Chapter 5 Cultivating the Spiritual Rat

The purchasing power of Spirit Stones is still very strong when it comes to pills.

Compared to the low-tier talismans that can cost up to two or three Spirit Stones each, or low-tier magic artifacts that are priced in the double digits.

Pills, as long as they are not top-grade, won't be too expensive.

One Spirit Stone can buy two or three mid-grade Nourishing Yuan Pills.

And you can even get more than one hundred and twenty Nourishing Yuan Waste Pills.

Such pill prices are also a result of the Chi Yuan Immortal Sect's deliberate efforts to better cultivate the geniuses of the Inner Sect.

For some reason, the majority of the Spiritual Medicines in the Immortal Cultivation World contain varying degrees of toxins, which are very harmful to Cultivators and cannot be consumed raw.

The key to alchemy lies in expelling the toxins from the ingredients while preserving as much of their medicinal effects as possible.

Therefore, in this Immortal Sect Territory, a seasoned alchemist typically achieves a pill completion rate of seven waste, two inferior, and one mid-grade.

Top-grade pills are entirely a matter of luck; only by making a sufficient number of attempts can one come across one or two.

And because of the existence of Pill Poison, the geniuses will eat nothing but top-grade pills.

Thus, with the encouragement of the geniuses and the tacit approval of the higher-ups,

the result is that for alchemists, the top-grade pills, which only occur under extremely rare favorable circumstances, become their true sources of profit.

Each top-grade pill is priced a hundred times more than a mid-grade pill, and they are always in high demand with no sufficient supply.

This greatly increases the enthusiasm of alchemists for their craft, indirectly boosting the production of other quality pills.

Add to that the fact that Immortal Sects have always actively supported the low-tier Cultivators with the talent to become alchemists,

resulting in a far greater number of alchemists within Immortal Sects than Cultivators of other skills!

Therefore, it's only natural that the price of low-quality pills has been driven down.

As for whether this trend is good or bad for the future of alchemists, Su Ping is unclear and prefers not to judge.

But right now, having spent three Spirit Stones to get two hundred thirty Nourishing Yuan Waste Pills and one hundred twenty Qi Blood Waste Pills, Su Ping is quite satisfied with the situation.

After purchasing waste pills and drinking the fine tea offered by the old cultivator,

Su Ping and the old cultivator exchanged a few polite words before leaving Yunbao Tower and returning to the street.

Only then did Su Ping realize that the street was filled with vendors selling the Mortal Beasts with spiritual natures mentioned by the old cultivator.

This made Su Ping understand that the Immortal World also had no shortage of business-savvy people.

Clearly, these people understood that feeding Mortal Beasts with waste pills might not be profitable,

but selling Mortal Beasts to those willing to take a gamble would certainly make money!

Su Ping swept his gaze over the Mortal Beasts on these stalls.

After some thought, Su Ping took out one mid-grade Nourishing Yuan Pill and ten waste pills, and exchanged them with a Qi Cultivation First Layer Loose Cultivator for two small rats, one white and one grey, and three small snakes.

The two little rats had a glint in their eyes and seemed quite intelligent, as if they could understand human nature.

These were the most spiritually gifted Mortal Beasts in the workshop street that Su Ping had sensed.

It was said that the Escape Technique of rat-like Spiritual Beasts was exceptional once they matured.

Given their small size, they would be inconspicuous even in modern society; Su Ping felt there would be uses for them.

As for the three small snakes, their quality was somewhat inferior in comparison, merely a bonus to the two small rats.

Su Ping had already planned to raise them into Spiritual Snakes and then find an opportunity to sell them to make up for his recent shortfall in Spirit Stones.

......

At night, a bright moon hung high in the sky.

Under the moonlight, in the master room of Frost Moon Villa,

Su Ping had exchanged all his fish catches for Fishing Coins. After deducting the Purification Spirit Medicine he had exchanged for the previous night, he was left with 160 coins.

Su Ping looked at the small mice and snakes he had brought back, each in separate cages.

He smiled slightly and said softly, "Encountering me is your good fortune."

Instead of using the waste pills in a hurry, Su Ping took out two Beast Taming Talismans from his storage bag.

As a former Inspector who had severed his own future prospects, Su Ping naturally had prepared for things he might need in the days to come.

