“`
Clothes, silver taels, books, medicinal herbs, and bottles and jars.
A pile of items messily spread out on the table.
Even the small pile of silver and silver notes beside it couldn’t snap him out of his daze.
Chen Mu’s eyes were fixed on the red leather pouch inside the wooden box, lost in thought.
“I should have thought of this earlier.”
There were ghosts, magic artifacts; naturally, there was also the pursuit of immortal cultivation.
It’s just that the bag was a bit odd, not quite fitting his fantasy of a storage bag or Sumeru Ring.
“Sooner or later, I’m going to see what an immortal looks like!”
Chen Mu quickly settled his complicated emotions and averted his gaze.
He closed the wooden box and carefully stored it. This was a treasure, not to be lost.
But it wasn’t a good time to try using it. After all, it could suck blood, which was a bit dangerous.
“Let’s check out the spoils of war first!” Chen Mu put on sheepskin gloves.
He carefully placed the bottles and jars aside, wary of any poison inside.
He grouped the silver taels and silver notes together.
After counting, there were more than four hundred and thirty-three taels.
“Windfall!” Chen Mu chortled.
He threw the clothes into a wooden tub, intending to burn them later.
Chen Mu placed several books in front of him. He was interested in these items.
Killing for manuals, isn’t this just like a standard feature in novels?
“If I could get a Shape Cultivation Technique, that would be great.”
With that thought, Chen Mu picked up the book on top.
Pity Flower Manual.
“A manual, huh…” Chen Mu couldn’t wait to flip through the pages.
He closed the book with a blank expression after only a page.
Then he checked the other few books.
Flower Appreciation Biography, Demon Fox Biography…
“Using a treasure that hides a Sumeru within a mustard seed to store erotic books… Genius!”
He tossed the books into a bamboo basket and casually picked up the last yellow scroll to unravel.
If this turns out to be a banner of a beautiful woman…
I won’t bother if the art is poor!
As soon as he opened it, dense text came into view.
Chen Mu quickly looked at the title at the beginning—Thousand Mountains Scripture·Five Ghosts Moving Mountains.
This is… a jackpot!
…
“So it’s called the Five Ghosts Bag,” Chen Mu muttered as he carefully examined the scroll.
The content was all about that red bag.
The beginning was a passage of two to three hundred words of scripture.
The content was abstruse, incoherent.
He recognized every word, but together they formed a jumble of code.
The rest mostly described how to make the Five Ghosts Bag.
The materials looked quite exotic.
The main material was a toad’s stomach.
This toad, called the rainbow jug, was the size of a fist but had an interior that could hold much more, capable of containing many things.
The five little figures were even more bizarre, transformed from ghosts.
The method of creation was complex and utterly mystifying.
For example, once the Five Ghosts Bag was initially shaped, it needed to be sunned for seventy-two days, to bask in moonlight for thirty-six days, and also, on nights without stars and the moon, it had to be placed on a mountain peak to be chilled by the cold wind for eighteen days.
Once the bag was complete, the Five Ghosts Bag could be operated through the scripture at the beginning, enabling the marvelous technique of Five Ghosts Moving Mountains.
It could command the ghosts to transport, block, or kill enemies.
If cultivated deeply, the Five Ghosts Bag was said to be capable of moving mountains.
As for how to cultivate it, feeding the bag blood and flesh of living beings would suffice.
“Not only does it suck blood… it eats meat too?!”
The style was getting more and more exotic.
As for when the bag would be completed, the scripture didn’t say. Chen Mu figured it was mostly likely a ruse.
“The item is good, but how do you use that scripture?”
It was just a mishmash of over three hundred characters.
“It must be some kind of secret code.” Chen Mu thought, not ready to give up.
To know the true content, he would have to know the correct arrangement or extract the message according to some pattern from these characters.
“This is troublesome,” Chen Mu frowned. “Such secrets are likely to be passed down verbally.”
…
For three consecutive days, Chen Mu pondered the strange scripture while eating and sleeping.
Unfortunately, he gained nothing.
“Let it go, I’ll figure it out slowly,” Chen Mu came to terms with it.
He had the proficiency cheat; as long as he didn’t waste it, his strength would continue to grow. He would inevitably come into contact with extraordinary powers.
“`
Five Ghosts Moving Mountain was not the only one.
These days, he had become so engrossed in the scriptures that it even affected his practice of Pharmaceutical Technique.
Chen Mu immediately put away the scroll. He hid it in a wooden box along with the Five Ghosts Bag.
