Chapter 10

At Li Laosan's place, Yang Junshan managed to get a good deal and, without the other party knowing, took revenge for the tricks played on him in his previous life. This made him feel quite elated.

However, after wandering around the market stalls, he did not find anything that caught his eye. It wasn't that there was nothing worth buying for future use; it was simply that Yang Junshan didn't have many stone coins left. The pocket money he had saved over the years, the jade coin Yang Tian had just awarded him, and the over a hundred stone coins he had taken from Zhang Huzi and others totaled no more than three hundred. He had just spent more than half of it, and now he only had about one hundred and thirty stone coins left. He needed to carefully plan his purchases of essential items for the trip to Baique Mountain.

At a blacksmith's shop in town, he bought two quivers of sixty iron-tipped arrows. These arrows were made entirely of black iron, with the arrowheads forged from fine steel. When paired with a strong bow, they could pierce the skin of a high-level fierce beast at an appropriate distance.

In his previous life, Yang Junshan had also bought iron-tipped arrows here, but due to being cheated by Li Laosan and not having as many stone coins as he did now, he had only bought one quiver of thirty arrows, which he had quickly used up after entering Baique Mountain. Now, not only did he buy an extra quiver, but his archery skills had also greatly improved, and he had more hunting experience, so he wouldn't fall into the same predicament as before.

The sixty iron-tipped arrows cost him one hundred stone coins. This was after the blacksmith, seeing that he was a child, asked about his parents, and Yang Junshan deliberately mentioned his father Yang Tian's name, which earned him a discount. In this desolate town, Yang Tian's name still carried some weight.

With these sixty iron-tipped arrows, Yang Junshan's trip to Baique Mountain was more secure. However, the mulberry wood bow that Yang Tian had just given him seemed a bit weak now. After practicing the Mighty Ox Fist this morning, Yang Junshan felt a significant increase in his strength. When he used the mulberry wood bow to practice archery, this feeling became even more pronounced. He shot a whole quiver of arrows in one breath without much of a break.

A good bow was very expensive, even more so than a finely forged weapon. However, Yang Junshan didn't have many stone coins left. He couldn't afford a good bow, let alone a mulberry wood bow.

However, Yang Junshan knew that his father Yang Tian had a decent bow. It was said that Yang Tian had used it when he was young, but he wasn't sure if he could still draw it.

After buying the two quivers of iron-tipped arrows, Yang Junshan only had about thirty stone coins left. He unconsciously touched the red-rusted raw stone in his chest, but it was useless for now.

Having spent almost all his pocket money accumulated over the years in one day, he pondered what he could buy with the remaining thirty stone coins. He then saw a herbal shop on the market street.

Such shops usually also sold medicinal plasters for healing injuries and illnesses, but most were made from low-grade herbs mixed with ordinary herbs, which had some effect on early-stage human realm cultivators. However, for high-stage human realm cultivators who had established their immortal roots and could use immortal techniques, these plasters were no longer effective. At that point, cultivators needed elixirs.

For a cultivator like Yang Junshan, who had not yet completed the first level of the human realm, the medicinal plasters made from a mix of spiritual herbs and ordinary herbs in the herbal shop were sufficient.

For thirty-five stone coins, the shopkeeper, seeing that he was a child and the small packhorse outside, gave him four external injury plasters, each costing ten stone coins.

Putting the plasters in the pack on the packhorse's back, Yang Junshan patted his empty money pouch, now completely out of stone coins.

Looking at the sky, it seemed his father wouldn't come out of the town hall yet. Yang Junshan aimlessly wandered around the market, casually glancing at the items on the stalls while heading towards the town hall.

The town hall was at the center of the desolate town, a place where martial realm experts often gathered. Therefore, during the market, few stalls were set up near the town hall. Itinerant merchants and wandering cultivators dared not bring their inferior goods to offend the martial realm experts.

However, those who dared to set up stalls near the town hall were confident in their goods. Thus, while the market was not as bustling near the town hall, the best items were always found there.

Yang Junshan squatted in front of a stall with eight or nine exquisite wooden boxes, drooling at the sight of the elixirs inside. Not only Yang Junshan, but others passing by also often stopped to gaze enviously at the elixirs in the wooden boxes.

