After breaking through to the first layer of the Qi Refining Realm, Shi Yu remained inside her small courtyard, stepping through neither the main gate nor the side door, lost in arduous cultivation for a full half month.
Once she had fully digested the realizations brought by the Qingming Dew, her cultivation became solidified and accumulated, naturally reaching the late stage of the Qi Refining Realm's first layer.
Now inside her dantian, eight red Qi cyclones revolved slowly around the yellow sprout, drawing in and expelling energy ceaselessly. Surrounding the cyclones, crimson spiritual energy hovered like mist, drifting lazily.
At a glance, the sight was as magnificent as the evening clouds setting the horizon ablaze.
Following her breakthrough, the most pleasant surprise was the change in the Yin-Yang Fate-Tapping Bell.
Within the dim Purple Mansion, the Yin-Yang Fate-Tapping Bell bobbed up and down. Crystal clear and translucent, it emitted a soft glow like moonlight—ethereal, agile, mysterious, and lovely.
The space inside had expanded significantly, growing from three square feet of ground to ten square feet.
“This way, I can store far more things inside.”
Compared to ordinary magic treasures, storage artifacts were somewhat more complex and difficult to refine. Moreover, being an essential item for cultivators at home or abroad, their selling price could be two to three times higher than other magic treasures of the same rank.
Furthermore, low-rank storage artifacts usually only had a capacity of a few square feet.
The space inside the Yin-Yang Fate-Tapping Bell was far larger than that of an ordinary storage artifact, and as her cultivation grew in the future, the space would continue to expand.
Beyond storage, items kept within the Yin-Yang Fate-Tapping Bell possessed the effect of never decaying, nor would their spiritual energy leak out—an advantage far beyond what other storage artifacts could match.
A gentle breeze blew through the courtyard, rustling the leaves. A small bird flew into the yard, cocking its head to peck here and there.
Shi Yu raised a hand, her spiritual power gently binding the bird and pulling it to her side. She tried to put it into the Fate-Tapping Bell, but failed.
“Looks like I still can't put living creatures inside.”
Shi Yu shook her head regretfully. Looking at the panicked bird in her hand, she flicked her wrist and set it free.
Fluttering its wings, the bird flew away. Shi Yu withdrew her gaze, turning her attention to the small medicinal field beside the Life Spring.
Now this medicinal field had also expanded considerably. The spiritual plants originally planted there were still in a sprouting state, showing almost no change.
These spiritual plants, which had originally existed inside the bell, naturally restrained their radiance and concealed their divine nature. They were undoubtedly spiritual plants and immortal herbs of extremely high grade. Even inside the spiritual-energy-abundant Yin-Yang Fate-Tapping Bell, their growth was exceptionally slow, and there was no telling when they would finally mature.
“My cultivation is still low and weak. Even if they matured, I wouldn't have the means to utilize them.”
Shi Yu was in no hurry; that day would come eventually.
Around these spiritual plants and immortal herbs, there was now plenty of extra space that she could use to cultivate other spiritual plants.
Finally, Shi Yu's eyes fell upon the two springs of Life and Slaughter. These two springs were the true core of the entire Yin-Yang Fate-Tapping Bell.
The size of the two springs remained unchanged, still forming a perfect circle composed of two fish-shaped halves, about the size of a bowl's opening.
However, the water produced by them had increased from one drop every half month to two drops every half month, which relieved Shi Yu's pressing need.
Previously, a single drop of Life Spring water was never enough. Diluting it with water filled a gourd, which lasted only about ten days before running out.
Now with two drops every half month, when diluted, she would have enough for her own consumption with a bit left over, so she wouldn't be as strapped for resources as before.
“The spiritual grain is all gone. Time to plant again.”
Shi Yu fetched the White Jade Rice seeds she had saved last time and, following her previous method, scattered them as evenly as possible across the soil in the yard.
Once the seeds were sown, she drew half a bucket of well water, mixed in a little Life Spring water, and watered them. That wrapped up her work.
Finishing these tasks, Shi Yu stretched her arms.
She hadn't left the house for half a month. She planned to head to Tongyi Pavilion, sell a few dozen spirit talismans, and purchase some materials for alchemy and weapon refining.
...
Jiang Qihe sat with his account books spread open, utterly at a loss, sighing again and again.
For unknown reasons, the activity of spirit beasts in the mountain range had grown increasingly frequent recently. Several merchant caravans and cloud boats bringing goods had been lost. Head office had issued orders that no further shipments would be dispatched until the spirit beast activity ceased.
Taking such a massive risk was simply not worth it.
However, for a shop to have no goods to sell—how ridiculous was that?
This branch of Tongyi Pavilion was newly established and lacked a solid foundation. In terms of sourcing local goods, its strength couldn't compare to the local old-established shop across the street, Duize Tower.
Duize Tower had been established when this market was first built, possessing its own fixed local sources of supply.
Through long-standing operations, the few talisman masters, alchemists, and weapon refiners within a thousand-li radius of Yuxu Sect's domain all maintained good relations with Duize Tower.
Taking advantage of the rampant spirit beast activity and Tongyi Pavilion's inability to bring in goods, Duize Tower's local advantage became increasingly prominent. Seeking to push Tongyi Pavilion out, they had been making small moves nonstop recently.
