“Senior… Junior was disrespectful… Please forgive Junior!”
How could the chubby middle-aged man guess that the person in front of him was a Golden Core Cultivator? His expression was one of extreme terror, and he immediately knelt on the ground, almost wetting himself.
It wasn't just him; even the few shop assistants were greatly frightened and knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly.
“Do you buy it?” Chen Si asked indifferently.
“Yes, we do! One thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones… No, two thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, Senior, is that acceptable?” The chubby middle-aged man quickly said.
“Alright, pack them in a Storage Pouch for me.” Chen Si withdrew his Divine Sense, his tone calm.
“Yes, yes!” The chubby middle-aged man nodded repeatedly, took a Storage Pouch from under the counter, put the two thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones inside, and presented it with both hands.
Chen Si nodded, raised his hand, grabbed the Storage Pouch, tucked it into his embrace, turned, and left the shop.
After he left, the chubby middle-aged man wiped the cold sweat from his face and stood up from the ground.
“I was so scared!”
“A Golden Core mighty figure insisted on pretending to be an ordinary Qi Refining Loose Cultivator.”
The chubby middle-aged man was greatly frightened.
Chen Si didn't have a single Magical Artifact on him, and his clothes were ordinary coarse linen. Unless he was a very miserable Qi Refining Loose Cultivator, which Cultivator would dress like that?
If not for that, he wouldn't have dared to casually probe with his Divine Sense.
Well, now he had given away an extra one thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones and a Storage Pouch for nothing. It was a huge loss.
Coming out of the shop, Chen Si's Divine Sense swept, instantly refining the Storage Pouch in his embrace and tossing his Spirit Stones and several bottles of Medicinal Pills into it.
Afterward, he merged into the crowd and quickly departed.
Not long after walking, he entered a shop selling Formation Plates and spent one thousand six hundred Spirit Stones to buy a second-grade low-tier Isolation Formation Plate, which could effectively block the prying of Divine Sense and sight.
He then went to the Immortal Cave rental center and rented an Immortal Cave near the Tea Garden. This was an independent small courtyard, a bit far from the main street, with a branch of a first-grade high-tier Spiritual Vein, which was completely sufficient for the current Chen Si.
It cost three hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones a year and came with a first-grade high-tier defensive Formation, a first-grade high-tier Spirit Gathering Formation, three half-acre Spiritual Fields, and a thumb-sized Spiritual Spring eye.
Although the fee was a bit expensive, it was worth the price. Such an Immortal Cave was not something an ordinary Qi Refining Cultivator could afford to rent.
He numbered the three Spiritual Fields: the Spiritual Field with the densest Spiritual Qi and closest to the Spiritual Vein was designated as number one, and the other two Spiritual Fields were numbers two and three, respectively.
Returning to the Tea Garden, he transplanted the Sword Qi Grass and purple thunder bamboo into the number one Spiritual Field, and also sowed two Mist Dew Begonia seeds in the number one Spiritual Field.
Seeds for the Materials needed to refine yinqi pills were sown in the other two Spiritual Fields.
He had already calculated that once the Spiritual Plants in these two Spiritual Fields matured and were harvested, he could gather enough for at least twelve furnaces of yinqi pills.
After arranging the purchased second-grade low-tier Isolation Formation around the three Spiritual Fields, he left the Immortal Cave and returned to the Tea Garden.
During the day, he would spend most of his time in the Tea Garden, only returning to his Immortal Cave at night.
Thus, another three months passed.
He had harvested another round of Spiritual Qi from the Tea Garden, gaining 280 points of Spiritual Qi.
Subtracting the 120 points of Spiritual Qi used to Cultivate Spiritual Plants and the 24 points needed for Cultivation, he had 136 points remaining, with a cumulative Spiritual Qi of 157 points.
His cultivation was steadily progressing, and he was not far from Qi Refining fifth layer.
Yesterday, he rented an Alchemy room again and refined twelve furnaces of yinqi pills, yielding ninety-six pills. Including the previous eighteen pills, he now had eleven bottles and four loose pills.
He had refined a total of fifteen furnaces of yinqi pills, accumulating considerable experience in refining first-grade low-tier Medicinal Pills.
After all, he had the assistance of Golden Core Divine Sense, allowing him to see the subtle. In the later furnaces, even without Divine Sense assistance, he could achieve a hundred percent success rate in pill Formation.
There was no longer any need to continue refining yinqi pills. He planned to try his hand at a first-grade Middle Stage Pill Formula.
