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Chapter 221: The Five Elements Talismans

The Green Pill[1] was one of them. This pill was not commonly sought out, as its effect was that it would increase the cultivator\'s affinity with the spiritual qi of wood. After taking a high-grade Green Pill, the cultivator could hide in a forest by becoming one with it, blending in like one of the trees.

No one had much use for it except in special circumstances, so no one would concoct them in advance. If a cultivator needed the Green Pill, they would have to place an order with the Hall of Alchemy for the pill to be made.

However... considering the bad relationship that Silver Sword Peak had with the Hall of Alchemy, this was a blatant move against Chu Liang.

He couldn\'t purchase a Green Pill himself. Asking someone else to do it definitely wouldn\'t work either, as he was the only one who had reached this stage of the Mountain God Memorial Ceremony. The other disciples were still trying to figure out the mystery hidden in the four paintings.

If the Alchemy Master wanted to stop Chu Liang from winning, all he needed to do was prohibit all sales of the Green Pills. After all, the Green Pill was rarely used. This made it obvious that if there was anyone wanting to purchase it in the next couple of days, it would undoubtedly be Chu Liang.

It wasn\'t even that the other disciples were slow. There was still some time before the Mount Shu Summit. The treasure hunt had been deliberately planned so that the disciples would spend a few days on each stage, bringing the event to an end just before the summit... It was Chu Liang who was too fast!

Nevertheless, Chu Liang still held onto some hope and went to ask Chen Su if she could help him concoct a Green Pill.

Chen Su looked troubled. She wasn\'t capable of concocting high-grade Green Pills. That was something that only the Alchemy Master and a few of his disciples could do. Moreover, that very day, the Alchemy Master had already given out strict orders forbidding Green Pills to be sold in the short term.

This scheme was definitely the work of several of the sect\'s elders. Their goal was to punish Chu Liang for selling the second stage\'s puzzle for profit.

"Haaa," Chu Liang sighed.

Who would want to sell the information they\'ve attained unless they were left without a choice?

Prior to this, Chu Liang had shown some restraint. However, since he was being targeted now, he might as well go all out.

At noon that day, his team for the treasure hunt gathered at Silver Sword Peak once again.

"Big Bro! Did you already solve the puzzle?" Shang Ziliang asked excitedly.

He felt that he had followed the right person. Despite racking their brains for so many days, none of the other disciples had managed to solve the puzzle. Yet, Chu Liang had only been back for two days, and he\'d already made a breakthrough.

"Mmhm." Chu Liang nodded. "We can sell the solution for the second stage\'s puzzle now."

Everyone was astonished. "Huh?"

He still wants to continue selling information?

"Big Boss!" Lackey A said anxiously. "This is already the second stage, and we\'re so close to the final answer. I don\'t think we should sell this information."

Chu Liang looked at him with a smile. "This is great. Keep that attitude."

...

In just one afternoon, news spread all over Mount Shu that someone from Silver Sword Peak would be selling the solution to the second stage\'s puzzle that evening at the Red Cotton Market.

In the evening, a continuous stream of several hundred people arrived at Red Cotton Peak. Chu Liang had set up a platform there and was standing on it.

Upon seeing that most of the disciples had arrived, Chu Liang said loudly, "My fellow disciples, after solving the second stage\'s puzzle, I spent time in careful deliberation. I\'ve decided to do something that will go against our predecessors\' wishes—"

"Big Boss! You mustn\'t sell the information!" someone yelled.

That person dashed up onto the platform to stop Chu Liang. It was Lackey A.

He said, "This is already the second stage. If you share the information with others and they somehow end up solving the next puzzle, won\'t they get their hands on the White-Jade Porcelain Cup before us?!"

"So what? We\'re all disciples of Mount Shu; we\'re family. What boundaries are there among family?!" Chu Liang shouted.

"No, you can\'t do this!" Lackey A replied. "I\'m in your team, and I want to win. You can\'t sell that information!"

"Ha," Chu Liang let out a cold laugh. "I can\'t sell it? Since you won\'t let me sell it... Okay, I won\'t."

"Really?" Lackey A asked.

Chu Liang waved his hand and declared, "I\'ll give it away for free! Let\'s see how you\'ll stop me! Men, drag him away!"

Lin Bei and Shang Ziliang rushed up and pulled Lackey A off the platform.

Kicking the air in a fit of anger, Lackey A bellowed, "You\'ll regret this!"

Their little show piqued everyone\'s interest.

Chu Liang then said, "I\'ll be giving away the solution to the second stage\'s puzzle to you, my fellow disciples!"

He waved his hand, and Lackey B walked up with a box of berries.

Chu Liang explained, "These Dragon Breath Golden Vein Berries are the specialty of my peak, Silver Sword Peak. I\'m sure that those of you who often come to Red Cotton Peak know what these berries are and that they\'re worth buying. This box of three berries costs only one sword coin. That has always been the price, and I\'m sure all of you know that. This time around, I\'ll be giving away the answer to the puzzle with the sale of these berries!"

Chu Liang opened the box of berries and took out a small copper talisman.

He continued, "We\'ve made character talismans for each of the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. There\'s one of them in each box of berries. As long as you can collect the character talismans for all five elements, you can trade them for a copy of the answer!

