Immortal Road.

Chapter 431: Old Friends, Unpredictable Things

Walking on the streets of Yichuan, there are people coming and going all around.

Lin Shan left the brothel and walked eastward. He happened to pass by the street stall area and saw rows of monks selling their wares there. He recalled his own experience of setting up a street stall.

Because of this chance encounter, he developed an indissoluble bond with the great master of immortal books, the "Seven Arrows Book".

He turned around and walked in.

It was early morning, just before the hour of Mao.

Before sunrise, most monks would come out for a walk or two, then go back and sit on the roof to absorb the energy from the morning sun.

Lin Shan had this experience when he was at a low level of cultivation and was refining his essence into qi.

Now that Qi and spirit have been combined, he began to work on refining Qi into spirit. In addition, there is a spiritual land in the sect, a virtual star plate when he goes out, and a spirit gathering array and spirit stones in his pocket. There is no need to use this stupid method to practice.

Of course, collecting vitality, morning dew, moonlight, mountain spirits, etc. is itself a helpless act. Casual cultivators do not have a good place to practice, so they can only rely on acquired diligence and choose time periods to absorb the free spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

Among wealth, friends, methods and place, in the final analysis, wealth is the most important.

If you have money, what kind of land can you not find?
If you don't have money, then just be patient and collect energy slowly. There are ways to survive when you are poor, and most people do this.

Listening to the shouts on both sides, Lin Shan, who was used to staying in good places, felt as if he was back in Xiaofang Market, and finally felt a hint of the atmosphere of fireworks again.

"Blood mosquito pills, Cordyceps sinensis, healing ointment, essential for entering the mountains!"

"Golden yam, silver yam, a sacred nourishing object that strengthens the blood and yang!"

"Hongta Mountain, Luta Mountain, wild ginseng and game, promote blood circulation and dredge meridians!"

"Woof woof woof, woof woof~"

Various mountain products from the Yanyun Mountains are piled up here in baskets, and no one knows whether they are real or fake.

There were also various monster cubs caught in the mountains, struggling and crying, locked in cages.

Adult monsters have been free for too long and have become wild and difficult to tame. Only the cubs are easy to catch and raise, and have become popular in the market for independent cultivators.

Many low-level cultivators would come here to choose and make their own selections. The elderly would bring their children and grandchildren to compare prices, while individual cultivators would stop outside and stare with envy.

If you can't afford to buy a spiritual beast, you can only come and see the wild cubs of demon beasts. They are cheap, but whether you can afford to raise them after buying them also depends on your financial resources.

Lin Shan looked around and had no interest in these small creatures such as rats, dogs, mountain cats, raccoons and leopards. He just felt that it was too difficult for low-level cultivators to make a name for themselves!
If there is no golden finger, or a powerful opportunity, I am afraid that the only outcome for the bottom of the society is to be lost in the crowd.

Walking further, I came to an area with a large flow of people. I seemed to hear a familiar voice among the crowd shouting.

"You, you, you're almost buried, and you're still here to make trouble! When my grandfather was alive, you stole my business. Now I'm with my granddaughter, and you're still not stopping!"

"Hahaha, old woman, when it comes to making and selling talismans, not only are my varieties richer than yours, the quality is better than yours, and the prices are also cheaper than yours. What can you use to fight me?"

"Humph! If you didn't have an uncle who was in the foundation-building stage and spent all day rummaging through other people's trash cans to sell, with your half-baked talisman-making skills, you would never have made it to where you are today in Yichuan!"

"What's wrong with Uncle Pin? Uncle Pin is also powerful! Even if I don't sell talismans, I can still spend my old age in peace. If I hadn't failed to break through the foundation-building stage several times before and spent all my savings, I..."

"Hey, hey, hey, my two Taoist friends, you have been fighting for fifty or sixty years, it's time to stop fighting. We are all old and waiting to die, why are we fighting so hard~"

At the corner, three stalls are lined up side by side.

Two old men were bragging and chatting there, and an old woman and her granddaughter were arguing with them angrily.

Lin Shan felt familiar for a moment and took a closer look at the features.

Yo!
He is still one of the few old friends in Yichuanli back then!
The stall owner selling talismans and the stall owner selling magic spells, those two second-generation pseudo-immortals, Lin Shan once set up a stall with them!

These two guys, one clan has an uncle in the Foundation Establishment Stage who makes talismans, and the other clan has an uncle in the Foundation Establishment Stage who runs a shop selling magic spells.

He often slacks off during the day and only comes out to set up his stall at noon. Then he goes to brothels to spend money at night. He is so carefree and happy!

Now, more than fifty years have passed, and they have all grown from middle-aged to old age, but they still have not broken through the foundation-building stage. One by one, they are dying, wrapped in thick cotton-padded clothes and huddled in a corner, coming out early in the morning to make a living.

