"So it was with you all along?" Liling asked as she was still carefully inspecting the flute. Seeing not a single blemish or damage, she had to admit that her precious treasure was in good hands all along.

"Indeed, I bought it over twenty years ago because I wanted an auxiliary item that can enhance my wood spell’s effects while also having other uses. Who knew... this item was so useful that I never even considered purchasing another auxiliary item until now."

"Yes, my little flute is special, there is no need for secondary items when you have it. Three tunes, each one able to assist the cultivator in a different way... though haha, looking at it now, I feel like the Tune of Protection was a bit useless.

A cultivator who could afford my flute should be able to afford a protective item, so adding this function is effectively wasting a tune spot!"

Fengyu nodded in agreement - besides the one time he went out, he never used the protection. On the other hand, he used the spell enhancement pretty much every time he healed someone, and he also used the concentration tune when he broke through cultivation, or when Zimu needed it for something.

So all along, these two had indeed been the most useful, the protection... if it was possible, he’d really like to have changed it.

"Are you presenting it to me because you want me to re-refine it?"

Fengyu nodded again, "This flute is the most useful unique auxiliary item I have ever seen and I would like to continue using it."

"Hmm, what do you want to re-refine on it specifically?"

"The enhancement effect is pretty good, but if possible, I’d prefer an effect that could increase the spell effect of healing spells."

"Healing? You’re a doctor?" Liling suddenly asked in surprise - no wonder this guy was so rich! He was a doctor, a walking money printing machine!

"Healing spell enhancement... if it were twenty years ago, I would have rejected it right away. Now... I can give it a try. At least I should be able to increase the spell power of vitality spells, which is the origin of most healing spells."

"That works too, as long as all kinds of vitality spells can be enhanced. Secondarily, the protection tune... I don’t know whether it’s possible to remove it, if it is, I would like to remove it and add a different tune. An auxiliary tune, fellow daoist should know best which one is fitting. If it can’t be removed, then it would be great to enlarge the protective area!"

"I’ll see what I can do," Liling didn’t explain. Since the customer was so insightful and knew how to express their wishes, she would try to at least fulfil one of them.

"Lastly, the soul tune is perfect. Rather, I when I purchased this item over twenty years ago, I was told that the refiner could add another tune. To be honest, what I want to ask is whether it’s possible to not add any new!

As they say, the more specialised an item, the better. This one has helped in so well over years, adding a new function isn’t truly improving it but simply stretching the possible effect of the other current tunes, forcing a lesser effect for a larger variety." Fengyu was always clear of the fact that a new function meant a gamble.

If it was good, it would be worth it. if it was another tune like the protection one, then he wouldn’t gain much but possibly lose some spell enhancement. So instead, he’d rather directly make his own thoughts clear, so that the refiner doesn’t force things.

"I will think on it," Liling said again, not giving any definite answer. One thing she always adhered to as a refiner was that the final item was her own creation, something she created and set into the world.

Maybe because of that, she always had a lack of customers, since she wouldn’t accept the requirements of people just because they told her what they wanted.

Fengyu saw this and understood, but he didn’t pressure. Instead, he asked, "How much would this whole endeavour cost?"

"The refining... I said in the past that I would do it for an additional 10.000 spirit stones, and I stand by my words. I will re-refine this item for 10.000 spirit stones!

Such a re-refining will take around three months, as the auxiliary runes have to be scraped off and the bamboo has to be tended to before I can write new runes on it."

"That’s good! In that case, fellow daoist, should I sign a contract?"

"Contract? No need, I will do it just like that." Liling waved her hand, not even paying any more attention to him but walking back to the counter and around it, placing the flute into a small box and looking at it intently. Only after closing the box did she turn to Fengyu.

"You said you needed to prepare for the Beast Tide, right? If you don’t have a protective robe, how about looking through these?" as she said this, she pointed at an open closet next to the counter, three robes presented there.

Fengyu stepped forward in curiosity and inspected them deeply, to his surprise, actually seeing that they were all of the near second grade stage!

"Fellow daoist doesn’t suppress the quality of items shown when it comes to sewing?" Fengyu asked curiously while using his spiritual power to deeply inspect the robes in front of him.

"Oh, it’s not really that I am suppressing the grade of items I am selling, it’s just that the customers that usually come around struggle to even pay for these. What’s the use of showing higher items?"

"Still... near second stage items, isn’t their sale restricted?" Fengyu asked. Seeing her confused look, he explained how he had only seen one such item in the auction.

"Same principle, same principle! In an auction, those who bid seem to have the money to purchase it, but the price you said... that’s just 50% higher than the normal price!

With so many customers able to afford these items, what’s the use of promoting it to them?

The neighbourhood gathering is mostly a gathering of new cultivators who don’t know about things yet, and poorer cultivators who won’t know about the inner machinations no matter how long they cultivate.

Fellow daoist, while large trade is strictly forbidden in the inner city to prevent leading all core trade away from the market and into private trade, small gatherings are fine.

You are an Inner Citizen, right?" she suddenly asked.

"Indeed," Fengyu nodded and presented his token.

"That’s good. As I said, there are private gatherings in the inner city to trade a few items we each produce. Though we usually use barter to exchange items. After all, each of us can generate many spirit stones, but many important items can’t be purchased with spirit stones!" she commented while walking over to the closet.

"If that is the case, then fellow daoist, why do you still need and take so many spirit stones?" Fengyu asked as this cultivator gave him the feeling of being very knowledgeable and having deep connections.

"It’s naturally... well, actually, I don’t know!" she chuckled while shaking her head, "It’s not that spirit stones are really useless. After all, besides the key items, most others can easily be exchanged, including cultivation resources. Just using them to purchase pure potions every month, how high is our expense?

But still, I heard that in higher stages, the importance of spirit stones becomes less, yet all higher cultivators still have deep and steadfast businesses. In the end, it’s just that I am too weak to know about the matters of higher ranking cultivators." she didn’t lament too deeply about it, simply regarding it as a note and learning on her own how to earn many spirit stones.

"That’s interesting..." Fengyu didn’t disregard this but kept it in his mind. While he didn’t need cultivation resources, his ducks would definitely need them!

Each of them could have a huge boost in cultivation with these items... considering that, even with his income, once he used his spirit stones to give them the best possible cultivation resources, he would likely feel the pinch again and no longer have the arrogance of being wealthy.

While others only support their cultivation, he has to support the cultivation of eight ducks!

"This robe here looks good," Fengyu said after inspecting the three robes. The one he pointed at was a casual green robe with few decorations, looking quite good.

"It is indeed a good one. The effect is also wood-oriented - it can increase the spell effect of wood spells by 10%, and when attacked, it forms a thick layer of bark that can protect against all elements but fire. When attacked by fire, this robe also has the function of absorbing the fire and reversing the situation, sending it right back at the attacker, even stronger since now the effect of wood was added on top of that!"