Chapter 20: It’ll be the Players who are Embarrassed Then!
A Wu bought the beef pancakes and then came over to stuff one into each of the three people, Zhou Xiao, Han Tian, and Jiang Ya.
The rest were placed in the small back basket.
These beef pancakes were made with substantial ingredients. While the seasoning wasn’t as refined as modern cuisine, they had a unique flavor that was much better than pre-made products sold in reality.
Could one truly experience such complex flavors in this game?
The three who had previously thought the steamed buns were an anomaly were somewhat surprised.
Zhou Xiao looked around and noticed that although the street was lively, it was mostly filled with vendors selling pancakes and noodles, as well as some selling hot cakes. Overall, it wasn’t as diverse as modern society.
Of course, reality has a much wider variety of gourmet food.
After all, this is an ancient setting, and some things don’t even exist on the Yunzhou Continent.
Furthermore, cultivators on the Yunzhou Continent have no pursuit of food, and mortals, due to developmental factors, haven’t delved deeply into this area either.
Zhou Xiao suddenly said, “I see they all seem to be able to trade with Spirit Stones. We could research modern cuisine and sell it in the county town.”
Han Tian said, “It’s probably hard to make money. Senior Brother bought so many meat pies for only two Low-grade Spirit Stones.”
These were considered pretty good gourmet food, but because the ingredients were all mortal ingredients, the price was too cheap.
Zhou Xiao said, “I don’t believe that cultivators, at the highest realms, will ultimately reach Grain Avoidance and have no desire for gourmet food. It’s just that it’s not delicious enough. Think about it yourselves, if you reach a high realm later on, like with cream cakes or fried skewers, even though they’re junk food, can you truly say you have no craving for them?”
Han Tian: “…”
That would be impossible.
“Mortals use materials without spiritual energy, which is why they are cheap. We can focus our efforts on this.”
However, they soon learned why food prices were so low. Even Blood Replenishing Pills made with Spirit Herbs were very cheap.
The Yunzhou Continent has a universal Blood Replenishing Pill that mortals can also use. Just one pill immediately stops bleeding, with an effect that is as immediate as any first aid.
One pill only sold for one Low-grade Spirit Stone.
But it wasn’t as effective for cultivators, because cultivators are usually injured by cultivators of the same tier or by Demonic Beasts. In such cases, ordinary Blood Replenishing Pills don’t have much effect, though they can temporarily slow down the injury.
Besides that, there were also slightly more expensive Qi Replenishing Pills.
Qi Replenishing Pills are for replenishing spiritual energy. For a certain period, they can allow one to use a bit more spiritual energy, but the effect is minimal, better than nothing, and the effects cannot be stacked.
If mortals could use them, it could strengthen their bodies.
Two Low-grade Spirit Stones per pill.
While the price seemed low, the fifty-plus meat pies earlier only cost two Low-grade Spirit Stones. Mortals still trade with ordinary silver and coins and couldn’t afford so many Spirit Stones, so naturally, they couldn’t afford such pills.
Additionally, other rarer pills are generally produced by the Medicine Sect.
Wang’an County doesn’t have a Medicine Sect because it’s already the territory of the Flying Sparrow Sect. There’s a Medicine Sect in the neighboring town.
However, Spiritual Medicine is uniformly purchased by the Yunzhou Continent.
A Wu is here to purchase Cultivation Seedlings for Spiritual Medicine. There’s an apothecary in Wang’an County that is responsible for selling these Spirit Herb Cultivation Seedlings.
The price isn’t expensive; 10 seedlings cost only one Low-grade Spirit Stone, but the outcome of cultivation varies from person to person.
Mortals cannot cultivate them because it requires cultivators to nurture them with spiritual energy.
There’s also fertilizer – First Order Spirit Herb medicinal water, one bottle for one Low-grade Spirit Stone, and one bottle is enough for one mu of land.
The Spirit Herbs cultivated are ‘Blood Bead Grass’ and ‘Spirit Benefiting Grass’, which are the raw materials for Blood Replenishing Pills and Qi Replenishing Pills.
Since the pills are cheap, the Spirit Herbs are naturally also cheap.
