Longevity Begins With Zongmen Handyman

Chapter 62: Leaving the Marketplace

"Two months delay?"

Long Tao's eyebrows slightly furrowed. The Formation Shop had never had such a precedent.

"Yes, during this period, in order to break through to the eighth level of Qi Refining, I have exhausted my savings, so I am currently facing some difficulties. But as long as I have two months, I can repay the spirit stones... I am now preparing to mass-produce advanced formations."

Li An looked apologetic and at the same time displayed his aura of being at the eighth level of Qi Refining, showing his sincerity.

Long Tao was suddenly surprised, his eyes filled with complexity. He knew that Li An was already over sixty years old, yet he was able to advance further and reach the eighth level of Qi Refining!

Rare!

But it wasn't too rare of an occurrence. As long as there were spirit stones, there were still many ways to achieve it. It was normal for Li An to exhaust his savings to gain a level of cultivation.

Moreover, Li An's breakthrough would also benefit him!

After all, the stronger Li An's cultivation, the higher the success rate of producing advanced formations, and the more commission he could receive from it.

Thinking of this, Long Tao's eyes narrowed slightly. "Brother Li, you know that for second-tier formations, there has never been a case where payment is delayed for two months after receiving the goods... You're putting me in a difficult position."

Li An gritted his teeth. "Brother Long, I really have no other choice... How about we change the profit-sharing ratio to 40-60? I'll give you 40%!"

He went all out!

Long Tao said, "50-50! The risk of this matter is too great. For the sake of our relationship, I am willing to bear the risk for you, but you can't let me suffer a loss..."

Li An hesitated for a long time before saying, "Alright!"

He agreed.

"Oh, by the way, Brother Long, I might need to put the materials for refining formations on credit..."

Then, he awkwardly spoke up.

Long Tao had already agreed to the matter of second-tier formations, so he waved his hand generously. "Alright!"

He directly put Li An on credit for four sets of advanced formation materials, worth over a thousand spirit stones!

"Brother Long, rest assured, after I go back, I will close up and produce formations and talismans for these two months. I will definitely not let you suffer a loss!"

Li An took the items and left, expressing his gratitude.

Long Tao watched Li An's figure and stroked his short beard, revealing a satisfied smile.

- After the sect delivers goods to the shop, they can usually be kept for three months before payment is made to the sect.

So giving Li An two months was actually an easy task for him.

Moreover, Li An was a disciple of the Xuan Yang Sect and had even accomplished the great feat of killing the Life-Taking Horse-Faced Demon. Although he owed a considerable amount of two thousand spirit stones, with his proficiency in talismans and formations, he would definitely be able to repay them.

Seizing this opportunity to permanently improve the profit-sharing ratio in the future, he was very satisfied.

...

Back at the Spirit Talisman Shop.

Li An closed the door and counted the current inventory of the shop.

The shop had accumulated about 1,400 spirit stones worth of goods, mainly talisman pens, talisman paper, and materials for making talismans.

He immediately wrote a letter to the sect, mentioning that due to his apprentice resigning and some problems in his cultivation, sales had been slightly slow for the past two months. He had already made the necessary adjustments and requested the sect to send another batch of goods.

Li An believed that with his reputation in the Xuan Yang Sect over the years, the outer sect would not hinder him over such a small matter.

Then, he wrote separate letters to Tan Qingxue and Wang Dazhu.

In the letters, he expressed that his cultivation in talismans had probably reached its limit in this lifetime, but he wanted to make one last attempt. So he asked Tan Qingxue, out of their past friendship, to personally go to the Liuyang River Marketplace to collect materials for making second-tier talisman paper. He needed a larger quantity this time.

In the letter to Wang Dazhu, he mentioned that he urgently needed some "Pulse Cleansing Sand" recently. If Wang Dazhu had the time, he hoped that he could help collect it. If he didn't have the time, then forget about it.

He also emphasized that he didn't want anyone else to know about this matter, so he asked Wang Dazhu not to delegate it to others.

Pulse Cleansing Sand was one of the products of spiritual mines, actually a special kind of spirit stone, but few people would specifically collect it.

If Wang Dazhu really helped him with this favor, he would definitely have to leave the outer sect and go to the Xuan Yang Sect's spiritual mine.

Although the spiritual mine was also dangerous, it was much better than being in the sect. Moreover, the spiritual mine was a special place. If there weren't enough manpower, the demonic cultivators would most likely be the last to attack.

Because the spiritual mine couldn't run away, and the mining speed of the ore was also limited, leaving it alone wouldn't cause much loss.

He didn't insist on this. In his heart, Wang Dazhu's weight definitely couldn't compare to Tan Qingxue's.

In the letter to Wang Dazhu, one reason was that the other party had always been relatively simple-minded and had a good relationship with Li An. The other reason was that Wang Dazhu had a good talent in the path of refining tools, and if he could survive, it would also be beneficial to Li An.

