Chapter 62: Chapter 62: Pill Master

“Xiaoli, as our Honored Guest Elder at the Ten Thousand Talisman Pavilion, you can come to me for any needs in the Spirit Pearl Mountain marketplace, and I’ll do my best to support you,” Qi Yuan resumed her affectionate elder sister demeanor, smiling as she spoke.

“Thank you for your kindness, senior!”

“Oh, by the way, on that note, I suddenly remembered something. Are you currently residing in the villa at the foot of the mountain? Is the cost sustainable for you?” In the brief contact, Qi Yuan developed some interest in Li Jizhou, this handsome young man with a fine temperament, and offered appropriate concern.

Upon hearing this, Li Jizhou sighed slightly, “To be honest, compared to the Inverted Mountain, the expenses are quite significant! With my current skills only in Talisman, I’m afraid it’s difficult to manage.”

“Since that’s the case, why be so extravagant? Why not settle in a loft in the outer city?” Qi Yuan was somewhat curious.

Initially, she thought Li Jizhou had substantial family wealth and thus was residing in the villa at the foot of the mountain with such audacity.

“In one’s lifetime, like grass and trees in autumn, I wish to live longer.

So I exert all my strength to provide the best resources for my cultivation. The villa at the foot of the mountain is rich in spiritual Qi and quiet, the most suitable for cultivation!” Li Jizhou declared solemnly.

“…” Qi Yuan was slightly taken aback.

Who doesn’t want to live longer?

But others not only want to live longer, but also aim to become stronger.

And it’s not mutually exclusive.

As one’s realm advances, strength increases, lifespan extends.

However… Li Jizhou’s goal seems… more focused on lifespan.

At that moment, she finally understood why Li Jizhou chose to primarily cultivate the Evergreen Skill.

The Evergreen Skill has the ability to increase lifespan, matching his aspirations indeed.

However, the Eternal Spring Magical Power is too gentle and not good for combat, and the progress is slow,

“So he needs to find a place with richer spiritual Qi.”

Reasonable, but… the pressure might be too great.

“What are your plans? Why not take on the position of steward here with a monthly salary of twenty spirit stones,” Qi Yuan pondered and suggested.

“Thank you for the offer, senior, but I have already studied the alchemy method, and before I can advance in Talisman skills, I rely on alchemy to sustain my cultivation!” Li Jizhou replied frankly.

“Oh? You’ve already also studied Fire Element cultivation techniques and refined Pill Fire?” Qi Yuan’s interest was piqued even further.

In this realm, due to cultivation technique attributes and restrictions on the divine soul, there are quite a few who practice multiple skills concurrently.

“I was lucky!” Li Jizhou smiled slightly.

“You have a stable and pragmatic disposition, not bad. With your Talisman skills honing the divine soul, alchemy, at least in terms of the divine soul, will be much lighter, but alchemy has high demands on the Pill Fire, to achieve substantial profits, it’s best to refine high-quality pills,” Qi Yuan acknowledged.

“I will remember Shopkeeper Qi’s teachings!”

“Furthermore, living longer is about cultivation, don’t neglect the fundamentals, but… your primary focus on the Evergreen Skill is indeed slower than others, which does require better grounds and more resources, and having additional skills to earn resources is not unreasonable, just weigh the pros and cons carefully,” Qi Yuan kindly advised.

The subsequent conversation was rather casual, mostly guiding suggestions from Qi Yuan as a senior and a resident of the Spirit Pearl Mountain marketplace.

Until the end, Li Jizhou politely declined the formal welcome banquet, citing not wanting to waste time, and thanked her again before leaving.

Thus, a small misunderstanding was perfectly resolved with Li Jizhou’s sincerity, and he gained the care of an affectionate elder sister, achieving two goals at once.

Additionally, during the casual chat, Li Jizhou received a piece of news.

Four months ago, Lu Zhenhua returned to the main pavilion, receiving high praise from them and was directly awarded a Top-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill!

He then went into retreat, aiming to break through Foundation Establishment within three years!

“A Top-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill, huh!”

This made Li Jizhou quite envious.

Such a pill at the pivotal Foundation Establishment stage is strategic in any place and has significant value.

Major forces generally keep it as strategic reserves.

Thus the ingredients for Foundation Establishment Pill are always in demand and are priced steeply.

The finished Foundation Establishment Pills require a Tier Two seasoned Pill Master to refine, and both the success rate and quality are hard to guarantee.

Therefore, the price of Foundation Establishment Pills is astronomical.

Currently, in the Qi Kingdom’s market, a True Core Foundation Establishment Pill goes for about three thousand spirit stones, while Top-Grade ones, with a twenty percent increase in success rate, easily add another thousand.

The critical issue is due to monopolization by major forces, they are often priced high yet unavailable.

Only at large auctions do one or two occasionally surface.

Small cultivation families like the Yang family by Qingshui River, or the Zhao family at Twin Lakes may have talented younger generation capable of Foundation Establishment, but often lack the ability to secure a Foundation Establishment Pill at key moments!

Moreover, even within major sects, despite having a fair number of Foundation Establishment Pills, internal competition is fierce.

Only for those extraordinarily talented and deeply committed to the sect, do regular sect disciples typically need to actively complete sect tasks and accumulate contribution points to exchange for them.

Like Lin Caiwei, in the process of exchanging for a Foundation Establishment Pill, she would inevitably encounter more obstacles.

In his past life, Li Jizhou also went to great lengths for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Pill Masters require divine soul compatibility, in the late stage of Qi Cultivation in his past life, he was already a Tier One Advanced Level Pill Master, but his divine soul strength was constrained by realm, making it impossible to advance to Tier Two Pill Master.

However, in this life, given his divine soul strength, by late stage of Qi Cultivation, it could likely already rival the Divine Sense of the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, making advancing to Tier Two Pill Master would be a breeze.

He could even pursue supreme quality when refining Foundation Establishment Pill for himself.

Only the main ingredient for Foundation Establishment Pill would require careful attention.

Thinking too much is futile, now what needs to be done is methodically and earnestly, step by step.

These past three months he consumed some talisman paper and spiritual ink, made some talismans, added to his previous stockpile, and sold them for a total of three hundred spirit stones today.

Now his assets amount to over five hundred spirit stones, likely sufficient to purchase a high-quality Pill Furnace.

He walked directly to the Pill Cauldron Pavilion closest to the Ten Thousand Talisman Pavilion.

Inside the Pill Cauldron Pavilion, there was a bustle of people, with every counter occupied by cultivators consulting and buying pills, which shows the flourishing pill market.

Li Jizhou wandered around twice, unable to find anyone to attend to him.

Until he wandered alone to the second floor, eyeing a row of Pill Furnaces, a receptionist approached him to inquire.

“Are you a Pill Master? Looking to purchase a Pill Furnace?” The receptionist maintained the usual demeanor, not showing extra enthusiasm.

This was actually uncommon in Inverted Mountain.

Within Inverted Mountain, every pill shop shows considerable enthusiasm towards Pill Masters, even for budding ones, drawing them in the hope they’d supply them with goods.

Because in Inverted Mountain, anyone can set up a stall to sell, there are ample customers for pills, retail price often surpasses shop acquisitions, even mixed inferior and true core pills sell, so most Pill Masters sell themselves, causing shops to lack stock.

Whereas in this marketplace, there are many rules, possibly meant to protect pill shops’ interests, the marketplace management explicitly forbids personal stall sales, restricting Pill Masters to supplying pill shops only.

Thus, pill shops here are not short on Pill Master supplies.

Only experienced Pill Masters, capable of consistently supplying Top-Grade Pills, become contenders among the major pill shops.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep