Chapter 353 – Pill Cauldron Spirituality

Gu Zuo was also interested: “Do you know where my Innate Mending Pill is placed among the final three items?”

Shopkeeper Fang had a certain understanding of this. He smiled and said: “Pharmacist Gu’s Innate Mending Pill is the most precious item. The first two can’t compare. This time’s auction originally had just two items for the finale. When that prismatic Innate Mending Pill appeared, the head manager immediately struck his hammer and decided to place this item in the last slot. This also had the meaning of increasing the Wind God Trading Company’s reputation.”

Gu Zuo slightly nodded his head: “So they think highly of me.”

Shopkeeper Fang gave another smile and said: “Originally, it was precisely so.”

The first thirty auctioned items each had their own remarkable traits, but when all was said and done, the owner of the Wind God Trading Company was the same as the owner of Medicine Heart Pavilion. Both were Celestial Realm disciples of a gold-ranked organization. Although they were considered powerhouses, they were merely young powerhouses. Their ages weren’t that high.

Even though such a person had been engaged in business for many years and was able to expand the trading company to this extent, it was hard to get a hold of rare things that could make powerhouses at the Noble Realm and above want to participate in any auctions.

As a result, auctions under the banner of the Wind God Trading Company would often target the couple of stages between the Immortal Realm and Ascendant Realm.

A golden-level Innate Mending Pill was one of the treasures that deserved the pursuit of these few stages the most. The groups of people it suited were Atomic Realm and Ascendant Realm martial artists.

Subsequently, the first of the three auctioned items for the finale was carefully taken out.

This was a spirit weapon with forty-five percent spirituality, and was rated at the profound level. However, it was on the weaker side of the profound-level spirit weapons. Usually, at the bare minimum, Celestial Realm martial artists were able to smoothly utilize profound-level spirit weapons. However, Ascendant Realm and even Atomic Realm martial artists could do so with some hindrances if they got in touch with a relatively weak profound-level spirit weapon early on. They wouldn’t be completely defenseless. Moreover, this would also lay the foundations for when they used profound-level spirit weapons of even higher ranks in the future.

Thus, this profound-level spirit weapon deserved to be one of the finale’s items in this auction.

However, when all was said and done, this forty-five percent spirituality was still too low. The base price given out was merely two hundred spirit crystals.

When the base price was announced, the competing bidders immediately started shouting out:

“Two hundred fifty!”

“Three hundred!”

“Four hundred!”

“Four hundred twenty!”

“Five hundred…”

The competition was rather fierce, but if someone carefully checked the identities of the people calling out bids, almost none of them were genius personages of large organizations. Otherwise, once their strengths reached a certain realm, so long as they applied for it, each of their organizations would naturally take the initiative to provide profound-level spirit weapons. There wouldn’t be any need to make them bid for one by themselves.

— Of course, this wasn’t absolute. There were a few who didn’t want to disclose their own hidden trump cards or needed to bid for good things to give to the people close to them.

A profound-level spirit weapon with forty-five percent spirituality caused people to scramble around like a flock of ducks.

After approximately fifteen minutes passed, this spirit weapon was finally won by a martial artist for nine hundred thirty-seven spirit crystals. He was an Atomic Realm expert, and didn’t seem to have any backing. At this moment, this lone individual was among the crowd of numerous guests below. After obtaining the spirit weapon, his thin and hollowed face was filled with a deranged fondness. He loved it too much to put it down. Once he got a feel for the weapon, he probably realized that his own strength wasn’t enough to deter the crowd. Therefore, he quickly got up, flashed through the crowd a few times, and vanished without a trace.

Several people with malicious intentions pursued him closely for a few steps. Who would’ve thought that they weren’t able to catch a glimpse of that person’s back. They had no other choice but to resentfully return and continue to pay attention to the next auctioned item.

Such a spectacle inadvertently entered the eyes of Gu Zuo, who was inside a private room high above. He furrowed his brows: “Shopkeeper Fang, could it be that the auction’s intermediaries pay no attention to such matters?”

