Zhao Di walked into the Yunxian residence, and immediately a man in his fifties or sixties with the surname Yun came to greet him, politely asking if he wanted to stay. This old man also had spiritual light flashing on his body, and his cultivation was not much different from Zhao Dis.

  After Zhao Di gave a definite answer, the old man reported several accommodation methods and prices of Yunxianju.

  The first way is to rent a short-term building for two low-grade spirit stones per month.

  The second is long-term rental, with an annual rent of ten low-grade spirit stones.

  No matter which way, Yunxianjus guests can set up stalls in the market for free. Otherwise, they have to pay a certain amount of spiritual stones to the market management every time they set up stalls.

  In addition to the building, Yunxianju also has larger caves for rent, but the rent is much higher.

  "Must it be a spiritual stone? Cant we use gold instead?" Zhao Di asked tentatively.

  The old man heard this and smiled, saying: "Fellow Daoist is joking, worldly things are of no use to us cultivators, but if its tens of thousands of taels of gold, we can barely accept it."

  Zhao Di only had those twenty taels of gold, and could only choose to hand over the spirit stones. He chose a long-term rental of a building near Fangshi City, and reluctantly handed over the first years rent - ten low-grade spirit stones.

  The old man handed Zhao Di a palm-sized jade plate with intricate symbols carved on it, saying: "Every building in our Yunxianju is equipped with restrictive mechanisms. This jade plate is the artifact that activates the restrictive mechanism of the rented building. The method of use is very simple and is written on the back of the jade plate. However, if you keep the restriction open for a long time, you will need to provide your own spirit stones to replenish the consumption of the restriction array. If you have any questions or need anything else, feel free to come find me."

  "Thank you, fellow Taoist!" Zhao Di left the Cloud Immortal Abode and arrived at his own residence, a two-story wooden pavilion with intricate carvings, built on a foundation of piled rocks. It wasnt too big, with three or four rooms on each floor, each serving a different purpose. Although the furniture was simple and unadorned, it was all complete. He then followed the method inscribed on the back of the jade plate to activate the restrictive array, and immediately the entire pavilion was enveloped in a layer of light. A misty aura slowly emanated from the light, quickly forming a white cloud that concealed the pavilion.

  From then on, Zhao Di started his career of making and selling charms in Liuyunfang City.

  He only made "Fireball Talisman" "Vajra Talisman" "Mind-calming Talisman" and other commonly used low-level talismans for the Qi-refining stage, and as he became more and more skilled, his success rate gradually reached around 30-40%. This was already an astonishingly high success rate, and its likely that only a talisman maker who specialized in making low-level talismans could achieve such a high success rate.

  He calculated an account, a dozen twelve sheets of primary low-grade blank talisman paper cost two low-grade spirit stones, buying more at once can be cheaper, plus the cost of cinnabar, producing ten primary talismans costs about six or seven low-grade spirit stones, he sells one spirit stone per talisman and can make a slight profit, with a monthly profit of over ten low-grade spirit stones.

  He earned some spiritual stones, and Zhao Di went to buy some elixirs suitable for his cultivation level to enhance his cultivation. Only when his own cultivation reached the fifth or sixth layer of the Qi Refining stage did he barely have enough spiritual power to practice more powerful middle-stage Qi Refining techniques like "Fire Snake Technique", "Golden Shield Technique", "Earth Thorn Technique", "Entwining Technique", and "Arrow Rain Technique".

  In a flash, two years have passed. For Zhao Di, who was used to the dull and mundane life of cultivation, this kind of life of making talismans for a living may be plain, but it was also busy and fulfilling.

  During this time, he also gradually became familiar with the Liuyunfang market and got to know several low-ranking cultivators who often bought talismans from him. Zhao Di, who was struggling in the low-level Qi-refining stage, would often discuss his experiences and insights on cultivation with them, and over time, they became more familiar with each other.

  However, the person Zhao Di has been in contact with the most over the past two years, apart from the owner of the talisman shop who supplies him with blank talismans and cinnabar, is Liu Yuying, a low-ranking alchemist. The two often set up stalls together and have become close friends who can talk about anything.

