The Confucian and Taoist Sages of Mortal Cultivation

At dawn, in the Yuanwu Kingdom, near the Tianxingzong market, a snow-white dragon, eight or nine zhang long, descended from the sky and landed on an open ground.

Yang Qingyuan, Xin Ruyin, and Xiao Mei were standing on the head of the black dragon.

"The black dragon that the young master keeps is becoming more and more majestic." Xin Ruyin rode the black dragon all the way and was very surprised by the speed of the beast's flight.

Since breaking through to the third level, the Mo Jiao's flight speed has doubled. It only took half a day to travel from Yue Kingdom to Tianxing Sect Market. Moreover, it has mastered a new innate divine ability, which can spew out an extremely cold dragon flame that can easily freeze top-grade magic artifacts.

The current Ink Dragon is probably even stronger than the Silver-Armored Horned Python kept by Core Formation cultivator Li Huayuan.

Yang Qingyuan put the black dragon into his spirit pet bag, and then led Xin Ruyin and Xiao Mei into the market.

The last time I came to the market was three years ago.

Fortunately, the situation here had not changed much. Yang Qingyuan knew the way well and walked into a weapon-refining shop with a sign that read "Tianbing Pavilion".

The room was quite deserted, with only two Qi Refining stage guests selecting magical artifacts.

Behind the shop counter, the red-faced shopkeeper was talking to a middle-aged monk dressed as a Confucian scholar.

Upon seeing Yang Qingyuan enter the shop, the red-faced shopkeeper was first taken aback, then overjoyed. He hurriedly stepped forward, bowed, and said, "It's been three years since we last met, and you are even more radiant than before, Senior!"

"May I ask, senior, what top-tier materials have you found this time, and what kind of supreme magical artifact do you intend to forge?"

Yang Qingyuan nodded slightly, took out a complete blue wolf skin, wolf teeth, wolf claws, and seven strands of ice crystal silk that emitted a chill from his storage bag, and placed them on the counter.

The red-faced shopkeeper carefully examined the materials, then his expression changed drastically. He reached out and repeatedly stroked the materials, looking completely absorbed.

"Goodness!"

"These materials likely originated from the level two demonic beasts, Gale Wolf and Ice Silkworm."

"Level 2 demonic beasts are extremely rare in Yuanwu Kingdom. Only the three major sects, Tianxing Sect, Shenbing Pavilion, and Wanmiao Temple, occasionally release some materials related to level 2 demonic beasts."

"I wonder what type of magical artifact you intend to craft from these materials, senior?"

Yang Qingyuan took out a yellow jade slip from his storage bag and handed it to the red-faced shopkeeper, explaining, "Inside are the designs of five magical artifacts, called the Spring and Autumn Brush, the Heart-Questioning Inkstone, the Pine Soot Ink, the Square Paper, and the Chaotic Ancient Qin."

"I'd like to have all five of these magical artifacts crafted. Could you tell me how many your shop can make? As for the missing materials, could you please help me gather them? I'll just need to pay for them with spirit stones."

Upon hearing about so many magical artifacts, the red-faced shopkeeper knew it was a big deal. He quickly reached out and took the jade slip, examined it carefully, and then his expression turned strange.

"Senior, I am completely unfamiliar with these writing implements and other such magical artifacts."

"Besides, the pattern that the senior gave me is too strange."

"I have studied weapon crafting for over fifty years and have also crafted three talisman pens, but those talisman pens are completely different from this Spring and Autumn Pen."

"Senior, is this design fake?"

These ritual implements are all Confucian and Taoist implements, and are naturally different from the talisman pens and talisman paper used by talisman masters.

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan realized that the red-faced shopkeeper's weapon-refining skills were limited, so he could only say, "In that case, I'll trouble you, shopkeeper, to help me gather the materials, and I'll figure out a way to refine it myself."

The red-faced shopkeeper didn't want to miss out on these second-grade materials, so he hurriedly said, "Senior, although I'm not good at making magical artifacts like the Four Treasures of the Study, I'm quite confident in making this Chaotic Ancient Qin."

"Moreover, the silk from these level-two ice silkworms is perfect for using as strings on a musical instrument."

"If it were paired with aged spirit wood, that would be even better."

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan patted his storage bag and released a seven-foot-long section of blood-red tree trunk.

"This is Crimson Blood Paulownia Wood?" The red-faced shopkeeper was also dumbfounded upon seeing it, exclaiming in surprise, "Good heavens, look at these tree rings, this section of the trunk is probably a thousand years old!"

