Fifth-Tier Beast Flame

Gu Ni stared intently at the azure liquid. With a pinch of two fingers, a silver needle appeared between them. Faint Dou Qi ripples shimmered across the needle as he quietly inserted it into the azure liquid and gently stirred.

As the needle stirred, Gu Ni's expression gradually changed from calm to grave.

A moment later, he collected the azure liquid into a jade bottle. When his gaze returned to Xiao Yan, a trace of respect had appeared on his proud face. Turning to Ya Fei, he said solemnly, "This spiritual liquid has reached the level of a second-tier medicinal pill. What this gentleman said was true!"

"With the special effects of this medicinal liquid, trading it for what I need shouldn't be a problem, right?" Xiao Yan turned his head toward Ya Fei.

Her beautiful eyes blinked lightly. An ordinary second-tier medicinal liquid was worth around thirty thousand gold coins on the market.

A rare medicine like the Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid, which could increase the speed of Dou Qi cultivation, was quite uncommon. Once handled by an auction house, its price could rise considerably.

What those great clans lacked least was gold.

"Of course there's no problem." Ya Fei gave a seductive smile. "It's just that the Wutan City branch of the Mittel Auction House does not currently have a quality medicinal cauldron. We'll need a few days for the headquarters to send one over."

Just as expected. Yao Lao had anticipated this long ago. Apart from Gu Ni, there were no resident alchemists in Wutan City. A place like an auction house, where profit came first, naturally would not keep useless items on hand.

"No matter. Prepare two more sets of ingredients for Qi Gathering Powder, as well as a decent beast flame. Give them to me together when the time comes."

At those words, Gu Ni's expression changed slightly. Two additional sets of ingredients for Qi Gathering Powder? Wouldn't that mean spending another hundred thousand gold coins or so?

Ya Fei's rosy lips parted slightly, and a hint of anger rose in her heart. Though the other party was a capable alchemist, wasn't this behavior a little too excessive?

The Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid had special effects. As long as the auction house operated it properly, there would be profit to make. But that did not mean the profit would be enough to exceed one hundred thousand gold coins.

Though anger stirred within her, Ya Fei's lovely, seductive face remained covered in smiles. She did not immediately lose her temper.

"Hehe, it seems the two of you have misunderstood. Those two sets of ingredients are not for me. I merely intend to help you refine two Qi Gathering Powders. You only need to pay for the ingredients. That isn't too much to ask, is it?" Yao Lao's voice said with a faint laugh.

Her seductive face froze slightly before delight suddenly surged across it. The unexpected surprise had left her somewhat unable to react.

Only after a moment did Ya Fei's flushed face gradually calm down. She exchanged a glance with the equally delighted Gu Ni, then said softly with slight nervousness, "Then we must thank you, old sir."

More than two hours later, a pretty maid entered with a small silver tray held in both hands. Resting on it was a pale red ring.

Taking the silver tray and dismissing the maid, Ya Fei personally handed it to Xiao Yan with a smile. "Old sir, all the medicinal ingredients you requested are inside the storage ring. The medicinal cauldron and beast flame will be delivered to the Mittel Auction House in three days. May I ask where you reside? Ya Fei can personally bring them to you."

Xiao Yan reached out and picked up the storage ring from the tray, turning it in his palm. He shook his head slightly as Yao Lao's voice sounded once more. "No need. I will come collect them myself in three days."

"Alright, there's no need to see me off. I can leave on my own." Waving a hand, Xiao Yan casually slipped the storage ring onto his finger and walked out of the reception room without looking back.

Watching his figure vanish through the doorway, Ya Fei lightly bit her red lip. Looking at the two exquisite jade bottles on the table, she asked softly, "Uncle Gu Ni, the success rate for refining Qi Gathering Powder does not seem very high, does it?"

"Yes. It is said that even Pill King Gu He has only around a seventy percent success rate when refining Qi Gathering Powder. An ordinary fourth-tier alchemist might not even have a fifty percent success rate."

Gu Ni was also quite puzzled at this moment. Based on his previous assessment, that man should only have been a third-tier alchemist.

"But that old gentleman succeeded in one attempt." Ya Fei's delicate brows drew together.

"Who knows? Perhaps his luck was simply too good." Gu Ni shook his head with a bitter smile.

After all, alchemists needed luck when refining medicinal pills as well. If their luck was good, they might not fail even after several attempts in a row.

After hesitating slightly, Ya Fei felt that it could not merely be luck. She said uncertainly, "Could he be an incredibly powerful alchemist?"

"There are only a handful of fifth-tier alchemists in the Jia Ma Empire. Even colossal forces like the imperial family and the Cloud Mist Sect would treat people of that level as honored guests. Why would one come to us to sell medicinal pills?" Gu Ni said with a smile, shaking his head.

Hearing this, Ya Fei nodded slightly as well. She sighed softly and said with a bitter smile, "It seems I am still too inexperienced. My hesitation earlier probably caused this mysterious alchemist's favorable impression of us to drop quite a bit."

"You can't be blamed for that. Even I hesitated over such a large sum. You already handled it very well. As for building a relationship with him, we can slowly work on it in the future. As long as he hasn't developed ill feelings toward us, that will be enough," Gu Ni comforted her.

Ya Fei nodded with a bitter smile and lazily sat in her chair, her curves fully displayed. Blinking her narrow eyes, she asked softly in puzzlement, "What does he want with so many low-grade medicinal ingredients?"

"Who knows? Alchemists are all rather eccentric. Perhaps he is experimenting with some kind of medicinal formula." Gu Ni guessed.

Three days later, Xiao Yan sat cross-legged inside a hidden cave in the back mountain of the Xiao Clan. Before him stood a rather large transparent jade bottle containing a pink flame seed.

The flame flickered gently, giving off a faint peach-colored aura.

"This flame seed..." Xiao Yan's expression was somewhat awkward. "Isn't it a little too feminine?"

"Don't be so ungrateful." Yao Lao's figure appeared. "The Mittel Auction House has indeed put some thought into this."

"This flame seed is called Peach Blossom Flame. It exists only within the body of the Kui Wood Beast, a rather rare fifth-tier wood-element magical beast. Its defining trait is its gentleness, making it easier to tame. Of course, its temperature and destructive power are somewhat lacking.

"But for an alchemy novice like you, it is just right."

Xiao Yan raised his head. "So we didn't lose out?"

"They're only two Qi Gathering Powders, not a fourth-tier medicinal formula with clear soul imprints. Besides, we weren't even the ones providing the key ingredients." Yao Lao explained with a smile.

Xiao Yan nodded slightly. Over the past few days, he had also learned how medicinal formulas were made.

Every medicinal formula was written using soul power. Each time it was read, the soul imprints within would grow blurrier. Generally, once a medicinal formula had been read more than five times, it would gradually become indistinct. Reading it after that required one to rely on one's own ability to figure out the blurred portions, which would undoubtedly waste a great deal of time and effort.

As for creating medicinal formula scrolls, one needed the strength of a fourth-tier alchemist, and the failure rate was extremely high. Thus, medicinal formulas could not simply be recorded at will with paper and brush, as one might imagine.

The required temperature of the flame, the refinement concentration of ingredients, the reactions produced when various ingredients fused together, and so on were all incredibly complex, almost like chemical formulas. Written on paper, they would be enough to make anyone dizzy.

Therefore, these medicinal formulas were written with soul power. Whoever obtained one merely needed to scan it once with soul power, and everything required by the formula would be deeply imprinted in their mind like a brand.

Because of how troublesome they were to create, medicinal formulas were worth far more than the medicinal pills they could produce.