Not long after, on the Scented Cloud Mountain, Bai Xiaochun was hobbling, his hair had stood up and his face was slightly black as he crawled back to the courtyard with fear lingering in his heart. Once he remembered how countless lightning bolts chased after him just now, his heart trembled and swore that he would absolutely not use a sword to fly in a thunderstorm ever again.
This was not flying, this was gambling with his life!
Inside the wooden hut, Bai Xiaochun grimaced in pain, and only after a long time did his mind calm down. He sat cross-legged on the bed and looked at the storm outside the window. His cultivation was slowly settling down as it coursed through his body.
“Grade Two spiritual medicine is suitable for eighth level of Qi Condensation and below. If I want to continue increasing my cultivation, I can only refine Grade Three spiritual medicine.” Bai Xiaochun supported his chin and muttered to himself.
“The difficulty of refining a Grade Three spiritual medicine is definitely going to be extremely high. I must become familiar with a large amount of Grade Two spiritual medicine for my foundation to be stable. If not, the foundation will be unstable and the chances of success will not be big.” Bai Xiaochun opened the storage pouch and took a glance at his own savings with a sigh. He had previously relied on his status as the Honourable Disciple to receive a lot of presents.
It was only that the consumption was quite terrifying during this period of refining medicine. Even though he had a habit of using his resources sparingly when refining pills, his saving had still decreased quite a bit.
“Ah, this won’t do, my reserves will eventually run out.” Bai Xiaochun lowered his head in contemplation.
“I am already a very formidable Medicine Apprentice now. I can sell the medicines that I have refined, yeah.” When Bai Xiaochun thought of this, he became excited. Once the rain had stopped outside the next morning, he immediately left his residence and went to the market at the foot of the mountain to ask about the pricing of the medicine pills. After that, he bought a large amount of herbs, going as far as to exchange some of his Contribution Points at the Sect.
After which, he returned to the Medicine Refinement Pavilion and started refining medicines.
He did not refine Grade Two pills. Even though their price was higher, their time-consumption was not small and Bai Xiaochun was well aware of his habit of taking a long time when refining medicine.
Therefore, he chose the Grade One medicine pills that he was most familiar with. A few days later, he had refined three different types of spiritual medicine pills and two spiritual incense sticks. Only then did he head off to the market at the foot of the mountain.
The market model at the South Bank of the Spirit River Sect was not big. Other than the Sect’s seniors and a few capable Inner Sect Disciples who could own a shop, most of them were established by the cultivator clans from the Eastern Forest Continent.
It was like a small town. The Inner Sect Disciples from the three mountains in the Spirit River Sect would often come and go, making things quite lively. Bai Xiaochun had already came here a lot of times. He now familiarly walked in the market and entered a medicine shop. He coughed dryly and a shop assistant from within the medicine shop quickly went up to him.
“Call your shop’s manager over. This time, not only do I want to buy herbs, I also want to sell some medicine pills.” Bai Xiaochun sat on the chair and said with a cheeky smile.
Not long after, a middle-aged man wearing a long purple-coloured robed came quickly, and when he saw Bai Xiaochun, a smile appeared on his face.
“Fellow Bai, I am Sun Chen. I had already heard a lot about the glorious things that Fellow Bai has done, but because I was afraid of disturbing you, I didn’t take the initiative to pay my respects to you. Please don’t hold it against me.” This middle-aged man’s smile was courteous as he sat beside Bai Xiaochun, cupping his fist as he said those words. He did not dare offend Bai Xiaochun as he knew that the other party’s status was extraordinary in the Sect. Especially his status as the Honourable Disciple, it still made all the cultivator clans wonder how to please him despite the Sect Head postponing the matter by a hundred years.
Bai Xiaochun laughed and exchanged formalities with this middle-aged man, after which, he took out three medicinal bottles and the two spiritual incense sticks, putting them on the table.
“Fellow Sun, appraise these items then.” Bai Xiaochun raised his chin.
Sun Chen smiled as he took these medicine pills into his hand. After looking through them one by one, surprise appeared on his face. Even though these Grade One medicine pills were all Low Tier with their impurities occupying a little over 80%, they were still very close to the Middle Tier unlike the medicine pills that they usually purchased. Those they usually purchased were similarly in the Low Tier, however, it almost had 90% impurities.
“Brother Bai’s medicine skills are exquisite. My Sun Clan wants all of these spiritual medicines. How about this, I am offering you a price of a hundred and twenty Spirit Stones, what do you think?” Sun Chen raised his head and glanced at Bai Xiaochun. Both his eyes brightening.
Bai Xiaochun was pleasantly surprised. This price was more or less equal to the ratio of one spiritual medicine for four Spirit Stones and was already the highest price for Grade One Low Tier medicine pills.
In reality, a medicine pill averagely costed only one and a half Spirit Stone.
Bai Xiaochun talked things over with Sun Chen with a delightful mood and seeing Sun Cheng was determined to make a good impression, the duo conversed quite long. In the end, Bai Xiaochun agreed that whenever he sends medicine pills in the future, instead of Spirit Stones, he would get herbs of equivalent value. Only then did he leave, feeling satisfied.
