Two quarters of an hour later, Li Yu arrived at the stall area.
The inverted bowl-shaped market was still bustling with noise and excitement as Li Yu walked and stopped, searching for his target.
"Fellow Daoist, do you have a middle-grade Spirit Gathering Sub-formation here?" Li Yu squatted in front of a stall with a sign that read "Formations for Sale" and asked.
"Haha, you flatter me, Fellow Daoist. I only have lower-grade Spirit Gathering Sub-formations here." The stall owner was a middle-aged man sitting cross-legged. He sat with absolute precision, his expression extremely serious.
"Then I will look around a bit more." Li Yu stood up, preparing to leave.
"Fellow Daoist, please wait a moment!" Seeing Li Yu about to leave, the serious man thought for a moment and hurriedly spoke.
"What is it, Fellow Daoist?" Li Yu asked with a puzzled expression.
"To be honest with you, Fellow Daoist, I am actually a formation master. At present, I can only craft lower-grade formations, but my family has a middle-grade Spirit Gathering Sub-formation. If you want it, Fellow Daoist, I can have someone bring it over." The serious man communicated with Li Yu via Spiritual Sense transmission. Given that so many Spirit Stones were involved, transmission was naturally the safer option.
"Are you a cultivator from a family clan, Fellow Daoist?" Li Yu asked back via transmission.
"Indeed. Can you confirm if you want it, Fellow Daoist?"
"How many Spirit Stones does the Fellow Daoist want to sell it for?"
Li Yu knew that acquiring a middle-grade formation in this Cultivator Market was exceptionally difficult. He had already asked in many places, and all had informed him they had none.
"The Spirit Gathering Sub-formation is somewhat more expensive than ordinary formations. Shall we settle on the market price of two thousand two hundred Spirit Stones?" The serious man negotiated via transmission.
"If there are no issues with the quality of the formation, I agree to this price." Li Yu did not haggle. A middle-grade Spirit Gathering Sub-formation was different from the general gathering formations found in the market; its setup was simple, consisting of a single formation disc used for meditation and three formation flags, designed to supply only a single person for cultivation.
Its advantage was that it could be used as long as the surrounding spiritual qi concentration met the standard, whereas large gathering formations like the one in the market needed to be set up on a spiritual vein. The advantage of those was a wide coverage area, allowing people across an entire region to use them.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist, the quality of this Spirit Gathering Sub-formation from my family is guaranteed to be top-notch. If you are not satisfied, you can simply take a look and not buy it." The serious man was a cultivator from a minor immortal-cultivating family in Chu Country, which only had a single Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator holding down the fort. In order to break through from a lower-grade formation master to a middle-grade one, he had no choice but to come and set up a stall to earn Spirit Stones to purchase the materials needed for middle-grade formations.
Before leaving, the family ancestor had stated that if the Spirit Stones fell short, they could take the last few middle-grade formations remaining in the family treasury to make up the number.
"I wonder how soon the Fellow Daoist can have the sub-formation delivered?" Joy stirred in Li Yu's heart as he asked via transmission.
"I will use a Voice Transmission Talisman to notify my family, and it can be delivered within seven days."
"Then shall I come back here to look for you in seven days?"
"That would be excellent. See you in seven days." With that, the serious man took out a Voice Transmission Talisman and began transmitting a message to his family ancestor.
Li Yu did not linger much longer either. He left the Cultivator Market and headed straight for a weapon-crafting pavilion.
As soon as he stepped through the door, he heard two clerks in pink dresses talking.
"Senior Sister Zhao has already advanced to a middle-grade weapon crafter. Our sect has finally managed to exhale a breath of pride this time." One of them said to the other.
"Isn't that the truth? This time, Senior Sister Zhao snatched the title of 'Youngest Middle-Grade Weapon Crafter' from the Wanyu Sect, which has severely dampened the arrogant spirit of those roughnecks." The other replied cheerfully.
"Someone is here." Seeing Li Yu enter, the pink-dressed maiden who spoke first hurried forward to greet him.
"Greetings, Young Master. Are you looking to purchase a spiritual tool or have one custom-made?"
"I'd like to customize a set of Flying Daggers. May I ask if that's possible?"
"Young Master is certainly well-informed. Senior Sister Zhao only recently advanced to a middle-grade weapon crafter. You are here to have Senior Sister Zhao customize a spiritual tool for you, aren't you?" The pink-dressed maiden said with absolute certainty.