After Shopkeeper Fang looked over, he promptly replied: “If it’s within the auction house, it’ll naturally be taken care of. If it’s outside, they’ll also manage anything that happens close by. As for things that are farther away…they’d be unable to help no matter how much they’d like to.” He appeared to guess what worried Gu Zuo, and immediately said, “However, Pharmacist Gu may rest assured. The auction house absolutely won’t divulge thine identity. If people in the private rooms want to go out, they all have separate routes. They won’t cross paths, and their whereabouts won’t be easily discovered by others.”

Gu Zuo heard this, and set aside his concerns: “I don’t want other people to know about this. Otherwise, it will make me lose face!”

Shopkeeper Fang also knew that such personages were always arrogant and haughty. He couldn’t help inwardly chuckling. Immediately following which, he gave another stern affirmation: “Pharmacist Gu, please rest assured.”

After speaking these couple of sentences, the venue’s second item for the finale was brought out.

What appeared this time was unexpectedly a pill furnace?

The base price was also at two hundred spirit crystals.

Gu Zuo was secretly baffled.

For things such as pill furnaces and medicinal cauldrons, the former could only refine pills, but the latter could refine medicaments of any type or form. But generally speaking, both could refine lots of pills, and the distinctions weren’t large.

…In fact, he hadn’t done any research on this particular subject.

This was because the value of upgrading a pill cauldron lied in its attributes, pill success rates, and other things. All of this was basically meaningless to him. What he used had always been the most ordinary of pill cauldrons. If there was one distinction that needed to be mentioned, it was that he utilized even higher ranked pill cauldrons after strengthening his psychic power and internal qi.

In addition, whether or not a pharmacist was able to refine excellent medicinal pills mainly depended on themself. So-called pill cauldrons merely had a supplementary impact. Moreover, the ones helped were mostly pharmacists with insufficient aptitudes. It allowed them to obtain a livelihood… On this continent where pharmacists comprised a sizable branch of the population, although pill furnaces and medicinal cauldrons had certain values, because the vast majority needed frequent replacements, they weren’t as precious as spirit weapons. Sometimes, it was to the point that they couldn’t compare to some precious medicinal pills.

One simply had to mention what happened last time in Xuanwu City. During an auction, a golden-level medicinal cauldron had appeared. However, that one’s sales price had merely reached one hundred twenty spirit crystals. Similarly, this time around, it was a golden-level pill furnace. Why did its base price already reach two hundred spirit crystals?

Yet, despite the present Gu Zuo’s doubts, he didn’t ask anything out loud. He didn’t forget that he was playing the role of a proud and aloof pharmacist who had seen and experienced many things. When it came to the aspect of pill cauldrons, he needed to have a certain understanding. If he asked anything just like this, wouldn’t that expose himself?

As a result, Gu Zuo only kept a calm expression, and silently waited for this round of bids to end.

— In any case, regardless of how powerful or useful the pill furnace was, he wouldn’t particularly care.

It was just that…

[System, do you have an item book that introduces pill cauldrons? If you do, can you issue a mission for me to complete?]

The system’s response was swift.

[Side Mission: Sell the prismatic Innate Mending Pill.]

[Mission Item: <<Comprehensive Collection of the World’s Pill Cauldrons>>]

[Completion Method: Unrestricted.]

[Completion Time: One day.]

[Failure Penalty: None.]

Gu Zuo was a bit surprised.

He was actually trying to ask&#k2026;

After that, he accepted this mission without the slightest hesitation.

Without much extra effort, an ancient text appeared in his hands.

To the side, Shopkeeper Fang naturally saw this scene, but he only believed that it had been taken out of an inter-spatial tool. He also didn’t move closer to take a look &#k2014; As for what Gu Zuo was reading, Shopkeeper Fang wouldn’t ask no matter how curious he was.

Gu Zuo was aware of this point. As such, he acted without any restraint.

After opening the book, he started from the first page, which introduced the differences between pill furnaces and medicinal cauldrons. Soon after, it detailed the forging materials, attributes, and functionalities of commonly-seen furnaces and cauldrons.

After flipping through the system’s introduction, Gu Zuo finally read up to a subsequent chapter.

This chapter was titled: “Pill Cauldrons that Possess Spirituality”.

