Expensive Pills, Crazy Cultivators

Second floor of the Four Seasons Sect shop.

Though it was called a First-Class private room, the space inside was enormous, roughly the size of a mu. Who knew whether some spatial array had expanded it?

Li Ye had originally planned to slip in with the crowd, hide quietly, and see what was going on.

But the moment he entered, Su Ya spotted him. The latter's eyes lit up, but he did not call out. He merely pointed at a screen nearby.

Li Ye had no choice but to walk over.

Then, together with Su Ya, who had been waiting there, he entered behind the screen.

The instant they stepped inside, they seemed to be completely cut off from the bustle outside. Yet through the screen, they could still clearly see everything beyond it.

"Fellow Daoist Li, have you stayed home for all these past ten days?" Su Ya picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea.

He smiled lightly. "Qi Refining Stage Nine. It seems that before long, you and I will truly be able to address each other as fellow Daoists, and then as senior and junior brothers."

Hearing this, Li Ye quickly waved his hands and said modestly, "I merely reached this point by luck. Still, I am looking forward to calling you Senior Brother!"

"Oh, right. I brought Fellow Daoist a gift."

He reached into his Storage Pouch, took out a bottle of Peach Blossom Wine, and set it on the table.

"Take a look, Fellow Daoist Su. This is Peach Blossom Wine I brewed using peach branches from the Peach Garden gathering."

"Oh?" Su Ya immediately took the bottle and opened it. He sniffed it lightly, then took a small sip, an intoxicated expression appearing on his face.

"It truly is delicious. This Peach Blossom Wine is also an excellent ingredient for alchemy.

If Fellow Daoist trusts me, I recently obtained some spirit liquid from snow water. I can use it to refine a pill."

Spirit liquid from snow water?

Li Ye's heart stirred, and he followed up on the subject.

"By fortunate chance, I too discovered a special spirit liquid within the snow. Might Fellow Daoist clear up my confusion? What exactly is that spirit liquid used for?"

"Oh, that Spiritual Energy was drawn out from a hidden realm by the Nascent Soul Patriarch of my sect.

That hidden realm is exceptionally unusual. Snow and the light of the heavenly sea shine against one another, and when Spiritual Energy collides, it gives birth to a kind of spirit liquid."

"Divine Snow Spirit Liquid."

Su Ya spread his palm. Floating above it was a drop of liquid blending the clear blue of the sky with the deep blue of the ocean. It looked slightly better than what Li Ye had purified.

"This thing has many uses, but the most important is that it can blend perfectly with spirit water. Other than certain special spirit liquids and spirit waters, it can merge with them all.

Take Fellow Daoist's fine Peach Blossom Wine, for example. Adding some Divine Snow Spirit Liquid would certainly improve its flavor and strengthen its effects."

Li Ye nodded as though enlightened. "I see."

As the two conversed, the auction outside had already begun.

A beautiful Female Cultivator stepped onto the central stage and introduced herself with a smile.

"I am Mo Dingwu. Entrusted by Alchemist Su Ya, I will be hosting this auction. Every medicinal pill sold today was refined by Alchemist Su himself and bears the certification of the Four Seasons Sect."

"I will not waste words. The first item for sale today is the Clear Snow Spirit Pill refined by Alchemist Su using the white crystal of a Snow Fiend."

She took out a brocade box.

Three snow-white pills lay upon crimson-gold silk, each still emitting wisps of white chill that flowed out over the edges of the box.

"Perhaps not everyone here knows this item's effects. Should one become trapped in a delusion barrier, consuming a single pill can shatter the obstruction and clear the mind in an instant.

Fellow Daoists intending to explore the outside world or enter hidden realms in search of treasure must not miss this."

"This is a second-tier spirit pill, a special type of medicinal pill."

"The starting bid is two hundred Spirit Stones."

The moment she finished speaking, several cultivators immediately began raising their placards in a scramble.

