Mortal: Starting by joining the Falling Cloud Sect

According to Zhou Qing's speculation, the Youth-Preserving Pill collected by Luoyun Sect should be the same as the Youth-Preserving Pill in Huangfeng Valley in the original novel.

Neither of them requires tempering with innate true fire; they can be made into pills simply by mixing various thousand-year-old spiritual herbs.

The Qi Condensation Pill, on the other hand, requires tempering with innate true fire to be formed.

The two are of different levels of difficulty, so Zhou Qing focused most of his alchemy efforts on the Qi Condensation Pill.

After spending almost a month gathering all the necessary medicinal herb seeds from the sect's market, Zhou Qing resumed his cultivation.

This cultivation journey has three tasks: cultivating spiritual herbs, refining elixirs, and consuming elixirs for cultivation.

And so, month after month passed.

A year passed in the blink of an eye. When Zhou Qing opened the courtyard gate again, he was already a cultivator at the peak of the Qi Refining stage.

It is worth mentioning that Zhou Qing seems to be a natural-born "alchemy prodigy," with extremely high talent in alchemy.

In just one month, he was able to consistently produce five to eight Qi Condensation Pills per batch, a level that only Foundation Establishment disciples in the Falling Cloud Sect could achieve.

During this period, in the Dan Ding Pavilion, he refined a total of six bottles of Qi Condensation Pills, eight pills in each bottle; two bottles of Youth Preservation Pills, five pills in each bottle; and several bottles of Yellow Dragon Pills and Golden Marrow Pills.

To break through to the twelfth level of Qi Refining, I consumed three bottles of Qi Condensation Pills. I also have three bottles in my storage bag, which will be excellent whether I sell them or give them away later.

This retreat has ended with less than three months remaining before the Yunmeng Conference.

Zhou Qing's cultivation level had reached its limit, and if he wanted to improve his strength further, he could only rely on external objects such as talismans and magical artifacts.

He knew that buying these things would cost a lot of spirit stones, and his current reserves of three or four hundred spirit stones were definitely not enough. The bulk of the cost would have to go to the Youth Preservation Pill that he had carefully refined.

If we can sell the Youth-Preserving Pill for a good price, everything will be solved.

……

Yunmengfang, Huiqixuan.

The crowd was full of people.

"Next item! The Youth-Preserving Pill! Crafted from over a dozen thousand-year-old spiritual herbs. As the name suggests, consuming this pill will allow cultivators to retain their youthful appearance forever. This pill is extremely rare in the current cultivation world, and our shop only obtained it by chance. Fellow cultivators who have partners, those seeking a lover and wish to win her favor, or those who desire to maintain their youth and eternal youth, are now ready to place your bids!"

Starting bid: 1,000 spirit stones!

Each bid increment must be at least ten spirit stones!

As soon as he finished speaking, the gong sounded, and the audience immediately began to murmur amongst themselves.

"A thousand spirit stones? My goodness! That's enough for me to buy two top-tier magic weapons!"

I thought this person would just complain a few times and then shut up, but unexpectedly, he changed his tune: "But I have plenty of spirit stones, a thousand spirit stones, I'll take them!"

"Hmph, thinking you can get this rare pill for a thousand spirit stones? What a pipe dream!"

Just then, a soft, effeminate male voice rang out from the VIP room on the second floor, sending chills down everyone's spines. "One thousand one hundred spirit stones!"

Unfortunately, before he could finish speaking, someone else made an offer!

"One thousand one hundred and fifty spirit stones!"

……

If the male cultivators were merely testing the waters and gradually increasing the price, then the female cultivators, who were extremely concerned about their appearance, were even more frantic.

"Five hundred spirit stones!" A female cultivator added five hundred spirit stones in one go, trying to intimidate the cultivators present.

More bids followed, with a cultivator raising the price every time the auctioneer called out a price, their enthusiasm for this small Youth-Preserving Pill growing stronger.

In a VIP room on the second floor, behind a curtain, a monk wearing a veiled hat listened with a broad smile to the escalating bidding below.

He is Zhou Qing, the mysterious source of the Youth-Preserving Pill.

He left the Luoyun Sect with two Youth-Preserving Pills and came to the Yunmeng Market. His original intention was simply to exchange them for some spirit stones or directly barter with the shops.

However, a few minor incidents occurred during this period.

Since the manager of Huiqixuan had never handled such a rare elixir as the Youth-Preserving Pill before, he dared not make a hasty valuation. Therefore, he strongly urged Zhou Qing to submit the two Youth-Preserving Pills to an auction held by their hall for bidding.

Zhou Qing had heard of Huiqixuan's rare treasure auctions; they were renowned throughout the entire Xi Kingdom.

