Chapter 90: The Worldly Wonder From Previous Life |
"Late second-rank beast skins are also precious to our Zhou Family. The quality and quantity of the talismans you provide must meet the corresponding requirements." Zhou Qingxuan added.
Next, the two discussed the details of their cooperation and bargained intensely.
For the first batch of cooperation, the Zhou Family mainly provided mid second-rank beast skins. Only a small piece of late second-rank beast skin was provided.
This cooperation was considered a trial.
The Zhou Family needed to first assess Lan Chang'an's talisman-drawing capabilities.
For the initial cooperation, Zhou Qingxuan decided to offer a small piece of beast skin as a special exception.
Lan Chang'an was well aware that Zhou Qingxuan was very interested in his little beast taming secret.
Without demonstrating certain strength and value, Zhou Qingxuan would not promise to provide late second-rank beast skins in their cooperation.
Before she left, Lan Chang'an gifted Zhou Qingxuan several low second-rank talismans.
The Zhou Family's connections were still very useful to him, and maintaining contact was beneficial.
Just as Zhou Qingxuan left.
Squeak! Squeak!
The Earth Burrowing Rat rubbed against Lan Chang'an's robe, looking very fawning.
"Go and stay down there, don't scare people." Lan Chang'an flicked a porcelain bottle, impatiently waving his hand.
The Earth Burrowing Rat, with a flattering expression, excitedly opened its mouth and swallowed the porcelain bottle whole.
Then, it wagged its tail and swiftly burrowed into the ground, disappearing in a flash.
"It certainly doesn't act like a rat." Lan Chang'an shook his head.
...
In the following months, Lan Chang'an maintained his aloofness as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, rarely receiving visitors.
The spiritual energy environment at Water Moon Residence was not suitable for his cultivation. He needed to cultivate for five to six hours daily to reach the daily limit of his Evergreen Technique.
In Huanglong Immortal City, the environment with second-rank spirit veins was either in the caves of Huanglong Mountain or in Huanglong District at the foot of Huanglong Mountain, where Alchemist Hua's mansion was located.
A cost-effective choice was to rent a mansion in Huanglong District.
However, Huanglong District was not Lan Chang'an's ideal residence.
Firstly, it gathered Foundation Establishment cultivators, and even a few Fake-Dan Immortals, it was a veritable cloud of powerful beings.
Secondly, Huanglong District bordered Mount Huang; while not quite under the immortals' noses, one could say it was at their feet.
The ideal cultivation environment for Lan Chang'an would be quiet and private.
He planned to visit the Mu Family and then inspect various places outside.
In the various regions of the cultivation world in the Liang Kingdom, there were spiritual lands available for rent or purchase.
If financially sufficient, he could even buy a small second-rank spirit vein land, farm, raising pets, cultivating longevity skills, and staying out of worldly disputes.
With a long lifespan, the Evergreen Technique suited nurturing spirit herbs.
Not striving or fighting, just by planting a large number of spirit herbs and elixirs, he could accumulate terrifying wealth over one or two hundred years.
Of course, that was an ideal situation.
In the ever-changing cultivation world, it was difficult to stay completely out of worldly disputes.
...
Apart from daily cultivation.
Lan Chang'an occasionally went to various places in the inner city to collect mid to superior-grade second-rank talisman materials.
In terms of materials, he couldn't rely solely on the Zhou Family.
Lan Chang'an mainly lacked the raw materials for talisman paper.
For the talisman brush, he had the one gifted by Fu Xuemei, which was enough for now.
For spiritual ink, he had obtained quite a bit of demon beast blood in the Black Fog Mountain Range a few years ago.
The 400-year-old Blood Ink Flower found by the Earth Burrowing Rat could significantly enhance the quality of the spiritual ink.
As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, collecting mid-grade second-rank talisman materials was much easier than before.
The first delivery from the Zhou Family had yet to arrive, but in the months since he'd begun, Lan Chang'an had created more than twenty mid second-rank talismans, improving his defensive capabilities significantly.
The only regret was that he temporarily couldn't find late second-rank beast skins or the corresponding talisman paper.
Lan Chang'an's Treasure Talisman Project required superior-grade second-rank spiritual wood bark, which he hadn't found in Huanglong Immortal City.
There were some clues though.
Large auctions might feature superior-grade second-rank spiritual wood bark, but that depended on luck.
In the cultivation world of the Liang Kingdom, there was one place that definitely had superior-grade second-rank spiritual wood bark.
That was the Qingzhu Sect.
The sect where Chen Fuhai and his wife resided.
"The Qingzhu Sect not only has superior-grade second-rank spiritual wood bark, but even third-rank ones." Lan Chang'an thought, contemplating whether he should strengthen his connections with Old Chen Fuhai.
The spiritual bamboo and wood of the Qingzhu Sect were related to the sect's protective formation and were rarely sold externally, requiring some connections.
...
Another month passed.
The Zhou Family's first batch of second-rank beast skin materials arrived at Water Moon Residence.
Zhou Qingxuan represented the Zhou Family in this transaction.
"Late second-rank beast skin, finally in my hands." Lan Chang'an held a two-foot-long small piece of spiritual beast skin, feeling elated.
Lan Chang'an's real purpose for the late second-rank beast skin was to draw superior-grade second-rank talismans.
A talisman master at mid-grade second-rank and above was very rare in the cultivation world of the Liang Kingdom.
Even rarer than alchemists of the same level.
For no other reason than the scarcity of raw materials and the lack of practice experience for talisman masters.
