Fifty Thousand Soul Stones

What is the price of the Great Dao Jade Dragon Pellet?

It started at 90,000 Spirit Stones and was capped at 130,000 Spirit Stones in the auction house, yet it remained an unaffordable treasure.

Being able to refine such a medicinal pill already signified the alchemist as being at the pinnacle amongst Alchemist Grandmasters, standing at the peak amongst that tiny group of people.

But now there was another issue, which was how the money from this medicinal pill should be split.

If it was just an ordinary Jade Dragon Pellet that was refined, it would be simple. 10,000 Spirit Stones for the refining fee and 10% of the auction proceeds would be what Chen Xia deserved.

But things were different now. The most contentious point was that this Great Dao Jade Dragon Pellet required an additional Jade Dragon Heart from a cultivator at the Sea Inversing Realm.

They did not provide this ingredient, yet Chen Xia was able to refine it.

The cost of this ingredient certainly had to be paid. Gao Zongming pondered for a moment, then respectfully said to Chen Xia,

"Master, the market price of this Great Dao Jade Dragon Pellet is around 120,000 Spirit Stones. You provided an additional Jade Dragon Heart, so we definitely have to compensate you for that cost.

To save you any further hassle, we can directly pay you 50,000 Spirit Stones to buy over this Great Dao Jade Dragon Pellet. You won't need to worry about the subsequent auction and it will be more convenient. What do you think?"

Gao Zongming's attitude and tone were very modest, and his current manner towards Chen Xia was even more respectful.

This was normal, since they were auction house cultivators after all, and would naturally have to be extremely courteous and respectful before a top-tier Alchemist Grandmaster.

This was a dependent relationship, with the auction house relying on the Alchemist Grandmaster.

After all, auction houses needed top-tier Alchemist Grandmasters to refine medicinal pills for them, but top-tier Alchemist Grandmasters did not necessarily require auction houses to help sell their medicinal pills.

Although described as a cooperative relationship between both parties, it was clear who occupied the higher position.

In the end, anyone could run an auction house, but not just anyone could refine pills.

Zhang DaoMing clasped his hands behind his back and nodded his head slightly.

This price was already very high. 50,000 Spirit Stones - 20,000 as the price for the Jade Dragon Heart, another 10,000 as the post-auction commission.

That meant Chen Xia's craftsmanship fee was worth 20,000 Spirit Stones.

It was already the highest tier amongst Alchemist Grandmasters!

Zhang DaoMing was very satisfied, but whether to accept or not still depended on Chen Xia. He absolutely could not overstep his boundaries.

"Okay," Chen Xia nodded. He felt that the price of 50,000 was quite suitable.

Gao Zongming's eyes lit up with delight and he quickly nodded his head, "Then Master, thank you for obliging us. When you have time in the future, please come visit the auction house as our guest. We will certainly ensure you are satisfied with our hospitality."

"Alright, when I'm free," Chen Xia waved his hand, his tone somewhat perfunctory.

Gao Zongming did not dare say anything more, afraid that he might upset Chen Xia. He hurriedly fumbled inside his robes and respectfully presented Chen Xia with two exquisitely carved cloud patterned storage pouches.

"Master, there are 30,000 Spirit Stones in one pouch, and 20,000 in the other. Please accept them with a smile."

As expected, status still followed ability.

Chen Xia sighed slightly at this thought. He accepted the Spirit Stones and put them away, politely voicing a word of thanks.

"Thank you."

Gao Zongming quickly waved his hands and shook his head, "This one absolutely does not dare accept your thanks. It is I who should be thanking Master instead, not only for refining such a supreme medicinal pill, but also for allowing the auction house alchemists to observe and learn. Master truly has a broad mind."

"Speaking of which, did you gain any insights from observing Master's refining process?" He turned and asked the auction house alchemists he had brought along.

This was a good question indeed.

The scene fell silent for a long while.

The few alchemists looked at each other speechlessly, unable to utter a single word.

Insights?

They could hardly even understand what had happened, what insights could there be?

