Published: March 2, 2025
Chapter 122: Ancient Formulas
Liu Yu heard this and pressed down on his storage bag. With a wave of his hand, more than twenty jade vials appeared on the table. He then said, “These thirty vials of Azure Spirit Pills contain a total of three hundred pills. You may inspect them at your leisure, Daoist Liu.”
Among the thirty vials, twenty-nine contained the pills refined this time, while one was leftover from a foundation establishment stage cultivator.
For foundation establishment cultivators, items worth two or three thousand spiritual stones are a significant amount; after all, a good supreme magical artifact is only worth around twelve hundred spiritual stones. These elixirs are already worth two supreme magical artifacts.
Seeing this, Liu Xueqin naturally wouldn’t be overly polite. With a flick of her hands, her long, fair fingers formed a few spell techniques.
Immediately, all the vial corks floated in the air, while the vials themselves remained still. She probed her spiritual consciousness into them, and within a few breaths, inspected the quality, authenticity, and quantity of all the pills.
Then, with a change in spell technique, the corks fell back and sealed the vials again.
After confirming the quality and quantity, Liu Xueqin's beautiful eyes glimmered as she said to Liu Yu, “I will purchase these Azure Spirit Pills at the price of eight spiritual stones each. What do you think, Daoist Ye?”
While the market price of the Azure Spirit Pill is indeed eight spiritual stones each, due to the rarity of the spiritual herbs, there is often a discrepancy between price and market availability, leading to higher transaction prices. Purchasing at this price would still leave a significant profit margin for the Jade Orchid Pavilion, as releasing a few vials periodically could attract customers.
“Agreed.”
Liu Yu was satisfied with the price and nodded in agreement.
Seeing this, Liu Xueqin waved her sleeve, and twenty-four translucent medium-grade spiritual stones appeared on the table.
One hundred low-grade spiritual stones equate to one medium-grade spiritual stone, and one hundred medium-grade spiritual stones equate to one high-grade spiritual stone. The exchange ratio between different grades is one to one hundred, but in practice, exchanging low-grade spiritual stones for medium-grade often requires an extra two or three stones since medium-grade spiritual stones are rarer and contain purer spiritual energy, making them more versatile.
The twenty-four translucent medium-grade spiritual stones lay on the table, but Liu Yu didn’t rush to put them away. Instead, he asked, “I wonder if your esteemed shop has any foundation establishment stage formulas for sale?”
Liu Xueqin revealed a hint of apology. “I’m sorry, Daoist Ye, but the foundation establishment stage formulas are our shop's top secret. Unless you offer rare treasures in exchange, they are not for sale.”
“However, I did acquire an ancient foundation establishment formula last month. Would you like to take a look?”
The so-called ancient formulas are those that have been passed down since ancient times. The medicinal potency of these elixirs is generally stronger than those produced by current formulas, but the spiritual herbs needed for refining ancient formulas are mostly hard to find, and the age requirements for these herbs are quite high, making it difficult to gather them. As a result, they have gradually fallen out of favor.
Many of the current formulas in the cultivation world are modified versions of ancient formulas, replacing some of the now-extinct spiritual herbs and lowering the age requirements, but as a result, the potency is also significantly weaker.
Liu Yu was not surprised by the shop's unwillingness to sell formulas. While a copy of a formula can be sold for a hefty amount of spiritual stones, in the long run, it’s not worth it.
Raising an eyebrow, Liu Yu signaled for Liu Xueqin to bring out the ancient formula.
As long as he could gather the spiritual herb seeds, the aging wouldn’t be a problem for him. Could it be that the age requirements for the foundation establishment ancient formulas exceed five hundred years? Thus, his earlier inquiry was just a test; the seemingly uninteresting ancient formulas were his true objective.