It was impossible to tell how long this Fan Tian Yin had been sealed within its outer shell; its original owner was likely long dead. Wang Hao figured there was no point in waiting. Without hesitation, he sliced his finger and squeezed out a drop of essence blood.

The drop fell, seemingly initiating a ritual. The wound on Wang Hao’s finger suddenly seemed uncontrollable, the blood drawn out into a thin thread. The Fan Tian Yin pulled at the stream, inhaling and absorbing it greedily.

“Damn, this isn’t some sinister artifact crafted by an evil cultivator, is it?” Wang Hao’s expression changed drastically. He tried to sever the connection, but the wound on his hand simply couldn’t be stanched.

As it absorbed more and more blood, the Fan Tian Yin began to emit a gentle golden light.

All sixteen embedded treasure pearls immediately shone brightly. The Fan Tian Yin grew in size, its power surging far beyond its previous state. Where was there any sign of damage now?

“Wow, this probably counts as a lower-grade spirit artifact now? So, it was a seal within a seal.” Wang Hao examined it carefully. He felt a faint connection forming, and the feedback told him this wasn’t the Fan Tian Yin, but something called the Tu Hun Yin—the Earth Turbid Seal.

It had originally been a high-grade artifact, though the specific details were unclear. It seemed Wang Hao needed to fully remove the residue of the outer shell to understand it completely.

“This really is picking up a bargain…” Wang Hao was a bit speechless, though it wasn’t exactly a heaven-defying stroke of luck. The Earth Turbid Seal’s current power was barely that of a lower-grade spirit artifact. However, according to the simple mental description he received, as long as he integrated earth-attribute materials, he could restore its original power.

As it happened, Wang Hao had a piece of earth-attribute material: the Fortified Earth Essence Stone.

Wang Hao cut off a fist-sized piece and ignited his spirit charcoal to carefully refine it. Thanks to his long-term practice of alchemy, this step wasn’t difficult for him. Watching the essence stone melt into a puddle of Fortified Earth Essence, Wang Hao slowly brought the Earth Turbid Seal closer.

A magical reaction occurred. The Earth Turbid Seal seemed to sense the Fortified Earth Essence; it emitted waves of light and absorbed the liquid visibly. Its power grew significantly.

If it barely counted as a lower-grade spirit artifact before, it was now genuinely one.

Wang Hao continued to refine the rest of the Fortified Earth Essence Stone. After absorbing it all, the seal’s power reached the peak of a lower-grade spirit artifact, making it stronger than ordinary ones.

Wang Hao guessed the issue wasn’t the quantity of the stone, but the quality. The stone itself was a second-rank lower-grade material, which prevented the Earth Turbid Seal from advancing to mid-grade.

“This is a huge loss. Five hundred spirit stones just to get a lower-grade spirit artifact,” Wang Hao said, feeling somewhat regretful. “If I’d known, I would have invested less.”

“I’ll have to keep an eye out for earth-attribute spirit materials in the future. Great, another money pit.”

Wang Hao calculated his accounts. Every month, his two spirit beasts ate nearly a hundred spirit stones, and his own cultivation similarly needed a hundred. That was over two hundred total, plus the Illusory Moon Butterfly waiting to hatch, and now the Earth Turbid Seal… It was truly a mixture of pain and happiness.

Later, Wang Hao took out the second-rank mid-grade alchemy furnace he had been allocated. It looked like nothing special, just a simple furnace. However, a good alchemy furnace not only saved an alchemist a massive amount of Spiritual Power but also raised the success rate by a sliver. Compared to the Purple Light Furnace, this was much better. It would satisfy Wang Hao’s alchemy needs for the coming period.

Time passed, and the day of the auction quickly arrived. However, Wang Hao was informed that the sessions were separated. Foundation Establishment cultivators had one session, and Qi Refining cultivators had another. Wang Hao knew he didn’t need Qi Refining stage items, so he lost interest in participating. He returned to Wang Yanzhao and gave him three thousand spirit stones, asking him to keep an eye out for second-rank mid-grade earth-attribute spirit materials.