At once, Gu Zuo was somewhat astonished.

A pill cauldron’s spirituality?

Was it the type of refining…where pill cauldrons became spirit weapons?

Shortly thereafter, he opened this chapter, and carefully thumbed through it. Then, he realized what these so-called spiritual pill cauldrons were — As it turned out, these were pill cauldrons that could refine medicine on their own.

Curiosity immediately bloomed in Gu Zuo’s heart.

A pill cauldron without spirituality still needed a pharmacist to operate, but one with spirituality didn’t even need a pharmacist? If it was like this, wouldn’t pharmacists be out of a job?

After Gu Zuo read through the chapter carefully, he realized that it wasn’t as he had guessed.

A pill cauldron’s spirituality didn’t appear when the cauldron was manufactured. Rather, it was after a cauldron experienced an endless number of years. Because it was often used by pharmacists to refine medicine, it would automatically produce a trace of spiritual wisdom.

And due to the origin of how the spiritual wisdom might come to be, spiritual pill cauldrons were roughly divided into two categories.

The first type occurred when a pharmacist possessing the pill cauldron was only good at a couple types of medicine. However, this pharmacist needed to be extremely proficient in the refinement. After several thousands or tens of thousands of refinements, the sequence of events would be engraved as a memory into the pill cauldron’s consciousness. From muddled and ignorant, this consciousness would become somewhat clear. Gradually, it would transform into that trace of spiritual wisdom.

Thus, this trace of spiritual wisdom would be exceedingly skillful in these few types of medicine. It would only require the pharmacist to throw in the necessary ingredients, and the cauldron would automatically refine them into a finished product.

As for the product grades of these medicines, it could preserve the relatively high levels of the pharmacist who allowed the cauldron to develop spiritual wisdom.

Meanwhile, the second type occurred when every pharmacist who used the same pill cauldron had bountiful experience and extremely high strength.

For the most part, this kind of cauldron was a pill cauldron passed down within a medicine refining aristocratic family, or a pharmacist’s generational inheritance in a medicine refining organization. They would use the pill cauldron generation after generation, and the cauldron would consequently develop spiritual wisdom. And this spiritual wisdom was even clearer than the first type that arose. Not only did it have the first type’s capabilities, it could also form a virtual image that was capable of external communication to teach younger generations how to refine medicine. What these pill cauldrons could refine were the prescriptions of past generations of pharmacists. What they represented was history. These cauldrons were considered treasures that suppressed racial groups and organizations.

As for the probability of a pill cauldron’s every owner being a medicine refining powerhouse… That was incomparably rare.

Those pill cauldrons could refine many medicinal pills. Each and every force that obtained them would basically get a hold of all the prescriptions contained within the cauldron.

It could be rated as a wondrous treasure!

However, among the two types of pill cauldrons, only the first type was commonly seen.

Unless an organization fell into a decline, where its people were either wiped out or were too useless and brainless, the second type of cauldron would never flow outside. Once it appeared, the cauldron would be immediately taken away by someone. It was almost impossible to appear in this kind of private auction.

The golden-level pill furnace of this time’s auction was born precisely from the first type of circumstance.

Its function was to refine ten types of golden-level medicinal pills. As for these ten types of golden-level pills, although the great majority were common, there was one type that was comparatively precious and rare.

In addition, the pill furnace could automatically refine those nine types of common pills with a product grade of grade seven. As for that precious and rare pill, the furnace could refine it at grade five.

Thus, it could serve as an item for the finale.

Suppose a small organization didn’t have too many pharmacists, but urgently needed ordinary medicinal pills. Or there was a small organization that had martial artists, but lacked resources. Both could try purchasing this pill furnace. At that time, only a certain amount of medicinal ingredients would have to be supplied, and the returns would be many times greater!

Gu Zuo considered these things as he watched. Outside, the shouted prices had already become incredibly fierce.

Sure enough, this round was as Gu Zuo expected. Some small organizations competed against one another, which caused the price to continuously rise. In the end, it was sold for one thousand one hundred spirit crystals.

