Andy walked into the Cloud Immortal Lodge, and an elderly man in his fifties or sixties surnamed Yun immediately came forward to greet him, politely asking whether he needed lodgings. The old man also carried the shimmer of spiritual light—his cultivation was roughly on par with Andy's.
After Andy confirmed that he did, the old man laid out the available options and prices. The first option was a short-term rental of a pavilion at two low-grade spirit stones per month. The second was a long-term rental at ten low-grade spirit stones per year. Under either arrangement, Cloud Immortal Lodge tenants could set up a stall in the market free of charge—otherwise, each session would require paying a fee in spirit stones to the market's management. Larger cave dwellings were also available, though the rent was considerably higher.
"Does it have to be spirit stones? Would gold be acceptable?" Andy asked tentatively.
The old man blinked, then laughed. "You jest, fellow cultivator. What use would mundane currency be to us? Though I suppose if you had ten thousand taels or more, we could reluctantly accept."
Andy had only his pitiful twenty taels of gold. He had no choice but to pay in spirit stones. He opted for a long-term rental of a pavilion close to the market and parted with his first year's rent—ten low-grade spirit stones—with considerable pain.
The old man handed Andy a palm-sized jade disc engraved with intricate symbols and said: "Every pavilion and cave dwelling provided by the Cloud Immortal Lodge comes equipped with a protective barrier. This jade disc is the artifact that activates it. The method is straightforward—instructions are inscribed on the reverse. However, if you choose to keep the barrier active for extended periods, you'll need to supply the spirit stones to power the formation yourself. If there's anything you need or anything unclear, don't hesitate to come find me."
Andy thanked the old man and made his way to his new residence—a two-story pavilion of carved wood, built atop a stone foundation. It was modestly sized, with three or four rooms of different purposes on each floor. The furnishings—tables, beds, chairs—were plain but complete. Following the instructions on the back of the jade disc, he activated the barrier formation. A layer of light immediately enveloped the entire pavilion, and thin wisps of mist began seeping out, gradually forming a white cloud that concealed the building from view.
From that point on, Andy began his life as a talisman maker and seller at Liuyun Market.
He focused on producing a few commonly used low-grade Qi Refinement talismans—the Fireball Talisman, the Diamond Talisman, the Calming Spirit Talisman, and the like. As his skill grew, his success rate gradually climbed to around thirty or forty percent. This was already remarkably high—such rates were likely only achievable by Talisman Makers who specialized entirely in low-grade talismans.
He worked out the numbers. A dozen sheets of low-grade blank talisman paper cost two low-grade spirit stones, with a discount for bulk purchases. Adding in the cost of cinnabar, producing ten low-grade talismans ran about six or seven spirit stones total. Selling at one spirit stone per talisman, he could turn a modest profit—roughly ten-odd low-grade spirit stones per month.
With his small earnings, Andy purchased pills appropriate for his current cultivation level to help advance his realm. Only by reaching the fifth or sixth layer of Qi Refinement would he have enough spiritual power to begin learning more powerful mid-grade Qi Refinement spells like the Flame Serpent Technique, the Golden Shield Technique, the Earth Spike Technique, the Binding Vine Technique, and the Arrow Rain Technique—and only then could he attempt to craft the corresponding talismans.
Two years passed in the blink of an eye. For Andy, accustomed to the monotony of cultivation, this life of making and selling talismans was uneventful but full and purposeful.
During this time, he gradually familiarized himself with Liuyun Market and made the acquaintance of several low-level cultivators who regularly bought his talismans. Fellow strugglers in the lower stages of Qi Refinement, they often compared notes on cultivation, and over time became something close to friends.
Beyond the proprietor of the talisman supply shop who sold him blank paper and cinnabar, the person Andy spent the most time with during these two years was Liu Yingying. The two often set up their stalls side by side, and over time became friends who could talk about anything.
