The interior of the Apothecary Hall was quite spacious, and upon entering, one could see a massive jade bi, dozens of meters long and wide. The surface of the jade bi was intricately carved with dense patterns, and with every flicker of pale blue, ethereal light, lines and textures would fiercely contort and coalesce into a row of clear, bright characters.

At this moment, the colossal jade bi was occupied by row upon row of text, all messages posted in the Apothecary Hall by disciples of the Spirit Guard City. This bi was remarkably similar to the scrolling electronic display screens from Nie Kong’s previous life; the earliest messages constantly vanished while new ones continuously emerged at the end.

To the left of this massive jade bi stood two smaller, half-man-high jade bi’s, tilted at an angle, also intricately etched with complex, fine spiritual patterns. Connecting the three—the large and the two small—was a jade pillar dense with markings, atop which rested several smooth, small indentations.

According to Luo Ren's explanation, this jade bi was perfected only after dozens of Spirit Pattern Masters in the Spirit Guard City labored over its research for several hundred years. By inserting one's waist token into the indentations on the jade pillar and then inscribing messages onto the small jade bi at the opposite end of the indentation, the information would then cycle endlessly across the large jade bi. Deleting a message was equally simple: one merely had to inscribe the sequence number of the entry they wished to remove onto the second small jade bi.

Listening to Luo Ren explain things inside the Hall of Medicine Heart, Nie Kong hadn't felt it keenly, but now, witnessing the three jade bi’s firsthand, he felt the magic of spiritual patterns even more profoundly.

Nie Kong noticed that the method by which the jade bi displayed information already showed the rudimentary form of technology. If another millennium or two passed, perhaps this Tianling Continent would genuinely develop a technological form entirely distinct from the Earth of his former life—a Spiritual Power Technology built entirely upon spiritual energy.

Lost in thought, Nie Kong began to observe. Nearly all the information flowing across the large jade bi related to pharmaceuticals: someone seeking a specific medicine, requesting a Spirit Alchemist to refine a certain spiritual drug, or asking for help in identifying the properties of an unfamiliar medicinal herb. The variety was endless.

Looking at the sequence numbers preceding the messages, they reached well over a thousand, and the most frequent requests concerned identifying medicinal properties. These medicines were generally unfamiliar herbs found by Spirit Masters during their excursions, or strange spiritual elixirs haphazardly concocted by some Spirit Alchemists.

They dared not experiment with these things themselves and could only seek help from others, primarily the disciples of the Hall of Medicine Heart. Clearly, the disciples of the Hall of Medicine Heart were acutely aware of the inherent dangers and held little interest in such tasks, causing these types of messages to accumulate steadily.

If a month passed with no resolution, the message would be automatically deleted.

For other Spirit Alchemists, these were highly dangerous propositions, but in Nie Kong’s eyes, they were nothing more than scrolling displays of potential remuneration. Nie Kong scanned the rows, and upon failing to spot the kind of messages he sought, he used the pencil he had fashioned in his spare time to meticulously copy down the sequence numbers. Before long, the small slips of paper in his hand were covered in dense script.

The Spirit Guard City disciples nearby, who were also examining the jade bi, noticed Nie Kong’s pen never stopped moving. Consequently, they occasionally cast glances his way, gradually revealing looks of utter bewilderment. They simply could not fathom why Nie Kong was copying the numbers of messages that so few people bothered with.

A young man, about twenty-five or twenty-six, with a square face and wearing the standard robe of the "Azure Wind Hall," finally succumbed to curiosity and approached Nie Kong, asking, "Brother, what are you copying those for?"

"To take them on, of course," Nie Kong replied with a smile, not turning his head.

"You mean you're taking all of them?" The Azure Wind Hall disciple widened his eyes in disbelief. The others nearby were equally astonished; if Nie Kong had only claimed two or three, it would have been normal, but the numbers he’d copied probably already exceeded a hundred.

"That’s right."

Nie Kong found a small blank space on a slip of paper and copied another sequence number onto it.

"Madman!"

The surrounding people pursed their lips and muttered to themselves before returning to search the jade bi.

However, the Azure Wind Hall disciple who had spoken first glanced at Nie Kong’s waist token and kindly cautioned him, "Brother, if you aren't at least a Third-Grade Spirit Alchemist yet, it’s best to take fewer of these types of jobs—better not to take any at all. You might not know, but some people deliberately find unfamiliar, highly toxic weeds outside, post high rewards, and just wait for someone to take the bait. If you truly suffer harm or are poisoned to death, the Hall of Medicine Heart can’t easily intervene, because they can’t distinguish whether the message poster intended it maliciously or accidentally. In such situations, you can only count yourself unlucky. Such things have happened before, which is why almost no disciples from the Hall of Medicine Heart are interested in these messages now."

Nie Kong turned to look at the Azure Wind Hall disciple with some surprise, gratefully saying, "Thank you for your good intentions. However, I still need to take them."

The Azure Wind Hall disciple paused, "Don’t you know how dangerous that is?"

"I do," Nie Kong smiled. "It’s just that this level of danger isn't a big issue for me, so taking them all is fine."

"Uh?"

The Azure Wind Hall disciple was stunned, eventually shaking his head speechlessly. This Spirit Alchemist was certainly interesting; though his intentions were good, he couldn't stop someone determined to seek their own death. Since that was the case, there was nothing more to say; he had given the necessary warning.

Seeing that the other man fell silent, Nie Kong also smiled and refocused his gaze on the jade bi.

In that brief moment, over a dozen new messages had already appeared on the bi. Nie Kong’s eyes swept down, and when he reached the very last message, his eyes suddenly lit up. The sudden brilliance emanating from him made his eyes shine like stars, startling the Azure Wind Hall disciple who had been glancing his way. The disciple then followed Nie Kong’s gaze, and upon clearly reading the content of the message, couldn't help but break into a suppressed laugh.

It turned out to be a request seeking a Spirit Alchemist to identify the formulation for a spiritual medicine! This message had been displayed on the jade bi for over a year, being deleted and reposted monthly upon payment of gold coins, yet no one had managed to solve it.

He isn't actually thinking of taking this one, is he?

The Azure Wind Hall disciple was contemplating whether he should offer another warning to the clearly novice Nie Kong, but found that the space beside him was empty. After searching through the bustling hall for a while, he finally located Nie Kong in the queue near the two smaller jade bi’s.

Next to the small jade bi’s, several interconnected rooms were carved out along the hall wall. One of these rooms had an open window; whether posting a message or having one resolved, one needed to complete the relevant procedures here, as many people chose to leave their medicines in the hall's custody after posting their requests.

Nie Kong occasionally turned his head to look at that message on the large jade bi, a surge of excitement building within him. He had absolutely not expected someone to post a request in the Apothecary Hall seeking help from a Spirit Alchemist to decipher the formula for the "Jade Leaf Glazed Pill." This was absolutely an unexpected boon!

The priority now was to claim this message. As for the requests to identify medicinal properties, those could wait for later.