Chapter 130: The Lu Family Shop

The next day.

Except for Gao Jian and Yang You, who were far away on Redfire Island, all the cultivators of the Ye Immortal Village were summoned by Ye Mo. He announced that the village’s Refining Instruments Pavilion and Refining Pills Pavilion had officially started operations and would soon supply various spiritual items to the cultivators within the village.

Upon learning that the ten thousand spirit stones compensated by the Min Immortal Village had mostly been exchanged by Ye Mo for blueprints of spiritual instruments, pill formulas, and gunpowder recipes, the cultivators were immensely excited.

“With the ‘Redfire Spirit Sword’ and ‘Redfire Spirit Armor,’ plus the ores from our own mining island, the Refining Instruments Pavilion will soon be able to produce a complete set of Redfire spirit instruments. This will rapidly enhance our combat strength,” one cultivator said excitedly.

“With the formula for the ‘First-Rank Vitality Pill,’ the Refining Pills Pavilion only needs to purchase some spiritual herbs to start refining vitality pills,” another added.

“And with the gunpowder formula, combined with the Refining Instruments Pavilion’s production of copper cannons and the Refining Pills Pavilion’s manufacture of gunpowder, our village’s city defenses will be greatly strengthened,” came another enthusiastic voice.

The cultivators of the Immortal Village discussed these developments with joy.

Having these few essential supplies of pills and instruments to meet the needs of the village cultivators, the Ye Immortal Village had truly begun to operate.

Only Lin Zhi looked at Ye Mo with great surprise.

Ye Immortal Village did not have any pill refiners; they had to cultivate them from pill refining novices and apprentices.

Refining pills required a huge investment. For a pill refiner to progress from zero foundation to breaking even, they needed to refine a large number of pills to improve their refining skill. The resources consumed during this process were staggering.

If one accidentally ruined a batch of spiritual pills, it meant wasting medicinal herbs worth at least hundreds of spirit stones. It took dozens, sometimes over a hundred rounds of refining before the technique could become proficient.

The success rate for pill refining apprentices was generally very low. Even ten batches might yield only one or two successful pills—far from recovering the costs. Training an ordinary pill refiner could result in losses ranging from a few thousand to over ten thousand spirit stones.

Only when reaching the level of a pill refiner did the success rate improve enough to start earning some spirit stones.

Though Lin Zhi was not an expert in pill refining, his poison refining technique was quite similar. Naturally, he understood clearly how massive the investment was to train a pill refiner.

Ye Immortal Village had not yet grown its own spiritual herbs and had to purchase them from Qingyun Immortal City for the pill refiners to practice with, which would be a tremendous loss.

However, all the transaction accounts were in Ye Mo’s hands, and Lin Zhi could not know how many spirit stones Ye Mo planned to spend to cultivate a pill refiner.

“Could it be that Ye Mo has found a candidate with extremely high pill refining talent?” Lin Zhi thought to himself.

Indeed, there existed cultivators with exceptional talent in pill refining who could improve several times faster than others, significantly reducing the investment cost.

Lin Zhi himself was a prime example: he had loved experimenting with poisons since childhood, had a constitution resistant to poison, and advanced quickly in poison refining. Given plenty of spiritual toxic herbs to practice with, he would soon become a poison refiner.

The Ye Immortal Village’s Refining Instruments Pavilion and Refining Pills Pavilion had both begun operations.

As for the Spirit Eagle Pavilion, Ye Mo personally managed it. The spirit eagle’s advantage of the skies held a powerful suppressive force over Qi Refining stage cultivators.

Several days later, Yang You returned from the Redfire Mining Island.

The Refining Instruments Pavilion had also produced results.

Using Redfire Stone and Dark Iron to forge spirit swords and armors, as long as the ratio formulas were correct, even if the products were inferior, they could be melted down and reforged.

This was quite different from pill refining, where once the herbs were ruined, the batch was completely lost.

Instrument refiners only needed to invest time and consumables like spirit charcoal and oil. Generally, the raw materials for instruments were not lost. Spirit charcoal and oil made from spirit wood were cheaper, costing only a few spirit stones.

In this regard, training instrument refiners was much easier than pill refiners.

Wang Hu himself had some innate talent in instrument refining. After receiving two blueprints and working diligently for seven or eight days, he forged a Redfire Spirit Sword and a set of Redfire Spirit Armor.

“Brother Ye, take a look at this First-Rank Fire Spirit Sword,” Wang Hu said with a broad smile in the Refining Instruments Pavilion, handing over a sword glowing with a red radiance.

Ye Mo took the Redfire Spirit Sword and flicked the tip with his finger. The sword emitted a clear, bright ringing sound.

Ye Mo then infused the sword with his mana. The sword tip immediately erupted with a foot-long, intensely hot red flame blade. With a casual swing, he struck a spirit wooden stake used for sword testing with a force of a thousand jin.

“Shh!”

The First-Rank spirit wood stake broke cleanly into two pieces at the sound of the strike. The break point was charred black and even smoldered with flames, clearly burned by the fiery blade.

The Redfire Spirit Sword’s attack carried a strong fire element spiritual energy.

If it struck an enemy or a beast, besides the sword wound, it would inflict additional fire burns, making the damage far more lethal and the wound harder to heal.

Because of this, the price of a First-Rank Redfire Spirit Sword was much higher than a First-Rank Dark Iron Spirit Sword without any elemental attribute.

“Hmm, quite good. This Redfire Spirit Sword fully meets the standard. Wang Hu, you’ve officially become an instrument refining apprentice. You can now produce qualified spirit swords,” Ye Mo said with satisfaction after testing its power.

