The reason for revealing his true level of alchemy.
First, no one in Qingyue Square knows his background, nor how long he has been learning alchemy.
Second, he needs an identity when traveling outside. As the highest rank in the Cultivation Hundred Skills, alchemists hold a revered status and are respected by others. Reaching the middle-grade level allows him to quickly enter the upper circles of Qingyue Square.
Thereafter, it becomes more convenient to acquire information and resources.
As for the immediate benefits.
Renting a cave mansion requires only half the price.
"There are six cave mansions with alchemy rooms here. I wonder which one catches your interest?" The middle-aged man listened to Zhou Xun's request and took out a one-foot square magical artifact, lightly tapping it with a spell.
The miniatures of the six cave mansions appeared within it.
Seeing this scene, Zhou Xun marveled at it and then began to make his selection.
In the end, he chose a moderately sized cave mansion with a hall, an alchemy room, a training room, and a spirit kitchen.
"Ten spirit stones per year, and you, my friend, only need five. How many years do you plan to rent it for?" The middle-aged man continued after seeing Zhou Xun make his choice.
"Five years!" Zhou Xun replied.
"By the way, my two junior siblings also need to choose a cave mansion each!" Zhou Xun then pointed to Lin Xueying and Wang Erniu as he spoke.
They had previously agreed to pretend that Zhou Xun, Lin Xueying, and Wang Erniu were senior and junior siblings, while Lin Xue'e and her daughter were Wang Erniu's wife and daughter.
Zhou Xun showed the strength of a Tier One Middle-Grade Alchemist, while Lin Xueying and Wang Erniu displayed Tier One Low-Grade.
After all, having two young Tier One Middle-Grade Alchemists at the same time would draw too much attention.
"So, the two of you are also alchemists. My apologies for not recognizing it!" Song Zhishu smiled even more broadly.
"Shopkeeper, you're too kind!"
Then, Lin Xueying and Wang Erniu each picked a cave mansion.
"Three Tier One High-Grade, renting for five years, a fair price of seventy-five spirit stones!" The middle-aged shopkeeper smiled slightly and quoted a number.
"How could my junior siblings accept this discount when they are just low-grade alchemists!" Zhou Xun declined.
Some discounts can be accepted, but if it's not rightfully yours, taking it incurs a personal debt, which is difficult to repay.
"For a young middle-grade alchemist like yourself, what's a mere cave mansion!" the middle-aged shopkeeper praised him politely and then continued:
"To be honest, my elder brother is the steward in charge of the family's elixir business, and he is currently lacking a supply of spirit pills. If you could refine any spirit pills, please give my brother a chance!"
Finally, the middle-aged man revealed his intention.
Since it was a transaction and both parties had mutual needs, Zhou Xun naturally had no reason to refuse.
Moreover, as he had just arrived here, making contact with the Song Family's Elixir Steward would facilitate the sale of his spirit pills.
Hence, he agreed immediately.
Then he took out seventy-five spirit stones and rented the three cave mansions.
Holding the tokens, he set off towards the cave mansions under the guidance of a servant.
...
Of the three cave mansions, Wang Erniu's was slightly farther away, while Lin Xueying's was next to Zhou Xun's.
Since leaving Red Leaf Square, they had been on the run for almost a year, and thus they were always together, making it inconvenient for Zhou Xun to assess his spoils of war.
Speaking of the latest possession, there was the bone jade from the Wu Family Grand Elder, and further back, the Wei Brothers' storage bags.
Now was the perfect time to inventory them.
The first examined was the bone jade from the Wu Family Grand Elder.
Unfortunately, the storage bag of the Wu Family Grand Elder was not obtained. Otherwise, Zhou Xun would have had enough resources to cultivate to the Peak Qi Refining, or even the Foundation Establishment Stage.
After all, this was a grand elder of a family, wealthier than ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Zhou Xun held the bone jade in his hand; it felt smooth and had a greasy feel when stroked.
He injected mana, but the bone jade showed no change.
After a moment of thought, Zhou Xun used his divine sense to probe into it.
Sure enough, it contained a divination technique extremely rare in the Cultivation Realm.
Divination also belonged to the Cultivation Hundred Skills.
However, this skill was so rare in inheritance that most cultivators had never heard of it.
It was the first time Zhou Xun had seen it as well.
According to what was described, the divination technique could measure fortunes and disasters, avoid misfortune, discern life and death, judge yin and yang, determine cause and effect, and manipulate fate,
it was a mysterious and unpredictable skill of the world.
Unfortunately, this odd skill had very high entry requirements; even the entry level required at least Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivation.
And the divination technique recorded in this bone jade was inherited from the Ancient Nascent Soul Cultivator, Celestial Pearl Elder, tens of thousands of years ago.
Back then, the Celestial Pearl Elder relied on this strange divination technique, with Middle-Stage Nascent Soul cultivation, to withstand several Late-Stage Nascent Soul great cultivators.
Seeing the powerful abilities of this odd skill, Zhou Xun felt unwilling and forcefully checked its contents:
"Yang gives birth to the qi of all things, yin hides the form of all things..."
Just after reading one sentence, he felt dizzy and hard to control.
Knowing that cultivators are immune to illnesses, Zhou Xun was shocked and immediately stopped reading.
"This technique is truly malevolent. I should wait until after achieving Foundation Establishment to study it further!" After resting for a while, Zhou Xun recovered and carefully stored the bone jade.
Next, he began to inventory the Wei Brothers' storage bags.
There were not many spirit stones, only about four hundred of them.
There was only a dozen Middle-Grade Talismans remaining; the rest were likely used when capturing Lin Xueying.
However, there was an extremely precious one, a Tier Two Earth Escape Talisman.
The reason this talisman had remained was because the activation of Tier Two Talismans requires divine sense as the guide.
And Wei Shangli had only Middle-Stage Qi Refining cultivation and had not awakened his divine sense, thus unable to use it.
This Tier Two Earth Escape Talisman thus benefited Zhou Xun.
If not, at that time, if it had been used to escape, Zhou Xun would have had no way to counter it.
There was also a Low-Grade Defensive Spiritual Artifact, belonging to Wei Shangren.
For some reason, it was never seen used on that day.
Additionally, there was a large pile of talisman scriptures, which greatly pleased Zhou Xun.
Ranging from basic to advanced, from entry level to Tier One Middle-Grade, everything was available.
Except for the middle-grade ones, the others were obtained from Wei Shangren's storage bag, likely prepared by his elder brother Wei Shangli, hoping he would become a Tier One Rune Master soon.
However, Wei Shangren was impetuous and arrogant, lacking the patience to study the Path of Talisman.
Thus, all of it now benefited Zhou Xun.
Lastly, there were two jade boxes, which clearly were not ordinary items, each sealed with a Sealing Spirit Talisman.
Seeing this, Zhou Xun couldn't help but show a look of anticipation.
To be treated so carefully, the treasures inside must be extraordinary.
Zhou Xun first took out the long jade box.
A spell was cast, and the Sealing Spirit Talisman fluttered down.
He gently opened the box.
A green jade scroll lay quietly inside.
He inserted his divine sense to inspect it.
"The True Understanding of the Talisman Dao of the Luo Family"
Indeed!
The talisman inheritance of the Spirit Talisman Luo Family, from Tier One Low-Grade to Tier Two Low-Grade.
"It's said that the Luo Family once produced a Quasi-Third Tier talisman master, and this inheritance only goes to Tier Two Low-Grade, it seems it is not the complete version!" Zhou Xun speculated.
But Tier Two Low-Grade was sufficient.
Then he used the same method to open the second jade box.
At a glance, Zhou Xun's heart began to race.
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