Immortal Cultivation and Life-Saving Guide

Chapter 242 Stuff
Xizhou is located in the southeast of northern Xinjiang, and its winter is two months shorter than that of Qingzhou.

It was early summer, and the dry wind blew away the chill in Wei Xi's bones.

After staying at the Dieqi Mountain Pass, where yin and yang meet, for a long time, Wei Xi felt cold all over his bones.

Before entering the territory of Ju State, Wei Xi could still see scattered soldiers, who were obviously the defeated troops of Dongyi.

The soldiers who had lost their fighting spirit turned into bandits, raising their knives against the refugees and competing for scarce survival resources.

Wei Xi rescued several refugees from being chased in Dongyi territory. When the soldiers and bandits saw the monks, they were unsure of their strength and turned to chase other groups.

Wei Xi didn't deliberately rescue the refugees. She wasn't someone with a global vision. She would save anyone she saw, but she wouldn't put down her work and act as a rescuer even if she didn't.

It is said that reading can enlighten the mind. Wei Xi has read some books in the past two years and vaguely knows that these things cannot be solved by a few monks.

It was just like her childhood experiences: when life was easy, the common people worked diligently, either collecting food from the land or mining in the mountains; but when natural disasters struck and the crops were completely destroyed, these honest people resorted to all means to survive, selling their children, robbing homes, and even cannibalizing each other.
Before Wei Xi went to Yinyang Slope, that mortal, Li Jiaotou—whose life Wei Xi was certain of—had threatened the Wanjian Sect by saying that the Ju Kingdom was planning to invade the Dongyi. Unexpectedly, by the time Wei Xi had finished his two years in prison, the war was almost over.

Taking over two pieces of indigo cotton cloth from the owner of the cloth pile, Wei Xi felt a little worried: Every time the State of Ju went to war, it would recruit soldiers. If Wei Dong survived the drought but was still recruited, his parents would probably have a hard time.

My parents are getting older. In a place where they make a living by farming, if they don’t have a son, they will be bullied.

Wei Xi was eager to return home, and his feet were so fast that Lingyin's hair was blown down.

After a day's journey from Post Station No. 9, Wei Xi finally arrived at Xizhou Slag County (Town).

Slag County is one of the nine counties in Xizhou. It mainly produces two minerals: Lihuo copper and slag.

The former is a highly ductile metal, but through the smelting of a cultivator's spiritual energy, it becomes resistant to deformation and has a wide range of applications. The latter is a granular ore, of little value in smelting, but it can effectively slow the leakage of spiritual energy, and many alchemists and refiners favor this ore.

Tianshui Village, under the jurisdiction of Kuangzha County, is nestled in the rolling mountains. Wei Xi planned to stay at a small inn in the town and rest for a night before returning to the village.

After securing a room at the inn, Wei Xi planned to go to town to buy some slag—a gift for Elder Xian Hua. Although their initial fake master-disciple relationship was a temporary solution, Wei Xi felt that if she worked hard enough, she might even become Elder Xian Hua's true disciple.

Lihuo copper was a controlled military material, but slag was not. Wei Xi walked along the main street and found a shop near the county government office, where several mining teams had opened slag shops.

As the dynasty's largest metal producer, Ju State had made significant investments in Xizhou over the years. On a macro level, heavy mining suppressed agriculture and commerce, turning Xizhou into a major mining hub dependent on Ju State for grain and blood. On a micro level, various measures were implemented to regulate Xizhou's mines, both large and small.

For example: the mine is jointly managed by the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works of the State of Ju; the prefecture of Xizhou extracts 20% of the profits each year and is also responsible for the arrangement of the miners; and the security force of the mine is under the management of the army. In general, it is decentralization.

The slag shop in front of us is also a product guided by the idea of decentralization: each mine is issued a mining license every five years according to its size and output. The qualified mining team enters the mine to mine and hands over a certain amount of ore free of charge according to the requirements of the mine; the remaining ore, if it is a controlled metal, will be purchased by the court, and the non-controlled ore will be left to the mining team to deal with.

Among these slag shops, one is backed by the Xizhou provincial government, another is backed by the imperial court, and the remaining ones also have their own owners.

After all, it was a gift, and Wei Xi didn't want the slag he got to be defective.

