Immortality: Raising an Ant Queen to Cultivate by increasing stat points

Chapter 101: Chapter 96 Miaodan Pavilion_i

Translator: 549690339 I

He spent twenty wen money and bought two water plants.

The man’s service was decent; he included a small clay pot, filled it with a bit of water, and placed the water plants inside.

This was to prevent the water plants from dehydrating and dying if too much time passed.

The clay pot wasn’t valuable, those small ones could be bought for one wen money for four or five each.

Having money is truly great.

If it had been before, Qin Niu wouldn’t have spared these things a single glance.

Struggling to even fill his belly with food, where would he find the spare money to buy water plants for his turtles?

“Herbal medicines for sale, herbal medicines for sale, freshly dug Black Leaf Sunflowers, excellent for treating bruises and injuries. There’s also Seven-leaf Grass for treating snake and insect bites…”

A little girl’s immature voice caught Qin Niu’s attention.

At this moment, quite a few passersby noticed the little girl as well, but few bought her herbal medications.

Each one was wrinkled and severely withered.

They must have been dug up some time ago.

“How much for this Black Leaf Sunflower?”

Qin Niu stopped in front of the stall.

Because, by virtue of his keen intuition, the wilted Black Leaf Sunflower gave him a very special feeling.

He didn’t know if it was because he had been practicing the Everlasting Spring Technique.

His perception of plants had become much stronger than before, many times over.

Although his ability to identify herbs wasn’t strong, he believed that a herb that could give him a special feeling was certainly not ordinary.

If the price is right, he could consider buying it.

The Everlasting Spring Technique had a very strong nourishing effect on plant growth. Despite the Black Leaf Sunflower looking like it wouldn’t survive, he believed that as long as he planted it, and cultivated the Everlasting Spring Technique next to it for a few nights, he could help it come back to life.

“One, one tael of silver money, perhaps?”

The little girl looked to be only seven or eight years old, her face covered with dirt and her hair in a wild disarray. Her clothes were tattered, with some parts even torn.

But her eyes were particularly bright.

Sparkling and crystal clear, like two black gems.

At the moment, she looked at Qin Niu with a gaze that was both timid and full of hope.

“This kind of medicinal herb, let alone being sold for one tael of silver, even if it’s sold for one wen money per plant, might not find a buyer. Where are your parents?”

The asking price was too high, so Qin Niu prepared to negotiate with an adult to lower the price.

This Black Leaf Sunflower, as long as the price wasn’t outrageously high, he planned to buy it.

But he definitely needed to haggle, using every single wen money in his hand wisely.

He wouldn’t compassionately spend extra silver money on someone’s item just because the vendor was a child in tattered clothes.

This world is truly one where the strong feast upon the weak, and only the fittest survive.

Not a single strong person would offer their cultivation resources to pitiable poor people.

There are too many people in this world who need help.

Qin Niu never thought about becoming a savior, nor would he let his kindness overflow.

“I… my grandfather is sick. I heard that a Tempering Elixir worth three taels of silver money each can cure his illness. So I dug up some medicinal herbs to sell. Big brother, could you please buy one?”

The little girl pleaded with Qin Niu.

“Buying one is okay, but the price has to be cheaper. I’ll give you one wen money for one plant, take it or leave it.”

Qin Niu was unmoved.

He showed a heart of stone.

The little girl must have seen him wearing an Insect Master Robe and thought he was rich, hence the high price she quoted.

“Can you add a little more?”

She seemed young yet cunning.

“Fine, I’ll give you another wen money! Consider it a good deed.”

Qin Niu was eager to acquire the Black Leaf Sunflower, taking advantage of it not yet being discovered by those who knew its true value. Otherwise, if the price was driven up by competition, it might not go for less than one tael of silver.

“Alright! Thank you, Big Brother! The clothes you’re wearing look so mighty!”

The little girl agreed.

And she even complimented Qin Niu.

“Here!”

Qin Niu had no intention of making idle chat. When she reached out to take the money, her hands full of scars and yellow dirt under the scabs on her nails still made Qin Niu’s heart of stone throb with a twinge of pain.

