With a top-grade ninth-level pill as an auction item, it quickly attracted many cultivators. Pills are one of the most attractive things to alchemists.
The auction order for the Danlou invitation was placed after that for the level nine pills, so that everyone would know where the invitation came from.
Many alchemists rushed to the auction following the news of the elixir, along with many cultivators at the Tribulation Transcending stage, and even two Loose Immortals who came after hearing the news.
The auctioneer displayed the ninth-grade pill before the crowd and introduced it: "Have you all heard of Alchemist Qi Zhiheng? Alchemist Qi arrived in Central Continent more than thirty years ago. Rumor has it that he is a cultivator from Southern Continent, but some deny this. However, one thing is widely acknowledged: Alchemist Qi's skill in refining pills. In Central Continent, there are many alchemists with high refining skills, but no one has ever dared to guarantee a 100% success rate in refining a ninth-grade pill! Except for one person, Alchemist Qi Zhiheng. The pill we have now proves this point. This is a top-grade ninth-grade Chengbi Pill, which can replenish the spiritual energy deficiency caused by the breakthrough from the Great Ascension stage to the Tribulation stage, and can also help break through the barrier, increasing the breakthrough probability by at least 40%! Senior Tong Zixing took the Chengbi Pill before his tribulation. Alright, I'm sure you're all eager to start. Now let's begin the bidding. According to the market price of top-grade pills, the starting price is one hundred million high-grade spirit stones! Begin the bidding."
Immediately someone shouted, "One hundred and ten million!"
"One hundred and twenty million!"
"One hundred and thirty million!"
...
The bidders were mostly cultivators who had been hovering around the Mahayana stage for a long time. It could increase the probability of a successful breakthrough by 40%, which was something many people dared not even dream of. It was already quite remarkable that an ordinary Chengbi Pill could increase the success rate by about 10%.
In the end, the pill was sold to a cultivator at the peak of the Mahayana stage, who almost intended to just take the pill and leave.
Then another tray was brought to the table, covered with a red cloth.
The auctioneer unveiled the red cloth, revealing a red invitation made of a special material: "This is an invitation to attend the first trial of the Danlou in Shengxian City."
The group looked at each other, wondering what was so special about this.
The auctioneer continued, "I'm afraid you all don't know what this is after I introduce it like this. In the last round of auction, we mentioned an outstanding alchemist, Qi Zhiheng. It is said that the reason why Qi Zhiheng has such high achievements in alchemy is because he obtained an alchemist's inheritance, which even contains the methods for refining more than a dozen pills."
The alchemists present were all somewhat eager, but none of them were interested in the topic of alchemy lineage.
"The city lord of the Ascension City we just mentioned is none other than our alchemist Qi Zhiheng. This Pill Pavilion was jointly created by alchemist Qi, another alchemist, and a weapon refiner to serve as a spiritual artifact to carry the inheritance! The alchemy inheritance inside is the inheritance that alchemist Qi cultivated."
As soon as the auctioneer finished speaking, the alchemists below erupted in excitement, discussing the so-called Pill Pavilion with their friends.
"This Pill Pavilion will open for the first time in three months. At that time, cultivators who receive an invitation will have the opportunity to enter and explore. In addition to all the ninth-level alchemists in Central Continent, there are only three hundred extra invitations. Our starting price is not high, one high-grade spirit stone! Bidding begins!"
The bidding started at a single high-grade spirit stone, but because the invitation was so attractive, someone bid 10,000 high-grade spirit stones on the first bid.
The bidding continued, eventually ending at one million high-grade spirit stones.
Just as the person who won the invitation was gloating, the auctioneer produced a second invitation...
At the same time, another round of auctions began.
The auction had just begun with twenty invitations up for auction. The auctioneer added, "Those who didn't win an invitation, please don't worry. We will hold a second auction for invitations in five days, at which time another ten invitations will be auctioned. Please be patient."
In the days that followed, other auction houses also began offering auctions by invitation. Each auction would start with a level-nine elixir, making these auctions most popular among cultivators at the peak of the Mahayana stage, aside from alchemists.
Qi Zhiheng, on the other hand, waited at home until all the invitations were sold out.
Many cultivators have already arrived in Ascension City. Even if they cannot enter the Pill Pavilion directly, it would be good for them to see the Pill Pavilion from the outside.
This Pill Pavilion contains a legacy that can make someone a ninth-level alchemist! Which alchemist wouldn't be tempted!
Three months later.
The invitations to enter have all been auctioned off, and the invited cultivators have all arrived at the scene.
