Looking at the faint heat in Jiang Qihe’s eyes, the corners of Shi Yu’s lips curled up slightly, and she said softly, “I can only refine some ordinary pills, that’s all.”
Seeing that she didn't deny it, the usually calm and gentle middle-aged man showed a trace of excitement.
“Young lady, you can rest assured about the quality of the spiritual plants and herbs in our Tongyi Pavilion.”
Tongyi Pavilion had been running low on goods lately, mostly lacking items commonly used by cultivators such as pills, artifacts, and spirit talismans. Spiritual plants and materials, however, were used by fewer people, so their inventory was still quite sufficient.
As they spoke, an assistant arrived with the three prepared spiritual plants.
The quantity was substantial—two full baskets.
At a glance, these spiritual plants possessed sufficient age and medicinal potency, appeared fresh, and had been preserved very well.
“They’re all here. Three hundred stalks each of five-year-old Jade Dew Grass, five-year-old Qi Gathering Grass, and seven-year-old Half-Sided Orchid.” Jiang Qihe tallied the count, and after confirming everything was correct, said to Shi Yu, “The Jade Dew Grass and Qi Gathering Grass are one low-grade spirit stone for every ten stalks, while the Half-Sided Orchid is one low-grade spirit stone for every five stalks. That comes to a total of one hundred and twenty low-grade spirit stones.”
Shi Yu retrieved a bag of spirit stones from her Fate-Tapping Bell, scanned it with her divine sense, and set aside one hundred and twenty.
Seeing her pay so decisively without any thought of bargaining, Jiang Qihe felt even more certain that the young woman before him was indeed an alchemist.
Alchemists were all wealthy folks. Seeing her spend so lavishly at such a young age, it was almost certainly true.
How could Jiang Qihe know that Shi Yu only refrained from bargaining because she had dealt with him enough to know he was fair in business, so she didn't bother wasting her breath.
She only had about two hundred spirit stones on her in total, so spending so much all at once was still a bit painful.
Jiang Qihe did not take Shi Yu’s spirit stones immediately. Instead, he smiled and said, “Young lady, you look unfamiliar, so I assume this is your first time visiting Tongyi Pavilion. I’ll give you a ten percent discount.”
Shi Yu raised an eyebrow slightly.
Jiang Qihe was certainly generous; a ten percent discount saved her twelve spirit stones right away.
He wasn't done yet. After a brief pause, Jiang Qihe added, “If young lady is willing to give Tongyi Pavilion priority when selling the pills you refine, I can lower the price by another ten percent. What do you think?”
She had already planned to sell a portion of the pills she refined to accumulate resources anyway. Besides, given Tongyi Pavilion's current situation, she didn't mind lending a hand—and conveniently causing some trouble for Duize Tower while she was at it.
“Manager Jiang, you haven't even seen the pills I refine, yet you give such a discount,” Shi Yu said with a smile. “Aren't you afraid I'll just end up producing a pile of failed pills?”
Jiang Qihe choked for a moment. For some reason, he had immense confidence in this young woman he was meeting for the first time, intuitively believing that what she spoke of would not happen.
Cupping his hands, Jiang Qihe said, “If that happens, then consider it my personal investment.”
Shi Yu said no more. Lowering her eyelashes, she raised her hand slightly and stowed the two baskets of herbs into her Fate-Tapping Bell.
Seeing her look toward the nearby counter after storing the herbs, Jiang Qihe asked with a smile, “Does young lady need anything else?”
Now that she had stepped into the first layer of the Qi Refining Realm, although she had not yet generated natal fire, it was sufficient to use ordinary mundane fire to refine some simple artifacts for her use.
She needed to refine a new talisman pen. The unranked talisman pen she bought previously wasn't very durable; after crafting talismans for a while, the barrel was already showing faint signs of cracking, and spiritual energy flowed through it with noticeable sluggishness.
She also needed to forge a pill furnace for alchemy. Naturally, she would need charcoal for alchemy and artifact refining as well.
Based on Shi Yu's experience, the best fires to use were naturally Heavenly Fires containing the laws of heaven and earth, followed by various beast fires and earth fires, ranked by their quality. Naturally, what alchemists and weapon refiners used most often were flames generated from spiritual energy by cultivating Fire-attribute techniques, which also varied in strength according to the rank of the technique.
