Chapter 55: The Rights and Wrongs of Alchemy

Ever since she was chosen by Dao Lord Yuheng for her alchemy skills and moved to the main peak, Lu Tanxian had seldom felt as relaxed as she did now. Though she was quite interested in alchemy and possessed no small amount of talent, what truly underpinned her achievements thus far was her spatial treasure.

Her jade pendant space was a quintessential planting realm, essentially a vast personal herb garden. Rich in spiritual energy and operating on a time flow different from the outside world, it hadn’t reached the point where a single seed would yield a millennium-old herb in ten years, but it was still considered exceptionally high-grade. Not to mention, she already had hundreds of various thousand- and ten-thousand-year-old spirit herbs growing within, along with a bonus alchemical manual.

Thus, her alchemical prowess owed much to the superior materials and rare recipes at her disposal. Anyone who squandered such an abundance of high-grade herbs ought to be able to produce fine pills. However, ever since she’d moved to the main peak, living right under Dao Lord Yuheng’s nose and frequently having to discuss alchemical techniques with him...

Lu Tanxian deeply felt her cultivation was insufficient. Aside from her initial, somewhat novel pill recipes and methods for forming pills—which had briefly piqued Dao Lord Yuheng’s interest—she’d long since run out of new ideas to offer. This left her tense, anxious, and even a bit irritable. Sometimes, she couldn’t help but think: I came here to court you, not to spend my days talking about alchemy!

But she knew well that excelling in alchemy was the only hope for romance. So, all in all, she tried to maintain a positive attitude and expand her own abilities. This positivity manifested in two ways: first, seeking out all sorts of alchemical texts to enrich her knowledge; and second, actively communicating with Shaobi inside the jade pendant space to learn about herb pairings.

She had long since perused all the alchemical texts available to disciples within the sect, but found little of real value. Thus, she decided to venture into the market. Her sect, the Yaohua Sect, had only one market, and its offerings were limited. She planned to travel to Fanyang City, the largest trading hub in the Luoxing Realm. The city boasted countless shops and frequent open and secret trading events—a veritable paradise for shopaholic cultivators.

After briefly informing Dao Lord Yuheng of her plans—a tactic of hers to increase contact and make him accustomed to her presence, occasionally disappearing to make him miss her—she set out. Her new status meant she had to tread a different path; while she still maintained her approachable persona, she was now seen as, “I’d love to be close to you all, but sorry, I belong to Dao Lord Yuheng, and he doesn’t want me mingling too much.” This time, she abandoned her habit of traveling with friends and decided to try her luck alone.

Now a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Lu Tanxian arrived in Fanyang City after an hour’s flight on her sword. She suspected that whatever alchemical texts were on the market would be little more than common fare. Her real target was the black market—the cultivators’ underground exchange. Her status and amiable nature had opened many doors among the various strata of society. Though she’d only been in this world for just over forty years and was still at the early Foundation Establishment stage, she’d visited nearly every notable town in the Luoxing Realm and befriended many heroes, including Cong Baoxin, the son of Fanyang City’s deputy lord.

Cong Baoxin was a born merchant. His spiritual roots were average—of the four-element variety—making progress in cultivation difficult without extraordinary fortune. Fortunately, he cared little for cultivation and had loved business since childhood. Once his father discovered his son was trading pills for spirit stones, he let him be, allowing him to open shops and organize trade fairs as he pleased.

In business, he was a genius. Since Lu Tanxian’s first visit to Fanyang City, when she bought herbs from his tiny shop, his enterprise had grown immensely in just over thirty years. Now, a tenth of the city’s major shops were his, and he controlled the largest underground exchange in town.

After their last meeting, she and Cong Baoxin had exchanged communication talismans. Naturally, on her arrival to hunt for treasures, she sent him a message. He promptly replied, inviting her to wait at the elixir shop on the west side of the city where she’d once bought herbs.

Lu Tanxian was truly surprised when she arrived. The last time she’d come, she was but a low-level cultivator out on a mission, passing through Fanyang City to broaden her horizons. Cong Baoxin’s shop then was his very first, small in scale and inferior even to her master Lin Zhenren’s family store in the Yaohua Sect market.

Now, at the same spot, stood a four-story pavilion, grand and flamboyant—a veritable tower of pills!

At the entrance stood two lavishly dressed, scantily clad female cultivators, flanking the door and greeting customers. Between the first and second floors hung a massive plaque bearing three characters: Ten Thousand Pills Tower.

