Longevity, starting from being a chicken raising servant

If Wang Ba hadn’t been involuntarily pushed to Ye Lingyu by several cultivators, with his cautious personality, he might not have chosen to come to Fengyang Market.

However, now that he had arrived, and since Ye Lingyu had deliberately separated herself, providing an excellent opportunity for him, he naturally wouldn’t let an opportunity to test his spiritual root slip away.

After once again confirming that no one was paying attention to him, he discreetly entered the shop.

What greeted him was a cramped room filled with talismans on the walls.

These talismans were everywhere, crammed into every corner within view.

The sight could easily send shivers down the spine of anyone with claustrophobia.

Each talisman was adorned with a myriad of intricate patterns filled with spiritual energy, and next to each talisman was a small plaque providing a brief description of its effects.

The shopkeeper, a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his forties, was sitting in the corner. He seemed to be busy drawing something, only briefly looking up when he noticed a commotion, and then quickly returning to his work once he recognized who came in.

Almost all the shopkeepers and vendors in Fengyang Market were outer disciples, so they weren’t overly polite to a servant like Wang Ba.

Having become used to this, Wang Ba carefully looked around and unexpectedly came across a very familiar talisman.

He quickly recalled where he had seen this talisman before.

It was the talisman that Ye Lingyu gave him as compensation the first time she broke his room.

Wang Ba immediately inspected the plaque next to the talisman.

And was taken aback by what he saw.

[Class I Top Grade Teleportation Talisman, the effect is comparable to half the speed of an ordinary Qi refining Stage X cultivator at full strength, the more mana is infused, the longer it lasts, up to a maximum of two hours]

[Selling price: 97 lower grade spirit stones]

Ye Lingyu, such a big spender!

This was the first thought that came to Wang Ba’s mind.

She was indeed extravagant, compensating him with a talisman worth nearly 100 lower-grade spirit stones.

However, he quickly remembered that Ye Lingyu’s second compensation was a middle-grade spirit stone, and even before that, she had casually pulled out a bunch of talismans. Apparently, for Ye Lingyu, this might just be a drop in the bucket and a standard procedure.

“I knew I should have taken all of them earlier.”

Wang Ba couldn’t help but regret it.

Of course, he only thought about it and didn’t dare to actually accept them all.

Wealth tends to stir up greed; who knows if any sect disciple would become desperate upon finding out.

He quickly looked around again and discovered that the prices of Class I top-grade and upper-grade talismans varied greatly.

The expensive ones cost as much as a thousand lower-grade spirit stones, while the cheaper ones only cost a few dozens.

As for lower-grade and mid-grade talismans, while their prices also fluctuated greatly, they were placed in heaps, seeming to rely on sales volume.

Among them, Wang Ba saw several talismans that piqued his interest, for example, the ‘upper-grade Armor Talisman’, which could withstand a full force blow from cultivators under the Qi refining Stage IX.

However, whether it was due to the difficulty of production or the cost of materials, an upper-grade Armor Talisman was priced at more than 150 lower-grade spirit stones. Furthermore, the usage requirements were quite strict; one would need at least Stage V of Qi Refining’s mana to trigger the talisman’s effect.

Whether it was the price or the usage restrictions, both made Wang Ba walk away in disappointment.

Finally, Wang Ba found his primary objective for visiting the shop — the Spiritual Root Talisman.

[Spiritual Root Talisman: non-grade, doesn’t require mana, can roughly detect the status of the spiritual root, selling price: 10 lower-grade spirit stones]

The price was not high nor low, something that Wang Ba could accept. However, observing that the number of Spiritual Root Talismans was not plentiful and even gathering dust, it was evident that not many people bought them.

Wang Ba took one, and approached the shopkeeper to pay for it.

The shopkeeper didn’t even lift his head, simply said: “Ten.”

Not daring to say much, Wang Ba carefully placed the spirit stones down, tidied up his Spiritual Root Talisman, and hurriedly left.

Upon leaving the talisman shop, he glanced towards the agreed-upon rendezvous point and noticed that Ye Lingyu was absent, suggesting she hadn’t found Wanbao Pavilion yet.

Wang Ba hesitated for a moment, then looked at a bookstore not too far away. After confirming once again that he wasn’t being watched, he decisively walked in without hesitation.

The bookstore was small, but every single shelf was packed.

A few outer disciples were browsing, appearing to be looking for suitable books.

Seeing a servant like Wang Ba walk in left them slightly surprised, but they didn’t pay him much attention.

After all, if a servant could enter the market, it must be due to instructions from another sect disciple.

The bookstore owner was conversing with some cultivators while using the corner of his eye to glance at Wang Ba, appearing uninterested.

For this negligence from everyone, Wang Ba couldn’t be happier. He swept his gaze across the layout of the bookstore rapidly; past the oddities, secret techniques… finally landing on the ‘Dharma’ section.

