Without hesitation, Chen Zhuo quietly followed the youth.
The roads through the shantytown were winding and difficult to navigate. Fortunately, Chen Zhuo was now a cultivator at the third layer of Qi Refining. Though his cultivation was modest, his divine sense could already cover several yards around him—more than enough to lock onto the boy's position and keep from losing him.
Occasionally, he ran into mortal martial artists along the way. The moment they saw Chen Zhuo, they scrambled to clear the path, bowing deeply with fawning, servile smiles on their faces.
The strong preyed on the weak; status dictated all etiquette!
This was the true reality of the ancient cultivation world.
Here, high-level cultivators regarded low-level ones as mere ants, and striking someone dead over a single disagreement was hardly uncommon. In fact, had any of those mortal martial artists refused to step aside and bow, someone could have struck them down on the spot without anyone batting an eye.
Mortals here truly were no different from vermin.
Chen Zhuo let out a quiet sigh, though he harbored no naive notions of universal equality. Trying to push for equality in an immortal cultivation world was nothing short of lunacy.
Still, the farther he walked, the more desolate the surroundings became.
Timber houses grew sparse, gradually replaced by thatched shacks. This was likely the outermost fringe of the shantytown.
Every now and then, mortal martial artists could be seen moving about by the roadside, fetching water or chopping firewood. Most of them were powerfully built with prominent, bulging temples, clearly possessing formidable external martial arts cultivation. Caught off guard when Chen Zhuo passed by, they would freeze for a second before offering bows, their gazes filled with wariness.
Chen Zhuo paid them no heed and merely kept trailing the youth. Quietly, however, he slipped a Golden Armor Talisman and a Sword Qi Talisman into his hands just in case. One look made it obvious that this area was the lowest slum even within the shantytown.
After another fifteen minutes of walking, the path suddenly opened up.
This was the very edge of the shantytown, inhabited almost entirely by mortal martial artists of considerable skill. Back in the mortal realms of the Xu State, each of them would have been a legendary figure in the martial forest—surrounded by countless beauties and heaps of gold, wielding immense power and status. Yet here, they could only process medicinal herbs newly dug from the mountains, hoping to trade them for a few grains of spirit sand.
When they noticed Chen Zhuo, an unfamiliar cultivator, wandering into their midst, many stopped what they were doing and bowed toward him, not daring to look him in the eye.
Clad in his light-green robe, Chen Zhuo maintained the dignified demeanor of a scion from a prestigious clan as he walked straight toward the youth.
The youth seemed to have noticed him some time ago. Standing before his doorway, he watched Chen Zhuo guardedly, cupped his hands, and said in a low voice, "Senior has followed junior all this way. Might I ask what Senior requires? If there is anything this junior can do to assist, I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"
Clearly, he was on high alert.
"Back at Jishi Hall, I saw you trying to purchase pills?"
Chen Zhuo subtly glanced around and saw the surrounding martial artists watching him closely. It felt as though they would swarm him the moment he showed any hostility toward the boy. It seemed this youth was well-liked in these parts.
Chen Zhuo gave an imperceptible nod in his heart, though he wasn't particularly concerned. Mortal martial artists? Give him a break. Even without considering the Sword Qi Talisman, could they actually beat him? Even a martial artist at the absolute pinnacle was only roughly equivalent to a cultivator at the first layer of Qi Refining.
Chen Zhuo was a staunch believer in the Immortal Mansion way of life, and when in Rome, one did as the Romans did. Since mortals were looked down upon in the ancient cultivation world, Chen Zhuo would look down on mortals just like an Immortal Mansion bachelor's degree holder looked down on a vocational student, or an innate spiritual root holder looked down on someone with an acquired spiritual root!
The youth froze for a moment upon hearing this, then nodded. "Yes. Does Senior mean to...?"
"I privately concocted a pill called the Qi Condensation Pill. It is suitable for cultivators in the Qi Refining stage, though its precise efficacy remains untested. Seeing that you're a bit short on spirit stones, I can sell it to you for eight spirit stones."
Not acting like a stranger, Chen Zhuo stepped directly inside the shack, saying as he walked, "However, after taking this pill, you must describe every single sensation you feel in complete detail."
With that, Chen Zhuo surveyed his surroundings.
The room was sparsely furnished. Aside from two wooden beds, there was hardly anything else—only a few clay pots and several drying herbs in the corner.
On one of the wooden beds, a frail figure stirred at the noise. A little head poked out from beneath the worn bedding, looking at Chen Zhuo with timidity. But the moment she caught sight of the youth behind him, her eyes lit up, and she called out timidly, "Brother..."
*Oh, he has a younger sister.* Chen Zhuo's heart instantly settled. He took a seat on a stool and looked at the youth.
Hearing Chen Zhuo's words, the youth also "understood" his intention.
So this senior wanted to use him as a test subject to gather data!
This was not uncommon in the cultivation world. When formulating new pill recipes, many alchemists would seek out low-level cultivators or mortal martial artists to test pills on, observing the medicinal effects and adverse reactions. For a low-tier cultivator at the very bottom, such an opportunity was practically a godsend!
As for the Qi Condensation Pill...
The youth had heard of it. At Jishi Hall, a single one went for twenty-five spirit stones! Its effects were far superior to Qi Gathering Powder.
Right now, he was stuck at the threshold between the first and second layers of Qi Refining. If he could break through to the second layer, he would qualify to join the monster-hunting parties to slay beasts in the surrounding Great Wilderness. Earning back eight spirit stones would be easy then! Only then could he afford the market token fee of ten spirit stones a month, giving him the chance to put his sister forward when the Sword Sect recruited disciples in five months.
With that thought, the youth deliberated for a moment, then carefully drew out a pouch and emptied all the stones onto the table.
"Senior, here are seven spirit stones and fourteen grains of spirit sand," the youth said promptly. "Please inspect them."
Chen Zhuo glanced at the spirit stones. They looked very similar to the ones from the grim old man, only slightly worn around the edges. Besides those stones, there were small stone fragments that resembled tiny pebbles, likely broken off from spirit stones and chipped down to uniform size.
*So this is spirit sand?*
Chen Zhuo swept the spirit stones into his collection, set down the Qi Condensation Pill, and said, "Right here, right now. I need to see the reaction with my own eyes."
Hearing this, the youth bowed to Chen Zhuo, swallowed the pill in a single gulp, sat down cross-legged, and began circulating his faint strand of spiritual energy to refine the long-awaited pill.
"Remember, no matter what happens, tell me truthfully," Chen Zhuo reminded him.
The youth nodded, closed his eyes, and focused entirely on refining the pill.
As he circulated his technique, the surrounding heaven-and-earth spiritual energy began to be drawn in. It had to be said that the spiritual energy here was indeed abundant.
Chen Zhuo sat to one side taking notes. Watching the boy's face shift between a smile and a scowl of distress, he felt utterly bewildered, unsure of what was going on. It wasn't as if the kid had swallowed Smiling Half-Step Powder, was it?
"Brother..." the little girl called out softly with a tearful tremor, her eyes filled with worry.
Finally, after a series of bizarre expressions, Li Changqing returned to normal and began to cultivate steadily.
Seeing this, Chen Zhuo immediately began taking meticulous notes:
*Roughly two minutes after ingestion, pronounced pain observed. Spiritual energy entered a violent state, causing minor damage to the meridians...*
Chapter 20