Chapter 53: All Good Things Must Come to an End

Time flies.

In what felt like the blink of an eye, Luo Chen had unknowingly sold out all his Fasting Pills and Wondrous Pills, and it was barely noon.

There was no need for complex calculations; with his current Spiritual Vision technique, a single glance was enough to know his earnings for the day.

One hundred spirit stones from the Fasting Pills, and four hundred and fifty from the Wondrous Pills.

It didn't look like much, but considering this was only half a month's worth of income—and the cost was only two hundred spirit stones!

In other words, Luo Chen had made a net profit of nearly three hundred and fifty!

One had to remember that only half a year ago, he was nothing more than a destitute rogue cultivator earning a mere five stones a month.

It could only be said that once your proficiency levels up, a pill refiner becomes incredibly formidable and influential!

Of course, Luo Chen was well aware of the profit margins.

He valued his current net worth more; combined with his previous savings, his reserves had surged to a record high of eight hundred low-grade spirit stones.

This was a historic peak!

Oh, that one time he sold the Flying Swallow sword tool didn't count; windfall gains are never sustainable.

Only what one earns through one's own hands is truly reliable!

After a brief inventory of his wealth, Luo Chen planned where to wander later.

So many outland cultivators had come to Dahe Market; it was said that many were setting up stalls.

He wanted to see some of the unique cultivation resources from other regions to see if they could be of any help to him.

It could only be said that once a man has money, he gains courage.

In the past, at this time, he would have been rushing to purchase raw materials and heading home to continue refining pills.

It wasn't like now.

With his head held high, his gaze sweeping across the surging crowds of the rogue cultivator market, Luo Chen carried an air of disdain, as if everyone he saw was a pauper.

However, when his gaze landed on the old Taoist, Chen Xiuping, his aura diminished significantly.

He saw the other man busy tidying up his stall, gathering a pile of pouches and ropes.

"Fellow Daoist Chen is having a prosperous business today, selling out so early."

"Heh, how can I compare to Fellow Daoist Luo!"

Chen Xiuping mocked, "I work day and night, and all I manage to produce is a few hundred talisman skins, selling for maybe three or four hundred spirit stones. You, on the other hand, haven't been seen for half a month, and you've already brought in five or six hundred. I am far inferior to you, far inferior!"

*No matter how you put it, it sounds like he's mocking me,* Luo Chen thought.

Gritting his teeth, he painfully pulled out fifty low-grade spirit stones, packed them into a small cloth bag, and handed them to Chen Xiuping.

"The path of cultivation is difficult for little Luo. Thank you, Uncle Chen, for your support."

Though his heart ached, his words were sincere.

When Old Taoist Chen had lent him fifty spirit stones back then, it had indeed played a pivotal role at the very beginning of his pill-refining career.

At that time, his Wondrous Pills were still in the introductory stage, and the failure rate was extremely high.

He had relied entirely on the spirit stone loan provided by Old Taoist Chen to survive his most difficult period.

Taking the small cloth bag and feeling its heavy weight, Chen Xiuping fell silent for a moment.

This silence, coupled with a look of profound emotion—even with eyes that were red (from staying up late making talisman skins)—made Luo Chen feel somewhat uneasy.

*Uncle Chen, don't be so sentimental! I can't handle this!*

Unexpectedly, Chen Xiuping sighed and said something Luo Chen never anticipated.

"We are leaving."

"Ah!"

Luo Chen was stunned. "Where are you going?"

Chen Xiuping kindly stroked his granddaughter Chen Shuyi's head. "In one month, we will be following the cultivators of the Divine Talisman Pavilion to the Divine Talisman Domain."

Looking at the old man and the young girl, a suspicion rose in Luo Chen's mind.

He couldn't help but ask, "Has little Shuyi been accepted into the Divine Talisman Sect?"

"Brother Luo, not yet. But Shuyi is very confident that she can pass the trial!" Chen Shuyi held her head high, her innocent face full of the confidence of a newborn calf that fears no tiger.

Chen Xiuping packed away the miscellaneous pouches and sat down on the bluestone slab.

"Not yet, indeed, but I have already made arrangements with a familiar cultivator from the Divine Talisman Pavilion. When they return to the sect this time, they will take me and Shuyi with them."

"Next year!"

