The two Tribulation Cultivators were a pair of brothers.
One was named Wang Da, the other Wang Er.
They had been Tribulation Cultivators for many years. In the past, it had almost always been smooth sailing, but they had never been so frustrated before!
"Don't be hasty. Let's wait a little longer. I refuse to believe this old turtle will stay inside the Marketplace for the rest of his life!"
Wang Da growled, gritting his teeth.
Most Tribulation Cultivators would get a headache dealing with a Cultivator like Li Chang'an.
He didn't need to venture outside the Marketplace. He just had to stay home, wait for an Auspicious Trigram to appear, and opportunities would naturally fall into his lap.
This turtle-like existence might be tedious for others.
But Li Chang'an reveled in it.
At this moment, he had arrived at the Marketplace's trading area, searching for the brown stone indicated by the Divination.
'There are quite a lot of stones for sale in this Marketplace. I wonder which one it could be?'
Li Chang'an's expression was as calm as ever as he walked through the bustling crowd.
His gaze carefully swept over every stall.
About half an hour later,
he began to act, buying up the stones that caught his eye one by one.
Some stones came from Secret Realms, some from the cave residences of predecessors, and others were said to have come from various mines.
The prices varied, but most were cheap.
Over the course of the entire morning,
Li Chang'an bought over thirty brown stones in total, spending less than seventy Spirit Stones.
If he could find an Earth Element Pearl, it would be a huge profit!
'I've bought just about enough.'
Li Chang'an returned to his house with several Storage Pouches full of stones.
He activated a Sound Insulation Talisman.
Then, he got to work.
He shattered the stones he had bought one by one.
CRACK... CRACK...
The stones shattered one after another, sending fragments flying.
When the sixth stone was shattered,
a crystal-like, translucent ore fell out from within.
"Hm?"
Surprised, Li Chang'an paused his actions.
'Is this Spirit Stone Mine?'
He picked up the ore and, sensing the dense Spiritual Power within, couldn't help but smile.
'I never would have thought this time, breaking open stones would yield such a pleasant surprise.'
'I was hoping for an Earth Element Pearl, but instead I got this huge piece of Spirit Stone Mine.'
Li Chang'an made a rough calculation.
If he cut and broke down this Spirit Stone Mine, he could get at least fifty Spirit Stones.
He remembered.
When he bought this stone, the stall owner had said it was brought out from the depths of a mine.
'I've heard that stone gambling is popular in some places. The owners of major mining fields set up special gambling dens to attract Cultivators who want to try their luck picking stones... Did I just accidentally take part?'
Li Chang'an put away the Spirit Stone Mine, his mood exceptionally good.
He continued to break open the stones.
This time, no more pleasant surprises appeared.
When he shattered the twenty-third stone, a perfectly round Earth Element Pearl fell out.
"I finally found it!"
A corner of Li Chang'an's mouth lifted as he snatched the Earth Element Pearl.
The power contained within the pearl was just as Li Chang'an understood it to be: heavy and gentle, as if it held an entire landmass.
To the side,
Dahuang's eyes lit up, his tail wagged nonstop, and drool dripped from the corner of his mouth.
"Dahuang, catch!"
Li Chang'an tossed it casually.
"WOOF!"
Overjoyed, Dahuang leaped lightly and caught the Earth Element Pearl in his mouth.
Then he swallowed it.
Before long,
the aura around his body began to climb steadily, growing more and more powerful.
He was about to advance!
"Focus on your advancement. I'll watch over you."
Li Chang'an slapped out a few Talismans, isolating the Spiritual Power fluctuations in the room from the outside world.
He then took out the Spirit Stone Mine he had found earlier.
He shattered it with a single palm strike!
In an instant,
dense Spiritual Power surged out, filling the entire room.
'With the help of the Earth Element Pearl, advancement shouldn't be a problem.'
Li Chang'an mused.
