196 Appraising
“I didn’t expect this small trade fair to have such a pleasant surprise.”
Jiang Ming was in a good mood after getting the seed of the green jade lotus.
He had been in the Plant Hall for decades and had a lot of knowledge about spirit herbs.
The Plant Hall occupied the spirit rice fields all over the mountains and fields. However, the real source of wealth was the rare spirit herbs in the spirit herb gardens.
Although Jiang Ming was envious, he obviously did not have the energy and money to make his own spirit herb garden.
However, over the years, Jiang Ming had also noticed some spirit herbs that were very suitable for him to grow, and the green jade lotus was one of them.
The green jade lotus’s medicinal effects were average, and it was easy to plant. It did not require any spiritual energy and only needed a year to bloom. Only the petals had some healing effects on Qi Refinement Realm cultivators.
However, if he continued to grow the green jade lotus for about ten years after it bloomed and waited for it to wither naturally, he could plant the fallen lotus seeds again, and the efficacy of the green jade lotus produced would be stronger than before.
Over a hundred years, the green jade lotus would transform into a purple jade lotus. Then, its medicinal effects would be so strong that even Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators would be envious. It could be used as a material for many middle-grade medicinal pills.
On the other hand, the time it took for a purple jade lotus to wither was about a hundred years. According to ancient records, a thousand-year-old purple jade lotus was so powerful that it would even be coveted by even Golden Core Realm cultivators.
However, such a long time of cultivation, compared to other spirit herbs of the same level, was outrageous. Even immortal cultivators would not live for a thousand years. The ordinary green jade lotus had weak medicinal effects, and the people of the Plant Hall did not care much for it.
“It’s quite reasonable. Ordinary green jade lotuses don’t require much spiritual energy. Thus, they’re suitable for planting in places with thin spiritual energy.”
Jiang Ming smiled, and then his eyes flickered. What he cared about the most was not the thousand-year-old purple jade lotus. He had read that growing this herb for ten thousand years could yield an unmatched immortal medicine.
However, this was only a legend. No one had seen such a thing before.
And that was why Jiang Ming wanted to try it for himself. He wanted to find out the truth.
Jiang Ming rubbed the seed in his hand, threw it into the storage ring, and continued to walk forward.
“How much are you selling this handbook for?”
At a stall, Jiang Ming found an alchemy handbook left by an alchemist, which recorded all kinds of problems and insights in alchemy and also had a few common pill recipes attached.
“Ten spirit stones! What do you think?” the shop owner asked.
“Sure!” Jiang Ming nodded and bought it. His alchemy skills were definitely better than the person who left this handbook. However, learning from others to make up for one’s own shortcomings was also an important thing on the path of cultivation.
He had already reached a higher level in primary alchemy. What he needed to do now was to master as many skills as possible in preparation for learning intermediate alchemy.
* * *
After a quarter of an hour, Zhou Quan finally reappeared. He led the impatient group to the depths of the courtyard and entered a large hall.
In the middle of the hall, there were three long tables with three items on top.
“Master Li, please!” Zhou Quan said respectfully.
Li Yuankang laughed and walked to the first item. It was a silver wine pot. As soon as he opened the lid, a rich aroma filled the entire hall, which made Jiang Ming’s body warm. The spiritual energy in his body seemed to tremble for a moment, and he let out a longing cry.
“If I drink this pot of wine, my cultivation will probably increase by a lot,” Jiang Ming thought to himself.
“Middle-grade spirit wine? And it’s something I’ve never seen before too!” Li Yuankang was also surprised, and said with a faint smile, “I’ll take this pot of wine. You can name your price later.”
“Master Li, it’s my honor to give it to you for free!” Zhou Quan revealed an ingratiating smile.
It was obvious that he had prepared the first item for Li Yuankang.
Jiang Ming’s eyes flickered as he thought about how to brew spirit wine.
After being in contact with Li Yuankang for so long, he knew that the spirit wine in the world of immortal cultivation was not just to satisfy one’s thirst. The best spirit wines had great effects on improving cultivation and healing injuries.
It was rumored that high-grade spirit wine was very useful even for Golden Core Realm cultivators.
