The Spirit Treasure Pavilion was situated in the northern reaches of Jiyang City, a somewhat secluded spot surrounded by the sprawling estates and manor houses of wealthy merchants and powerful clans. When it was originally built, tranquility was the primary consideration. Beside the pavilion, there was no clamor of hawkers or any assortment of foul odors—after all, once the plaque bearing the words "Spirit Treasure Pavilion" was hung, Spiritual Masters would flock to it, no matter how tucked away the location.
As a mercantile house with immense prestige across the Great Success Empire, and indeed, the entire Heaven Spirit Continent, refined spirit medicines were its bedrock. Finished spirit elixirs of every grade, vast quantities of every manner of medicinal herb—if it had a name on the Heaven Spirit Continent, the Spirit Treasure Pavilion carried the overwhelming majority of them.
Between spirit medicines and medicinal herbs, the former held far greater importance for the Spirit Treasure Pavilion. A house like theirs sold hundreds, even thousands, of spirit elixirs daily; relying solely on acquisition from other Spiritual Alchemists was simply unfeasible. Thus, since its inception, the Spirit Treasure Pavilion had maintained a large cohort of Spiritual Alchemists on its payroll.
Mo Xingtu was one of them. His cultivation wasn't particularly high—at over forty years old, he possessed only the fourth-grade Spirit Transformation realm, yet his talent for alchemy was exceptionally good, ranking highly within the entire Spirit Treasure Pavilion, which was precisely why he was assigned to oversee the Jiyang City branch.
For a Spirit Alchemist in the Spirit Transformation realm, refining fourth-grade spirit medicines was already the pinnacle. But Mo Xingtu had transcended his limits. Two years prior, he had successfully refined two pills of the fifth-grade elixir, the "Golden Jade Gourd," an elixir capable of advancing a Spirit Tamer's cultivation by one full grade per pill.
This event had caused a major stir within the Spirit Treasure Pavilion at the time, and Mo Xingtu had always taken immense pride in it. However, at this moment, the fourth-grade Alchemist appeared deeply agitated.
“Failed again!”
In the alchemy chamber on the fourth floor of the Spirit Treasure Pavilion, crammed with bottles and jars, Mo Xingtu’s eyes were bloodshot, resembling two tiny, crimson spiderwebs. He cursed under his breath in frustration and brought his palm down hard on the alchemical cauldron before him, splitting the vessel that was still emitting a foul, scorched stench into two halves.
For the past two years, Mo Xingtu had strived to replicate the glory of refining the "Golden Jade Gourd," intending to create another fifth-grade elixir, the "Fire Lotus Heart Flame Pill," but he had only encountered repeated failure.
Last night, he felt he had finally grasped the secret to refining the "Fire Lotus Heart Flame Pill," so he reignited his furnace. The first attempt saw a medicinal energy fusion rate of fifty-eight percent; alas, he failed at the very last critical juncture, even damaging the beloved cauldron he had used for nearly ten years.
The fifty-eight percent fusion rate gave Mo Xingtu a glimpse of success, so he continued with a backup cauldron. The result was eight consecutive failures overnight, with the fusion rate dropping each time. The most recent attempt had plummeted to just thirty percent, infuriating Mo Xingtu to the point of smoke rising from his orifices.
Eight batches of medicinal herbs, worth millions of gold coins, had all turned to ash. While this was negligible for the immensely wealthy Spirit Treasure Pavilion—since refining a single fifth-grade elixir would recoup the entire loss—the continuous decline in the fusion rate was a devastating blow to his confidence.
His gaze swept over the cauldron that had exploded during last night’s initial attempt, and Mo Xingtu felt a sharp pang in his gut. It seemed he couldn't attempt alchemy again for some time. As a fourth-grade Spiritual Alchemist, Mo Xingtu knew perfectly well that impatience was the greatest taboo during refinement; he should have stopped after the second failure last night.
“Hoo…”
Mo Xingtu exhaled a long breath of stale air, flicked his wide sleeve, sweeping the cauldron and the dross on the table into a large trash receptacle nearby, and then walked toward the door.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Spirit Treasure Pavilion, First Floor.
“Esteemed customer, may I ask what you require?” Behind the counter, the beautiful maidservant, only sixteen or seventeen, greeted the thin, sallow-faced young man dressed in black and looking rather shabby as he entered the shop with a radiant smile.
“I’ve come to sell medicine,” the man replied, his voice raspy.
“Oh? What kind of medicine?” The pretty maidservant’s beautiful eyes brightened slightly. The Spirit Treasure Pavilion both sold and purchased medicine; as long as the spirit medicine was genuine, whether self-refined or plundered, they accepted all comers.
