Daily Intelligence: From Miner to Dao Ancestor of Alchemy and Talismans

Chapter Update Notice: Chapter 41: Finding Bargains at a Secondhand Market, Superior Spirit Pen, Read Here.

Xu Yuan continued to follow his own pace, refining pills during the day to stabilize his cultivation and studying talismanic arts at night. Even with only ten days left, he remained steady and methodical, showing no sign of losing his composure.

Qian Shi came twice, pacing anxiously, saying that rumors were circulating in the market that the Blood Fiend Sect might be attacking, causing widespread panic. He asked Xu Yuan if he should leave the city to avoid trouble. Xu Yuan simply offered a few words of reassurance, gave him some Earth Tokens and Flame Tokens, and told him to stay in the courtyard and not go out. He didn't say anything more.

He knew very well that there was no way to avoid it.

Black Wind Valley is the territory of the Blood Fiend Sect and Black Wind Stronghold. It is more dangerous outside the city than inside. The only way to survive is to stay in the market and rely on the intelligence you have gathered in advance.

As night deepened, midnight quietly arrived.

Xu Yuan sat cross-legged on the couch, stopped cultivating on time, and waited intently for the system information to refresh.

[Ding! Today's intelligence has been updated.]

[Qingdao Daily: Tomorrow at noon, at a secondhand market stall in the North Corner, an elderly cultivator will be selling an ancestral talisman brush. The brush handle is hollow, containing complete diagrams of a first-grade superior-level Rock-Splitting Talisman and a Breath-Concealing Talisman, as well as handwritten talisman-drawing notes from a Foundation Establishment stage talisman master. The seller, unaware of its value, is only offering the brush for 5 spirit stones.]

Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes, a barely perceptible glint of light flashing in them, and gently tapped his knee twice with his fingertips.

It's like my wish came true.

The Rock-Splitting Talisman is a high-grade first-tier offensive talisman that condenses earth-elemental spiritual power into a rock blade. Its power is more than three times that of the Sharp Blade Talisman. If a high-quality version can be drawn, it is enough to severely injure a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. The Concealing Breath Talisman is a high-grade first-tier concealment talisman that, once activated, can perfectly conceal one's own spiritual power fluctuations and aura. Even a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator would find it extremely difficult to detect without deliberately probing with their divine sense.

Not to mention the talisman-drawing experience of a Foundation Establishment stage talisman master throughout his life, which must contain the secrets he needs most: how to draw top-grade talismans that can harm a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator with Qi Refining stage cultivation.

All of this is hidden in an old talisman pen that sells for only 5 spirit stones.

Xu Yuan suppressed the turmoil in his heart, showing no impulsiveness whatsoever.

He had calculated it correctly: the secondhand stalls in the north corner of the market were a place where independent cultivators would rummage through scraps. It was a mixed bag, with many people and eyes looking at each other, and if one was not careful, one would attract attention.

He had to be fully prepared, discreetly snag the bargain, and absolutely not reveal the value of the talisman pen, nor his own identity.

The flea market in the north corner of the market was at its busiest at noon on the second day.

The narrow streets were lined with all sorts of stalls selling everything imaginable—broken magical artifacts, old jade slips of indeterminate age, spiritual herbs of extremely poor quality, and even storage bags ripped from the dead. Shouts and bargaining filled the air, and the streets were crowded with rogue cultivators dressed in coarse cloth and short jackets, creating a chaotic scene.

In the crowd, an old, hunched-over cultivator was slowly swaying forward.

His face was covered with wrinkles, his hair was gray, and his eyes drooped. He looked to be over sixty years old. His coarse cloth robe, which had been washed to a faded color, was patched in several places. He carried a tattered cloth bag in his hand and walked with a shaky gait. He looked like an old rogue cultivator who hadn't been around for long and was selling his ancestral property at a secondhand market.

Xu Yuan altered his appearance with a disguise cream, put on a gray wig, hunched his back, and even imitated the walking posture of those old rogue cultivators nearing the end of their lives in the market. He also put a concealment talisman on his body, suppressing his cultivation to the first level of Qi Refining. If he were thrown into a crowd, no one would give him a second glance.

He strolled around leisurely, occasionally squatting down in front of a stall, picking up a tattered item and examining it closely, haggling with the stall owner, then shaking his head and putting it down. He looked completely like a clueless old fool who only wanted to find a bargain.

After wandering around for half an hour, he finally arrived at the street stall mentioned in the intelligence report.

The stall owner was an old cultivator with a wrinkled face, sallow complexion, and chapped lips. He looked sickly. On the tattered cloth in front of him were several tattered items: a broken alchemy furnace, a cracked old jade slip, several well-worn basic cultivation manuals, and an old talisman pen with its bristles falling off and the handle cracked. It sat alone in the corner, and no one even asked about the price.

That talisman pen looked really worn out.

The penholder was made of ordinary lightning-struck wood, covered with cracks. Most of the wolf hair on the pen tip had fallen off, making it look worse than even an ordinary mortal talisman pen. It could only be thrown away as junk, no wonder no one asked about the price.

Xu Yuan slowly squatted down, not even glancing at the talisman brush. He first picked up the well-worn basic cultivation manual, flipped through a couple of pages, and asked in a hoarse voice, "How many spirit stones does this tattered book cost?"

The old cultivator raised his eyelids slightly and said weakly, "Two spirit stones."

"Two? Your book's practically turned to pulp; it's not even worth half a spirit stone." Xu Yuan curled his lip, tossed the book back, then picked up the chipped alchemy furnace and tapped it. "What about this one?"

"Three spirit stones."

"It's in such a dilapidated state, it's a miracle the furnace didn't explode while refining medicine. One spirit stone, would you sell it or not?"

Xu Yuan feigned sullenness, put down the alchemy furnace, and then his gaze fell on the old talisman brush in the corner. He picked it up casually, examined it from all angles, and asked nonchalantly, "Where's this broken brush? It can't be worth anything, can it?"

The old cultivator glanced at it and casually said, "It's an ancestral talisman brush, made of lightning-struck wood after all. Five spirit stones."

"Five spirit stones?" Xu Yuan seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world. He threw the talisman brush back onto the rag. "This brush of yours, the tip is almost all gone, and the handle is cracked. You can't even write anything with it. Five spirit stones? One spirit stone. I'll keep it for fun. If you don't want to sell it, fine."

As he spoke, he stood up, pretending to leave.

"Hey, wait!" the old cultivator quickly called out to him. He was in a hurry to sell his wares and get spirit stones to buy healing pills. These junk items had been sitting there for days, and nobody had even asked about them. Now that someone was finally willing to buy them, he wasn't about to let the opportunity slip by. "Two spirit stones, that's the lowest I can offer!"

"One and a half." Xu Yuan didn't even turn his head. "I don't want one more."

"Alright, alright! One and a half it is!" The old cultivator eagerly agreed through gritted teeth, adding, "Old man, don't regret this; it's been passed down from my ancestors!"

Xu Yuan then turned around, his face showing an unwilling look of "I've been taken advantage of." He took out a half-spirit stone from his pocket, handed it over, picked up the old talisman brush, and casually stuffed it into the tattered bag, muttering, "What a worthless ancestral treasure. I only had it to play with. What a loss."

After saying that, he hunched over and slowly squeezed into the crowd, disappearing into the chaotic flea market in the blink of an eye.

Throughout the entire process, no one noticed this inconspicuous old rogue cultivator, and no one knew that this old talisman pen, which was treated as junk and sold for a mere one and a half spirit stones, contained a priceless treasure that would make all the talisman masters in the entire Qingyafang fight tooth and nail for it.