Early the next morning.
Luo Chen woke up before dawn. He carefully divided the pills on his worktable — ten per portion — and packed them into five jade bottles.
Wearing his only presentable lower-grade robe and carrying his lower-grade flying sword, he hurried out the door.
He needed to get into the city early. Once the sun rose, the better vendor spots would already be taken by more established rogue cultivators.
Because of yesterday's heavy rain, the roads in the outer district were muddy.
And the closer he got to the center, the thicker the smell became—a mix of waste, herbs, humans, and beasts all blended into one.
With the earth's damp scent mixed in, it was… difficult to endure.
But Luo Chen was already used to it.
An hour later, he arrived at the city gate.
When he entered the inner city, he couldn't help taking a deep breath.
The inner city air really was different.
"I heard the inner city is built on a first-grade spirit vein. It's supposed to be great for Qi Refining cultivators."
"One day… when I've saved enough, I'm definitely buying a place here."
Encouraged by the thought, Luo Chen headed straight toward the southwest corner—the area designated for rogue cultivators.
Before a slab of bluish stone, more than half the space was covered with yellow talisman papers and beast pelts. An old man was busy arranging them.
He straightened up and stretched just in time to see Luo Chen arrive.
"Daoist Luo, you're a bit late today."
The old man's name was Chen Xiuping, Qi Refining Stage Six. He'd lived in Dahe Market for decades, making talismans and treating beast hides as his livelihood.
With his earnings, he could barely afford to rent a place in the inner city.
But he was frugal. He preferred spending one low-grade spirit stone a month to live in a wooden hut in the outer district, rather than paying ten times that for a stone house inside.
Even when running his stall, he calculated everything precisely.
Stalls in the rogue cultivator area required rent—one spirit stone per month.
The two-square-meter stall, once packed with charms and hides, still left a small half-square-meter gap.
Chen simply gave that extra space to Luo Chen, and they split the rent.
Was Luo Chen losing out?
Not exactly. Renting his own stall would still cost one spirit stone a month, and most cultivators didn't like sharing.
Chen definitely earned from the arrangement—but Luo Chen didn't lose.
After greeting each other briefly, Luo Chen set up his items.
Twenty bottles of Fasting Pills.
Chen stared at the number and raised his brows.
"Daoist Luo, your pill-refining has improved again, hasn't it?"
No wonder he said that.
Luo Chen came once every seven days, usually four or five times a month.
Every visit, he brought around fifteen to sixteen bottles.
This time, it was a full twenty bottles!
It was clear his pill-refining proficiency had grown significantly.
And it had.
In seven days—subtracting one day for buying materials and selling — he had six days left.
Half for processing ingredients, half for actual pill refining.
So he only had three refining days.
Before, even pushing himself, he could only fire the furnace twice a day. If he was lucky, he'd get five bottles.
But yesterday, his Fasting Pill Refining Proficiency rose from Perfect to Grandmaster.
On the final batch, he produced five bottles in one go!
Combined with low material waste and some good luck, he managed to gather twenty bottles this time.
"Nothing much—just practice," Luo Chen said modestly, though his eyes betrayed a bit of pride.
Early-stage Grandmaster-level refining… that was something.
Chen shook his head. "There are several people selling Fasting Pills here, but none of them can produce twenty bottles in five days."
He reached toward one bottle.
"You didn't mix flour in these, right? As your senior, I should check. Don't ruin our stall's reputation."
Luo Chen grinned and picked up a talisman filled with red lines.
"I heard someone bought one of your Concealment Talismans and it didn't work, and a beast bit him on the backside. Should I take one home and study it? Can't have our stall's reputation ruined."
Chen panicked and snatched the talisman back.
"You sell five bottles of Fasting Pills for a single spirit stone, and you want to trade for my three-stone Concealment Talisman?"
"Give it back! Give it back!"
Luo Chen watched as the old man carefully returned the talisman to its most prominent spot.
The Concealment Talisman was Chen's signature product!
Among all his low-grade talismans—most priced at one stone—this one cost three stones.
It was also his bestseller. Especially popular among cultivators who hunted beasts in the mountains.
A talisman that hid one's aura for an hour could be lifesaving.
Sometimes, Luo Chen genuinely envied the old man.
One talisman sold was worth at least one spirit stone.
A hundred a month was normal profit.
Unlike himself.
Before this improvement, Luo Chen worked himself to the bone to earn around twelve stones monthly. After subtracting cost, he kept only six or seven.
Subtract rent (half a stone), stall fee (half a stone), food and basic expenses (one stone) — he was left with four or five stones.
That was after a full year of hard grinding since he transmigrated.
He didn't even want to imagine the original host's early days.
Still — envy was brief.
The four major cultivation crafts each had their own hardships.
Pill-making relied on quantity but required immense effort and constant failures.
Talisman-making demanded precision—one slip and everything was wasted. And talisman makers… tended not to live long, for reasons unknown.
Chen looked old, but he was just in his sixties. For a Qi Refining cultivator, that was still "young".
Switching to talisman-making? Impossible.
He would never choose a path that felt like endless homework.
Pill-making was better—just rolling spheres.
And with his newly gained Grandmaster-level Fasting Pill proficiency, his income would soon double.
Ten stones net a month still wasn't enough to support long-term cultivation, but it was definitely progress.
And soon — he could start a new project.
As Luo Chen allowed himself a moment of hope for the future, Chen tugged his sleeve.
"Customer incoming!"
(End of Chapter)