A Wu said, “Generally, it’s good if a few plants survive. If you’re lucky and cultivate Tier 2 or higher, you’ll strike it rich! A single Tier 2 plant can sell for 10 Low-grade Spirit Stones.”
Apart from cultivators, on the Yunzhou Continent, herbs and Demonic Beasts are both classified by tiers.
The higher the tier, the rarer it is.
The difference between Spirit Herbs and ordinary flowers and plants is that they are covered with a faint layer of spiritual energy, invisible to mortals, but to cultivators, it looks like they have a flowing light effect, making them easy to identify.
Jiang Ya asked A Wu, “Senior Brother, is it difficult to cultivate?”
“Of course, it’s difficult!” A Wu scratched his head. “I’ve been cultivating Spirit Herbs for several years, and I’ve only managed to cultivate a Tier 2 Blood Bead Grass once. I don’t even know how I did it.”
Han Tian also asked, “What’s the highest tier a Spiritual Medicine can grow into?”
A Wu looked a bit lost. “This… I’m not too sure. Blood Bead Grass and Spirit Benefiting Grass are too common. I’ve only heard of Tier 3 at the highest.”
“Spirit Herbs can appear at any tier. There are even legends that disciples of the Medicine Sect can cultivate Tier 4 or higher Spirit Herbs from Spiritual Medicine seedlings.”
The owner of the apothecary heard their conversation and slowly walked out.
He was a local boss, an ordinary Foundation Establishment Stage Rogue Cultivator, who had been in the pill business for a long time. The Flying Sparrow Sect in Wang’an County doesn’t produce medicine, so this boss’s existence was quite important.
The apothecary owner said, “A Wu, I have two relatively rare herbs here, ‘Soul Returning Grass’ and ‘Solid Origin Grass’. Do you want them?”
“What do I need these for?” A Wu wrinkled his nose. “Soul Returning Grass is the raw material for the Tier 3 Soul Returning Pill, and Solid Origin Grass is also the material for the Tier 4 Solid Qi Pill. I can’t even grow Blood Bead Grass, let alone these.”
The apothecary owner sighed. “I received these by chance. The Flying Sparrow Sect also said they wouldn’t buy them, so I only have these two. The price is cheap, I’ll give them to you for four Low-grade Spirit Stones. If you don’t want them, I’ll keep them for when people from the neighboring Peach Blossom Sect come to collect them.”
Although the name Peach Blossom Sect is common, it is the Medicine Sect in the neighboring town.
It was named that simply because their Sect Master’s nickname was Peach Blossom Cultivator.
Four Low-grade Spirit Stones is indeed cheap. Although they are high-tier Spirit Herbs, they are also quite common.
But that’s for cultivators who can actually grow them.
Even Golden Core Stage cultivators dare not guarantee a 100% success rate in growing these, let alone Qi Refining Stage cultivators.
They are guaranteed to die.
But Jiang Ya’s eyes lit up.
Han Tian and Zhou Xiao also realized something.
What were they lacking right now?
They lacked knowledge of the Yunzhou Continent, and their Sect also had Chen Miaomiao researching these Spirit Herbs.
The three exchanged glances, and Zhou Xiao spoke first, “Senior Brother, we haven’t seen these before, and we find them quite rare. How about we buy them back to take a look?”
“Ah?”
A Wu was dumbfounded.
“But it’s four Low-grade Spirit Stones! That’s enough for us to eat a meal,” A Wu said with a bitter face, counting on his fingers. “The Sect doesn’t have much money. I haven’t harvested the Spirit Herbs I just planted yet, and I don’t know how much they’ll sell for.”
The Sect Master had given him almost all their assets to buy Spirit Herbs.
Because this was the only way to make money, the principal couldn’t be withheld.
Hearing this made one want to shed tears.
Even the apothecary owner gasped, “You’re this poor and still dare to recruit disciples? What was your Sect Master thinking?”
A Wu: “…”
Han Tian frowned and said, “Senior Brother, don’t worry. We will find a way to make money.”
They couldn’t possibly let so many people starve to death.
If that happened, it wouldn’t be the Sect Master who would lose face.
It would be them, the players.
They refused to believe that modern knowledge would be useless on a cultivation continent!
