After leaving the appraisal chamber of the Cloud Pavilion Merchant Hall, the white haired old man walked unhurriedly through the bustling crowd inside the hall before heading straight toward the main raw materials trading zone.
The floor inside was paved with pale blue glowing spirit stones. Formation runes preserving herb quality were carved into all four walls. The pressure of spiritual energy was several times denser than outside, and the scent of tens of thousands of medicinal herbs mixed together until even low level cultivators found it difficult to breathe.
A young female attendant hurried forward the moment her gaze swept over the old man. Her heart trembled slightly because she could not sense his cultivation level at all. Yet he radiated an imposing presence, as if a senior executive of the Cloud Pavilion himself were standing before her.
"Esteemed elder, is there anything I can assist you with?"
"I need sixty Heaven rank Spirit Grass plants and two thousand Earth rank Nightbloom Flowers," Zhang Wen said.
With that single sentence, the surrounding area fell silent.
The woman quickly regained her composure and rushed off to prepare the items. Once everything was ready, she reported respectfully.
"The total comes to four thousand Peak spirit stones."
The old man immediately handed over the stones. The herbs were delivered along with a spatial ring sealed by a high grade preservation formation. The woman bowed slightly as he turned to leave.
But the old man did not stop there.
He continued onward to the finished pill section. His gaze swept across the display shelves before he casually picked up a catalog tablet.
"Ten Heaven rank Spirit Enhancement Pills."
The senior attendant stiffened, then calculated rapidly.
"The total is one thousand Peak spirit stones, sir."
"Agreed."
The brief reply concluded the transaction instantly. The pills were stored into his spatial ring without hesitation. These were prepared specifically for Ming Yuan.
When all transactions were complete, the people inside the Cloud Pavilion could not help but stare at the old man's departing figure with a mixture of reverence and greed. The amount he had spent alone was equivalent to an entire month's profit.
The old man stepped out of the building calmly.
Yet the moment he crossed the threshold, a subtle sensation spread through his spiritual perception.
He sensed someone following him with great caution.
He did not quicken his pace, nor did he attempt to escape. He allowed them to trail behind him until he entered a narrow alley behind the building where no one passed.
The old man came to an abrupt halt.
"Come out."
A dark shadow stepped out from the blind corner. It was a middle aged man wearing the uniform of the Cloud Pavilion Merchant Hall. His cultivation was at early Nirvana stage, and one hand hid a short dagger behind his back.
"My apologies, esteemed elder. The manager merely wishes to know the origin of the goods…."
Slash!!
A razor thin stream of water cut through the air in an instant. A faint tearing sound rang out as his arm was severed cleanly, falling to the ground before he even understood what had happened.
The old man merely stared calmly, then muttered in an icy voice,
"What a fine merchant hall indeed. I am in a good mood today, so you get to live. Next time, it may be your head hitting the ground instead."
The old man smiled. His figure gradually faded into the air.
When he appeared again, he was already standing inside the White Dragon Merchant Hall.
The sight before him made him pause slightly.
Zhen Yi was tightly holding Ming Yuan's hand. Her face was filled with relief mixed with fear that had accumulated over a long time, while Ming Yuan was gently trying to comfort her.
"Ahem."
A soft cough echoed.
Both of them jolted in surprise and immediately pulled apart.
Zhang Wen dispelled the old man's disguise at once and walked quickly toward Ming Yuan, handing him a transparent jade bottle.
"Heaven rank Spirit Recovery Pills are inside. Take one pill at a time."
Ming Yuan accepted it with both hands. His eyes trembled slightly before he nodded firmly.
"After this, help me refine pills again," Zhang Wen continued. "We need to increase the quantity."
A star rose above Ming Yuan's palm, golden radiance blazing forth. At the same time, Zhang Wen formed a massive water sphere. Fresh medicinal herbs were absorbed and refined, crushed, dissolved, extracted, separated, and tempered.
Streams of high quality liquid flowed out endlessly.
Ming Yuan supplied the heat with precise control. Zhang Wen guided every substance with flawless accuracy.
Liquids of different colors gradually took shape, forming recovery potions, cultivation accelerating potions, and high quality medicinal pills.
Before Zhang Wen took all the finished goods to sell to other merchant halls… he repeated the process endlessly.
Sell potions and pills.Buy raw materials.Refine the materials.Then sell them again.
The cycle continued without pause.
Several hours passed.
Throughout the entire day, Zhang Wen barely rested for even a single breath. Inside the White Dragon Merchant Hall, the radiance from Ming Yuan's star never dimmed. The enormous water sphere Zhang Wen created rotated steadily without interruption.
The quality of the pills and potions produced this time far exceeded ordinary market standards. Even the top merchant halls of Sword Heaven City could not easily produce liquids of such purity.
Yet Zhang Wen did it.
And he adjusted the formulas in every single refinement.
Even though they were all cultivation acceleration potions, their internal structures were completely different. The circulation speed of spiritual energy, absorption framework, stability duration, and reaction rhythm were each altered slightly every time.
As a result, it became impossible to trace their true origin.
The Cloud Merchant Hall obtained cultivation acceleration potions at 50 percent efficiency.
….
….
The Silver Star Merchant Hall obtained cultivation acceleration potions at 51 percent efficiency.
….
….
….
….
The Seven Colored Peacock Merchant Hall obtained cultivation acceleration potions at 60 percent efficiency.
Every formula looked similar, yet none were truly the same in their internal details.
Each time Zhang Wen sold the potions and pills, he always changed his identity. Sometimes he appeared as a young man, sometimes as an old elder, sometimes as a middle aged cultivator, a wealthy young master, or even in the form of a woman.
Within a single day, Zhang Wen entered and exited ten different merchant halls, ranging from the tenth richest merchant hall in Sword Heaven City all the way to the number one.
Every merchant hall paid without bargaining.
Because his pills were far superior to anything on the market.
Thanks to his absolute control over water, he was able to extract the finest essence from every herb and use it at maximum efficiency.
With the city on the brink of possible civil war at any moment, the merchant halls eagerly stockpiled these resources without hesitation, intending to profit once chaos erupted.
Zhang Wen himself had to finish selling all the potions and pills to every merchant hall within the same day. He could not allow any news about these medicines to spread.
In truth, once the quantity of an item increased, its value would inevitably fall.
That was why every transaction had to be completed within a single day.
Because of this, supreme-grade spirit stones poured endlessly into Zhang Wen's spatial ring.
In less than one day, the total amount of supreme spirit stones surpassed fifty thousand.
After selling the final batch of goods to the Seven Colored Peacock Merchant Hall, the number one merchant hall of the city, everything was finally complete.
When Zhang Wen returned to the White Dragon Merchant Hall, his body nearly collapsed the moment he stepped inside.
Ming Yuan had already slid down to sit against the wall, eyes tightly closed, his breathing shallow like someone on the verge of death. Even after consuming several supreme-grade spirit recovery pills, the exhaustion from refining pills continuously for ten rounds still ravaged his body.
Zhen Yi sat beside him, carefully wiping away his sweat and feeding him pills one by one. Her expression was filled with both worry and disbelief.
Even high-level alchemists could not accomplish what Ming Yuan had just done.
Ten consecutive refinement sessions in a single day.Not a single failure.And every batch produced peak-quality results.
After some time passed, Zhang Wen's body gradually recovered from the exhaustion. He informed the two of them that he needed to step out briefly, then turned and left quietly without disturbing their rest.
His destination this time was the Rat Tunnel Society.
The place that gathered intelligence, shadows, secrets, and every underground route of Sword Heaven City.