If this golden-level pill furnace was able to refine one or two more types of precious pills, then the auction’s final price would’ve doubled. Merely, as far as some pharmacists with mediocre aptitudes were concerned, knowing one type of precious pill and multiple common pills was enough to maintain their livelihoods.

The second finale item was sold. Right away, the auction had reached the last item.

In numerous private rooms, some people with certain channels couldn’t help commenting.

When they received the auction house’s notice, they learned that there originally had been just two items for the finale…

In one private room, several men and women were reclining on their respective couches. Their expressions were somewhat bored.

Among them was a girl whose body was clothed in crimson. Her complexion was beautiful. At this moment, she lazily said: “Every time we go to attend an auction, we never encounter anything worth admiring. Why bother even coming?”

Another girl with a scholarly countenance turned her eyes, and slightly smiled: “Ah Zhu, don’t be mad. Our big brothers made this decision, so they certainly have something in mind. It’s just that we’re obsessed with practicing martial arts, and we can’t see the forest for the trees.”

The beautiful girl blew out a puff of air, and couldn’t help giving a hearty laugh. The sound of her laughter echoed out like silver bells. After this echo faded away, she spoke: “What Ah Zi says is right! We’re shortsighted… En, but who left us in the dark?”

That girl with the scholarly air, Ah Zi, also pursed her lips into a smile. Meanwhile, she quietly cast a fluid glance at the other two people in the room.

A young man, who was originally lying face-down on a couch, suddenly got up, and grabbed a handful of his thick and coarse hair: “Sister Ah Zhu, Sister Ah Zi, don’t say it like that…”

He looked sunny and handsome, but he didn’t seem to be very eloquent with his words.

The other young man’s temperament was a bit cold. Not a strand of hair nor a stitch of clothing was out of place. Yet, when he opened his mouth, his words were crude and boorish: “Cut the bullshit. It’s a waste of time to explain.”

Ah Zhu, the beautiful girl, shot an icy glare, and couldn’t help saying: “Big Brother Yu, Second Brother Chang, your temperaments are too…”

After that, Chang Min’s pitch-black eyes swept over to her, and she immediately kept silent. She didn’t dare to say anything else.

On the contrary, Young Lady Ah Zi turned her head to look at the large screen in front: “Ah Zhu, big brothers, take a look at that!”

The remaining three turned to look.

At this moment, on that screen, what the auctioneer carefully took out was a dainty and delicate jade bottle — So to say, the last item was a medicinal pill?

Who knew what kind of pill could be reserved for the finale?

Soon after, the auctioneer revealed the answer: “An ordinary medicinal pill naturally can’t be part of the finale. This time, our Wind God Trading Company went through numerous fortuitous encounters, and obtained this pill — Ladies and gentlemen, surely everyone has heard this phrase before.”

His gaze swept across the numerous guests and even the private rooms. After that, he solemnly opened his mouth: “The dragon of the furnace swallows a purple river, and a pill begets rose-tinted clouds…”

Once these words were uttered, Ah Zhu and Ah Zi couldn’t hold back low cries: “Could it be…”

An obscure light flickered through Chang Min’s eyes.

Yu Fei’s breathing hitched.

From the bottom of their hearts, an incredible answer suddenly flashed out.

There was a commotion among the guests down below.

“The dragon of the furnace swallows a purple river, and a pill begets rose-tinted clouds… T-this is—”

“This poetic verse can’t be spoken lightly!”

“This auction can actually get a hold of this kind of good thing? I wonder what the product rank is…”

“It should be at the golden level. If not, it wouldn’t be in this auction.”

“Who knows what type of golden-level prismatic pill it is?”

“What’s there to be scared of? Even if it’s only used for qi replenishment, it deserves to be auctioned!”

Finally, someone gave a heavy sigh: “Don’t even think about it. If it’s really a prismatic pill, how will we be able to bid for it? Those honored guests in the private rooms won’t let us get away with it so easily!”

Once these words were uttered, a basin of cold water was immediately splashed over them. The anxious and restless crowd had no choice but to unwillingly stop their lines of thought. However, there were still a few people who hoped to be that one lucky individual.

At this very moment, not only were the guests below in an uproar, even the people in the private rooms who were out of the loop couldn’t help standing up.