However, although the difficulty of brewing wine was not as high as alchemy, even Li Yuankang found it difficult to improve his wine recipes.
This was because there was a huge flaw in the art of wine brewing. They needed a lot of time!
Every attempt to brew the spirit wine would take at least three to five years before the final result could be seen. If he messed up even a single step, he would have to start all over again.
Even if Li Yuankang was at the ninth level of the Qi Refinement Realm, he could not wait that long. Although the quality of his spirit wine was not bad, most of it was only a few years old.
“However, brewing wine seems to be very suitable for me,” Jiang Ming muttered.
It seemed that he would have to pay attention to the ancient books in this area in the future.
At this time, Li Yuankang also walked to the second item.
It was a Jade Slip!
“This is a book of insights left behind by a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.”
Zhou Quan’s words immediately caused the surrounding people to breathe rapidly as they stared at the Jade Slip with fiery eyes.
“You’re quite something, kid. All the things you’ve got are amazing!”
Li Yuankang laughed. He had already broken through to the ninth level of the Qi Refinement Realm. Therefore, he had naturally collected several materials needed to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm. He did not need this.
The others, on the other hand, were a little restless. Although they were still far from reaching the ninth level of the Qi Refinement Realm, they wanted to be prepared.
“The information in this is copied from someone else. If you need it, it will only cost two hundred spirit stones!” Zhou Quan laughed, causing the others to be surprised and happy.
Jiang Ming also admired him. He was indeed a good businessman.
Soon, several people agreed to buy a copy.
Jiang Ming also bought a copy. In the end, Li Yuankang bought one too.
After the first two items were dealt with, everyone moved to the last item.
Jiang Ming fixed his eyes on it and saw that on the table, there was half a dull gray bone flute. It was like an ordinary instrument made by mortals. It was full of cracks, as if it would break at the slightest touch.
“Is this something from the Black Rock Ruins?”
“Everyone, please listen carefully!”
Zhou Quan flicked his finger and injected a trace of spiritual energy into the bone flute. It immediately rippled with spiritual light, and a light wind seemed to flow through the flute.
The bone flute made a deep sound. However, when everyone listened carefully, they could not hear anything.
A moment later, there was silence.
“Is that it?” Li Yuankang frowned.
The others were also at a loss, not understanding what the bone flute was for.
Jiang Ming’s face was filled with confusion. However, he was already extremely shocked in his heart.
“You guys really didn’t hear anything?”
“It seems like I’m the only one who heard it,” Jiang Ming glanced at everyone’s expression and thought to himself.
When the bone flute sounded just now, what Jiang Ming heard was not a whistle, but a clear voice
Could this be the almighty voice?
“The voice I heard seemed to be talking about some kind of blood Qi refinement. Could it be related to martial arts?” Jiang Ming was shocked. What exactly was the origin of the Black Rock Ruins?
Zhou Quan chuckled and said, “It’s said that the almighty voices that are heard in the Black Rock Ruins are mostly attached to various magical tools, most of which are musical instruments. Only those who are blessed by the heavens can hear them.”
“It seems like we’re not blessed!”
Li Yuankang said calmly, “He hasn’t finished yet. Most of the almighty voices are attached to the magical tools. However, most magical tools don’t have such features. In the past, many people got scammed with trash from the Black Rock Ruins thinking they would hear the voices.”
Zhou Quan smiled awkwardly. “I can hear some mumbling from this bone flute. It can be considered an almighty voice.”
Everyone rolled their eyes in unison.
“You can try it for yourself. Maybe you’ll hear it!” Zhou Quan said generously.
Li Yuankang was the first one to walk up and inject a stream of spiritual energy into the bone flute. The bone flute started to sound again. Alas, no one still heard anything.
“Even Master Li can’t hear it. It seems that there really isn’t any cultivation sound in this bone flute!” Seeing Li Yuankang shake his head and leave, Zhou Quan quickly tried to comfort him.
One by one, the individual cultivators took turns trying. However, they were all disappointed.
When it was Jiang Ming’s turn, he walked up with a calm face, injected his spiritual energy into it, and listened quietly.