This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

"It's just a minor fortune, hardly worth mentioning, hardly worth mentioning," Lu Qingshan said with a chuckle.

Regarding Lu Qingshan's dismissive response, Dantai Qingrun couldn't be bothered to argue and instead changed the subject, "Were you waiting for me to come find you?"

Dantai Qingrun's expression was as cold as frost, contrasting sharply with Lu Qingshan's grinning facade.

Lu Qingshan took out his Yuanshan Tower Token and tossed it back to Dantai Qingrun, shrugging his shoulders, "I'm now under the command of you, the Dantai Tower Master, so shouldn't I be at the ready for your call at any time?"

Dantai Qingrun caught the Yuanshan Tower Token that Lu Qingshan threw over and put it away.

At Lu Qingshan's jest, Dantai Qingrun's eyelid twitched, then she said coldly, "You also know you are my person now, so how dare you leave Yuanshan City without saying a word on your own accord?"

"I was negligent, my apologies to the Dantai Tower Master, I hope for your leniency," Lu Qingshan replied with ease to Dantai Qingrun's countering move.

He quickly found an excuse to return, "However, even though I'm now serving under Dantai Tower Master, this doesn't seem to justify the Tower Master's intrusion into someone else's residence, does it?"

...

Seeing the aura of rejection from Dantai Qingrun intensifying, Lu Qingshan tactfully refrained from further provoking the Tower Master.

Even though teasing a stoic NPC felt really good.

Lu Qingshan's expression turned serious as he asked, "What matter brings the Dantai Tower Master to my doorstep this time?"

Dantai Qingrun glanced sideways, "Aren't you, Lu Qingshan, supposed to be prophetically knowledgeable?

Then why don't you divine for yourself why I am looking for you, there's no need to ask me, is there?"

Lu Qingshan didn't get annoyed and chuckled lightly, "The Tower Master flatters me too much. I'm not the Qi Guard; how could I possibly foresee everything?"

Seeing that Lu Qingshan was acquiescing, Dantai Qingrun stopped being mysterious, "After the battle at Yuanshan City's City Lord's Mansion, the arrangements of the Netherworld in Yuanshan City have mostly been removed.

Three days ago, I was reassigned to the position of Zhenjiang Tower's Deputy Tower Master at the Zhenjiang branch of the Guard Tower."

Lu Qingshan congratulated her with a bow, "Then here I wish the Dantai Tower Master a promotion!"

Dantai Qingrun glanced at Lu Qingshan with an expressionless face, then continued, "On the very first day I arrived at Zhenjiang Tower, I received an order from the Tower Master.

He instructed all levels of personnel in the Guard Tower to pay extra attention to the movements of the Netherworld during this period.

The reason was that the Qi Guard had conveyed to us at Zhenjiang Tower that he vaguely sensed through the fragment of the Heavenly Secret Mirror that there may be an ominous event happening in Zhenjiang City's region.

He suspected that the Netherworld was plotting another scheme targeting Zhenjiang City."

"Afterward, I reviewed all the intelligence reports consolidated by Zhenjiang Tower over this period.

On the surface, these reports seemed to have no abnormalities, but I couldn't shake the feeling that there were hidden undercurrents I was overlooking.

Haven't you claimed to have many secrets of the Netherworld, and if I needed, I could seek you out for cooperation?"

Lu Qingshan was noncommittal, producing a Jade Slip from his Storage Ring and handing it to Dantai Qingrun.

Dantai Qingrun accepted the Jade Slip with surprise and probed it with her Divine Sense, discovering that it contained records of price changes over the past twenty years for three First Grade Spirit Materials:

Silver Bone Flower, which had remained stable at five First Grade Spirit Stones per plant for the past hundred years.

Yet, in the recent short span of twenty years, its price had shot up by twenty percent, the current market price reaching six First Grade Spirit Stones per plant.

Soul Vanishing Sulphur had remained stable at six First Grade Spirit Stones per plant from Chang'an year 19920 to Chang'an year 19980, a full sixty years.

But in these last twenty years, the price had risen to seven First Grade Spirit Stones per plant.

