Chapter 172 Raising the Rent

Three years and eight months?

Feng Ke'er could not help but let out a sharp gasp.

Two thousand two hundred spirit stones per month, for three years and eight months—just how many spirit stones would that be? And they had to be paid in full within five days!

Truly, a penny can defeat a hero. Times were no longer what they used to be. For the very first time in his life, Hu Li found himself troubled over spirit stones.

Feng Ke'er scratched her head. "Didn't they say that after living in the Southern Spirit Continent for three full years, we could relocate to other spirit continents?" With no other choice, it looked like they would have to squat rent-free.

Unexpectedly, Hu Li took out his identity jade token with a very serious expression. "It's recorded right in here: my current merit points are minus eight hundred and eighty. I just inquired about it. If your merit points are in the negative, you aren't allowed to board the guidance light spheres."

According to the Alliance regulations, everyone had to travel across the sea of clouds exclusively via the guidance light spheres. Being unable to board the guidance light spheres meant being unable to leave the Southern Spirit Continent.

This was driving them crazy. Feng Ke'er rolled her eyes. "Fox, how many spirit stones do you have left on you?"

"Less than four thousand," Hu Li replied. "I also brought some elixirs and heavenly materials and earthly treasures down from the lower realm. Taking them to the market could probably exchange for about ten thousand spirit stones."

When ascending, the items one could bring along were extremely limited. What to bring with ascent in mind was something he had considered with utmost deliberation. However, he hadn't accounted for the fact that the gap between the lower realm and the spirit realm spanned far more than just one or two grades. Heavenly materials and earthly treasures that were practically unobtainable in the lower realm were priced like radishes here. Fortunately, he had also brought some medicinal pills at the time. Those elixirs, which were priceless and unavailable on the market in the lower realm, could still be exchanged for some spirit stones here; otherwise, he would have simply brought a pile of garbage up with him.

Of course, he also had some grade-one fasting spiritual pills that Feng Ke'er had refined using the medicinal herbs from the Newcomer Gift Pack. The quality of this batch of elixirs was quite exceptional; placed in an elixir shop, they would easily be worth around one hundred thousand spirit stones. Unfortunately, it was precisely because their quality was too high that using them carelessly might attract unnecessary trouble. Therefore, he could only stare at the spiritual pills in frustration and do nothing.

That was still too short—they couldn't even afford a quarter of the rent. Feng Ke'er curled her lips. "Take the things out. Let me take a look. Perhaps I can refine a few cauldrons of low-grade elixirs." Although the grade of those items was far inferior to those in the spirit realm, she had confidence in her own alchemy skills and her trusty rice-cooker-like cauldron. Using them to cobble together some lower-quality elixirs shouldn't pose any problem.

"Master's consideration is brilliant. Low-grade elixirs are inexpensive; even if we sell them in large quantities, they won't attract unwanted attention." Hu Li smiled as he pulled items out of his storage bag. "It's only noon now. Whatever is missing, I can go straight to the market and scout for them."

Feng Ke'er made a brief inventory and then wrote out a list, handing it to him.

Upon looking at it, Hu Li saw that everything listed consisted of common spirit herbs and medicinal plants under a hundred years old. He smiled and said, "Adding all these up won't even cost three thousand spirit stones."

In less than an hour, he bought every single item on the list without missing a single one.

Carrying the medicinal herbs, Feng Ke'er burrowed into the spatial sphere.

These herbs were enough to refine ten cauldrons of low-grade Crimson Blood Spirit Pills and twenty low-grade Fasting Pills. Time was extremely limited; even with the overlapping time flow between the mustard-seed space and the spatial sphere, this was all she could manage.

On the fifth day, Feng Ke'er emerged from the spatial sphere with a thoroughly exhausted expression, tossing the storage bag in her hand to Hu Li. "It's all in here. Ten bottles of Crimson Blood Pills and twenty bottles of Fasting Pills, all of them low-grade spiritual pills." After her advancement, all her capability metrics had skyrocketed by manifold bounds, and having inherited the *Supreme Heavenly Canon*, she had made leaps and bounds in the Dao of Alchemy. Consequently, her success rate in refining such low-quality elixirs was one hundred percent.

