Chapter 3: Landslide

  Due to the production of top-grade talismans, Lu Ping, who was spiritually excited, tried to produce top-grade talismans continuously for a month, but unfortunately only succeeded twice. On the other hand, the success rate of producing high-quality and medium-quality talismans has increased significantly.

  At the end of the month, Lu Ping set out early in the morning with a bundle full of talismans to the streets outside the other courtyard.

  Because the Grand Bazaar is imminent, the streets are bustling with excitement, and even many construction monks fly by in the sky, attracting a lot of envious glances.

  Lu Ping handed over a Ling Stone and found a location in the market, where he put on the mask he had obtained from the Market Management Cultivator. He then opened the package, revealing 36 low-grade talismans, 36 mid-grade talismans, and 6 high-grade talismans, which were arranged separately. These six high-grade talismans were mostly auxiliary spells, powerful attack and defense spells that Lu Ping was willing to take out.

  Lu Ping's talisman was noticed by others as soon as it came out, and soon a green-robed Taoist came to ask the price.

  "Low-grade talismans require one spirit stone for three pieces, mid-grade ones require one piece per spirit stone, and high-grade ones require three spirit stones per piece." Lu Ping's tone changed as he replied coldly.

  Ever since a middle-aged Taoist priest who made talismans disappeared without warning in the town two years ago, Lu Ping has been careful with his actions in the town.

  That master's talisman-making skills were extremely high, with the ability to refine blood at the eighth level. He was quite famous among blood-refining masters and had given Lu Ping some guidance. However, after accidentally creating a top-grade talisman, he carelessly let slip his secret in the market. From then on, Lu Ping never saw him again. His relatives searched far and wide for thousands of miles but couldn't find any sign of him, neither alive nor dead.

  Lu Ping also felt that after advancing to the seventh layer of Blood Refining, his control over talismans had surpassed that of the missing Talisman Master, so he was naturally more concerned about his own safety.

  The green-robed Taoist smiled wryly and said, "This Daoist friend, isn't it a bit expensive?"

  Lu Ping still said coldly: "The quality of this talisman is more powerful than others of the same level."

  The green-robed cultivator heard this and picked up a mid-grade talisman, feeling the spiritual energy within it. "Indeed," he said. He was about to say something else, but seeing Lu Ping's cold expression, he shook his head instead. "One mid-grade Golden Talisman, Golden Sword Talisman, and Gale Talisman each, and three lower-grade ones of the same kind."

  "A total of six pieces of low-grade spirit stones." Lu Ping's heart was delighted, but his mouth still spoke coldly.

  The green-robed cultivator reluctantly took out six pieces of spiritual stone, then took the twelve talismans handed over by Lu Ping. He turned to leave, but suddenly turned back, gritted his teeth and said: "I'll also give you a high-quality Ice Thorn Talisman! This month's benefits are all given to fellow daoist." With an air of abandon.

  Lu Ping suddenly obtained nine spirit stones and was naturally delighted.

  There was a green-robed monk leading the way, and other monks followed suit, buying two or three pieces one after another. Lu Ping looked at the increasingly large number of spiritual stones in his hands, and he was extremely excited, but on the surface, he still maintained a calm demeanor.

  There were also many disciples from other institutes that Lu Ping knew, and even the eldest disciple of his own squad, Yao Yong, and the fourth disciple, Shi Lingling, had each bought a high-quality talisman, four medium-quality talismans, and several low-quality talismans from him. This left Lu Ping speechless. He had thought that as someone in the later stages of Blood Refining, he already had very good benefits, but it seemed that he still couldn't compare to the seniors from the eighth and ninth layers. Moreover, according to rumors, these two people came from a good background, much better than his own ordinary commoner background.

  It was just a morning's work, and Lu Ping had already harvested sixty-six pieces of low-grade spirit stones. This was a wealth that Lu Ping had never touched before. Lu Ping used ten spirit stones to buy the talisman paper and spiritual ink needed for the competition, and the remaining fifty or so spirit stones were reserved for the big comparison.

  Lu Ping arrived in front of a pavilion in the center of Fang City, Duobao Pavilion. He had never been here before, it was too expensive! The cheapest items sold here were low-grade artifacts that could only be activated after refining blood in the later stages. It was usually the business of Dissolving Blood Stage cultivators.

  Lu Ping entered the Lingbao Pavilion with a nervous heart, and an old man smiled and came forward, saying: "This little Taoist friend, welcome to our pavilion, may I ask what do you need?"

  Lu Pingping calmed down and bowed to the old man, saying: "Elder has courtesy, junior wants to buy an attacking magic tool, first time coming to your esteemed pavilion, don't know the depth, please elder point out."

  It's not that Lu Ping is shallow, but rather he doesn't know much about this, and the Multi-Treasures Pavilion has always had a good reputation. Even someone like him, a Blood Refining Cultivator, has heard of it. That's why he came to ask for guidance from the elder. If he were to cover up and pretend to understand, he would only end up offending the other party and suffering losses himself.

  The old man heard this and chuckled with a smile, apparently very satisfied with Lu Ping's performance. He said, "Little Daoist friend, please come over here!"

  Lu Ping followed the old man to one side of the first floor, where low-grade artifacts were obviously placed. He selected three artifacts from among them: a sword, a seal, and a fan. "These three are quite good among low-grade artifacts," he said. After glancing at Lu Ping, he continued, "Young Daoist's foundation is solid, and activating these three artifacts won't lead to insufficient mana like those seven-layer Blood Refining cultivators."

  Lu Ping felt a chill run from the top of his head to his toes as the old man looked at him, as if he had been seen through by the old man's gaze. Was this the divine consciousness that only a Dissolving Blood Stage cultivator could possess? Lu Ping became even more cautious and respectfully said: "Please, senior, give me more guidance!"

  The old man nodded and said, "This sword is called 'Quick Lightning', its attack power is the lowest among the three artifacts, but its attack speed is the highest, flexible and changeable, and relatively speaking, it requires the least amount of magic; this seal is called 'Mountain Collapse', with the greatest power, but also requiring the most magic.

  Having said that, he looked at Lu Ping and continued: "With the current thickness of your spiritual power, it's enough. This third artifact is called 'Fire Flame Fan', which can spit out a stream of spiritual fire to harm enemies, its quality is between these two. I wonder which one you prefer?"

  Lu Ping said in a low voice, "I was already forcing myself to use this artifact, where can I still care about whether it's flexible and changeable? As long as it can hurt the enemy with one blow, that's enough. So, this sword and this fan are just right, and this mountain-shaped artifact is sufficient."

  The old man kept smiling and looking at Lu Ping. Seeing that Lu Ping had come back to his senses, he knew that he had already made up his mind, so he asked: "Which one is the magical instrument?"

  Lu Pingdao said: "Thank you, senior, for your guidance. I have already made up my mind and will take this 'Mountain Collapse' technique. May I ask, how much is this treasure worth?"

  The old man stroked his beard and smiled, saying: "Little Daoist friend has a good eye for things. This 'Mountain Collapse' is enough for you to use until the middle of the foundation-building period. Since this is your first visit to our pavilion, I'll take the liberty of giving you a 10% discount. You can have it for 45 spirit stones."

  Lu Ping was taken aback, although it was his first time buying a magic tool, he wasn't unaware of their prices. Ordinary low-grade magic tools were usually around thirty spirit stones, and this one that cost fifty spirit stones was the first he had ever encountered. Looking at the old man's appearance and recalling the many evaluations of Lingbao Pavilion by various cultivators, Lu Ping gritted his teeth and said, "I'll buy it!"