Chapter 109
Chapter 109
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Meticulous Calculations
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Xiao Hei fell silent.
His bowl-sized head seemed to be weighing whether the demonic beast's flesh or the Crimson Cloud True Dew was better.
Chen Jianghe didn't rush him.
Ruan Tieniu had just left and wouldn't be back for a while. There was plenty of time for Xiao Hei to calculate.
When it came to spirit stone expenditure, he couldn't be careless.
"Master, the body of one late-stage first-tier demonic beast can be exchanged for one bottle of Crimson Cloud True Dew~"
Xiao Hei's telepathic message paused, as if he were pondering again.
"One bottle of Crimson Cloud True Dew?"
The body of a late-stage first-tier demonic beast was worth almost two bottles of Crimson Cloud True Dew. This felt like a waste of money.
Chen Jianghe felt a little resistant to the idea.
"But, it can also replace five Spirit Nurturing Flowers."
Xiao Hei sent another telepathic message: "The spiritual energy in the demonic beast's flesh is abundant, much richer than in the Spirit Nurturing Flowers."
"You mean one late-stage first-tier demonic beast can replace one bottle of Crimson Cloud True Dew and five Spirit Nurturing Flowers?"
"Yes, and Maoqiu can eat with me."
Xiao Hei's earlier silent deliberation.
One part was calculating the value of the demonic beast's flesh, and the other was figuring out the expenses for himself and Maoqiu.
It wasn't easy for the two-legged beast to earn money, and he still had to support the two of them, a pair of stay-at-home freeloaders. Naturally, they should save wherever they could.
"Alright, I understand. Go back to the spirit beast space for now."
Chen Jianghe sent Xiao Hei into the spirit beast space, then walked out of the courtyard gate to wait for Ruan Tieniu's return.
Although he didn't know how Xiao Hei had calculated it.
The result was surprisingly one bottle of Crimson Cloud True Dew and five Spirit Nurturing Flowers.
One had to know that Crimson Cloud True Dew and Spirit Nurturing Flowers had different effects.
One contained a large amount of spiritual energy, while the other, although also containing a lot of spiritual power, was mainly for helping to purify magical power.
The main function of Crimson Cloud True Dew was to purify magical power, allowing it to liquefy quickly.
However, he understood Xiao Hei's personality quite well.
He was even more of a penny-pincher than himself.
About an hour passed, and evening was setting in.
In another quarter of an hour, Qinghe Market City would be under curfew.
Just then, Ruan Tieniu's figure appeared at the entrance of Green Duckweed Lane and soon arrived in front of Chen Jianghe.
With a broad smile, he handed the coarse cloth bag in his hand to Chen Jianghe.
"Brother Chen, it's two hundred and two spirit stones in total. Please count them."
Ruan Tieniu's storage pouch was being held by Chen Jianghe as collateral, so he could only carry the coarse cloth bag back.
A sweep of his divine sense confirmed the amount was correct.
Selling at a ten percent discount from the market price, there were still an extra forty grains of spirit sand. Ruan Tieniu must have negotiated for this.
Chen Jianghe took the coarse cloth bag and put it into his storage pouch.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Ruan."
Chen Jianghe handed Ruan Tieniu's storage pouch back to him.
"No need to be so polite, we're brothers."
Ruan Tieniu said heartily.
But after getting the storage pouch back, he first checked to see if any of its contents were missing.
The clothes were nothing, not worth more than a few taels of silver.
But the demonic beast corpses were valuable; they were the fruits of his recent trip.
He had even been injured because of them.
Chen Jianghe didn't refute Ruan Tieniu's claim of being "brothers," merely smiling.
"Fellow Daoist Ruan, would you be willing to sell me the demonic beast corpses in your storage pouch?"
"Demonic beast corpses? Brother Chen, do you have friends at the Beast Workshop?"
The Beast Workshop was a subsidized workshop in Qinghe Market City, specifically responsible for processing the demonic beasts brought back by beast hunters.
The beast's hide, spirit blood, heart marrow, spirit core, and other parts could all be sold for spirit stones after being separated.
But the processing was extremely troublesome.
Therefore, to save time, beast hunters would choose to sell them cheaply to the Beast Workshop and then head to the Wandering Immortal Mountain Range to hunt more demonic beasts.
