Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Wasted Pills and Changing Cultivation
This time, Zhang Chi planned to use the Jade Pendant to remove Pill Poison so he could buy Wasted Pills directly for his Cultivation.
Otherwise, he would have just bought all the Elixirs he needed at the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower.
The Elixirs there were slightly more expensive, but their quality was guaranteed—far less of a hassle than buying from these stalls.
"Wasted Pills? Those aren’t worth anything. But the Pill Poison is too potent; you can’t eat them. What do you want them for? You’re not planning to eat Wasted Pills just to save money, are you?"
An elderly Qi Cultivation Cultivator who was selling Elixirs was stunned to hear this and immediately offered a well-intentioned warning.
The surrounding Cultivators also looked over, their curiosity piqued.
"I know. I’m buying them for my Spirit Snake to eat."
Zhang Chi smiled, and a Four-legged Strange Snake suddenly emerged from his sleeve.
This was the very same ordinary strange snake that hadn’t been released.
Because it wasn’t a Spirit Beast, it couldn’t even be placed in a Spirit Beast Bag and could only be hidden in his sleeve.
"A Half-Step Spirit Snake? That makes sense. There is indeed a chance it could advance by eating Wasted Pills, and if it dies from the poison, it’s not too great a loss."
Realization dawned on the crowd.
"Exactly," Zhang Chi nodded.
"How about this? For Wasted Pills from Tier One Spiritual Pills, regardless of the type, fifty for one spirit stone," the elderly elixir seller proposed after a moment’s thought.
"Fine. I have other Half-Step Spirit Beasts at home. I’ll take as many as you have."
Zhang Chi was secretly delighted.
He knew he could negotiate a little more, but he didn’t.
First, this was already the market price.
A standard Spirit Pill, on the other hand, started at one spirit stone each.
Second, he wanted to attract more small vendors nearby to sell their Wasted Pills to him.
"Alright, I have over one hundred and sixty Wasted Pills. Let’s say three spirit stones for the lot."
"Fellow Cultivator, I have some too! Over sixty, I’ll sell them to you!"
"What a shame, I left my Wasted Pills at my residence. If I’d known, I would have brought them with me!"
"Who would have thought someone would be buying Wasted Pills?"
"Indeed. Occasionally someone buys them, but it’s usually for mortal Martial Artists or slaves, and never in such large quantities."
The old elixir seller immediately made the trade with Zhang Chi.
Some nearby Cultivators selling elixirs were drawn over and joined in, while some other stall owners were quite annoyed.
The other Cultivators, however, watched coldly from the sidelines, all thinking Zhang Chi was too naive and wasteful.
It turned out that people had tried to raise Half-Step Spirit Beasts with Wasted Pills before, but the results were not cost-effective. In other words, success or failure was entirely a matter of luck.
It was even less profitable than collecting the Essence Blood of Half-Step Demon Beasts to sell to Low Tier Body Refining Cultivators.
"Fine, I’ll take them all."
Zhang Chi, however, was very satisfied and immediately bought everything offered.
As far as he knew, aside from containing too much Pill Poison, Wasted Pills still had medicinal power, just less of it.
The better ones could have half the Medicinal Power of a standard Pill, while even the worst ones had at least a tenth.
If it were any lower, it couldn’t even form into a pill and would just be dregs, not even qualifying as a Wasted Pill.
Therefore, even in the worst-case scenario, he could use ten Wasted Pills as if they were one standard Spirit Pill.
But the price of Wasted Pills was only one-fiftieth of the cheapest standard Spirit Pill.
So no matter what, buying Wasted Pills for Cultivation was more cost-effective for him.
A moment later, he had spent a total of fifteen spirit stones and received about eight hundred assorted Wasted Pills. Even by the most conservative estimate, this was equivalent to eighty standard Spirit Pills.
Many of the elixir-selling stall owners even made arrangements with him, saying they would save their Wasted Pills for him next time.
But he had no intention of coming back. Although he readily agreed, he was just being perfunctory.
After that, he didn’t linger. He went straight to the Marketplace exit, returned the rented Cloak and mask, and then strode out of the Marketplace.
"Boss, that’s the guy. He went to the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower, and the Shopkeeper even saw him out personally. And just now, he spent a fortune buying a bunch of Wasted Pills."
"Good. Follow him. This guy’s definitely a fat sheep!"
And just as Zhang Chi left the misty area, more than one Cultivator started brazenly following him from behind.