What confused Wang Ba was that, compared to the voluminous sections on oddities and secret techniques, the ‘Dharma’ section was pitifully sparse.

There were only a dozen or so thin booklets casually displayed on a deserted shelf.

They all seemed like common items at first glance.

The “Longevity Immortal Sutra”, “Pills and Talismans”, “Five Dragons Sutra”, “Earth-Wood Mystic Method”, “Gold-Water Method”, “True Meaning of Three Elements”, “Book of Heavenly Fire”, “Supreme Heaven and Earth Immortality Method”, “The Loftiest Bliss”…

However, Wang Ba didn’t mind, even if they were common items, they were still extraordinary methods to him.

Curiously, he opened the books, only to find that he could only see the introduction at the beginning, the rest was blank.

Yet, through the introduction, he roughly knew the cultivation conditions of these methods.

For example, the “Longevity Immortal Sutra” was most suitable for the Wood Spiritual Root, but even the five elements spiritual root could be used, and it had the effect of extending life after practicing it.

“Pills and Talismans” didn’t require a particular Spiritual Root, but it required the cultivator to practice alchemy and create talismans to enhance his cultivation base, which was resource-consuming.

Others like the “Earth-Wood Mystic Method”, “Gold-Water Method”, etc., all corresponded to different Spiritual Roots.

However, Wang Ba noticed that these methods didn’t have a marked price.

Looking back at the sections of secret techniques and wonders, they all had clearly marked prices.

Some cost just over ten lower grade Spirit Stones, while some were settled with middle grade Spirit Stones.

Moving back further, he finally noticed a line of small characters on the bookshelf in the ‘Dharma’ area:

Gift section, pick whatever you want when you buy secret techniques or wonders.

“What’s going on, are these methods not valuable? Or do these methods have problems?”

Wang Ba was quite confused.

He wanted to ask someone, but seeing the indifferent gazes of the cultivators, he decided against it.

After thinking about it, he looked at the wonders section and finally selected the “Customs and Traditions of Sen, Chen, and Fu State”.

The price was one of the cheapest here.

Just as the boss finished with some customers, he saw Wang Ba approaching with the book. The boss was not overly warm, nor overly indifferent, he just nodded and said:

“Fifteen Spirit Stones.”

Wang Ba quickly produced the Spirit Stones.

He had sold a batch of Spirit Chickens intermittently before. Because the demand for Spirit Chickens exceeded the supply in the market, their price skyrocketed, and he had also saved quite a few Spirit Stones.

So he had spent 10 earlier, and now he was spending 15, which was still within his means.

Seeing that Wang Ba had paid the Spirit Stones, the boss immediately pinched a mantra: “Unseal!”

Then he handed the “Customs and Traditions” back to Wang Ba, saying:

“This rubbing is only enough for you to read a few times. If you want to read it again after that, bring it to me. Unsealing it again will cost just one Spirit Stone.”

Such a rip-off!

Wang Ba was astonished by the operations of this bookstore.

Subconsciously checking, indeed, all the content later in the book was visible, but he quickly closed it, not daring to take another casual look.

“What gift would you like?

The boss didn’t ignore Wang Ba because he was odd-job, but took the initiative to ask.

Perhaps it was because he was wary of the potential outer disciple behind Wang Ba.

Wang Ba quickly named several methods he had just chosen.

He was still unsure of his own Spiritual Root, so naturally, he wanted to prepare more methods for himself as more options.

“You can only choose one.”

The boss said, his brow furrowed slightly.

“However, if you pay another five Spirit Stones, I can give you an extra summary mini-rubbing. It contains all the methods here, but it does not have the true meaning of the methods, it is only for reference when your master is practicing.”

Wang Ba hesitated for a while, quickly nodded, and paid the Spirit Stones.

Five Spirit Stones was not a small amount, but it was worth it to take away all the methods here. As for what the true meaning of cultivation method was, he didn’t quite understand.

However, he still specifically chose a cultivation method that he liked, the “Five Dragons Sutra”, as a gift.

The “Five Dragons Sutra” did not pick a Spiritual Root, any Spiritual Root could be used, it had no particular advantages, but also no clear disadvantages. It could be cultivated to the Foundation Establishment stage, and then it could be seamlessly integrated with many other methods.

It was a very cautious choice.

Soon, the shopkeeper brought out a piece of gold paper that looked very familiar to Wang Ba.

At first glance, the gold paper was densely engraved with small characters and patterns. At first glance, it seemed somewhat similar to the “Book of Yin God’s Grand Dream”.

Only then did Wang Ba realise that Old Sun’s “Book of Yin God’s Grand Dream” was also a mini-rubbing.

Without having time to think about it, he took the gold paper, the unsealed “Customs and Traditions”, and “Five Dragons Sutra” from the shopkeeper, carefully tucked them into his bosom, and hurriedly left the bookstore..