Longmen Pavilion.
This pavilion is octagonal, with entrances in all directions.
On the eaves, there are carvings of a dragon-headed fish body "Chiwen."
"Hello, fellow Daoist!"
As Fang Xi and Mo Qingyi just entered the pavilion, a young man in the middle stage of Qi Refinement greeted them.
This person was dressed in a black robe embroidered with flying fish patches. The appearance of the flying fish was extremely majestic, with two dragon whiskers.
"The Flying Fish Robe?"
Having heard Mo Qingyi chatter all the way, Fang Xi naturally knew that this was a standard attire for the Zhong family disciples. His expression became more solemn, "Is the gentleman a disciple of the Zhong family?"
"Indeed, I am Zhong Wangu. May I ask what the Daoist friend wishes to purchase? We have just received a batch of Qingyu Carps. Would you like to take a look?"
Zhong Wangu enthusiastically said, "The taste of these spirit fish is delicious, especially when paired with the local specialty 'Ren Water Spirit Rice,' it is truly exquisite!"
"To have a meal with rice and fish is indeed one of life's great pleasures." Fang Xi smiled, "But I would like to purchase a body-refining technique of at least the fourth level!"
"A Foundation Building technique? The Daoist friend is a body cultivator?" Zhong Wangu was slightly surprised, "I have been disrespectful..."
"Besides body-refining techniques, if your pavilion has the inheritance of puppetry and beast taming techniques, I would like to take a look as well." Fang Xi was now comparable to the later stage of Qi Refinement, unable to break through to Foundation Building, but with much fewer concerns.
Upon hearing this request, Zhong Wangu smiled wryly, "Such inheritances, even if they are of the first rank, are extremely rare and we do not have them... However, we do have first-rank inscriptions, artifact refining, and spirit plant inheritances. Would the friend be interested?"
The four arts of cultivation, formation, pill concoction, artifact forging, and talisman crafting were the main focus. Most cultivators practiced these.
Puppetry and beast taming were more niche and rare skills.
To expect to find them casually in a shop would indeed depend on luck.
"Then bring them all for me to see."
Fang Xi waved his hand generously.
After Zhong Wangu hurried into the counter, Fang Xi soon felt a sense of unease.
Obviously, the expert in the attic had already focused his attention on him.
"Please have a look!"
After a cup of tea's time, Zhong Wangu came over with a wooden tray. On the tray were several jade slips sealed with sealing charms.
He picked up a blue jade slip first and said, "《Heavenly Thunder Tempering Body》, an incomplete technique, but it has four layers. It tempers the body with the power of the Purple Thunder from the Ninth Heaven, making it strong and especially effective against demonic beings! Three hundred and fifty spirit stones..."
Seeing Fang Xi's expression unchanged, he switched to a crimson jade slip, "《Myriad Beast Body》, during cultivation, one needs to refine the blood essence of demonic beasts. It possesses the 'Beast Transformation Secret Technique,' allowing temporary transformation into demonic beasts, greatly increasing combat power... Four hundred spirit stones! This technique is prone to causing demonic possession for those with weak wills, and reaching the fourth level of cultivation is very difficult, requiring the blood essence of a second-rank demonic beast as a catalyst."
'Even so, it is more expensive than the 《Heavenly Thunder Tempering Body》. Obviously, the flaws in the first technique must be more severe than the second... Tempering the body with the power of the Ninth Heaven Thunder? It might just strike one dead directly...' Fang Xi thought to himself. Seeing Zhong Wangu stop speaking, it was clear he was considering Fang Xi's financial capacity.
He smiled and handed over a storage bag.
Zhong Wangu took it and found that the other party had removed the mana imprint. He couldn't help but probe inside with his spiritual sense, and was taken aback, "Fellow Daoist... Are you selling demonic beast materials?"
"Yes, please dispose of them."
Fang Xi said calmly.
The storage bag he took out was the smallest one on him, and it did not contain materials from a Snake-Dragon, but treasures he had unearthed from the Hunter's Guild warehouse.
The Snake-Dragon possessed a trace of dragon bloodline, was a top-grade first-rank demonic beast, and was truly too precious.
Moreover, the Dragon Fish of the Zhong family could cultivate and awaken the bloodline of a little Azure Dragon. They might have special requirements for the research of the Snake-Dragon bloodline. Recklessly taking out Snake-Dragon materials might cause discomfort for himself.
Therefore, Fang Xi took out a storage bag containing ordinary first-rank low-grade and first-rank mid-grade demonic beast materials.
"Please wait a moment..."
Zhong Wangu immediately called another Zhong family member to count them on the side, while he introduced the other jade slips:
"《Myriad Sword Manual》—a Qi Refinement technique that also cultivates the body, priced at four hundred and fifty spirit stones."
"First-rank top-grade artifact forging inheritance—《Records of the Recluse of Qingxi on Casting Artifacts》, priced at three hundred spirit stones."
"First-rank top-grade talisman crafting inheritance, two hundred and fifty spirit stones."
"And this last one is a spirit plant cultivation inheritance, obtained from an old farmer named 'Jia Feicai'!"
Zhong Wangu touched the last jade slip, looking somewhat sentimental, "This person was a cultivator on this island. Although he had spiritual roots, he was of the lowest grade, working as a spiritual farmer his whole life, and his cultivation remained at the second level of Qi Refinement.
After his death, his family sold his belongings and found a spirit plant cultivation inheritance... It summarizes his life, focusing on caring for spirit rice, as well as many experiences in cultivating spirit herbs, all for twenty spirit stones."
As Zhong Wangu spoke, he also looked melancholic, probably because his own aptitude was not very good.
In the cultivation world, cultivators like him and Jia Feicai were the mainstream.
