Later that day, the heavy wooden doors of the Alchemy Hall swung open. Elder Qin strode in. His usually stern face stretched into a massive grin.
Seeing the elder approach, Su Bai paused his work and bowed respectfully. "Greetings, Elder Qin."
"Be at ease, martial nephew," Elder Qin laughed, then clapped a heavy hand onto Su Bai’s shoulder. "It is good to see you back safely from your mission. I heard things got a bit complicated in Blackwater City, but you handled it perfectly."
Before Su Bai could humbly deflect the praise, Elder Qin reached into his spatial ring and pulled out a bulging, heavy velvet pouch. He pressed it into Su Bai’s hands.
"As promised," Elder Qin said as his eyes twinkled. "This is your cut from the Transcendent-Grade pills we sold at the Liu Family Auction House."
Curious, Su Bai untied the silken string and peeked inside.
The mont the ambient light hit the contents, Su Bai’s breath caught in his throat. The pouch was practically glowing. Neatly stacked inside were dozens of flawlessly cut, shimring crystals radiating an incredibly dense spiritual aura.
"Sixty High-Grade Spirit Stones," Elder Qin announced proudly. "We sold the first batch of Transcendent Lesser Qi-Gathering Pills for ten High-Grade Spirit Stones each. After deducting the cost of the raw materials and the auction house’s commission fees, this is your remaining share."
Su Bai stood perfectly still, utterly shell-shocked.
A standard Lesser Qi-Gathering Pill... the type usually eaten by fresh Qi Condensation disciples... cost fractions of a Low-Grade Spirit Stone. Even a flawless, mid-grade version of the pill was only worth a single Low-Grade stone.
Ten High-Grade stones for one pill was an astronomical markup.
Seeing Su Bai’s stunned expression, Elder Qin chuckled. "We took advantage of the audience. We collaborated with the Liu Family Auction House to host an exclusive, closed-door auction, specifically inviting the representatives of the various factions that have been spying on our sect. As expected, they fought like wild dogs to outbid each other for a chance to study a Transcendent Pill."
Hearing the ntion of spies, Su Bai frowned slightly. "They stopped hiding?"
"Ha! They already got what they ca for," Elder Qin waved his hand dismissively.
The elder quickly recounted the events that had transpired while Su Bai was away: the Myriad Swords Sect arriving for a "friendly" martial exchange, the battle between the disciples, and the Radiant Sky Sect’s decisive victory.
"The spies got to see our sect’s foundation, and we got to empty their pockets," Elder Qin smiled in satisfaction. Su Bai couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of amusent. The Sect really knew how to maximize a situation.
"But Elder Qin," Su Bai asked, voicing a sudden concern. "If the spies bought the pills, won’t they trace them back to us? They might figure out we have a way to mass-produce them."
"You don’t have to worry about that," Elder Qin said smugly. "The Liu Family Auction House provided a brilliant cover story. Tell , martial nephew, what normally happens when an alchemist successfully refines a Transcendent-Grade pill?"
Su Bai blinked. Then he finally smiled, realizing sothing great. "The pill reaches the pinnacle of the mortal realm, drawing the jealousy of the Heavenly Dao. It summons a Pill Tribulation. Normally, that is."
"Exactly," Elder Qin nodded. "And since the skies over the Radiant Sky Sect have been perfectly clear, no one would ever suspect us of forging them. The auction house simply claid they acquired the pills from the East, right where a massive lightning storm was recently recorded. The sects swallowed the lie without a second thought."
Su Bai was genuinely amazed.
Because his unique Cold-Forging technique bypassed the traditional use of intense spiritual fire and heavenly laws, it didn’t trigger a Pill Tribulation. He had found a loophole! His manufacturing process was completely untraceable.
"We will slowly introduce the other pills you crafted at a later date," Elder Qin advised. "Just the Lesser Qi-Gathering Pills caused a massive uproar. Releasing other high ranking Transcendent pills right now would cause too much chaos. We must take it one step at a ti."
"I agree completely, Elder. Steady growth is always best," Su Bai nodded.
Satisfied, Elder Qin exchanged a few more pleasantries before turning and leaving the Alchemy Hall, allowing Su Bai and Liu ng to get back to their cauldrons.
As Liu ng busied herself prepping the spiritual herbs for their next batch, Su Bai took a mont to ntally trigger the system.
[Ding! Signed in at Verdant Peak (Alchemy Hall)]
[Reward: Recipe: Corpse-Chill Yin Pill]
He quickly reviewed the pill’s description.
[Description: A prescription used by Corpse Puppeteers. Cannot be forged with spiritual fire or orthodox cauldrons. This pill can only be successfully refined using the Cold-Forging technique.]
Su Bai’s eyes widened in shock.
He stared at the prompt, digging through his mories. He had definitely read about this specific pill in so records back in the Grand Archives.
If his mory was right, the Corpse-Chill Yin Pill was a horrifying poison. Upon consumption by a living being, it instantly extinguished the victim’s Yang (life force), killing them and turning their body into a perfectly preserved, frozen zombie.
For any normal cultivator, it was a grueso death sentence.
But Su Bai wasn’t normal.
A pill designed to violently extinguish Yang... was essentially a god-tier cultivation supplent for him!
It would be the ultimate fuel for his Yin-Crystal Dao Pedestal.
Excited, Su Bai quickly grabbed a brush and a piece of parchnt. He wrote down the bizarre, highly toxic ingredients required for the Corpse-Chill Yin Pill.
He walked over to Liu ng, who was happily humming as she sorted through a pile of herbs.
"Junior Sister," Su Bai called out gently. "Could you add these ingredients to the sourcing request you are sending to the Liu Family Auction House later? Just bundle them together with the materials I showed you earlier."
Liu ng wiped her soot-stained hands and took the parchnt. She glanced over the materials. "Sure thing, Senior Brother! But sourcing this many extre-Yin materials is going to be incredibly expensive. Do you want to put it on a tab?"
"No need," Su Bai smiled.
He reached into his robe, pulled out the heavy velvet pouch Elder Qin had just given him, and placed it firmly into Liu ng’s hands.
"Buy as many sets of ingredients for both recipes as that money can afford." Su Bai said as he ignored the slight ache in his heart.
Liu ng froze at his sheer decisiveness. Su Bai had just acquired a massive fortune, yet he was imdiately emptying his pockets for these materials.
"Are... are you sure, Senior Brother?" she stamred.
"I’m sure," Su Bai nodded resolutely.
Wealth was ant to be spent to secure one’s foundation.
As he looked at the recipes in his hands, Su Bai knew the investnt would be more than worth it.
Realizing just how crucial these materials must be to his cultivation, a look of deep seriousness crossed Liu ng’s face. She made a silent promise to herself to personally supervise the auction house’s progress to ensure everything he needed was delivered perfectly.
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