Mustard Stones

The number of stalls selling cultivation techniques in the black market was not small.

But cultivators seeking techniques in the black market were rare.

Firstly, these techniques were mostly common, low-grade goods written by rogue cultivators, evil cultivators, or anonymous individuals. Inherited techniques could certainly not circulate on the market, otherwise, it would surely lead to bloody storms.

Secondly, even these low-grade techniques were mostly incomplete fragments.

There were also some idle villains, whose greatest pleasure was to randomly compile rubbish, label it as divine cultivation, and deceive ignorant mortals.

If one truly cultivated according to what they wrote, going berserk would be a good outcome.

More commonly, one’s meridians would be completely destroyed by these techniques, leaving them crippled, or even costing them their lives.

Therefore, no matter how good the cultivation techniques on the roadside seemed, it was best not to pick them up, unless one was a desperate rogue cultivator, in which case they could take a gamble to reach Foundation Establishment.

Therefore, Su Qing didn’t hold much hope.

She squatted by these cultivation technique stalls, browsing and picking, mainly out of curiosity.

Most cultivation techniques were inscribed on jade slips, lying neatly on the stalls.

Cultivators could only briefly examine up to three pages of content.

To see more, one would generally have to pay spirit stones to buy them.

Su Qing thought, ‘It’s like the old bookstore from her childhood.’ Although most were third-rate novels, unlucky children could sometimes stumble upon “Master’s Guidance” or “After-Class Practice.”

Although she hadn’t found any such rigorous books, she unexpectedly discovered a cultivation technique named “Blind.”

It wasn’t entirely a cultivation technique, but more like a daily log, primarily documenting the cultivation journey of a blind person.

But the interesting thing was that the divine sense of blind people was often much stronger than that of normal people, because they had to use their divine sense to compensate for their eyes.

In reality, divine sense and strength were not entirely equivalent; it also blended various perceptions such as touch, hearing, smell, and even a sixth sense.

However, because human cultivators relied more on vision, the primary manifestation of divine sense was still sight.

Those with powerful divine sense could see further, clearer, and more minutely, noticing any anomalies.

The terrifying divine sense of high-level cultivators could even detect strange occurrences like abnormal spiritual roots or body snatching, which defied natural laws.

Interestingly, in the cultivation world, blindness was not without a cure.

Even if not healed by miraculous elixirs, using contracted spirit beasts or artifacts as eyes was a common method.

Therefore, truly blind cultivators were very few, unless fate had intentionally arranged it, or karmic retribution was at play.

This thing was useless to others, but for Su Qing, it might be a treasure.

She read with fascination, utterly engrossed.

When she reached the third page and could no longer view more, she reluctantly looked up, picked up the jade slip, and asked the stall owner, “I want this. How many spirit stones?”

Most of the cultivation techniques in the stall owner’s possession were scraped from the storage bags of various evil cultivators.

He had long prepared for them not to sell. Seeing this burly man with a pentagonal face holding a jade slip and asking for its price, he couldn’t help but glance at her curiously.

Seeing that she picked up the jade slip for the cultivation technique titled “Blind,” the stall owner couldn’t help but say a few more words.

“This isn’t some wicked cultivation technique. I even know the owner of this technique; he was an obscure rogue cultivator. For some unknown reason, he was born with cataracts and couldn’t see. But this person was peculiar; he was actually an excellent candidate for reconnaissance. Whenever he went on missions, he could always detect phenomena that others couldn’t, so he was quite a character.”

“It’s just a pity that people with physical defects ultimately cannot go far. A hundred years ago, he died due to insufficient lifespan, never breaking through the Foundation Establishment stage. He only left behind this cultivation technique he compiled himself, insisting that I keep it here to see if it could meet some destined person.”

The surrounding cultivators all sighed, lamenting with admiration, “This person was truly one with a heart like rock and a will as firm as gold. To enter the Dao with such a broken body truly shames us who are physically strong.”

The stall owner said these words, partly from genuine feeling, and partly to elevate its value for a higher price.

The cultivators sighed and felt ashamed, but they were absolutely unwilling to spend spirit stones to buy this useless cultivation technique.

Thus, Su Qing was the only fat lamb left to be fleeced.

She blinked. “How many spirit stones?”

After finishing his lament, the stall owner said, “This item has waited a hundred years for a destined person like you. Since that’s the case, I will reluctantly part with it. Consider it half-sold, half-given. Two hundred spirit stones.”

He had been watching the mustard stone stall earlier.

This burly man had directly paid ten high-grade spirit stones, so he must have a fat storage bag.

Su Qing sighed. ‘Truly, no merchant is without deceit.’ She wasn’t an idiot.

Cultivation techniques weren’t rare at all, and fifty spirit stones was considered a normal price. This person was not only fleecing her, but also asking for an exorbitant price.

“Whether there is fate still depends on you, Your Excellency. For twenty spirit stones, I’ll half-buy, half-accept it,” Su Qing also stated her value.

“If Your Excellency is unwilling, you will personally sever the karmic ties between me and it. Presumably, the technique’s owner, knowing this in the afterlife, would have nothing to say except to sigh in regret.”

The stall owner was startled, thinking, ‘What a burly man you are, outwardly rough and crude, but in reality so calculative. I truly misjudged you.’

The two haggled for a while. Finally, after Su Qing employed a “take two steps and walk away” strategy, the cultivation technique was sold for thirty-five spirit stones.

Once she truly bought it, the stall owner’s pained expression turned into a wry smile.

He then produced a pre-copied version of “Blind” to fill the blank space in the jade slip.

Su Qing shook her head, smiling faintly.

She wasn’t such a petty person.

Since the technique’s owner had put effort into leaving this inheritance, there was no reason for it to only benefit her.

