16: Chapter 11 Foundation Establishnt Second Level 16: Chapter 11 Foundation Establishnt Second Level In the western outer city, the tooth market was a collection of shabby and chaotic shanties, heaped together oppressively.
The ground and the crevices between houses were filled with waste from daily life, and a foul stench lingered for a long ti.
Bianjing was divided into an inner and outer city and the imperial palace.
The best street was Dragon Bridge; it was located in the inner city, connecting the Emperor’s Xuande Gate with Yuanhua Gate in the outer city, and served as the main north-south thoroughfare.
The road had drainage ditches on both sides and was a hundred ters wide, with oxen, horses, and vehicles flowing like water, and tens of thousands of pedestrians passing through.
The worst place was the tooth market, where half of Bianjing’s gutter water was drained into this low-lying alley.
This area was originally Bianjing’s drainage outlet but had now beco a breeding ground for sin.
Beggars, criminals, and human traffickers were the regular inhabitants here, making it the only place in Bianjing beyond the reach of official power.
Throughout history, there were countless instances of such lawless places being eradicated by the authorities, but without exception, they would always resurface.
Jiang Fugui casually bought a monkey mask from the side of the street, and through so interdiaries, was led in by a scar-faced strong man.
Countless eyes, hungry like wolves, converged on him, closely eyeing his well-made clothes.
He kept his head down.
Initially, he didn’t want to take risks himself, but Gu Wen had ordered that the job be done cleanly.
Jiang Fugui had no choice but to co in person, because the more people involved, the easier it was to get exposed, leading to occasions where even managers had to personally kill during business feuds at the Dragon Bridge.
Dead soldiers were only sothing grand families could afford, and not just any grand family at that.
The strong man laughed, “Don’t worry, we need to eat too; we can’t cut off our own inco.”
People like Jiang Fugui coming to buy contraband were neither the first nor could they be the last.
What Jiang Fugui brought out as a eting gift was a hundred silver bars.
At a glance, he was clearly soone from a great rchant family.
There were two main businesses in the tooth market, human trafficking and fence dealings, with the main custors all being not ordinary people — countless were those who concealed their identities.
Jiang Fugui felt slightly at ease but still didn’t dare to let down his guard.
These were desperate criminals, and even if he held a prestigious status, getting stabbed by one would an certain death.
The two of them took turns and twists, not knowing how many alleys they entered or how many street corners they turned, as if the intersections here were endless.
Nurous walls and shanties, like the dark pits of a mine, had no daylight, and from ti to ti, cries of sorrow and wailing could be heard.
After walking for the ti it takes an incense stick to burn, Jiang Fugui was getting impatient when a small courtyard appeared in front of them.
The courtyard was not luxurious or lavish, but it was notably tidy, which compared to the surrounding environnt, was like the imperial palace.
The air was filled with the scent of dicine, and a man still wearing cotton clothing in the heat of sumr was cooking a dicinal decoction.
He had only his right hand and was turned away from the two of them.
Jiang Fugui stepped forward and said, “Old One-Arm, my master said he wants to buy dicinal fruits worth five thousand silver bars.”
“Five thousand silver bars, hahaha….”
An old and raspy voice ca through as the man turned around.
Even though Jiang Fugui was prepared, his eyes still flickered as if stung.
His body was thin, his skin dark and full of wrinkles; his face was covered with pockmarks, his left eye an empty hole, while the only eye he had revealed a cold and ferocious look, like a venomous snake.
“That’s quite the generous amount.
Old might not even earn five thousand silver bars in a year.”
The imperial taxes and military provisions easily amounted to tens of millions of silver bars, but if it fell to an individual, ten silver bars would be enough for an ordinary person to live on for a year, or even two years without various taxes.
The purchasing power of Daqian silver was very high; five thousand silver bars would be enough for a large family to live a good life for generations.
Jiang Fugui said, “How much do you have?”
“Is it in cash silver?”
“Of course it’s in cash silver, and I’ll pay imdiately.”
“Good!
How generous.”
Old One-Arm held out a finger and said, “Twenty silver bars for one.”
“Go to hell, are you fucking raising the price because I’m sitting down?” Jiang Fugui suddenly erupted in anger, and his swear lured the n at the door holding bright knives.
However, at this place, Jiang Fugui, the little skinny man, was not afraid; he pointed and cursed back, “Despicable scum, get out of here!”
