“Two months’ delay?”
Long Tao’s brow furrowed slightly—his formation shop had never made such exceptions before.
“Yes,” Li An said apologetically. “I exhausted my savings to break through to the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining, so I’m facing a temporary shortage of spirit stones. But give me just two months, and I’ll definitely repay everything... I’m about to start mass-producing high-grade formations.”
As he spoke, Li An let out a trace of his Qi Refining Eighth Layer aura to demonstrate sincerity.
Long Tao was visibly surprised, a complex look flashing in his eyes. He knew Li An was already in his sixties, and yet he had managed to advance further, reaching the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining!
A rare feat!
But not entirely unheard of—if one had enough spirit stones, there were always ways. Li An sacrificing all his resources for one layer’s advancement was understandable.
Moreover, his breakthrough would also benefit Long Tao.
After all, the stronger Li An’s cultivation, the higher his success rate in producing high-grade formations. And that meant more profit for Long Tao.
Thinking of this, Long Tao narrowed his eyes slightly. “Brother Li, you know this already—there’s never been a case where someone picked up a Second-Grade formation and then paid two months later... You’re putting me in a tough spot.”
Li An gritted his teeth. “Brother Long, I really have no other choice... How about this—going forward, we change our profit split on sold formations to forty-sixty? You get forty!”
He was putting a lot on the line.
Long Tao replied, “Fifty-fifty! The risk is too great this time. For the sake of our friendship, I’m willing to shoulder some of it, but I can’t take a loss either.”
Li An hesitated for a long while before finally saying, “Alright.”
He agreed.
“Oh, and Brother Long, I might need to take the materials for formation crafting on credit as well…”
He added this part awkwardly.
Since Long Tao had already agreed to the Second-Grade formation, he waved it off generously. “Fine!”
He immediately gave Li An four sets of high-grade formation materials on credit—worth over a thousand spirit stones.
“Don’t worry, Brother Long. Once I get back, I’ll go into closed-door formation and talisman crafting. I promise you won’t lose out.”
Li An took the goods and left, offering countless words of thanks.
Watching Li An’s retreating figure, Long Tao stroked his short beard and revealed a satisfied smile.
After all, once goods from the sect were delivered to the shop, they had three months to settle the payment.
So giving Li An a two-month window was nothing more than a minor favor.
What’s more, Li An was a disciple of the Clear Sun Sect and had once earned merit for slaying the Horse Face of Death. Though the two thousand spirit stones owed were significant, with Li An’s skill in talismans and formations, he would repay it.
This was a golden opportunity to permanently raise his share of the profits. Long Tao was very pleased.
…
Back at the talisman shop.
Li An shut the door and took stock of the current inventory.
The shop had about 1,400 spirit stones’ worth of stock piled up—mostly talisman brushes, papers, and crafting materials.
He immediately wrote a letter to the sect, explaining that his apprentice had resigned, and combined with recent setbacks in his cultivation, sales had slowed a bit over the past two months. However, adjustments were complete now, and he requested the sect to send another batch of goods.
Li An believed that, given his longstanding reputation in the Clear Sun Sect, the outer sect wouldn’t make trouble over such a small issue.
Then he wrote letters to Tan Qingxue and Wang Dazhu.
In the letter to Tan Qingxue, he admitted that he might never make another breakthrough in talisman cultivation during this lifetime but wanted to try one last time. He asked her, for old times’ sake, to personally go to the Liuyang River Market District to gather materials for crafting Second-Grade talisman paper—this time, in larger quantities.
To Wang Dazhu, he wrote that he was urgently seeking a type of “Vein-Washing Sand,” and asked if Wang Dazhu had the time to help collect some. If not, that was fine too.
He also made it clear that he didn’t want anyone else involved. He trusted Wang Dazhu to handle it discreetly.
Vein-Washing Sand was a byproduct of spirit mines, technically a special kind of spiritual stone, but few bothered to collect it.
If Wang Dazhu agreed, he’d have to leave the outer sect and head to one of the Clear Sun Sect’s spirit mines.
Although spirit mines were still dangerous, they were safer than the sect itself. Moreover, since spirit mines couldn’t run away and ore extraction was slow and fixed, the Demon Sect likely wouldn’t prioritize attacking them.
If Wang Dazhu really went, he would be much safer.
Li An wasn’t demanding about it. In his heart, Wang Dazhu couldn’t compare to Tan Qingxue.