“Rejuvenation Dew.”
As he spoke, the black-clad man pulled a small jade vial from his robes.
Only a first-grade spirit elixir! The pretty maidservant felt a tiny flicker of disappointment internally, but her smile remained bright. She took the vial, uncorked it, and took a gentle sniff. A faint trace of surprise flashed across her eyes: “The energy fusion rate reached ninety percent—very good. Sixteen thousand gold coins, how does that sound?”
“Fine!”
The black-clad man nodded readily.
The maid sealed the vial and asked with a sweetly charming smile, “May I ask if you prefer gold coins or Spirit Cards?” Spirit Cards were artifacts created by Spirit Engravers that could store gold coins. After their introduction two thousand years ago, they quickly replaced the gold notes previously common across the continent and have been in use ever since.
“Spirit Card.”
“Please wait a moment, esteemed customer.”
The maid pulled two three-finger-wide golden small cards from a drawer and inserted them sequentially into the slot of the elliptical sphere on the counter. She then swiftly moved her fingers across the markings in front of the first card. Moments later, the markings in front of the second card coalesced into the numerical symbol for sixteen thousand.
“Customer, please take care,” the maid said, smiling warmly as she presented the Spirit Card with both hands.
“Mm, farewell.”
“Safe journey, customer!”
The black-clad man took the Spirit Card and stepped out of the shop without delay.
“Little Ling, I’m here to see you again, aren't I, Sister?” A crisp laugh, like the warbling of orioles, echoed. A tall, stunning figure in red appeared at the entrance of the Spirit Treasure Pavilion—a girl of about eighteen or nineteen—and she rushed in impetuously as she spoke.
As the black-clad man brushed past the red-clad girl, a fleeting, almost imperceptible look of surprise crossed his gaze toward her. The girl ran a few more steps forward before abruptly turning back to look at the man’s retreating figure, a look of confusion clouding her pretty, tender white face.
Seeing the red-clad girl, the maid shook her head with an expression of helplessness. “Hong Ling, how many times have I told you, I’m the older sister, and you’re the younger sister.”
Hong Ling snapped back to attention, grinned widely, and ran to the counter. “Hehe, you look like a baby face, that’s why. By the way, Little Ling, what was that person just here for?”
“Selling medicine.”
Xiao Ling snorted with mild annoyance, then suddenly called out, “Master.”
“Don’t call me Master, call me Sister,” Hong Ling reached out to pinch Xiao Ling’s plump little cheek.
“Ahem.”
A cough sounded from behind. Hong Ling cried out “Ay!” and stuck out her small, red tongue before turning to the middle-aged man with a playful smile. “Uncle Mo, why are you downstairs? Oh, right, weren't you planning to refine that ‘Fire Lotus Heart Flame Pill’ yesterday? How many did you manage to make?”
“Don’t mention it. All failed.”
The middle-aged man was none other than Mo Xingtu. He shook his head dejectedly, then his eyes caught sight of the small jade vial on the counter. “Xiao Ling, what is this?”
“Master, this is the ‘Rejuvenation Dew’ we just acquired. The fusion reached ninety percent. I gave him sixteen thousand gold coins; we can profit about two thousand when we sell it.”
“Ninety percent?”
Mo Xingtu felt curious. When he refined Rejuvenation Dew, his fusion rate was only between eighty-five and ninety percent. He couldn't help but take the jade vial and lift the stopper.
“This isn’t ninety percent, it’s clearly… one hundred percent!” Upon a single sniff, Mo Xingtu’s expression changed drastically. He forcefully suppressed the volume of his voice, blurting out in shock.
“One hundred percent?”
Xiao Ling and Hong Ling were stunned too, gazing eagerly at the small jade vial.
One hundred percent medicinal energy fusion had always been relegated to legend, yet here it was, existing solidly before them. Even for the lowest grade, a first-grade spirit elixir, this was shocking enough.
Mo Xingtu glanced left and right at the customers on the first floor, lowering his voice as he urgently questioned, “Did he refine this himself? Or did he acquire it through other means?”
“I… I didn’t ask…”
“Oh, you silly girl, how could you not ask? Hurry and tell me, what did he look like? Where did he go?”
“That man was in his twenties, his face was very thin, his skin waxy yellow, his voice hoarse, with a Jiyang City local accent. He wore black clothes, and was about half a head taller than Hong Ling.”
“Uncle Mo, he turned right when he left the door.”
“……”
With a whoosh, Mo Xingtu snatched the jade vial and bolted out in a frantic rush, leaving behind the staring Xiao Ling and Hong Ling, as well as several astonished customers…