"Huhh…"

  Qing Xuanling exhaled heavily as she opened her eyes. She was still inside the cave—she'd focused entirely on healing her wounds.

  After a full meditation session, not only had she completely recovered, she'd also stabilized her cultivation following her sudden breakthrough. Her third-layer Qi Refinement was now at a fairly advanced stage.

  By her estimates, she could prepare to advance to the fourth layer within three months—officially entering mid-stage Qi Refinement.

  'The saying is true—where there is danger, there is opportunity.'

  "I take it your cultivation session went smoothly?" Xuan Dan, roasting serpent meat a short distance away, asked with a smile. "You've been meditating for ten days. I assume the gains weren't small."

  "I did quite well. I broke through to the third layer and I'm not far from the fourth." Qing Xuanling smiled as she took a skewer of serpent meat from Xuan Dan. "Did you manage to find the serpent's core?"

  Xuan Dan nodded, pointing to a stone the size of a human head beside her. "It's quite large. I suspect the serpent was either about to advance to late-stage or belonged to an especially strong bloodline."

  "Only now do you realize that?" Qing Xuanling rolled her eyes. "That serpent was far too strong. If not for the constant flow of energy from the Four Spirits Flower—which let me overload my blade with sharp Qi and attack from inside its body—we'd be the ones lying in someone else's stomach right now."

  Xuan Dan laughed. "Yeah… It was madness to face something like that with our cultivation level."

  Qing Xuanling stared unblinkingly at Xuan Dan.

  "Okay, fine—it was madness what I did…"

  Xuan Dan scratched her head sheepishly.

  Qing Xuanling could only shake her head. She didn't truly blame Xuan Dan. She was well aware that Xuan Dan's sudden recklessness stemmed from her divine talent—which literally turned her into an alchemy fanatic.

  Rather than waste time assigning blame, she raised an important matter.

  "With the serpent's core and corpse…" Qing Xuanling calculated in her head. "We should be able to get at least a hundred spirit stones, right?"

  Xuan Dan nodded. "Even more if we negotiate well. The serpent's scales are top-grade armor materials, its flesh and blood carry potent blood energy, and its core holds energy comparable to a late-stage beast—even if its purity isn't that high."

  Qing Xuanling's mouth went dry, but she kept her head.

  "That might be true if we could carry the entire corpse—but Su Meiren's storage pouch only has ten cubic meters of space and the one in Wentian is only one cubic meter. We can't take all the materials."

  Xuan Dan's face soured as she nodded—but she'd already considered this. She pointed to a neatly stacked pile of items Qing Xuanling hadn't noticed before: scales, hide, cuts of meat, and vials of blood arranged within a precise ten-cubic-meter space.

  "What do you think of my masterpiece? Took me several hours to arrange it!" Xuan Dan wore a proud smile.

  Qing Xuanling was momentarily stunned—but had to admit Xuan Dan had done an excellent job. With this, they could carry the maximum amount of materials without issue.

  She even decided to go even further.

  "Let's take the serpent's core and as much meat as we can carry by hand. We should be able to earn at least ten more spirit stones that way."

  Xuan Dan's eyes widened. "As expected of the primary body! You always come up with more radical ideas!"

  Qing Xuanling and Xuan Dan exchanged grins. Soon, both finished eating and packed everything. They planned to leave early—the serpent battle had already fulfilled the purpose of their Scarlet Forest expedition.

  'It'll take ten days to return to the city… So in total, I was away for one month. A month less than I'd planned!'

  She was quite pleased. In the cultivation world, one step backward meant dozens of steps lost. Only constant progress allowed one to keep pace. Saving a month of effort was a welcome bonus—let alone the cultivation breakthroughs she'd gained during her month-long adventure.

  'Qing Wentian and Instructor Huan will surely be surprised~'

  Qing Xuanling looked forward to seeing their astonished faces.

  * * *

  An old woman draped in ragged clothes and weighed down by bags of unknown contents slowly approached the walls of Ziyu City.

  The guards on duty spotted her from afar and were baffled.

  "Hey—am I seeing what you're seeing? An old woman is coming out of the Scarlet Forest!"

  "What?! Seriously? Are you sure she's not a demon…? I heard from my grandfather that cases like this have happened before!"

  "Can you stop being so cowardly? Those are just bedtime stories to scare kids—they can't possibly be real…"

  The guards continued gossiping amongst themselves, alternating between curiosity and caution as they watched the old woman's painfully slow advance. Truly slow—she took ten minutes to cover a stretch that should have taken five.