He wrote to Wang Dazhu for two reasons—one, the man had always been simple and friendly, and two, he had decent talent in artifact forging. If Wang Dazhu survived, it would benefit Li An too.
After sending the letters, Li An remained in the talisman shop for three more days.
On the fourth day, he delivered a set of Intermediate-Grade formations to Long Tao and informed him that he’d be entering closed-door formation crafting. He told Long Tao not to worry, and even said the profits from this set of formations could go entirely toward the outstanding balance on the Second-Grade formation.
Long Tao was very satisfied, expressing support and saying he’d handle things with the sect.
…
With that settled, Li An secretly left the Bright Sun Market District.
He quickly made his way to the outskirts of the Liuyang River Market District—Masha Ferry Crossing!
He spent three days waiting and investigating carefully. Once he was sure there were no demonic cultivators around, on the fourth night—under the still, deathly silence of the open wilderness, disturbed only by the occasional slap of river water against the shore—
Li An deployed the Second-Grade formations he had purchased in several extremely well-hidden locations near the dock, layering them with significant concealment.
Unless a Foundation Establishment cultivator swept every inch of the ground with Divine Sense, the formations would remain undetected.
But Li An was confident. The demonic cultivators wouldn’t be that cautious. By the time they were laying ambushes here, the Clear Sun Sect would already be in ruins. Why would they expect someone to have set up formations in such a place?
After charging the formations with enough spirit stones to last two months, Li An immediately returned to the Bright Sun Market District.
But he didn’t reenter directly. Instead, he stayed in a forested mountain area nearby and found a hollow tree to cultivate in.
Circulating the Life-Nurturing Immortal-Forging Technique, he became one with the withered tree.
Just like that, another month passed!
After stabilizing his Eighth Layer of Qi Refining, Li An lingered outside the Bright Sun Market District for four or five days. Once he was sure he still had time, he returned to the market.
“Hmm?”
He altered his appearance and walked casually through the streets like an outsider, all the while using Divine Sense to scan every person he passed.
Eventually, near a herbal shop a few hundred meters from his talisman shop, he detected a demonic cultivator.
They really had infiltrated.
Li An remained calm and didn’t return to the talisman shop. The next day, he brushed past the demonic cultivator on the street.
He confirmed that the cultivator had been loitering around the talisman shop.
“Surveilling me?”
Li An couldn’t help but feel a twinge of relief. This attack on the Bright Sun Market District, he was clearly a key target!
After all, even if he hadn’t truly slain the Horse-Face of Death back then, the reputation alone was enough to earn the Demon Sect’s grudge.
On the third day, while the demonic cultivator was momentarily distracted, Li An slipped back into the talisman shop.
The next day, he opened the shop just as the sect’s delivery arrived.
After signing off the delivery, the delivering disciple sternly reminded him that his shop already had inventory piling up and that he must not delay payment again this month. Li An bowed and nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Once the goods were stored, he shut the shop and entered the warehouse.
He took out three storage pouches.
All three were High-Grade First-Order storage pouches that he had purchased in the Liuyang River Market District and elsewhere. No one knew about them.
Each was worth several hundred spirit stones, and each had about ten square meters of storage.
Using all three, he completely cleared out the warehouse’s stock.
“Damn demonic bastards…”
Li An couldn’t help muttering bitterly.
Originally, his plan was to make another trip tomorrow, deliver a high-grade formation to Long Tao to keep him on his side, then borrow more formation materials. He had also planned to make the rounds at shops he was friendly with, borrowing pills, artifacts, whatever he could—on credit if needed.
With his reputation and identity as the Clear Sun Sect’s talisman shop manager, he could surely secure plenty on credit.
But now that he was being watched by demonic cultivators, doing so would only raise suspicion and draw attention.
If something unexpected happened because of it—it’d be disastrous.
So, he could only abandon his plan to loot everything he could…
The next day, he waited patiently, finally found an opening, and slipped out of the talisman shop.
Having changed his appearance and clothes, he left the market without hesitation—
…
Meanwhile—
“Big bro, that guy only opened the shop once. What’s he up to?”
In a dark corner of the Bright Sun Market District, a young man whispered to the middle-aged man beside him.
“Just keep watching him. Don’t let him escape. And whatever you do, don’t barge in. That damned talisman master is tricky—he once laid down a Second-Grade formation in that shop.”
The middle-aged man spoke calmly.
“Big bro, when are we finally making our move? The Seals of Ban-Breaking are all in place already…” the younger one asked impatiently.
“Stop asking stupid questions!”
…
(End of Chapter)