As soon as Lu Tanxian arrived at the entrance, the two greeters bowed to her. She nodded in return and entered. The interior was even more spacious than it appeared from outside, with clear divisions and a vast array of pills. The place bustled with people. Casual customers were led to different floors based on cultivation, while big spenders were ushered into private rooms to negotiate with managers resembling modern-day executives.

She didn’t notify Cong Baoxin right away, choosing instead to browse first. She hadn’t wandered long before he appeared. He wore an azure brocade robe, a deep purple sash with bird embroidery at his waist, and his hair was perfectly arranged. His eyes, lazy yet occasionally flashing with cunning, revealed a keen, restrained intelligence. Slender and elegant, with a folding fan in hand, he looked more like a scholar than a merchant.

“Thirty years apart, and Fellow Daoist Lu’s cultivation has soared—you’ve already reached the fifth level of Foundation Establishment,” he remarked, having appeared out of nowhere and startling her. She quickly recovered, offering her trademark smile in return. “Fellow Daoist Cong, your progress is even more impressive, and yet you still tease me.”

Cong Baoxin smiled with evident satisfaction. With his four-element roots, to have reached the second level of Foundation Establishment in thirty years surely meant some remarkable encounters. Without further small talk, he indicated this was not the place to converse, and led Lu Tanxian to a private room reserved for the owner.

The room, on the fourth floor, was heavily warded. As she followed him, Lu Tanxian grew increasingly amazed. Not only was the pill display downstairs remarkable, but even this private room was extraordinary. There was actually a formation here to identify visitors. For cultivators, divine sense allowed them to “see” others across floors, but only if their cultivation was high enough. High-level cultivators could distinguish different spiritual fluctuations, detecting someone the moment they entered. However, if one’s cultivation was lacking, or if a guest wore items blocking divine sense, the identification formation came into play.

This formation was unique to Fanyang City and quite advanced. It could mark the number of visitors and their cultivation levels on a mapped area, and, if familiar data was input, even issue alerts. For those with concealment or isolation artifacts, it could still detect numbers and vaguely estimate cultivation, though not precisely. For shops or storerooms dealing in rare goods, it was invaluable. This was likely how Cong Baoxin had learned of her arrival so quickly.

He sat by the window and beckoned for Lu Tanxian to join him. She did so without hesitation, sitting opposite him. Cong Baoxin nodded inwardly, a flicker of admiration in his eyes. “What brings Fellow Daoist Lu to Fanyang City?”

Since he took the initiative, Lu Tanxian answered readily. “I’m very interested in alchemy and came to seek a pill manual. Or, if you have records of predecessors’ alchemical insights or recipes, those would do as well.” She looked up at him, her eyes limpid as autumn water, unconsciously tinged with a hint of allure.

Cong Baoxin, amused by her change in tone, pondered for a moment before responding, “Pill manuals and recipes are quite rare. What’s available in the shop probably isn’t what you’re looking for. Why not attend the trading event? You might encounter something truly special.”

Lu Tanxian bowed her head in thanks and asked for details about the event’s location and arrangements. Cong Baoxin gave her a ring as a token for a private box. Having set a time, she took her leave.

A few days passed swiftly. That evening, Lu Tanxian donned a cloak that concealed her appearance and cultivation, and set out for the trading event. As in most cultivation cities, sword flight was forbidden within the inner city, but this posed no obstacle—she simply attached a swift-walking talisman to her legs and arrived in no time.

The event was held at a private residence in the city’s east—undoubtedly another of Cong Baoxin’s properties. The estate’s architecture and decor resembled the opulent homes of the mundane elite: pavilions, towers, winding streams, and elegant gardens, a rare haven.

Much like a modern luxury club, the whole estate was heavily guarded and shrouded in darkness, save for two Foundation Establishment-level guards at the main gate. Showing the ring Cong Baoxin had given her, Lu Tanxian was respectfully admitted.

As she walked along the flower-lined paths, she tried probing with her divine sense, but found it blocked in all but the designated direction, as if by an invisible barrier. Following the signs, she soon reached a courtyard. Here, flowers and trees abounded, lanterns hung among the branches, casting the entire courtyard in a bright, daytime glow.

Several cultivators, each similarly concealed, were already seated in small groups. Lu Tanxian quickly chose a spot with a good view and settled in, beginning to observe the assembled guests.

Author’s note: These past few days I’ve been working overtime to the point of mental exhaustion… I’ve used up all my drafts; there’s only one chapter left on my computer, and yesterday I actually thought I had already updated! After work, I happily went home. Only when I saw a message from a reader did I realize my last update was the day before! So here’s today’s update. No wonder my alt account’s little flower didn’t light up yesterday… I thought the system glitched, but it was me who glitched. I’m weeping…