Chen Si, dressed in the Qinghe Society's servant Daoist robe, emerged from the Tea Garden and walked towards the Huiling Residence.
During his long time working in the Tea Garden, he had rarely visited the Huiling Residence, only three or four times in total.
He came this time to find Du Tai, intending to ask him to help deal with the yinqi pills he had on hand.
“This fellow has been preparing to break through to the Middle Stage of Qi Refining during this period. I wonder if he succeeded?” Thinking this, he stepped into the Huiling Residence.
“Shopkeeper Wang, long time no see!” Chen Si cupped his fists towards Shopkeeper Wang behind the counter. The other party forced a difficult smile, his expression somewhat stiff, as if he had something on his mind and was distracted.
Seeing him enter, Du Tai, who was tidying the counter, quickly walked over and whispered in his ear, “Go and reserve a private room at the Suyu Residence first. I'll come over to find you later, and the cost is on me.”
Chen Si didn't waste words. He cupped his fists again towards Shopkeeper Wang, left the Huiling Residence, and headed towards the nearby Suyu Residence.
The Suyu Residence was not a high-end restaurant; the average consumption was only around three or four Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
Chen Si reserved a private room, ordered a pot of Spiritual Tea, and began pouring and drinking for himself.
He waited for about half an hour.
Du Tai pushed the door open, sat down opposite him, grabbed the teapot, poured himself a cup of tea, and drank it in one gulp.
“Something big has happened!” He said after putting down the teacup.
“What is it?” Shopkeeper Wang looked as if his parents had died, so Chen Si guessed something might have happened.
“The Qinghe Society is probably going to disband.” Du Tai sighed and said.
“Why would it disband when everything is fine?” Chen Si's main source of Spiritual Qi still came from the Tea Garden, and he didn't want to give it up yet.
“The Golden Core Cultivator behind the Qinghe Society died while out. The Foundation Establishment cultivators below probably won't be able to hold onto their current industries, and they will soon be completely devoured.”
“The Qinghe Society's current industries include the hundred-acre Tea Garden in two cultivation grounds, the Huiling Residence, this Suyu Residence, as well as a Pill Pavilion and a Talisman shop.”
“When the people at the top change, the people below will definitely change too. After all, the Qingyun Sword Sect has stood for countless years, and its relationships are complex. Those of us with no connections will definitely be replaced first.”
“The Qinghe Society was originally a new force, which is why it recruited outsiders. It's truly lucky to have encountered such an easy-going boss, but unfortunately…”
At this point, Du Tai shook his head helplessly.
“So what are you going to do?” Chen Si asked.
“I'll leave the Huiling Residence after this month. I haven't decided where to go yet.” Du Tai's cultivation was still at Qi Refining third layer. With such strength, he was at the very bottom among Loose Cultivators in Qingshan Town.
“You should also make plans early and leave ahead of time, lest you get into trouble later.” Du Tai reminded him.
“Thanks for the reminder!” Chen Si cupped his fists, then said, “I have a few bottles of yinqi pills here. Do you need them?”
Saying that, he took out a small porcelain bottle from his Storage Pouch, placed it on the table, and pushed it over.
“You bought a Storage Pouch?” Du Tai's eyes lit up, a hint of envy flashing through them.
“Just bought it. It cost me all my savings.” Chen Si said with a smile.
Du Tai grabbed the pill bottle, opened the stopper, took a look, and said, “Excellent quality. The market price is five Low-Grade Spirit Stones per bottle. How many bottles do you have? Four Low-Grade Spirit Stones per bottle, I'll take them all.”
Chen Si took out all eleven bottles and arranged them on the table.
“You can refine yinqi pills now?” Du Tai exclaimed.
Chen Si nodded, “I have some talent in Alchemy.”
Du Tai gave him a thumbs up, his eyes full of admiration.
“How about this, I don't have that many Spirit Stones on me.” Du Tai took out a Spirit Stone Pouch from his embrace, counted the contents, gently placed it on the table, and continued, “Brother Chen, if you trust me, please accept these Spirit Stones first. After I've dealt with these Medicinal Pills, I'll give you the remaining balance, how about that?”
“Okay!” Chen Si grabbed the Spirit Stone Pouch, swept it with his Divine Sense, and nodded in agreement. There were twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones in the Spirit Stone Pouch.
Du Tai gave an awkward smile and said, “All the Spirit Stones I have are given to you. You're treating today.”
“No problem!” Chen Si laughed.
After lunch, the two parted ways.