He just transcribed the two or three hundred words of scripture separately.
In his free time each day, he would look it over, considering it a change of pace.
…
Five days later.
Chen Mu handed a ping-pong-sized pill to Jie Jia.
“Try this.”
“What’s this?” Jie Jia brought it to his nose and sniffed.
A faintly sweet smell mixed with the scent of medicine wafted into his nostrils.
“Fasting Pill,” Chen Mu stated seriously.
Jie Jia’s face remained expressionless as he looked at Chen Mu without speaking.
“It’s actually just a rice ball with added tonic, to stave off hunger,” Chen Mu said with a shrug and a smile.
Jie Jia nodded.
After researching for over half a month and relying on his recently advanced Third Rank Pharmaceutical Technique, Chen Mu finally created the ancient version of a compressed biscuit.
Jie Jia looked it over and, curious, took a bite. He did approve of Chen Mu’s cooking skills.
The savory, sweet flavor made his eyelids lift slightly.
“Not bad.”
“I’ll send you some later,” Chen Mu said with a smile.
“You want something?” Jie Jia said indifferently.
He was familiar with this routine. The scholar was only ever so eager when he needed help with something.
“Take a look at this,” Chen Mu said nonchalantly, tossing a porcelain bottle to Jie Jia.
A stir went through Jie Jia’s heart.
Opening the porcelain bottle, a familiar scent wafted out.
“Did you really replicate it?!” Jie Jia was slightly moved.
This product was a monopoly of the Zhu Yi Pavilion, and although many had attempted to imitate and decode it, no one had succeeded.
“It was a bit troublesome, but fortunately, I succeeded,” Chen Mu said cheerily.
The Zhu Yi Pavilion added confusing agents to the medicine, forming an encryption lock. Ordinary Pharmacists couldn’t solve it.
Thank goodness for the Third Rank Pharmaceutical Technique.
Upon breaking through, his sense of smell and taste were enhanced, which allowed him to detect the flaw.
Zhu Yi Pavilion used two useless medicines mixed together to produce a smell incredibly similar to that of another precious medicinal material. The reactions in various tests were almost indistinguishable.
Who knew how many imitators had been misled.
“Ten pills a bottle, I’ll give you one for eight silver taels. You help me sell them, deal or no deal?” Chen Mu tempted.
Jie Jia had the capability and the channels, and he was not afraid of others coveting or probing.
Chen Mu would only be in charge of production, letting Jie Jia bear all the risks and ensure a fat profit.
“Two taels,” Jie Jia proposed, unperturbed.
Members of the Zhu Yi Pavilion bought it for eight silver taels a bottle.
In the Ghost Market, a bottle would cost at least twelve silver taels!
Jie Jia, keen on earning money, drove a hard bargain.
“Too little, a minimum of seven and a half taels!” Chen Mu protested, though he was secretly delighted.
The Three Yang Six Lords Pills seemed complex, but the complexity was in the process, not the materials, which were cheap.
For a bottle, it would cost at most a little more than one silver tael. With mass production, the cost could even be reduced to half a tael.
After some back-and-forth, they finally agreed on six taels per bottle.
The moment the deal was struck, smiles broke out on both of their faces simultaneously.
An old man and a young one, they resembled two foxes who had just stolen some chickens.
…
The market in the gathering area.
Chen Mu, wearing a conical bamboo hat and draped in Yang Zhi’s vest, carrying a bamboo basket, found Old Liu.
“I’ve prepared all the medicinal materials for you, it was quite a bit of effort,” Old Liu handed a hemp bag to Chen Mu.
Chen Mu said nothing, opened the hemp bag, and took out the small cloth bags inside. He routinely inspected each one.
Interactions with Jie Jia had made him cautious.
After a while, Chen Mu stood up and threw a cloth bag to Old Liu, “Thanks.”
With this batch of medicine, not only could he make money, but his recovery from injuries would also speed up.
Old Liu pinched the cloth bag and immediately his face lit up with a smile.
Chen Mu nodded, tossed the hemp bag into his bamboo basket, and walked away with it on his back.
He had barely taken two steps.
A few Government Officials carrying a stretcher passed by his side.
By their side was a familiar face—Captain Lu.
Ever since Qingshan County changed hands, Chen Mu hadn’t gone to the government office to draw wanted posters.
It had been a long time since he had seen Captain Lu.
Noticing the grey cloth stained with blood that covered a body, Chen Mu’s brows furrowed slightly.
Another wild beast attack?