"Next year is when the Divine Talisman Pavilion opens its gates to recruit disciples. Shuyi is only thirteen now; she has a spiritual root and has received my personal instruction in the basics of talisman making. She has a high chance of passing the entrance test."

A few short sentences, yet they carried a sense of wistful emotion.

Standing before him, Luo Chen also felt a surge of sentiment.

His own years had been hard, and Old Taoist Chen's had been no different.

Even though Old Taoist Chen used to earn more than him, he actually had to support a young granddaughter's cultivation and teach her the basics of talisman making.

Learning the Four Arts of Cultivation was a bottomless pit for any cultivator.

Generally, only large factions could afford to nurture newcomers. For Old Taoist Chen, who was merely at the sixth level of Qi Refinement, to be doing such a thing showed just how difficult it must have been.

Not only that, but Old Taoist Chen had to scrape together enough spirit stones from his very teeth to support this long journey.

One could only imagine how long the journey would be, traveling from the most remote Dahe Market in the Yuding Domain, across the Tianfan Domain and the Medicine King Domain, to reach the Divine Talisman Domain.

An ordinary Qi Refinement cultivator might never travel so far in their entire life.

For Old Taoist Chen to get the Divine Talisman Pavilion cultivators of Dahe Market to agree to take them along, he likely had to pay a massive sum.

And that was only the first set of expenses.

There would be costs during the journey, and expenses for the year they would need to endure after arriving in the Divine Talisman Domain.

Furthermore, if little Shuyi failed to enter the sect, how would they live? If she succeeded, would he have to continue supporting her? All of this had to be considered.

Just thinking about it, the total amount of spirit stones required was staggering.

No matter how much Luo Chen could earn, he wouldn't be able to amass such a sum in a short time.

And all of it had been earned and saved bit by bit by Old Taoist Chen.

In the bustling market, before the empty bluestone stall, the three of them—the old man, the youth, and the girl—stood in silence.

While Chen Xiuping and Luo Chen were lost in the hardships of the past, Chen Shuyi was full of anticipation for the future.

"This bluestone slab was something I carried back from the mountains years ago, just to distinguish myself from those rogue cultivators with street stalls, to show that my stall was different."

"After I leave, go to the Dahe Market Stall Management Office and change the name of this stall."

"I'm giving this bluestone slab to you as well."

"Of course, from now on, you'll have to pay a full spirit stone every month for the stall fee."

As he spoke the latter part, Old Taoist Chen chuckled softly.

Luo Chen twitched the corner of his mouth. Looking at the polished stone slab, he took a deep breath.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, this isn't a permanent parting, so why speak so mournfully?"

"Come, let the mid-stage Qi Refinement great cultivator, Luo Chen, set a farewell banquet for you!"

Chen Xiuping froze for a moment, then as if remembering something, he stroked his beard and laughed heartily.

"Then I shall have to fleece you properly!"

Luo Chen waved his hand grandly. "It's just a few spirit stones. Let's go to Zhongding's place to set the banquet. Today, I am the host!"

"Do not worry that there are no friends on the road ahead; everyone under heaven will know your name."

"Well said! I, Chen Xiuping, have not had many friends in my life, and you, little Luo, are one of them. Drink this cup. If you ever find yourself struggling in the future, go to the Divine Talisman Sect. By then, Shuyi will surely have reached the Foundation Establishment stage, and she will look after you."

"Heh, looking down on me, are you? How do you know I won't reach Foundation Establishment?"

"Forget it, your spiritual root aptitude isn't even as good as mine."

"And another thing? Another thing is that you're paying for this meal!"

"Fellow Daoist has the potential for the Golden Core stage; it seems my eyes were too dim."

In the afternoon, Luo Chen bid farewell to the old man and the girl and set off alone on the road home.

His expression was one of grimacing.

"Swindlers, damn bastards, they're all swindlers!"

"It was just a two-person set meal, plus a pot of wine and two plates of meat, and they actually dared to charge fifty spirit stones."

"Who told me Zhongding's place doesn't make money? That Yuding Sword Sect is making a killing, alright!"

Walking while cursing, Luo Chen's brow suddenly furrowed.

Without changing his pace or looking back, as he passed a corner, a tiny wooden pangolin puppet nimbly dropped to the ground and vanished into the shadows.

Behind him, two figures followed at an unhurried pace.