Ghostly Spirit Grass, which had a stable price of four First Grade Spirit Stones per plant for nearly a hundred years before Chang'an year 19980.

Also, within this short span of just twenty years, the same price point started to rise, and now the market price is at five First Grade Spirit Stones per plant.

Dantai Qingrun's brows furrowed as she looked at Lu Qingshan with questioning eyes.

Lu Qingshan began to explain, "These three Spirit Materials—the Silver Bone Flower is the main ingredient for crafting the Silver Bone Pill, the Soul-Harrowing Sulfur is the primary material for making Soul Driving Pills, and the Ghost Grass is used for concocting the Ghostly Spirit Pill.

The Silver Bone Pill is a Body Cultivation aid commonly taken by Qi Refinement cultivators during their Body Refinement, the Soul Driving Pill is a pill used by Beast Cultivators to nurture Spirit Beasts, and the Ghostly Spirit Pill aids Nether Cultivators in practicing their Cultivation Methods.

Making these three types of pills is the primary use for these three Spirit Materials.

Although they can be used to craft other pills, compared to the consumption for these three, those other uses are not worth mentioning.

All three pills are First Grade pills of low price yet extremely high demand.

Correspondingly, the main Spirit Materials for making them are also produced in very large quantities.

Many Sects or Spirit Plant Masters rely on cultivating these three Spirit Materials for their livelihood.

Therefore, with such a large base, the prices of these three Spirit Materials have always been very stable.

However, what's odd is that within these short twenty years, the prices of these three Spirit Materials have all increased substantially."

Upon hearing this, Dantai Qingrun felt a premonition but couldn't immediately grasp the point, "What do you mean by this?"

Lu Qingshan spread his hands, continuing, "The increase in the price of Spiritual Medicines, generally speaking, has two reasons:

One is a decrease in production, and the other possibility is an increase in demand."

"I have inquired at nearly all the shops selling Spirit Materials in the city, and found that there hasn't been a noticeable decrease in the production of these three types of Spiritual Medicine over the past twenty years."

"So, that leaves only one possibility, which is that over these past twenty years, the demand for these three types of Spiritual Medicine among the Cultivators within the Zhenjiang City region has increased."

"What's strange is that there hasn't been anything particularly notable happening in the Zhenjiang City region over these twenty years.

As such, the demand for Silver Bone Pills, Soul Driving Pills, and Ghostly Spirit Pills hasn't increased by a great margin."

"Not to mention, these three pills each cater to a different faction—Body Cultivation, Beast Cultivation, and Nether Cultivation."

Dantai Qingrun's expression turned contemplative, and after a moment she spoke, "Are you suggesting that these three Spirit Materials aren't used for concocting these three pills but have been directed elsewhere instead?"

Lu Qingshan clapped his hands, praising, "Tower Master Dantai is indeed sharp as ice. That's what I thought too.

So, I made a special effort to look into other uses for these three Spirit Materials and found a very interesting point."

Hearing the praise of being sharp as ice, Dantai Qingrun's eyes twitched imperceptibly, but she was too preoccupied to dwell on it further with Lu Qingshan and pressed for answers, "What did you find?"

"All three Spirit Materials have one use in common—they are all primary ingredients for crafting Strong Corpse Liquid," Lu Qingshan revealed the answer.

A shock went through Dantai Qingrun's heart.

Although as a Sword Cultivator, she didn't have extensive knowledge about secondary professions like Spirit Materials and Pills.

Yet how could she, a Golden Core Cultivator, not know the name of Strong Corpse Liquid?

It was a Spiritual Liquid used by Evil Cultivators to enhance their Corpse Puppets.

"Tower Master Dantai, when you captured the Blood Corpse Daoist, you must have found something on him, right?" Lu Qingshan asked.

Dantai Qingrun nodded, "Indeed, we found a Spirit Beast Bag on him that contained many First and Second Grade Corpse Puppets.

But Underworld Cultivators are already known to be depraved. Having such methods from Evil Cultivators wasn't that surprising, so we didn't think much of it at the time."