Ge Changfeng's Speculation

Ge Changfeng had followed his master since childhood, learning how to become a pill appraiser. By now, he had served the Hundred Treasures Pavilion for a full sixty years.

Over the course of his life, he had seen countless pills. He was especially familiar with the Qi Nourishing Pill, such a basic kind of pill that he knew it like the back of his hand.

Yet today, he had witnessed a rare and unusual method of pill refinement.

At first glance, this batch of Qi Nourishing Pills in his hand seemed utterly ordinary, with nothing remarkable about them.

But upon careful comparison, one would be astonished to discover that half of the pills were exactly identical to the other half.

That sounded like nonsense. They were all Qi Nourishing Pills, so of course they should look the same.

But Ge Changfeng's powers of observation were far more meticulous than those of ordinary people. He could always spot the minute differences between pills.

Yet the problem was that even after inspecting them over and over, the two Qi Nourishing Pills in his palm showed no differences whatsoever. They were so exquisitely identical that it seemed like a deliberate display of skill.

Thus, one obvious conclusion emerged—this batch of pills had come from an Alchemy Grandmaster.

Moreover, this grandmaster should have come from Quanzhou, which was why his subordinate needed to wear a Stealth Cloak to conceal his tracks.

This transaction might merely have been the other party's way of testing the locals.

Ge Changfeng could not be blamed for thinking so. There had simply been too many unfamiliar faces arriving at Li Fire Market lately.

Quanzhou had fallen, and the Divine Fire Sect was running rampant. Naturally, large numbers of cultivators had chosen to flee to neighboring provinces for refuge.

Some cultivators chose the nearer He Province, while others naturally chose Li Province, somewhat farther west.

Among those cultivators, some came directly into the market, trying to blend into the local circles, just like the many new shops that had recently opened.

But even more cultivators warily hid outside, sending people in to test the local situation time and time again.

Under such circumstances, Ge Changfeng naturally suspected that there might be an Alchemy Grandmaster behind Xiao Chen.

Seeing Xiao Chen remain silent, he took the initiative to speak. "It is fine if you do not wish to say, Fellow Daoist. We can conduct a normal transaction as usual."

"This batch of spiritual pills is of acceptable quality, but the craftsmanship is superb. By the rules, it should be priced at one hundred and twenty-eight Spirit Stones and seven grains of Spiritual Sand."

"I will round it up and give you one hundred and thirty Spirit Stones, Fellow Daoist. How does that sound?"

Xiao Chen's voice was steady, betraying no emotion. "No problem. We'll do as you say, sir."

The other party seemed to have misunderstood him, but so what?

Getting a Spirit Stone for free was still a good thing. Besides, he had worn the Stealth Cloak to disguise himself in the first place.

Once the transaction was complete, Ge Changfeng watched Xiao Chen efficiently put away the Spirit Stones and leave, then smiled faintly.

He then turned and instructed the manager, "Remember this person's aura. He will return within a month at most. If you encounter another pill transaction like this next time, notify me directly."

"If I am not on duty that day, send the pills to me first after the transaction is done. Only put them into storage after I have inspected them."

Having said that, he looked once more in the direction Xiao Chen had disappeared, anticipating the next test.

What sort of pills would it be next time? Qi Gathering Pills? Or perhaps Harmony Origin Pills right away?

But he was likely to be disappointed. After leaving, Xiao Chen circled around twice and confirmed that no one was following him.

He then went to purchase another ten portions of Spirit Herbs, preparing to continue making money.

The previous batch of Spirit Herbs had cost eighty-five Spirit Stones. He had sold the resulting pills for one hundred and thirty Spirit Stones, earning forty-five Spirit Stones in profit. It was truly an exorbitant profit.

The more of such opportunities, the better. Xiao Chen planned to earn a huge pile of Spirit Stones, saving up enough capital to practice New Pills and cultivate before stopping.

Of course, now that pill refinement had gotten on track, he could not neglect cultivation either.

After all, pill refinement was ultimately only a means of helping him gather Cultivation Resources.

With some income now, Xiao Chen generously spent twenty Spirit Stones to purchase a bottle of Qi Gathering Pills to assist his cultivation.

Qi Gathering Pills were much more complex than Qi Nourishing Pills, and practicing them would likely burn through even more Spirit Stones.

