Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Zhao Sheng felt relieved and showed a hint of apology, "It seems I have misunderstood Mr. Wei. Hmm, I will accept this talisman. How many spirit stones do you want for it?"

Actually, first-order talismans themselves are not expensive; what's costly is the method of refining them.

Mr. Wei rubbed his hands joyfully and tentatively asked, "How about one thousand spirit stones?"

Zhao Sheng curtly said, "That's a bit expensive."

Wei Youquan's face stiffened, and he exclaimed exaggeratedly, "Not at all expensive. This Blood Refining Talisman is not comparable to those ordinary first-order talismans—it can condense essence blood, you know."

This essence blood, for us cultivators, is really a case of 'use one drop, lose one drop.'Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Not to mention those fellow Daoists who follow the path of body refinement—think about sacrificial refining of blood artifacts, amplifying the power of talismans, feeding spiritual insects. Which of these can do without essence blood?"

Although he exaggerated, Zhao Sheng was not buying it and immediately countered, "First of all, I do not follow the path of body refinement, so the Blood Refining Talisman is of little use to me. Besides, there's always a trade-off. Although this talisman can condense essence blood, it will inevitably deplete primordial qi. Otherwise, its grade wouldn't be merely first order."

Unable to deceive his opponent, Wei Youquan couldn't help but offer a sheepish smile, then tested again, "Then...how much is Senior Zhao willing to offer?"

"At most three hundred."

"No way, at least eight hundred," Wei Youquan shouted, his face turning red.

"Five hundred, no more."

"Seven hundred spirit stones. Otherwise, I'm not selling," he said.

With that, Wei Youquan grabbed the talisman and paper, stood up, and pretended to walk away.

Zhao Sheng did not stop him, merely watching with an amused smile.

Seeing this, Wei Youquan's eyes darted around and he sat back down.

"Senior Zhao, please be straightforward. How many spirit stones can you give?" he asked with a crestfallen face.

Zhao Sheng felt that the timing was almost right and then said, "Seven hundred spirit stones are not out of the question..."

Upon hearing this, Wei Youquan's face lit up with joy.

However, at that moment, Zhao Sheng changed the subject and suddenly asked, "But...you must honestly tell me. Where did you get this Blood Refining Talisman from?"

Wei Youquan cheerfully said, "As long as Senior Zhao pays the spirit stones, I will certainly tell you the origins of this talisman."

Zhao Sheng listened, counted out seven hundred low-grade spirit stones, and pushed them across to the other party.

Wei Youquan swiftly collected the spirit stones, then took out a piece of paper with the latter half of the refining method written on it, handing it over to Zhao Sheng along with the earlier items.

After that, he quickly explained the origins of the Blood Refining Talisman completely.

It turned out that he had gotten the Blood Refining Talisman from a third-generation disciple under Master Gui Yuan, along with a body refining cultivation technique named "Blood Refining Body Forging Technique."

Master Gui Yuan was one of the four great Perfect Golden Core giants of Pocket World City.

In the past two years, there were rumors in Pocket World City claiming that Master Gui Yuan had secretly advanced to Nascent Soul and was about to leave the Pocket World City to establish his own sect.

Although these rumors were not confirmed, and even though Master Gui Yuan had been in seclusion for twenty years, the fact that his disciples were secretly recruiting and expanding his influence was undeniable.

Zhao Sheng had heard about this but hadn't expected the Blood Refining Talisman to originate from Master Gui Yuan's disciples.

"Does this mean you've chosen to join Master Gui Yuan?" Zhao Sheng asked.

"Not necessarily! Any fool wouldn't miss out on a good deal that comes knocking. I'd be a fool not to take it," Wei Youquan grinned and spread his hands in a rascal manner.

Oh?

"Could it be that it wasn't you who sought them out, but rather they approached you?" Zhao Sheng's eyes flickered, asking curiously.

"Hehe, if it weren't for that, who would care about an old man like me?" Wei Youquan said, which showed quite a bit of self-awareness,

Zhao Sheng leaned back in his chair and probed, "That 'Blood Refining Body Forging Technique,' may I take a look at it?"

Wei Youquan's eyes flickered, and he directly stretched out his hand, "No need to look, I'll just sell it to you. It's cheap, only five hundred spirit stones."

"Hmm, that's cheap!"

