Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 311 - 195: Minor Foundation Establishment Pill
On the upper floor of Qingfeng Building, Lu Chang’sheng, accompanied by Lu Ziyou, Lu Chang’an, Nangua, and other close companions, followed the guidance of the Qingfeng Building attendant to a private suite.
"Please, Alchemist Lu, have a seat."
The manager of Qingfeng Building quickly came over to greet them.
An alchemist of White Cloud Pharmacy at grade B was not someone a small figure like him could afford to neglect.
Afterward, he had someone bring up top-grade spirit tea.
If he hadn’t seen that there were female relatives among the group, he might’ve arranged for even more female cultivators to join them.
The group sat down, and right in front of them was an open viewing platform, allowing them to look directly down at the main hall below.
As a well-known tavern, Qingfeng Building naturally wouldn’t miss out on this chance to make money. In fact, rumors from the marketplace claimed it was the restaurants of Platinum Immortal City like theirs that started the whole thing.
Even just a spot at a tea table cost five pieces of lower-grade Spirit Stone.
As the time was almost up, a woman dressed in thin gauzy robes, one shoulder half bare, stepped gracefully onto the stage.
A sweet fragrance wafted over with her, and more than a few cultivators started breathing noticeably heavier.
She made a simple introduction of her name, then held a tray with a Sound Transmission Shell on it, getting ready to relay news to the crowd.
"The auction on the other side is about to begin, so please, seniors, keep quiet for a moment."
"Our first item up for bidding is a bottle of top-grade Qi Storage Pills. These pills are made by Alchemist Ren Quan of the Supreme Profound Sect."
"Starting bid is 100 contribution points."
Right away, a burst of intense bidding broke out.
The female cultivator wasn’t about to repeat every single bid shouted in the hall—that would be unrealistic. Instead, she only started reporting when the competition got heated, giving a bit of background info on the main contenders.
"The bid of 550 contribution points comes from Zuo Lin, master of the Cyan Stone Mountain Range on the outskirts of Supreme Profound Immortal City. He’s a cultivator at Qi Cultivation ninth level, quite strong."
"Next up, bidding is the patriarch of the Mo Family from Liuyun Immortal City. The Mo Family is a senior Qi Cultivation clan of the Liuyun Clan, much more established than Zuo Lin up in those mountains. If they’re determined to get Alchemist Ren Quan’s pills, their chances are much higher."
As he listened to the vivid commentary from the woman on stage, Lu Chang’sheng found himself thinking of those online livestream sellers from his previous life.
"Is that Qi Storage Pill really worth this much effort?" Lu Ziyou was totally confused.
"You’re just lucky you’ve got your father to rely on; otherwise, you’d have no clue about stuff like this." Li Nangua shot him a glance.
"Even pills of the same grade can have very different meanings. What the bidders want isn’t just the pill for their cultivation—the main thing is to observe and deduce, hoping to glean some alchemy insight from the pills themselves," Lu Chang’sheng added.
This sort of thing is especially popular among alchemists who are loose cultivators—reverse-engineering the pill’s ingredients to gain experience in the Alchemy Dao.
Of course, there are a lot of uncertainties in that approach. On top of that, the rewards are usually pitifully small. Unless the pill comes from a high-level alchemist, it’s practically worthless.
"Father’s sold plenty of top-grade pills—how come I’ve never even heard about this?" Lu Ziyou asked, still puzzled.
Lu Chang’an patted his shoulder, signaling him not to talk too much.
Lu Chang’sheng chuckled, "I’m still far from being accomplished in the Alchemy Dao. Second-grade alchemists have already reached a pretty high level of skill; when creating top-grade pills, they might even leave behind unique techniques."
"I see," Lu Chang’an nodded, finally getting it.
Lu Chang’sheng turned his attention back to the stage.
This time, his main purpose was to see whether Fang Yuan could successfully win the items on his list.
Especially the Barrier-Breaking Pill Formula.
Most pill formulas circulating on the market are lower-grade, occasionally mid-grade first-tier, but upper-grade ones are extremely rare.
As a sustainable asset, a pill formula’s value is immeasurable. Many forces, once they snag a formula, guard it like a prized treasure, terrified that it’ll leak and invite competition.
Most formulas out in the open today are those that have seeped out over countless years from all sorts of sources. Too many people have seen them, so their secrecy has hit rock bottom, and their price plummeted with it. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
But for those formulas rarely seen on the market, the price can easily hit tens of thousands of lower-grade Spirit Stones—at least for decent upper-grade ones. If it’s a Barrier-Breaking Pill formula, the cost could be even higher.
That said, the Supreme Profound Sect’s Barrier-Breaking Pill formula came with some serious restrictions, so the price was relatively lower.
For one thing: it can only be used by a single cultivator; it mustn’t be passed on to a second person. That clause alone slashed the formula’s value.
Lu Chang’sheng wasn’t eyeing this formula just for its rarity; he also wanted to use it to prep for the bottleneck at late-stage Qi Cultivation.
"The three major bottlenecks in Qi Cultivation are no big deal for those with high Spirit Root Talent, but for someone like me saddled with subpar spirit roots, each barrier is damn thick."
"If I don’t have enough Barrier-Breaking Pills in reserve, I really don’t have much confidence I’ll break through to late-stage Qi Cultivation."
When talent falls short, pour on the resources.
That was Lu Chang’sheng’s approach.
Naturally, there was another pretty crucial reason—Li Nangua’s breakthrough.
Because she’d lost so much time at Fuyun Mountain, Li Nangua’s age had started to bite into her talent. If she wanted to break into late-stage Qi Cultivation, she’d need plenty of Barrier-Breaking Pills, too.
The female cultivator’s voice from Qingfeng Building was climbing higher, a sure sign that the auction items were getting more valuable.
Accordingly, the prices at auction kept shooting up.
Finally, Lu Chang’sheng felt a tremor of excitement in his heart.
A new auction item appeared on stage—one that was in his plan.
Of course, this lot was further down the priority list than the Barrier-Breaking Pill formula.