It can be seen that life in later years was not satisfactory.

Lin Shan met an old friend, one of the few friends he had when he was young. They kept in touch and exchanged letters before he joined the Black Lotus Sect.

I felt slightly touched and walked forward.

When the three old men and one young man saw the visitor, they all started to sell their products with great smiles on their faces.

"Young man, do you need talismans? Come and have a look at what I have here. I have all the low- and medium-level talismans of the three series of gold, wood, and earth!"

"I also sell talismans here, mainly various niche talismans, such as mind-concentrating talismans, blood-burning talismans, ghost-exorcising talismans, soul-calling talismans, and even those hand-painted by foundation-building cultivators. It's just that the number left over from the early years is limited. Take a look and see if there's anything you like!"

"Do you need a spell? I have the most complete spells on this street! Quicksand, Fire Snake, Wind Wall, Paper Figure, all five elements and three special spells are available. There are also spells with no attribute requirements. Come and have a look!"

Lin Shan had no interest in these junk. With his current wealth, only minor magical powers and talismans could have some effect on him. These were just petty tricks and he would not even want them even if they were given to him for free.

Just seeing this reminded me of the past, and I glanced at him with a smile.

"It's really sad that you two are still setting up stalls here after all these years!"

The two were stunned, looked at each other, and opened their mouths, at a loss.

Lin Shan has grown into a young man. So much time has passed, and his temperament has gradually developed. He is no longer as cautious as he was in the past, so it is understandable that he is unrecognizable.

"You are."

The owners of the talisman stall and the spell stall squinted their presbyopic eyes and looked left and right, but felt something was wrong. They felt it was familiar, but had no impression of it.

Lin Shan had no choice but to reveal his identity and sit down to chat with the two brothers.

After some explanation, the two of them suddenly understood.

I recalled the young independent cultivators I met when we were setting up stalls together, bragging and chatting with them, and following the elders of the sect to southern Xinjiang to suppress the Black Lotus Messenger. It was exciting just listening to it.

When I meet him again now, I feel shocked, envious, awe-inspiring and cautious.

"So it's Brother Lin. After all these years, you're still so handsome and youthful. You're really the envy of others."

"You two don't need to be so polite. We can just be friends as equals."

Lin Shan asked them about their recent situation. It was a good thing that they came back early, otherwise these two people would have died.

The two second-generation pseudo-immortals didn't have much business anyway, and when they happened to meet an old friend, they started talking nonstop.

Ever since the civil strife in the Song Dynasty and the Yan Kingdom incorporated this place into its territory, many local tyrants in the nearby Yanyun Prefecture were reluctant to leave their homeland and had to seek refuge with the Yan Kingdom's evil sect.

The demonic sects appeared to accept the outside forces on the surface, but in fact they were constantly using sinister tactics behind the scenes. Over the past few decades, they had plundered and extorted a large amount of resources. All the sects and families were miserable, but they had to endure it.

Under this background, the lives of the two second-generation pseudo-immortals were not satisfactory. Although they spent money recklessly and indulged in feasting and drinking when they were young, they also accumulated considerable wealth by relying on their "business acumen".

But after completing the Qi training stage, one must find a way to advance to the foundation building stage!

So they tried every possible means, spent a huge amount of money, owed favors to people everywhere, and finally got the Foundation Establishment Pill.

However, the foundation-building pill is not a panacea. Your talent and foundation are average, your body is weak, you are not young, and your luck is not good, so it is natural that you will fail to break through.

The two refused to admit defeat, and began to spend all their family wealth again. They used their connections in the cultivation family, and after a few years they managed to get the Foundation Establishment Pill for the second time.

But it still failed.

After failing twice in a row, a certain amount of Dao marks have been accumulated, and the next time will definitely be much more difficult.

They worked hard for several more decades and finally scraped together enough money for the third time when they were old. After going through great lengths, they got another chance by begging the elders of their immediate family.

结果
Because he had accumulated Dao Marks twice and was too old, he failed as expected.

Their uncles and uncles who were in the Foundation Establishment Stage and had been relying on them for most of their lives also passed away one after another when their time came. This left them with the loss of their support and source of income in an instant.

The stall owner who sold spells was only at the Qi training stage, so he could only replicate and produce elementary and intermediate spells. He was unable to make advanced spells himself, and the spells were out of stock.

The stall owner selling talismans can only make early and intermediate talismans. The "junk" that his uncle left behind for him to practice with is now treated as his "treasure of the stall", and each talisman he sells is one less.

They are already old. When they were young, they only thought about breaking through. They have no descendants to support them, and they have also wasted the favors left by three generations of ancestors in the clan.

His life became difficult as a result, and he became one of the lowest classes in the world of cultivation, mixing with the other casual cultivators.

