The abandoned cannon fodder girl's path to immortality

Chapter 238 Rock Dwelling

After a while.

Medicine King Valley Inner Workshop.

Liu Qingchen led Chen Jinshu through several alleys paved with bluestone slabs, and stopped in front of a door with an old wooden plaque that read "Lingju Yin".

The room was dimly lit. A mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator, dressed in a shiny silk robe and sporting a few sparse whiskers on his chin, was dozing off in a recliner, his fingers unconsciously twirling a string of greasy spirit stone abacuses.

"Old Zhou!"

Liu Qingchen's voice carried a deliberately elevated familiarity, startling the broker named Old Zhou so much that he almost rolled off the recliner.

"Oh my! Elder Liu! What a rare guest!"

Old Zhou instantly plastered a fawning smile on his face, his small, beady eyes quickly scanning Liu Qingchen and Chen Jinshu, lingering for a moment longer on the seemingly ordinary storage bag at Chen Jinshu's waist, before rubbing his hands together and approaching.

"It's been a while since you've patronized my shop. I wonder if it's for sale or rent today?"
This fairy-like lady possesses an extraordinary air; she's clearly a distinguished guest!

He spoke words of flattery, but his gaze was like a hook, trying to gauge the weight of the aloof female cultivator before him.

The Yinshan Sparrow on Liu Jinshu's shoulder gave an impatient "clang" and turned its little head away, clearly disliking this greasy and mercenary spirit.

"Manager Zhou!"

Chen Jinshu called out to him and then cut straight to the point, asking:

"I need to find a quiet cave to stay in, with decent spiritual energy and a secluded location, for a short-term rental of a few months."

"Of course, of course!" Old Zhou's smile widened, and he deftly pulled out a dusty jade slip from his greasy sleeve. He infused it with his divine sense, and a miniature scene of the market's lights and shadows immediately floated in the dimly lit room.

He expertly pointed to several spots that were flashing with different faint lights, and began to explain with great enthusiasm:
"Please look, fairy, this 'Green Vine Cottage' has an excellent location!"

Adjacent to a tributary of the inner spiritual vein, the courtyard itself contains a Grade 3 spiritual spring!

Every morning, the spiritual energy condenses into mist; a single breath is equivalent to half a day of arduous cultivation! The original price... three thousand low-grade spirit stones per month, but since you're a distinguished guest recommended by Elder Liu, it's only two thousand eight! Guaranteed to be excellent value for money!

The images, filled with light and shadow, depict exquisite courtyards, babbling springs, and a misty, ethereal atmosphere—truly captivating.

However, Chen Jinshu's expression remained unchanged, and he simply asked, "Anything else?"

Seeing that she remained unmoved, Old Zhou's beady eyes darted around, and his finger slid to another slightly off-center spot: "Then this 'Listening to the Pine Residence' is not bad either! It's backed by the spirit wood forest on the outer edge of the Medicine Valley, where the wood spiritual energy is especially rich, making it most suitable for a refined person like you! The monthly rent is two thousand two!"

The light and shadow shifted, and the image of rustling pine trees emerged.

Chen Jinshu remained silent.

Her fingers, hidden in her sleeve, gently traced the inner layer of the storage bag, the number of spirit stones inside flashing clearly in her mind.

Although the top five in the alliance gained a lot, they were already struggling to purchase spiritual plants and reserve materials for alchemy. The monthly rent of several thousand spirit stones was somewhat unbearable.

Old Zhou's smile faltered slightly as he glanced at Liu Qingchen, who remained calm and collected beside him.

Liu Qingchen coughed lightly and spoke at the opportune moment, with a condescending "consideration": "Manager Zhou, this fellow Daoist is an honest person. He is new here and only seeks a quiet place to settle down and cultivate. There is no need to mention those flashy and impractical things. Is there anything more practical?"

Old Zhou's eyes darted around again, and he pressed his finger heavily on an area at the edge of the light and shadow diagram that was almost devoid of light and appeared quite dim. The light and shadow suddenly magnified, revealing the outline of a solitary stone house standing on the edge of a mountain valley, with what appeared to be a large expanse of gray wasteland behind it.

"Yes! Yes! Look at this 'Rock Residence'!"

His voice suddenly rose, filled with an exaggerated excitement as if he had found a treasure.

"Look at this location, how stable it is! Backed by a cliff, it catches the wind and gathers energy, forming its own unique layout! Most importantly, it's quiet! Absolutely quiet! Nobody bothers you! As for the rent..."

He deliberately dragged out his words, observing Chen Jinshu's expression, "Only eight hundred low-grade spirit stones a month! This price is hard to find even with a lantern in our Medicine King Market! If it weren't for Elder Liu's influence, I wouldn't dare to offer this price!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Jinshu fell silent for a moment. Eight hundred spirit stones was indeed a good deal, enough to allow her to stay for several years.

However, as she looked at the gray background surrounding the stone house in the light and shadow image, and the lifeless, desolate wasteland behind the house, a layer of doubt settled in her heart.

Why is this place so cheap?

She looked sharply at Lao Zhou.

"Hey!" Old Zhou slapped his thigh, his face full of regret.

