Chapter 20: Laying Hands on the Great Mountains

Fifty bottles of Bigu Pills, thirty bottles of Zhongmiao Pills.

This was Luo Chen's achievement for a single month.

He had only refined fifty bottles of Bigu Pills; the extra five were the inheritance left behind by that short-lived fellow.

As for the thirty bottles of Zhongmiao Pills, they were a bit of an unexpected windfall.

This time, he had actually succeeded with three batches, all of which were of Low Grade quality.

Placing the medicinal pills on the bluestone slab, Luo Chen stood with his hands on his hips, feeling quite expectant for today's market gathering.

Old Taoist Chen arrived a little later than usual.

Upon seeing Luo Chen, his old eyes were filled with resentment.

Fifty spirit stones!

He had just collected them last time, only for this kid to borrow them back again.

He had already made up his mind: no matter how much Luo Chen tried to use his silver tongue today, he was absolutely going to collect that loan!

Without fail!

"Little Luo, your alchemy skills have deepened again!"

Previously, the corner of the slab allocated to Luo Chen had never been fully occupied.

But today, it was densely packed with jade bottles—at least fifty or sixty of them, nearly filling the space.

From this, it was evident that Luo Chen's alchemy skills had indeed reached a new level.

Luo Chen gave a cheeky grin. "This is all thanks to your generous assistance, Fellow Daoist Chen. Otherwise, I wouldn't have the capital to refine more pills."

"Hmph, as long as you know that," Old Taoist Chen snorted lightly, before saying sternly, "I lent them to you before because I am kind-hearted, but today, you must return those spirit stones to me."

"Definitely, definitely!"

Luo Chen acted as if he were a man of his word.

Only then did Old Taoist Chen's expression soften slightly. With debts outstanding, he truly felt like he couldn't eat or sleep in peace!

Suddenly, he let out a soft exclamation of surprise.

"Eh?"

"Little Luo, you've reached the fourth layer of Qi Refinement?"

Luo Chen asked curiously, "How did you know?"

"I have practiced the Spirit Vision Technique; observing Qi and sensing spirits is but a minor trick to me." After boasting a little, Old Taoist Chen looked puzzled. "Aren't you of the Five-Element Root aptitude? To be able to break through to the middle stage of Qi Refinement at your age is quite something."

The Spirit Vision Technique was a low-level spell that used spiritual energy to sharpen one's vision while granting the ability to observe Qi and sense spiritual presence.

Among low-level spells, it was known alongside the Fireball Technique, Wind Control Art, Attraction Technique, and Healing Art as the five essential spells for the Qi Refinement stage.

Unfortunately, aside from the Fireball Technique, Luo Chen didn't know any of the other four.

The Entanglement Technique and the Fireball Technique were both obtained through the original owner's fortuitous encounters.

The Cleansing Technique was merely one of the most useless spells; he had traded a bottle of Bigu Pills for it at a market back then.

Old Taoist Chen looked at Luo Chen with a strange expression.

He likely never expected that one day, Luo Chen would become a middle-stage Qi Refinement cultivator just like himself.

While there wasn't a world of difference between middle-stage and early-stage cultivators, the upper limit of spiritual energy within the body could directly double!

Various combat methods could also be executed with much greater ease.

Early-stage cultivators in this Dahe Market were merely at the very bottom of the social ladder.

Without a specialized skill, they could only engage in menial labor and errands.

But the middle stage was different; one could fully join various factions and accept all sorts of highly remunerative missions.

It could be said that only middle-stage Qi Refinement cultivators truly possessed the capital to live in the Dahe Market.

Facing the old man's confusion, Luo Chen merely smiled and said he had been lucky.

In reality, this was simply the natural outcome.

A bottle of Qi-Nurturing Pills had provided him with a massive amount of spiritual energy, pushing his progress bar directly to 96/100.

The remaining spiritual energy required was what he had obtained through twenty days of bitter cultivation, utilizing the Perfect-grade Eternal Spring Art combined with Soothing Incense, day and night.

Breaking through to the fourth layer of Qi Refinement was a natural progression.

After helping Old Taoist Chen arrange the talisman skins, Luo Chen pointed toward the spot where Wang Yuan usually set up his stall with some confusion.

"Has Brother Wang not come to set up his stall recently?"

"Don't you know about the major event that happened in the Outer District recently?" Old Taoist Chen looked at him strangely.

Luo Chen looked completely bewildered.

"Right, you live too far away. If you don't pay attention, it's quite possible you wouldn't know."