"Seven days later, we\'ll give out copies of the answer to everyone at the same time. Anyone with the full set of character talismans of the five elements will get a copy!”

"My dear family! This is a chance not to be missed!"

At this moment, Lackey A suddenly dashed up again. "You weren\'t even profiting from that price! And now you\'re giving away the answer! You worked so hard to grow these berries... You\'re going to suffer a great loss by doing this!"

Chu Liang pushed him away and said angrily, "Why are you getting in my way again? All right, since you think the price is low, I\'ll lower it even more! My dear family! I\'m holding a seven-day promotional event! You can get two boxes of berries for one sword coin! This is half the usual price!"

Hearing that, even Lin Bei stepped forward to try and persuade Chu Liang. "Chu Liang, you shouldn\'t make yourself suffer such a great loss in earnings just because you\'re angry at him."

"Leave me alone!" Chu Liang raised his hand to stop Lin Bei. "I\'m a temperamental guy!"

...

Fortunately, Silver Sword Peak\'s garden was adequately large and had a production rate that could accommodate such a huge number of sales.

On the first day, a large quantity of berries was sold out in less than two hours.

Chu Liang was almost submerged by the crowd of people wanting to buy the berries. He raised his hands and gave his assurance that he would continue selling the berries at the same price the next day. After that, the crowd finally allowed him to leave.

The Golden Vein Berries had always been high in demand in the Red Cotton Market. Chu Liang had only put the berries up for sale a few times, but the berries had always sold well. Yet, Chu Liang was selling the berries at such a great discount this time and even giving away the solution to the second stage\'s puzzle. This was a ridiculously good deal!

In any case, it didn\'t matter even if there were usually only a few people interested in the Golden Vein Berries. After all, there were many people interested in the solution to the second stage\'s puzzle. Lackey A\'s words reminded many of them that if they could get their hands on the second stage\'s answer, then all they needed to do was solve the final puzzle. After that, they could emerge as the winner of the Mountain God Memorial Ceremony!

The Mountain God Memorial Ceremony was held once every ten years. If they could become a dark horse and clinch the first place, wouldn\'t it be such a glorious achievement?

For just one sword coin, they could buy one character talisman and six berries... Moreover, six berries usually cost two sword coins. This was a deal that was hard to say no to.

After three consecutive days of sales, there was an additional reason driving the disciples to buy the berries—the desire to complete their set of talismans.

Once someone possessed the character talismans for metal, wood, water, and fire, they would have an intense desire for the Earth Character Talisman. Consequently, a craze of trading Five Elements Talismans emerged on Mount Shu.

The first question everyone asked the moment they headed out in the morning was, "Do you have the character talisman for earth?"

If the Five Elements Talismans had been evenly spread among the boxes of berries, then theoretically, each team would only need to purchase five boxes of berries and trade the talismans with each other to gather the full set of five.

However, there seemed to be relatively fewer Fire Character Talismans given with the latest batch of berries, and there were even fewer Earth Character Talismans. There were plenty of character talismans for the other three elements though. Everyone was missing the same character talisman, so all they could do was buy more berries.

The Earth Character Talisman became a hard currency. There were even people who conducted private sales and sold the Earth Character Talismans for a very high price. Before long, this became a common practice.

This craze that Chu Liang had created went beyond what he\'d predicted. Over the past few days, he\'d harvested more thorny black balls in a rush, planted the berry seeds, and added a great amount of Herbal Wood Spirit Powder to speed up the plants\' growth. That was how he had barely managed to keep up with the high level of demand.

...

"Argh! This is so annoying!" Jiang Yuebai scowled. "Why is it that I just can\'t get the Earth Character Talisman?! Did you only put in four types of talismans?! You despicable merchant!"

Chu Liang refused to admit it. "How could that be? Perhaps the five types of talismans weren\'t evenly spread among the boxes, and the Earth Character Talismans are all in the later batches?"

Even Jiang Yuebai had gotten pulled into the craze. She had bought several tens of boxes of berries but hadn\'t gotten a single Earth Character Talisman. She was so angry that she punched Chu Liang.

"Senior Sister Jiang, if you want the Earth Character Talisman, I can just give it to you." Chu Liang displayed the aura of a mastermind manipulating everything from the shadows. "I can just tell you the answer to the second stage\'s puzzle too if you want."

"What\'s the point of that?" Jiang Yuebai blinked. "And how could I take advantage of you like that?

"Senior Sister Jiang, you taught me divine skills and immortal arts without asking for anything in return, so why would I hold anything against you over such a trifling thing like this?" Chu Liang replied with a smile.

"Oh, right. I forgot to ask you something," Jiang Yuebai said, smiling too. "How\'s it going with Dimension Compression?"

"Haaa..." Chu Liang sighed, shaking his head. "I\'m really lacking in aptitude for this..."

Jiang Yuebai was about to tell him some words of comfort.

Then Chu Liang continued, "I practiced for quite a number of days, but I can only use it to cover a distance of one zhang at most."

Jiang Yuebai\'s smile vanished, and she fell silent for quite a while.

Noticing that, Chu Liang asked, "Senior Sister Jiang? What\'s the matter?"

Jiang Yuebai mumbled for a bit under her breath before bellowing, "You swindler!"

1. It\'s extremely dark and close to black, but it\'s not black. It’s like a super, super dark green. ☜