered the sound-isolating barrier.
By this time, the second round of black market trading had concluded, moving on to the final open-trading phase.
Having no specific target, Luo Chen began wandering through the crowd of cultivators.
His spirit eyes half-open and half-closed, he tried to hunt for a bargain.
This was something every cultivator fantasized about.
However, after completing a lap, he did not encounter a single overlooked treasure.
Suddenly, Luo Chen stopped beside two figures.
'I've never seen Brother Wang so flushed and flustered before!'
Amused, Luo Chen drew closer.
Instantly, he drew the side-glances of both men.
The person bargaining with Wang Yuan was none other than a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator.
He was burly, even bulkier than Wang Yuan had been before his bone-shrinking disguise, resembling a demonic beast of a giant bear.
It was the Foundation Establishment True Cultivator who had given Luo Chen a sense of familiarity earlier!
He glared over fiercely, as if warning Luo Chen not to approach.
Wang Yuan, however, frowned and stepped in front of Luo Chen.
"He is my friend."
The Foundation Establishment True Cultivator sneered. "Then that works out nicely. You two can pool your spirit stones together—perhaps you can afford this cultivation art of mine."
"A cultivation art?"
Luo Chen poked his head out in curiosity.
Wang Yuan was holding an ancient, weathered beast hide in his hand.
Restriction glows flickered across it, revealing only a tiny fraction of its contents.
Yet even that meager snippet was enough to stir Wang Yuan's heart.
"It is an incomplete body refinement cultivation art, of great use to me."
"However, his asking price is very high—he refuses to sell for less than seven thousand spirit stones."
A voice transmission entered Luo Chen's ear. Different from an ordinary cultivator's spiritual power transmission, it was Wang Yuan's unique technique of condensing sound into a thread.
At its core was the exquisite manipulation of inner force qi, coated externally with spiritual power.
Though inferior to a Foundation Establishment cultivator's spiritual sense transmission, it still prevented Foundation Establishment cultivators from eavesdropping.
Wang Yuan had taught this technique to Luo Chen in their spare time.
It was just that up until now, Luo Chen had yet to master it.
Inner force qi?
How could he understand such a thing?
Luo Chen hummed in acknowledgment and glanced down.
He wanted to see what kind of cultivation art dared demand seven thousand spirit stones.
And an incomplete one at that!
*Heavenly Roc Transformation*.
The opening section contained little actual cultivation content, primarily expounding the underlying principles.
One fused the essence blood of roc-type demonic beasts into their body to cultivate.
Upon reaching Great Completion, one could temporarily transform into the true demonic beast form of the fused essence blood, gaining immense combat strength.
However, this technique imposed extremely stringent physical requirements on a cultivator's physique.
'No wonder Wang Yuan values this technique so much. Its utilization of vitality and physique—even just the tip of the iceberg is immensely enlightening. If practiced in its entirety...'
'Unfortunately, it is merely an incomplete body refinement technique.'
Another voice transmission from Wang Yuan arrived by his ear.
"This cultivation art was obtained by this cultivator from an ancient ruin on Tiandu Peak. It reaches all the way to the third realm of body refinement."
"If I acquire it, though I cannot cultivate it directly, extracting its essence and integrating it with everything I have learned would allow me to perfect the natal cultivation art for my second realm of body refinement."
This was the principle of using a stone from another mountain to polish one's own jade.
Especially when the other mountain's stone far surpassed one's own jade in grade.
A natal cultivation art at the level of the third realm of body refinement!
No wonder a mere fragment dared command such an exorbitant price.
In truth, this price was actually on the lower side.
Unlike spells, cultivation art prices had always remained consistently high.
Take the Eternal Spring Art Luo Chen was familiar with: even a simplified version started at five hundred spirit stones at the black market auction.
Five hundred?
Back then, buying an entire five-in-one spell manual had only cost him two hundred.
