"Hmm?"
Elian raised an eyebrow, taking a closer look at the boy's nervous demeanor. After a moment, he nodded slightly.
"I'll take a look, but I need to verify it's real."
"This…"
The boy hesitated, glancing around fearfully. What he held was too valuable, and if anyone saw it, they might be tempted to kill him and take it for themselves.
After a brief moment of indecision, he recalled the reputation he had investigated beforehand. The Mu family's Xuanming Pavilion had operated for over 500 years, with a sterling reputation built over centuries. It seemed trustworthy.
Moreover, the man in front of him had an upright appearance, noble demeanor, and didn't look like a villain.
With that thought, he gritted his teeth and handed over an ancient book.
"This is my family's heirloom pill recipe; there's absolutely no mistake."
"If you pay 500 spirit stones, I'll sell it to you."
Elian opened the pill recipe, skimmed it briefly, and quickly closed it.
He fixed his gaze on the boy and, without much preamble, said directly:
"I'll give you 1,000 spirit stones, but you must swear a Heart Demon Oath that you will never sell this recipe to anyone else or pass it on to others."
"This…"
The boy hesitated. The recipe was extremely valuable, and he did have thoughts of selling it to multiple buyers.
Seeing his hesitation, Elian chuckled coldly.
"If you sell the recipe to too many people, it will just become a common piece of paper, worthless in the end."
"And you should understand the principle of 'bearing treasure invites disaster.' With your cultivation level, the more you sell this recipe, the greater the risk of being killed for it."
"If you sell it to multiple buyers, even if someone wanted to avenge you, they might never know who killed you."
Hearing this, the boy realized the man's reasoning made sense. He glanced again at the Xuanming Pavilion's signboard and finally nodded.
"I'll sell it to you, but the transaction must be clean and immediate."
"Agreed!"
Elian nodded and directly pulled out 1,000 spirit stones from his storage bag.
Seeing the spirit stones, the boy's eyes lit up, and his anxious heart finally settled.
"This man can casually produce so many spirit stones; he must have considerable standing within the Mu family."
"And with Xuanming Pavilion's 500-year reputation and his apparent status, it seems unlikely he would cheat me."
With these thoughts, the boy swore a Heart Demon Oath, exchanged the goods and payment, and completed the transaction.
When the female shopkeeper returned, she saw the boy bidding farewell to Elian and leaving Xuanming Pavilion.
"Who was that?" the shopkeeper asked curiously.
"A friend of mine. We just happened to meet and chatted for a bit."
Elian replied with an air of righteousness and sincerity.
Then, taking the Lingxin Grass from the shopkeeper and paying for it, he quickly left Xuanming Pavilion.
After leaving, Elian returned to his residence, feeling excited. Once inside, he eagerly opened the pill recipe.
It was a comprehensive collection of pill formulas compiled by an experienced alchemist in their later years, consolidating everything they had learned.
The collection contained 26 pill recipes in total: 17 for first-tier pills and 9 for second-tier pills.
The first-tier recipes were unremarkable, but among the nine second-tier recipes were five low-grade, three mid-grade, and one high-grade second-tier recipe.
Of the five low-grade recipes, two overlapped with those already in the Chen family's collection. The remaining three were for Gathering Essence Pills, Clot-Dissolving Pills, and Breaking Origin Pills.
Gathering Essence Pills: These pills could restore a large amount of spiritual energy in a short time. Essentially, they were concentrated spirit energy in pill form. While not difficult to refine, they required rare second-tier spiritual fruits. These pills could also increase a cultivator's chance of breaking through to Foundation Establishment by 10%, a modest but precious boost.
Clot-Dissolving Pills: A second-tier healing pill effective for treating physical injuries, even for Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Breaking Origin Pills: These pills helped Foundation Establishment cultivators break through bottlenecks. When advancing from the early to mid-Foundation Establishment stage, cultivators needed to refine their spiritual energy—a process that could take decades for those with less talent. Breaking Origin Pills could significantly accelerate this process and improve the chances of success.
Among the three mid-grade second-tier recipes, one overlapped with the Chen family's collection. The other two were for Spirit Focus Pills and Burst Origin Pills.
Spirit Focus Pills: These pills enhanced spiritual perception, increasing a Foundation Establishment cultivator's divine sense by 30%. A stronger divine sense could slightly improve the chances of successfully breaking through to the Purple Mansion stage. Each cultivator could only consume one in their lifetime, but its value remained significant.
Burst Origin Pills: These pills temporarily boosted a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator's spiritual energy by 50%, allowing them to rival late-Foundation Establishment cultivators. However, the pills had severe side effects—damaging the cultivator's meridians and rendering them unable to fight for ten years, lest their meridians be completely destroyed.
The final high-grade second-tier recipe was for none other than the Foundation Establishment Pill, a legendary formula.
The Foundation Establishment Pill was the most widely known and sought-after pill recipe, essential for many cultivators seeking to break through. Its difficulty in refinement, however, was notorious. Though classified as second-tier high-grade, its refinement complexity rivaled third-tier pills.
Generally, only alchemists on the cusp of becoming third-tier could successfully refine Foundation Establishment Pills.
Elian also discovered that the recipe book included notes from the original compiler, who was evidently a highly skilled alchemist. The notes detailed key points and common mistakes when refining each pill, offering invaluable insights.
"This is truly a jackpot."
"If the Mu family finds out about this, they'll probably spit blood in anger."
Closing the recipe book, Elian couldn't help but smile. Even the alchemist's notes alone were priceless and offered immense inspiration for his craft.
This recipe book, if taken to auction, would likely fetch at least 6,000 spirit stones. The Foundation Establishment Pill recipe alone was worth over 3,000 spirit stones.
The boy clearly didn't recognize the book's value. Asking for only 500 spirit stones was such a bargain that Elian had felt compelled to offer him 1,000 spirit stones to save his life. Otherwise, had the boy sold the recipe to multiple buyers, his low cultivation level would have made him an easy target for robbery and murder.
"My rapid progress in alchemy is thanks in large part to the notes left by Uncle Qingmeng."
"With this recipe book, my alchemy skills are bound to improve even further."
...
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