"What Senior Sister Zhao?" Although Li Yu had just heard her conversing with the other person, he did not know any Senior Sister Zhao.
"Are you a rogue cultivator, Young Master? You don't even know Senior Sister Zhao?" The maiden asked in surprise.
"I am a rogue cultivator." Li Yu rubbed his nose and replied.
"Oh, well since Young Master wants to customize a set of Flying Daggers, you simply must look for Senior Sister Zhao to get the best results." The pink-dressed maiden recommended enthusiastically.
"May I ask why?" Li Yu inquired.
"Senior Sister Zhao has exceptionally high weapon-crafting talent and is now the youngest middle-grade weapon crafter among the Seven Sects. Her greatest specialty is forging complete sets of spiritual tools. If you don't go to her, who else would you go to?" It seemed Senior Sister Zhao was held in extremely high regard by the pink-dressed maiden.
The Chu Country where Li Yu resided was led by the Wanyu Sect, whose foundation lay in beast-taming. Although beast-taming was their forte, they also dabbled in weapon crafting, pill alchemy, formation arrays, and talisman crafting, which was how they ensured the all-around development of the sect.
Bordering one side of Chu Country was Yan Country, ruled by the Wanyu Sect—wait, ruled by the "Wanyu Sect" was incorrect—ruled by the "Hundred Refinements Sect", which excelled in weapon crafting. On the other side was Yue Country, led by the "Danding Sect", which focused primarily on pill alchemy.
These three parallel nations refused to submit to one another and frequently clashed.
Aside from these three sects, among the four nations on the left side of the Hengduan Mountains, there was also Song Country. Song Country bordered the sea on one side and Yan Country on the other, and was ruled by a powerful sword cultivation sect, the "Taibai Sword Sect".
On the right side of the Hengduan Mountains were three more nations, and the sects ruling them had no particularly specialized fields, so there was no need to dwell on them.
Seeing the pink-dressed maiden's intense adoration for the Senior Sister surnamed Zhao, Li Yu figured she must possess extraordinary abilities, and spoke up.
"I wonder if Senior Sister Zhao has the time to forge a set of Flying Daggers for me?"
"Well, I'll have to ask. Young Master, please go to the second floor and rest for a moment; I will use a Voice Transmission Talisman to ask her."
Li Yu walked up to the second floor, which was furnished with many tea tables. He found a table by the window and sat down.
Half a quarter of an hour later, the pink-dressed maiden walked over carrying a pot of tea and poured Li Yu a cup of hot tea using the teacup on the table.
"Congratulations, Young Master. Senior Sister Zhao just replied that she happens to have free time right now." In the eyes of the pink-dressed maiden, obtaining a spiritual tool refined by Senior Sister Zhao was a highly joyous occasion.
When she finished speaking, the pink-dressed maiden took out a Voice Transmission Talisman, handed it to Li Yu, and said,
"You will need to communicate the specific crafting details with Senior Sister Zhao yourself. By the way, you must return the Voice Transmission Talisman to me when you're done using it."
After handing the Voice Transmission Talisman to Li Yu, the maiden went downstairs. Holding the talisman, Li Yu used his Spiritual Sense to transmit a message:
"I am Li Yu. I'd like to have a set of Flying Daggers crafted. I heard that you, Senior Sister, excel at refining complete sets of spiritual tools, and I was wondering if you could help?"
A moment later, the Voice Transmission Talisman glowed faintly, and Li Yu swept it with his Spiritual Sense.
"My name is Zhao Hongzhuang..."
After discussing the requirements for the Flying Daggers with Zhao Hongzhuang, Zhao Hongzhuang told Li Yu to come back to the weapon-crafting pavilion in a month to pick them up.
After leaving some Spirit Stones with the weapon-crafting pavilion as a deposit and returning the Voice Transmission Talisman to the pink-dressed maiden, Li Yu left the pavilion.
The sky had grown late. Li Yu entered a tavern, found a seat, and ordered some inexpensive spiritual food.
Thinking of how the pink-dressed maiden had once again vigorously praised Senior Sister Zhao to him before he left, Li Yu could not help but smile wryly.
Zhao Hongzhuang had no love for feminine makeup and attire, preferring instead the forging of spiritual equipment, and she was particularly skilled at crafting complete sets of spiritual tools. Relying on her extraordinary talent and personal effort, she had become a middle-grade weapon crafter at a young age, naturally becoming the idol of numerous disciples within the Wanyu Sect.
Li Yu was already beginning to look forward to the Flying Daggers refined by Zhao Hongzhuang.