After binding with a genius, I became an immortal by exploiting loopholes.

Old Li was squatting by the door smoking his pipe when he saw him arrive. He quickly stood up and said, "Manager Lu? Is there something you need?"

"Uncle Li, does your son work in the market near the sect?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Old Li nodded. "He helps people move goods in the market, earning several dozen spirit pearls a month. What's wrong?"

Lu Qingchen took out a slip of paper from his sleeve, on which was a shopping list: "I want to ask him to help me buy some materials. This is the list."

"I'll give you the spirit stones first. Have him deliver them after you've bought them. Also, these fifty spirit beads are for the delivery fee; have him keep them."

Li Laosi took the list and looked at it, then at the spirit stones and spirit beads that Lu Qingchen handed him. His hands trembled slightly. "Manager Lu, this...this is too much, isn't it? Why would you need so much just to run an errand..."

"Keep it," Lu Qingchen said. "Your son will have to spend time traveling back and forth anyway, so we can't let him make a wasted trip."

Li Laosi couldn't refuse, so he accepted the gift with profuse thanks, saying he would definitely have his son deliver it as soon as possible.

......

Three days later, the materials arrived.

Li Laosi's son was a strong young man in his early twenties named Li Tiezhu. He counted the items one by one and handed them to Lu Qingchen. He then took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, on which the price of each material was written.

Four spirit wood stakes (3 spirit stones each), one bottle of talisman ink (2 spirit stones each), six blank array flags (6 spirit stones each), and one spirit-guiding jade (5 spirit stones each).

Including the round-trip errand fee, it cost a total of about sixteen spirit stones.

Of course, if you include the three spirit stones that are needed to set up the array, this set of Earth Qi Spirit Guiding Array will cost a total of nineteen spirit stones.

"Manager Lu, the accounts are all here. Please take a look."

Li Tiezhu rubbed his hands together, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Lu Qingchen glanced at the note and nodded.

Nineteen spirit stones, two more than he had expected, mainly because the spirit-attracting jade was more expensive than he had estimated.

However, the materials are of good quality, the ink is new, and the base of the array flag is thick, so it's not a bad deal.

Li Tiezhu thanked him again, saying that the fifty spirit pearls he received as a delivery fee were enough for him to work for half a month, and left with profuse thanks.

After Li Tiezhu left, Lu Qingchen squatted on the edge of the field and silently did some calculations.

Previously, in order to enter the valley and explore that stone chamber, I spent fifteen spirit stones on talismans and pills alone.

Later, I spent another ten yuan to buy a broken talisman.

If these sixteen coins are spent today, the original fifty spirit stones he had will be almost gone.

He shook his head, feeling somewhat relieved.

Fortunately, Elder Sun stepped in to help protect the spirit field—he funded everything, from the array plate and flags to the labor, without spending a single spirit stone himself.

If he had to pay for this protective array himself, it would cost at least another twenty or thirty yuan, and then the earth energy guiding array simply couldn't be set up.

"Spirit stones really don't last long."

He muttered something under his breath.

When I was in the sect, my monthly salary was two spirit stones. Although it wasn't much, I could still save some by being frugal.

Now that I'm in Qingmu Village, I see that my future income will be much higher than when I was in the sect, but my expenses are also much higher—buying materials, setting up formations, and cultivating spirit fields all require spirit stones.

We still need to earn more spirit stones.

But then I thought, the spirit rice and spirit herbs will be ready for harvest soon.

After deducting the portion to be handed over to the sect, the remaining twenty acres of land can be sold to the Spirit Plant Hall.

Jade Spirit Rice costs five Spirit Pearls per pound, while Azure Spirit Grass is even more expensive.

Although the beginning of this season's spirit rice was tough—it had been drained of its spiritual essence by the earth's spiritual embryo for so long, resulting in sparse and weak seedlings.

But later, the spirit field recovered, and with the daily irrigation from the Dew Condensation Technique and the replenishment of vital energy from the Spirit Pointing Technique, its growth has now caught up and is no worse than any other field in the village.

I should be able to earn at least a few dozen spirit stones by then, which will make me more financially secure.

With this thought, he felt a little relieved and stopped thinking about it. He picked up the materials and walked into the spirit protection field to set up the formation.

He took out the array jade slip from Qingyun Sanren and followed the instructions step by step.

First, bury the four spirit wood stakes at the four corners of the spirit field.

That's not difficult. Digging holes, setting stakes, filling in soil, and tamping it down—it was all done in about half an hour.

The next step is to draw the spirit-summoning runes.

He sat cross-legged on the edge of the field, lined up the four blank array flags in front of him, unscrewed the bottle of talisman ink, and picked up the talisman brush.

The rune diagrams on the jade slip were drawn clearly—one main rune, three auxiliary runes, and seven nodes, with the direction of spiritual energy marked next to each node.

It doesn't look complicated.

He took a deep breath and began to write.

The runes were winding and much harder to draw than I had imagined.

The talisman brush landed on the flag, and the feel was completely different from when he usually wrote—the ink wasn't applied, but rather guided by spiritual power, allowing the talisman ink to seep into the flag's texture along with the spiritual power.

If you apply too little pressure, the ink won't penetrate; if you apply too much pressure, the ink will spread and ruin the entire flag.

I was halfway through drawing the first flag when my hand trembled and I drew it crookedly.

He stopped writing, stared at the crooked ink mark, remained silent for a moment, and then put the battle flag aside.

obsolete.

He didn't rush to draw the second side. Instead, he carefully examined the jade slip again and traced the runes on his knee with his fingers several times until he felt the right feel for them before picking up the talisman brush again.

When I was drawing the last auxiliary pattern on the second side, I realized that the spiritual energy flow of a previous node was drawn in the wrong direction.

The spiritual energy flows of the auxiliary and main runes clashed, rendering the entire array flag useless again.

Lu Qingchen put down the talisman brush and rubbed his temples.

Two battle flags and two spirit stones, gone just like that.

Fu Mo also used up a little more than half of it.

He felt a pang of regret, but he wasn't impatient. He stood up and walked around the edge of the field to stretch his stiff wrists. Once he calmed down, he sat down again.

He drew the third array flag stroke by stroke, checking each stroke against the jade slip for confirmation.

The spiritual energy was evenly distributed, and the talisman ink permeated perfectly.

After finishing the drawing, I checked it three times to make sure that the spiritual energy flow of the seven nodes was correct and that the connection between the main and auxiliary runes was also correct before I put down the talisman brush.

It became.

With the experience gained from the third page, the fourth page went much more smoothly and was finished in less than half an hour.

Then came the fifth page, the sixth page...

The sun has already begun to set in the west.

Lu Qingchen carefully placed the four drawn array flags aside to dry, stretched his sore wrists, and let out a long breath.

Six blank array flags, two of which were discarded, were just enough.

If another one is ruined, we'll have to ask someone to buy it from the sect again, which will take several more days.

Next is burying the spirit jade.

He buried the thumb-sized piece of green jade in the center of the field, offset from the array plate of the protective array, and then inserted four array flags, connecting them to four spirit wood stakes.

Finally, place three spirit stones to activate the formation.

There was no response upon first activation.

Lu Qingchen squatted on the ground and examined it for a long time, and found that the angle of one of the array flags was off, and the spirit-guiding talisman and the spirit wood stake were not aligned.

He pulled out the flag, readjusted the angle, and tried again.

This time, the Spirit-Guiding Jade glowed slightly, and a faint warmth rose from the ground.