The difficult path of cultivation for a grassroots female practitioner

There were only more than 600 spirit stones in Xiao Han's storage bag, 400 short of 1,000 spirit stones.

As the saying goes, a penny can make a hero fall!

Four hundred spirit stones put Xiao Han, the female blacksmith, in a complete dilemma.

She would buy it again after she had saved up enough spirit stones. She was afraid that the shop would have sold it out. Although this medicinal herb was not a rare treasure, she had searched many shops before finding this little.

If she were to buy it now, how would she gather the spiritual stones? She couldn't just sell the instruments and talismans she had bought a month ago, could she?

The problem was, even if she wanted to sell, there was a huge difference between buying and selling. Many things were valuable when they were bought, but when they were sold, they were really worth a fortune.

Her money was hard-earned, how could she waste it like this?

Borrow money. She doesn't have any friends in Zixiao City. Four hundred spirit stones are not a lot, but they are not too few either. Who will lend it to her?

After much deliberation, Xiao Han decided to ask the workshop for an advance on the apprentice's wages.

"Shopkeeper, I don't have enough spirit stones. How about this? I'll put a deposit of fifty spirit stones here. You can keep it for me for ten days. If I don't come to buy after ten days, I won't want the deposit of fifty spirit stones. How do you think?"

This white jade red blood vine was her hope for improving her aging physique, so she had to buy it. Within ten days, even if she had to sell off her magical instruments and talismans, she had to collect a thousand spirit stones.

As for the fact that she spent a lot of money to buy the White Jade Red Blood Vine and the main ingredient of the Barrier Breaking Pill, but it did not improve her cultivation progress, she did not regret it.

At least she tried her best!

The old shopkeeper thought about it and finally agreed.

Anyway, these spiritual plants have been in the warehouse for a long time, so ten days won’t make a difference.

The key is, no one is fighting for it!

After leaving the herb shop, Xiao Han rushed to the Earth Fire Peak without stopping.

When Manager Cao saw Xiao Han, he was a little surprised. "Aren't you not coming here today?"

Xiao Han smiled and said, "Manager Cao, can you do me a favor?"

Manager Cao raised an eyebrow and asked, "What can I help you with?"

Xiao Han explained that he wanted to buy a very important spiritual plant, but he didn't have enough spirit stones, so he wanted to advance one year's apprenticeship salary.

Manager Cao said in embarrassment: "Our workshop has never given apprentices advance wages, and I don't have the authority to do so. How about this, you go to Manager Wu. If he agrees, you can get your wages in advance."

Xiao Han thanked Manager Cao and hurried to the front to look for Manager Wu Qingping.

However, there was no one in the small reception hall, and there were no signs such as "Office, Finance Department, or Personnel Department" in the other rooms, so she didn't know where to find anyone.

Just as she was looking around suspiciously, a voice suddenly sounded in her ears.

"What are you doing here?"

Xiao Han was startled and turned around quickly, only to see Manager Wu standing behind her.

"I, I'm looking for you."

Seeing the expressionless Manager Wu suddenly appear behind him, Xiao Han was so scared that he stuttered.

Wu Qingping walked straight into the small flower hall and asked as he walked, "What's the matter?"

"Well, uh, I, I want to advance the apprentice's wages." The other party's strong sense of oppression made her unable to speak clearly.

After Manager Wu sat down in the small flower hall, she lowered her head, mustered her courage, and stammered to tell him that she was in urgent need of money and had to advance a year's salary.

Wu Qingping looked at the female cultivator in front of him with some surprise. She looked nervous and uneasy, and she didn't seem like someone who was brave. But this request was indeed a first for the weapon refining workshop.

"There's never been a case of apprentices being given advance wages in the workshop, let alone a year's advance."

As Wu Qingping spoke, he took out the spiritual tea leaves and prepared to make tea.

Xiao Han lowered his head, not knowing how to fight for himself.

"I, I really need that spiritual plant urgently. I'm worried that if I miss it, it will be hard to buy it again."

After saying this, he secretly glanced at the manager Wu opposite him and saw him taking out a teapot, teacups, and a small stove from his storage bag, and then putting two pieces of charcoal-like objects into the small stove.

Seeing that the other party was not prepared to agree to his request, Xiao Han decided to leave. When he returned to see if he could sell magic tools or talismans, he heard the chief steward Wu say calmly, "If a year's advance isn't enough, I can give you a six-month advance."

Xiao Han was overjoyed and quickly agreed, "Half a year is fine."

Six hundred spirit stones for half a year. After deducting the spirit stones used to buy the white jade red blood vine, the remaining amount can still be used to pay for half a year's rent, which is totally fine.

When she asked for a year's salary advance, she didn't really think she was leaving room for the other party to lower the price. She just thought it would be easier to settle the bill with a whole number per year.

Wu Qingping took out six spirit stone jade tokens from his storage bag, placed them on the table, and warned, "Don't tell the other apprentices in the workshop about this."

Xiao Han nodded vigorously, "I won't tell anyone."

After getting the spirit stone, she didn't delay, put on the lightness talisman, and rushed to Tan's Herb Shop in the north of the city again.

After handing over 950 spirit stones and looking at the white jade red blood vine in her hand, Xiao Han felt deeply moved. She was once again in debt for a seemingly unreliable folk remedy.

Suddenly, she remembered that she still needed to gather the main ingredients for the Barrier Breaking Pill, and hurriedly asked, "Boss, do you know what the main ingredients for the Barrier Breaking Pill are? The most important ones."

When she had previously asked Xia Muxin about the White Jade Red Blood Vine, she had originally intended to find out what spiritual plant the Barrier Breaking Pill's main ingredient was, but then she saw that everyone else was about to begin meditating and resting, so she stopped asking. Later, she didn't find the right opportunity to ask.

Fortunately, the old shopkeeper often sold medicinal materials to alchemists, and he actually knew the recipe for the Barrier Breaking Pill.

He said, "The main ingredients are Tianxingcao, Prickly Stem Flower, and Three-Leaf Red Bean Fruit."

After a pause, he continued, "Although these three herbs are the most important, other herbs are also indispensable, such as those bone-penetrating herbs..."

"No, no, I only want the most important herbs." Xiao Han hurriedly interrupted the old shopkeeper. She was not going to refine the barrier-breaking pill, so she didn't need to know all the herbs. The more the old shopkeeper talked, the more confused she would become.

It's better to memorize the three main herbs quickly. After all, the folk recipe only mentions the main ingredients of the Barrier Breaking Pill, not all the herbs.

Of course, she was not considering whether the white jade red blood vine and the three herbs would become poison and take her life after being boiled together.

"How much do you want?" the old shopkeeper asked casually.

Xiao Han smiled awkwardly, "I'm not buying anything today. I'm just asking the price so I can save up money to buy it."

The old shopkeeper often dealt with either highly sought-after alchemists or wealthy herbal medicine dealers. This was the first time he had encountered a poor person like Xiao Han who was so stingy when buying things.

Fortunately, he wasn't a snob and patiently said, "Sky Star Grass is five hundred spirit stones per plant, Thorn Stem Flower is one hundred and fifty spirit stones per coin, and Three-Leaf Red Bean Fruit is ten spirit stones per piece. This is the basic price."

Xiao Han asked tentatively, "In the recipe for the Barrier Breaking Pill, how many of these three main herbs are needed?"

The old shopkeeper said: "Two stalks of Tianxingcao, ten coins of prickly stalk flower, and fifty three-leaf red bean fruits."