Returning to his room, Ling Xu finally felt safe.
After realizing he had wealth rivaling what a Qi Refining cultivator earned in a year, he felt several gazes landing on him.
Fortunately, he had just arrived at Skyless Realm and didn't get to talk with anyone.
With everything he had earned since the tutorial, Ling Xu had a wealth that was shocking for a seventh stage cultivator in the Blood Qi Realm.
Only with his equipment he already had a short fortune, with his low-grade small dagger, middle-grade wind blood shoes and heavy bracers, high-grade refined short sword, spider silk shirt and tough boar chest plate.
Having a cost of five, ten and twenty low grade spiritual stones for low grade, middle grade and high grade semi-treasures, he already had around eighty five low grade spiritual stones.
But taking into account the five high-grade blood condensing pills and blood replenishing pills, the high-grade wound ointment and the hundred and nine high grade blood tempering pills, he had another hundred twenty five low grade spiritual stones.
Adding all of these plus his white blooming fruits, Ling Xu had a total wealth of over four hundred low grade spiritual stones.
It only felt normal feeling insecure about one's safety when realizing that in a world where the strong prey on the weak, he was the goose that laid the golden eggs.
So if anyone found out about his current possessions, Ling Xu already knew what his outcome would become, death.
He was even careful about showing his spatial ring, as he had observed that those cultivators who seemed to be in the Qi Refining Realm rarely possessed it.
From the dozen figures he had already felt no aura from, Ling Xu only saw a spatial ring on half of them.
…
Having calmed down, Ling Xu decided to use the blood condensing pills he had acquired to further purify his blood qi.
He didn't know how far it would help him as he had already gone through two blood exchanges and the effects depended on the difference in purity between his blood qi and the energy contained in the pill.
This blood exchange is the name given to the process where his body undergoes a transformation where it surpasses its limit and then returns the blood qi absorbed purer and stronger.
Ling Xu had found out, after reading in the library about the basic concepts of cultivation, that when his muscles and organs absorbed his blood qi crazily he had gone through a blood exchange.
This blood exchange only happens when you are in the third, sixth and ninth stage of the Blood Qi Realm as you need to have refined your muscles, organs or bones to the limit before they are able to surpass it.
If he hadn't gone through it when he was refining his muscles it would have been almost impossible to do it when he was refining his organs, and even less when he was refining his bones.
This is because with the increase in cultivation stage, the purity of blood qi required to refine the body to the limit only increases.
So if he hadn't increased his blood qi purity when undergoing the first blood exchange, Ling Xu wouldn't have been able to undergo the second one.
Normally, to have the chance to go through the first blood exchange in the third stage of Blood Qi, cultivators require to have a great level of mastery in their cultivation technique.
They also need patience as the majority, once they have a chance to breakthrough to the next stage they do it without taking their time in fully perfecting their cultivation stage and reaching the limit of their body.
Although having blood condensing pills may increase the quality of your blood qi, once you have gone through the first blood exchange, you can't only rely on it as there is a limit to their effect.
There also are rare cases of people having a fortunate encounter with a treasure from heaven and earth where they find a spiritual object capable of increasing the purity of their blood qi.
"Now that I have calmed down, it's time to see how far these high grade blood condensing pills can help me."
Ling Xu sat down in the lotus position, after not having done so since he entered the second mission and stabilized his breathing.
He learned that the best method of absorbing these blood condensing pills wasn't by refining his body at the same time but by slowly circulating his blood qi.
Because, for the pill to have the best integration with his blood qi it needs to be absorbed through a constant and slow pace.
So that's what he did, with his incredibly precise control over his blood qi, Ling Xu circulated it as slow as he possibly could.
Taking the blood condensing pill into his mouth he swallowed it whole and when it entered his belly it dissolved completely.
Ling Xu's blood qi moved incredibly slow, almost as if it didn't move at all, but this method seemed to work as he felt his blood qi taking in the energy from the medicinal pill.
For an hour and a half, his blood qi was refined by the pure energy that came from the high grade pill.
"Phew!"
Ling Xu came out of the state of moving his blood qi with extreme precision and could finally relax his mind.
It may have seemed easy as the speed was almost none, but in fact this precise control over his blood qi put a strain on him.
"I feel a slight change in the strength of my blood qi, but one pill is far from enough for it to have an actual impact, let's refine them all first and see if they might bring some changes."
This process of absorbing the other four blood condensing pills and refining his blood qi took another six hours.
"Now I can see that my blood qi has actually become stronger than before. I feel that I can absorb a few more of them before the effect is gone. Let's buy a few more pills tomorrow so my blood qi becomes even stronger."
…
The next day, Ling Xu felt calmer than yesterday after feeling that he could become the target of every Qi Refining cultivator.
Assuring himself that no one knew what he had in his spatial ring or that he even had one was what calmed him down completely.
Ling Xu put his spatial ring in a necklace made out of leather he got from a stall on the street. It cost him less than a silver teal as it was very cheap but he left him with the entire teal as he didn't feel the need to keep an even smaller form of currency.