Hu Li caught the bag, took out a bottle, and unscrewed the cap to inspect it. The Crimson Blood Pills in the bottle possessed a vibrant color and carried a faint ginseng fragrance, completely unlike the elixirs Feng Ke'er had refined in the past. The spiritual pills she used to refine, regardless of their type, would always carry a faint purple halo—high-grade alchemists always used their natal spiritual fire for alchemy, which was why the refined elixirs would bear their own distinct characteristics. That layer of faint purple halo was the signature hallmark of Feng Ke'er's creations.

Right now, that signature was gone. Generally speaking, there were two possibilities for this: First, a high-grade alchemist's cultivation had stagnated for many years, impacting their Dao of Alchemy and causing them to lose their original state of mind, thereby dropping in rank to a middle-grade alchemist. The elixirs produced by low-grade and middle-grade alchemists possessed no distinct characteristics of their own. Second, a high-grade alchemist's cultivation had advanced greatly, achieving a qualitative leap in the Dao of Alchemy and ascending to a saint-grade alchemist, reaching the selfless state of returning to simplicity and naturalness. With the Dao following nature, the products of a saint-grade alchemist likewise bore no personal characteristics whatsoever.

Of course, whether elixirs lacking personal characteristics came from the hands of low- or middle-grade alchemists or from a saint-grade alchemist was something ordinary people could not discern; only a saint-grade alchemist could tell them apart.

However, Hu Li was not the least bit worried about being seen through by a discerning eye—as far as he knew, high-grade alchemists were already the highest-level alchemists in the spirit realm. Currently, in the entire spirit realm, his master was the sole saint-grade alchemist.

Unable to suppress the wild joy surging in his heart, Hu Li beamed with a glowing complexion as he put away the storage bag, yet he let out a heartbroken sigh of lamentation. "What an absolute pity." Any product of a saint-grade alchemist, regardless of its quality, was supposed to be called an immortal pill. Yet right now, these "immortal pills" in his hands could only be sold as ordinary spiritual pills. Was it a pity or not? The price difference between the two was a distance of a hundred thousand miles.

Feng Ke'er scoffed, "Hurry up and take them to exchange for spirit stones. Later on, you still have to go to the Foreign Affairs Courtyard to pay the overdue rent. Otherwise, once today passes, you really will be blacklisted by the Alliance." As she spoke, she couldn't help but cover her mouth and yawn.

According to Alliance regulations: for those who failed to pay rent past the deadline: first, the immortal cave would be automatically reclaimed; second, they had to voluntarily report to the Alliance to negotiate an extension period; third, from then on, all expenses and spending of this individual across the five continents of the spirit realm would be calculated at double rates; fourth, they would be disqualified from taking on any missions.

Wahaha, the Alliance was truly mighty and boundless, its reach almost ubiquitous. Once targeted by it, it was far more terrifying than being placed on a bank's blacklist in the modern world.

Hu Li did not know what a "blacklist" was, but he understood his master's meaning. Moreover, having spent so much time with her, he had long grown accustomed to those abruptly dropped modern terms. Who else could she be if not a character who stood out from the ordinary?

When he went out to scout for herbs five days ago, Hu Li had already locked his sights on a specific elixir shop. Therefore, this time, he swallowed a Face-Masking Pill and walked straight into the small elixir shop situated at the southern gate, asking, "Shopkeeper, do you want any elixirs?"

In the spirit realm, almost every elixir shop purchased elixirs—although the Southern Spirit Continent had explicitly enacted a ban against taking lives in order to protect newly ascended cultivators, the other four continents had no such rule. Therefore, incidents of murder and looting were even more rampant here than in the lower realm. Where there was stolen loot, there naturally had to be a dens that fenced it.

Could it not be that someone refined them themselves?

Phew. In the spirit realm, all kinds of specialized technical personnel were in extreme scarcity, especially alchemists. Have you not heard the saying: every single trade and profession has rogue cultivators, except for alchemists, who never have rogue cultivators. Whether human cultivators or demonic beasts and spiritual beasts; whether native cultivators or ascended cultivators, the moment you successfully refined a cauldron of elixirs and word got out, noble families would immediately come knocking on your door to sponsor you.

Hu Li was accustomed to being a boss, and Feng Ke'er had long been used to acting unconventionally, which was why this master and servant had previously been unwilling to squeeze into the mainstream alchemy market, preferring to pose as those dealing in stolen goods.