Some level-nine alchemists had also heard of Qi Zhiheng's name, so they came to show their support.
However, not every alchemist was willing to give Qi Zhiheng face. Those who did not want to come did not waste their invitations and would give them to their disciples or other fellow cultivators who wanted to come.
Qi Zhiheng hadn't expected all the level nine alchemists to be there. He was already happy if one or two showed up to support him; at least their reputations would be there.
The number of ninth-level alchemists who came this time was somewhat beyond Qi Zhiheng's expectations. He sent out a total of twenty-four invitations, and sixteen people actually showed up, which was much more than the one or two people Qi Zhiheng had originally thought.
He told Chu Huaifeng about this, and Chu Huaifeng said, "City Lord, you probably don't know your current reputation, do you? In the entire Central Continent, you are the only one who can refine a top-grade ninth-level pill. Naturally, those alchemists are very curious about what kind of inheritance you have obtained. Even if they can't find any clues in your inheritance, can't they still ask you for advice?"
"Then why are there still so many who are unwilling to come?" Qi Zhiheng asked.
Chu Huaifeng said dismissively, "Those alchemists are all old fogies, they think too highly of themselves, and they're all too old. How could they possibly lower themselves to ask a Mahayana cultivator like you for guidance?"
Qi Zhiheng nodded: "It's their own loss if they don't come." If someone really wants to learn from him, he won't hesitate to give them pointers.
The outer ring of Danlou was protected by a barrier, with only one opening, which served as a door. Anyone with an invitation could enter through this door.
Qi Zhiheng was waiting for the guests at the entrance of the Pill Pavilion early in the morning. After several hundred people had arrived, Qi Zhiheng said a few polite words, then unveiled the red cloth covering the Pill Pavilion and announced: "From today onwards, the Pill Pavilion will be open to the public. Cultivators who successfully enter and pass the inner trials will receive a top-grade pill from the corresponding floor as a reward."
After he finished speaking, the door of the Danlou behind him opened, and he stepped aside, saying, "Please come in, everyone."
Led by several level-nine alchemists, the crowd surged into the alchemy building.
The space inside Danlou is vastly different in size from the space seen from the outside. From the outside, Danlou appears to be just an ordinary building, but the space inside is a thousand times larger than the outside.
Inside the Danlou, the walls were engraved with reliefs of various subjects, the nature of which was unclear. Qi Zhiheng walked in and instructed, "Please choose a relief and stand in front of it."
Hearing Qi Zhiheng's reminder, the cultivators all found a spot on the relief sculpture to stand on.
At that moment, the relief in front of them changed in their eyes, and a series of alchemy test questions appeared, requiring the alchemists to use their divine sense to select the correct answers.
Some ninth-level alchemists with strong spiritual senses answered the question within a quarter of an hour, and then a book about pills appeared. The book contained relatively basic information about first-level pills.
A prompt sounded: Please memorize the contents of this book. After you have finished reading it, place your hand on the relief.
A level nine alchemist saw it and quickly flipped through the book.
He originally thought it was just a book about first-level pills, nothing special. But after reading a tenth of it, he was deeply attracted by the contents of the book. Although he recognized many of the spiritual herbs, some of their unknown properties were also recorded here, which was knowledge he had never heard of before.
After reading the book, he placed his hand on the relief. Then, he was teleported into a room.
Inside the room was a pill-making furnace, and the four walls were lined with countless medicine cabinets. The names of the pills were written on the cabinets. At first, the alchemist thought the cabinets contained pills, but when he opened one of them, he found it completely empty.
This is quite puzzling.
He shifted his attention to the alchemy furnace, and as soon as he sat down, the questions that had appeared outside reappeared before him. This time, however, most of the questions were related to the contents of the book he had just acquired. Fortunately, the alchemist had already memorized the contents, and his answers were all correct.
After answering the questions, a book appeared in front of him. This book was different from the one before; it contained the contents of an alchemy manual, but it only recorded the alchemy manual for first-level pills.
A notification sounded: Please practice and familiarize yourself with the alchemy techniques, and refine one top-grade first-level pill according to the instructions. If you need spiritual herbs, please place ten low-grade spirit stones in the medicine cabinet containing the required pill to collect the herbs.
Ten low-grade spirit stones are nothing to a level nine alchemist. After placing the ten spirit stones in the medicine cabinet he had chosen, they disappeared in front of him in an instant, and what appeared next was a set of spiritual herbs for refining pills.
He took out the spiritual herbs and began refining pills using the medicine furnace in the room. The hand seals he used were the same ones he had just learned!
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