In a quiet and expansive courtyard somewhere in the Inner City, the tender cries of various spirit beasts rose and fell, occasionally interspersed with peals of silvery, bell-like laughter.

Under the eaves, Gu Changgong leaned back in his lounge chair, gently swaying his body, his eyes crinkling as he followed the joyful sprints of Gu Yi across the courtyard. Nearly half a dozen chubby, adorable little spirit beasts lumbered clumsily after the small, delicate figure ahead, delighting the little loli until she burst into laughter.

"Nie Kong, this little fellow, he really knows how to find trouble for this old man!"

Gu Changgong shook his head with a smile.

After the little girl had demanded several Spirit Medicines from Nie Kong yesterday morning, she had been pestering Gu Changgong to catch spirit beasts for her ever since. He doted on the little girl to an extreme degree, and finally made a trip to the Tianlang Mountain Range, returning with more than a dozen newly born spirit beasts.

For the entire day, the little girl paid no mind to whether the medicinal effect of the Spirit Medicines had worn off; she clung to the little spirit beasts almost constantly. This left Gu Changgong somewhat gloomy. When she was little, the girl used to stick to him every day, but now, even the little spirit beasts commanded better treatment than he did.

"Hall Master!"

Just then, a middle-aged man hurried in and whispered something in Gu Changgong's ear.

"Jing Feng’s matter?"

Gu Changgong’s long eyebrows twitched slightly, a flicker of surprise crossing his face. "This little guy is quite interesting, actually starting a Spirit Medicine auction at the Ascending Emperor Hall... Hmm, the fusion degree of the Spirit Medicines he refined is indeed astonishingly high—one at ninety-five percent, six others at ninety-six percent, and that 'Nine Heavens Azure Nether Pill' actually reached ninety percent... You go down first. In ten days, come back and tell this old man about his second auction."

"Yes!"

The middle-aged man bowed and left.

"It seems allowing that little fellow Nie Kong to participate early in the Six Halls Grand Competition was the best decision I've made in all these years. If he could advance to Spirit Control sooner, perhaps the City Lord he..." Gu Changgong murmured softly to himself, a look of relaxed amusement spreading across his features.

"Grand-Uncle and..."

The little girl ran over, her small face flushed with excitement. Behind her, a group of little spirit beasts panted heavily, stumbling along as if drunk. Two particularly plump 'Snow Feather Beast' cubs had already rolled onto their backs, exposing their pale, tender bellies.

"Something wrong?"

"Grand-Uncle, can you catch more little spirit beasts for Little Qi Yi?"

"Ah... What did you say? So sleepy, Grandpa needs a nap first......"

"......"

"......"

"Nie Kong, it seems that as long as you are in the Inner City, Spirit Pharmacists like us won't be able to make a living and will have to go to the Dan Sen Luo Ancient Cave to pick up stones like everyone else!"

"Hmph hmph, Nie Kong, Miao Ge is right. How is the fusion degree of the Spirit Medicines you refine so high? If the fusion degree of our Spirit Medicines falls below ninety percent, I'm afraid they won't sell at all."

"......"

In the attic dwelling, after hearing Nie Kong mention that today's auction netted over six hundred points, Miao Ge and Tai Ji looked at him with expressions tinged with resentment. Last night, when Nie Kong displayed the 'Nine Heavens Azure Nether Pill' and the other seven Spirit Medicines, they were both stunned into silence for a long time.

He even refined Spirit Medicines with ninety-six and ninety-seven percent medicinal fusion! Was this guy still a Third-Rank Spirit Pharmacist? It was fortunate that Nie Kong's auction was held today; if it had been a few days earlier, Miao Ge probably wouldn't have gathered enough points to enter the 'Spirit Cultivation Illusion Realm' yet.

"Don't worry about not having enough points."

Nie Kong laughed heartily and teased, "Sisters, your junior brother is now a little tycoon. I'm perfectly capable of keeping you both." To jest about keeping a princess of the Shatu Empire and a royal daughter of the Ice and Snow Kingdom, the future Ice and Snow Queen—only someone like Nie Kong could utter such words.

"Keeping? What does that mean?" Miao Ge and Tai Ji blinked their eyes, looking rather confused.

"Ahem, it means I'll provide you with points," Nie Kong chuckled dryly. His last remark was clearly talking to the wall, failing to achieve any of the expected reaction.

"That won't be necessary then."

Miao Ge smiled sweetly. "Although the Spirit Medicines I refine don't reach your high fusion degree, around ninety percent is still achievable. Nie Kong, Tai Ji, Ru Jie, and Xin Lian are planning to open a pharmacy here in the Inner City. Are you interested in joining us?"

"Open a pharmacy?"

Nie Kong was taken aback; he hadn't considered that possibility.

"Precisely."

Tai Ji’s azure eyes sparkled with light, revealing the same expectant look as Miao Ge.

Nie Kong's refined Spirit Medicines boasted an outrageously high medicinal fusion degree. As for the four women—one from the Ice and Snow Kingdom's royalty, one from the Shatu Empire's imperial family, and two from the noble clans of the Great Chang Empire—they possessed numerous unique family recipes for Spirit Medicines in their memories. If the five of them joined forces, they could likely dominate the vast majority of the Spirit Medicine trade in the Inner City. Then, points would roll in endlessly.

"If you join, we four can share all the Spirit Medicine recipes we know with you, as long as you promise not to leak them," Tai Ji added.

"Mmm, Nie Kong, if you join, you handle the refining, and leave the time-wasting business of selling to us. Imagine the prestige when people find out the sole princess of the Shatu Empire is selling medicine for you, right?" Miao Ge winked mischievously at Nie Kong.