"Please wait a moment." The assistant in dark robes darted quickly into the inner room.

Immediately afterward, a tall female cultivator dressed in a jade-colored Daoist robe walked out from the back. While sizing up Hu Li, she asked, "I wonder what kind of goods the fellow daoist has on hand?"

Hu Li gave a wave of his hand, and the small stone table in front of him was instantly lined with various bottles and jars. "There are many types. I can't possibly list them all in a short time. Fellow daoist, just inspect them closely yourself." To make it appear more authentic, he had also displayed all the elixirs he brought down from the lower realm.

Hearing this, the jade-robed woman raised an eyebrow, lifted the front of her robe, and sat down across from him, genuinely opening the bottles one by one to inspect them. "Crimson Blood Pills... low-grade spiritual pills, decent color... Fasting Pills, the scent is also quite pure... Hmm, there are also Nine-Turn Essence-Condensing Pills... Detoxification Pills..."

After about the time it took to burn an incense stick, she finally finished her inspection.

By this time, the medicine bottles on the table had been divided into two piles. The ten bottles of Crimson Blood Pills and twenty bottles of Fasting Pills had all been sorted out.

The jade-robed woman pointed at this pile and said, "These are passable. For goods like these, however many fellow daoist has, the shop will take them at one thousand spirit stones per bottle." Then she pointed at the other pile. "These are too chaotic and mixed; the shop can offer at most two thousand spirit stones for the lot."

Such an offer was not even a quarter of ordinary goods on the market. Furious, Hu Li stood up, flicked his sleeve, and swept all the bottles and jars back into his storage bag. He cupped his fists with a smile and said, "Sorry to have disturbed you, fellow daoist." With that, he lifted the hem of his robe, intending to leave without looking back.

"Hey now, Big Sister—" The jade-robed woman grabbed his sleeve in a rush of anxiety and said with a flattering smile, "Let's talk things over nicely, don't be in such a hurry."

Big Sister Hu sneered, "Fellow daoist, your price is pressed far too low, I have nothing more to say." (After Hu Li swallowed the Face-Masking Pill, a layer of spiritual mist would shroud his body for two hours. Appearing and disappearing vaguely, it made it impossible for others to clearly see his appearance and figure. On top of that, he had been extra cautious and specifically employed bone-shrinking techniques. Consequently, peering through the spiritual mist, the jade-robed woman had only managed a vague glimpse of a pretty face and a petite figure, jumping to the preconceived conclusion that the formidable Third Master Hu was actually a Big Sister Hu.)

The jade-robed woman still held onto him, hurriedly raising another palm. "For those ten bottles of Crimson Blood Pills and twenty bottles of Fasting Pills, the shop will add another five hundred spirit stones per bottle." These two types of medicine were hot sellers on the market, and furthermore, the quality of this batch was genuinely not bad. By adding five hundred spirit stones per bottle, upon reselling them, she could net a clean profit of at least three thousand spirit stones per bottle. Of course, the primary reason was that she herself could not practice alchemy and purely acted as a merchant, usually just earning hard-earned money. If she didn't sell some illicit elixirs, making a living here was truly difficult.

Hu Li let out a cold snort from his nose, pulled his sleeve out of her grip, and put on an expression of utter disdain to waste any more words with her.

"Adding another two hundred per bottle..."

"One hundred..."

"A total of ninety-five thousand spirit stones." Hu Li impatiently interrupted, "If you don't want them, forget it."

"This..." The jade-robed woman looked as though she were on the verge of tears. "Big Sister, this price is simply too high..."

Before she could finish, Hu Li turned around and walked away.

Just as he reached the shop entrance, the jade-robed woman's resolute voice came from behind him: "Ninety-five thousand spirit stones. Not a single spirit stone more."

Hu Li turned back around. "Deal." If he weren't in urgent need of spirit stones, he would never deal with someone so petty.

The jade-robed woman re-inspected the goods once more, muttering incessantly, "Big Sister, if you have goods like this in the future, just bring them over. The entire market won't find a second shop willing to offer such a high price as mine."

Hu Li simply crossed his arms and hummed in response. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

Supreme Heavenly Canon 172 - Supreme Heavenly Canon Full Text Free Reading - Chapter 172: Raising Rent completed!