Making Money

Two and a half months later.

Inside Xiao Yan's room at the Xiao Family estate.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged wildly toward Xiao Yan. Soon, a blood-red glow appeared around his body. After his aura fluctuated for a moment, it stabilized at the level of a three-star Dou Zhe.

After encountering Old Yao, Xiao Yan had entered seclusion. Even when Xun Er came to see him, he politely declined her invitation, claiming that his cultivation had reached a bottleneck and that he could not keep her company for the time being.

For the sake of his future, Xiao Yan spent a full half month stabilizing his realm and successfully switching to a new cultivation technique. Over the remaining two months, he advanced from a one-star Dou Zhe to a three-star Dou Zhe.

Furthermore, Xiao Yan used his own soul blood to feed the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire once every month, helping it grow.

Thus, although the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire was still in its infancy, it had already become a complete Heavenly Flame. Having been nourished by Xiao Yan's soul blood, its affinity toward him had increased greatly. Though Xiao Yan's crude fire-control skills were far from allowing him to wield the flame as easily as his own arm, at least he would no longer be unable to display its power due to unfamiliarity.

However, if he wanted the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire to become stronger and reach maturity, it would need more magical beast souls and magical beast blood.

Therefore, Xiao Yan had already made up his mind. Once the time was right, he would definitely take a trip to the Monster Mountain Range for some training.

"Not bad. With this Spirit Flame Tempering Technique, your cultivation speed is entirely within my expectations. Now that your cultivation is on the right track, I can finally teach you some new things, such as..." Old Yao's figure flew out from the Storage Ring on Xiao Yan's finger. He nodded in satisfaction, then, under Xiao Yan's expectant gaze, spoke those three words: "Alchemy!"

Immediately afterward, Old Yao continued:

"Feeding a Heavenly Flame with your soul blood is extremely effective, but you are too weak, and your body cannot endure such depletion. At most, within half a year, the deficit caused by feeding the Heavenly Flame with soul blood will reveal itself. Therefore, we must prepare in advance and refine some pills that greatly replenish vitality and blood, as well as pills beneficial to the soul.

"Besides that, although I have awakened, I am still far from returning to my peak condition. I likewise need the help of some medicinal ingredients. But from what I have learned these past few days, it will be difficult to find many medicinal ingredients in the entire Jia Ma Empire that can be of use to me. This matter can only be handled slowly.

"However, replenishing your body must be put on the agenda."

Hearing this, Xiao Yan naturally understood what Old Yao meant and immediately asked, "Teacher, what medicinal ingredients do we need?"

"Soul Nourishing Flower, Red Blood Ginseng, Yang Essence Grass..." Old Yao rattled off a long list of medicinal ingredients in one breath, making Xiao Yan feel dizzy just listening to it.

"Besides those, I also need you to buy a large quantity of basic medicinal ingredients: five hundred Blood Coagulation Grass, six hundred Bone Growing Flowers, five hundred Poppy Flowers, and five hundred Vitality Fruits. These are for you to practice with. The more, the better."

Before Xiao Yan could react, Old Yao made an outrageously huge demand, leaving Xiao Yan speechless.

"Teacher, I don't have that much money. Your disciple is only the young master of a small family, not some rich young heir!"

Xiao Yan spoke bitterly.

"Alas, there are no gold coins in my Storage Ring either. People have always brought cultivation techniques, Dou Skills, and heavenly treasures to beg me to refine pills for them. As for gold coins, I truly have not used such things in many years!"

Old Yao sighed helplessly upon hearing this.

"Teacher, do you have any lowest-grade formulas? We can refine a batch of low-grade pills, earn some startup capital first, then proceed step by step and grow bigger and stronger. What do you think?"

Xiao Yan gave up thinking and directly applied the old formula.

"I do have one, but you have no use for it, which is rather unfortunate. How about this? Prepare three intact Purple Leaf Orchid Grasses, the older the better. Also, two Bone Cleansing Flowers—their age does not matter. Finally, one first-tier wood-attribute magical core."