"Hehe~"
Chen Jianghe let out a light laugh without explaining. His relationship with Ruan Tieniu was currently just one of mutual benefit.
They couldn't be considered friends.
Even if they were friends, he wouldn't say much.
"Haha... my apologies for prying."
Ruan Tieniu then realized that Chen Jianghe must have some other use for buying the demonic beast corpses, and he certainly wouldn't be told what it was.
"Of course I can sell them, but the price of late-stage first-tier demonic beasts can vary greatly."
"Primate-type demonic beasts, as well as those useful for alchemy, talisman drawing, artifact refining, or puppet making, are all relatively expensive."
"Of course, there's also a distinction in bloodline. Second-grade, lower-tier bloodlines are cheaper, while second-grade, upper-tier bloodlines are slightly more expensive."
"I won't deceive you, Fellow Daoist. Both of the demonic beasts in my storage pouch are ordinary late-stage first-tier demonic beasts."
Ruan Tieniu paused, smiled awkwardly, and said, "They're actually only worth forty-six spirit stones."
"No matter, I'll buy them."
Chen Jianghe said with a smile, "Around this time every year from now on, I'll have to ask Brother Ruan to help me trade some spirit talismans."
"It would be best if you could also set aside two late-stage first-tier demonic beasts."
"Yes, yes, of course."
Ruan Tieniu had a favor to ask of Chen Jianghe and genuinely wanted to befriend him, so he readily agreed.
Despite being at the ninth layer of Qi Refining.
But in the eyes of the upper-echelon cultivators in the market city, he was just a laborer, a hired thug.
Chen Jianghe, however, was different.
At the Hundred Arts Exchange, he was someone even a high-grade alchemist like Zhuang Yanfeng sought to befriend.
So, in his view, befriending him could only bring benefits.
Chen Jianghe gave Ruan Tieniu forty-six spirit stones, then returned to his courtyard, thinking about the day's events.
Zhuang Yanfeng sought to befriend him because of his connection to Gao Peiyao, with the goal of helping his own granddaughter.
Ruan Tieniu wanted to befriend him because of his connection to Zhuang Yanfeng.
All in all, this was all thanks to Gao Peiyao.
Looking back now, although he had made an appearance at Gao Peiyao's small Foundation Establishment celebration, he had also enjoyed the benefits she brought.
This value far exceeded the thirty spirit stones he had lent out.
Chen Jianghe planned to go to the Hundred Treasures Tower to buy the resources he needed tomorrow, after introducing Ruan Tieniu to Alchemist Zhuang.
Today, he would first study the cultivation resources for Xiao Hei and Maoqiu.
He placed the two demonic beast corpses by the side of the pool.
Then, with a thought, both Xiao Hei and Maoqiu emerged from the spirit beast space.
Xiao Hei immediately ran in front of the two demonic beast corpses, his fiery gaze fixed on their heads.
"Master, are these ours now?"
"Yes."
Hearing this, Xiao Hei directly raised a washbasin-sized paw and slammed it down on one of the demonic beast's heads.
It shattered with a boom.
A mess of red and white.
A diamond-shaped crystal was revealed, shimmering with a black light.
This was the spirit core of a late-stage first-tier water-attribute demonic beast.
*Ptooey~*
A jet of water washed the spirit core clean of the red and white matter.
After it was clean.
Xiao Hei tossed it directly into his mouth, swallowing it whole without chewing. Immediately, his turtle shell began to glow with a faint light, as if refining the first-tier demonic beast's spirit core.
"So delicious, even better than I thought! Master, can you just feed me these from now on? They're much more useful than Crimson Cloud True Dew. Two of them are enough for me to cultivate for a year."
Xiao Hei stood up straight, his shell on his back and his four limbs short, looking quite comical.
"Huh? You only eat the spirit core?"
Chen Jianghe pointed at the beast's corpse. It seemed that without the spirit core, the beast held no attraction for Xiao Hei.
"That's right."
Just then, Xiao Hei pointed at Maoqiu, who had half his head sticking out of the pool, only to find that Maoqiu was also staring intently at the demonic beast corpse.
