Fengyu thought about it for a long time - he had paid off his totem debt, and his monthly income was at least 30,000 spirit stones. The expected beast tide date is in two and a half years -

If he wants to purchase this rulebook, he would have to save for at least thirteen months...

Wait!

His mind was full of ways on how to purchase it, and whether it would be worth it... but he forgot to think about what he could do with it. What kind of rules could be engraved, and what stage was the total set?

"Fellow daoist, this rulebook, which stage does it reach? You can’t possibly ask for these prices for the first stage, right?"

"Ah, well..." the cultivator looked a bit wryly. Looking around, she activated a sound barrier outside the store, then said honestly, "No, this item is of the second stage! To be honest, even the price I am offering right now is rather low for the second stage, not to mention that it’s clearly an auxiliary item.

The issue is that while it is a second stage item and has supreme control over first stage regions, it is weak against second stage beings. It’s better to say that this is like a weak Foundation Building cultivator who only knows how to bully juniors while being pretty useless against peers." she honestly told her evaluation of her own item.

Fengyu could understand it. After all, auxiliary items are already difficult to create, and this item was a control item. Cultivators will never be suppressed by an item of their stage, so this rulebook will probably have to be half a stage beyond the cultivator at all times.

Having it at the second stage and bullying juniors was fine, against second stage cultivators, who knows whether this item can even do as much as a single pendant’s protection?

Fengyu considered whether he truly wanted to buy this item. While it was good, and it had the intended effect... would it really be useful to him?

And in the end, wouldn’t it just be to protect against the beast tide? In that case, there were many ways to protect and there was no need to purchase an item set costing nearly half a million for nothing.

"Fellow daoist... I will be honest. I originally intended to purchase this item for the Beast Tide, but now when I look at it, I feel like it’s quite useless for me. How about this, I won’t purchase it now... but I think I will purchase a full set after the Beast Tide." Fengyu felt an inexplicable sense that he wanted to befriend the cultivator, so he made such a statement.

These unique items are unique in a way that they are special. While this cultivator might be able to craft them several times, in fact, there is a known rule in the world of cultivation - the more special an item, the more powerful it is. And the first item of each lineage or series is always the strongest.

Fengyu didn’t know whether these were real rules, or whether it was just talk. But being unique or special means that only a few cultivators should have a way to craft it.

He felt another sense of "I should purchase it now or I will miss it out" - maybe it was the FOMO he had experienced last time with the totem... this time he had learned his own lesson and knew that thinking too far ahead would be stupid, so he instead thought of booking it.

The female refiner looked at him, her eyes mirroring her internal consideration...

"Fellow daoist, you and I both know very well that such a promise is very vague." she stated, looking at him with a look of curiosity.

"Indeed, this is a vague statement." Fengyu nodded, not making any more promises, as that would be simply a joke, not something he could surely fulfill.

Looking deeply into his eyes, a smile appeared on her face as she nodded, "I am Liling, how may I call fellow daoist?"

"Greetings fellow daoist Liling! I am Fengyu!" Fengyu cupped his hands in greeting. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

No one said anything about booking the item - whether it would be booked or sold, whether it would be purchased later or forgotten, this was something to be seen in the future. For now, at least the two would hesitate for a moment before making a choice, a hesitation stemming from acquaintanceship.

"Since fellow daoist is looking to purchase a few items for the Beast Tide, have you thought of what you require explicitly?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"All the jade pendants hanging here are great, but I need such pendants in a larger range, not specific to a cultivator but more like a defensive item. I wonder if fellow daoist has such an item?" Fengyu asked curiously.

"Hmm..." Liling thought for a moment before shaking her head, "I’ve never heard of such items among weapons. Maybe you could try looking for formation plates that fulfill such things. I could try to create a unique item based on it, but... unique and special items come and go as one’s mind pleases, and focusing directly on one will take at least five to ten years to really accomplish it."

"Fellow daoist, speaking again about unique items, I actually have a request-" as Fengyu said this, he reached into his spatial bag and took out a small flute.

"Soul Flute!" Liling suddenly exclaimed as she looked at his flute, her expression one of a mother looking at her child.

"So it hasn’t been destroyed!" she exclaimed in elation, walking around the counter and approaching Fengyu, even reaching out to take the flute.

Fengyu didn’t reject and directly handed over the flute to its creator -

"Ah, my little Soul Flute! Among the first unique items I created!" she said as she kindly petted the flute...

Fengyu looked weirdly at it, but then thought to himself that he shouldn’t be one to judge...

He also treated ducks as humans, so treating a weapon as a pet, this was just... just a bit different, but not much.