Each time it is held, it attracts many cultivators from the Xi Kingdom to bid.

If the Youth-Preserving Pill, such a rare commodity, could be auctioned off, its price would definitely be much higher than if it were sold directly to a shop. This is a bargain.

Sure enough, with the auctioneer's eloquent embellishment and encouragement, the price of the Youth-Preserving Pill soared, eventually reaching a high of 2,100 spirit stones.

It was bought by a VIP in the third-floor VIP room.

"Alright, congratulations to this fellow Daoist for winning a Youth-Preserving Pill. Next item! A Youth-Preserving Pill!..."

When the auctioneer announced the next item, the entire room erupted in uproar; everyone was stunned.

Huiqixuan actually pulled a trick of hoarding goods and then splitting them for auction!

Deliberately hiding one and then auctioning off another, creating the illusion that this rare pill is unique, thereby inflating the price—what a clever tactic!

"What? There's another one? There's still one Youth Preservation Pill left?"

"Your Huiqixuan is quite generous, having two coins and hiding one of them."

The crowd below the stage muttered complaints and grumbled, but the most furious of all was the expert who had won the bid at a high price.

Upon hearing his cold snort, the entire room fell silent, everyone turning to look at the VIP room on the third floor, as if waiting to see what would happen.

However, the auctioneer on the stage was all smiles, completely ignoring the commotion on the third floor.

After a cold snort rang out from the VIP room, there was really no further movement, and it gradually fell silent.

"It seems that Huiqixuan has quite a powerful background. They can pull off such tricks and still leave people with no choice but to suffer in silence, not daring to retaliate on the spot."

After watching this scene in the VIP room, Zhou Qing couldn't help but become curious about the background of Huiqixuan.

You should know that the people in the VIP room on the third floor either have a very powerful background or outstanding cultivation. Who is it that can suppress these people?

Having learned their lesson once, the cultivators below the stage naturally wouldn't foolishly raise prices again.

They pressed the auctioneer for details until he clearly stated that this Youth Preservation Pill was the last one before they continued bidding.

Although they were tricked, the reappearance of the Youth-Preserving Pill still gave those cultivators who failed to get the first one a glimmer of hope, and this one was truly a unique item.

If I don't buy it now, I don't know when I'll be able to get it again.

bid!

After another fierce battle, the price of the second Youth Preservation Pill was driven up even higher than that of the first.

Finally, it was sold to a female cultivator on the second floor for the astronomical price of 2,230 spirit stones.

A quick count reveals that, through Huiqixuan's deliberate manipulation, the two Youth Preservation Pills were sold for a total of 4,330 low-level spirit stones.

After this trip, after deducting the 10% commission that had to be paid to Huiqixuan, Zhou Qing netted 3,897 spirit stones, nearly 4,000, which was a real windfall.

Of course, Huiqixuan also made a lot of money; they earned not only spirit stones but also fame.

The auction continued, and the atmosphere grew increasingly heated.

Each treasure stirred the hearts of every cultivator, and even more so, the spirit stones in their storage bags.

After learning that he had made a lot of money, Zhou Qing's mindset changed, and he couldn't help but bid several times when he saw items he liked at the auction.

However, he was very cautious, adding only small amounts at a time, and not competing with others on price. If he saw that he couldn't get the item, he would decisively give up.

Throughout the entire auction, he only managed to acquire one item: the Ink Scale Boat.

The boat is long and narrow, about ten feet long and half a foot wide. It is made of the scales of a black-scaled fish that have been tempered and pieced together. The base color is like dark ink, and the scale patterns are clear and well-arranged. There are green fins on both sides, which can increase the speed of flight when propelled.

The auction ended, and the group of cultivators departed.

After waiting in the VIP room for a while, Zhou Qing saw a middle-aged manager in brocade robes knock on the door and enter.

"Fellow Daoist Han, this is the Ink Scale Boat you won at auction, along with the Yuanling Shield and Heavenly Thunder Seed you saw in the shop, and the remaining spirit stones. Please keep them safe."

Zhou Qing accepted all the items, but noticed that the middle-aged manager had not left, so he guessed that there must be more to come.

"I wonder if Steward Xu has any further advice?"

"Hehe, it's not really a lecture, but Fellow Daoist Han is, after all, a distinguished guest of our shop, so some reminders are necessary. The area outside the market has been rather unsettled lately. With such a large fortune, it's inevitable that you'll be targeted by villains. You can hire a temporary bodyguard from our shop and spend some spirit stones to ensure your safety," Manager Xu chuckled and explained gently.

"Temporary bodyguards?" Zhou Qing pondered.