The Domineering Artifact 54 is selling like hotcakes.

After a whole series of misunderstandings, the two of them found themselves trailed by a pair of new followers.

Luo Yu felt a little conflicted, but Qin Yue remained serenely composed. Luo Yu mused to himself: children of the feudal elite truly do differ from modern people; they can order others about without a hint of shame or guilt. Not that he’d ever been so bossy with himself before—hee hee.

Under the direction of these scions of a feudal society, Qing Huo and Su Heng diligently searched for Lun Kunlan. This rare herb grew in crevices of snowy mountains where the wind swirled. Their experience far exceeded that of Luo Yu and Qin Yue, and after three days, they'd collected several large boxes—enough to refine a flying artifact capable of carrying four or five people.

The group returned fully loaded and settled into Xianqi Garden, where they would begin their market stall the next day.

That night, the four gathered for conversation and learned that both newcomers were from the Qing dynasty. Qing Huo, surnamed Lu, hailed from a martial family in the middle Qing period, indoctrinated from childhood with the values of swift justice, gratitude, unwavering loyalty, and always keeping one’s word. Su Heng, by contrast, was an orphan from the late Qing, who had drifted through life and developed a free-spirited, live-for-today nature. The two met by chance and quickly became inseparable, their personalities in perfect accord. But one drunken night, things took a turn: Qing Huo, overcome by wild urges, thoroughly ravished Su Heng, who was furious afterward and wanted to be rid of him. One insisted on taking responsibility, the other on fleeing, and so they tangled on and on—until they crossed paths with Qin Yue and Luo Yu, at which point things finally settled.

After everyone returned to their rooms, Luo Yu shut the door, climbed onto his bed, and emptied the demon cultivator’s storage pouch, spreading its contents over the bed: seven or eight more pouches, a heap of spirit stones worth at least a million, some Golden Core and Foundation Establishment spiritual herbs and medicines, over a dozen stalks of Condensing Gold Grass, a jade bottle filled with liquid like molten gold, and a cultivation manual.

The manual’s cover gleamed as if wrought from pure gold, radiant and striking, adorned with ornate dragon patterns and the bold vertical title, “Heavenly Gang Golden Dragon Sutra.” Luo Yu picked up the manual and flipped it open: the frontispiece bore the phrase “Received from the Sovereign Yellow Emperor.”

Luo Yu found this curious. The Yellow Emperor? As in the emperor? Who was this “Received from the Sovereign Yellow Emperor”? He asked Qin Yue, “Why is ‘Received from’ added before the Yellow Emperor?”

Qin Yue was startled. “‘Received from the Sovereign Yellow Emperor’?”

Luo Yu replied, “Yes, do you know what that means? It seems to be a demon cultivator’s technique—how is it connected to the Yellow Emperor?”

Qin Yue took the manual, glanced through it, and exclaimed, “This is a dragon clan body-forging technique! Where did the snake demon get it?”

Luo Yu perked up. “A dragon? Is this technique really that powerful?”

Qin Yue nodded. “There are five dragon clans: Azure, Crimson, Yellow, Black, and White. Among them, the Yellow Dragon—also called the Golden Dragon—is the most noble, the leader of all five. The ‘Received from the Sovereign Yellow Emperor’ is the emperor among dragons. This manual must be one of his secret arts, though how it ended up with a snake demon, I cannot guess. The Golden Dragon lineage is famed for its extraordinary defense and overwhelming attack power—even more so than Buddhist cultivators. That snake demon must have been practicing this very art.”

Luo Yu grew excited. “No wonder it’s so amazing! If I practice this, I could smash huge stones on my chest!”

Qin Yue laughed. “I fear it’s far more than that.” The two began to study the manual. According to its contents: at the basic level, the skin becomes harder than diamond, immune to ordinary artifacts; at the intermediate level, one can block magical treasures with bare hands; at advanced stages, the body endures the tear of space-time unharmed; at the pinnacle, one attains the indestructible Golden Gang body.

Luo Yu’s eyes lit up. “Humans can practice this too, right?”

Qin Yue answered, “Even if not all of it, there must be some overlap. According to your theory, if the body cannot continue advancing, it may transform—perhaps into a dragon?”

Luo Yu was stunned. “I was only joking… surely it’s not that simple…”

Qin Yue smiled again, uncorked the jade bottle, and sniffed the golden liquid. “Smells just like Condensing Gold Grass—it must be an auxiliary medicine for practicing this art.”

Luo Yu analyzed a bit of the liquid and said, “It’s for external application, not to be taken internally.”

After sorting and storing their loot, they decided to study the manual thoroughly back home. If they could master it, so much the better. Their windfall was staggering; since starting their cultivation journey, they’d never owned such wealth. Luo Yu could already picture a garden full of Foundation Establishment herbs waving at him. That night, he even dreamed of nibbling on Qin Yue and muttered in his sleep, “Elixirs… so fragrant…”

The next morning, the four left Xianqi Garden together. The Jade Pool Gathering had already begun—cultivators from all over, hoping to save on lodging, had started setting up stalls in the middle of the night. The two newly rich led the way, their two subordinates in tow, swaggering down the street and sweeping through every herb stall. Seeing that Su Heng had no storage pouch, Luo Yu generously gifted him one, which delighted Su Heng to no end.