Unfortunately, Wang Hao’s luck seemed to have run out. According to Wang Yanzhao, metal, wood, water, and fire attribute materials were all available—everything except earth.

But even if the Earth Turbid Seal advanced, it would be hard to control with his late-stage Qi Refining strength. In its current state, it was actually somewhat useful.

One must eat rice one bite at a time. Wang Hao understood this principle; he just needed to lay low for a few more years.

At the Juxian Tower, the three of them sat together.

Chu He raised his wine cup. “Brother Wang, obtaining the Foundation Establishment Pill this time relied entirely on your help. Come, please drink this full cup!”

“Brother Chu is too polite,” Wang Hao replied. “I just helped a bit. The demon beasts were all killed by you guys; your little brother actually made quite a profit this trip!”

Wang Hao tipped his head back and drained the wine. “It’s a pity I have to leave tomorrow. Before I reach Foundation Establishment, it will be hard for me to return to Qingyuan Market. I won’t be able to attend your Foundation Establishment ceremony, Big Brother.”

“Then I’ll borrow your auspicious words, worthy brother. With your skills, I believe you will eventually reach Foundation Establishment. When that time comes, we will drink and make merry again!”

“It’s a promise!”

Wang Hao was depressed about missing the auction. Wang Yanzhao, however, was quite happy; he had successfully obtained the Nine-Branch Ganoderma the Wang family needed. Once the family head recovered, the Wang family could proceed with their next moves with peace of mind.

After returning to Qingniu Market, Wang Yanzhao didn’t stop to rest and went straight back to Wangjialing. Wang Hao pushed away all shop affairs and announced he was entering seclusion. This time, he intended to practice the Splitting Spirit Awl and Essence Fire Three Transformations spells to the Master level.

Time flew by, and two years of spring and autumn passed.

Sitting on his meditation cushion, Wang Hao opened his eyes. “The harvest these past two years has been full. Open panel!”

Name: Wang Hao Age: 28 Cultivation: Qi Refining Eighth Layer (600/854) Cultivation Method: Red Lotus Illusory Wood Heart Sutra (Third Layer) Body Refining: Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art (Third Layer – Viscera Refining) Spiritual Power: 599/599 Skills:

Alchemy: Second-Order Lower-Grade

Talisman Making: First-Order Upper-Grade Spells: Fireball Technique, Entangling Technique, Wood Shield Technique, Earth Escape Technique, Traction Technique, Light Body Technique, Perspective Technique. Special Arts: Essence Fire Three Transformations Divine Ability: Splitting Spirit Awl

Now his farm had thirty plots fully developed: fourteen red soil plots plus three black soil plots. With full production, his monthly income was between three and four thousand spirit stones. Even taking out one-tenth of the income was enough to support himself and his four spirit beasts.

Remembering his spirit beasts, it was time to feed them again. Wang Hao released them from the spirit beast bag one by one. Yaya was still First-Rank Mid-Grade. Xiaobai, on the other hand, had advanced to First-Rank Upper-Grade and was now over thirty feet long.

As for the other two, the hatched Illusory Moon Butterflies—or more precisely, Illusory Moon Larvae—were currently two fleshy worms with seven-colored stripes. Each was the size of a pillow, chubby and cute, but essentially useless. Apart from eating, they just slept. To raise them, Wang Hao had specifically planted an acre of spirit fruit.

After feeding them one by one and letting them play for a while, he recalled them into the spirit beast bag.

Wang Hao had chosen to enter seclusion not in the shop, but in his own small courtyard. So, the first thing he did after coming out of seclusion was to go take a look at the shop.

But before he could even reach the shop, he saw Wang Wenmei rushing over in a hurry.

“Fifth Brother, it’s great that you’re out! I was just looking for you!”

“You look like something urgent has happened?” Wang Hao asked.

Wang Wenmei shook her head. “I’m not too clear on the details myself, but we received a family order: all cultivators at the fifth layer of Qi Refining and above must return to Wangjialing immediately!”