In the cultivation chamber, Xiao Fei held an iron rod forged from profound iron and smashed it down onto his own head.
"Bang!"
The iron rod, as thick as a wrist, struck his head. Instead of a bloody mess, it produced a metallic clang.
"Bang! Bang bang bang..."
Xiao Fei’s hands did not stop, striking his head and face again and again. His head, face, neck, the back of his head, chest, abdomen…
A series of metallic reverberations sounded, from top to bottom, then from bottom to top, repeated several times.
By this time, the iron rod forged from profound iron was bent and deformed, yet Xiao Fei was completely unharmed, not even losing a single tooth.
Xiao Fei threw away the bent and deformed iron rod in his hand, punched his chest fiercely a few times, and let out a roar, feeling exhilarated.
There was a profound iron greatsword weighing a thousand jin in the cultivation chamber. Xiao Fei bent down, squatted, gripped the greatsword with both hands, and with a roar, lifted it.
Direct slash, diagonal slash, direct thrust, diagonal thrust, chop…
As long as the power was great enough, there was no need for fancy movements. Every action was a basic sword technique.
After more than a year of cultivation, Xiao Fei’s "Body Tempering Art" had finally reached minor completion. Not only had his body’s resilience greatly improved, but his strength had also increased severalfold.
Body tempering cultivators had their unique combat styles, often using their powerful physiques to break through layers of spells and magical artifacts, closing in to blast the enemy’s head with a single punch.
After practicing basic sword techniques for a while, Xiao Fei was already drenched in sweat.
Only then did he put down the profound iron greatsword and step into a basin filled with medicinal liquid.
As he circulated his cultivation technique, the medicinal properties in the liquid were rapidly absorbed by his pores, entering his body to nourish and repair his bones and flesh.
During this year of cultivation, his meridians had also widened by two to three tenths compared to before.
His cultivation was still stuck at the tenth level of Qi Refining, but his internal magical power had increased by two to three tenths, significantly boosting his combat power.
He had managed to cultivate the "Body Tempering Art" to minor completion in just over a year, which had cost him a vast amount of resources.
As his body tempering cultivation deepened, the spiritual herbs used became increasingly expensive.
This basin of medicinal liquid alone cost fifty spirit stones, and with other expenses, he spent over ten thousand spirit stones annually.
Fortunately, some of these spiritual herbs were produced in his space.
For some spiritual herbs, due to the insufficient age in his space, he could only purchase them externally.
His space currently had a time flow of 13 times. Some spiritual herbs required thirty to fifty years of medicinal age, and they could not be cultivated in a short period.
With the help of the space-grown herbs, he still spent thousands of spirit stones on purchasing spiritual items this year.
Xiao Fei was contemplating how, since his space absorbed spirit stones to accelerate the flow of time, he needed to find a way to get more spirit stones for the space to absorb.
According to his calculations, ten thousand spirit stones should be enough to double the time flow again.
Over ten thousand spirit stones was an astronomical figure for any Qi Refining cultivator.
Xiao Fei sorted through all his current possessions.
His space contained dozens of ginseng plants, some with a hundred years of medicinal age, and hundreds with decades of medicinal age. He could sell some this time.
The spiritual wine he brewed last time had been aged for over ten years in his space and should fetch a good price.
Furthermore, during the year he spent in seclusion cultivating, he still spent an hour each day entering his space to refine pills.
Over the year, he had accumulated a large quantity of pills.
Refining pills continuously for 13 hours a day in his space resulted in a truly astonishing number of pills.
He could only take half to the sect to complete tasks and exchange them for contribution points; the other half could be sold in the market.
Refining pills to a relatively high level was very profitable, almost like a windfall.
For example, the cost of a batch of Qi Gathering Pills was about nine spirit stones. If only three pills were produced, it would barely cover the cost.
However, he could now easily produce nine pills, with at least one of them being a mid-grade pill. Mid-grade pills were about thirty spirit stones each.
Thus, a batch of pills like this was worth at least fifty spirit stones, or even more.
Refining six to seven batches of pills in his space for 13 hours a day, after deducting costs, yielded a net profit of two to three hundred spirit stones.
Of course, this was only possible because he possessed his space.
Others without a space, with only 12 hours a day, occasionally had to eat, drink water, use the restroom, and if they also cultivated and slept at night, they could refine at most two to three batches of pills a day.
Xiao Fei stepped out of the medicinal bath, put on a close-fitting robe, then soft armor, and finally the standard sect-issued robe before leaving his cave dwelling.
After more than a year, new talents had emerged in the sect. He, the once-overlooked dark horse, had gradually been forgotten, at least no one came to bother him anymore.