As it turned out, the Liu family northwest of Liuyun Mountain was an extremely small cultivation household—calling it a cultivation family was already generous. Apart from Liu Yingying and her father, there was only a younger brother still in his childhood, along with one male and one female cousin who possessed spirit roots. Five cultivators in all, every one of them at the Qi Refinement stage. Her father was also an Alchemist, though he could only reliably produce two or three types of low-grade pills. Still, it was a marketable skill—he brewed a few batches each month for the Leaving Fire Sect and earned a steady income in spirit stones.
Calling Liu Yingying herself an Alchemist was a stretch. She could only produce one type of pill, and the lowest, cheapest kind at that—Qi Condensation Powder, at three low-grade spirit stones a pill.
The cost and risk of alchemy were far higher than talisman making. A single batch of Qi Condensation Powder cost at least twenty or thirty spirit stones in materials. A successful batch yielded twenty or thirty pills, netting Liu Yingying a handsome profit. But several failures in a row meant total ruin.
Unlike Andy's steady, modest monthly earnings, Liu Yingying's income swung wildly—one month her luck might run hot and she'd pull off an extra batch, raking in sixty or seventy low-grade spirit stones, only to have the next month bring nothing but failures, costing her dozens of spirit stones with nothing to show for it. On average, though, her monthly profit came out slightly higher than Andy's.
This was because pills that boosted cultivation essentially sold themselves. Andy's talismans had their uses too, but he could only move twenty or thirty a month.
Two or three times, however, Liu Yingying hit an extended streak of bad luck, failure after failure wiping out her reserves entirely, and she had no choice but to borrow a few dozen spirit stones from Andy to tide her over.
With the help of regular doses of Qi Condensation Powder, Andy's cultivation gradually improved. Before long, however, he discovered that—perhaps from taking too much of it—Qi Condensation Powder had become almost useless to him. In terms of effectiveness, it couldn't compare to the next tier up: Spirit Clarity Pills.
Spirit Clarity Pills cost a painful twenty spirit stones each, but the effect on his cultivation was dramatic. Every two months, Andy would force himself to dip into his carefully hoarded spirit stones for one.
Even this made Liu Yingying envious. Though she was slightly better off than Andy financially, she couldn't bring herself to indulge like that—she was always thinking of her younger siblings back home whose cultivation was still low, and would set aside whatever pills and spirit stones she could save. Every six months she made the trip home, bringing them pills and the occasional trinket. So while Spirit Clarity Pills would have helped her own fifth-layer cultivation considerably, she rarely bought them—only when she had an especially good run and happened to produce an extra batch or two would she treat herself to one.
Despite Andy's terrible spirit root aptitude, the steady supply of Spirit Clarity Pills finally bore fruit. Two years after arriving at Liuyun Market, he broke through the fourth-layer bottleneck and reached the fifth layer of Qi Refinement—just barely qualifying as a mid-stage cultivator.
The Art of the Chasing Wave that Andy practiced had originally been given to him only through the first five layers. But this foundational Five Element technique was so widely circulated that he easily found a complete copy of all thirteen layers, and it only cost him three low-grade spirit stones. He picked it up at a stall run by a rogue cultivator during one of the monthly trading days. The same text would have cost five spirit stones at the Hall of Ten Thousand Scriptures, the market's dedicated bookshop.
The Hall of Ten Thousand Scriptures contained many other texts that interested Andy, but most were priced beyond his reach. He had only ever bought three, all of which were directly useful to his talisman making.
The first was a spell book containing seven or eight mid- and high-grade Qi Refinement spell incantations. It was incomplete, which was why it sold for only fifteen spirit stones. The second was a talisman manual that specifically covered the principles of crafting mid-grade Qi Refinement talismans—invaluable for someone like Andy who planned to gradually raise his talisman-making level. Despite its steep price of fifty spirit stones, Andy gritted his teeth and bought it. The third was a miscellaneous volume recounting the legendary deeds of ancient cultivation grandmasters. It was cheaply priced, and after some haggling, the proprietor of the Hall of Ten Thousand Scriptures threw it in as a freebie with the other two—buy two, get one free.