They lingered in the Qi Refinement stage all their lives, silently contributing to their families and children, and quietly passed away.
After hearing the prices, Fang Xi twitched his mouth.
Spirit plant cultivation was an upgraded version of spiritual farming, considered one of the lowest skills in the myriad arts of cultivation. Even the price was so cheap!
However, for him who was about to plant trees, this spirit plant cultivation inheritance was still very useful. Therefore, he said, "I'll buy it..."
"Alright."
Zhong Wangu smiled slightly and discussed with the other family members beside him, "The demonic beast materials sold by the Daoist friend include a mid-grade first-rank mutated demonic beast skin, a pair of unidentified demonic beast fangs, a low-grade first-rank rat skin, and rat bones... totaling one hundred and seventy-two spirit stones!"
"Fine, let's make the trade like this."
Fang Xi nodded.
Then, under Zhong Wangu's disappointed gaze, he only purchased the spirit plant cultivation inheritance and took back the storage bag containing one hundred and fifty-two various low-grade spirit stones.
"Let's go!"
Fang Xi took the storage bag and said to Mo Qingyi beside him.
Even though he was somewhat tempted, he wouldn't immediately purchase a Foundation Building level body-refining technique, as it was too expensive...
To buy the whole book, he would probably have to take out the Snake-Dragon materials, which would inevitably lead to additional risks.
After leaving the Longmen Pavilion, Mo Qingyi seemed to have just come back to his senses from the previous shock and said regretfully, "If Master wants to sell demonic beast materials, I have a better channel here, at least it can fetch half more..."
"No need, I dislike trouble."
Fang Xi shook his head. Although those independent stall owners might offer a higher purchase price, the various nitpicking and bargaining were truly exhausting. It was better to resolve it all at once: "Now... let's go find that friend Miao who raises spirit pets!"
"Sure, please follow me, Daoist friend!"
Mo Qingyi led the way, providing information as they walked, "This Miao Dong, a senior in Qi Refinement Sixth Layer, also raises three spirit pets, one of which is the 'Water Raven.' It occasionally catches spirit fish, making us quite envious..."
In the Treasure Ship Market, there were also cave dwellings for rent. Miao Dong's cave dwelling was located on the edge, with a good view and a small courtyard.
Mo Qingyi first went forward to knock on the door, but there was no response for a long time.
Fang Xi thought for a moment and sent out a 'Voice Transmission Charm,' which turned into a flame and flew into the courtyard.
Not long after, the courtyard gate opened, revealing an old man wearing a colorful robe, with a peculiar appearance and three flesh lumps on his forehead.
Miao Dong directly ignored Mo Qingyi and looked at Fang Xi, "What brings the Daoist here to see me?"
He looked wary, a common trait among all independent cultivators.
Fang Xi cupped his hands, "I heard that Senior Miao is skilled in taming demonic beasts. I came to inquire if I could purchase a beast taming inheritance?"
"Hmph! How could I sell off my meal ticket?" Miao Dong glared at Mo Qingyi, "I remember you. If you dare to bring people here again, be careful I feed you to my treasures next time!"
Seeing Mo Qingyi's pale face, Miao Dong was about to close the gate.
Hiss!
Suddenly, a snake hissing sound came from his sleeve.
Miao Dong's expression changed, looking at Fang Xi, then suddenly smiled, "Fellow Daoist, may I ask for your esteemed name?"
"I am Fang Leng." Fang Xi reported a false name as usual.
"In that case... please come inside for a detailed discussion." Miao Dong stepped aside and opened the gate.
'This person has a strange temper, not easy to deal with.' Fang Xi inwardly commented, walking directly into the courtyard.
Mo Qingyi could only smile bitterly, indicating that he would wait outside.
As an ordinary person, offending a cultivator made him extremely uneasy, so how could he dare to go inside?
Miao Dong's courtyard was not large, but he had dug a pond occupying nearly half of the area. By the edge of the pond, there was a Water Raven, using its long beak to groom its feathers, its shiny black eyes full of intelligence.
In the depths of the pond, there was a dark shadow lurking in the mud, not clearly visible.
"Please have a seat..." Miao Dong invited Fang Xi to sit on a cushion, his expression becoming solemn, "What does Daoist Fang seek in the Beast Tamer inheritance?"
"I encountered a demonic beast that I really like and wish to tame it as a spirit pet!" Fang Xi gave a straightforward excuse.
In reality, what he wanted to delve into more was puppetry, as a supplement for when he couldn't stray too far from planting trees in the future.
But since he couldn't find a puppetry inheritance, why not top up on the abundant demonic beast resources in the Great Liang World first?
"This is simple..." Miao Dong's face lit up upon hearing this, "As we cultivators, there are many ways to form a contract with demonic beasts, and it doesn't necessarily require studying Beast Taming unless you want to control multiple demonic beasts and form an array... Do you know about the 'Blood Contract Scroll'?"
"I would like to hear more about it." Fang Xi showed interest.
"As everyone knows, to form a contract with a demonic beast, it is best to imprint your divine sense into its sea of consciousness, allowing you to control its life and death with a single thought. Unfortunately, only those at the Foundation Building stage possess divine sense..."
Miao Dong shook his head and explained, "Apart from that, there is the blood contract method, where you set up a formation, consume the cultivator's essence blood, and create a mark. After the contract, if the demonic beast dies, the cultivator remains unharmed, but if the cultivator dies, the demonic beast will also inevitably explode...
This 'Blood Contract Scroll' is a convenient method created by cultivators proficient in Beast Taming. As long as the spirit pet's cultivation does not exceed yours by a major realm, you can control it freely after the contract."
(End of Chapter)