My Portable Spirit Farm: Rise of the Humble Servant

Chapter 157: Come With Me

The smile on Old Dog’s face froze for a fraction of a second.

Then, with practiced ease, he plastered it back on.

“Fellow Daoist, you wound me! These aren’t just children; they are promising seedlings carrying an Alchemist’s heritage! 800 Spirit Stones? That’s a steal! Go ask around the market. Just for a child with a Spirit Root and the right age, you won’t find anything under 200 Spirit Stones. And these two come with innate talent! Once you nurture them, they won’t just be Alchemists—they’ll be your personal money trees!”

Chen Ping shook his head slightly, his tone flat but carrying an undeniable, icy calm.

“Alchemical talent? A vague promise at best. Testing positive for an affinity and actually becoming a true Alchemist are separated by a hundred thousand li. We both know the economics here. How many Spirit Stones must be poured into the furnace to train a novice? How many years? What is the failure rate?”

He paused, letting the questions hang in the air before delivering the killing blow.

“800 Spirit Stones is enough for me to buy two slaves with better aptitude and higher cultivation potential. Why would I gamble on this illusory ‘talent’?”

His gaze swept over Wang Lijing and Wang Liqian. The two children had clearly heard every word.

The girl’s eyes instantly welled up with tears of absolute despair.

The boy’s face turned paper-white, his lips pressed together so hard they turned blue.

Chen Ping remained unmoved.

“I’m not looking to raise a Grandmaster. I need lab rats to process basic herbs and save me the trouble of teaching from scratch. But nurturing them into true Alchemists? Heh, I don’t have the leisure or the fortune for that.”

These words were like a basin of ice water poured over Old Dog’s head—and over the hearts of the siblings in the cage.

The smile on Old Dog’s face completely vanished. He knew Chen Ping’s logic was sound.

‘Alchemist talent’ sounded impressive to the layman, but in the cruel lower strata of the cultivation world, such a thing was often like a chicken rib—tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away.

Families who were truly confident in nurturing a genius wouldn’t easily let them go. Those that hit the market were often damaged goods or high-risk gambles.

When Old Dog had originally bought this pair of siblings, he had been blinded by the “Alchemist Family” reputation, hoping to flip them for a massive profit.

Instead, they had rotted in his inventory.

Thinking back, he felt like his brain had short-circuited. Why hadn’t he listened to his colleagues’ advice?

He had bought them for over 600 Spirit Stones and paid to feed and house them for half a year.

What kind of business was this? He was practically working for others, doing charity.

“This… Fellow Daoist, you can’t put it that way…”

Old Dog rubbed his hands together, his face flushing red as he tried to struggle against the inevitable.

“750! 750 Spirit Stones! That’s the lowest! Any lower and I’ll truly be bleeding capital!”

“500.”

Chen Ping stated the number, crisp and decisive.

“Fi… 500?!”

Old Dog looked like his tail had been stomped on. He almost jumped into the air, his voice turning shrill.

“Fellow Daoist! You’re trying to take my life! My acquisition cost was higher than that! Please, add a bit more! 700! 700 Spirit Stones! This is truly my bottom line. You have to let me at least break even, right? I have the ledger here—I’ll show you so you don’t think I’m lying!”

Old Dog fished a jade slip from his Storage Bag and tossed it to Chen Ping.

Chen Ping extended his Divine Sense, probing the information inside.

Recorded within was the acquisition price for the twins: 680 Spirit Stones.

The date of purchase was indeed half a year ago.

Chen Ping looked at Old Dog’s face, which was flushed red with a mix of anxiety and genuine heartache.

He understood why this guy was so reluctant to sell. The purchase price was too high, the asset had depreciated, and he couldn’t bear to realize the loss.

Forget it. Forget it.

Chen Ping glanced again at the pair of siblings in the iron cage. They looked even more terrified, sensing that the huge gap in price might seal their doom.