And the Foundation Establishment chapter advancing from the Eternal Spring Art—the Yimu Medicine King Scripture—started directly at five thousand spirit stones.
Even then, it was currently an item with a price but no available seller.
At least, he had never seen the Zhenlong Black Market auction it off.
As for the Golden Core chapter of the Eternal Spring Art's higher advancement, it did not exist on the open market.
If there really were one, it could only be the Medicine King Sect's divine scripture, the Ageless Evergreen Scripture.
Whether it was the Eternal Spring Art or the Yimu Medicine King Scripture, both were actually derived from the Ageless Evergreen Scripture.
Such a cultivation art could never leak into the wider cultivation world.
If it ever did, the opening bid would surely be in the tens of thousands of spirit stones.
A Tier 3 cultivation art was just that formidable.
Its value was not in the least inferior to that of a magical treasure!
Luo Chen shook his head. "A fragment for seven thousand—that truly is a bit steep."
He said this to the Foundation Establishment True Cultivator.
The man sneered. "Do you want it or not?"
This fellow had tremendous confidence!
Yet body refinement arts inherently had little market demand, and this was an incomplete fragment to boot—where did he get such gall?
Confused, Luo Chen glanced toward Wang Yuan.
His heart skipped a beat.
Oh, big brother!
Even if you want to buy it, don't make it so painfully obvious!
Isn't that just practically begging to be slaughtered?
He sighed and sent a voice transmission to Wang Yuan, "If you truly want it, just buy it. Didn't I just pay you a three-thousand monthly stipend before we came?"
Wang Yuan's expression looked quite unnatural. "I don't have enough spirit stones."
Uh...
Luo Chen truly had not expected this turn of events.
He remembered Wang Yuan mentioning that he lacked no resources to cultivate all the way to the Great Perfection of Qi Refinement.
How was he suddenly short on spirit stones?
"At the auction earlier, I bought a lot of resources for body refinement, plus some useful for my Qi Refinement. So... in short, I only have three thousand five hundred left on hand."
Luo Chen realized at once.
Dual cultivation of spell and body was hardly an easy road.
The consumption of resources far exceeded that of ordinary cultivators.
Wang Yuan had no lucrative craft of his own; all his accumulated wealth had come from killing others and seizing their treasures.
Knowing that such methods were unsustainable, he had settled down to build an enterprise alongside Luo Chen.
Luo Chen had not mistreated him either, granting him the generous compensation typical of a small sect's Foundation Establishment consecrated elder.
Yet even so, in such a short amount of time, he had not managed to build up a larger fortune.
Luo Chen recalled that Wang Yuan had just bid on and won a supreme-grade dharma artifact gauntlet as well.
With a sigh, Luo Chen snatched the beast hide. Under the Foundation Establishment True Cultivator's icy glare, he spoke fearlessly:
"Take a look at this thing. It's so ancient; the contents likely don't even align with the mainstream cultivation practices of our era."
"That warrants a huge discount, doesn't it?"
The man nodded slightly without rebuttal.
"And yes, while its rank is high, it remains incomplete. If we take it, at most we can use it as a reference."
"That makes it even less valuable—its worth is far too diminished."
The man continued nodding, appearing quite agreeable.
"Furthermore, the opening lines clearly state that one must rely on the essence blood of roc-type demonic beasts to aid cultivation."
"Brother, Tier 2!"
"A Tier 2 roc-type demonic beast—which Foundation Establishment True Cultivator could kill one? Wouldn't a Golden Core Master have to take action personally just to harvest its essence blood?"
"The price has to drop further!"
The man looked rather in agreement.
Luo Chen smiled faintly. "Therefore..."
"Therefore, just tell me: do you want it for seven thousand spirit stones or not?!"
Hearing the man's supremely confident response, Luo Chen turned his head in grievance to glare at Wang Yuan.
It's all your damn fault!
My normally invincible bargaining skills didn't work at all.