When you’re in a place like this, you have to be tough to negotiate a good deal, rather than be sheared like a sheep.
Old One-Arm shook his head to signal his n to leave, and slowly said, “Don’t be so hot-tempered.
It’s not that I want to hike the price, but with such a quantity, I’m afraid of governnt inspection.
If you were buying one or two, I could sneak them out, but for five thousand, I’d have to grease palms in Taifu Temple up and down.”
“Twenty bars is too expensive.
I can’t explain that to my master.” Manager Jiang shook his head and then bargained, “Fifteen bars.”
The two were at a stalemate for a while, but finally settled on eighteen silver bars per piece.
Five thousand silver bars amounted to three hundred pieces, and the extra several dozen were thrown in for free.
But even with this, Jiang Fugui couldn’t help cursing internally; didn’t he know after so many years in business?
When the other party offers extra goods to round off the numbers, it ans the markup on the goods is extrely high.
Feasting those dogs.
Jiang Fugui paid with two treasure papers worth a thousand silver bars each, and then left with a hundred dicinal fruits.
This was just a deposit from both parties.
The rest of the amount would be required to be paid when they delivered the goods.
Old One-Arm took the dicinal decoction that had just finished cooking, in a clay pot that had been heated to an extrely high temperature, and it seed to have no effect on him.
He went to the door of the room in the courtyard and knocked gently three tis, saying, “Young master, your dicine is ready.”
After a while, a faint coughing sound ca out.
“What do they need so many dicinal fruits for?”
Old One-Arm replied, “This old servant does not know, but it’s probably another person entering the mortal world.”
“…I rember that the Heavenly Girl from the Three Pure Sect has descended to earth, but a person of her stature probably doesn’t need to deal with the tooth market.
If the Heavenly Girl of the Three Pure Ones as much as opens her mouth, the Zhao family would trip over themselves to deliver what she wants.”
Another round of coughing ca from within the room, continuing only after it subsided:
“This person requires so many dicinal fruits; clearly, their aptitude is not good and they need the dicine to help with their Foundation Establishnt.
They are not half as good as .”
Old One-Arm’s spirits were lifted as he asked, “Young master, have you ford it?”
You couldn’t cultivate or practice Qi Cultivation on Immortal Land due to restrictions of the cosmic laws; at least not through normal ans.
But every cloud has a silver lining, Immortal Land could enhance a person’s aptitude, their upper limit.
Surviving a journey through Immortal Land without dying ant a future Golden Core was inevitable.
But the real prodigies were not after the Golden Core; they sought a chance at Immortal Ascension, often needing to forge a supre Dao foundation to bear their fate.
“At most three months, at least one, I am now only half a step into Foundation Establishnt.”
The voice behind the door carried a tone of arrogance.
“Congratulations, young master, my felicitations!”
Old One-Arm knelt down directly, his body trembling with excitent.
Foundation Establishnt ant embarking on the path to Immortality, a future that inevitably made one a top-notch powerhouse.
Now that the Immortal Land had only been open for five years, the young master of his household had already refined the Dao foundation.
His future was imasurable; truly an unrivaled genius!
—————–
On the other side, Jiang Fugui was sent out of the teeth market, with over a dozen stout Water House workers receiving and escorting him outside, forcing the covert onlookers to abandon their surveillance.
Water House workers generally received decent treatnt.
Apart from their roles as employees, they were essentially enforcers too.
Compared to the rats in the teeth market, these n, nourished by fine grains and rice, were far too strong.
By the ti they returned to the brothel, the night had deepened, and even the brothel had beco quiet, with only faint moaning sounds lingering.
Gu Wen had not yet slept; he was seated at the desk, organizing account books, listing suspected treasure dicines that might contain Heavenly Marrow, while also setting his sights on the various exotic treasures brought into the palace.
Among them was a kind of water from Heavenly Spring Mountain, which their Water House had to deliver to the palace monthly, with imperial guards overseeing the process.
Previously, he wasn’t too suspicious and wouldn’t be foolish enough to tamper with the Emperor’s belongings.
If he truly wanted to, he could buy them on the black market without ever being traced back to him.
But now things were different; he was cautious but not timid.
If the reward was great enough, he would strip even the Emperor of his possessions.
Heavenly Spring Mountain water, this commodity was not available on the market.
