Cautiously Cultivating Immortality in a Strange World

Chapter 54: The Truth

Upon hearing Chen Lin's inquiry, Bai Lingshan, sitting across from him, suddenly spoke up.

"Reporting to Master Lin, although the Li family doesn't have an alchemy master, Li Ziqing's sister is the only concubine of an alchemy master in the influential faction. It's likely that the alchemy master wants the pill formula."

"Just because our Bai family has been loyal to the Qingyun Sect for three generations, the members of the influential faction dare not act too overtly. They fear stirring up conflict between the two factions, so they let the Li family resort to despicable means, attempting to make us surrender the pill formula ourselves."

Chen Lin nodded in understanding.

Establishing a sect, no matter how small, requires an alchemy master. Otherwise, how would disciples cultivate?

"So, did you hand over the pill formula to the alchemy master of the Qingyun Sect? It's a good solution, sacrificing wealth to avoid disaster, quite wise."

No matter how valuable a treasure is, once coveted by others and unable to be protected, the best option is to give it away.

Otherwise, one might lose not only the treasure but also one's life.

At this moment, Bai Yunyue, who was driving the carriage, suddenly spoke with a hint of embarrassment, "To be honest, Daoist Lin, the alchemy master of our Qingyun Sect was my grandfather, but he has passed away. Now, the sect's pills need to be purchased from the Zhao Merchant House."

"In fact, the so-called ‘Spirit Nourishing Pill' formula is just an ancient recipe with no real value. It was something my grandfather happened to obtain in his lifetime. Just because my grandfather successfully refined this pill once, everyone assumes that he successfully improved the ancient recipe."

"But in reality, my grandfather did not succeed in improving it. That successful refinement was purely accidental. Moreover, my grandfather's passing was sudden, leaving no inheritance or knowledge about pills behind. Yet no one believes this explanation."

Chen Lin nodded again upon hearing this.

"You're right. Once something is suspected by others, explanations often only make them more doubtful."

Having said that, he fell silent.

As for whether the other party's words were worth believing, it needed further investigation. If what the other party said is true, then you can get the ancient recipe and see if you can improve it yourself or find someone else to improve it.

His alchemy relied on cheats rather than real skills, and he can succeed just by almost doing it.

Bai Yunyue and his sister remained silent, and the speed of the carriage increased.

After about half an hour, a much grander city than Kaiyuan City appeared before them.

Although they had been humiliated in front of Li Ziqing, Bai Yunyue seemed to hold a high position in the city. As soon as their carriage arrived at the city gate, a city guard hurried over to greet them with flattery.

However, Bai Yunyue only nodded and drove the carriage into the city, clearly displaying the status of cultivators.

In this city, cultivators and ordinary people coexisted, unlike Kaiyuan City, which was inhabited solely by cultivators.

Therefore, the number of cultivators in the city, even with the nearby influential factions and Qingyun Sect, was far fewer than in Kaiyuan City, and the highest cultivation level was only at the Foundation Establishment stage.

This situation surprised Chen Lin; he had guessed that the cultivation level in this cultivation world was low, but he hadn't expected it to be this low.

According to Bai Yunyue, the largest cultivation sect in Yan Kingdom, the Lietian Sect, seemed to only have one Golden Core stage cultivator.

One Golden Core cultivator could dominate an entire country; no wonder the Foundation Establishment stage was enough to establish a sect.

The Bai family, as described by Bai Yunyue, was quite impressive, occupying a large area in the center of the city.

They had many servants and guards, and even their maids were very beautiful.

Regardless, they were a cultivation family, with a status far above that of ordinary high-ranking officials and nobles.

According to Bai Yunyue, the immortal cultivation families residing in Guyuan City were relatively weak or had severed their paths of cultivation.

The more powerful families lived outside the city, in places with spiritual veins, as the city itself had a strong worldly atmosphere and lacked spiritual veins, which were essential for cultivation.

He rarely went home himself; he usually practiced within the Qingyun Sect's mountain gate. This time, it was because his father's injuries worsened that he had to come back to Dream Break Mountain to search for the Red Marked Ginseng.

Chen Lin didn’t have too high requirements for cultivation.

Kaiyuan City was a place with spiritual veins. Wasn’t he also stuck in the Qi Refining period for twenty years?

With his aptitude, unless he cultivated in places with high-grade spiritual veins, he wouldn't feel any improvement. Only by relying on pills for cultivation would there be results.

Leading Chen Lin into the living room, Bai Yunyue excused himself and left.

Shortly after, he brought out a bag containing fifty low-grade spirit stones.

Chen Lin casually took it and placed it in his parcel, then took out the Red Marked Ginseng and handed it over.

Because the storage bag was too conspicuous, he always kept it inside his robe, while commonly used items were kept in his backpack to avoid being coveted by others.

He was only at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, not Foundation Establishment, so he had to act low-key.

"Big Brother Lin, if you don't have any urgent matters, why not stay at my house for a few more days? It will be the day of the annual trading conference hosted by the Zhao Merchant House soon. Many cultivators will participate, even those from other cities."

After completing the transaction, Bai Yunyue extended a warm invitation.

Chen Lin, who already had plans, naturally agreed. However, he didn't agree to stay at the Bai family's residence but decided to stay at an inn instead.

The Bai family had clearly gotten into trouble, and he didn't want to get involved.

Although Bai Yunyue looked disappointed, he personally escorted Chen Lin to a high-end inn and arranged for him to have a room on the upper floor.

He had originally wanted to send two maids to serve him, but Chen Lin politely declined.

After Bai Yunyue left, Chen Lin began to contemplate his experiences along the way and felt that there were no major issues.

Li Ziqing's goal was the Bai family's pill formula. Even if he had helped Bai Yunyue in Huangtu Town, the other party shouldn't come looking for trouble with a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator like himself.

However, just to be safe, he left the inn, changed his clothes, and transformed into a burly man before wandering around the city.

But he found that the city was mostly populated by ordinary people, with no cultivators in sight.

Furthermore, there were no shops selling items related to cultivators.

This puzzled him, and after inquiring, he learned that the market for cultivators was three miles south of the city.

There was actually a market exclusively for cultivators, which piqued Chen Lin's interest, so he immediately headed there.

Activating his spiritual energy, he covered the three-mile distance in an instant.

However, when he arrived, he didn't see a market but instead a barren hill.

In front of the hill, there stood a solitary gatehouse, with a faint white mist emanating from the gate, giving it an eerie feel.

Curiously, he approached and saw four large characters on the gate tower—Guyuan Market!

Is this the market town?

Chen Lin found it somewhat amusing; how could such a market trade goods? It seemed more like a street market.

But then he realized that there must be an array set up to prevent mortals and wild beasts from wandering in, or perhaps it was for security purposes.

This was the downside of not having learned techniques related to exploration; otherwise, he could easily detect some clues.

After some thought, he took out the Clear Spirit Water, intending to see if this item could penetrate the array's effect.

But before he could apply it, he saw a streak of light approaching rapidly and landing not far from him.

"Ha ha, this fellow Daoist looks unfamiliar. Could it be that you're from another city?"

A young man dressed in white robes appeared before Chen Lin, exuding a bold aura as he spoke loudly with heroic air