Late second-rank demon beasts were not easy to deal with.
Second-rank and above spiritual wood also had long growth cycles.
As for third-rank talisman masters, there were even fewer.
The difficulty of obtaining Core Formation-level demon beast skin was imaginable.
Going further, the path of a talisman master was almost entirely dark.
...
Lan Chang'an held the small piece of late second-rank demonic beast skin, working with Guan Qiaozhi to process it, going through several steps, adding other materials, and making it into talisman paper.
After eliminating waste, he obtained seven pieces of superior-grade second-rank talisman papers.
With his early Foundation Establishment cultivation, drawing superior-grade second-rank talismans was somewhat strenuous.
The success rate was less than half.
In the end, he drew three superior-grade second-rank talismans.
One for attack, one for defense, and one for escape.
This success rate was comparable to superior-grade second-rank talisman masters.
If Lan Chang'an advanced to mid-Foundation Establishment or cultivated to the second or third level of Foundation Establishment, there would be room for improvement.
Lan Chang'an naturally accepted the three superior-grade talismans with a smile.
Using the mid-grade second-rank beast skins as raw materials, he drew over twenty mid-grade second-rank talismans.
He took out six mid-grade talismans and paired them with more than ten low second-rank talismans, paying the Zhou Family.
This transaction was completed.
Zhou Qingxuan was quite satisfied with the quality of the talismans.
The next cooperation would depend on the beast-taming Zhou Family's needs.
...
Shortly after drawing talismans for the Zhou Family.
Lan Chang'an bought a batch of mid-grade second-rank spirit sand stones.
The progress of the Cloud Sand Body Refinement Manual accelerated, gradually approaching the fifth layer. Once advanced, his physique's strength would be comparable to mid second-rank demonic beasts.
Before he knew it, nearly half a year had passed since Lan Chang'an emerged from his Foundation Establishment seclusion.
One day, he received a letter from the Mu Family.
In the letter, Li Erqing expressed his anticipation for Lan Chang'an's return to Feiyue Lake as a guest, saying the Mu Family would eagerly await his arrival.
At this time, Li Erqing did not yet know the true purpose of Lan Chang'an's visit to Feiyue Lake, nor the fate it would bring to the Mu Family.
Lan Chang'an didn't hurry to Feiyue Lake.
He had a small matter to handle in Jin Xiu Lane in the inner city.
...
"Qiaozhi, ask young Sang next door to come over." Lan Chang'an instructed.
After years of observation and analysis, he confirmed that the puppet master across the street had acquired a decent puppet inheritance.
The path of puppetry was relatively unpopular.
Making puppets was very time-consuming.
The cost was twice that of the same-grade magic weapons, and during battles, it required part of the cultivator's spiritual sense and had to be matched with the puppet control technique.
In Lan Chang'an's previous lifetime, puppets had been practically useless, and he wouldn't have wasted his time researching them even if one had been offered to him for free.
"Senior Lan, what instructions do you have for me?" The puppet master, a middle-aged man, walked into Water Moon Residence, appearing somewhat uneasy.
"Lan has some interest in the path of puppetry and hopes Puppet Master Sang can guide me a bit." Lan Chang'an said lazily, using his mana to roll a jade slip and five talismans to Puppet Master Sang.
The jade slip contained an alchemy inheritance, the same worst set given to Alchemist Du.
The five talismans were all low second-rank, no longer defective products.
Master Sang hesitated for a moment before taking out a jade slip, respectfully saying, "The transaction benefits this junior more."
Lan Chang'an took the jade slip, which contained a second-rank puppet inheritance, capable of making top second-rank puppets.
Master Sang was being modest in his words.
"Not bad." Lan Chang'an nodded in satisfaction.
"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave." Puppet Master Sang said with a slight sigh of relief.
"Puppet Master Sang, don't rush! I'm curious, where did you get the spiritual sense cultivation technique you practice?" Lan Chang'an asked with a smile.
When he first met Puppet Master Sang, the latter didn't have a spiritual sense far surpassing those of the same rank.
"This..." Puppet Master Sang's body stiffened, cold sweat dripping down his back as his core secret was pointed out.
"I'm just curious. Every cultivator has their own secrets. If it's inconvenient to answer, you can leave it at that." Lan Chang'an said.
"I obtained the spiritual sense technique from a mysterious traveling merchant." Master Sang confessed.
If Lan Chang'an wanted to forcefully take his core secrets, he would fight to the death.
Fortunately, the other party acted with principles and only sought for the less important puppet inheritance.
"A mysterious traveling merchant, a transaction?" Lan Chang'an pondered, suddenly recalling a rumor from his past life.
His mind tightened as he asked, "What did that wandering daoist call himself?"
"He called himself Daoist Tianshu." Puppet Master Sang replied.
"Daoist Tianshu?" Lan Chang'an was shocked, waves surging in his heart.
Daoist Tianshu.
A mysterious figure from the Worldly Wonders series in the Heaven Honoured Continent.
This wandering daoist was absolutely neutral, traveling across the continent and trading items with fated individuals.
From Qi-Refining loose cultivators to Nascent Soul and Deity Transformation Realm cultivators, all could benefit from trading with this enigmatic figure.
This Daoist Tianshu had appeared in the Great Kun of his previous life, and the cultivators who traded with him gained no small amount of fortune.
"Puppet Master Sang, where did you meet Daoist Tianshu?" Lan Chang'an asked.
(End of Chapter)
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