For a long time, I have been hanging out with the grandfather and grandson who sell talismans in the stall area, and we often set up the stall together.

The old was replaced by the new, and the girl of that year became an old woman, with a new girl following her around.

This is the current situation of contemporary independent cultivators, who grow vigorously and tenaciously like leeks, one batch after another.

After hearing this, Lin Shan couldn't help but sigh repeatedly. He recognized the girl who solicited customers on the street in Yichuan back then, but he didn't expect that she had aged so much.

Things have changed and people have changed. Time is unforgiving.

This woman is a casual cultivator. Generation after generation, she will never be able to turn things around because the resources are always in the hands of the real landlord class.

As for the two second-generation pseudo-immortals, they originally had good backgrounds and abundant resources and wealth.

Because of his single-minded desire to become a Foundation Establishment cultivator and achieve class transition within his family, he exhausted the wealth and connections of three generations and ended up with a miserable old age.

So there is a saying in the previous life: we are not afraid of the rich second generation eating, drinking and having fun, but we are afraid of the rich second generation wanting to start a business!

It’s the same in the world of cultivation. We are not afraid of the second generation of immortals squandering their wealth, but we are afraid of them having high aspirations!

What qualifications do you have? Don’t you have any idea?

It’s okay once or twice, but you don’t know how to give up when you encounter difficulties. Why are you still so stubborn the third time?

Do you really believe that “my destiny is in my own hands”?
After failing to build the foundation three times in a row, he squandered a huge amount of wealth and became a lonely man. What's the point of doing this?

However, after chatting, Lin Shan could vaguely hear from the tone of these two people that they seemed not to have given up, and wanted to save money for one last try before the hundred-year deadline!
"Brilliant!"

Lin Shan could only give a thumbs up and admire their determination.

At least compared to those monks who just eat and wait for death or lie down and do nothing, this determination to pursue the path to immortality is worthy of respect.

People should always have a dream in their lives, a motivation and hope to move forward.

Without hope, you are just like a walking corpse.

Of course, it is not ruled out that these two had already experienced a decadent life of wine, women and debauchery when they were young, so they are no longer keen on enjoying anything.

It may also be related to one’s background and environment.

Lin Shan is now wealthy and has the ability to help them realize their dreams, but it is better to teach a man how to fish than to give him a fish.

There is no need to show warmth to someone as soon as you meet them just because you have some friendship before. This thing requires you to do what you want.

His money didn't come from the wind, so we should support him appropriately and there's no need to spend it excessively.

He immediately gave two options and wanted to see what the three would choose.

"Here I have some books on the true meaning of talismans, and some notes on high-level spells. Do you want this or one thousand spirit stones? Choose one!"

The three of them were overjoyed after hearing this. They didn’t expect to meet such a noble person!
However, after a brief thought, they all chose to take one thousand spirit stones, and had no interest in those skills and knowledge.

I'm already old, how can I still have the energy to study?
I just want to take advantage of the current situation first. The deposits I receive are real, and everything else is fake!
Only the young girl was staring at the true explanation of the talisman. That was the desire of a low-level cultivator to see the dawn of hope. Knowledge had always been monopolized by the upper class, and she had no chance to get in touch with it under normal circumstances.

Lin Shan did not show any sympathy, but instead gave each of them a thousand spirit stones, then stood up and left in a leisurely manner.

Meeting is fate, and fate ends here.

He walked to the end of North Lane, where there was a huge store in the square.

"Yichuan Auction House".

This was his last stop of the day and also his first serious job, although he had never worked properly for many days.

However, there were two respectable elders among them, who also served as his benefactors when his cultivation was at a low level.

One is the chief auctioneer, Mr. Zhang, who was transferred to Yinchuan Market more than 50 years ago and is a man with a keen eye for talent.

Another one is the elder of Yichuan Internal Affairs Department, the Jindan stage cultivator and one of the owners behind the auction house, Zuo Zhenren.

Old Zhang discovered that he had an extraordinary talent for identification and made an exception to introduce him to Master Zuo.

After some examination and teaching, Zuo Zhenren also presented him with a high-level defensive magic weapon, appointed him to succeed Mr. Zhang as the chief appraiser, and promised him a high salary in the industry at that time.

Monthly salary: “One hundred spirit stones”!
The key point is that Lin Shan either stays at home practicing all day, or goes out to hang out with his good brother Lin Fan, and even always asks for an advance on his salary.

All of them were approved by him!

When he resigned, he didn't try to trip him up or show a bad face to him. Instead, he taught him earnestly and shared his experience with him. I have never met such a good boss!

If the whole world were filled with bosses like this, I'm afraid the workers would all laugh out loud.

And now, he once again stepped into the door of Yichuan Auction House.

Returned to the place where this talented horse started his career.

(End of this chapter)