The second auction was held as scheduled. Though all items sold out, it still resulted in a loss of six hundred Spirit Stones. However, seven Foundation Establishment Cultivators attended.

Clearly, not every Foundation Establishment Cultivator had access to the more exclusive exchange meets.

Even if they did, those exchange meets were restrictive and held infrequently. To advance their cultivation, these Major Cultivators were still willing to try their luck through other channels. Jinyun Valley, willing to part with Tier Two Magical Artifacts, would naturally become one of their top alternatives.

’Ordinary minor influences can’t afford to host auctions at all. The initial stages are a completely thankless endeavor... Right, the biggest reason is that they lack the deep reserves to weather the initial strain!’

As he listened to Ding Fei’s report, Chen Che felt this keenly.

’Before I took control of Jinyun Valley, my Pill Shop’s net profit was only about eighty Spirit Stones a month—and that was with my alchemy skills being superior to others. The profits for other shops in the Market were likely half of that.’

’The Han Family was a scourge for over two hundred years. Who knows how many cultivators they murdered and robbed, how many illicit trades they conducted, yet they only managed to accumulate fifty thousand Spirit Stones.’

For this very reason, many Foundation Establishment Influences had the ambition but lacked the means.

Otherwise, they would need to be like the Meng Family, which monopolized the Beast Taming business.

With the combined wealth from Jinyun Valley, the Han Family, and his own prior assets, Chen Che had a total of seventy thousand Spirit Stones. This gave him the confidence to keep the auction running until it became self-sustaining.

And that wasn’t even counting the support from the mine.

"The Hu Family has made no move."

After finishing his report, Ding Fei added, "However, they’ve doubled the number of items in their auction this time, attracting quite a few Foundation Establishment Cultivators. Still, their auction is mid-month and ours is at the end, so it doesn’t seem to have much of an effect on us."

"Mm."

Chen Che nodded.

The quantity of items was important, but their tier and rarity were equally so.

At this thought, he lowered his gaze.

"What about my Celestial Spirit Grass?"

Ding Fei smiled. "The Pill Hall has already taken care of it."

A short while later, Chen Che arrived at the Pill Hall.

From a distance, he could already hear Xing Lin’s bellows:

"Your True Essence! Control the Pill Fire! Circulate your True Essence! Is this how Rong Shisan taught you to control it? HUH!?"

"Dumber than a pig! The herbs in the furnace are scorched—I can smell them from here! Why haven’t you stopped? What are you trying to do, refine the Pill Furnace itself?"

A glance revealed...

...Xing Lin, seated in his wheelchair, absolutely tearing into several disciples.

He now served as a Tributor In the Valley and was also the Vice Chief of the Pill Hall. Whenever he was free, he would come to instruct the disciples in alchemy.

However, the disciples’ fundamentals were rather weak, so he frequently grew exasperated. His roars could often be heard throughout Jinyun Valley.

"Valley Master!"

Zhao Deyou spotted Chen Che and quickly trotted over. "We’ve already processed the Celestial Spirit Grass..."

As he spoke, he produced a White Jade Gourd from his Storage Pouch.

Chen Che uncorked the gourd and poured out some of the powder.

The powder was incredibly fine, yet sparkled translucently like diamond dust. It even seemed to glow under the sunlight, giving it a wondrous quality.

"Excellent. All from plants at least ten years old."

Chen Che nodded, satisfied. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Celestial Spirit Grass!

This was the main ingredient for refining Tier Two High Grade Celestial Spirit Pills.

It had been nearly three months since he broke through to Foundation Establishment in mid-August. Even with the aid of True Master Chixia’s Cave Mansion, he had only just reached the Foundation Establishment Second Layer. The primary reason was that he was still using the Energy-Introducing Technique.

The Energy-Introducing Technique was supposedly a Basic Cultivation Technique that could lead one straight to the Golden Core realm.

But it was, after all, just a Qi Refining Technique. Once Chen Che reached Foundation Establishment, it immediately fell short. It was like taking an engine from a sports car and putting it in an airplane; even with the same horsepower, it was clearly struggling.

This wasn’t a problem, however.

Once he entered Zhurong Daoist School, he would receive a Foundation Establishment Technique.

Of course, he wasn’t going to waste the next several months, either. The Celestial Spirit Pill was like an advanced version of the Spirit Liquid. On the Earth Element Star, it was considered a luxurious aid for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s training. A single pill could satisfy a Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s energy requirements for at least ten days.

During Magical Combat, one’s True Essence is consumed at an alarming rate. Taking a Celestial Spirit Pill could rapidly restore both True Essence and stamina, and it even possessed some healing properties.

It was practically an all-purpose pill.

As he was thinking...

...Zhao Deyou produced four more Jade Gourds, all filled with powdered Celestial Spirit Grass.

"This much?"

Chen Che was taken aback.

Celestial Spirit Grass was a rare, Tier Two Middle Grade Spirit Grass.

On the market, a single plant cost about two Spirit Stones. To process enough powder to fill one Jade Gourd would require at least forty to fifty plants. Yet, a full gourd of powder was only enough to refine three batches of pills. He had only expected to acquire a single gourd’s worth.

"We only managed to acquire half a gourd’s worth," Ding Fei explained from the side.

"The rest was sent over by the Liu Family. They also said that their family specializes in cultivating Spirit Plants. Whatever Jinyun Valley requires, they will do their utmost to provide. Their only hope is that the Valley Master will allow their people to return home."

’The Liu Family?’

Chen Che understood. The Liu Family’s lands were over four hundred li from Jinyun Valley, near the mine on the border between Chi State and Yunzhou.

They had been caught in the chaos of the last beast tide and had pleaded with Ye Jingzhou for aid, but he had ignored them. In the end, their entire family was forced to relocate.

After the beast tide ended, they wanted to return to their home.

As it turned out, however, a mine was discovered in that region. Ye Jingzhou promptly declared it a restricted zone, forbidding them from returning. The Liu Family had also tried moving to Chi State, but as Spirit Plant Masters, they required vast tracts of land. The local influences had already carved up all the territory; why would they tolerate outsiders moving in?

As a result, they had been forced to eke out a difficult existence, caught between the major powers.