Cultivation Starting from Choosing Augments-Chapter 41: Ge Changfeng’s Wild Imagination

Ge Changfeng had followed his master since he was a child, learning how to become an Elixir Judge. To this day, he had served the Hundred Treasures Pavilion for a full sixty years.

In his long life, he had seen countless elixirs, and he knew basic ones like the Qi Nourishing Pill like the back of his hand.

However, today he had a rare glimpse of an extraordinary method of alchemy.

This batch of Qi Nourishing Pills in his hand seemed ordinary at first glance, nothing special.

But upon closer inspection, one would be astonished to find that half of the elixirs were perfect duplicates of the other half.

This might sound like nonsense. They were all Qi Nourishing Pills, so of course they were identical.

But to Ge Changfeng, whose powers of observation were far more meticulous than the average person’s, he could always spot the subtle differences between pills.

The problem was, no matter how many times he examined them, the two Qi Nourishing Pills in his palm showed no discrepancies whatsoever. They were so exquisite it was as if the creator was showing off.

Therefore, there was only one logical conclusion: this batch of elixirs came from an Alchemy Master.

’And this master must be from Quanzhou, which is why his subordinate needs a Stealth Cloak to hide his movements.’ 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

’This transaction is probably just a way for them to test the local waters.’

It was no wonder Ge Changfeng thought this way. There were simply too many new faces in the Li Huo Market lately.

Quanzhou had fallen, and the Divine Fire Sect was running rampant. A large number of cultivators naturally chose to flee to neighboring states for refuge.

Some cultivators chose the closer Hezhou, while others naturally opted for Li State, which was a bit farther west.

Among these cultivators, some came directly to the marketplace to try and integrate into the local circles, like the owners of the many recently opened shops.

But more of them would cautiously hide outside, sending people in to repeatedly probe the local situation.

Under these circumstances, Ge Changfeng naturally suspected that there might be an Alchemy Master behind Xiao Chen.

Seeing Xiao Chen remain silent, he took the initiative to speak up. "It’s alright if you don’t wish to say, Fellow Daoist. We can just proceed with a normal transaction."

"This batch of Spirit Pills is of acceptable quality, but the craftsmanship is superior. According to the rules, they should be valued at one hundred and twenty-eight Spirit Stones and seven grains of Spiritual Sand."

"I’ll round it up and give you one hundred and thirty Spirit Stones. How does that sound?"

Xiao Chen’s voice was steady, betraying no emotion. "No problem. We’ll do as you say, sir."

’The other party seems to have misunderstood me, but so what?’

’Getting an extra Spirit Stone for free is a good thing. Besides, the whole point of wearing the Stealth Cloak is to disguise myself.’

The deal was done. Watching Xiao Chen swiftly collect the Spirit Stones and depart, Ge Changfeng smiled faintly.

He then turned and instructed the manager, "Memorize this person’s aura. He’ll be back within a month at most. The next time a deal for elixirs like these comes up, you can notify me directly."

"If I’m not on duty that day, bring the elixirs to me after the transaction is complete. They can be put into storage after I’ve had a look."

After speaking, he glanced again in the direction Xiao Chen had disappeared, looking forward to the next "test."

’What kind of elixir will it be next time? A Qi Gathering Pill? Or maybe they’ll go straight for a Yuan Combination Pill?’

However, he was probably in for a disappointment. After leaving, Xiao Chen circled around twice to make sure no one was following him.

Then, he went to purchase ten portions of Spirit Grass, preparing to continue earning money.

The previous batch of Spirit Grass had cost eighty-five Spirit Stones. He had sold the resulting elixirs for one hundred and thirty Spirit Stones, making a profit of forty-five Spirit Stones—an absolutely outrageous margin.

Naturally, the more of this, the better. Xiao Chen planned to make a huge pile of Spirit Stones, saving up enough capital to practice making new elixirs and to fund his cultivation before stopping.

Of course, now that his alchemy was on the right track, he couldn’t let his cultivation fall behind either.

After all, alchemy was ultimately just a means to help him gather cultivation resources.

With his new income, Xiao Chen generously spent twenty Spirit Stones to purchase a bottle of Qi Gathering Pills to aid his cultivation.

Qi Gathering Pills were much more complex than Qi Nourishing Pills, and practicing their creation was expected to burn through far more Spirit Stones.