Xiao Chen certainly did not have enough Spirit Stones at present, so he still had to rely on buying them for the time being.

But that was a minor problem. His current pill-refinement profits could already cover the cost of his daily Qi Gathering Pill consumption.

Over the next twenty days, Xiao Chen cultivated one day and refined pills the next, maintaining a highly regular routine.

Although he spent less time cultivating, with the help of the Qi Gathering Pills, his overall cultivation speed did not fall behind in the slightest.

After all, a Qi Gathering Pill was worth twenty Spirit Stones, equivalent to four months of cultivation allowance.

Cultivating with pills for ten days was basically on par with cultivating bitterly without pills for twenty days, and might even be a little faster.

For this batch of pills, Xiao Chen's average Pill Formation rate rose again, reaching an astonishing ninety percent.

The main reason was that the last few furnaces had been consecutive sweeping successes. All ten pills had emerged completely intact, directly raising the Pill Formation rate by Ten Percent.

Combined with the effect of [Buy One Get One Free], Xiao Chen now had eighteen bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills.

He made his way to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion with practiced ease and chose to sell them again.

This time, the manager quickly summoned a young man. "The quality is fine. At the current market price, one bottle of pills is worth seven Spirit Stones."

"Eighteen bottles in total. After deducting the handling fee and rounding off, that comes to one hundred and thirteen Spirit Stones."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen's first reaction was that with one phrase about rounding off, the man had rounded away the four grains of Spiritual Sand that should have been his.

Only then did his second reaction come: Qi Nourishing Pills had actually risen in price again, reaching seven Spirit Stones per bottle.

From his perspective, this should have been a good thing, since it meant he could earn even more Spirit Stones.

But for the Rogue Cultivators outside, it was probably yet another piece of bad news.

Xiao Chen was even a little puzzled. If prices kept rising, would any Rogue Cultivators still be able to afford them?

Still, that was not something he needed to worry about.

"No problem. We'll settle it at that price."

After the transaction, Xiao Chen earned another fifty-three Spirit Stones in profit.

He still took several detours before returning to the market, where he once again bought ten portions of Spirit Herbs and a bottle of Qi Gathering Pills.

Neither of those items had continued to rise in price. The former had already gone up several times, while the latter had been expensive to begin with.

He then returned to Azure Water Peak and resumed his disciplined routine.

Meanwhile, the manager directly wrapped up the pills, sent them into the Back Courtyard, and notified Ge Changfeng.

Ge Changfeng had originally been on leave. Upon hearing the news, he hurried to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, eager to inspect the newly traded pills.

"Eh, Qi Nourishing Pills again? Why has this grandmaster refined another batch of Qi Nourishing Pills? What does this mean?"

Ge Changfeng could not quite make sense of it.

Just then, the young Appraiser spotted him. "Elder Ge, why are you here? Huh, aren't these the pills that were just sold to us?"

He walked over and focused his gaze on them. "These are indeed the batch I just accepted. Could there be something wrong with them? Did I misjudge them?"

Seeing the experienced Elder Ge wearing such a grave expression, the young Appraiser began to lose confidence.

Ge Changfeng shook his head. "That is not the case. Just take a look at these two pills. What do you notice about them?"

As he spoke, he selected a pair of pills and handed them over.

"Please forgive my dullness, but these pills do not seem to have anything special about them."

The young Appraiser turned them over and examined them for two full quarters of an hour, yet still could not spot any issue.

"Look more carefully. No matter which angle you view them from, no matter which direction you use an appraisal technique to test them from, these two pills are completely identical."

When he said identical, Ge Changfeng's tone still carried a trace of shock. "I have worked in this profession for many years, yet I have never seen such superb skill."

With his reminder, the young Appraiser also discovered that the pills replicated by [Buy One Get One Free] were indeed cut from the same mold, with every last detail perfectly identical.

"Th-this... Could these be the work of some Alchemy Grandmaster?"

Ge Changfeng smiled. "Of course! Only an Alchemy Grandmaster could possess both such a unique idea and such extraordinary skill."

"There must be an Alchemy Grandmaster from Quanzhou outside the market. He is trying to make contact with us."

"Oh, right. Do not spread this matter around. This is important intelligence concerning an outside cultivator."

The young Appraiser suddenly understood and nodded repeatedly. "Understood. I will keep my lips sealed."