Old Taoist Chen explained it to himself, then said with great interest, "Recently, the Great River Gang and the Lianyun Merchant Alliance have formed an alliance."

"Isn't that quite normal?"

The Lianyun Merchant Alliance was a renowned rogue cultivator faction in the Yuding Domain, with industries spanning all the large and small markets throughout the region.

Their primary business was transporting and selling heavenly treasures from various locations, profiting from the price differences.

This inevitably involved the logistics and transportation business.

As mentioned before, storage bags were not something an average rogue cultivator could possess, and for such large-scale business, a few storage bags wouldn't be of much use.

Therefore, the Lianyun Merchant Alliance had always maintained a good cooperative relationship with the local Great River Gang.

The Great River Gang made its living from the Lancang River around the Dahe Market area.

Since ancient times, both domestically and abroad, water transport has been one of the most profitable businesses, involving countless links in the industrial chain.

It was perfectly normal for the Lianyun Merchant Alliance to choose to ally with the Great River Gang for deep cooperation.

Old Taoist Chen shrugged. "But it's not normal that the Great River Gang has their eyes on the business in the mountains."

"Business in the mountains?" Luo Chen asked in surprise. "Isn't that the territory of the Broken Mountain Gang?"

"Pfft!"

Old Taoist Chen sneered. "What Broken Mountain Gang? The millions of mountains in the Eastern Wasteland are the domain of demon beasts. Even the six great upper sects of the Far East wouldn't dare call it their business."

"Uh..."

"Let's put it this way: the Great River Gang has set its sights on the few safe routes that the Broken Mountain Gang has explored over the last hundred years."

Old Taoist Chen liked to gossip and liked to dig for information; after all, such things weren't worth much money.

Sometimes, when encountering high-level cultivators from outside, this information could even be sold for a few spirit stones.

He had inquired thoroughly: the Great River Gang was serious.

Initially, they sent people to explore safe routes into the mountains, but they suffered heavy losses.

Later, they began targeting the paths blazed by the Broken Mountain Gang.

The Broken Mountain Gang naturally refused to comply, leading to various conflicts.

A month ago, the magic tools Wang Yuan was selling were actually spoils of war captured by Broken Mountain Gang cultivators after killing members of the Great River Gang in the mountains.

Now, the conflict was escalating, and the fighting between the two sides was no longer confined to the mountains.

In the Outer District, battles between the two gangs broke out from time to time at night.

Listening to this gossip, Luo Chen's mind raced.

"You specifically mentioned the alliance between the Lianyun Merchant Alliance and the Great River Gang. Could it be that the Great River Gang's actions are being instigated by the Lianyun Merchant Alliance?"

After posing this question, Luo Chen's mind turned even faster.

"Right, the various heavenly treasures and demon beast flesh that the Broken Mountain Gang hunts are sold to major factions at high prices. The Lianyun Merchant Alliance isn't a sect-based power; naturally, they wouldn't be satisfied with those prices."

"By allying with the Great River Gang now, they want to nurture a competitor to fight the Broken Mountain Gang for resources."

"If they truly succeed, then the cost of acquiring resources in the future will be much lower."

Old Taoist Chen gave an affirmative hum.

"You're not stupid, kid. That's exactly what I think. Otherwise, the Great River Gang wouldn't have suddenly set their sights on the mountains right around the time of the alliance."

After the agreement, came a deep sigh.

The actions of these two gangs were making the already unsafe Outer District even more chaotic.

Furthermore, some rogue cultivators were mixing in among them to take advantage of the chaos; the honest and law-abiding rogue cultivators would be the ones to suffer.

"Wang Yuan has become quite famous lately. He's guarding the mountain paths, having killed five or six middle-stage cultivators and even slaying an eighth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator from the Great River Gang."

"It's normal that he didn't come today."

Old Taoist Chen shook his head. "If the chaos continues like this, I plan to move into the Inner City."

"Little Luo, what about you?"

Luo Chen fell into silence.

His residence was in the most remote southwestern corner, adjacent to the Xiaoyue Mountain Range, which was quite far from the Guyuan and Daxue Mountain Ranges where the Broken Mountain Gang primarily operated.

If a conflict broke out, it likely wouldn't affect his area.

But one could never be too sure!

"I'll wait and see. The rent and the security deposit for living in the Inner City are no small sums."

Living in a market was hard enough.

Living in the Inner City was something an average rogue cultivator simply could not afford.

Sighing, he composed himself, forced a smile, and prepared to welcome today's customers.

"Fellow Daoist Zeng, good morning. Want to grab a bite?"

"Let's grab a bite!"