Chapter 40

I'm sorry, this chapter was updated late.

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Sixth Senior Brother shook his head and said, "Seventh, what nonsense are you talking? Don't always resort to violence, especially against these ordinary people. What's the point of killing them? They toil for decades, and all they want is to support their families. Just give them some silver, and they'll be happy for days. We cultivators have plenty of silver. Just take out a little, and it will be enough to send them away."

Furthermore, those who can gather the herbs we need are the more experienced among ordinary people. If you kill them all, who will gather the herbs in the future? Can you guarantee that your future disciples won't need them?"

Seventh smiled awkwardly and respectfully said, "Sixth Senior Brother, you are right."

Sixth Senior Brother suddenly stopped, squatted next to Li Wenjun, and reached out to grab the herb Li Wenjun had been looking at, asking the vendor for the price. The vendor quoted the price, and Sixth Senior Brother had him take out all the same herbs, then threw a piece of silver to the vendor. The vendor beamed with joy, and Sixth Senior Brother, holding the purchased herbs, showed them to Seventh and said, "See? It's that simple. These few Heart-Cleansing Herbs, if we bought them from our place, would cost at least three Spirit Pearls. Here, ten taels of silver did the job."

Seventh's eyes lit up, and he said, "Sixth Senior Brother, you reminded me. We can buy low here and sell high later, making some hard-earned money. Let's go check out other stalls."

When Sixth Senior Brother and Seventh left, Li Wenjun stood up and looked at them. Relying on their voices to identify them still had its drawbacks. To avoid unexpectedly meeting them again, it was necessary to see their true faces clearly. Li Wenjun observed the layout of the stalls in the precious goods market, which were arranged in a crisscross pattern, forming several pedestrian paths in the north-south and east-west directions. He deliberately followed the pedestrian paths, circling around the market. Soon, he circled in front of Sixth Senior Brother and Seventh, and as they passed by, Li Wenjun clearly saw their facial features and memorized them.

Li Wenjun didn't know what use it would be to remember their faces, but one thing was certain: Sixth Senior Brother and Seventh were the second and third cultivators he had encountered besides the old Taoist. He might need to deal with them in the future.

Li Wenjun continued to wander around the precious goods market. He spent nearly two thousand taels of silver, buying a lot of herbs, including over a dozen Moon Cliff Herbs, which were the hardest to find. With these herbs, he could prepare dozens of baths.

He had almost visited all the stalls in the precious goods market, and there was no point in continuing. Moreover, Sixth Senior Brother and Seventh seemed to have a deeper understanding of herbs, and most of the herbs ended up in their hands. Li Wenjun deliberately kept a distance from them while browsing the stalls to avoid them seeing the herbs he needed.

Seeing that it was getting late, Li Wenjun was about to leave the precious goods market when he heard someone shout, "Heavens, it's a three-hundred-year-old wild ginseng."

The precious goods market suddenly became chaotic. Wild herbs over a hundred years old were already hard to find, let alone a three-hundred-year-old one, which was several times more valuable.

Merchants, monks, and Taoists who were selecting herbs in the market all rushed over. Li Wenjun noticed that Sixth Senior Brother, Seventh, Wu Xuemei, and Kong Yishi were also part of the crowd.

Li Wenjun shook his head. He already had a piece of wild ginseng that could meet his needs. He only needed a fingernail-sized piece for each decoction, and a large piece would last him a long time. There was no need to draw attention by competing for a three-hundred-year-old herb. Right now, the most important thing was to cultivate peacefully to the first level of the Qi Condensation stage.

Moreover, even if he wanted to compete, he needed enough capital. He had only a little over a thousand taels left from the three thousand taels he had received. With such a small amount, there was no hope of winning the three-hundred-year-old herb.

After leaving the precious goods market, Li Wenjun didn't rush back. He saw a general store on the roadside that specialized in tools for herb gatherers. The tools sold there were all high-quality, though expensive. Li Wenjun thought that he couldn't always use the Sun family's tools. If he had his own set, it would be much more convenient to go into the mountains to gather herbs whenever he wanted.

So, Li Wenjun spent nearly a hundred taels of silver at the general store, buying various tools for herb gathering, such as a mountain cleaver made of refined steel, a hunting fork, a herb hoe, a hundred-meter-long premium hemp rope, a lantern that could focus candlelight, and long-burning, bright candles. These were all essential tools for herb gathering.

These items were a large pile, and Li Wenjun asked the general store to deliver them to his residence.

Over the next two days, Li Wenjun visited the precious goods market twice more, buying some herbs each time, but the quantity was not as much as on the first day.

Besides visiting the precious goods market, Li Wenjun spent the rest of his time cultivating. With the new herbs he had obtained, he gritted his teeth and increased the number of daily baths to two. This meant he had to endure the pain of being flayed twice a day. Even with the mysterious green light's healing, Li Wenjun still felt almost faint from the pain. The green light always came after the fact, and he had to rely on his willpower to endure the pain caused by the impurities in his body.

The effect of two daily baths was significant. Li Wenjun clearly felt that his cultivation speed had increased. In just two days, he made noticeable progress. Just as Li Wenjun was preparing to continue this simple cultivation life, Sun Baicao told him that the trading fair was about to end and asked if Li Wenjun wanted to return to the county town of Sanxian County with them.

Li Wenjun chose without hesitation to return to the county town of Sanxian County with the Sun family. Not only was his home there, but psychologically, Li Wenjun felt that the county town was safer than Fengshou Town.

Firstly, the notorious bandit Wang Yonggui had not been caught, and the county town had stronger defenses than Fengshou Town. Secondly, Li Wenjun had lived in the county town for a long time without encountering any cultivators, but in Fengshou Town, he had repeatedly interacted with cultivators. Since Li Wenjun did not yet have the ability to protect himself, it was best to stay as far away from cultivators as possible.