96: Chapter 96

Xiao Yun shook his head slightly. "The Medicine Pavilion has an excellent reputation in the Middle Region. With their outstanding Alchemy skills, they have befriended many experts there."

Chen Xuan narrowed his eyes slightly, beginning to understand.

To the experts of the Ten Great Sacred Lands in the Middle Region, no one would offend an alchemist for the sake of one or two ants. Even a Prodigy wouldn't do so. After all, on the path of cultivation, who could guarantee they wouldn't need to ask someone to refine pills for them in the future?

Furthermore, for these Sacred Lands, recruiting Prodigies was merely to have them win the Heavenly Selection Grand Ceremony in exchange for more cultivation resources.

This cultivation world... is truly quite hopeless.

"I beg of you, My Lord. As long as you can give me two hundred thousand Spirit Stones, I am willing to do anything."

"Thump, thump!"

After the girl finished speaking, she kept kowtowing against the floor.

Mu Wanqing stepped forward to help the girl up. "Revered Master, what should we do now?"

Although she felt very indignant about this matter and her heart was filled with frustration, Mu Wanqing would not let herself influence her Revered Master's decision.

Xiao Yun hesitated for a moment before reminding him, "Senior... this Medicine Pavilion is not like other Sacred Lands. It's better to think twice."

If one offended the Medicine Pavilion, they could win over a large number of experts just by offering Medicinal Pills as a reward. It could be said that the Medicine Pavilion was the most untouchable existence besides the Heavenly Secret Pavilion.

Chen Xuan nodded slightly and pondered for a moment.

With a wave of his hand, a storage ring appeared out of thin air and floated into the hands of the nearby maid.

"I'll buy this girl! There are three hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones inside." Even if she were auctioned on the high stage, Chen Xuan estimated that three hundred thousand would be about the limit.

The maid was somewhat terrified and quickly waved her hands. "Senior, if you have taken an interest in this girl, you can take her away directly. Consider it a small meeting gift from our Linglong Pavilion."

For a mere three hundred thousand Spirit Stones, they could befriend a Nascent Soul Stage Expert. The Linglong Pavilion knew which was more important.

After the maid finished speaking, she also took out a Flying Sword about half a foot long and a golden Token—the very same one that had been auctioned earlier.

She took a step forward and said respectfully, "Senior, this is the Magic Treasure Flying Sword you bid for at the auction earlier. Please also accept this Token. In the future, if Senior has any needs, you only need to send someone with this Token to the Linglong Pavilion. Whether it be rare Spirit Medicine, Magic Treasures, Divine Abilities, or anything else, the Linglong Pavilion will keep an eye out for Senior."

Chen Xuan only gave a faint glance at the items in the maid's hand, took his Flying Sword, and said indifferently, "There is no need for the Token."

The maid's expression froze instantly. After a few seconds of daze, she very tactfully retreated to the side.

Chen Xuan's impression of the Linglong Pavilion was average; he had only come this time to experience it. Moreover, the items auctioned by the Linglong Pavilion were still too low-grade.

Aside from that Flying Sword, which could serve as a temporary weapon for the girl Mu Wanqing, none of the other Cultivation Techniques, Divine Abilities, or Medicinal Pills were anything Chen Xuan would look twice at.

Xie Xingyao wiped the corners of her eyes, which were still shedding tears, and said gratefully to Chen Xuan, "Thank you, My Lord. Thank you, My Lord."

She wanted to kneel and kowtow in thanks again, but fortunately, Mu Wanqing was supporting her.

After deducting the Linglong Pavilion's commission, Xie Xingyao received two hundred and forty thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

She gripped the storage ring in her hand tightly, as if afraid of losing it.

Chen Xuan said calmly, "Now you're going to save your brother, right? Let's go, I'll accompany you."

"Thank you, My Lord!"

Led by Xie Xingyao, the group left the Linglong Pavilion.

If her brother truly was a Child of Destiny, then this trip to the Linglong Pavilion would be a massive gain. If he guessed wrong, three hundred thousand Spirit Stones to buy two Disciples with decent Aptitude for my Dao Seeking Sect...