The atmosphere was a little awkward. Fortunately, one quick-witted alchemist hurriedly spoke up,

"I gained enlightenment that there should be no rigid adherence to any single method when refining pills. As long as the pellet can be successfully produced, any method is permissible, just as Master is unconstrained by conventional means."

"Mm, not bad. What else?" Gao Zongming smiled as he stroked his beard and asked again.

The few alchemists were completely stumped.

What else?

Did he even understand how the refining was done?

"Steady hands, sufficient strength, powerful stove ignition!"

With great difficulty, the alchemists managed to add on these few points.

Gao Zongming also saw their plight and did not question further. He smiled joyfully as he accepted the Great Dao Jade Dragon Pellet and respectfully cupped his fists towards Chen Xia.

"This one shall take his leave and not disturb Master any further. When Master is free in the future, this one will visit again to properly thank Master."

Chen Xia's brows furrowed slightly. Something about his words did not seem quite right.

What did he mean by visiting to show his thanks?

Gao Zongming said no more. He turned and hastily left with the alchemists, having accomplished great merit for the auction house by obtaining a top-grade medicinal pill. His status was about to rise.

After Gao Zongming had gone far away, Zhang DaoMing could not help but sigh,

"Alchemist Grandmasters really do earn a lot!"

Refining medicinal pills just once earned him about half a lifetime's worth of Spirit Stones.

"Don't you earn anything from refining pills?" Chen Xia curiously asked.

"I do earn," Zhang DaoMing replied, then shook his head. "But nowhere near as much as you. Yours is already at the level of an appearance fee for a top-tier Alchemist Grandmaster."

"Across the entire galaxy, those comparable to you are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Probably only those aloof Half-Step Alchemist Saints are stronger than you."

"Actually I'm just casually refining, not that incredible." Chen Xia shook his head.

He was telling the truth. Each pill refinement was done casually without him even knowing the precise techniques involved.

Every batch of pills produced were masterpieces that generally could not be replicated a second time.

Zhang DaoMing looked Chen Xia over once more and could not help but sigh again,

"Even without refining pills, just your identity as a scion of the Great Emperor, your terrifying combat strength, and current position as a Law Elder, you would already be an exceptionally rare existence in the galaxy."

"Yet you are also able to refine pills. How can such a monster exist between Heaven and Earth?"

Zhang DaoMing truly could not comprehend it. Even for a reincarnated Great Emperor, surely this was the limit?

"It's just 1% effort combined with 99% talent," Chen Xia flatly replied.

Zhang DaoMing's jaws dropped and he was at a loss for words for a long time.

It had to be admitted, that was indeed the case.

Pill refining was just a small interlude that did not consume too much of Chen Xia's attention.

With this matter settled, Chen Xia decided to undergo closed-door cultivation in his cave abode, setting up his external avatar first before anything else.

His current level of power did not change - still at the Mountain Moving Realm. That was clearly insufficient now, and he would have to wait until he gained more points to supplement it.

His Fortune value was close to catching up with his Power though, which was what Chen Xia felt was most useful now.

As always, his Magic power remained the lowest. Chen Xia had added a few tens of points in between, but it was not very useful.

He still could not see any extra mystic arts in the Book of Fate, only able to vaguely glimpse some words that he could not read clearly.

For his other mystic arts, his True Dragon Qi still needed 300 more points to evolve. Relying on the faith power from his minor world, it would probably take thousands of years.

There was really no way to improve the Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method. He could only swap lifespans with the Old Fisherman and the three Elders once every five years to earn some interest.

It was worth mentioning that this Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method had some rather elderly definitions of "old man".

From any perspective, the Old Fisherman was clearly an elderly figure, yet Chen Xia could still swap lifespans with him.

Perhaps in the eyes of the Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method, only those unable to walk were considered old men?

For Chen Xia, this was naturally a good thing.

Lastly there was the Great Way of Time. If he wanted to gain further enlightenment, he would probably need to accumulate a massive amount of time. There was no progress on that for now.

Observe objects, observe people, observe oneself.

Chen Xia had not started observing himself yet.

Sitting in his cave abode, he sorted through everything, then sealed up the cave before closing his eyes.

When he opened them again, a dazzling sea of stars lay before him.