Spring passed, and autumn came. In the blink of an eye, a year had flown by.

During this past year, Wang Hao’s cultivation had progressed considerably. He was now not far from the fifth layer of Qi Refining.

Logically, he should have continued his seclusion to attempt a breakthrough. However, the date for the Foundation Establishment Pill auction was approaching, and the marketplace had become much more bustling. Wang Hao decided to go out and join the excitement.

He hoped he might be able to gather some of the medicinal herbs needed for the Foundation Establishment Pill. Additionally, the auction wasn’t limited to just Foundation Establishment Pills; there would be many other good items available. He needed to exchange some resources for Spirit Stones to prepare beforehand.

During this one-year period, he had made little progress on the path of talisman making. The reason was simple: both in his previous life and his current one, he lacked experience using a calligraphy brush. The first step—copying and tracing runes—would waste a massive amount of time, and time was precisely what Wang Hao lacked most. He could only temporarily abandon it.

If his cultivation stagnated once he reached the late stage of Qi Refining, he could then practice talisman making while searching for the herbs required for the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Although talisman making wasn’t feasible, Wang Hao’s alchemy skills had improved greatly.

After his success rate with Fasting Pills reached sixty percent, he began attempting to refine Gathering Spirit Pills. After dozens of failures, he finally succeeded. Now, he no longer needed to purchase pills externally for his cultivation. Relying solely on the farm’s output to refine Gathering Spirit Pills was sufficient for his own use, with a considerable amount left over.

During this period, he had accumulated over thirty bottles of Gathering Spirit Pills, which could be exchanged for nearly a thousand Spirit Stones.

The farm now had nine plots of land. One was occupied by the Golden Thread Spirit Apricot trees. Three were planted with herbs for Gathering Spirit Pills. Of the remaining five plots, aside from occasionally using one to grow Spirit Rice for his own consumption, he used the rest to grow Spirit Talisman Grass.

Why grow Spirit Talisman Grass? Because it had a short growth cycle and high economic value!

However, he couldn’t refine the Spirit Talisman Grass into talisman paper himself, and selling large quantities of raw grass to shops was difficult to explain. That was why he decided to set up a stall in the market square during this bustling period.

Setting up a stall was anonymous. He just needed to pay a management fee of one Spirit Stone per day. It was convenient and safe.

Arriving at the square, Wang Hao paid three Spirit Stones to rent a corner spot for three days.

The flow of people in the corner was naturally less than in the center, but Wang Hao wasn’t in a hurry. He took out a piece of white cloth and wrote his signboard: “High-Price Acquisition of Various Spirit Seeds, Low-Price Sale of Pills, Spirit Herbs!”

After setting up the sign, Wang Hao laid out a piece of beast skin on the ground. He placed twenty bottles of Fasting Pills, five bottles of Gathering Spirit Pills, and twenty bundles of Spirit Talisman Grass on it. Then, he sat cross-legged behind the stall and began to meditate.

“Fellow Daoist, how are you selling these Fasting Pills?”

Not long after, a cultivator stopped in front of the stall and asked.

Wang Hao opened his eyes. The inquirer was a young man at the second layer of Qi Refining, dressed simply. He looked like a loose cultivator living in difficult circumstances.

“Two Spirit Stones per bottle!” Wang Hao replied calmly.

“Two Spirit Stones?” The young man exclaimed in surprise. “The shops sell them for three Spirit Stones!”

“I refined them myself. No middleman to earn the difference, so naturally, it’s cheaper. However, the taste might be slightly worse, but I guarantee the efficacy is sufficient!”

The young man picked up a bottle, opened it to sniff, and nodded repeatedly. “Indeed, it’s Fasting Pill. Although the color is a bit off, for us loose cultivators, as long as it fills the stomach, it’s fine! Give me two bottles!”

The young man readily took out four Spirit Stones.

After the first transaction was completed, the stall gradually attracted more people.

“Fellow Daoist, how much for this Gathering Spirit Pill?” A middle-aged man at the fifth layer of Qi Refining squatted down, picking up a bottle of Gathering Spirit Pills to examine.

“Twenty-eight Spirit Stones per bottle!”

“Cheaper than the shops by two stones, but the quality seems average… How about twenty-five?” The middle-aged man tried to bargain.

Wang Hao shook his head. “Twenty-eight is the lowest. Any lower and I won’t make a profit.”

The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment but ultimately put it down. For a few Spirit Stones, he preferred buying better quality ones from the shops to avoid any potential issues with pills from a street stall affecting his cultivation.

Wang Hao didn’t mind. His target customers were those poorer loose cultivators who prioritized price over quality.

“I have some seeds here. Do you take them?”

Suddenly, a hoarse voice spoke.

Wang Hao looked up. Standing before him was an old man wearing a bamboo hat, his face concealed by a black veil.

“What seeds?” Wang Hao asked, his interest piqued.

The old man looked around cautiously before taking out a small cloth bag from his storage pouch and handing it over.

Wang Hao opened it to look. Inside were dozens of black seeds, each the size of a mung bean, emitting a faint spiritual energy fluctuation.

“These are…” Wang Hao frowned slightly. He couldn’t recognize them immediately.

“Black Jade Lotus seeds!” the old man whispered. “Second-tier low-grade spiritual plant!”

Wang Hao’s heart skipped a beat. Second-tier spiritual plant! And it was a lotus type, likely useful for refining water-attribute pills or crafting artifacts.

“How much?” Wang Hao asked directly.

“Fifty Spirit Stones!” The old man extended five fingers.

“Deal!” Wang Hao agreed without hesitation. Even if he couldn’t plant them now, unlocking the seeds in the farm store first was worth it.

After completing the transaction, Wang Hao stored the seeds away carefully. This trip was already worth it!

Over the next two days, Wang Hao’s business was surprisingly good. The cheap Fasting Pills sold out quickly. The Gathering Spirit Pills also sold a few bottles. The Spirit Talisman Grass was bought in bulk by a passing talisman maker.

In total, he earned over four hundred Spirit Stones. Excluding the cost of the seeds he bought, he made a net profit of about three hundred.

More importantly, he acquired several new types of spirit seeds from various loose cultivators, further enriching his farm’s seed library.

On the third day, just as Wang Hao was packing up to leave, a familiar figure appeared in the distance.

It was Wang Yanfeng.

He was accompanying a middle-aged man who looked somewhat similar to Wang Yanzhao. They were walking towards the center of the square, seemingly inspecting the market.

Wang Hao pulled his bamboo hat lower, intending to slip away quietly. He didn’t want to be recognized by Wang Yanfeng here.

However, things didn’t go as planned.

“Yi? Isn’t that Nephew Hao?”

Wang Yanfeng’s sharp eyes spotted him.