After sending out the two letters, Li An stayed in the Spirit Talisman Shop for three more days.

On the fourth day, he sent a set of intermediate formations to Long Tao and stated that he would be closing up to produce advanced formations. He assured Long Tao to rest assured, and the income from this set of intermediate formations would not be shared with Li An. It would be used as the final payment for the second-tier formations.

Long Tao was very satisfied and said many polite words, assuring Li An that he would help deal with matters on the sect's side.

After finishing this matter, Li An directly sneaked out of the Qingyang Fang market.

He hurried to the outskirts of the Liuyang River Fang market - the Mashan Ferry!

He spent three days carefully waiting and investigating, making sure that there were no traces of demonic cultivators nearby. On the fourth night, the wilderness around the ferry was as quiet as death, with only the occasional sound of the river water hitting the shore.

In several extremely secretive places around the pier, Li An set up the second-level array formations he had purchased and made a lot of concealments.

Unless a cultivator at the Foundation Building stage scanned the surrounding land inch by inch with their divine sense, the array formations would not be discovered.

But Li An believed that the demonic cultivators would not be so cautious. When they set up an ambush here, the entire Xuanyang Sect would have already suffered a disastrous defeat. How could they have expected someone to set up formations in such a place?

After replenishing the spiritual stones for the second-level array formations for two months, Li An immediately returned to the Qingyang Fang market.

Instead of entering the Qingyang Fang market directly, he found a tree hole in a mountain forest outside the market and began to cultivate.

Under the operation of the Life-Nurturing Immortal Casting Technique, his whole person merged with the withered tree as one.

In this way, another month passed!

Li An stabilized his cultivation at the eighth level of Qi Refining. He circled around the outskirts of the Qingyang Fang market for four or five days to confirm that there was still time before returning to the market.

"Hmm?"

He changed his appearance and walked casually like an outsider, but used his divine sense to carefully scan every person he passed by.

Finally, several hundred meters away from the spiritual talisman shop, in a medicinal herb shop, he sensed a demonic cultivator!

Sure enough, they had infiltrated.

Li An remained calm and did not go back to the spiritual talisman shop. The next day, he passed by the demonic cultivator.

He confirmed that this demonic cultivator had been lingering outside the spiritual talisman shop!

"Surveillance?"

Li An couldn't help but feel somewhat fortunate. This time, when attacking the Qingyang Fang market, the demonic cultivators clearly regarded him as a key target!

After all, even though Li An had not truly killed the Soul-Reaping Horse-Faced Demon back then, his reputation had caused him to be resented by the demonic cultivators.

On the third day, taking advantage of a moment when the demonic cultivator wasn't paying attention, Li An returned to the spiritual talisman shop.

The next day, he opened the shop, and the disciples who delivered goods from the sect arrived.

After handing over the goods, the disciple repeatedly reminded Li An that there was already a backlog of accounts and that he couldn't delay the payment for this month. Li An nodded and bowed repeatedly in agreement.

After the goods were stored, Li An closed the shop door and turned to enter the warehouse.

He directly took out three storage bags!

These three storage bags were all top-grade first-level ones that Li An had purchased in various places like the Liuyang River Fang market, and no one knew about them.

A top-grade first-level storage bag was worth hundreds of spiritual stones and had a storage space of about ten square meters.

Using these three storage spaces, he emptied the entire warehouse!

"Damn demonic cultivator..." Li An couldn't help but curse softly, feeling somewhat frustrated.

Originally, according to the plan, he was prepared to go out tomorrow, stabilize Long Tao with an advanced array formation, and at the same time, extend him some credit for array formation materials. Then he would borrow from the familiar shops in the market, such as pill medicines and magic treasures, and buy on credit!

With his reputation and the identity of the owner of the Xuanyang Sect's spiritual talisman shop, he would definitely be able to get a lot of credit!

But now that he was being watched by the demonic cultivator, doing so would easily arouse the other party's suspicion and attention.

If any unexpected changes were to occur as a result, it would be very bad!

Therefore, he could only give up the idea of going on a crazy shopping spree...

Then, the next day, after waiting for a long time, he finally found an opportunity and sneaked out of the spiritual talisman shop.

Having changed his appearance and clothes, he decisively left the market...

...

At the same time.

"Boss, this guy has only opened the door once, I don't know what he's up to..." In a corner of the Qingyang Fang market, a young man spoke to a middle-aged man in a very low voice.

"Keep an eye on him, don't let him slip away. Also, don't rush over directly. This dog talisman master is very cunning. He actually set up a second-level array formation in this spiritual talisman shop..." The middle-aged man spoke calmly.

"Boss, when should we make a move? The breaking prohibition talisman has already been set up..." The young man was getting a little impatient.

"Don't fucking ask!"