But due to Xiao Hei's intimidating presence, he didn't dare to approach.
He especially didn't dare express his desire to eat the demonic beast to Chen Jianghe.
"The spiritual energy in the demonic beast's flesh isn't very useful to me, but it's very effective for Maoqiu, much better than eating Spirit Nurturing Flowers."
"Hehe, and most importantly, it's a good deal."
Listening to Xiao Hei's words and seeing his meticulous, calculating expression, Chen Jianghe was stunned.
Who did he learn this from?
The next moment, Xiao Hei moved to the other demonic beast corpse and raised his paw, ready to smash it.
"Wait a moment."
Chen Jianghe quickly stepped forward and stopped Xiao Hei.
"Don't be wasteful. Every part of a demonic beast is valuable when separated. Does Maoqiu only eat the flesh and blood?"
"The flesh, blood, heart marrow, and internal organs all contain a lot of spiritual energy and are very beneficial for Maoqiu."
"That settles it. I'll put these two demonic beasts away for now. When I get back tomorrow, I'll teach you how to eat them."
Chen Jianghe put the two demonic beasts away.
"Why wait until tomorrow?"
Xiao Hei asked, puzzled.
"Weren't you complaining about being too useless? I'll find something for you to do tomorrow."
Chen Jianghe chuckled.
"Two-legged beast, you're plotting against me again."
Xiao Hei fell backward in despair, his four paws in the air.
He twisted his turtle head to look at Maoqiu, who was watching the show from the pool. "See that? This turtle has to carry this family on his back."
"Squeak squeak~" (That's right, that's right.)
Xiao Hei took a deep breath, wanting to look at the sun, but found it had already set. However, his beady eyes revealed a trace of excitement.
He really wanted to share Chen Jianghe's burden.
He didn't dare to go out and hunt demonic beasts.
And he didn't dare return to Mirror Moon Lake to raise fish; if discovered, he'd be stewed into a soup. He wouldn't dare until he reached the second tier.
Now, it seemed the two-legged beast had thought of a relatively safe job for him to do.
The next day.
Chen Jianghe and Ruan Tieniu went to the first floor of the Hundred Treasures Tower together, meeting Alchemist Zhuang in a landscaped corridor.
This time, however, Alchemist Zhuang didn't bring his granddaughter Zhuang Xinyan or his disciple Jiang Ruxu.
Chen Jianghe made the introductions and then excused himself.
Since Alchemist Zhuang had agreed to meet Ruan Tieniu, the deal was as good as done. The main thing was how big a discount Ruan Tieniu could negotiate.
It wasn't appropriate for Chen Jianghe to be present at this time.
After all, it involved spirit stones. If he were there, Alchemist Zhuang would feel obligated to give him face.
Ruan Tieniu would also find it inconvenient to push for the biggest discount because of him.
It was best to leave.
Besides, he also needed to buy some cultivation resources.
Arriving on the second floor of the Hundred Treasures Tower, he bought two True Spirit Pills, a gourd of Bigu Pills, as well as five sheets of Black Porpoise Hide and five boxes of spirit ink.
He spent eighty-eight spirit stones.
As for Crimson Cloud True Dew and Spirit Nurturing Flowers?
Xiao Hei and Maoqiu already had a better option and no longer needed these two spiritual items for the time being.
Afterwards, Chen Jianghe, with only one hundred fifty-three spirit stones and five grains of spirit sand left on him, went up to the third floor of the Hundred Treasures Tower.
In Qinghe Market City, there were no restrictions on going to the third floor.
Even an early-stage Qi Refining cultivator could come up if they wanted to.
Moreover, the third floor didn't sell resources needed by Foundation Establishment cultivators. In any market city, there would never be a counter specifically selling cultivation resources for Foundation Establishment cultivators.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator was an ancestor of a clan in any region.
They were great cultivators of the upper echelon of the cultivation world.
Furthermore, the resources needed by Foundation Establishment cultivators were extremely scarce and expensive; it was impossible to have them available at a counter.
They would only appear at auctions or be traded privately.
Therefore, the third floor of the Hundred Treasures Tower in Qinghe Market City was actually the cultivation technique section, just much larger than the one in Mirror Moon Market City.