After all, it was only an advancement from Tier One Middle Stage to Tier One Late Stage, not to Tier Two.
For a Spirit Beast with a Middle Grade Bloodline like a Yellow Sand Dog, advancing to the Late Stage wasn't difficult to begin with.
Soon,
a hazy, pale yellow halo appeared around Dahuang's body.
His fur began to fall out as new fur grew in, as if he were being completely reborn. His aura grew steadily along with it.
Everything went smoothly.
In less than ten minutes, the advancement was over.
"WOOF WOOF!"
Dahuang was filled with joy. The aura emanating from his body had already reached the Tier One Late Stage!
Comparable to a Human Race Cultivator at the Late Stage of Qi Refining.
"Not bad!"
Li Chang'an smiled and patted the dog's head.
Now,
he himself was at the Middle Stage of Qi Refining, while his Spirit Beast was at Tier One Late Stage.
In Qinghe Marketplace, very few people could pose a threat to him anymore.
Of course, in the eyes of outsiders, he was still just a minor Junior Cultivator at the Qi Refining Third Layer.
"Alright, go back to keeping an eye on those two."
Li Chang'an instructed Dahuang.
A Tier One Late Stage Dahuang now had enough power to deal with two Tribulation Cultivators at the Middle Stage of Qi Refining.
But Li Chang'an had no plans to act just yet.
'First, I'll let Dahuang consolidate his realm and get used to his new strength. Then I'll find the right opportunity...'
Li Chang'an thought to himself.
The time was not yet right to make a move.
...
「Three months passed in a flash.」
During this time, Li Chang'an spent his days either cultivating or refining Puppets.
The Puppets he refined grew increasingly complex.
Finally,
one evening,
he successfully refined a humanoid Puppet.
'My first Spider Puppet barely reached the strength of the Qi Refining First Layer. This humanoid Puppet, however, already has the strength of the Qi Refining Third Layer, which is comparable to the strength I show to the public.'
Li Chang'an stood before the Puppet, a satisfied look on his face.
This Puppet he had built it according to his own body shape.
After refining this Puppet, his Puppetry Skill had basically reached the peak for a Tier One Low Grade Puppet Master.
'Now I can learn the Tier One Middle Grade Puppet inheritance.'
Li Chang'an mused.
However, before that, he planned to deal with the two Tribulation Cultivators first.
During this period, Wang Da and Wang Er had grown quite impatient.
Zheng Jinbao had also lost his patience and had urged them on several times.
But they truly didn't dare make a move in a place guarded by a Foundation Establishment Ancestor, so they could only endure and wait.
Every day spent in the Marketplace made their skin crawl.
Eventually,
the two began to take shifts.
One of them would watch Li Chang'an while the other went to operate outside the Marketplace.
'These two are really cautious. No wonder they've lived so long. If Wu Yun had been even half as careful, he never would have had the idea to come to my home to kill me.'
Li Chang'an sat cross-legged, calming his mind and Qi, quietly waiting in his room for Midnight to arrive.
Just after Midnight,
a golden light appeared before his eyes.
[Divination has been refreshed]
[Today's Divination: Auspicious]
[You will move against the two Tribulation Cultivators. The process will be exceptionally smooth. You will not only obtain a large amount of cultivation resources but also seize an opportunity that originally belonged to them, from which you will acquire a Tier One Top Grade Talismanic Inheritance.]
'An opportunity? A Top Grade Talismanic Inheritance?'
Li Chang'an was overjoyed.
He had been worrying that his Talisman Art had reached a dead end.
Trying to advance his Talisman Art from Middle Grade to Top Grade through his own research was simply too difficult.
An inheritance contained the summarized experience and methods of predecessors.
A single inheritance could save him from many wrong turns and a huge amount of time.
'It seems their opportunity is fated to be mine.'
Li Chang'an was determined to obtain that inheritance.
He calmed himself and began to plan meticulously.
Although the Divination was auspicious,
he still couldn't afford to be careless.