“Hehe, I had to reforge it four times before I finally barely made a Redfire Spirit Sword,” Wang Hu said, scratching his head with a somewhat embarrassed smile.

A true instrument refining apprentice was expected to successfully forge a First-Rank spirit instrument. Even if it took several reforgings, it still counted as reaching the apprentice standard.

Of course, to become a full instrument refiner, one had to be able to forge higher-rank spirit instruments with a relatively high success rate.

“Now, look at this Fire Spirit Armor,” Wang Hu said, taking down a heavy red spirit armor from the rack.

This armor was much heavier than the spirit sword, made with several times the material, weighing several hundred jin. Only cultivators at the Qi Refining stage had the strength to wear it.

“Brother Hu, I’ll wear the armor while you test it with the Fire Spirit Sword,” Yang You said cheerfully as he took the armor and put it on.

“Then I won’t hold back,” Wang Hu chuckled, infusing mana. The Redfire Spirit Sword in his hand glowed with a foot-long crimson light as he slashed toward Yang You.

If the Fire Spirit Armor was substandard, this strike could have cost Yang You his life.

Yang You clearly trusted Wang Hu completely. Since he dared to wear the armor, there was no chance of any flaw.

“Clang!”

The Redfire Spirit Sword burst into a crimson flame that fiercely struck the Fire Spirit Armor. With a thunderous bang, dazzling red light exploded, blinding to the eye.

Yang You was struck by the heavy blow and took two steps back, his face paling slightly.

However, the Fire Spirit Armor remained intact, with only a faint slash mark, which was insignificant for such thick armor.

“Again!” Yang You called.

Wang Hu did not refuse. Waving the Redfire Spirit Sword, he charged up again.

After several strikes, the Fire Spirit Armor remained undamaged.

The exquisite quality of the Redfire Spirit Sword and Armor left Ye Mo very pleased.

Next, Wang Hu and Yang You, along with over ten instrument refining novices, began working hard to equip the cultivators of Ye Immortal Village with new Redfire Spirit Sword and Armor sets.

The production capacity of the Refining Instruments Pavilion was still limited. Wang Hu, Yang You, and the novices could forge about one spirit sword or set of armor every two or three days.

Within the Immortal Guard’s camp, a practice arena for cultivation and combat had also been specially built.

During their free time, the village cultivators could spar and improve their combat skills here.

Although every cultivator had their own production profession, their combat power was the village’s most crucial strength and could not be neglected. Even those less skilled in combat, like Lin Zhi, Mo Ling, Wang Hu, and Yang You, often came to spar.

Besides meeting the needs of the village cultivators, the spirit instruments produced by Ye Immortal Village’s Refining Instruments Pavilion were also important for sale to earn spirit stones.

Ye Mo took a set of Redfire Sword and Armor and headed back to Qingyun Immortal City.

This time was different from before. Confident and holding finished spirit instruments, he was not worried about selling them. Qingyun Immortal City, as a large immortal city, had many Qi Refining stage cultivators.

In a modest spirit instrument shop with a sign reading “Lv’s Shop,” a well-dressed elderly man carefully examined Ye Mo’s Redfire Spirit Armor, inspecting every tiny detail.

After a long moment, the elderly man looked up and said to Ye Mo, “Fellow Daoist, both the Redfire Spirit Sword and Armor meet the standards. One set is 150 spirit stones. What do you think?”

“One set for 150 spirit stones? That’s quite a bit lower than the market price,” Ye Mo was taken aback.

“On the market, a First-Rank spirit instrument retails for about 100 spirit stones each. But our shop’s purchasing price is usually lower, around 75 spirit stones per piece. Otherwise, we wouldn’t make a profit,” the elderly man explained.

“Besides, if you only sell this one set, it might take ten or fifteen days in my shop to sell it. I would only make a few scattered spirit stones,” he added, sounding a bit impatient and unwilling to waste words over small gains.

“This is produced by my own workshop, and I can supply continuously. Could the shop owner offer a higher price?” Ye Mo smiled.

“Your own production?” The elderly man’s eyes flashed.

At least a workshop could produce spirit instruments. For any shop, having another supply source was definitely a good thing.

“Forgive my poor eyesight. If the quality is the same as these two pieces, the price can be negotiated. Fellow Daoist, please come inside. We can discuss it over tea,” the elderly man’s expression changed to one of politeness as he immediately invited Ye Mo into the inner hall.

In a small, inconspicuous room at the back of the shop, Ye Mo sat on a chair made of spirit wood, its backrest covered with a soft fur whose origin was unknown.

He lifted his tea cup and took a sip of the spirit tea.

Immediately, a refreshing fragrance filled his senses, and warmth spread through his abdomen. A faint stream of mana began to flourish, and every pore on his body seemed to be invigorated with clarity.

Ye Mo exhaled deeply.

“Good tea. This tea quickly restores mana,” he couldn’t help but praise.

Just a small sip made him feel much more replenished in mana.

Often, when Qi Refining cultivators exhaust their mana, they become nothing more than strong warriors unable to cast spells. Keeping sufficient mana inside was extremely important.

“Heh heh,” the elderly man laughed heartily, raising his cup. “This is Third-Rank Snow Mountain Spirit Tea. For Qi Refining cultivators like us, it’s the finest tea available. Anything higher is beyond us old Qi Refiners to enjoy.”

“Third-Rank Spirit Tea! Shop owner, you get to enjoy this tea daily? That’s truly a rare luxury. I’m quite envious,” Ye Mo said with admiration and a smile.

“Oh no, I don’t drink it every day,” the elderly man quickly waved his hand, shaking his head. “You flatter me. This tea is reserved for honored guests. Even I only drink it occasionally. Drinking it daily would be too costly.”