Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

Faced with the conditions offered by Gou An, the Herdsman pondered for a long time.

He knew in his heart that Gou An's words were all true.

The Primordial Fire Seed Stone looks precious, but it is difficult to refine. We don't even know what kind of fire seed is hidden inside. If it is a demon fire or ghost fire, even if we refine it, it will be difficult to use.

Furthermore, given his status as a freelancer, it's not worth wasting his time.

Five hundred thousand demon gold coins would have nowhere to be used outside of the Ten Thousand Demon City, and he didn't want to stay there forever. If he could exchange them for spirit stones and take them with him, it would be much more attractive.

And now, someone has come to exchange with me, which is obviously a good deal.

The herdsman gritted his teeth and weighed his options for a long time before finally letting out a sigh:

"Fine! Five thousand spirit stones it is! I'll sell it to you!"

He acted swiftly and decisively, taking out two storage bags, one containing the Primordial Fire Seed Stone and the other containing 500,000 demon gold coins, and handing them both to Gou An.

Gou An reached out and took it, while simultaneously handing over a storage bag containing five thousand spirit stones that he had prepared in advance.

After both parties verified that everything was correct, the transaction was finalized instantly.

No one noticed the little commotion in the corner; everyone was still drinking, exchanging pleasantries, and chatting amongst themselves.

Gou An carefully put away the Fire Seed Stone with his fingertips, secretly pleased.

Although this thing is difficult to refine, time-consuming, and easily ruined, it is not a problem for him.

Gou An possesses the Fiery Sacred Body, giving him an innate advantage in refining fire seeds, making him well worth a try.

Having experienced the power of the Heavenly Flame True Fire, which was previously ranked third among innate spiritual fires, Gou An felt a deep longing for it. If he could refine a similar spiritual fire, his combat strength would be further enhanced.

Although the Nine-Separation Demon Flame that it possesses is also useful, it is only ranked ninth after all.

The transaction was complete. Gou An said no more, quietly sat down and continued drinking, pretending nothing had happened.

While he appeared casual, Gou An's gaze swept over the other alchemists.

When the time was right, Gou An got up and sat down next to another person.

"Fellow Daoist, could you sell me some of your Thunderfire Talismans?" Gou An suddenly asked.

This man had a thick beard and a face full of flesh; he didn't look like an alchemist, but rather a body-refining cultivator.

Despite this, his alchemy skills were still quite good, and he achieved fourth place in this competition.

His Taoist name was Hengfeng Zhenren.

"Hmm?" Faced with Gou An's sudden question, Master Hengfeng looked at him with some curiosity: "How much are you offering?"

"Sell me fifty copies, and I'll give you two thousand spirit stones, how about that?" Gou An offered directly.

"Two thousand?" Master Hengfeng shook his head immediately. "Do you think I'm stupid? This Thunderfire Talisman is incredibly powerful, capable of injuring even a cultivator at the Transcendent God Realm. How could it only be worth such a small amount of spirit stones?"

"That's quite a lot!" Gou An laughed. "This talisman is indeed powerful, but do you think that Transcendent Realm cultivator will just stand there and let you hit him?"

"If they were truly so precious, why would they give you a hundred at once?"

Faced with Gou An's questioning, Master Hengfeng waved his hand: "Stop with the useless talk. If you really want to buy them, give me five thousand spirit stones for fifty copies, otherwise forget it!"

At this point, he simply turned his head away and ignored Gou An.

"As far as I know, using this talisman will consume a large amount of one's own spiritual power," Gou An continued to persuade, "Once it misses, it will put us at a complete disadvantage. With our cultivation levels, we definitely won't be able to use it a second time."

"So, one hundred or fifty makes no difference to you."

"After all, we alchemists don't make a living by fighting and battling. Having a means of self-defense is enough; nobody would use it carelessly, right?"

"Buying me for three thousand spirit stones is better than having one lying around with nowhere to use it, isn't it?"

Hengfeng Zhenren, who had been quite resolute, frowned slightly upon hearing Gou An's words, seemingly finding Gou An's statement quite reasonable.

So he turned back to him and said, "But three thousand is still too little, we need to add more!"

"Then how about this!" Gou An smiled slightly and said, "I'll give you five thousand spirit stones, and you give me five hundred thousand demon gold!"

"This..." Master Hengfeng hesitated for a moment after hearing this, as if he was weighing the pros and cons.

Gou An had no choice but to continue persuading them, using the same rhetoric he had used to persuade the Herdsman, accurately grasping the psychology that these alchemists would not stay in the City of Ten Thousand Demons for long.

Faced with the persuasion, Master Yokomine finally nodded: "Alright, then so be it!"

While no one was looking, the two successfully completed the transaction.

When Gou An sat back down, he was surprised to find that Xuan Ding Zhenren and Wen Xu Zhenren were still arguing. They seemed to have drunk too much and were saying all sorts of things.

It seems that years of grudges have all come to a head in this argument.

Gou An rarely paid attention to them, and continued to scan the others with his gaze.

He pondered who he should make a deal with next.

Of the ten treasures at the conference, Gou An was interested in several of them.

Besides the two treasures I just bought, there's also the Supreme Spirit Spring, the Dry Spirit Storage Bag, and the Crimson Moon Token.

Unfortunately, these people were engrossed in chatting with others and didn't have a chance to speak for a while.

Just then, a gray-robed cultivator walked up to Gou An and sat down, saying, "Fellow Daoist, how about we make a deal?"