As soon as the thought crossed Zhao Sheng's mind, he immediately felt something was off.

Cultivation techniques are much more expensive than talismans, and the Blood Refining Talisman just cost seven hundred spirit stones. It didn't make sense for a more valuable cultivation technique to cost so little.

There must be something strange!

But before Zhao Sheng could ask further, Wei Youquan explained, "Senior Zhao, there is no need to doubt. This Cultivation Technique is merely an incomplete part, containing only the Qi Refining Chapter. Moreover, the person who passed this technique to me also said that they very much welcome more Fellow Daoists to cultivate this technique."

At this point, he chuckled, gave a thumbs up, and praised, "Master Gui Yuan, being a Loose Cultivator himself, is indeed commendable. Even with a Nascent Soul imminent, he still thinks about us Loose Cultivators, showing a breadth of inclusiveness rare among the greats."

...

After a while, Wei Youquan, laughing and bowing continuously, thanked Zhao Sheng and exited the elegant room, then contentedly went to the Piaoxian Building.

In the elegant room, Zhao Sheng meticulously flipped through the booklet in his hands, his expression very serious.

However, after looking through it three times, Zhao Sheng was puzzled and set the booklet down.

This "Blood Refining Body Forging Technique" was imbued with Taoist concepts, and the method of cultivation primarily involved food, medicine, and refining, with nothing perilously bizarre about it.

It seemed very normal.

But Zhao Sheng always felt that something was off and later doubted that with his knowledge and experience, he might not be able to uncover the peculiarity within.

He was just thinking this when—

Bang bang bang!

The door to the elegant room was knocked on again.

"Come in!"

With the arrival of a new guest, Zhao Sheng's thoughts were abruptly interrupted.

Seeing someone enter, he had no choice but to put his thoughts aside and start receiving the visitor.

An hour later, Zhao Sheng had sent away three waves of Fellow Daoists seeking transactions.

Seeing that it was about time, Zhao Sheng stood up, tidied everything neatly, greeted the host, and left the place.

Shortly after, Zhao Sheng passed through the city gate, released his wooden kite, and was about to leave.

After Foundation Establishment, a Cultivator can fly with a magic tool, but Zhao Sheng, not wishing to show off, still chose to travel by wooden kite.

Suddenly,

his gaze sharpened, and he turned his head toward the city gate, only to see two city gate guards clad in bright red robes added to both sides of the gate.

These two men were radiant, full of vigor, and robustly masculine, their vitality so strong it almost overflowed from their bodies.

After a fleeting glance, without asking further, he smoothly jumped aboard the wooden kite, commanded it to rise into the air, and flew towards Heavenly Pillar Mountain.

...

Time flowed like water, and half a year passed in a flash.

Under the Spiritual Peach Tree in Zhao's Secret Mansion, the spiritual energy was dense.

Zhao Sheng sat beneath the tree, eyes closed in cultivation, the Spirit Power Vortex in his Dantian rotating in circles, drawing the surrounding spiritual energy into it, the Qi swirling and enveloping his body for a long time without dispersing.

After thirty minutes, a three-foot-long column of Qi suddenly erupted from Zhao Sheng's mouth, and he slowly opened his eyes, a hint of joy in his gaze.

After half a year of diligent cultivation, his cultivation had improved significantly, his Divine Sense had expanded by about ten yards, reaching fifteen yards in range.

After ending today's cultivation, Zhao Sheng jumped down from the tree, went to the Medicine Field, started loosening the soil for the Spiritual Medicine, and released a Spring Breeze and Rain Talisman, producing a shower of spirit rain to water them.

Busy for about half an hour, he quickly finished this bit of work.

Zhao Sheng stood up, conjured a ball of clean water to wash his hands, then suddenly felt a wave of loneliness.

Since the bizarre Blood Stain incident, Heavenly Pillar Mountain had been peaceful for the past half year, with no odd events occurring.

Gradually, Zhao Sheng let down the guard he had been keeping up, and his thoughts soon shifted to another matter.

Almost a year had passed, and yet Zhao Keru and Zhao Xuanjing hadn't returned.

This was the first time in years that such a situation had occurred.

This made Zhao Sheng quite curious, and he couldn't help but wonder if something had happened at Taifu Mountain that had delayed their return.