Often, compared to having people to guard and protect a property, employing fierce beasts was undoubtedly more effective and ensured greater loyalty.

Especially when cultivators grow old and their bodies become frail.

Even the most trusted individuals can change their hearts.

These two Beast Taming Talismans were what Su Ping had bought from a junior brother who had learned the Beast Taming Skill.

They allowed even ordinary cultivators to perform Beast Taming.

Of course, the talismans Su Ping brought out could not even be considered Low Tier!

The effects touted as Beast Taming Skill were, at best, akin to Beast Taming Magic, effective only against wild beasts of the Mortal World.

Thus, their advantage lay in their cheap price, targeting cultivators like Su Ping who descended to the Mortal World to enjoy blessings.

"Contract!"

Su Ping bit his tongue tip, spitting out two mouthfuls of blood onto the talismans.

Immediately, the two talismans turned into two red lights and entered the trembling white and grey mice in the cage.

"Squeak?"

The mice panicked, but after being hit by the red light, Su Ping's mana imprint surfaced in their minds without resistance.

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

The red light vanished in the blink of an eye, and the two mice were no longer fearful. Instead, realizing their nature, they looked towards Su Ping seemingly with a hint of flattery.

"It went smoothly, as it should... but then again, I am a Qi Cultivation Middle Period cultivator, after all. If I had failed to contract two ordinary mortal mice, my luck would have to be incredibly bad!"

Su Ping felt the mystical insight that came with the Beast Taming Contract and gently spread his hands.

Instantly, with the expense of thirty Fishing Coins, Purification Spirit Medicine and Life Spirit Medicine appeared in his palms.

"Now be good and listen up!"

"First eat the waste pill, then take a bit of Life Spirit Medicine, and if you really can't endure anymore, drink some Purification Spirit Medicine!"

With one hand holding waste pills and the other Spiritual Medicine, Su Ping operated his mana and controlled the mice.

As he practiced on the spot.

Su Ping found that the minimum effective dosage of the Spiritual Medicine he exchanged was one milliliter.

Anything less than one milliliter would not be effective.

This prevented Su Ping from infinitely subdividing the medicine to test its lower limit, which was somewhat regrettable.

However, Su Ping's method of feeding waste pills to beasts to turn them into spiritual beasts, bolstered by Spiritual Medicine, was indeed the correct path, just as he had speculated!

The white mouse was promoted to a First Tier Spiritual Rat after consuming waste pills for the sixth time.

Grey was successful in its transformation on the fourth feeding.

They may have consumed only single-digit amounts of waste pills.

In truth, without the help of Life Spirit Medicine, the two mice would likely have been poisoned to death after consuming the first waste pill.

And without Purification Spirit Medicine to cleanse the pill poison and repair the deficiencies,

the mice, even if they had survived the first one, would have reached their limit and could proceed no further with the second waste pill.

In the real world, for a Mortal Beast to transform into a Spiritual Beast using waste pills... would perhaps be even more difficult than winning the lottery jackpot!

"Squeak!"

Having become Spiritual Beasts, the two mice became even more human-like, even capable of sending messages to Su Ping through the contract.

After Su Ping opened the cage and released them,

the two mice turned into shadows and leapt out, perching on Su Ping's left and right shoulders, respectively, spontaneously circulating Breathing Skills, inhaling the essence of the moonlight in the night.

"Uncontrolled, they are demon beasts; controlled, they become Spiritual Beasts."

"My Spiritual Rats were able to naturally absorb Moonlight upon their successful promotion... and they naturally deepen the contract with me, allowing me to vaguely see what they see and hear."

"This is a behavior exhibited by Spiritual Pets with extremely high compatibility! Who would have thought that nurturing them from Mortal Beasts with a contract would bring such an unexpected joy!"

"Such Spiritual Pets, if sold for Spirit Stones, would fetch at least a three-digit sum, right?"

Su Ping was pleasantly surprised by his luck in successfully nurturing two Spiritual Rats that seemed to have considerable potential on his first attempt.

He then disregarded the mice that were absorbed in their Cultivation and shifted his attention to the snake.

Following his previous approach and now experienced, Su Ping took out a homemade syringe and successfully transformed the three snakes into Spiritual Beasts as well.