In one private room, a man pushed away the pair of beauties he was embracing with his left and right arms. A stern light flashed through his eyes: “I didn’t expect that I’d actually see this kind of good thing after merely giving some support to that person!” Then, he shouted, “Quickly prepare some spirit crystals. If I miss this, it’ll be too pitiful!”

In another private room, a handsome young man, who had just swallowed a mouthful of fine wine, threw away his wine cup. He rigidly stared at the medicinal pill that had appeared before his eyes: “I must have it!”

There was also a private room where someone guffawed in a straightforward manner: “I have nothing to fear! The great me isn’t short of money — Winning this bid will be a piece of cake!”

Yet, within another private room, there was a charming woman. Her slender fingers lightly closed together, and shattered the wine cup in her hand. Her beautiful eyes rippled with extraordinary splendor: “If I present this thing to master, maybe I can gain master’s happiness…”

Inside quite a few of the remaining private rooms, the same scenes were playing out.

All of these honored guests considered themselves wealthy, and wanted to win the prismatic pill.

This item was too hard to come by. If they could get it, not only would it bring great honor, it would also allow them to obtain many benefits — How could they let it slip away just like that?

They recognized that they had to go for it no matter how much they had to spend!

Right at this time, the auctioneer started speaking as he finally revealed the medicinal pill.

He cautiously poured the pill onto his palm, which was covered with a thin silk handkerchief made from special materials. Moreover, as he held the pill between two fingers, he displayed it for the venue’s numerous guests to look at.

All of the guests were either martial artists or pharmacists. With their eyesights, even if this medicinal pill was twice as small, it could be seen by them with incomparable clarity.

On that light-blue pill were layers upon layers of rose-tinted clouds, just as how the sun and its light would hide behind the clouds in a clear sky. Although the clouds covered portions of the sky, it was difficult to describe how exceptionally beautiful the contrasting colors were.

There were no doubts. This was indeed a prismatic pill!

The auctioneer finished his follow-up words: “Perfectly persevered with rose-tinted clouds to contain its fragrance… Although the exterior is beautiful, so long as the pill fragrance doesn’t come out, it’ll be hard to recognize the product rank. After a pill produces rose-tinted clouds, it’s considered a spiritual object of hidden potentials. This prismatic pill is a golden-level medicinal pill. It’s known as — The Innate Mending Pill!”

Innate Mending Pill?

W-was it actually an Innate Mending Pill?!

Some martial artists had never heard the name of this medicinal pill before, but after others heard it, they suddenly quivered. Their faces glowed with radiant smiles, and they were even more determined to claim this pill!

The auctioneer said: “As the name implies, the Innate Mending Pill can repair congenital deficiencies…”

With a lengthy stream of flowing words, he covered the subject matter with a detailed recounting.

For those who didn’t know about the Innate Mending Pill and were patient enough to listen to the auctioneer’s speech, the more they listened, the more astonished they became. However, there were some who already knew about the Innate Mending Pill’s benefits. They were so angry that they wished that they could immediately jump onto the stage, and block up the auctioneer’s mouth so that he wouldn’t spout any more nonsense. They wanted to speed up the auction so they could return with the Innate Mending Pill right away!

A short while passed by. When the crowd’s complaints couldn’t be suppressed any longer, the auctioneer finally struck his hammer, and announced the base price: “The starting price is two hundred spirit crystals. Each increase in price may not be fewer than ten spirit crystals!”

At almost the next instant, three or four voices simultaneously echoed out:

“Two hundred seventy!”

“Three hundred fifty!”

“Four hundred!”

“Five hundred twenty!”

Before a single breath could be taken, the bids had already exceeded five hundred spirit crystals!

In a split second, such frightful price hiking caused numerous martial artists and pharmacists down below to lay down their flags in surrender.

How could anyone strike it lucky now?

Perhaps the final price of an ordinary prismatic pill could be halted in time, but this was an Innate Mending Pill! It was one of several medicinal pills that were considered to be the hardest to refine within the golden level, and a perfectly preserved one had appeared!

In terms of the price, they were utterly powerless.

