Selling an Alchemy Grandmaster?

Selling an Alchemy Grandmaster?

This batch of refining results was exceptionally gratifying—he had successfully produced three Qi Nourishing Pills in one go.

Such obvious results were inseparable from maintaining the inscription activation sequence from his seventieth pill-refining attempt, allowing him to figure out the heat control that suited him best.

After falling in the same place seventy times, Xiao Chen had finally accumulated enough judgment to confirm in time whether the medicinal properties inside the furnace had fully fused.

Riding that momentum, Xiao Chen opened the second bundle of Agarwood Aloeswood and lit it.

After burning through the first bundle of ten incense sticks, he had felt that doing so was too wasteful and had skipped this step.

But now that he saw hope of success, he opened the second bundle again, hoping to raise the success rate a little.

Seventy-second attempt, two pills.

Seventy-third attempt, five pills.

Seventy-fourth attempt, seven pills.

By the final attempt, all ten succeeded at once!

During those five rounds of refining, Xiao Chen rested for only a single day before lighting the incense, focusing his mind, and continuing his practice. He did not even make time to eat, utterly forgetting food and sleep.

Fortunately, every refinement showed clear improvement, constantly encouraging him. Moreover, the Three-Legged Revolving Fire Pill Furnace could be powered by Spirit Stones, so he did not need to worry about insufficient mana.

At last, in one uninterrupted push, he refined a complete furnace of Qi Nourishing Pills.

With the boost from [Buy One Get One Free], he had now accumulated sixty Qi Nourishing Pills in hand.

What delighted Xiao Chen even more was that after accumulating so many failures, once he succeeded this time, he suddenly felt that all his previous experience had connected and fused into one.

A powerful premonition rose in his heart—the next furnace would definitely succeed as well!

However, he no longer had any Spirit Herbs on hand, so Xiao Chen first got some sleep to restore his mental energy.

He slept until noon before waking and leisurely heading down the mountain to the market.

"Sixty Spirit Stones? Why again this time?"

In merely six days, the price of Spirit Herbs had unexpectedly surged another twenty percent.

At this price for Spirit Herbs and the original selling price, if an Alchemist refined ten bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills and sold each bottle for five Spirit Stones, he would still lose Ten Spirit Stones.

Without waiting for the other party to answer, Xiao Chen pressed on. "What's the price of Qi Nourishing Pills now?"

The vendor smiled bitterly. "I heard they've risen to six Spirit Stones plus five grains of Spiritual Sand per bottle. Everyone's complaining bitterly, but there's nothing anyone can do."

Hmm?

Something was off. Xiao Chen frowned slightly.

Spiritual Sand was a kind of Spirit Stone fragment; ten grains of Spiritual Sand could be exchanged for one Spirit Stone.

At that price, a cultivator could earn only five grains of Spiritual Sand from refining one furnace of pills.

That meant that even if he refined one furnace every day for a month, and every furnace formed all ten pills, he could earn only fifteen Spirit Stones.

It looked like quite a bit, but once the cost of using the Pill Furnace was included, along with the cultivation time he was delaying—

And considering that not every pill refinement could guarantee all ten pills succeeded, that little Spirit Stone income was clearly not worth it.

Under such circumstances, the selling price had not risen to seven Spirit Stones. Since when had those Alchemists suddenly become so conscientious?

Setting this doubt aside for the moment, Xiao Chen spent another sixty Spirit Stones to buy ten portions of Spirit Herbs and returned to refine pills.

Once he gathered a batch of pills and came out to become a seller for real, he should be able to understand the reason behind it.

Ten days later, ten furnaces of pills came freshly out, and the average Pill Formation rate had reached a full eighty percent.

To be fair, for a novice Alchemist, this Pill Formation rate was already extremely high.

Those with a one-hundred-percent Pill Formation rate were veteran Alchemists with decades of experience. Naturally, the two could not be mentioned in the same breath.

But this meant that Xiao Chen had obtained eight bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills from this round of refinement, worth fifty-two Spirit Stones and four grains of Spiritual Sand.

Compared with the cost of sixty Spirit Stones, he had actually lost eight Spirit Stones.

Fortunately, under the effect of [Buy One Get One Free], he gained an additional eight identical bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills.

After deducting the cost, he still had a profit of forty-four Spirit Stones.

Hmm?

After calculating this result, even Xiao Chen froze for a moment.

How much?

He calculated it again. That was right—forty-four Spirit Stones in profit!

Forty-four Spirit Stones in ten days meant that he could earn as much as one hundred and thirty-two Spirit Stones in a month!

Manager Chen's monthly income probably did not even reach that amount.

Round it up, and this was practically robbery!

Including the six bottles he had refined earlier, Xiao Chen brought a total of twenty-two bottles of pills to the market once more.

This time, however, he put on the Stealth Cloak and came to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion as a seller.

According to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion's manager, besides selling goods, they also provided resale services.

So-called resale meant that cultivators could directly sell pills, artifacts, and other items they had made to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

The items had to have been made within the past half year, and their quality also had to withstand inspection.

The Hundred Treasures Pavilion was willing to purchase them at a price ten percent below the market rate and settle payment on the spot.

It was all about being worry-free and convenient, sparing cultivators from the hardship of setting up a stall themselves.

Xiao Chen swiftly took out the pills. "Then I'll trouble you to help me resell these pills."

The other party skillfully handed over a contract. "All right, this is our consignment contract. Ah? You want to resell Qi Nourishing Pills?"

The manager had only gotten halfway through before lowering his head and seeing the Qi Nourishing Pills. It was as though he had witnessed something unbelievable.

He immediately raised his head, eyes wide, and stared at Xiao Chen's pitch-black cloak.

With the current pill market, reselling pills was not simply taking a loss?

After standing stunned for three breaths, the manager finally confirmed, "Esteemed guest, are you certain you wish to resell Qi Nourishing Pills?"

Xiao Chen nodded. "I'm sure. Please calculate the Spirit Stones for me directly."

If he did not have Hextech, he might have considered setting up a stall himself to sell for a few more Spirit Stones.

But now that he had Hextech, his time had become extremely valuable. Setting up a stall himself was far less simple and convenient than doing this.

Seeing the Spirit Stones as quickly as possible, then continuing to purchase Spirit Herbs and hurry back to refine pills—that was the Optimal Solution.

Yet Xiao Chen's forthright attitude instead made the Hundred Treasures Pavilion manager wary.

The manager opened a bottle of pills and examined them. He could even smell a faint Pill Fragrance. These were definitely New Pills that had come out of the furnace only two or three days ago.

This mysterious cloaked man was selling so many New Pills at once, and was reselling them at a loss without the slightest hesitation. He had better not be a swindler.

"Please wait a moment, esteemed guest. We need to inspect the quality of the pills."

As he spoke, the manager immediately summoned an Appraiser.

"Th-these pills... how could this be..."

The white-haired Appraiser quickly furrowed his brow.

The Hundred Treasures Pavilion manager immediately asked, "Is there something wrong with these pills?"

Seeing this, the two guards at the entrance also became alert. If someone had come to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion to cause trouble, they would certainly let him know what true regret was.

"No, no." The Appraiser hurriedly shook his head, then said in confusion, "Many of these pills are extremely alike."

He looked at Xiao Chen. "Would it be convenient for you to say which Alchemy Grandmaster produced these pills?"

An Alchemy Grandmaster?

That question left Xiao Chen completely stumped.

Weren't these pills refined by me?