The leather necklace was kept hidden under his clothes, below his spider silk shirt which could be freely worn as it was very thin.
The tough boar chest plate and heavy bracers were kept in his spatial ring as he felt like they occupied a lot of space and they weren't necessary inside the town.
Entering the biggest store in the town, Ling Xu was greeted by the same worker as yesterday.
"It's you again! How may I help you this time?"
The small worker felt a little irritated by Ling Xu, after he came yesterday he only looked through the items in the store and then left. This made the worker's efforts go in vain because the majority of what the vendors in the store earn comes from a small portion of what they sell.
So when they receive people like Ling Xu, who only see and don't buy, they can only feel frustrated.
But still, as it was his job he tried to remain patient and did his job.
"I would like to buy five high grade blood condensing pills, please."
"Pardon?"
The worker had a face of surprise as he saw Ling Xu buying right away, not taking his time as yesterday.
"Right away, sir!"
He reacted before Ling Xu repeated himself and with a face of excitement he went to take the item he was asked.
You have to know that for a vendor like him, who can only sell the items from the first floor, the highest grade items he can sell are of high grade semi-treasure ones for Blood Qi cultivators.
Normally, the sales he makes are of low and middle grade Blood Qi items as the average person in Lesser Crimson Town belongs to the middle stage of Blood Qi.
Once in a while he is able to sell high grade Blood Qi items just like the high grade blood condensing pills Ling Xu just asked.
But it isn't every day as they are quite expensive and only a handful of people are able to pay for them.
"Here you have the five high grade blood condensing pills benefactor!"
Ling Xu took the bottle containing the pills and observed took the lid out, smelling the strong blood scent coming from them.
"Can I pay with high grade blood tempering pills?"
"Yes sir, you can pay with blood tempering pills too but the amount you have to give is slightly higher because the price at which we buy them is lower than the one we sell them at. So instead of giving ten high grade blood tempering pills for the blood condensing pills, you would need to pay with twelve of them."
Hearing his question, the worker didn't feel bothered at all as it was quite normal to pay with other Blood Qi items.
He responded with full sincerity and gave him the price their store accepted the exchange at.
Normally, they buy high grade blood tempering pills at a price of eighty teals of silver, which is five teals lower than the price the store owner had given to Ling Xu yesterday.
And because a blood condensing pill costs two low grade spiritual stones, Ling Xu had to pay not ten which is double the amount but twelve.
"But they have to reach the minimum quality or else we can't accept them."
"Is this quality good enough?"
Ling Xu took out a bottle containing ten blood tempering pills with all of them having the same quality.
Taking the bottle from Ling Xu's hand, the vendor took the lid out and started inspecting them one by one, checking the quality of every single one of them.
"Their quality is very good actually, they are even on par with the ones we sell at the store."
He was surprised when he noticed that they weren't the same blood tempering pills they sold, having worked here for two years already.
You have to know that in the entirety of Lesser Crimson Town, the best quality items you can get comes from the Treasure Shop as they are the biggest one and they have the best alchemy refiners.
"Here you have the remaining pills."
Said Ling Xu, giving him the other two blood tempering pills to completely pay the blood condensing pills.
"They have the same quality as the previous ones, were you planning to buy something else?"
"No, that was it."
"Then thank you for buying here benefactor, I hope I see you again!"
Ling Xu turned around and started walking to the exit.
In front of him, a man who looked to be of similar age as him passed as he felt his cultivation being in the ninth stage of Blood Qi.
He was surprised as it was the first time he had seen someone around his age having a higher stage of cultivation but he decided to continue as this man with quite the demeanor didn't have anything to do with him.
"Greeting young master! It is such a pleasure having your presence, how may I serve you?"
"Do you have any high grade blood condensing pills?"
Talking down with a tone of looking down on the vendor, he asked about the same type of pills Ling Xu had just bought.
The vendor felt a chill running down his spine when he heard the young master ask for the blood condensing pills.
"What's the matter?"
"The thing is…"
"What?!"
The vendor was sweating profusely in his back as he had just sold the last blood condensing pills to Ling Xu just a minute ago.
He felt lucky when he saw the young master from the Xie family coming at him as he felt that he was going to get a second high sell on the same day.
"What kind of luck is this?"
He said inwardly feeling frustrated all of a sudden with Ling Xu.
After having spent his time yesterday to not buy a single thing, he thought he was on equal terms with him after he bought him the last five high grade blood condensing pills today.
But now, he realized that he only came to put him in problems with young master Xie.
"I'm sorry sir, it seems we have just sold the last five high grade blood condensing pills."
He said nervously looking to the ground, not daring to face the anger from the young master.
"What?! And where is this person that bought the last ones?"
The vendor still felt bad but felt powerless as he was facing someone from a high status and couldn't do anything.
"He is right there."
The vendor pointed at Ling Xu who was about to come out of the store with some reluctance.
"Stop right there!"
Hearing the yell from the man that had just passed next to him and gave him quite the impression, Ling Xu turned around.