Chapter 98: Shen Yan’s Worth!

“The abilities of my senior are truly beyond anything this junior could dare to fathom.”

Qian Muqing bowed again in admiration, then began tallying the talismans in the storage pouch.

“Senior, the Vajra Talisman comes to a total of three thousand two hundred spirit stones. Adding the magical implements and medicinal pills, the total is five thousand spirit stones. Would senior like to receive spirit stones, or would you prefer to purchase some cultivation materials instead?”

After each transaction with Shen Yan, Qian Muqing had grown somewhat numb to such enormous sums of spirit stones.

In ordinary times, the deals he handled were only for ten or twenty spirit stones. But ever since Shen Yan had arrived, the transactions in his hands had involved thousands, even tens of thousands.

“Exchange everything for cultivation materials,” Shen Yan said.

He picked up the jade slip beside him that recorded the Hundred Treasures Pavilion’s inventory and carefully studied it. After a round of selecting and marking items, he let out a wistful sigh.

“This trip didn’t just fail to make money—I’ll actually have to add another ten thousand spirit stones out of my own pocket. That is rather dispiriting.”

Hearing this, Qian Muqing gave an awkward smile and said with a bitter expression, “Senior, you’re making it difficult for this junior to respond. The prices of the materials in the inventory are all set by the upper management, and this junior truly has no authority to grant you any discount.”

Shen Yan waved his hand. He did not make things difficult for Qian Muqing; with the other man’s late-stage Qi Refinement cultivation, if not for their acquaintance, he would likely not even have been qualified to conduct a deal with him face to face.

Seeing that Shen Yan did not press him, Qian Muqing quietly relaxed. Not daring to delay, he hurried off to fetch the materials Shen Yan needed.

Seated calmly in his chair, Shen Yan sipped the Hundred Treasures Pavilion’s spirit tea while silently calculating in his heart.

“Now that my true essence has reached great completion, if I want to advance further I must condense baleful energy. Yet baleful energy exists mostly in remote, forbidding places, or in the hands of powerful factions that control its extraction.”

“Although there is some baleful energy on the market, most of it is of inferior quality. The truly valuable kinds, the ones capable of enhancing a cultivator’s battle strength, can only be obtained through barter or by joining those forces.”

At this moment, Shen Yan found himself in a difficult position. He detested joining factions. His experience in the Yang residence had left him unwilling to endure any restraints at all, and compared with affiliating himself with a power, he would much rather gather baleful energy on his own.

But to gather baleful energy, one first needed intelligence on where it existed. He had once asked Qian Muqing about it, only for the other party to propose that Shen Yan join Sea Charm City.

After refusing, Shen Yan naturally understood that his plan to obtain baleful energy, or information about it, through the Hundred Treasures Pavilion had come to nothing.

After much thought, Shen Yan ultimately decided to take a look at the black market.

The so-called black market was an underground place of trade within the cultivation world. Such markets could be found in the marketplaces of various sects, in great immortal cities, in family markets, and elsewhere.

From Xu Daoqing’s storage pouch, Shen Yan had also obtained a black market honored guest token. He decided to visit the black market in a while and see what could be found there.

Before long, Qian Muqing returned with a storage pouch and came up to Shen Yan.

“Senior, all the materials you requested are here. Please take a look and confirm them.”

Shen Yan nodded, examined everything carefully, and after confirming that the items in the storage pouch matched his order without a single error, he took out a pile of spirit stones and handed them over.

“For the next two months I will be in seclusion studying the arts of cultivation, so I’m afraid I won’t have time to come here. If fellow Daoist has any urgent matter, you may leave a message at my shop entrance.”

Qian Muqing bowed respectfully. “Many thanks for senior’s care.”

Shen Yan chuckled, took the storage pouch into his robes, and then walked out.

Watching Shen Yan’s departing figure, Qian Muqing could not help but feel a sense of admiration. This Senior Shen had achieved Foundation Establishment at such a young age, and his talent in the arts of cultivation was extraordinary. Even though the immortal city had refused his request to purchase intelligence about baleful energy, it would probably not be long before this senior succeeded in condensing it and became a true Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Shen Yan naturally did not care about Qian Muqing’s speculation. He returned leisurely to his shop. After confirming that no one had come looking for him during his absence, he activated the formation and returned to the refining room.

The magical implements and medicinal pills Shen Yan had sold to Qian Muqing were only of mid grade at best, but in truth Shen Yan was already capable of refining high-grade magical implements and high-grade medicinal pills.

After all, the other alchemists and artifact refiners used earth fire or ordinary flame rather than South Bright Flare Fire, and they consumed heaven and earth spiritual energy rather than innate purple energy. Whether in finished quality or success rate, they were far below Shen Yan.

The reason he had not exposed his true abilities was to avoid drawing envy from others. Being able to refine mid-grade magical implements was already astonishing enough; it was best not to be too ostentatious.

Among the cultivation arts he had learned, Shen Yan had devoted the most effort to artifact refining, because in his possession were still four broken supreme-grade magical implements belonging to Xu Mao, along with a pile of his own supreme-grade magical implements.

As long as his artifact-refining skill could reach the point of forging low-grade spirit artifacts, Shen Yan would be able to elevate his supreme-grade magical implements to the level of low-grade spirit artifacts. In that way, he would have several hidden cards for the search for baleful energy.

Thoughts flowed through his mind as his hands never paused. While studying the artifact-refining techniques he had obtained from Feng Jun’s cave residence, he continued to work the furnace.

Half a month later, three standard high-grade flying swords were successfully completed. Only then did Shen Yan extinguish the South Bright Flare Fire Pearl and leave the refining room.

After carefully taking stock of his inventory, he noted the following.

His cultivation methods included Water Essence Art, Primordial Magnetism Profound Skill, Azure Lotus Sword Chant, and the Cycle of Heavenly Gang Qi.

His magical implements consisted of a low-grade spirit artifact, the Azure Spirit Sword; a supreme-grade Soul Summoning Banner; supreme-grade Shadow Chasing Boots; a supreme-grade Primordial Water Shield; and a supreme-grade South Bright Flare Fire Pearl.

His spells, obtained from Feng Jun’s cave residence, included Spirit Refinement Art, Control-Object Art, and Water Escape Art. As for low-level spells such as Spring Breeze Moistening Rain Art and Water Bolt Art, Shen Yan had already ceased cultivating them.

In addition, the Azure Lotus Sword Chant’s accompanying Azure Lotus Sword Art and the earth magnetism power accompanying Primordial Magnetism Profound Skill were also among his trump cards.

As for talismans, he had several hundred high-grade Vajra Talismans and several hundred Wind Travel Talismans, more than enough for a long time.

Regarding one-use magical implements, after obtaining earth magnetism power, he gave up on the ice needles made with Ice Condensation Art. After all, it was better to have fewer methods than too many.

As for spirit stones, Shen Yan still had one hundred forty thousand low-grade spirit stones in hand.

As the saying goes, review the old and you will know the new. After going through his spells once more, he saw that night had fallen, so he packed away his belongings and left the shop. Taking out the black market honored guest token left behind by Xu Daoqing, he poured his true essence into it, and a strange sense of guidance appeared in his heart.

Using the Three Souls Breath-Concealing Art to change into the appearance of Zhou Shun, Shen Yan followed the guidance and headed toward a secluded part of Sea Charm City.

After releasing his divine sense to observe, he found that this was an area inhabited mostly by cultivators in the early and middle stages of Qi Refinement. He passed through silently, and after the time it takes to burn an incense stick, arrived before what looked like a rather inconspicuous wooden door.