"Senior, you truly deserve to be called a Foundation Establishment cultivator; you actually managed to obtain such a treasure."

This Crimson Phoenix Tree is one of the spiritual trees planted in the central garden of the Crimson Forbidden Land. It is quite rare in the outside world, but it is planted in large areas within the Crimson Forbidden Land.

"With spirit wood and silkworm silk, and with a few more materials, I can craft the Chaotic Ancient Qin," the red-faced shopkeeper said, rubbing his hands together. "This wolf pelt can also be processed for you, since the wolf hair can be used as brush bristles."

"The wolf fangs, wolf bones, wolf claws, and the remaining paulownia wood can be used to forge the Chaotic Ancient Qin, along with the payment for purchasing other materials. What do you think?"

Yang Qingyuan nodded slightly in agreement, then asked, "Shopkeeper, would you be willing to sell your inheritance of weapon-refining techniques?"

It turned out that he saw that the red-faced shopkeeper was unable to refine magical artifacts such as the Four Treasures of the Study, so he decided to do it himself.

Upon hearing this, the red-faced shopkeeper's smile instantly froze. He secretly became wary, fearing that Yang Qingyuan might covet their shop's weapon-refining techniques and try to seize them by trickery.

"You flatter me, senior..."

"My weapon-refining skills are inherited from my ancestors."

"I will absolutely not teach it to outsiders."

The red-faced old man steeled himself and refused.

Yang Qingyuan, however, did not take it seriously and said, "I do not believe that there are any weapon-refining techniques that cannot be bought."

"Just name your price."

Upon hearing this, the red-faced shopkeeper shook his head vigorously, replying, "Senior, please don't make things difficult for this old man."

"If I were to truly teach you the art of weapon crafting, how would I face my ancestors in the afterlife?"

Yang Qingyuan smiled nonchalantly, patted his storage bag at his waist, took out a cyan medicine bottle, handed it to the red-faced old man, and said, "I, Yang, will not take advantage of you. I am willing to exchange the pills in this bottle for your family's weapon-refining heritage."

The red-faced old man was about to refuse, but when he saw the seal script on the front of the porcelain bottle, his expression changed. He hurriedly reached out and took the bottle, uncorked it, and held it to his nose, taking a couple of sniffs.

"There's no mistake, this pill is actually real?!"

"Senior, are you truly willing to exchange this pill for the inheritance of weapon crafting?"

Yang Qingyuan stood with his hands behind his back, looking confident, and replied, "That's right. If you're still unwilling, then forget it."

"willing!"

"Of course I'm willing!" The red-faced shopkeeper was excited and quickly put the pill into his pocket, afraid that the customers in the shop would notice something was wrong.

Immediately afterwards, the shopkeeper took out a black jade slip from his storage bag and handed it to Yang Qingyuan, saying, "This is the weapon-refining heritage of our Heavenly Weapon Pavilion. It records thousands of weapon-refining materials, hundreds of magic weapon patterns, and dozens of weapon-refining techniques. Please take a look, senior."

The scholar standing by the counter was also surprised and very curious about what kind of pills were in the porcelain bottle that could make the manager of the Heavenly Soldiers Pavilion willingly hand over his inheritance.

In fact, the pill in the porcelain bottle was none other than a Foundation Establishment Pill, which Yang Qingyuan casually refined while practicing alchemy.

No Qi Refining cultivator can resist the temptation of Foundation Establishment Pills.

Seeing this, Yang Qingyuan put away the jade slip and instructed, "I'd like to trouble you, shopkeeper, to help me gather the materials for refining the Four Treasures of the Study."

The red-faced shopkeeper, overjoyed at having just obtained a Foundation Establishment Pill, patted his chest and assured, "Please rest assured, senior, I have some connections in the market; collecting these materials will not be difficult."

Hearing that the other party seemed to know the shops in the market very well, Yang Qingyuan asked, "By the way, do you know which shop nearby sells Qi-Gathering Grass?"

"Qi-Gathering Grass?" The red-faced old man paused for a moment before replying, "This seems to be a medicinal herb used in alchemy, but I know absolutely nothing about alchemy."

Upon seeing this, the middle-aged scholar behind the counter stepped forward, bowed slightly, and said to Yang Qingyuan, "This Foundation Establishment stage senior, I am Wang Ziling, a Fengxingzi from the Tianxing Sect Market, specializing in serving as a sales guide for shops."

"I just overheard you asking to purchase some kind of precious elixir."

"I can recommend a secret restaurant that very few people know about..."