Kang Guangwen said, "This Green Stone Gathering is not big, but it can completely meet all the needs of us Qi Refining stage cultivators. Techniques, spells, and elixirs are all available for sale. As long as you have enough spirit stones, you can even buy top-grade magical tools at the refining shops here!"

Top-grade magical tools?

Shu Han thought to himself that he only had one Heavenly Quadrant Sword Formation right now, which could be used for both offense and defense. But in the world of cultivators, no one would think that they had too many top-grade magical tools.

Shu Han could refine them himself. However, the failure rate of top-grade magical tools was too high, and the time required to refine the materials was too long. Besides, the magical tools he could refine with his current skill would not be too strong.

Xie Ming handed over a face mask, explaining, "In the world of cultivation, it's best to keep a low profile. Incidents of killing and looting are not uncommon, so be careful, Shu Han."

Shu Han took the face mask, "Thanks for the reminder, but isn't there a risk of being followed, even with the mask?"

"You don't need to worry about that. The exit of the Green Stone Gathering can be freely chosen among the eight trigrams, and other people can't spy on it. Brother Shu Han, after we go out, let's meet at the 'Li' exit where we just entered."

Then the two men led Shu Han to a stall. The stall owner was an old man with a white beard. He glanced at the two men and said gruffly, "You guys again? Did you break your pickaxes again? These are the latest batch that I've refined. They're mid-grade pickaxes, pick any you like."

Kang Guangwen pulled Shu Han forward with a smile and said, "It's my little friend here who wants to buy a pickaxe. He's a rogue cultivator who just arrived in Great Cloud. Could you give us a reasonable price for old times' sake, Mr. Zhang?"

Sitting in his rocking chair, Zhang narrowed his eyes at Shu Han and snorted disdainfully, "Another greenhorn, you guys really don't rest!"

Shu Han chose a pickaxe of decent quality and asked, "How many spirit stones does this one cost?"

"Twelve lower-grade spirit stones!"

Upon hearing this, Xie Ming couldn't help but jump.

"Old Zhang, are you hiking up the price? A mid-grade pickaxe for twelve spirit stones? At most it should be five or six spirit stones, you're doubling the price? Why don't you just rob us?"

Old Zhang snorted, "My things are priced as such! If it's not enough, you guys love helping others, right? Help him out!"

Shu Han handed over a bottle of Qi Gathering Pills, asking, "How many spirit stones is this bottle of Qi Gathering Pills worth?"

Old Zhang took the Qi Gathering Pills, sniffed them, and praised, "Not bad, these are top-grade Qi Gathering Pills. I'll take them for eight spirit stones." His fingers tapped on the table continuously, his muddy eyes looking at Kang Guangwen, saying, "You guys are old customers now, let me earn a bit more, otherwise I can't keep my mouth shut."

Slap!

Kang Guangwen slapped four spirit stones on the stall, angrily saying, "Fine! Old Zhang! I'll make up the difference!"

Then the two of them quickly pulled Shu Han away from the stall.

Holding the pickaxe, Shu Han thanked them, "Thank you for your help, brothers. I will certainly return these four spirit stones in the future."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Hey! You're going to help us in the mines, why are you fretting over these few spirit stones?"

Shu Han glanced at the complacent Old Zhang in the distance and asked, "Why tolerate this kind of price gouging? Can't we change to another stall?"

Xie Ming explained, "Old Zhang is alone and pitiful, and we are old customers after all. Let's let him earn a bit more this time."

Shu Han was left speechless by this rationale. Shouldn't old customers get better deals? And what's this about letting him earn a bit more? Who would want to be an old customer then? Aren't they just becoming old crops to be harvested?

After that, the two separated from Shu Han and went to set up a stall selling storage bags in a corner.

As for Shu Han, he moved his thoughts and put the spirit stones given by Kang Guangwen into the black jar in his storage bag. Soon, the spirit stones in the black jar started to double. However, the speed was much slower than usual. It took a quarter of an hour to fill the jar. That was much slower than usual!