The little girl wasn’t lying, she must have gone up the mountain by herself and harvested these herbs.

Perhaps because the child had little strength and was worried about damaging the roots with a hoe, she chose to dig with her hands, which led to the injuries on her nails.

It was quite distressing to see.

After purchasing the Black Leaf Sunflowers, Qin Niu didn’t linger and went straight into the largest Elixir Pharmacy in the market street—Miaodan Pavilion.

Inside, various elixirs were sold—dazzlingly arrayed.

It was said that Miaodan Pavilion not only retained a group of their own Pharmacists and Alchemists but also specifically bought land in certain locations to cultivate medicinal materials and had special channels for purchasing herbs, beast blood, and other alchemy materials.

Managing an elixir business to this scale, from growing herbs to alchemy and selling elixirs, creating a full industrial chain, was no easy feat.

“Honorable Insect Master, may I inquire what you need?”

A young pharmacy assistant ran over to greet him.

There were several types of people going into the pharmacy to buy elixirs: some purchased them for cultivating, others to seek medicine for illnesses or injuries; the rest either bought elixirs as gifts or aimed to learn about elixir knowledge at this place.

Some were also seeking employment or apprenticeship.

All sorts of people came here for all sorts of reasons.

The customer traffic inside Miaodan Pavilion was bustling and business was booming.

“Give me four Tempering Elixirs!”

Qin Niu, who was flush with cash, directly asked for four Tempering Elixirs.

Wang Wanyan only asked him to buy three, but he bought one extra.

“Alright! Please take a seat, I’ll get them for you immediately! Would you like them packaged separately or together?”

The assistant couldn’t close his grinning mouth when he heard that Qin Niu wanted to buy four Tempering Elixirs, becoming even more attentive.

“Three in one bottle, the other one packaged separately.”

“Very well, please wait a moment!”

The assistant dashed off to fetch the elixirs.

Meanwhile, Qin Niu casually surveyed the arrangements inside the Elixir Pharmacy and the elixirs within the counter.

Almost all of the elixirs were sealed with wax to preserve them.

Some special elixirs might employ even more complicated preservation methods.

Qin Niu had no immediate thoughts of buying elixirs to break through his cultivation.

Living in the countryside, with his current level of cultivation, he could handle the vast majority of dangers.

He planned to use his Silver Money to buy weapon techniques first.

As for cultivation techniques, for the time being, cultivating the Everlasting Spring Technique was completely sufficient.

Later on, there would be opportunities to collect the missing scrolls, or to switch to cultivating other more profound techniques.

However, every slightly advanced technique had a frightfully high price. For example, the Dragon Chant technique purchased by that noble young master was not expensive, just five thousand taels.

Selling himself wouldn’t even make up for the difference.

“Honored customer, here are your Tempering Elixirs, along with the elixir certification from Miaodan Pavilion. Should there be any quality issue, you may contact us anytime. They are three taels of silver each, totaling twelve taels of silver.”

The assistant was very efficient, having already brought over the elixirs.

“Where do I pay?”

“Right this way, please!”

The assistant led Qin Niu to a green channel.

Those who were entitled to check out at this counter were either esteemed clients like Insect Masters and Beast Tamers, or powerful experts and high-ranking officials.

All of them were considered prestigious guests by Miaodan Pavilion.

As he was paying, Qin Niu’s gaze fell upon a prominent store notice that offered high prices for the purchase of all sorts of herbs and alchemy materials.

Each kind of herb was listed with an accompanying image illustrating it.

“Glow Grass, twenty-three taels of silver for one plant. Baby Ginseng, five hundred taels of silver for one root aged a hundred years. Three thousand taels for one root aged over a thousand years…”

Seeing this made Qin Niu click his tongue in wonder.

Elixirs were expensive, and naturally, there were good reasons for that.

The raw materials were seriously not cheap.

However, herbs more than a thousand years old, especially something as extremely rare as Baby Ginseng, were practically impossible to find.

“Assistant, what does this Glow Grass look like? Do you have a real sample?”

Looking at its shape, why did it seem somewhat similar to that Dogtail Grass next to the well in his backyard?