The stall belonged to a cold and proud black-robed cultivator. Since Yang Junshan squatted there, the cultivator had remained seated with his eyes half-closed, clearly very confident in his goods and ignoring any attempts to haggle.

However, to Yang Junshan, the elixirs sold by this cold cultivator were at best medicinal pills, not spiritual elixirs. The person who made these medicinal pills was at most a pill maker, not a true alchemist.

Initially, Yang Junshan thought the cold cultivator was the maker of these medicinal pills, but after examining the elixirs in the wooden boxes, he dismissed this idea. The seller was clearly trying to pass himself off as an alchemist to inflate his value.

Although these were only medicinal pills, made by boiling spiritual herbs and kneading them into a paste, they were far superior to the medicinal plasters made from a mix of spiritual and ordinary herbs. Several of the elixirs were particularly useful for a cultivator like Yang Junshan, who had just entered the human realm.

Yang Junshan was now focusing on a box of Spirit-Inducing Pills, which would greatly benefit his cultivation.

However, the price... the cold cultivator had marked the box of Spirit-Inducing Pills at five jade coins!

Five jade coins! Yang Junshan winced at the price. These were just ordinary medicinal pills, and a box of Spirit-Inducing Pills was worth at most three jade coins. But in this remote town, many spirit farmers might never see elixirs, and the cold cultivator was clearly taking advantage of this.

Despite this, Yang Junshan still looked at the ten Spirit-Inducing Pills in the wooden box with longing.

The cold cultivator, with his half-closed eyes, watched the boy squatting in front of the stall. A faint smile of mockery flashed across his lips.

If it were anyone else, the cold cultivator would have already scolded them and ordered them to leave. However, seeing the small packhorse behind the boy and considering the nearby town hall, he decided to wait.

Judging by the boy's appearance, he was clearly very eager for the elixirs. Each box of elixirs cost several jade coins, and the boy clearly didn't have the money. However, the packhorse behind him suggested that his family was not to be underestimated. Considering the nearby town hall, the cold cultivator deduced that the boy's father was likely a martial realm expert, currently inside the town hall.

These elixirs were indeed expensive for ordinary spirit farmers, but for a martial realm expert, a few jade coins were not a big deal.

In fact, the cold cultivator was partly right. Yang Junshan was indeed waiting for his father to come out, and he did want to buy the box of Spirit-Inducing Pills. Although the price was clearly inflated, he only needed three of the pills in the box.

In his previous life, Yang Junshan had studied alchemy for some time and had even made a few ordinary medicinal pills to trade with others, making him a half-decent pill maker. He had also made Spirit-Inducing Pills before.

Therefore, Yang Junshan had a good understanding of elixirs. When he saw the box of Spirit-Inducing Pills, he was certain that the cold cultivator was not an alchemist, because an alchemist would have noticed that three of the ten pills in the box were not made from the paste of boiled spiritual herbs but were true spiritual elixirs!

These three spiritual elixirs were likely similar to low-grade medicinal pills due to the refining technique. If not for Yang Junshan's experience as a pill maker and his deep knowledge of elixirs, he might not have been able to distinguish them so easily.

The door of the town hall opened, and martial realm cultivators began to emerge. The cold cultivator's eyes flashed with a hint of excitement when he saw a robust cultivator leading a packhorse, who bore a resemblance to the boy.

Sure enough, upon seeing the robust cultivator, the boy quickly stood up, waving excitedly. The cold cultivator's smile grew wider.

Yang Tian frowned when he saw Yang Junshan standing by a stall selling elixirs. Before going to the town hall, he had noticed this stall, where the elixirs were overpriced and of little use to martial realm cultivators, so he had not intended to buy anything.

"Father, I want to buy a box of Spirit-Inducing Pills!"

Yang Tian was more surprised that Yang Junshan recognized Spirit-Inducing Pills than that he wanted to buy them. Looking at the seller, Yang Tian naturally assumed that the man had informed Yang Junshan and perhaps even persuaded him to buy the elixirs.

Yang Tian examined the elixirs in the wooden box. The price of five jade coins was too high, even for a martial realm cultivator like him.

However, thinking of his son's trip to Baique Mountain in two days, Yang Tian's heart softened. He looked at the black-robed cultivator and said, "It's too expensive!"