Shu Han quickly tried using other materials from his storage bag and found that the growth speed had returned to normal. Could it be that the speed at which the black jar duplicated items was related to the grade of the item?

Although it was a bit slower, cultivators had plenty of time. A full jar of spirit stones amounted to three hundred.

As Shu Han was browsing the stalls, he was duplicating spirit stones in his storage bag. In less than an hour, he had a pile of lower-grade spirit stones gleaming with spiritual light, totaling twelve hundred pieces.

Shu Han silently calculated in his heart, three hundred pieces in a quarter of an hour, twelve hundred pieces in an hour.

It seemed that the black jar did have a speed at which it duplicated items, which was probably around one thousand two hundred lower-grade spirit stones per hour. Although there was a speed limit, this throughput was still terrifying.

Even a cultivator like Kang Guangwen at the twelfth level of the Qi Refining phase would argue endlessly over three or four spirit stones, showing how precious they were. And for Shu Han, an hour's wait would yield a lifetime's worth of spirit stones.

With such a large amount of money, Shu Han felt much more confident in browsing the stalls. He had looked through all the magical tool stalls at the Green Stone Gathering but found nothing to his liking. The best items were merely some unevenly made top-grade magical tools. Then, at the elixir stalls, one item caught his attention. It was a small bottle of liquid, labeled "Five Poison Water".

The stall owner laughed and said, "Five Poison Water. If a cultivator below the sixth level of the Qi Refining phase comes into contact with it, their combat power will be reduced by more than half immediately. If you want it, friend, I'll give you a discount, eight spirit stones."

Shu Han had read about the Seven Poisons Water in the "Bai Family Artifact Refining Manual". It was said that even a cultivator at the initial stage of the Foundation Establishment would suffer a significant decrease in spiritual power if they were exposed to it. If a cultivator in the Qi Refining stage were exposed, those with powerful cultivation could resist the onset of the poison, but those with lower cultivation levels would die instantly!

If he could have a large amount of Seven Poisons Water, he would not fear cultivators at the early stage of the Foundation Establishment.

"I've heard of the Seven Poisons Water. How does it differ from this Five Poisons Water?"

The stall owner gave a thumbs up: "Friend, you're well-informed. The Seven Poisons Water is refined from Five Poisons Water, with two extremely toxic herbs added during the refining process. The effect is ten times stronger than that of Five Poisons Water!"

"Did you refine this Five Poisons Water?"

The stall owner nodded and said, "Yes, it cost me a lot of effort and materials."

"Why didn't you refine it into Seven Poisons Water? Wouldn't that be more profitable?"

"You're joking, friend. The other two toxins in the Seven Poisons Water are too rare, and it takes a hundred bottles of Five Poisons Water to refine one bottle of Seven Poisons Water. I don't have the capability to do that!"

"One hundred and twenty spirit stones!"

The stall owner was stunned, "Huh?"

Shu Han put back the Five Poisons Water and said, "One hundred and twenty spirit stones for your Five Poisons Water recipe, plus a set of ingredients for making Five Poisons Water. Also, tell me what the other two toxins are."

"Uh..."

The stall owner hesitated, "Friend, are you trying to steal my business? I can't sell this, I still need to..."

"One hundred and fifty spirit stones!"

The stall owner took a deep breath, looking at the mysterious man in front of him with a face full of changing expressions.

"One hundred and seventy spirit stones!"

Shu Han raised the price again and persuaded, "That's enough. How many bottles of Five Poisons Water do you need to sell to make a hundred and seventy spirit stones? Don't worry, I'm not here to steal your business. Your little money doesn't interest me."

The stall owner scratched his head, "This...this isn't right..."

Shu Han turned to leave, "Forget it then, keep selling!"

"Hey, sir, don't leave. Okay, okay, I'll sell! Isn't that good enough?"