...wouldn't be a loss either!

Anyway, this money was sponsored by enthusiastic Fellow Daoists. If it's all spent, I'll just find a few more enthusiastic Fellow Daoists.

Thinking of this, Chen Xuan remembered that he hadn't checked the storage rings of those two Black-robed Persons yet.

He did a simple scan... Whoa, the contents were quite rich. Besides over six hundred thousand Spirit Stones, there were three bottles of fifth-grade elixirs, one bottle of sixth-grade elixir, and three earth-rank magic treasures.

For a Nascent Soul Cultivator, this was already considered extremely wealthy.

And a few yellow-covered books?

Hmm... "Three Hundred Ways to Use Hidden Weapons", "There Are No Useless Spiritual Roots, Only Useless People", "On the Way of Seeking Death"!

What the hell... Chen Xuan flipped through them briefly. Aside from the first book which seemed a bit flashy, the other two showed no obvious use at all.

A moment later!

Guided by Xie Xingyao, Chen Xuan's group arrived at a building about thirty miles west of Wanbao City.

This building was constructed entirely from warm green jade stone, with a roof covered in glazed tiles. Faintly, a light medicinal fragrance drifted out.

Above the building, the words "Pill Hall" were written prominently.

Four Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators stood at the entrance to prevent unrelated people from entering at will.

Xie Xingyao said in a heavy voice, "My Lord, this is the place. Please wait a moment, I'll go save my brother now."

After saying that, she walked toward the four men with the storage ring.

Chen Xuan nodded slightly and glanced at the building. "This shouldn't be that Medicine Pavilion; the scale is too small. There's only one Golden Core Fourth Layer Cultivator inside."

"Senior is right. The Medicine Pavilion's Sect is located at Tianshan Ridge in the Middle Region. This should be one of the Medicine Pavilion's strongholds in the Middle Region, specifically responsible for selling Medicinal Pills in Wanbao City," Xiao Yun explained from the side.

Selling Medicinal Pills?

That would mean the Mind-Concentrating Pill I saw earlier in Wanbao City probably came from here.

While the two were talking, Xie Xingyao argued with the Medicine Pavilion Disciples at the entrance for a long time without any result.

"Revered Master, something seems wrong," Mu Wanqing reminded him.

"Let's go take a look!"

"You... I have already gathered the two hundred thousand Spirit Stones as agreed. Why won't you release my brother?" Xie Xingyao questioned with a serious voice, a bad premonition faintly rising in her heart.

The two Medicine Pavilion Disciples glanced at each other, playing with the storage ring in their hands, and smiled playfully. "Didn't we already tell you? The price has gone up. Now it takes three hundred thousand Spirit Stones."

"If you have the Spirit Stones, hand them over quickly. If not, get lost. Don't get in the way here."

Only then did Xie Xingyao realize she had been played by them!

An uncontrollable rage instantly ignited from the bottom of her heart, spreading through her Bloodline to her limbs and bones. A flash of killing intent crossed the girl's eyes.

With her Foundation Establishment cultivation base, killing the Qi Refinement Cultivators in front of her would be a matter of an instant.

But if she took action, more experts would soon appear in the house. At that time, not only would she be unable to escape death, but there would also be no hope left for her brother.

Xie Xingyao bit her lower lip hard until she tasted blood before she barely suppressed the killing intent in her heart.

"Three hundred thousand... Can three hundred thousand Spirit Stones really release my brother?"

This auction brought in forty thousand more Spirit Stones than she had expected. Including the forty thousand she already had, if she went to plead with that Lord, she wondered if she could borrow twenty thousand more.

A sense of powerlessness surged in her heart.

A drowning person clutching at straws!

People are like this; even if they already know in their consciousness that it's a scam, for those with nowhere else to turn, they can only pray that this is the last hope and bet everything on it.

The two Disciples were stunned for a moment and said without hesitation, "Of course. Our Medicine Pavilion always keeps its word."

Just as the two finished speaking, they saw five people with extraordinary temperaments walking toward the Pill Hall.

The white-robed man in the lead even muttered a sentence: "It seems a physical solution is still necessary!"