At that mont, Jiang Fugui entered the room.
He wasn’t worried about seeing Mr.
Wen standing in full glory; after all, due to physical reasons, the latter hardly indulged in won.
“Mr.
Wen, I have brought it back for you.”
Jiang Fugui placed a larger box on the table and complained huffily, “Those scoundrels at the teeth market marked up the price outrageously, from ten pieces of silver per fruit to an astronomical twenty!
I only managed to haggle them down to eighteen after a heated argunt.”
“As long as you were able to purchase it, money is not an issue.”
Gu Wen opened the box and upon inspecting the contents, he found so fruits were too small—probably inferior ones.
He instantly understood the outflow of dicinal fruits; they were likely smuggled out under the guise of inferior goods.
After Jiang Fugui left, Gu Wen grabbed a handful of dicinal fruits and stuffed them into his mouth, swallowing them whole like a gluttonous binge.
With each handful costing hundreds of silver, it was an amount beyond what an ordinary person could earn in a lifeti.
This was also why Gu Wen chose to remain in Bianjing, at Zhao Feng’s side.
Perhaps treasures were scattered all over the world, maybe even the wilderness was teeming with dicinal herbs capable of aiding his Immortal Ascension.
But what could he, with his own strength, possibly obtain?
Rather than venturing out, he stayed in Bianjing, waiting for the world’s treasure dicines to co to him.
His Fate Diagram vibrated, the Heavenly Marrow increased, and the texture of the imperial jelly remained still.
Heavenly Marrow’s first year.
Heavenly Marrow’s second year.
After consuming the last dicinal fruit, the increase in Heavenly Marrow ceased at two years—five thousand pieces of silver for only a fifth of the effect of the pill given by the immortal Yu Hua.
It was not just expensive; it was akin to throwing one’s life away.
Gu Wen felt a bit downhearted.
Even soone like him, who didn’t care much for money, couldn’t help but feel the sting of such a huge expenditure.
After all, it took nine doses of Heavenly Marrow for him to barely grasp the Cultivation Technique, allowing him to competently control the First Level of the technique.
Under his testing, the First Level’s effect seed both significant and insignificant.
The so-called eternal endurance manifested as a surge in stamina; ever since achieving Foundation Establishnt, Gu Wen had not run out of breath.
But compared to the ability to fly or burrow, this was not an extrely powerful effect.
Perhaps with heavy armor and a bit more strength, he could wreak havoc far and wide.
Regrettably, in his current position, Gu Wen definitely could not risk secretly hoarding armor.
“Hope the Second Level brings stronger abilities.”
Gu Wen sat cross-legged on the floor, just about to close his eyes, when suddenly the door was knocked upon.
“Mr.
Wen, have you gone to sleep yet?”
“What is it?”
“My subordinate nearly forgot to inform you—His Highness has summoned you to the royal mansion tomorrow, regarding matters of the Water House’s water veins.”
“I understand.”
The figure outside the door disappeared, and Gu Wen’s eyes glinted with cold determination.
Although these trusted aides were lackadaisical in their surveillance, ultimately, they were a nuisance.
He couldn’t make them vanish, so he could only hasten his steps and increase his capital.
He closed his eyes to cultivate.
Two years’ worth of Heavenly Marrow cascaded forth, the Fate Diagram refining the Dao like a crucible, peeling away the Second Level of the Yuqing Heart Sutra’s Foundation Building Chapter.
Gu Wen’s pace of cultivation once again surged.
He could feel it progressing faster than before, but the Second Level was also considerably more arduous.
This confird that the Fate Diagram wasn’t truly a baptism, but rather an enhancent to his comprehension on a fundantal level.
When he first began, one Cycle took two hours, but upon reaching the First Level, it was just an hour.
Yet the path of the Second Level seed to be ten tis more complicated than the First!
By normal standards, even if he cultivated without eating or drinking for ten years, he probably wouldn’t reach the Second Level, and the technique given by the immortal Yu Hua had nine levels.
This was rely the first realm; the cultivation was far too difficult, wasn’t it?
Yuqing Daoji Second Level, break!
—————–
Gu Residence.
A figure in snowy white perched on the eaves, her silhouette even more pure and ethereal in the moonlight.
Yu Hua was certain that this was Gu Wen’s room below, but it seed he was not there.
Where had he gone?
As roosters crowed, the sun began to rise.
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