It also provided a casual reading area for magazines.
Of course, the magazines also had to be purchased to be read; they couldn't be browsed for free.
Nor could they be taken out of the third floor of the Hundred Treasures Tower.
As for the fourth floor, it was the auction house. Qinghe Market City held two auctions a year.
One during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and one on New Year's Eve.
Chen Jianghe knew all this, but in all his years in Qinghe Market City, he had never once attended.
It was too expensive!
The treasures auctioned in Mirror Moon Market City were already so expensive, let alone those in Qinghe Market City.
So, even if he attended, he would only be filled with envy, which might even affect his state of mind.
He arrived at the cultivation technique section.
He first walked around the display of water-attribute cultivation techniques to see how they differed from those in Mirror Moon Market City.
After looking around.
They were mostly the same.
The best cultivation technique also increased magical power by twenty percent and didn't have any special properties.
The prices were also consistent.
It seemed all market cities had a tacit understanding regarding the price of cultivation techniques.
The only difference.
Was that Qinghe Market City had a larger quantity of cultivation techniques.
"An ice-attribute cultivation technique?"
Chen Jianghe looked at the "Frigid Ice Art" with surprise in his eyes. This was the first time he had ever seen a cultivation technique for a mutated spiritual root.
Mutated spiritual roots were extremely rare, with talent no less than that of a Heavenly Spiritual Root.
To this day, he had never heard of the existence of a Heavenly Spiritual Root, nor had he heard of a mutated spiritual root.
It was as if they were just legends.
"Five hundred spirit stones? So cheap!"
Chen Jianghe was stunned, shocked by the price.
Shouldn't a technique required for a mutated spiritual root be astronomically expensive?
How could it be so cheap?
Five hundred spirit stones, and for full ownership at that.
In other words, if you bought this "Frigid Ice Art," you could sell it to others.
You could also pass it down in your family... uh, maybe not.
Thinking about it carefully, he understood why the technique was so cheap.
It wouldn't sell, regardless of the price.
Even if it did sell, it was most likely bait.
Who would buy this technique if they didn't have a mutated spiritual root?
If you bought it, the Hundred Treasures Tower would find out, which meant the Tiannan Sect would find out. Wouldn't they just take you directly back to the Tiannan Sect?
At that point, they wouldn't even charge you the five hundred spirit stones; they probably wouldn't charge a single one and would even take you in as a core disciple.
Chen Jianghe went to the body tempering technique section and looked around. The selection was also larger than in Mirror Moon Market City.
The prices were all the same.
For the Qi Refining stage, there was no good or bad among body tempering techniques, only a difference in the cost of the required supplementary materials.
Expensive body tempering techniques had lower requirements for the spiritual materials and items needed for cultivation.
Cheaper body tempering techniques had higher requirements for the supplementary spiritual materials and items.
Generally speaking, the purchase price was between four hundred and nine hundred spirit stones.
The oath price was between one hundred fifty and three hundred fifty spirit stones.
"I just advanced to the eighth layer of Qi Refining. I should stabilize my cultivation for two years before starting body tempering."
Chen Jianghe thought to himself.
Besides, his current spirit stones couldn't support the massive consumption of resources required for body tempering.
After that, Chen Jianghe went to the magazine section.
All magazines had the same price: two spirit stones per copy.
He was surprised to see the "Yun Clan Magazine."
It was also two spirit stones a copy.
It was just as he had suspected. Yu Daniu had wanted him to visit his home, which was why he made the "Yun Clan Magazine" seem so precious.
He had insisted that after reading it, he must return it by New Year's Eve.
Recalling this old memory, a smile couldn't help but appear on his lips.
"Huh, there's also an annual report for the Tiannan Region south of the Tongtian River? Ugh, what a rip-off. They're selling it separately from the report for the region north of the Tongtian River."
Chen Jianghe discovered that the magazine section had annual reports that recorded all sorts of major events in the Tiannan Region.
That was pretty good.
Even without leaving Qinghe Market City, he could learn about the major events happening throughout the entire Tiannan Region.
But these were not what Chen Jianghe was looking for.
He then began to browse the magazine section.
After about seven minutes, he finally found it.
"Demonic Beast Processing Methods and Part Price List"