As a result, it was better to avoid calling out bids and making fools of themselves here.

For the martial artists in those private rooms, their eyes flashed with fanatical lights.

Currently, they weren’t just thinking about the legends of prismatic pills and their own reputations. Rather, they genuinely wanted to obtain this medicinal pill from the bottom of their hearts.

The Innate Mending Pill was capable of repairing congenital problems. But in fact, one’s shortcomings and weak points were also within the scope of what it could repair!

If it was an ordinary Innate Mending Pill, perhaps it wouldn’t be enough. This was because the lower the product grade, the less it could repair. But now it was different. This was a prismatic pill, which was even better than a simple flawless pill!

If a person swallowed it, was there any need to explain the advantages it could bring?

Even if one lost their family fortune, it would be worth it!

The price continuously rose.

From five hundred-something spirit crystals, it had already reached over one thousand.

At this point in time, while the bidders also showed some prudence, the price still climbed higher and higher. It gradually approached one thousand three hundred. Then, one thousand five hundred… This momentum showed that the trend wasn’t going to slow down.

There was a fierce competition going on between the private rooms.

All except for one private room. Inside it, there were only a few voices that would call out occasionally.

Shopkeeper Fang’s distorted voice was transmitted outside: “One thousand six hundred spirit crystals!”

Gu Zuo turned to look at him.

This was the third time he made a bid…

Why was Shopkeeper Fang raising the price for him?

Shopkeeper Fang took note of Gu Zuo’s gaze. He promptly smiled and said: “I’m just giving ourselves some cover. If we don’t quote a price, I’m afraid that someone with discerning eyes will figure out the location of the owner of that medicinal pill. Although the other party won’t be able to see through Pharmacist Gu’s true identity even if they find out, there’s no harm in playing along, too.”

Gu Zuo nodded his head.

His present attentions weren’t actually focused on Shopkeeper Fang. Rather, it was on the price of that prismatic Innate Mending Pill… En, he was quite shocked in his heart.

A flawless Innate Mending Pill was merely one hundred fifty spirit crystals. In an auction, it would probably be around two hundred spirit crystals. However, prismatic pills were the best of flawless pills. In a brief period, the price of the prismatic Innate Mending Pill was already ten times higher. This was too ridiculous!

— In fact, Gu Zuo still didn’t have a precise understanding of just how difficult it was to refine a prismatic pill.

It needed to be said that, no matter how difficult Innate Mending Pills were, these were only at the golden level. Perhaps golden-level pharmacists might feel that it was hard to refine flawless pills, and it would be somewhat challenging for profound-level pharmacists to do the same. However, earth-level pharmacists could refine them in passing, and it wasn’t so rare that it was urgently needed.

As a result, it was normal for the sales price to be somewhere between one hundred and two hundred spirit crystals.

However, it wasn’t the same for prismatic pills.

As mentioned previously, it was necessary to have talent in order to refine these things. This didn’t refer to casual talent either — It was circulated among pharmacist powerhouses that one needed to have the talent to become a heaven-level pharmacist to refine prismatic pills!

Even if a person had already become an earth-level pharmacist, it wasn’t guaranteed that they could break through to the heaven level…

From this, it could be seen why Shopkeeper Fang treated Gu Zuo with such enthusiasm.

A young man with the potential to become a heaven-level pharmacist was equivalent to those martial artist prodigies — With their aptitudes, they could reach the Lesser Emperor Realm at the very least. Although it wasn’t certain that they would become Lesser Emperors, pharmacists with the potential at the heaven level might also end up being only earth-level pharmacists. Yet, just this possibility was enough to make people raise them onto a pedestal.

Shopkeeper Fang wanted to invite this young pharmacist who could potentially reach the earth and heaven levels!

Gu Zuo didn’t know about these things. Thus, he was only watching the soaring prices with a detached expression. This didn’t feel real to him in the slightest.

That’s right. As a pharmacist who produced prismatic Innate Mending Pills with every attempt, how could he possibly have had any sense of reality?

T/N: This is the chapter I mentioned previously that necessitated the retroactive change for cauldrons and furnaces. I apologize for any confusion.

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