Chapter 450 - 406: Auction House, Purifying Spirit Pill

Chapter 450: Chapter 406: Auction House, Purifying Spirit Pill

The next day, Liu Chaoyuan stood outside the entrance to Golden Core Hall, peering inside from time to time.

The shop was bustling with activity, packed to the brim with customers.

Zhao Lin, Gu Dezhao, and a few clerks were welcoming and seeing off customers, all with beaming smiles.

’Aren’t they supposed to be going out of business? Why is it still so lively?’

Liu Chaoyuan was bewildered. He wanted to go inside and ask, but it didn’t feel appropriate, so he walked away resentfully.

The clearance sale sign hung for three days.

On the fourth day, Liu Chaoyuan got up before dawn and loitered in front of his own shop, feigning nonchalance.

As the sun rose, the doors to Golden Core Hall finally opened.

Zhao Lin came out carrying a sign half as tall as a person. He set it up by the entrance, then turned and saw Liu Chaoyuan. He quickly cupped his hands in greeting. "Shopkeeper Liu, good morning!"

Liu Chaoyuan took a closer look, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. "Aren’t you supposed to close after three days? What’s this about a ’final morning’?"

Zhao Lin sighed. "We haven’t sold off the last of our stock. It’d be a shame to take it back with us. How about... Shopkeeper Liu helps us out by buying it?"

Liu Chaoyuan was left speechless.

「The fifth day.」

Clearance Sale Encore! Back for Three Days!

Zhao Lin had just set the sign up when his vision blurred, and Liu Chaoyuan appeared out of nowhere.

"How can there be an encore?!"

Zhao Lin said calmly, "Our shop still has inventory, and our lease hasn’t expired yet, so we figured we’d sell for a few more days."

"A few more days?"

Liu Chaoyuan froze for a moment as it began to dawn on him. "So you’re not going out of business at all! You’re just using that as an excuse to sell your products, aren’t you?"

Zhao Lin waved his hands dismissively. "Shopkeeper Liu, don’t spread baseless rumors," he said earnestly. "We are, in fact, closing this shop."

Just then, a clerk from Linglong Pavilion came over and warned Liu Chaoyuan, "Shopkeeper, don’t listen to him! I was running errands at the administrative office yesterday afternoon and saw them unloading goods from a Spiritual Vessel. They made three trips and still weren’t done!"

Hearing this, Liu Chaoyuan’s mustache practically bristled with rage. He demanded of Zhao Lin, "How do you explain this?"

Zhao Lin’s expression didn’t change. "That’s also inventory."

Liu Chaoyuan exploded with anger. "You’re too shameless! This is blatant deception!"

Gu Dezhao heard the commotion outside and came over to see what was happening. He had just stepped one foot out the door when he heard that line. His face immediately flushed with shame, and he pulled his foot back inside.

Zhao Lin pretended not to notice and smiled. "Shopkeeper Liu, you’re mistaken. How can you call business matters shameless?"

"Besides, we’re not stealing or robbing anyone, and our discounts are real. If you don’t believe me, Shopkeeper Liu, you’re welcome to come in and have a look. If you see anything you like, I’ll personally give you a twenty percent discount."

Fuming, Liu Chaoyuan turned on his heel and stormed away.

...

Time flew by in a flash.

「One year later...」

Dongfu District’s reputation had steadily grown. Not only did cultivators from within the province frequently come here to purchase cultivation items, but the number of cultivators from other provinces had also increased. The desolation of its grand opening was now a distant memory.

"Shopkeeper Tian, I’ve come uninvited once again."

Zhao Lin walked into Harmony Hall, greeting the shopkeeper, Tian Daozhong, with practiced familiarity.

"Not at all, not at all. This old man can’t welcome a valued guest like you fast enough."

Tian Daozhong enthusiastically came forward and walked with Zhao Lin arm-in-arm. But as he turned, a dark glint flashed in his eyes.

"Fellow Daoist Zhao, are you here for pills?"

After leading him into a private room in the back, Tian Daozhong had a clerk serve tea. He took a light sip before asking.

"Indeed."

Zhao Lin nodded lightly.

By a silent, mutual understanding, neither of them mentioned the Acupoint Opening Pill by name.

Tian Daozhong cleared his throat and asked, "Fellow Daoist Zhao, how many do you need?"

Zhao Lin didn’t speak. He dipped his finger in the tea and wrote the character for "five" on the low table.

Tian Daozhong’s expression flickered, then shifted to one of difficulty. "To be honest with you, our supply of these pills has been cut off. We only have one left in the shop."

Zhao Lin remained impassive and asked, "And in the future?"

Tian Daozhong said apologetically, "I’m afraid there won’t be any in the future, either."

Zhao Lin reached out and wiped the water from the table. "Alright," he said decisively. "What’s the price?"

Tian Daozhong said, "Rarity makes an item precious. I could sell it for a higher price, but since you’re a regular customer, Fellow Daoist Zhao, I’ll stick to the original price."

Zhao Lin broke into a smile. "Then I must thank you, Shopkeeper Tian."

Tian Daozhong handed Zhao Lin a dark-grained gourd containing the Acupoint Opening Pill and asked, as if casually, "I wonder, Fellow Daoist Zhao, are these pills for your own use, or are you giving them to someone else?"

Zhao Lin chuckled and shook his head. "Matters of cultivation are not for outsiders to know. Please forgive me, Shopkeeper Tian."

Tian Daozhong gave a hearty laugh. "No matter. This old man was just asking casually..."

Leaving Harmony Hall, Zhao Lin gently patted the storage pouch at his waist. ’I’ll have to use these more sparingly from now on,’ he thought.

By using the Acupoint Opening Pills to overcome the most difficult Spiritual Acupoints, Zhao Lin’s cultivation had progressed by leaps and bounds over the past year. He had entered the Qi Refining Sixth Layer at the beginning of the year and was now close to its peak.

To avoid drawing undue attention, he had kept two Acupoint Opening Pills in reserve and hadn’t used them. Otherwise, he could have broken through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer this year.

After Zhao Lin left, Shopkeeper Tian’s expression turned grim.

His clerk, Yangquan, came in and said, puzzled, "It’s truly bizarre. We’ve sold him a total of seven Acupoint Opening Pills. How has nothing happened to him yet?"

"Could it be that he only took one or two and hasn’t touched the rest?"

Tian Daozhong pondered for a long moment before slowly shaking his head. "Impossible. The year before last, when we first met him, his cultivation was still at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer. In just two short years, he’s broken through to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer."

"Moreover, I observed the pillar of Spiritual Qi he manifested. The sixth one was extremely solid, meaning he’s likely already at the peak of the sixth layer. Such an unnaturally fast cultivation speed couldn’t be due to any other pill besides the Acupoint Opening Pill."

Yangquan thought for a moment and asked, "Could it be because of his cultivation talent?"

Tian Daozhong stated firmly, "Impossible. Only someone with a Heaven and Earth Spirit Root could cultivate at such a speed. He is a Martial Cultivator, so his talent must be mid-grade at best. With normal cultivation, it would take him at least three to five years to break through a single layer."

Hearing this, Yangquan was even more baffled. "But aren’t ninety-nine percent of people who take three Acupoint Opening Pills supposed to suffer from completely ruined meridians and have their cultivation stagnate? Could the rumors be wrong?"