Little did he know, when he emerged from seclusion and flew out of Thousand Birds Peak on his Black Feather artifact, many people still noticed him.
Xiao Fei flew directly outside the market, put on a human skin mask, changed into another robe, and then entered the market.
Qi Gathering Pills were a popular commodity. The Dan Xin Sect sold tens of thousands of pills annually.
The thousand-plus pills in Xiao Fei’s possession, while a lot for an individual, would not cause much of a stir among major powers.
He entered a shop specializing in pills called Dan Xin Merchant House.
From the name of the merchant house, it was clear it was established by the Dan Xin Sect, specializing in their pills.
Other sects or families wishing to purchase pills in large quantities usually chose Dan Xin Merchant House.
This merchant house was considered somewhat renowned throughout the cultivation world.
Xiao Fei entered Dan Xin Merchant House. The shop’s interior was simple and grand, with not many display shelves, only a few samples placed on shelves.
“Greetings, Daoist friend. Are you here to purchase pills?”
A shop assistant wearing the Dan Xin Sect disciple robe immediately approached Xiao Fei.
These shop assistants were also genuine outer disciples of the Dan Xin Sect. They received twenty contribution points per month for their duty as shop assistants.
If they closed a large deal, they could also receive spirit stone rewards.
“I have a batch of pills to sell.”
“Oh!”
The shop assistant was a little disappointed but did not show it, maintaining his smile.
Some families purchased hundreds or thousands of pills at a time, and the shop assistant could earn a considerable bonus from it.
However, these major clients were controlled by others, and he had none since he had just started.
“May I ask what kind of pills you wish to sell, and how many?”
“Qi Gathering Pills, 1500 grains, and additionally 50 grains of mid-grade Qi Gathering Pills.”
The shop assistant’s mouth slowly formed an ‘o’ shape.
“Good! Good! Daoist friend, please come this way.”
Unexpectedly, he had received a large order just as he started as a shop assistant. The shop assistant led Xiao Fei to sit behind a tea table in a private room, enthusiastically serving tea and water.
Under the shop assistant’s warm reception, Xiao Fei produced the pills. The two counted the pills, and they were correct.
“The market price for Qi Gathering Pills is 3 spirit stones per grain, and mid-grade pills are 30 spirit stones per grain. That totals 6000 spirit stones. However, the purchase price will be discounted by 20%, giving you 4800 spirit stones.”
Xiao Fei nodded in agreement. This 20% profit was the markup earned by the middleman, which was not too excessive.
He could also sell directly to end customers or set up a stall, but this method was too inefficient and increased the risk.
After all, Dan Xin Merchant House was a legitimate and large merchant house. Their monthly sales of Qi Gathering Pills alone exceeded ten thousand grains, so they wouldn’t do anything drastic for these thousand-plus pills.
However, if he dealt with those small families or individual cultivators, wealth could stir up desire, and the outcome might be unpredictable.
Xiao Fei left Dan Xin Merchant House and sold a jar of spiritual wine, weighing 50 jin, in the market, obtaining 4000 spirit stones.
Then he found a spiritual herb shop and sold some ginseng roots that were seventy to eighty years old.
Piecing things together, he finally gathered 12,000 spirit stones.
He directly gave 10,000 of them to his space, keeping the remaining 2,000 spirit stones for daily expenses.
After finishing all this, he headed towards the inconspicuous small dark shop in the corner of the market.
The old shopkeeper of the small dark shop saw Xiao Fei and knew it was an old customer, so he quickly led him inside.
“Daoist friend, do you have any good local specialties to sell recently?”
“I’ve been busy cultivating lately and haven’t had time to hunt. I just came to see what you have. Aren’t you welcome?”
“Of course, you are welcome. Please come in. This shop has indeed received many good items recently.”
Entering the main hall he had visited last time, he found that many new items had indeed been added.
Xiao Fei looked over the shelves and was attracted by a somewhat ferocious-looking plant bulb.
“This is a seed of the Blood Sucking Demon Vine. This item is extremely rare and is almost extinct in the cultivation world.
The Blood Sucking Demon Vine can actively attack anything that approaches it.
Once entangled, the poisonous thorns on the vine penetrate the body and release toxins, preventing one from mobilizing their magical power, leaving them to watch helplessly as they are drained of blood by the demon vine.
This item can be planted as cave dwelling defense or used for artifact refining.”
It was indeed a good item, but the price marked on it was really not cheap. A single seed cost 600 spirit stones.
Xiao Fei gritted his teeth and decided to buy it. He had his space, and this item would be of great use to him.
He immediately took out spirit stones and bought the Blood Sucking Demon Vine seed.
One-third of the remaining 2,000 for daily expenses was gone.