"Heh heh!"
But Zhang Chi just gave a disdainful laugh. His figure flickered, was instantly enveloped in a blood-red light, and shot directly into the air, vanishing from the Cultivators’ sight in a flash.
After getting far away from the Marketplace, he also changed direction, making it even more impossible for those Cultivators to catch him.
"Dammit!"
"What is he, a rabbit? He runs way too fast!"
"The Blood Escape Technique is actually that fast?"
Those Cultivators were dumbfounded and extremely frustrated, but they could only give up.
A few who were unwilling to give up continued the chase, but after searching for a long time, they didn’t find so much as a hair.
’The Immortal Cultivation Realm is truly dangerous. And this is just Yuan South; Yuan Bei is probably even more chaotic. Thankfully, my Blood Escape Technique has reached Perfection!’
On the other side, Zhang Chi had flown over a hundred li away before he finally stopped.
"Xiao Yunhong has been captured. His situation is critical. He is now a Mining Slave in Cyan Cloud Sect’s Cold Iron Mine number seventeen, located in the southern part of the Chen Kingdom..."
Next, Zhang Chi took out the golden Communication Jade Talisman, used the Exorcism Technique to suspend it in mid-air, and channeled his Spiritual Power into it from a distance, speaking a few words in a disguised voice.
KACHA!
He then maintained the Exorcism Technique. The Jade Talisman shattered instantly, and a streak of golden light appeared, shooting away as fast as lightning and disappearing over the horizon in a blink of an eye.
Even his Blood Escape speed was less than one ten-thousandth of the speed of this golden light.
"Alright. Brother Xiao, this is all I can do to help you!"
Having fulfilled his promise, Zhang Chi felt a weight lift from him. He immediately cast the Wind Manipulation Technique and traveled a great distance further, finding a cave in a barren mountain to rest and reorganize.
He first patted his Spirit Beast Bag, releasing the Four-legged Spirit Snakes to stand guard around the area. Then, he took out and swallowed a Wasted Pill that had blood-replenishing effects.
He soon discovered that the Pill Poison was, as expected, instantly absorbed by the Jade Pendant.
Moreover, the Jade Pendant’s color didn’t change much.
Apparently, this level of Pill Poison was well within the Jade Pendant’s current tolerance.
Immediately after, he sat cross-legged and began the Refinement of the Wasted Pill. His depleted Essence Blood was instantly and effectively replenished, and his pale complexion became rosy again.
The reason he had to specifically use this Pill was that his supply of Four-legged Snake Essence Blood had already been used up.
Only then did he begin to process the gains from his trip to the Yuquan Mountain Marketplace.
’First, I’ll try the Element Transformation Secret Technique! If it works, I’ll immediately start cultivating the Nine Flames Spirit Devouring Technique. If it doesn’t, I’ll have to figure something else out!’
Zhang Chi first took out the Element Transformation Secret Technique Jade Scroll and began to read the information within.
This time, the Restriction in the Jade Scroll had already been removed by the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower, so he could see the full content at once.
He found that the Secret Technique wasn’t difficult. Moreover, learning by reading a Jade Scroll was much faster than other methods.
In just half a day, he had successfully grasped the gist of the Secret Technique.
He then began to attempt the conversion, using a Low Grade Qi Cultivation Method called the Red Flame Technique.
This was the Cultivation Technique he had obtained in the mine.
At first, he was very cautious, but he soon discovered that the Secret Technique posed no danger to him.
Because the Jade Pendant proved to be useful for this process.
Thus, he confidently sped up the process. He soon pushed the Elemental Transformation Technique to its limit, converting all his Spiritual Power into Red Flame Technique Spiritual Power within a few breaths.
The Red Flame Technique was also directly pushed to the Qi Cultivation Third Layer, the same as his previous Realm.
Because his Meridians and Qi Sea had been modified by the Blood Flame, his Spiritual Power was even purer than if he had cultivated this technique directly.
Of course, this was also because he had already prepared for the worst-case scenario—thinking he might need to use the Dissipation Technique—so he had studied the Red Flame Technique in advance, which allowed the process to go so smoothly.
Then, he activated the Elemental Transformation Technique and the Blood Flame Technique again, almost instantly converting his Spiritual Power back.
"Great! It really works, and the effect is even better than I expected. Now I don’t have to use the Dissipation Technique and start over. I can cultivate the Nine Flames Spirit Devouring Technique with peace of mind!" Zhang Chi was overjoyed.