Time flew and a couple months quickly passed. In these past few months, other than refining Grade One spiritual medicines in exchange for a large amount of herbs, Bai Xiaochun was also continuously familiarising himself with the refining of various kinds of Grade Two spiritual medicines.
Gradually, he became even more skilled in refining Grade Two spiritual medicines.
As he worked with the Sun Clan’s medicine shop, he noticed that his connection with them was getting increasingly solid. Most of his medicine pills were bought by them. One day, Bai Xiaochun arrived in the Sun Clan’s medicine shop to trade a few bottles of spiritual medicine for herbs. As he was conversing with Sun Chen, Sun Chen sighed as he lamented.
“Brother Bai, based on your achievements in refining medicine, why don’t you refine some Grade Two spiritual medicines? The Hundred Clan Auction that is held once every couple years is going to be held in three months. If Brother Bai can refine Grade Two spiritual medicines before that time, I can arrange for them to be auctioned and the price would definitely be quite high.” Sun Chen looked at Bai Xiaochun. In these past few months, Sun Cheng had realised that Bai Xiaochun had a very cheerful personality and was very tactful. Furthermore, associating with him was quite pleasant, so Sun Chen proposed this matter to him.
Bai Xiaochun had also heard of this Hundred Clan Auction that was held once every couple of years. A hundred cultivator clans in the Eastern Forest Continent gathered together to organise that auction. There were three venues in total. The first venue was chosen to be at the market in North Bank, whereas the second venue was at the market in the South Bank. The last venue was held in the Eastern Forest City, Eastern Forest Continent’s largest cultivator city.
In the years that Bai Xiaochun had spent in the Spirit River Sect, this auction had been previously organised once before. However, at that time, he had only just become an outer sect disciple and was too busy stealing Spirit Tailed Chickens to eat and didn’t have any interest in the auction.
Pondering for a few moments, Bai Xiaochun had a slight change of heart, and after enquiring about the time for the auction at the South Bank, Bai Xiaochun bid Sun Chen farewell and returned to the Medicine Refinement Pavilion. He sat cross-legged and thought long and hard before finally reaching a conclusion.
“Sun Chen has a point. Rather than selling a little bit here and there, wouldn't it be better for me to take this opportunity to auction the medicines I refined for a good price? This way, I can exchange them for even more valuable herbs.” Bai Xiaochun thought to this point as the Grade Two spiritual medicines surfaced into his mind. In the end, he chose… the Purple Rising Qi Pill that he was most familiar with.
Once he set his heart to it, Bai Xiaochun closed himself in the Medicine Refinement Pavilion and started refining Purple Rising Qi Pills. Two months later, Bai Xiaochun had spent most of the herbs traded for the medicine pills that he had refined. He had already refined three whole bottles of Purple Rising Qi Pills, with ten pills in each bottle.
There was especially one pill which was coloured slightly differently from the rest of the pale-purple medicine pills. It was deep purple in colour and the rich medicinal aroma seemed to be trapped within it.
When he was refining this medicine pill, the pill furnace in front of Bai Xiaochun had been slightly shaking, much different than usual. Even the fire had suddenly swelled up.
He now held this deep purple spiritual medicine in his hands, and when he held it out in front of him, pride and excitement appeared in his eyes.
“Middle Tier! I, Bai Xiaochun, have finally refined another Middle Tier spiritual medicine!”
“Middle Tier spiritual medicine, I think that there wouldn’t be many of these seen in the auction. But, if I wish to achieve a sensational effect, it is still somewhat lacking… after all, this auction is held only once every couple of years and there are sure to be a lot of rare treasures.” Bai Xiaochun pondered for a bit as he clenched his teeth. He took out his Turtle-shell pot and started spiritual refinement.
After three spiritual refinements, silver light flashed and the spiritual medicine was no longer a Middle Tier item, but had broken through the Fine Tier and had even become… a Great Tier item!
This kind of Great Tier item was already shocking and only had 10% impurities.
Bai Xiaochun had a satisfied expression on his face as he looked at the Great Tier Purple Rising Qi Pill in his hands. The colour of this pill was nearly black, and even though the three spiritual lines on its surface were faint, it was obvious that this medicine pill was extraordinary with a single glance.
Looking at the medicine pill in his hands, Bai Xiaochun suddenly felt that he had once again found a way to spread his name across the world. He laughed loudly, proud of himself. He took out a small knife, and on this medicine pill, he drew a… small good-looking turtle.
“The great Turtle shall appear once more!” Bai Xiaochun stood up excited, an expectant look could be seen in his eyes.
Bai Xiaochun made his way down the mountain with the spiritual medicines in his hands. When he returned an hour later, he was refreshed and had a gleeful expression on his face. Sun Cheng’s surprised expression when he saw Bai Xiaochun take out three bottles of Purple Rising Qi Pills floated into his mind. And when Bai Xiaochun took out that Great Tier spiritual medicine that had been refined three times, the other party looked as if his jaw was going to fall off.
“I can’t wait for the auction next month.” Bai Xiaochun looked at the jade token in his hands. This was the qualification token that allowed him to participate in the auction.
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Translated by: Nat Nat