Last of all were ordinary mundane fires like charcoal.
Regrettably, Heavenly Fires were hard to come by, unobtainable unless one possessed deep karmic fortune and formidable strength. Beast fires and earth fires were also out of her reach for now. As for flames generated by her own spiritual energy... embarrassingly, her spiritual energy was far too shallow to sustain alchemy for prolonged periods.
Therefore, she could only buy some good-quality charcoal to use instead.
As for the spiritual materials needed for robes, weapons, and the like, she would buy them next time; she hadn't decided what kind to make for herself at this stage.
Her thoughts settled, Shi Yu listed the items she needed: “A section of Sunset Red Cedar Wood, one qian of Green Mane Sable belly fur, fifteen catties of Iron Essence, three catties of Profound Light Stone, Silver Shark Scales... Lastly, do you have any high-quality charcoal?”
The quantities of spiritual materials she requested were quite small, which prevented Jiang Qihe from connecting her to the identity of a weapon refiner. Otherwise, Jiang Qihe might really have questioned his sanity today.
Noting down each item she requested, Jiang Qihe heard her final question and replied, “The best charcoal in our shop is Gansong Charcoal. Each piece is carbonized from high-grade Gansong wood—fine, dense, and pure in property. When ignited, its fierce flames can melt gold and iron, though its flaw is that it lacks durability. Gansong Charcoal is one spirit stone for five catties.”
“Next is Jade Light Charcoal. This charcoal is refined from Jade Light Wood and Azure Cloud Stone from Mount Yuguang. The jade-light flame produced upon ignition is flawless, stable, and long-lasting. Jade Light Charcoal is one spirit stone for six catties.”
The former for refining artifacts, the latter for refining pills—just perfect.
Shi Yu nodded slightly. “Then I’ll take one hundred catties of each.”
Tallying up the cost of everything, it came to a total of one hundred and eighty-eight spirit stones. Her pouch was practically empty again.
Two hundred catties of charcoal in total, plus various miscellaneous spiritual materials, piled up into quite a large mound.
Seeing her wave her hand and make everything disappear into a storage artifact, Jiang Qihe thought to himself, To store so many things at once, the storage artifact on this young lady must be of no low grade—or perhaps she carries more than one storage artifact.
Having finished her purchases, Shi Yu was in a good mood and bade Jiang Qihe farewell: “Thank you for your care today, Manager Jiang. Until next time.”
The next time they met would be the day she brought her refined pills. Jiang Qihe understood her implicit meaning and accompanied her out of Tongyi Pavilion personally, a genuine smile on his face.
He only stopped after Shi Yu signaled that there was no need to see her off any further.
Upon returning inside Tongyi Pavilion, Jiang Qihe specifically instructed the shop assistants, “Keep an eye out. In the future, whenever this young lady visits Tongyi Pavilion, inform me immediately. I will receive her personally.”
“Yes, Manager!” the assistants answered one after another.
Returning to the counter, Jiang Qihe looked at the ledger again, his original anxiety and distress having largely dissipated.
First, Young Master Shi had brought spirit talismans that gave him such a huge pleasant surprise, and now this young female alchemist had promised to supply him with refined pills.
He, Jiang Qihe, was truly blessed with good fortune.
Remembering Shi Yu, Jiang Qihe slapped his forehead. Oh no! I forgot to go find Young Master Shi and make up the difference in spirit stones. For such excellent Blaze Talismans, I only offered four spirit stones each. Damn it, damn it!
...
Meanwhile, after leaving Tongyi Pavilion, Shi Yu did not return directly to her courtyard. Instead, she ducked into alleyways and took several winding turns. Only after confirming no one was following her did she change back into her male robes in an empty spot, undo her maiden's bun, and secure it again with her wooden hairpin before heading back to her courtyard.
Back in the courtyard, the White Jade Rice seeds she had sown had already sprouted, vibrant and lush green under the watering of the Life Spring water.
She shut the main door securely and strolled into the house.
“First, I’ll refine the pill furnace and the talisman pen.”
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