"That's right. All the medicinal ingredients are here. Please take a look."
With a slight nod, he took two bundles of medicinal ingredients from his Storage Ring and placed them on the table before him.
"Loquat fruit, earth blackgold, evergreen flower, black goji berries... are you looking to refine a Pulse-Protecting Pill?"
"But a grade-two Pulse-Protecting Pill requires two grade-two magic cores, one wood-attribute and one ice-attribute. Our auction house doesn't have those at the moment."
After examining the ingredients and deducing what pill the young man before him wanted to refine, Gu Ni instinctively frowned.
Grade-two magic cores were rare treasures. Even their auction house seldom had any up for auction.
"Don't worry. I've got them."
"And I've prepared three sets."
Sun Buxiao took another two bundles from his Storage Ring.
This time, the expressions of Gu Ni and the maid standing behind him finally changed, filling with surprise and uncertainty.
A tier 2 magical beast was generally as strong as a Dou Shi, and its powerful physique made it arguably even more dangerous. Moreover, not every tier 2 magical beast yielded a magic core, so obtaining one required both strength and luck.
Yet this white-robed youth, who looked barely into his teens, had actually prepared three full sets of tier-two magic cores-six in total.
Gu Ni now felt that the phrase "just an unaffiliated wanderer" was pure bullshit.
What kind of unaffiliated wanderer could casually produce six tier-two magic cores?
Still...
After studying Sun Buxiao, who stood there smiling, for another few seconds, Master Gu Ni accepted the magic cores from him.
"Would you like me to attempt all three sets?"
"Yes. I know the rules. If you fail, I don't have to pay, right?"
Anyone hiring an alchemist had to supply their own ingredients, but if the refinement failed, they didn't have to pay.
"...Give me three days. In three days, I'll put all three Pulse-Protecting Pills in your hands."
Gu Ni snorted at Sun Buxiao's words.
With his strength as a Da Dou Shi, he already ranked among the best tier 2 alchemists. Pulse-Protecting Pills weren't difficult to refine, so he was naturally confident he could pull it off as easily as reaching out and taking them.
"Here's a deposit of ten thousand gold coins. I'll be back on time in three days."
Once the transaction was settled, Sun Buxiao didn't linger. He turned and left.
"Master Gu Ni, should we send someone to investigate him...?"
After Sun Buxiao disappeared at the end of the street, the Mittel Auction House's maid approached Gu Ni and quietly asked.
"...No need. He's probably a junior from some great clan out gaining experience. Digging too deeply would do more harm than good."
After considering it for a few seconds, Gu Ni shook his head.
Since the young man called himself an unaffiliated wanderer, he clearly didn't want others knowing his origins. It was even hard to say whether Sun Buxiao was his real name...
"Go prepare my alchemy supplies."
"My cultivation has more or less stabilized completely. Once I break through, I'll head straight back to Chu Yun and look for that thing."
"As for now..."
After cultivating in the inn for three straight days to stabilize his cultivation, Sun Buxiao opened his eyes, held the Porridge Bowl level in his hands, and gave it an experimental shake.
Before long, a thin layer of translucent liquid appeared at the bottom of the Porridge Bowl. It looked like... millet porridge?
But there was only a tiny amount, not even enough for a mouthful. It was nowhere near filling the bowl.
"Tsk, not much. People in the Jia Ma Empire really do have it too good. Nothing like Chu Yun, where I can save up a whole bowl in half a month."
Sun Buxiao shook his head, but didn't dwell on it. He simply drank all the millet porridge at the bottom of the bowl.
He had been born with this bowl. Apparently, it had nearly scared his mother to death a few years early. Only later did Sun Buxiao work out that it was bound to his soul from birth-a bowl that could never be taken away.
At first, Sun Buxiao had been so angry he could almost laugh.
Goddammit, other people transmigrated to another world with swords, guns, phones, and whatever else. Why did I arrive in this godforsaken place with a porridge bowl?
Even if porridge had solo-killed me in my previous life, there was no need to humiliate me like this, right? Was I supposed to go begging?
It wasn't until Sun Buxiao was two, figured out where he was, and began feeling his way through cultivating qi that he truly understood how to use the bowl.
The key was the "millet porridge" that appeared inside it out of thin air.
It gathered the scattered negative auras in the air, which were entwined with soul attributes, into the bowl and condensed them into liquid-in other words, [tangible] negative energy.
This negative energy could strengthen Sun Buxiao's soul. Of course, he could also give it to others to drink, but anyone else who drank this tangible negative energy would first suffer its assault before receiving the enhancement. Two poison masters in the Chu Yun Empire had once tried to strengthen themselves through Sun Buxiao's Porridge Bowl, and successfully driven themselves mad instead.
So Sun Buxiao no longer let anyone else drink what was in the bowl. He wouldn't even tell them what it did.
"Hmm? Isn't that..."
After circulating his qi to digest the millet porridge, Sun Buxiao suddenly noticed a somewhat familiar figure on the street below.
Isn't that the future Flame Emperor? Why is he out strolling around when he only just took his test a couple of days ago?
On the road below, the still-young Xiao Yan walked along, looking this way and that. He seemed to be alone, but Sun Buxiao could sense the auras of two Dou Zhe following a short distance behind him. They were probably there to protect him.
Hmm... should I tease him while I have the chance?
Sun Buxiao rubbed his chin.
Once he falls on hard times in a few years, teasing him won't feel right.
This is also a good chance to dig a few pitfalls for this Flame Emperor's future...
Despite stealing the limelight at the testing stone a couple of days earlier, Xiao Yan hadn't actually found it all that satisfying.
It was already common knowledge that he was Wutan City's once-in-an-age genius. Everyone who met him naturally treated him with awe and respect, even though he was still only a child.
Rather than accepting meaningless cheers, he felt buying a gift for his dear little sister Xiao Xun'er mattered more.
After browsing for a while, he spotted a beautiful flower at a rather shabby-looking stall.
"Hmm? This flower's rather interesting..."
He glanced at the stall owner, who wore a bamboo hat and white robes, then reached out his hand.
He wanted to touch the flower.
"Hey-dear customer, you can't touch that flower."
The stall owner was, of course, Sun Buxiao.
He reached out and caught Xiao Yan's wrist with precision, a strange smile on his face.
"Why can't I touch it?"
Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes and tugged hard twice, only to discover that he couldn't pull his hand free at all. He froze in surprise.
Sun Buxiao almost laughed aloud.
Xiao Yan, a One-Star Dou Practitioner, huh?
On this Dou Qi Continent, with that little cultivation, you're nothing but a little loli~