After pondering for a moment, Old Yao directly gave him the formula for Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid.

Xiao Yan fell silent for a moment, feeling a headache coming on.

With his talent and a father who was the clan leader, the benefits provided by the family were not low. Even so, he had only managed to save five hundred gold coins.

That was barely enough to buy a magical core.

Hmm...

Xiao Yan's eyes spun, and a plan suddenly rose in his heart, one that would surely bring light to the present predicament.

"Teacher, have you ever deceived anyone?"

Xiao Yan put on an innocent, harmless smile.

"Hmm?"

Seeing Xiao Yan's expression, one that practically screamed he could swindle someone to death without remorse, Old Yao raised a brow.

"You brat, what kind of scheme are you plotting?"

Even Old Yao could not see through Xiao Yan's thoughts, so he asked curiously.

"Hehe!"

Xiao Yan merely smiled without answering.

One day later, on the street, Xiao Yan looked toward the massive venue at the end of the road. Wearing homemade height-increasing shoes, wrapped in a thick layer of cotton clothing, and covered by a black robe that made his figure look far bulkier and taller, he slowly walked toward the venue.

If his cultivation had not been so low, Xiao Yan would not have wanted to go through so much trouble.

At that moment, Xiao Yan looked like a burly man a little over one meter seventy tall. Even if Xun Er stood before him, she probably would not be able to see through his disguise at a glance.

His palm touched the white jade bottle still slightly warm against his chest. Xiao Yan slowly walked out of the alley and headed toward the auction hall at the end of the street.

Under the vigilant gazes of several fully armed guards at the entrance, Xiao Yan did not slow down and walked straight into the main hall.

As soon as he entered the hall, it felt as though the scorching heat had been stripped from his body. The coolness gave him a strange sensation, as if he had stepped from one world into another.

His gaze swept over the spacious, resplendent hall, and Xiao Yan headed toward a room to the side. Three glittering golden characters were engraved on its door: "Appraisal Room."

Pushing the door open, he found the room somewhat empty. Only an appraiser sat boredly in a chair beside a table. Hearing the door open, the appraiser raised his head and looked at the figure entirely shrouded in a black robe. His brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, but a professional smile quickly appeared on his face.

"Sir, are you here to have a treasure appraised?"

"Mm."

A somewhat dry, aged voice drifted lightly from beneath the black robe. It was Old Yao's voice.

Xiao Yan stepped forward two paces, casually took the white jade bottle from his robes, and gently placed it on the table.

"What is this?" The appraiser blinked in confusion, carefully picked up the white jade bottle, and sniffed lightly at its mouth. A moment later, his expression changed slightly. When he looked at Xiao Yan again, there was an additional trace of reverence in his eyes. "My lord, are you an alchemist?"

"Mm." The aged voice rang out once more.

"May I ask what kind of pill this bottle contains... and what effect it has?"

Hearing this, the appraiser asked respectfully again.

"Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid. It can increase the cultivation speed of Dou Qi. It is only effective for those below the Dou Zhe level."

"It can increase the cultivation speed of Dou Qi?"

The appraiser was moved by this. Dou Qi could only be cultivated steadily and conventionally; this had practically become common knowledge to everyone. Moreover, cultivators at this stage had extremely fragile meridians. If the medicinal power was too fierce, the miserable result would be snapped meridians and death...

"My spirit liquid has no side effects, and its medicinal power is exceptionally gentle. It will not cause such a result. You may rest assured."

Seemingly understanding what the appraiser was thinking, the aged voice slowly explained.

The appraiser's expression changed again. He carefully placed the white jade bottle back on the table and said respectfully, "My lord, could you please wait a moment? I need to invite Master Guni of our auction house to appraise this spirit liquid!"

"Mm. Be quick."

With a wave of his hand, Xiao Yan did not stand on ceremony. He sat down in a chair nearby, then closed his eyes to rest.