Why didn't she mention the prestige of having the future Ice and Snow Queen selling medicine for me? Nie Kong rolled his eyes at Miao Ge and laughed, "That idea is indeed very good. But I don't see any shops around here. Does the Inner City permit us to open stores to sell finished Spirit Medicines?"

Miao Ge chuckled lightly. "You don't need to worry about that. The fact that Inner City disciples can set up stalls outside the 'Ascending Emperor Hall' means the Inner City implicitly allows such activities. Opening a pharmacy isn't significantly different from setting up stalls; it just means we'd sell more Spirit Medicines and consolidate the stalls."

"That makes sense. Count me in for the pharmacy."

Nie Kong nodded and smiled. As Miao Ge said, if he kept refining Spirit Medicines with such high fusion degrees, it would indeed shrink the business of those Third-Rank Spirit Pharmacists. Opening a pharmacy would make their businesses even more dismal, but it would allow Miao Ge and the others to earn more points.

Since they were all friends, they should naturally support each other. As for the other Third-Rank Spirit Pharmacists in the Inner City, to put it bluntly, whether they could survive or not was none of Gu Changgong’s damn business.

The best part was the prospect of sharing the Spirit Medicine recipes they knew. When refining medicine in the past few days, Nie Kong deeply felt that the recipes he knew were pitifully few. After deliberation, he only found eight widely circulated Spirit Medicines, like the 'Heart Breaking Pill' and the 'Spring Sun Frost Rhyme Dew'.

Teaming up with Miao Ge and the others would be different. While their Spirit Medicine fusion degrees couldn't match his, the Spirit Medicine recipes they possessed far exceeded his knowledge. Especially Miao Ge and Tai Ji, whose backgrounds were incredibly profound, surely meant they knew even more recipes.

Although they were unlikely to share their high-grade Fifth or Sixth-Rank Spirit Medicine recipes with him, knowing more Third or Fourth-Rank recipes would still be excellent. Especially since their families might possess secret medicines capable of improving cultivation rank, much like the Nie family had the Second-Rank Spirit Medicine, the 'Purple Floating Pill'. Discovering the recipe for even one or two such drugs would be immensely helpful for future cultivation.

"That’s wonderful! Then Tai Ji and I will start preparing now. The pharmacy will be set up in Tai Ji's attic; it’s conveniently located at the exit of this area..."

"......"

Miao Ge and Tai Ji left together. Nie Kong put the matter of the pharmacy aside for the moment, his mind already focused on the second Spirit Medicine auction scheduled to take place in the Ascending Emperor Hall in ten days.

Nie Kong already had a preliminary plan for the medicines in that auction; the remaining task was figuring out how to refine them. This would require multiple trials and research. However, just as Nie Kong had said, he was now a little tycoon; over seven hundred points were more than enough for him to splurge.

Initially, Nie Kong had considered using that 'Fire Bathing Nirvana Relic'.

If he first had Xiang Xiang use 'Scent Recognition' to identify its formula, then find a way to reduce the severity of the aftereffects, and subsequently replicate this Spirit Medicine—used to reward outstanding Inner City disciples—it would certainly cause a massive sensation. However, doing so would be tantamount to slapping Gu Changgong in the face, which was unwise.

In the end, Nie Kong switched to the Spirit Medicine he was currently contemplating. With a flicker of thought, a faint white light flashed, and a smooth, white Spirit Medicine appeared in Nie Kong's palm.

The Heavenly Dust Pill!

It was precisely the excellent medicine capable of elevating a Spirit Master's cultivation from the Seventh to the Ninth Grade of Spirit Fusion. Few people knew how to refine this Spirit Medicine, and it was extremely scarce, often being priceless. Every time a 'Heavenly Dust Pill' appeared, its final transaction price would certainly not be less than five million.

Five million worth of Spirit Medicine—would it even sell for a hundred points in the Inner City?

If the Spirit Fusers had abundant resources, the moment such a Spirit Medicine appeared, it would definitely incite their frantic buying. Unfortunately, affluent Spirit Fusers were few and far between. Looking at the disciples newly entered into the Inner City, the vast majority were below the Ninth Grade of Spirit Fusion, yet they only possessed ten or even single-digit points.

Even if Nie Kong replicated the 'Heavenly Dust Pill' in large quantities with a changed appearance, it would still be out of their reach because they simply couldn't afford it. Although they all entered the Inner City in the same batch, Nie Kong had no personal relationship with them; he couldn't possibly sell such a precious Spirit Medicine to them at a loss.

With a slight smile, a dense green aura emanated from Nie Kong's palm, tightly enveloping the 'Heavenly Dust Pill'. Immediately, the Spirit Medicine began to dissolve and shrink at a rate visible to the naked eye. In just a moment, the finger-sized Spirit Medicine had completely vanished.

Within the Jade Pond Acupoint, the little thing greedily clung to the mass of 'Heavenly Dust Pill' medicinal energy, its roots, stem, and leaves writhing fiercely, working extremely hard. At such a critical moment, it had no choice but to exert itself.

Otherwise, how would the 'Phoenix Plume Illusory Immortal Flower' be obtained?

Sensing Nie Kong's will, the little thing understood this point very clearly. However, this 'Heavenly Dust Pill' was far from the 'Heart Sun Pill' that only boosted one grade. Even though the entire pill was swallowed by the little thing, separating out its essential energy was not an easy task.

After a long while, small clumps of medicinal energy were finally expelled from the Jade Pond Acupoint......