"My lady, you may not know this, but this place was originally a corner of the valley where some discarded medicinal dregs were piled up. It has long been cleaned up! Only a little bit of earth energy remains, which will not dissipate for a while and will have a negligible impact on cultivation! For a Golden Core cultivator like you, a little bit of turbid energy can be refined with a few breaths, right? The key is that it's cheap and clean!"

It turned out to be an abandoned medicinal residue dump.

Chen Jinshu understood immediately. He realized that the so-called "earthly energy" was probably far from insignificant.

However, at a low price of 800 spirit stones, in the Medicine King Valley market where land is incredibly valuable and exclusivity permeates the air, it was the best house she could rent.

However, this abandoned place, which other cultivators avoided like the plague, was a treasure trove for her.

The red lotus petals on her forehead can remove toxins and absorb the subtle earth energy mixed in with them.

She remained silent for a moment, her face showing great struggle, before finally touching the dim light and shadow with her fingertip and saying:

"Rent this place for three months."

"Great!" Old Zhou was overjoyed. Fearing she might change her mind, he quickly pulled out a bronze token covered in scratches and a spiritual energy contract.

"Please examine me, fairy. Simply imprint a divine sense mark upon me. The rent is two thousand four hundred spirit stones, the deposit is one thousand, and the total is three thousand four hundred low-grade spirit stones!"

The next instant, heavy spirit stones flowed out of Chen Jinshu's storage bag and fell into Steward Zhou's hands.

Liu Qingchen stroked his beard and smiled, as if he had done a great deed, but a hint of disdain, inherent in the nature of a Medicine King Valley cultivator, flashed deep in his eyes.

An outsider with a golden core can only find refuge in the corner they've designated, a corner that carries a sense of charity.

……

After a while.

The stone gate of Panshiju closed heavily behind Chen Jinshu, shutting out the noise from the outside world.

The next moment, a heavy, suffocating aura mixed with the bitterness of old medicinal dregs enveloped her.

This flavor is far more than the "slightly earthy" that Lao Zhou described lightly; it's so rich that it's almost tangible.

The tin tigress on his shoulder was already extremely agitated. Its blue and red tail feathers bristled, emitting short, sharp "clanging" protests. It rubbed its little head against Chen Jinshu's neck, showing its instinctive disgust and resistance to this filthy place.

Chen Jinshu gently stroked its smooth feathers, channeling a wisp of pure wood spirit energy into it to soothe the spirit pet's unease.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this, please bear with it for now," she said softly, trying to comfort you.

The stone chamber was spacious inside, with rough walls and only a stone couch and a stone table. Thick dust had accumulated in the corners.

The only window faces the wasteland behind it.

The so-called "wasteland" was a vast expanse of scorched, cracked land, barren of vegetation, and containing large amounts of unclear medicinal impurities.

The stagnant poisonous miasma permeating the air is nothing short of a slow poison for wood-type spirit beasts and cultivators who practice wood-attribute techniques, constantly eroding their vitality and spiritual energy circulation.

Chen Jinshu understood the entire layout of the house, and it wasn't worse than he had expected.

"It's alright, it's within acceptable limits."

She then walked to the stone bed, sat down, crossed her legs, closed her eyes, and let her consciousness sink into the depths of her sea of ​​consciousness.

Not long after, as the pervasive, stagnant miasma of poison seemed to seep into her body, the lotus birthmark on her forehead quietly bloomed.

The poisonous miasma was slowly forced back and refined, eventually transforming into pure spiritual energy that flowed into her dantian.

"The Alchemy Gathering is about to begin, so we need to obtain the Hundred Herbs Token as soon as possible."

Then, she opened the "Mysterious Female Elixir Classic" of her divine consciousness.

Soon, she found a good elixir recipe in the alchemical texts.

Purple Mansion Spirit Nourishing Pill
Rank: Upper Rank 3 (Golden Core Realm)
Main effects: Nourishes the Golden Core, tempers the divine consciousness, and has remarkable effects on breaking through bottlenecks and stabilizing the foundation in the mid-stage of the Golden Core. It can also be used for the slow repair of the divine consciousness after it has been damaged.

Main ingredients: 300-year-old Concentrating Flower (stamens), 500-year-old Purple-veined Polygonum multiflorum (tuber sap), Jade Marrow Ganoderma (complete Ganoderma body), Earth Fire Lotus Heart (three pieces), Rootless Spirit Dew (three drops)...

Auxiliary materials: star-patterned sand, lapis lazuli powder

"The Purple Mansion Spirit-Nourishing Pill! This pill is quite remarkable."

However, she immediately fell into distress again, because the difficulty of refining this pill was among the highest of the third-grade pills, and the requirements for controlling divine sense and micro-manipulating spiritual power were almost harsh.

Its main effects are to nourish the golden elixir and temper the divine consciousness, making it a precious item for golden elixir cultivators to solidify their foundation and seek breakthroughs.

If the pill can be successfully made, its quality would be enough to exchange for that crucial Hundred Herbs Token.

However, the environment here is harsh, the spiritual energy is impure, and there is the threat of miasma, all of which are major taboos for alchemy.