"Ice Spike."
A chilling aura emanated from his palm, condensing into several ice spikes the length of an arm.
Zhou Chen did not launch the spirit arts, but dissolved them once more.
This was his courtyard. If he truly made a mess, cleaning it up would be a hassle.
Zhou Chen experimented several times.
After confirming he had mastered several types of techniques, he took out over a hundred yellow talismans from his storage pouch, along with demon beast blood and a brush.
This trip had cost him a full ten spirit stones.
This brush was made from fifty year old Wolf King fur.
He used demon beast blood with cultivation, rather than cinnabar, to draw the talismans.
The same person using the same method to refine the same spiritual talisman would unleash greater power the better the materials for refining the spiritual talisman.
Zhou Chen succeeded in drawing a talisman on his first try.
He drew ten Ice Talismans in one go before slowly setting down his brush.
Then, he tossed a superior Spiritual Energy Pill into his mouth and continued drawing talismanic incantations.
Drawing talismans is extremely taxing for a cultivator. Fortunately, the superior Spiritual Energy Pill was enough to quickly recover his spiritual qi.
Otherwise, even if Zhou Chen’s consumption was far lower than other talisman masters, he would not be able to draw talismans for long.
But besides Zhou Chen, it was unlikely anyone else was extravagant to this degree.
After two hours.
Zhou Chen had drawn nearly a hundred talismanic incantations.
Fifty five elements attribute attack talismans, twenty lightning attribute talisman papers, twenty defensive spiritual talismans, and ten wind attribute escape talismans.
At dawn.
Zhou Chen finally put down his brush and exhaled a long breath of turbid air.
"An unexpected improvement in cultivation is a pleasant surprise."
Under the rapid consumption and replenishment of spiritual power, his realm had unexpectedly made slight progress.
Although it could not compare to swallowing medicinal pills to cultivate, having some progress was better than none.
With a hundred spiritual talismans on him, Zhou Chen felt much more confident.
"Now, I can go to Jiangdu City."
The more he used the system, the less he wanted to act rashly.
The concentration of spiritual qi near Moyu City was too low, so no cultivators were willing to live there.
The spiritual power in Jiangdu City was extremely dense.
It was also located in the central area between the Yin Yang Sect, Yellow Maple Valley, and the Giant Sword Sect.
Cultivators from the three major sects liked to conduct trade within the city.
Therefore, there were many visiting guests. With a hundred spiritual talismans on him, even if he were targeted, he was fully confident in making an escape.
Zhou Chen left the Yin Yang Sect. After descending the mountain, he used a Shapeshifting Talisman to change his appearance and then headed toward Jiangdu City.
With the enhancement of the wind attribute spiritual talismans, his speed surged and doubled.
In less than half an hour, he reached his destination.
"Sigh. It is still a bit slow."
If he could fly on a sword, his travel time would be greatly reduced.
But for cultivators below the Foundation Establishment Stage, it was difficult to fly on a sword for long periods.
Because their own spiritual qi was insufficient, it would be exhausted in a moment.
If he only controlled a magical artifact for battle, it would not have much of an impact.
After entering Jiangdu City, Zhou Chen was in no hurry to purchase spirit medicine.
Instead, he came to Tingyun Pavilion.
As one of the larger medicinal pill shops in the city, Zhou Chen had refined too many spirit medicines, and only this place could buy them all.
The shopkeeper was a plump, round fat man.
But his movements were incredibly agile, and his cultivation appeared unfathomable.
Zhou Chen simply used his Eye of Insight and immediately saw the man’s identity and profession.
[Name: Li Tian]
[Cultivation: Ninth layer of Qi Refining]
[Cultivation Technique: Yuan Forging Method]
[Spiritual Root: Three Spiritual Roots] (Metal, Wood, Earth)
Zhou Chen was secretly astonished.
Tingyun Pavilion was divided into three floors: upper, middle, and lower.
The medicinal pills on the first floor were sold to Qi Refining cultivators.
The first floor shopkeeper already had a ninth layer of Qi Refining cultivation.
Then would the managers on the second and third floors not be Foundation Establishment or Golden Core cultivators?