  Originally, the Liu family in Xiyue Mountain, where Liu Yuying was located, was a very small immortal family, and it would be too much to call them an immortal family. Except for her and her father, there were only two young siblings with spiritual roots, a total of five cultivators in the family, all of whom were at the Qi Refining stage. Her father was also an alchemist, but he could only refine two or three low-level pills, which was considered to be a skill, every month he would refine a few furnaces of pills for Lihuo Sect, and he had a certain amount of spiritual stone income.

  Its a bit of an exaggeration to call Liu Yingying an alchemist, after all she only knows how to refine one type of pill, and its the most basic, cheapest kind - the Refining Qi Powder that requires three pieces of low-grade spirit stone.

  The cost and risk of refining elixirs are much higher than making talismans.

  The cost of refining a furnace of Lianqi San is at least 20 to 30 Ling stones. If it succeeds, you can get 20 to 30 Lianqi San, making Liu Yuying a big profit. But if you fail continuously for several times, thats really a loss of blood and no return.

  He Zidis income was stable every month, with a small profit. Liu Yinyins income fluctuated greatly, sometimes having extremely good luck one month, successfully producing a batch of dan medicine and earning 60-70 low-grade spirit stones in one go. But then the next month, she would fail several times in a row, not only having no income but also wasting dozens of spirit stones. However, on average, her monthly profit was slightly higher than He Zidis.

  This is because the elixirs that are beneficial to cultivation basically do not worry about not being sold. The talismans made by Zhao Di, although also useful, can only be sold for 20-30 pieces per month.

  However, there have been two or three times when Liu Yingyings luck was extremely bad for a period of time, and she lost continuously, losing all her familys assets, and could only borrow dozens of spirit stones from Zhao Di.

  With the help of a considerable amount of Lianqi San, Zhao Dis cultivation gradually made some progress. However, he soon discovered that, for some unknown reason, perhaps due to taking too much Lianqi San, he felt that Lianqi San was no longer of much help to him. In terms of efficacy, it was far inferior to a slightly higher-grade elixir - Qingling Wan.

  Although the price of Qingling Pill is as high as twenty spiritual stones per grain, the effect of improving cultivation is very significant. Zhao Di has to take out his hard-earned spiritual stones every two months to exchange for a grain of Qingling Pill, which makes him heartache.

  But this has already made Liu Yingying very envious, although she is slightly richer than Zhao Di, but she always keeps the saved spiritual stones and elixirs for her younger brother and sister at home who have lower cultivation levels. Every half year, she would return home to bring them elixirs and some interesting toys. Therefore, although Qingling Pill was very helpful to her as a fifth-layer Qi Refining cultivator, she couldnt bear to buy it frequently. She would only occasionally splurge when she had a burst of good luck and refined one or two furnaces of good elixirs, then spend money to buy one pill.

  Although Zhao Dis spiritual root talent was extremely poor, with the help of many Qingling Pills, he finally broke through the bottleneck of the fourth layer of the Refining Qi period two years after entering the Flowing Clouds City, and his cultivation reached the fifth layer of the Refining Qi period, barely making him a mid-level cultivator among the Refining Qi period cultivators.

  Zhao Di had only learned the first five layers of the "Chasing Waves Manual" from his master. However, this basic Five Elements manual was widely circulated and easily obtained a complete set of the "Chasing Waves Manual" with all thirteen layers for just three pieces of low-grade spirit stone. He had bought it at a stall run by a loose cultivator during a transaction meeting at the beginning of the month. If he had bought it from the "Wan Jing Ge", which specialized in selling scriptures and techniques, it would have cost him five pieces of low-grade spirit stone.

  In the Wan Jing Ge, there were many Zhao Dis interested in Gong Fa classics, unfortunately, the prices were not cheap, he had only bought three books, and they were all of great help to his Zhī Fú Shù.

  One is a book of spells, with several common high-level spells in the refining period, but its not comprehensive, only seven or eight spell incantations, so its only sold for fifteen spirit stones.

  There was also a book called "Talismans and Charms", which specifically described the production of talismans for the intermediate stage of Qi refinement. This was undoubtedly very useful for Zhao Di, who planned to gradually improve his own talisman-making skills. Although the book cost as much as 50 spirit stones, Zhao Di gritted his teeth and bought it anyway.

  The last book was a miscellaneous talk about some legendary great immortals of the ancient times, because it was cheap, after Zhao Di haggled over the price, the shopkeeper of Wan Jing Ge gave it to him as a gift for buying two and getting one free.

  (Vote for recommendation, collect this book!)