Xiao Chen definitely didn’t have enough Spirit Stones at the moment, so for now, he had to rely on buying them.

But this was a minor issue. His current alchemy profits could already cover the cost of his daily consumption of Qi Gathering Pills.

For the next twenty days, Xiao Chen followed a very regular schedule, alternating between a day of cultivation and a day of alchemy.

Although he spent less time cultivating, thanks to the effects of the Qi Gathering Pills, his overall cultivation speed didn’t slow down at all.

After all, a Qi Gathering Pill was worth twenty Spirit Stones, equivalent to four months of cultivation subsidies.

Ten days of cultivating with the pills was basically on par with twenty days of arduous cultivation without them, and perhaps even a little faster.

For this batch of elixirs, Xiao Chen’s average Pill Formation Success Rate increased again, reaching an astonishing ninety percent.

This was mainly because the last few batches had been consecutive major successes, with all ten pills forming perfectly intact, which directly boosted his Pill Formation Success Rate by ten percent.

Combined with the "Buy One, Get One Free" effect, Xiao Chen ended up with eighteen bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills.

He made his way to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion with practiced ease and once again chose to resell his wares.

This time, the manager quickly brought over a young man who said, "The quality is fine. Based on the current market price, one bottle of pills is seven Spirit Stones."

"There are eighteen bottles in total. After deducting the handling fee, we’ll round it and call it one hundred and thirteen Spirit Stones for you."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen’s first reaction was that the other party’s "rounding" had directly cost him the four grains of Spiritual Sand he was owed.

His second reaction was that the price of Qi Nourishing Pills had actually gone up again, now fetching seven Spirit Stones per bottle.

From his perspective, this was a good thing, as it meant he could earn more Spirit Stones.

However, for the Loose Cultivators out there, this was probably more bad news.

Xiao Chen even wondered, if the price kept rising, would any Loose Cultivators still be able to afford them?

But that wasn’t a problem he needed to worry about.

"No problem, let’s go with that price."

After the transaction, Xiao Chen once again made a profit of fifty-three Spirit Stones.

He still did a few laps before returning to the marketplace, where he once again purchased ten portions of Spirit Grass and a bottle of Qi Gathering Pills.

Neither of these two items had increased in price. After all, the former had already gone through several rounds of price hikes, and the latter was already very expensive to begin with.

Then he returned to Bishui Peak and resumed his self-disciplined routine.

Meanwhile, the manager packed up the elixirs and sent them directly to the back courtyard, notifying Ge Changfeng.

Ge Changfeng had been on a break, but upon hearing the news, he hurried over to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, eager to see the newly traded elixirs.

"Huh? Qi Nourishing Pills again? Why would this master refine another batch of Qi Nourishing Pills? What does this mean?"

Ge Changfeng couldn’t quite figure it out.

Just then, the young appraiser saw him. "Elder Ge, what brings you here? Huh, aren’t these the elixirs that were just resold?"

He walked over and took a closer look. "These are the same pills I just accepted. Could there be a problem with them? Did I misjudge?"

Seeing the experienced Elder Ge with such a solemn expression, the young appraiser began to doubt himself.

Ge Changfeng shook his head. "No, it’s not that. Just take a look at these two pills. Do you see anything special about them?"

As he spoke, he picked out a pair of pills and handed them over.

"This... Forgive my ignorance, but these elixirs don’t seem to have any special characteristics."

The young appraiser examined them over and over for half an hour, but he couldn’t see anything wrong.

"Look more closely. No matter which angle you view them from, no matter which direction you inspect them from with an Identification Technique, these two pills are completely identical."

When he said "identical," Ge Changfeng’s tone was still filled with shock. "I have been in this profession for many years, and I have never seen such superb skill."

With his reminder, the young appraiser also discovered that the replicated pills were indeed identical, without the slightest difference in any detail.

"Th-th-this... Could this be the work of an Alchemy Master?"

Ge Changfeng smiled. "Of course! Only an Alchemy Master would have such a unique idea and possess such superb skill."

"There must be an Alchemy Master from Quanzhou outside the marketplace, and he’s trying to make contact with us."

"By the way, don’t go spreading this around. This is important intelligence regarding an outside cultivator."

The young appraiser came to a sudden realization and nodded repeatedly. "Understood. I’ll keep my lips sealed."