In the end, they sold for four hundred, four hundred and twenty, and four hundred and sixty Spirit Stones respectively.

And these were only second-tier spirit pills!

"My painstakingly refined spirit pills did not go to waste after all. Speaking of which, I must thank Fellow Daoist Li for those five Flint Fire Seeds. Otherwise, they could not have melted so quickly."

Su Ya's face was full of smiles. "I specifically saved two for Fellow Daoist as well."

He handed a box to Li Ye. Inside were two round, white pill pellets.

"How could I possibly accept this?"

"Why not? You and I are friends. Just consider it a gift from me. Is it not perfectly normal for friends to exchange gifts?"

"If both you and I find it acceptable, then there is no need to concern ourselves with a gift's value—this is merely a gift. How can it be judged by its worth?"

Su Ya pushed the box closer.

The bearing of the Alchemist Su before him truly left Li Ye somewhat moved. He simply gave a carefree smile. "Then many thanks for this gift, Fellow Daoist."

"No need for courtesy. Look, the pills we worked on together are about to be auctioned!" Su Ya pointed outside. Li Ye followed his gesture and saw that Mo Dingwu had taken out another brocade box.

Inside lay two pills in which crimson and gold hues intermingled, seemingly patterned with Dragon Scales.

"This item is called the Crimson-Gold Beauty Pill."

"It was Alchemist Su who painstakingly refined them over eighty-one days, using Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp scales, the juice of a special spiritual plant, and numerous Spiritual Materials, before finally producing these two pills."

"After taking this pill, one can maintain their appearance unchanged for twenty years, while also beautifying and nourishing the complexion. If its effects fade within those twenty years, the buyer may go to the Four Seasons Sect at any time and demand an explanation from Alchemist Su!"

After finishing her introduction, Mo Dingwu stroked her lovely face and sighed softly. "If I were not the auctioneer for this auction, I would surely want to compete with you all for these pills as well."

"Just how many Spirit Stones is the starting bid?" A cultivator below had already grown impatient. Pills like these that preserved one's appearance were truly produced in exceedingly small numbers, yet the market for them was enormous.

Having finally encountered such an opportunity, he naturally would not let it pass.

"As usual, the starting bid is two hundred." The moment Mo Dingwu finished speaking, bids erupted one after another from below, quickly breaking past the five-hundred mark.

And they continued climbing. Both male and female cultivators joined the competition, treating those hundreds of Spirit Stones as though they were pebbles by the roadside.

Li Ye's eyes widened in shock.

"This..."

He had only bought this Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp and Spirit Water Phoenix-Eye Lotus a little over a month ago. Could their materials really be refined into pills that kept one's appearance unchanged for twenty years?

"Brother Li seems quite surprised," Su Ya explained. "Setting aside how difficult it is to find the formula for such pills, the special Spiritual Materials you possessed are truly marvelous.

Though their grade was somewhat lacking, they were exceptionally unique.

The Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp's scales had absorbed some of the gourd's moist Spiritual Energy; while retaining the tenacity of that Spiritual Energy, the gourd had also gained some of the Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp's unique blood vitality. The two had fused together, creating a quality that could only be called rare.

Better still, there was not the slightest trace of forced intervention in this fusion. It was as though heaven itself had wrought it.

When refining the pills, I did not need to employ any special method at all. The pill simply formed as naturally as water flowing into its course."

He truly found it astonishing.

That effortless, natural feeling during pill refinement had utterly intoxicated him. The two different kinds of spiritual power blended together with extraordinary smoothness.

He felt that even if he came into contact with other Spiritual Materials in the future, they likely would not be as good as those he had obtained from Brother Li.

For an alchemist, this was simply too rare. Even if his other senior brothers in the sect learned of it, they would certainly address Li Ye as an equal.

That was why he had been so enthusiastic. He sincerely felt that Li Ye was extraordinary and wanted to befriend him in earnest.