An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Luo Chen had spent a long time under the guidance of Mi Shuhua. He had taken much from the man—knowledge, experience, and more than a few practical lessons. Auctions, for instance, were one of the many things Mi Shuhua had explained in great detail with Luo Chen and the others.

When it came to an auction item, the first thing to consider was its importance—whether it was something you absolutely had to acquire. Second, assess the number of participants to gauge the difficulty of the bidding. Lastly, it came down to financial resources.

Luo Chen’s total wealth amounted to only five thousand spirit stones—not particularly substantial, but compared to the starting bid for the revitalization liquid, it was certainly generous. There were many participants in the auction, making it appear highly competitive.

However, their bids rose incrementally, with some even jokingly adding just one more spirit stone. This showed that the difficulty wasn’t as high as it seemed.

The reason likely lay in the fact that two more bottles remained, causing participants to hold back and hope for a chance later.

But for Luo Chen, the revitalization liquid was something he was determined to obtain! Thus, he adopted the most effective bidding strategy.

One decisive bid!

When the price of one thousand spirit stones was announced, the room fell silent for a moment. Then, murmurs of excitement and debate broke out.

“Fellow Daoist, isn’t that too much? This item is priced at just five hundred spirit stones at the Spirit Herb Pavilion. Are you seriously overpaying to be a sucker?”

“Madness! I’d rather wait two years for the Spirit Herb Pavilion than spend that much.”

“Let’s not argue over this one bottle—there are still two more available.”

“He must be new here, with a bit of wealth, unaware that better treasures are coming later.”

Faced with such remarks, Luo Chen remained calm and unmoved. He focused solely on Tian Xingzi’s movements.

Under his watchful gaze, Tian Xingzi cleared his throat softly.

“One thousand spirit stones, going once!

“One thousand spirit stones, going twice! Any Fellow Daoists interested in this bottle of revitalization liquid that aids Foundation Establishment?

“Hehe, it seems not. One thousand spirit stones, going three times!

“Sold!”

After the payment, the bottle of revitalization liquid was his.

Luo Chen’s tense body finally relaxed. Looking at the small bottle, Luo Chen couldn’t help but smile under his mask.

Revitalization liquid was a specialty Foundation Establishment elixir from the Medicine King Sect. However, its true effect was not merely aiding Foundation Establishment, as Tian Xingzi had casually mentioned.

Of course, Tian Xingzi wasn’t lying. It did offer a slight benefit for Foundation Establishment. Its true purpose was to preserve a cultivator’s life force in the event of a failed Foundation Establishment attempt.

In that brief moment, the cultivator could gather the rampant spirit energy caused by failure, using their soul and body to stabilize themselves. Even if they failed to establish their foundation, it wouldn’t cause permanent damage to their body.

With some time, they could return to the Perfected Mastery of Qi-Refining Realm and try again to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm. This liquid wasn’t expensive, priced at only five hundred spirit stones per bottle in the Spirit Herb Pavilion.

However, this elixir fell into the category of being in high demand but rarely available! Every time the Spirit Herb Pavilion stocked it, rogue cultivators would snatch it up immediately.

The Medicine King Sect strictly controlled the supply of this elixir, so while the Spirit Herb Pavilion claimed it was available annually, many rogue cultivators could never purchase it.

Luo Chen had always worried that his five spirit root aptitude might hold him back during the Foundation Establishment. Even one or two Foundation Establishment pills might not guarantee his success. The consequences of failure were hard to predict and even harder to bear.

Now, with a bottle of revitalization liquid in hand, he could at least afford one failure. Spending one thousand spirit stones for a chance to preserve his life was, without a doubt, worth it.

It was absolutely not a loss! He didn’t know how others viewed this approach of preparing for failure before considering victory.

Regardless, this was simply how meticulous he was by nature. Besides, had he truly overpaid with one thousand spirit stones?

The prices for the next two bottles of revitalization liquid brought a smirk to his lips.

“One thousand two hundred spirit stones, going once!”

“One thousand two hundred spirit stones, going twice!”

“One thousand two hundred spirit stones, going three times—sold!”

The cultivator who won the final bottle of revitalization liquid was, surprisingly, the same rogue cultivator at ninth stage Qi-Refining who had earlier bid eight hundred spirit stones and declared that anyone competing with him wouldn’t leave the room alive.

At this moment, his expression was dark as he glared at Luo Chen and the other person who had won a bottle with a bid of one thousand one hundred spirit stones, clearly annoyed.

Luo Chen curled his lips in disdain. If you want to copy others with a decisive bid, at least offer a bold price or bring out something truly remarkable!

Just spouting threats—who’s afraid of that? In the end, you still had to grit your teeth and forcibly buy a bottle. If someone had been interested and added just one or two more spirit stones to the bid, it would’ve driven this person into a rage.

Afterward, Tian Xingzi, representing the Precious Dragon Black Market, brought out item after item.

Top-grade enchanted artifacts, top-grade talismans, mid-grade Dust Transformation pills, spell manuals, and even a puppet!

When a puppet with combat prowess equivalent to the Perfected Qi-Refining Realm was revealed, everyone’s hearts stirred.

The price soared to nearly ten thousand spirit stones!

At that moment, Luo Chen felt somewhat dazed—was he participating in a black market auction or a Sword Pavilion-organized event? Were rogue cultivators these days truly this wealthy?

Compared to them, he even began to question whether he truly deserved his reputation as a wealthy alchemist.

But when he realized the final price had been shouted by an elderly Foundation Establishment cultivator, it all made sense.

Luo Chen refrained from competing for that puppet, even though it was said to have been personally crafted by a Luoyun Sect elder.

He made another move, bidding nine hundred spirit stones to win that spell manual.

In the cultivation world, techniques were strictly controlled by major sects, and most of the ones that circulated were simplified versions. However, spells were widely disseminated.

This was because spells were easy to learn but difficult to master, with drawbacks such as slow activation speed and high energy consumption. This was precisely why the prices of spell manuals had always been relatively low.

Back then, he had bought the Five Essential Spells of the Qi-Refining Realm set from Wang Yuan for only two hundred spirit stones. The truly expensive spells were actually the refined versions sold by the Five Elements Divine Sect.

The reason Luo Chen spent nine hundred spirit stones on this spell manual this time was primarily due to its tier.

It was a second-tier fire-element spell—Landslide.

A fire-element spell with an earth-themed name?

As Luo Chen pondered in confusion, the final auction item from the host was presented.

”Heaven and Earth Root.”

Luo Chen abruptly looked up!

On the sandalwood table lay a piece resembling a human tongue, quietly resting there. Not only him, but everyone’s eyes were fixated on it.

Tian Xingzi smiled faintly. ”I believe many fellow daoists came here specifically for this!

”An eight hundred year old Heaven and Earth Root. Consuming it directly can increase the chance of Foundation Establishment by twenty percent, only ten percent lower than a low-grade Foundation Establishment pill.

”Of course, if you can invite an alchemy master to refine it into a mid-grade Foundation Establishment pill, its efficacy can increase to forty percent!

”I won’t say more. The starting bid is one thousand spirit stones.”