For reasons unknown, Luo Chen felt that Wang Yuan had grown colder than before.
He was still a man of few words, but when he did speak on occasion, it sounded a bit chilling.
Luo Chen naturally had no idea of Wang Yuan's recent illustrious battle record, nor did he know that the man had made a fierce name for himself as the "Mad Blade."
Killing people and seizing treasures had nothing to do with him.
Even if it ever did, he had always been forced into it.
He, Luo Chen, was devoted solely to the Dao!
After rummaging through the pile of books again and again, Luo Chen finally found his target.
"Brother Wang, I count as your little brother now, right?"
"Mm. Barely."
"Then are there any perks to being your little brother? For example..."
"Not for this book. A ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivator from the Mountain Breaker Gang entrusted it to me to sell. If you want to read it, you can only buy it."
What Luo Chen held in his hand was none other than the book Wang Yuan had put on his stall for the longest time without selling—*Five Essential Spells of the Qi Refining Stage*.
Yet Luo Chen clearly remembered Wang Yuan having said before that he'd looted this book, hadn't he?
What happened to "rogue cultivators don't swindle rogue cultivators"?!
Muttering curses under his breath, Luo Chen fished out two hundred low-grade spirit stones, then carefully stowed the book into his storage bag.
Wang Yuan looked at him and suddenly let out a soft chuckle.
"That fellow Chen Xiao was truly down on his luck. Toiling bitterly for half a year, only for it all to become your bridal gown."
*What do you mean, made into my bridal gown!*
*I'm a guy, damn it.*
"The unlucky devil I killed before was named Chen Xiao?"
"Mm. He discovered a senior's cave dwelling and spent six months breaking through the formations. He reaped quite a haul, but it all ended up yours."
Luo Chen patted his storage bag, enlightened.
No wonder a mere fifth-layer Qi Refining rogue cultivator had a storage bag and even a high-grade dharma artifact like the Soul Breaking Nail. Turns out he had stumbled into a fortuitous encounter!
"Those brothers reaped a rich haul, which was why they had the nerve to ambush me. Unfortunately, they had treasures but didn't know how to use them."
"How so?"
"Take that Soul Breaking Nail. Back then, it easily pierced my defense, yet it only gave me a minor wound. It posed less of a threat to me than his other weapon, the Thunderbolt Bomb."
Perhaps feeling inclined to offer Luo Chen some pointers, Wang Yuan spoke casually.
"Had he coated the Soul Breaking Nail with some poison, I would have been in grave danger back then."
Luo Chen froze for a second, then gave a thumbs-up.
"Brother, you really are sinister enough!"
"Oh no, I mean—Brother, your combat experience is truly vast!"
Seeing Wang Yuan's expression sour, Luo Chen quickly changed his tune.
Wang Yuan shook his head. "Whether immortal cultivators or mortal martial artists, the logic of combat is essentially the same: putting the opponent to death. Many rogue cultivators in Dahe Market are far too bound by convention, only knowing how to blast away at each other rigidly with dharma artifacts.
"Of course, it's also possible he simply couldn't get his hands on poisons that work on cultivators."
Luo Chen nodded heavily.
Cultivators breathed and circulated spiritual qi; even without deliberately training their physical bodies, their constitutions steadily evolved over time.
Otherwise, when high-level cultivators casually unleashed vast amounts of spiritual qi, a frail physique wouldn't be able to withstand the strain.
A jade bottle was held out before Luo Chen.
"This is Spirit Disrupting Powder I looted. Coat it onto the Soul Breaking Nail. Once it touches the enemy's flesh, their spiritual qi will fall into chaos, rendering it impossible to mobilize."
*Is this a perk of being his little brother?*
Luo Chen accepted it gleefully, intending to apply it as soon as he returned.
He too wanted to become someone rich in combat experience!
"Remember, the effect of Spirit Disrupting Powder lasts only a short time, and anyone with enough spiritual qi can easily suppress it. So once you strike with the Soul Breaking Nail, you must be prepared to end the fight swiftly,"
Wang Yuan cautioned him solemnly.
He still had a few bottles left for personal use, though there was no need to tell Luo Chen that.
He was not talkative by nature, and he had already said plenty today.
Seeing this, Luo Chen left behind a bag of snacks to pass the time and tactfully took his leave.
Before walking out of the market, he looked back and noticed that Wang Yuan seemed to be cultivating?
*Using stall-keeping time to freeload off the inner city's rank-one spirit vein?*
The realization sparked a fleeting moment of excitement in Luo Chen.
However, he quickly dismissed any thought of imitating it.
The market was bustling with people coming and going, loud and clamorous—hardly a suitable place for quiet meditation.
If someone disturbed him recklessly, he might suffer qi deviation.
Wang Yuan dared to do so presumably because he had something to rely on.
If Luo Chen tried to copy him, he would only be courting death.
...
"You really are an alchemist!"
After waking in the afternoon and washing up, Caiyi dropped by the reverse-facing room.
She saw Luo Chen holding a stone pestle, vigorously grinding a mineral she didn't recognize.
The spacious reverse-facing room was filled with medicinal ingredients.
The mingled odors were rather unpleasant to smell.
Luo Chen, however, reveled in it, having long grown accustomed to the scents.
Seeing Caiyi leaning against the doorway, Luo Chen grinned and poured the fine gold powder from the stone mortar into a wooden tub.
Another medicinal herb was already steeping inside; the moment the fine gold powder was added, a strange reaction occurred.
Bubbles kept rising to the surface with gurgling noises.
Washing his hands, Luo Chen walked to the door and stretched.