If another person with an eye condition could obtain this Daoist method and gain even a sliver of benefit for their cultivation, it would be a rare good deed.

Most of what she needed to buy was done.

There was nothing else she wanted.

Su Qing put away her things, pulled out another black robe to wear, and turned to walk into the deep night.

Seeing her leave, three to five groups immediately stealthily followed.

Her pace was swift.

Two groups gave up early, but the other three groups, still unwilling to quit, quickened their pace to keep up.

The burly man turned around, his eyes shining with a cold light in the dark night, utterly merciless, like a blade under the moon.

One group felt a chill of fear and pulled their companions back, “I don’t think this person is easy to deal with. Let’s retreat first and plan later.”

This plan, upon seeing the bodies of the other two groups the next morning, completely dissipated.

For no other reason than this: these people, besides their storage bags being gone, were fully clothed, unharmed on the surface, and maintained the same expression they had at the moment of death—not terror, but rather greed in their eyes.

A person with profound cultivation stepped forward to examine, and was also horrified, instinctively taking a step back, fearing entanglement.

Only when someone nearby asked, “What happened?” did he compose his expression and say, “These people all died from their Sea of Consciousness being crushed. Hence, no wounds or blood. That senior yesterday…”

He thought with lingering fear, ‘Although his aura was only around Foundation Establishment, judging by his divine sense level, he must be at least Spirit Transformation cultivation. He’s another one who pretends to be a pig to eat a tiger. It’s a good thing you and I didn’t act rashly yesterday.’

The surrounding people, listening, were all deeply startled.

The slight greed in their hearts, startled away, vanished completely.

Only a strong sense of envy arose within them: at least Spirit Transformation cultivation. On the same path of cultivation, people were truly very different.

Su Qing returned to the sect and rummaged through the fifteen storage bags she had acquired.

As expected, there were no extraordinary treasures.

There were no high-grade or mid-grade spirit stones.

Low-grade spirit stones totaled about eighteen hundred.

The rest were Tier 1 and Tier 2 magical artifacts, pills, talismans, and some chaotic cultivation techniques.

She didn’t fancy them, and Man Qing Sword disdained to eat them.

She put them away for now, waiting for an opportunity to sell them later to recover some funds.

She gave all the raw mustard stones she bought to Xiaocao to help process and polish.

His payment was one-third of the materials. Xiaocao, knowing her personality, didn’t decline.

Three days later, when he delivered the polished, plump mustard stones, he carried an extra roasted chicken, dripping with oil.

The scent was so alluring that the Orange King, who had been hiding from Su Qing, actually emerged, standing aloofly on the side, saliva dripping onto the ground.

Su Qing almost laughed in anger, seeing its chubby body squeeze out of the narrow rat hole.

That’s right, the Orange King hadn’t gotten much thinner after returning from the devilish weight loss camp, but it seemed to have released a lot of things from its body, and its state had improved greatly.

“Still got some spirit left? Even钻ing into rat holes to hide from me?”

The Orange King was so afraid that if it said one more word, or came one step closer, Su Qing would team up with Qing Ge to force it to learn characters. It remained silent, merely using its eyes to hint at Jiang Xiaocao.

Jiang Xiaocao’s hand was almost on the succulent chicken leg, but he glanced at Su Qing, then silently lowered his eyelashes, withdrew his hand, and played with the corner of his clothes, pretending not to see anything.

His disloyal action made the Orange King let out a long meow of anger. Su Qing guessed it was probably very foul language, because

Xiaocao’s head drooped.

She wrote two characters on the ground with spiritual energy and asked, “What are these characters?”

The Orange King maintained its composure for a moment, then its eyes sparkled uncontrollably. “Chicken legs?”

“Yes.” Su Qing stood up and lifted it. “Stand here, watch and eat, and try to eat these two characters into your belly too.”

While the Orange King feasted, she asked Xiaocao, “Where did the roasted chicken come from?”

Xiaocao said happily, “Senior Brother Fang gave it to me. He said he doesn’t eat such worldly things, so I can take whatever food is sent. I can eat six meals a day now.”

It seemed Fang Buwei quite liked Jiang Xiaocao, which was a good thing.

Su Qing watched as the Orange King finished one chicken leg and was eyeing another. Su Qing silently erased the two characters.

“You repeat it once more. If it’s correct, I’ll give it to you. If it’s wrong, you’ll run two laps around the Sword-Testing Forest.”

The Orange King confidently wrote the characters with its paw. Su Qing looked, and indeed, it had written them correctly. “Am I a genius?”

It didn’t even realize how proud it was when asking for a reward.

Su Qing tore off another chicken leg for it and praised softly, “Yes, Orange King is a genius.”

Only then did the Orange King contentedly pick up the chicken leg, mumbling indistinctly, “Good to know, good to know!”

Xiaocao, watching from the side, thought, ‘Senior seems to have become like a dog.’ Although saying it aloud would surely make Senior angry, there’s actually nothing to be angry about… because he also kind of wants to be like a dog.

Su Qing examined the mustard stones.

Xiaocao’s artifact refining skill was very high; all the impurities in the raw stones had been removed cleanly.

The remaining mustard stones were all high-quality. The one thousand eighty jin of raw stones yielded two hundred mustard stones of varying quality.

Among them, the fingernail-sized mustard stone was indeed of no low grade, likely Tier 3 to Tier 4.

This single one alone made up for the cost.

Su Qing took a deep breath.

This game of “one thought to heaven, one thought to hell” was truly addictive.

She squeezed a mustard stone, tossed it up, caught it, and flattened it in her palm.

She asked the Orange King, “Do you eat this? Is it beneficial for you?”