  The guard responsible for admissions immediately straightened up and spoke in an authoritative tone. "An entry permit is required to enter the city. If you don't have one, you may purchase one for ten…"

  He began the standard spiel he gave all outsiders—but before he could finish, the old woman had already shown him a copper plaque engraved with the character: "Qing."

  The guard was startled, but quickly nodded and opened the gate for her.

  The old woman wasted no time chatting and swiftly passed by. In that moment, the guard caught a glimpse of her face—and was utterly perplexed.

  Instead of a withered, wrinkled visage, he saw the tender, youthful face of a young woman!

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  Qing Xuanling—carrying dozens of kilograms of serpent meat strapped to her body—quickly entered the city and took a deep breath. After a month away, the city's familiar scents felt nostalgic.

  She couldn't help but smile wryly at herself.

  'A single month and I'm already like this? What'll happen if I leave for a few years—will I burst into tears on the spot?'

  She strolled through the city with light steps, lost in idle thoughts. She wasn't in a hurry—the place she was heading wouldn't disappear.

  Qing Xuanling drew many curious stares for her bizarre appearance, especially upon reaching the commercial district. But she ignored them all and headed straight for the city's second-best shop: the Golden Pig Trading House.

  Why the second-best and not the first?

  Simple—the Golden Pig Trading House typically bought goods at better prices to compete with the Traveler's Ark, the premier shop not only in Ziyu City but likely throughout the entire region.

  Qing Xuanling soon arrived at the Golden Pig Trading House—a five-story building made entirely of gold.

  'How glamorous.'

  She couldn't help but smile as she stepped inside. She'd never dared enter before—she'd had nothing to sell. But things were different now.

  However, her path was blocked far sooner than expected.

  "Excuse me, old woman—but this is a prestigious mercantile house, not a community center." A female attendant in her twenties stood before Qing Xuanling before she could even glimpse the shop's interior. "Would you kindly leave?"

  Qing Xuanling's mouth opened and closed soundlessly.

  'Do I look that bad?'

  She smiled bitterly but replied courteously nonetheless. "Apologies—I may look like this, but I'm a young miss of the Qing Clan. I've just returned from the Scarlet Forest. I'm here to sell my spoils."

  But the attendant merely snorted disdainfully.

  "Well, I see you're not actually an old woman—but just because you "say" you're from the Qing Clan doesn't make it true." The attendant smirked. "By that logic, I'm the fifth elder of the Ink Sword Sect!"

  Qing Xuanling was left speechless again. She'd never encountered someone so unreasonable and foolish!

  'I thought things like this only happened in novels!'

  She suppressed the urge to curse the attendant and tried to step past her. "Well—thank you for your kind intentions, but I have business to attend to. So please, excuse me…"

  But this only seemed to anger the attendant further. She gritted her teeth, raised her hand—and prepared to slap Qing Xuanling.

  For the third time, Qing Xuanling was stunned. Slapping had gone out of fashion decades ago! Even today's most arrogant youths didn't resort to it! She never expected to encounter such an archaic practice so suddenly!

  Though being speechless was different from being frozen.

  Qing Xuanling moved swiftly—dodging the slap while simultaneously kicking the attendant's leg and sending her tumbling to the floor.

  Other shop staff finally noticed the commotion. Another attendant—a youth not much older than Qing Xuanling—quickly arrived and bowed in apology.

  Fortunately, the rude attendant was the only unreasonable one at the Golden Pig Trading House.

  The young attendant promptly led her to a counter on the first floor. She finally got a proper look at the shop's interior.

  In the end, it wasn't as impressive as she'd imagined—a mostly empty room with only a few counters lining the three walls.

  'Still—at least the place looks decent. The red wooden floor and veined stone walls are quite stunning.'

  Qing Xuanling reached a counter where an elderly man sat.

  "My apologies for what you endured. That girl is from the Li family—they spoiled her rotten. Even working here is a punishment for her." The elder was quite kind. "As compensation—how about a five percent discount if you purchase anything today?"

  Qing Xuanling's eyes lit up at that. She'd actually earned a five percent discount simply by being treated with contempt!

  She even regretted dodging the Li family girl's slap!

  "Ahem—sorry, I got distracted for a moment…" Qing Xuanling smiled sheepishly upon realizing her thoughts. She quickly changed the subject. "Thank you—I actually do plan to buy something today. But first, I'd like to sell some materials from a demonic beast."

  The elder smiled affably. "Of course. What stage was the monster?"

  He held little hope for the girl's spoils. He could see she was merely a low-stage Qi Refiner. It was already surprising someone at her level had hunted even a low-stage first-level beast.

  But Qing Xuanling's words left the elder bewildered.