"Want some hawthorns? Got them as a free bonus from the shopkeeper when I bought herbs today. Not much spiritual qi, but they're sweet and tart."
Caiyi took a handful of hawthorns from his hand, yet her gaze fell on his storage bag.
"You alchemists really are wealthy. Having a storage bag while still in the middle stage of Qi Refining."
Envy resonated thick in her voice.
*Envious, woman?*
*I traded my life for it!*
Luo Chen naturally wouldn't flaunt his wealth. Steering clear of this sensitive topic, he inquired about their neighbors.
Moving to a new place, it was always best to familiarize oneself with the people around.
Otherwise, if friction arose later, it would severely affect his work.
Yet this inquiry left him rather stiff.
"One main room, two wing rooms on the east and west, plus two side rooms and this largest reverse-facing room of yours—six households live here in total.
"Fu Xiuxiu lives in the east wing room. She's at the ninth layer of Qi Refining and usually works at the Divine Talisman Pavilion. She's already been promoted to steward.
"The west wing room is occupied by the Qin family, three people in all. Both Qin Liangchen and his wife are at the ninth layer of Qi Refining. You won't see them around these days because they're personally escorting their son to Luoyun Sect to take the sect entrance trial.
"The two side rooms belong to Bai Meiling and Feng Xia respectively. Both are female cultivators at the seventh layer of Qi Refining, and both work at Hundred Herbs Hall."
Hearing this overview of the neighbors, Luo Chen couldn't help but be astonished.
*Talk about crouching tigers and hidden dragons!*
A tiny courtyard held three ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivators and two seventh-layer Qi Refining cultivators.
There was only Luo Chen at the fourth layer of Qi Refining. Pitiful, wanting a hug.
Caiyi naturally wasn't going to give him a hug. Puffing out her chest, she smiled. "As for me, I'm Gu Caiyi, eighth layer of Qi Refining, making a living dancing at Tianxiang Pavilion."
"How's the pay?"
"Decent enough. Don't you see I'm living in the main room?"
*Sigh.* He shook his head and groaned.
He had thought that breaking through to the middle stage of Qi Refining would at least make him a respectable cultivator, yet in this tiny courtyard, every single person could bully him based on cultivation realm alone.
In truth, while Luo Chen was surprised, he was not entirely caught unawares.
Among the tens of thousands of rogue cultivators in Dahe Market, several hundred were in the late stage of Qi Refining.
And while those several hundred were rarely seen in the outer city, they were ubiquitous throughout the inner city.
Or rather, low-stage cultivators couldn't afford housing in the inner city at all; only late-stage cultivators with specialized skills could settle down securely here.
Take Old Daoist Chen: at the sixth layer of Qi Refining, skilled in crafting talismans and tanning talisman pelts, he had the confidence to claim, "If the outer city gets any more chaotic, I plan to move into the inner city."
From this, one could readily see the reality.
If Luo Chen hadn't needed to seek refuge and hadn't licked blood off the blade twice in a row, he wouldn't have had the capital to rent a place in the inner city either.
"Speaking of which, something feels odd."
"What's odd?"
Luo Chen asked curiously, "Excluding me, are all five households in our courtyard female cultivators? And the residents of the alleys on the way home seemed mostly female as well."
"You fool!"
Gu Caiyi teased with a laugh. "Heaven and earth have yin and yang, so spiritual qi naturally has yin and yang attributes too. A ghost king is sealed beneath the northern part of the city, so over time, the spiritual qi here shifted toward the yin attribute. Men belong to yang, while women belong to yin; naturally, most people who rent rooms around here are female cultivators!"
Luo Chen came to a sudden understanding, then asked in dismay, "Then if I stay here for long, will it affect my cultivation?"
"Shouldn't have much of an impact, right?" The tall Gu Caiyi crossed her arms, speaking uncertainly. "In a yin-attribute area, we female cultivators indeed gain some benefit, but for you male cultivators, at most there's no bonus. It can't be all that bad."
"Is that so?"
"Fellow Daoist Qin has lived here for years, hasn't he? I haven't heard him mention any problems."
Gu Caiyi thought for a moment. "How about this: if I have time tonight, I'll ask Lady Yuxiang at Tianxiang Pavilion. She knows more about these things than I do."
"Mm, then I'll trouble you."
"Right, I haven't asked you yet—what kind of pills do you refine?"
Gu Caiyi eagerly peered into the dim room; she didn't recognize most of the medicinal herbs inside.
If the pills Luo Chen refined suited her, that would be wonderful.
Being neighbors, getting a friendly discount should be easy enough.
After waiting a good while, she received no answer from Luo Chen.
*Is it inconvenient to say?*
Gu Caiyi glanced at Luo Chen and noticed an almost imperceptible flush on his face.
"Fasting Pills."
"Yes, Fasting Pills!"
Luo Chen repeated, his tone decidedly firm.
On her way to work in the evening, Gu Caiyi was still turning over the afternoon's conversation in her mind.
Arriving at Tianxiang Pavilion, most of the girls had already gotten up and were preparing to eat something to line their stomachs.
The meal of spiritual food provided once a day by Tianxiang Pavilion was wonderful stuff, and Gu Caiyi would never miss it.
As she savored the delicious meal rich in spiritual qi, Gu Caiyi spotted Yuxiang eating in dainty bites.
"Xiangxiang, you know alchemy. Let me ask you something."
"Mm?"
"Does a middle-stage Qi Refining cultivator make a lot of money refining Fasting Pills?"
Yuxiang blinked, then pressed her lips together and chuckled softly.
Chapter 28