Zhou Chen’s expression remained unchanged as he said calmly,
"I have a hundred superior Spiritual Energy Pills. I wonder how many spirit stones they are worth?"
The fat cultivator had managed Tingyun Pavilion for many years and had made many deals with alchemists.
But seeing the other party offer a hundred Spiritual Energy Pills at once, he was still slightly surprised. After checking the medicinal pills and confirming they were correct, he quickly replied.
"Fellow Daoist, four hundred and thirty low grade spirit stones. What do you think?"
On the market, each superior Spiritual Energy Pill was worth four spirit stones.
But in reality, the price sold in Tingyun Pavilion was far more than four spirit stones.
Especially since Tingyun Pavilion had branch stores throughout Tiannan Province.
If one bought fake medicine in their shop, they would compensate ten times the price.
But for medicinal pills purchased in some small shops, there was no after sales guarantee.
Zhou Chen had no objection to the price.
He immediately took out three more bottles of medicinal pills and placed them gently on the table.
The fat cultivator skillfully picked up the medicine bottles, and a dense medicinal fragrance wafted over.
It made him feel invigorated, and a look of wild joy flashed in his eyes.
"This... this is a top grade Spiritual Energy Pill?"
Superior Spiritual Energy Pills were rare, but alchemists still produced them.
But top grade Spiritual Energy Pills were different. They could only be refined when the fusion of medicinal effects and all other aspects reached perfection.
Some alchemists might not be able to refine a top grade Spiritual Energy Pill even until they died.
Zhou Chen asked in a raspy voice, "At what price does your Tingyun Pavilion buy and sell top grade Spiritual Energy Pills?"
The fat cultivator rubbed his hands, a sharp light flickering in his eyes.
"Ten, twelve low grade spirit stones. For these forty top grade Spiritual Energy Pills, I will round it up for you to five hundred spirit stones."
To him, twenty spirit stones were nothing.
But it could leave a good impression on the other party.
If there were more medicinal pills to sell in the future, they would surely consider Tingyun Pavilion first.
Zhou Chen was also very satisfied with the price he quoted.
Both sides briskly exchanged goods, and the fat cultivator’s face was covered in smiles.
"Fellow Daoist, if you have more medicinal pills in the future, please come to our Tingyun Pavilion to sell them. The price will definitely satisfy you."
Zhou Chen nodded slightly and turned to walk toward the west.
The shop assistant leaned in and asked in a low voice.
"Manager, he is just an alchemist, is he not? Is it necessary for you to curry favor like this?"
It was not as if alchemists did not sell medicinal pills on ordinary days.
But he had never seen his own shopkeeper show such a respectful, even fawning, attitude toward anyone.
The manager turned around irritably and gave him a hard slap on the head.
"Is this an ordinary alchemist? This is the God of Wealth."
The other party could produce a hundred superior Spiritual Energy Pills and forty top grade Spiritual Energy Pills.
He did not believe the other party had refined them alone. There must be an organization of alchemists working for him behind the scenes.
If he really refined them alone, how long would that take?
Zhou Chen patted his bulging storage pouch.
He felt like one should enjoy life while they can, and not let the golden goblet face the moon empty.
Having been used to hard times, holding over a thousand spirit stones at once made him inevitably excited.
But this time in Jiangdu City, he had important business to attend to.
After twisting and turning through the city and confirming no one was following him, Zhou Chen finally arrived at the entrance of the black market.
The black market, as the name suggests, was for the shady business of the cultivation world.
Whether it was treasures snatched by killing or items seized through various sinister means, as long as you dared to sell, someone in the black market would dare to buy.
At least within the black market trading fair, no one would dare to make a move.
But once outside the black market, there were no constraints at all.
However, the black market was just a front.
Most of the treasures it sold were resources for the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment Stage.
Treasures for Golden Core Stage or higher cultivators would not appear. Otherwise, the black market would be unable to withstand the wrath of a Golden Core cultivator.
Rules were meant to be broken by the strong.
Behind the hidden scenes of the black market, there was also a small scale trading fair.
But that kind of place was not somewhere Zhou Chen was qualified to enter.