One must know, he was an expert who could haggle down even Old Chu at Wanbao Pavilion.
Wang Yuan also realized his blunder.
Yet throughout his life, he had rarely ever worried about money.
In his mortal years, he had advanced by leaps and bounds, reaching the Martial Dao Xiantian realm.
Wandering the Jianghu back then, he lacked no coin, and certainly had never developed bargaining skills.
In his cultivation years, what he lacked was not money, but strength.
Once his strength rose, killing people and seizing treasures allowed him to amass resources far faster than ordinary cultivators.
He had never fretted over spirit stones either.
Only recently, as his realm climbed higher and the rate of resource consumption for dual cultivation drastically accelerated, did he begin to feel pinched.
Luo Chen sighed, lowering his head to examine the beast hide in his hand.
He still had one last trick!
Namely, pretending he didn't want it and walking away decisively.
Normally, the seller would stomp their foot, grit their teeth, and call him back with feigned reluctance.
Yet given the current situation, this trick would probably be useless as well.
'Hm?'
Luo Chen blinked, inconspicuously pinching the thick beast hide.
Afterward, he looked up with a crestfallen grimace.
"Fine, fine. Senior truly has us by the throat."
"Seven thousand, right?"
The man chuckled, dropping his aloof demeanor.
"That's right!"
"Brother Wang, bring out the spirit stones!"
"But..."
Luo Chen shook his head at him, took a large pile of spirit stones from his own storage bag, counted out three thousand five hundred, and handed them over.
Wang Yuan also caught on and brought out three thousand five hundred.
Receiving the spirit stones, the burly Foundation Establishment True Cultivator first unraveled the restrictions on the beast hide, then handed it to Luo Chen.
He curled his lip, putting on an expression as if he had sold it too cheaply.
"Why are they all low-grade spirit stones? What a nuisance."
A classic case of acting aggrieved after getting a bargain!
Luo Chen could not be bothered to deal with him any further. Looking as though Wang Yuan had let him down, he dragged Wang Yuan out of the Zhenlong Black Market.
Upon stepping outside, the high moon hung in the sky, illuminating the boundless earth in the nighttime scenery.
Wang Yuan felt deeply grateful and moved.
"Luo Chen, thank you so much for this. Consider these spirit stones a loan; deduct it straight from my stipend..."
"Hush!"
Luo Chen raised an index finger, interrupting him.
Under Wang Yuan's puzzled gaze, Luo Chen executed Carefree Wind Riding and the Qi Concealment Incantation, vanishing into the night.
Wang Yuan did the same, employing the Qi Concealment Incantation alongside his own techniques to follow closely behind.
The two traveled forward, and after nearly half an incense stick's time, they had drawn far away from the location of the Zhenlong Black Market.
"Is anyone tailing us from behind?"
"There were two initially, but we've already shaken them off."
"Good. Let's return to the Luotian Association first!"
...
Beneath the soft illumination of a moonlight stone, Luo Chen stood before Wang Yuan.
Under Wang Yuan's astonished gaze, spiritual power condensed into threads, slowly slicing into the beast hide.
His movements were slow and gentle, as if terrified of damaging the hide.
Even Luo Chen's breathing turned faint and imperceptible, cautious to the extreme.
After a long while, Luo Chen let out a long breath.
In his two hands, he held a sheet of beast hide in each.
"This..."
The ever-stoic Wang Yuan could not help opening his mouth wide in shock.
He stared at the two beast hides, both densely covered with writing.
Luo Chen praised, "Truly exquisite craftsmanship, and a truly wondrous beast hide."
Amid Wang Yuan's bewilderment, Luo Chen handed over the hide inscribed with *Heavenly Roc Transformation*.
"Here is your three thousand five hundred spirit stones' worth."
Then, holding the remaining one in both hands, he said, "And this is my three thousand five hundred spirit stones' worth."
"In this transaction, not only did we not lose out—we made an enormous profit!"
Chapter 163