The youth, Wang Lijing, was biting his lower lip so hard it was about to bleed. His eyes were fixed on the filthy ground, his body trembling slightly from despair.

These two children seem to have a connection with me. I won’t haggle over the last copper.

“700, is it…”

Chen Ping tapped his finger against his chin, pretending to weigh the number.

Old Dog watched him nervously, not daring to breathe.

The air in the cage seemed to solidify.

After a long silence, Chen Ping spoke slowly, his tone carrying a trace of imperceptible concession.

“Fine. It doesn’t look like you have it easy, either. 700 it is. However…”

He changed the subject sharply, his gaze shifting to another small compartment next to the iron cage.

“That child looks decent, too. Throw him in as part of the deal.”

Old Dog followed his gaze.

It was a boy curling up alone in the corner of the adjacent cage. He looked about eleven or twelve, significantly thinner and smaller than the Wang siblings. He wore a tattered padded jacket that was obviously several sizes too big.

The boy’s hair was dry and yellow like dead grass, his face devoid of color. He kept his head lowered, his fingers unconsciously picking at the straw on the ground.

“Him?”

Old Dog was stunned for a moment, but his merchant instincts kicked in instantly. A smile piled back onto his face, though a flash of calculation darted through his eyes.

“Fellow Daoist has a sharp eye! This child is named Xiao Feng. Eleven years old, Qi Condensation Level 2, also a Four Spirit Root! As for his background… sigh, another poor, unfortunate soul. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all Alchemists. Although they didn’t achieve great fame, the family’s scholarly foundation is undeniable!”

Old Dog leaned in close, whispering conspiratorially in Chen Ping’s ear.

“We tested him, too. He definitely has a foundation in alchemy! If I sold him separately, he’d fetch at least 400 Spirit Stones! But since the Immortal Master is taking the Wang siblings as a package, this child… consider him a bonus. 350 Spirit Stones! What do you think?”

“350 Spirit Stones?”

Chen Ping raised an eyebrow, his expression skeptical.

“Old Dog, you aren’t being honest. The Wang siblings at least have the shell of an ‘Alchemist Family.’ Even if the name doesn’t match the reality, I accepted the 700 price tag. But this kid? At best, his ancestors refined some basic pills to scrape by. You can’t associate him with the word ‘Family.’ How can he be compared to the twins? 200 Spirit Stones, max.”

Another round of back-and-forth haggling ensued.

In the end, Xiao Feng’s price was settled at 300 Spirit Stones.

It was 50 Spirit Stones less than the asking price, a satisfactory outcome for all parties.

It was obvious that this kid’s acquisition price wasn’t nearly that high. Old Dog had likely made a decent profit on him, balancing out the loss on the twins.

If not, the old merchant wouldn’t be smiling so brightly.

Whatever.

It is merely fate.

Chen Ping paid a total of 1,000 Spirit Stones.

Once the transaction was completed, three beast-skin scrolls emitting special Qi fluctuations floated into Chen Ping’s hands.

These were “Soul-Locking Contracts.”

Using a secret technique, a wisp of the soul from Wang Lijing, Wang Liqian, and Xiao Feng had been confined within the parchment.

With this contract in hand, a single thought from Chen Ping could trigger the restriction. It would instantly obliterate that wisp of soul. At best, the victim would suffer severe soul trauma and become an idiot; at worst, they would die on the spot.

This was the most direct and cruelest method of controlling slaves in the cultivation world.

Chen Ping stored the Soul-Locking Contracts, his heart calm and without ripples.

In the cultivation world, the Strong Eat the Weak. He had paid the Spirit Stones; naturally, he required absolute control.

Of course, if these three children showed sufficient loyalty and proved useful, he wouldn’t be stingy about returning their soul wisps at the appropriate time.

After all, an incomplete soul would ultimately limit the upper potential of one’s Dao.

He unlocked the restriction on the iron cage.

The three children huddled inside, looking at him with trembling fear.

Chen Ping uttered three words.

“Come with me.”