Most of the herbs and seeds for sale in the market were common, with limited efficacy. But with Luo Yu, a master alchemist, they managed to find a few rare ones that even the sellers didn’t recognize—only that they pulsed with spiritual energy and could fetch a good price. Mature Foundation Establishment-grade herbs were even rarer; when they appeared, they were snatched up instantly at three to five thousand spirit stones each. The scarcity gave Luo Yu a headache: he wasn’t worried about running out of spirit stones, but about not being able to buy anything even with plenty of money. Thinking longingly of the lush spirit gardens at Bamboo Grove Institute… perhaps he should just steal some seeds from the big sects… Not a bad idea at all… Oh dear, where had his morals gone?

After scouring the market, their haul of seeds was modest, but they bought a mountain of materials for artifact forging and talisman crafting—spending over four hundred thousand spirit stones and filling four or five storage pouches to the brim.

Seeing how much they’d spent on the first day alone, the group decided to stop shopping and set up their own grand stall:

A large red carpet was spread on the ground, over which they hung a banner: “Overlord Artifacts—Twice the Response Speed of Ordinary Artifacts! The Ultimate Choice for Mana Efficiency!” At Luo Yu’s direction, Qing Huo filled colorful balloons with hydrogen and tied them up; Su Heng handed out flyers leftover from Qin Yue’s last promotional campaign in Luofeng Town, each printed with detailed product descriptions and photos designed by Luo Yu himself. Qin Yue set out the wares—various artifacts and formation disks; Luo Yu, meanwhile, hung two strings of eco-friendly firecrackers and set them crackling over the banner.

Their elaborate display soon drew a large crowd of cultivators. Most were at the Qi Refinement stage, and seeing four Foundation Establishment cultivators running a stall piqued their curiosity. A demon cultivator, looking much like a peacock with a trailing fan of iridescent tail feathers, asked cautiously, “Is this ‘Black Crystal Luminous Mirror’ really a light-type artifact? Can I try it out?”

Luo Yu replied generously, “Try as you like! This is not only a rare light-type artifact, but also features Overlord Artifacts’ exclusive double-sided convex-concave design—convex for a broader attack range, concave for concentrated power, at least ten times stronger than a standard flat mirror! A rare treasure and absolute bargain—only five thousand spirit stones!”

His pitch whipped the crowd into a frenzy: “Ten times stronger? What a brag!” “Are you just trying to scam us Qi Refinement cultivators because we can’t fight back?” Luo Yu mentally rolled his eyes: These people don’t understand science!

Qin Yue interjected coolly, “If it’s all talk, a test will prove it. If I’m lying, I’ll pay each of you a thousand spirit stones.”

That last line sent the crowd into an uproar. “Let’s test it! Test it!”

A ghost cultivator volunteered, “This ‘Nine Yin Fire Shield’ of mine is the nemesis of light and fire—let’s see what your ‘Black Crystal Luminous Mirror’ can do! If I win, I’ll take any artifact from your stall; if I lose, I’ll admit I’m blind!”

Qin Yue nodded calmly, prompting a wave of cheers. To keep things fair, both sides selected evenly matched participants—a shield-bearer and a mirror-wielder—to face off in the street. After channeling their mana, the shield emitted a dense, black mist that seemed to devour all light, while the mirror flashed brilliantly, firing a beam of golden light. In a blink, Qin Yue darted forward and pulled the shield-bearer aside. Only then did the crowd see: the shield had a bowl-sized hole burnt through it, and the ground beneath was scorched.

The entire street fell silent. The shield-bearer broke out in a cold sweat; the ghost cultivator was dumbfounded—this black crystal wasn’t supposed to be that powerful! What on earth was going on?

After a stunned pause, the Overlord Artifacts stall erupted in thunderous applause.

The peacock demon was overjoyed, emptied all his spirit stones, and even threw in some extra herbs and materials to buy the mirror. Luo Yu accepted payment, handed over a business card, and asked him to spread the word if he found it useful, inviting him to return next time. The demon curiously pinched the card and tucked it into his own storage pouch.

After that first sale, a line quickly formed for other artifacts. Luo Yu let everyone try them out. Each tester found that Overlord Artifacts lived up to their name: fast response, mana-saving—far superior to others on the market. After all, in battle, the difference between launching an attack a split second earlier or outlasting an opponent’s mana could mean the difference between life and death. The prices, save for the power-boosted mirror, were on par with other shops—most under three thousand spirit stones.

Overlord Artifacts became an instant hit, and even their formation disks sold out so fast people nearly came to blows. In the cultivation world, formation masters were exceedingly rare, almost nonexistent among rogue cultivators. The only famous ones were at Bamboo Grove Institute, but their disciples seldom sold formations and were never short of spirit stones. Occasionally, a lower-level disciple might sell a few defensive or offensive formations—just a few dozen a year, hardly enough for the masses. But Overlord Artifacts was selling spirit-gathering arrays with added defense and illusion effects! Who could resist?

Author’s note: Please leave a review, oh oh oh~ T.T

Cultivation Buddy Chronicles 54—Overlord Artifacts Sells Out! End of update!