Fortunately, I am a cultivator, so if I pretend to be a monk, there shouldn't be any big problem if I compare it with a few others.

"Master," the shop assistant said enthusiastically. Few masters came to Slag Town, so he regarded Wei Xi as a giant gold ingot. "The wheat jade chips in our shop are the best in Xizhou!"

Wheat Jade Dust, another name for slag. Wei Xi could almost hear his wallet being emptied. "Give me the good ones," he said, ready to scatter spirit stones freely as a gift. "Be careful not to ruin your reputation!"

As soon as the guy heard it, he knew that this immortal master was a wealthy man. His face was wrinkled like a bun, and he happily took out two boxes of samples.

"Master," the waiter pushed out the box on the left, "this is Liushunmai Jade Dust. Each grain is dug out from the core of the rock. The particles are uniform in size. They are used to store elixirs and precious materials. Not even a trace of spiritual energy will leak out!"

Wei Xi did not comment. Firstly, she did not have a deep understanding of this kind of ore, and secondly, she could not believe everything the seller said.

The clerk was still a newbie, having been assigned to watch the shop in Slag County. He thought Wei Xi's expression indicated that he was being discerning, so he quickly promoted another product. "This is called Burning Jade Dust. It's incredibly effective at blocking the flow of spiritual energy. It's just been mined this year, so the output is small. But this type of jade dust can enrich fire-attributed spiritual energy. Spreading this on the northern border in winter will keep you warm!"

Wei Xi was very interested in the second type of slag, but she was satisfied with sleeping on a kang in winter. What she cared about was the pale pink wheat flour shavings, which were definitely prepared for Xian Hua!
Elder Xian Hua was a renowned weapon refiner, and his attributes were standard for a weapon refiner—fire. This type of wheat jade dust, which could enrich fire-attributed spiritual energy, perfectly suited the needs of a weapon refiner.

Make a few boxes and fill them with this wheat jade chips, and you can carry some precious fire with you.

With a general idea in mind, Wei Xi didn't show it on his face, only saying that he wanted to use two samples to inspect the goods. The clerk embarrassedly said that he was just an ordinary person and had to trouble the immortal master to do it.

Wei Xi unceremoniously plucked two hairs from Lingyin, causing it to emit a sharp popping sound, and the two hairs were stuffed into the box containing the samples.

Releasing his spiritual power to sense, Wei Xi confirmed that these two kinds of wheat jade chips were indeed good, and the not-so-light spiritual energy on the feathers did not leak out at all.

Wei Xi stretched out his hand again and pinched a piece of burning wheat jade chips with his finger, which was indeed wrapped with a faint fire-attributed spiritual energy.

"Master, are you satisfied?" The clerk mentally calculated the inventory of the two types of slag. "Our slag is of excellent quality! Why not buy some extra as a backup?"

"I can't decide on this thing," Wei Xi pulled back the feather and fed it to the wary Ling Yin. "Master and the others need to see it before they can make a decision. Please give me a price first so I can report back to the sect."

Wei XZ had no intention of bargaining, and the guy nodded and quoted a price.

Liushun wheat jade shavings cost five medium-grade spirit stones per ounce, while the more gift-worthy Ranming wheat jade shavings cost eight medium-grade spirit stones per ounce. Wei Xi inquired a few more times, but learned that the shop didn't offer discounts for large quantities and strictly adhered to the owner's price list.

After a few perfunctory words, Wei Xi went to several other stores and looked around. The types and prices of wheat flour chips were similar.

When Wei Xi entered the last shop, he happened to be delivering goods from the mine. Several miners, covered in dust and slag, were carrying baskets piled high with slag. Wei Xi stopped and looked at the unprocessed slag.

After leaving the store, Wei Xi quickly calculated the prices and found that the price at the first store was reasonable. The Burning Wheat Jade Dust also met his needs. However, he didn't know how much stock the store had...

"Arya?" A tentative voice came from behind.

The tone sounded familiar, so Wei Xi turned around and saw that it was one of the miners who had delivered the goods to the store just now.

Seeing Wei Xi's face, the man was a little excited. He took out a piece of cloth from the cloth bag at his waist and quickly wiped his face clean.

Looking at the face with firm features and a hint of cunning, Wei Xi finally recognized the man and said happily, "Brother!"

(End of this chapter)