  "They're materials from a mid-stage demonic beast—nearly late-stage in power." Qing Xuanling seemed slightly uncertain. "However, I'm not sure what type of demonic beast it was. It was a serpent with emerald scales."

  The elder's eyelid twitched. "An emerald-scaled serpent at mid-stage with late-stage power?! Could it possibly be an Emerald Python you hunted?!"

  Qing Xuanling shrugged. "I'm not sure—you'd better examine the goods yourself."

  She handed her storage pouchs directly to the elder.

  The elder wasted no time inspecting its contents. Soon, an emerald scale rested in his palm.

  "Yes—this is indeed the scale of an Emerald Python! I haven't seen one in five years!" The elder spoke with excitement. "Girl—do you realize how incredible what you've brought truly is?!"

  Qing Xuanling blinked, somewhat perplexed—but a flicker of excitement sparked when she saw her at the elder's fervor. She shook her head and waited for him to continue.

  "Ah—it's normal you wouldn't know. Emerald Pythons aren't listed in standard bestiaries." The elder caressed the scale fondly. "These are beasts classified as level-2 creatures. This bloodline naturally matures to level-2 upon reaching adulthood. You encountered a young Emerald Python that hadn't fully grown yet."

  Shock was plain on Qing Xuanling's face as she stared at the elder in astonishment. She'd never expected the serpent she'd slain—the Emerald Python—to be so special!

  Greed glittered in Qing Xuanling's eyes. "Well then—I suppose materials from such a beast must be worth more, right?"

  The elder smiled faintly. "Indeed. Though you didn't bring the serpent's entire body, you brought the most valuable parts. I can offer four hundred spirit stones for the materials in this storage pouch. Does that suit you?"

  Qing Xuanling's mouth fell open and remained that way for a long moment. She swallowed hard. "Yes—that works! Ah—and I also brought quite a bit of the Emerald Python's and it's core meat with me. How much could you give me for that?"

  Qing Xuanling pulled dozens of kilograms of meat from various parts of her body, along with the serpent's core.

  The corner of the elder's lips twitched involuntarily as he watched the young woman before him produce over fifty kilograms of meat from seemingly nowhere—and a core of considerable size.

  "…I can give you sixty spirit stones for the fifty kilograms of meat and the core." The elder quickly retrieved several hundred spirit stones from his own storage pouch. "Does that suit you?"

  Qing Xuanling nodded immediately. "More than suit me!"

  The elder smiled as he placed over four hundred spirit stones on the counter. "Now then—what would you like to purchase, little one?"

  The question brought Qing Xuanling back to reality. Her expression turned solemn—and upon seeing the hundreds of spirit stones before her, she made a swift decision.

  "I want a fire-control technique for alchemy, plus three pill formulas along with five sets of ingredients for each." Qing Xuanling met the elder's gaze.

  Purchasing a fire-control technique was a spur-of-the-moment decision made possible by her unexpectedly large earnings—but it was necessary. Alchemy required extremely precise fire control, hence the existence of specialized techniques to aid pill refinement.

  Originally, she'd planned to skip buying a fire technique due to its high cost and have Xuan Dan practice alchemy using her natural fire control—after all, she possessed a high-grade fire root.

  But with so many spirit stones in hand, she'd changed her mind.

  The elder was slightly surprised by Qing Xuanling's request—but quickly adopted a professional smile and presented several purchasing options.

  "We currently carry five fire-control techniques—but with your budget, you can only afford one: the Clear Flame Technique, at two hundred ninety spirit stones. That's the price with the discount I promised earlier. Would you like it?"

  Qing Xuanling took a deep breath at the price—but gritted her teeth and nodded.

  The elder smiled and nodded. "You have one hundred seventy spirit stones remaining… We currently stock over a hundred first-level pill formulas. But with your remaining spirit stones and requirements, you can only choose between four options."

  The elder explained each formula:

  "The first is the Qi Recovery Pill formula—eighty spirit stones for the formula and ingredients. The second is the Intoxication Pill—for ninety spirit stones… The third is the Berserker Pill at…"

  The elder listed four formulas, each with different prices. Qing Xuanling only decided after lengthy deliberation.

  "I'll take the Qi Recovery Pill formula and the Brave Pill formula!" Qing Xuanling made her choice—spending one hundred sixty spirit stones on the spot.

  The elder beamed happily and quickly retrieved the items Qing Xuanling had purchased.

  Soon, Qing Xuanling stood outside the Golden Pig Trading House—with only ten spirit stones left in her pocket.

  "Ah… The path of cultivation is ruthless. Just as I thought—a poor devil remains a poor devil no matter how much talent they possess."

  After a month away, Qing Xuanling headed toward Qing Clan territory—her face alternating between despair and joy.