Raise a sword!

noon.

Lan Yingying, who had been dismissed with a bowl of cold noodles by Jiang Peng, was talking about what had happened in the market recently.

"Brother Jiang's previous prediction was correct. The three shops in the market that specialize in pills and spiritual materials have standardized the prices of pills. Guess how many lower-level spiritual materials are needed for a Qi Condensation Pill now?"

Two months had passed since Jiang Peng and Hao Xue reached an agreement. During these two months, Jiang Peng had only attended two mutual aid society gatherings and visited the Qin residence once to discuss alchemy with Elder Qin.

Apart from that, Jiang Peng rarely left her home, spending her days refining pills and cultivating her skills.

"I remember that two months ago, the price of Qi Condensation Pills had already risen to six spirit stones per pill, and they were not sold individually in shops. A bottle of Qi Condensation Pills contained ten pills and cost sixty spirit stones."

This price is already outrageous.

For those independent cultivators who don't know any miscellaneous arts and have no background, their monthly income in spirit stones is only around thirty or forty. And that's only after they risked going into the Earth-Ringing Mountains to plunder the land.

Such independent cultivators couldn't afford to live in the Class A, B, C, or D residences managed by Cangshan Pavilion. Most of them, like Ma Ling'er who led Jiang Peng to the place, just found a place in the market to shelter them from the wind and rain and made do with what they could.

Considering that a cultivator in the early stages of Qi Refining can refine one Qi Condensation Pill in about three days, the price increase of Qi Condensation Pills can almost be described as completely cutting off the future of low-level rogue cultivators.

This is intended to make it extremely difficult for them to even break through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

"How much has it risen now?" Jiang Peng asked, frowning.

Lan Yingying made an "eight" gesture with her hand, and her expression became serious.

"It's not just pills, even talismans have gone up in price... But thankfully, the materials for first-tier talismans are pretty much the same, and the quality of a talisman depends on the skill of the talisman master, so the price increase isn't too high."

Jiang Peng had only heard Master Zhang from the mutual aid society mention talisman drawing a few times, so he only had a superficial understanding of it and did not know the details.

"Are there no distinctions in quality between talisman paper and talisman pens?"

"Of course there are, but why would a mere first-tier talisman need higher-tier talisman paper?"

Lan Yingying asked in surprise, "There is an upper limit to runes. For example, the Golden Armor Rune can only exert the effect of a first-class top-grade rune at most. Even if you let a third-class rune master draw the Golden Armor Rune with the most expensive rune paper, the result will only be a first-class top-grade rune."

"What about those who aren't very good?" Jiang Peng asked curiously.

He asked this question mainly because the Purple Gold Cauldron can also upgrade talismans, and unlike magic artifacts, it does not require materials to be provided for upgrading.

When Dan Laomo's puppet talisman was refined by the Purple Gold Cauldron, it immediately rose to a minor rank.

Lan Yingying shook her head and said, "The same rune will naturally be drawn to different grades by different rune masters... For example, I can draw a mid-grade Golden Armor Rune, but the same rune can be drawn to the highest grade by some people, and even fail by others."

Jiang Peng suddenly realized.

This explains why upgrading talismans and the Purple Gold Cauldron do not require materials.

Jiang Peng still had no idea why a cauldron could be upgraded to a talisman.

But since even the cauldron can help him identify treasures, upgrading talismans doesn't seem like such an unacceptable thing.

It remains to be seen whether the Purple Gold Cauldron can help the Golden Armor Talisman, which Lan Yingying mentioned has an upper limit of only first-tier top-grade, break through its upper limit and reach the second-tier level.

However, Jiang Peng had already suffered a loss from attempting to refine materials beyond his level once before, so he only thought about it in his mind and did not plan to put it into action for the time being.

"It's possible to profit from the price difference by upgrading talismans. There's a significant difference in value between mid-grade and high-grade talismans," Jiang Peng pondered to himself.

But there are also problems with doing this.

Firstly, the price difference between low-grade and mid-grade talismans is less than what Jiang Peng could earn by honestly refining pills.

Upgrading a mid-grade talisman to a high-grade talisman yields a good price difference, but it's too conspicuous and easily attracts unwanted attention, even on the black market.

More importantly, the refined talisman was too new, clearly a brand new product.

When Jiang Peng sold Zhang Fushi a deliberately aged puppet talisman, he had already prepared many excuses and reasons in his mind.

Therefore, after much thought, Jiang Peng felt that it was unnecessary to risk being targeted by others and engage in the troublesome matter of upgrading talismans to make a profit.

Just as Jiang Peng was pondering this, Lan Yingying continued, "The price increase of pills and talismans is probably related to the bad situation at the front... Recently, the beast tide has been counterattacking. A few days ago, some people even discovered signs of scattered beast tides a dozen miles outside the market."

"The beast tide has broken through the defenses?" Jiang Peng exclaimed in surprise.

Lan Yingying also looked worried.

"Cangshan Pavilion's explanation is that those were just a few that slipped through the net and are not a cause for concern. However, the fact that a few escaped the net means that the defense line is not reliable... The next conscription may begin soon."

At this point, Lan Yingying smiled helplessly.

"I'm on the next conscription list. The sect specifically asked me to go to the front lines, but I don't need to actually fight the beast tide. I just need to draw talismans."

Jiang Peng asked in confusion, "It was Miss Lan who reminded me that I only needed to stay in the market to refine pills after crossing my name off the conscription list at Cangshan Pavilion... Why is Miss Lan going to the front lines instead?"

Lan Yingying shook her head and said, "Being drafted is one thing, but there are also some personal matters on the other hand."

Upon hearing that it was a private matter, Jiang Peng immediately stopped asking questions and simply comforted her, saying, "I know Miss Lan's abilities; I believe she is safe and sound."

Lan Yingying put down her chopsticks and got up, looking rather uninterested.

"Thank you for your kind words, Brother Jiang."

As soon as she finished speaking, she turned and left, but when she reached the front door, she turned back to look at Jiang Peng with a half-smile.

"Brother Jiang has been getting quite close to the Song family lately. Have you been without support for too long and finally want to find someone to rely on?"

Jiang Peng glared at Lan Yingying with annoyance.

"I have never publicized this matter. My interactions with the Song family are limited to meeting with a guest elder of the Song family once a month. Could it be that I have a good personal relationship with that guest elder?"

Wanting to recruit is one thing, but what's with constantly scrutinizing my private life?

For a moment, Jiang Peng really wanted to point at Lan Yingying's nose and say something like, "Woman, you've crossed the line."

"So Brother Jiang is having a lucky streak with women," Lan Yingying teased, and before Jiang Peng could reply, she had already disappeared.

Jiang Peng shook her head helplessly and didn't take the matter to heart.

However, the mention of Hao Xue made Jiang Peng somewhat look forward to her delivering more spiritual materials in a few days.

This time, the spiritual materials Jiang Peng needed have changed somewhat.

He no longer planned to refine the Rejuvenation Pill; a 50% profit margin was still too low.

Elder Qin truly lived up to his reputation as a second-tier alchemist. When Jiang Peng casually inquired about mid-grade first-tier pills, the old man tossed him a pill formula without hesitation.

This is also why Jiang Peng looked down on the business of reselling talismans using cauldrons.

Because the alchemist's skills have reached the mid-grade level one, they are finally starting to become valuable.