Tongyi Pavilion enjoyed a great reputation among rogue cultivators thanks to fair prices and attentive customer service. But no matter how good a reputation was, if there were no resources for cultivators to buy, it was nothing more than empty talk.
Thinking of the family performance evaluation coming up in a year, Jiang Qihe's face darkened.
Tongyi Pavilion possessed vast influence across Changyuan Prefecture, but in this situation, the family could hardly offer him any help—especially considering he had been marginalized and sent here in the first place.
Just as his mind was filled with anxiety, he caught sight of a familiar figure stepping over the threshold. Jiang Qihe smoothed his expression, forcing a smile as he went up to greet them.
The newcomer was none other than Shi Yu.
Seeing at a glance that she had stepped into the first layer of the Qi Refining Realm, Jiang Qihe cupped his hands and smiled. “Congratulations to Young Master Shi on forming your Dao Foundation and stepping into Qi Refining.”
Shi Yu smiled faintly and gave a subtle nod.
Assuming Shi Yu had come today to sell jade talismans again, Jiang Qihe led her inside and asked, “How many jade talismans did Young Master bring today?”
During this period, the quantity of jade talismans Shi Yu sold to Tongyi Pavilion was considerable. Though they were mere playthings that cultivators looked down on, they were extremely popular among the wealthy children of mortals, bringing quite a bit of foot traffic to Tongyi Pavilion.
Although they were just mortals, many residing in the market were family members of sect disciples, or wives and children of rogue cultivators, with plenty of wealthy individuals among them.
However... the bulk of Tongyi Pavilion's business ultimately depended on cultivators.
Right now, business across the street at Duize Tower was growing better and better, while Tongyi Pavilion grew increasingly desolate.
Seeing Jiang Qihe put on an eager expression, Shi Yu smiled gently. “I have no jade talismans to sell today.”
Jiang Qihe froze. Then he watched as Shi Yu flipped her palm, producing a stack of spirit talismans.
His gaze locked onto the thick stack of spirit talismans, his breathing quickening slightly. “These are...?”
Shi Yu: “Blaze Talismans.”
Jiang Qihe took the spirit talismans and briefly checked their aura. They were indeed Blaze Talismans.
He thought to himself: Before, she only sold jade talismans. Now she brings out spirit talismans—looks like the person behind this young master has finally advanced to a talisman master.
In Jiang Qihe's eyes, the talisman master behind Shi Yu had only recently advanced. Naturally, the Blaze Talismans crafted would be significantly weaker in power than typical Blaze Talismans.
He pondered briefly, weighing how to offer a price.
An ordinary Blaze Talisman sold for three to four spirit stones apiece. This stack surely couldn't match normal quality.
Yet currently, Tongyi Pavilion could not bring in goods and was in the awkward spot of having nothing to sell. Fortunately, he had always treated Shi Yu with courtesy, cultivating enough goodwill for her to sell the talismans to Tongyi Pavilion.
Under such circumstances, he naturally had to maintain this relationship carefully.
Jiang Qihe feared that if he offered too low a price, this hard-won source of supply would be snatched away by Duize Tower.
Regarding the price, he made up his mind: even if these talismans were somewhat inferior to ordinary ones, it didn't matter...
With thoughts whirling through his mind, Jiang Qihe gave a warm smile. “Four spirit stones per Blaze Talisman. What does Young Master Shi think?”
Before coming, Shi Yu had naturally looked into the price of Blaze Talismans, which ranged from three to four spirit stones each.
The Blaze Talismans she crafted were bound to be superior to ordinary ones, but since three to four low-grade spirit stones was the standard range, Jiang Qihe's offer of four was decent enough.
Shi Yu nodded. “Fifty-two Blaze Talismans in total. Manager Jiang, please count them.”
“How could I distrust Young Master Shi?” Jiang Qihe smiled, placing the Blaze Talismans on the counter and personally retrieving a pouch of spirit stones for Shi Yu. “Two hundred and eight low-grade spirit stones. Please keep them safe, Young Master Shi.”
He let out a quiet sigh. Purchasing Blaze Talismans that he assumed were weaker than average at four spirit stones left him virtually no profit margin—in fact, he was taking a slight loss.
However, this batch of Blaze Talismans could temporarily relieve Tongyi Pavilion's supply crisis. As long as he could curry favor and preserve this relationship, it was well worth it.
Befriending a talisman master with bright prospects was worth paying a few extra spirit stones.
Escorting Shi Yu to the entrance in person, Jiang Qihe finally couldn't hold back and spoke up. “Young Master Shi, in the future...”
Shi Yu turned her gaze to him. “Hm?”
Jiang Qihe hesitated before speaking truthfully, “Tongyi Pavilion is currently facing a shortage of goods. Could Young Master consider selling your spirit talismans to...”
Shi Yu understood his meaning and smiled. “Doing business with Manager Jiang is quite pleasant.”
Jiang Qihe breathed a sigh of relief and walked her a few more steps until Shi Yu signaled that it wasn't necessary. He nodded in assent and returned to Tongyi Pavilion.
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