Gou An looked back and frowned slightly.

This person is the alchemist who ranked eighth in this competition. His Taoist name is Xuan Anzi. He doesn't look very old, but his skin is tanned dark.

If you don't look closely, he doesn't look like a cultivator at all; he looks more like an old farmer.

"What kind of deal?" Gou An asked curiously.

I was looking for trading targets, but someone actually came to me.

"How about I sell you one of these Soul Essence Jade pieces?" Xuan Anzi chuckled. "I've already tried them, and whether you wear one or two, the effect is the same."

"Since I happen to have some extra, how about I sell one to you, fellow Daoist?"

As he spoke, he took out a piece of Soul Essence Jade from his sleeve and placed it in Gou An's hand.

Gou An took the jade and rubbed it in his hands a few times. The jade was emerald green and exquisitely carved.

Holding it in my hand, I could vaguely feel a warm, gentle energy flowing into my meridians along my fingertips, which inexplicably made me feel very at ease.

"Five hundred spirit stones!" Gou An said directly.

Faced with Gou An's offer, Xuan Anzi smiled awkwardly: "Fellow Daoist is joking. Although this treasure is not a top-grade magic weapon, it is still a rare treasure."

"How about I sell it to you if you give me two thousand spirit stones?"

"Okay!" Gou An nodded, but before Xuan Anzi could be happy, Gou An added, "Two thousand for this pair of spirit jades!"

"This..." Xuan Anzi was speechless.

"This jade's effects are too limited!" Gou An explained, "It can only nourish the soul and resist illusions!"

"But there aren't many people in the world who practice illusion techniques; you might not encounter one even once every few decades."

"As for nourishing the soul, although it does have some effect, since our souls are undamaged, there is not much difference no matter how long we nourish them."

After saying this, Gou An smiled and said, "Or if you only want to sell one piece, you'll have to add your 300,000 demon gold, and I'll give you a total of 2,000 spirit stones."

Faced with Gou An's renewed offer, Xuan Anzi countered, "One spirit jade plus two hundred thousand demon gold, a total of two thousand spirit stones. If it's less than that, I won't sell."

Seeing the other party's firm attitude, Gou An had no choice but to nod: "Alright, alright, that's the price!"

Although the spirit jade wasn't very useful, carrying it around could be a lifesaver in case of emergencies, so the transaction was completed again.

Having completed three transactions in a row, Gou An was in a good mood.

Just then, he saw that the cultivator who had won third place in the competition and chosen the Crimson Moon Token was free, so he got up and went to find him.

But then the old fox suddenly spoke up: "Everyone, please be quiet, I have something to say."

The hall suddenly fell silent. Everyone returned to their seats and looked at the old fox, waiting for him to speak.

"You are all geniuses in alchemy!" the old fox said slowly. "Our Ten Thousand Demon City is in dire need of people with abilities like yours, and we very much hope that you can join us."

At this point, the old fox paused, then looked at the three heads of the Pill Halls beside him: "There's another matter. The Demon King has ordered that from now on, your three Pill Halls will be merged into one, under my command!"

"What?"

"what?"

"..."

The three hall masters were stunned, and their slight drunkenness instantly vanished.

"This is all the King's will!" the old fox said. "In the past, the three of you went your own way, and over the years, the development of the alchemy lineage has been slow."

"If His Majesty wants to cultivate more alchemists, he cannot allow you to continue to maintain this balance of power."

"Therefore, it has been decided that from now on, alchemy will also be managed by the Demon King's Palace and renamed the General Alchemy Hall, with me temporarily serving as the hall master."

After the old fox finished speaking, he smiled, glanced at the expressions of the three hall masters, and, finding nothing amiss, continued.

"You three hall masters will become the three elders of the Pill Hall, in charge of the overall affairs of the Pill Hall. All the alchemists in your halls will be merged together."

"Furthermore!" The old fox shifted his gaze to the other alchemists: "All alchemists who have come from elsewhere are welcome to join our main alchemy hall."

"As long as you are willing to serve the City of Ten Thousand Demons, you will certainly not be treated unfairly."

At this point, he took out a storage bag from his pocket, gently tilted it onto the table, and immediately a dozen or so fist-sized spirit stones fell out.

Gou An's gaze immediately locked onto it; this was no ordinary spirit stone, but a mid-grade spirit stone.

Some of them even looked better than mid-grade spirit stones, so they must be high-grade spirit stones.

One mid-grade spirit stone is equivalent to one thousand low-grade spirit stones.

One high-grade spirit stone is equivalent to ten thousand low-grade spirit stones.

"You must have come from afar to participate in the Alchemy Conference in Ten Thousand Demon City!" the old fox said with a smile. "I've heard that Ten Thousand Demon City may not have many other things, but it certainly has plenty of spirit stones."

"After all, there are already three large spirit mines being mined simultaneously in our Monster Beast Mountain Range, producing countless spirit stones every year."

"This foundation is unmatched by either the Four Heavenly Sects or the Twelve Dao Sects."

"As long as you are willing to join, you will definitely not be treated unfairly in this regard."

After listening to the old fox's words, Long Youzi was the first to ask, "If I join, what kind of conditions will you offer me?"

"Judging from your performance, fellow Daoist, you'll receive at least a thousand spirit stones per month, plus three hundred thousand demon gold," the old fox replied with a smile. "If you perform well in the future, the amount will naturally increase further."