As a rank 2 silver grade alchemist who was close to the rank 3, Zhang Dingxiang immediately understood that these were top-grade rank 3 pills.
Although Zhang Dingxiang could refine even rank 4 pills, he couldn't necessarily refine top-grade rank 3 pills at will. The refinement of the pills had to be perfect, from the condition and maturity of the medicinal herbs and the extraction of their essence, all the way to the pill forming stage.
But the most important reason that made the chubby bald Elder of the 'Pale Moon guild' so excited, was that he had never seen this kind of pill before.
It looked like the man had completely forgotten proper etiquette, as he took a pill in his hand and started sniffing it, while at the same time he mumbled
''Mmm. It smells similar to a rank 4 'Blood-sucking fruit'... but the feeling it gives off is closer to that of a rank 4 'Aura qi pill'...''
Shun Long was a bit surprised, seeing a dignified silver grade alchemist, sniffing the pill without stop.
As for the reason why he decided to put the top-grade rank 3 'Blood combustion pills' for auction, there were 2 main reasons.
The first, was that he had plenty of time to refine pills, inside the foggy space that the 'Stone of Time' had provided him with. Shun Long had even guessed, that the place surrounded by fog, was a separate space inside the 'Stone of Time'.
As for the second reason, in the past half a year that he had spent cultivating inside the 'Stone of Time', his spirit stones supply had already started to run low. The more that his cultivation increased, the more qi he had to absorb to advance to the next level, which made the amount of spirit stones that he required, reach a terrifying number. Right now, although he had already advanced to the peak of rank 3 in Heaven grade, he had just a little more than 400.000 spirit stones left.
Additionally, Shun Long had also noticed, that as his cultivation advanced further and further in the Heaven grade, the effects of the 'Blood combustion pills' were becoming increasingly weaker. He estimated, that by the time that he reached the peak of rank 6 in Heaven grade, the top-grade 'Blood combustion pills' would be completely useless to him.
Looking at the middle-aged man who was sitting in front of him, Shun Long didn't get anxious as he waited for him to finish examining the pills.
Cough
Cough
''Ahem. Young master Shun, may I ask for the name of this pill? I'm embarrassed to admit it, but even as a rank 2 silver grade alchemist, I have never heard of this pill before.''
Shun Long nodded his head at Zhang Dingxiang's words. Of course he hadn't heard of this pill before, since there wasn't any set recipe for it as far as Shun Long knew. Shun Long had created this recipe himself, so, even though it was possible that other alchemists would have also done the same and create a similar recipe, it wasn't surprising for Zhang Dingxiang to have no idea about it.
Additionally, the 'Blood Vermilion fruit' wasn't a common rank 3 medicinal herb, which made the bald middle-aged alchemist of the 'Pale Moon guild' unable to figure out, what the main herb for the creation of these pills was.
''These pills are called the 'Blood combustion pills'. As for their effects, just one of them has more than a 70% chance, of helping a peak rank 1 Heaven grade cultivator to advance to the early rank 2.''
Zhang Dingxiang's eyes widened for a bit, before he nodded his head, and with a large smile on his face he said
''Young master Shun, there is indeed an auction that our 'Pale Moon guild' is hosting near the end of this month, 5 days from now. However, since I cannot verify the effects of these pills, and our guild doesn't have a rank 3 silver grade alchemist, I will have to ask young master Shun to allow us to privately test one of them. After all, we cannot auction unknown pills that we cannot verify their effects.''
Shun Long's eyes narrowed as he understood what Zhang Dingxiang was trying to do. After all, as an alchemist himself, Shun Long clearly knew, that every alchemist above the bronze grade, was able to ascertain the effects of a pill, just by shaving off a tiny part of the pill, that wouldn't affect its overall potency.
Shaking his head, Shun Long stared at the middle-aged man in front of him, before he retrieved the 2 bottles of pills from the table, as he then said in a cold tone
''Elder Zhang, I think that you have misunderstood me.
I didn't ask you to verify my pills' effects, I told you to auction them. Since you are incapable of understanding their effects, then our partnership ends here.''
Zhang Dingxiang's mouth was wide open, as he saw Shun Long returning the pill bottles, as well as the scrolls that he hadn't checked yet, back in his 'spatial ring'.
Then, he turned his head to look at Liu Mei, as they both stood up and prepared to leave the private room.
This was the second time that the bald, middle-aged Elder of the 'Pale Moon guild' had tried to take advantage of Shun Long and failed.
He also hadn't expected for the young man in front of him to be so decisive, as to pack everything and leave.
For a moment, he also wondered whether Shun Long knew about the technique of 'shaving off a part of the pill', and if that was the reason that he had turned so angry.
Standing up from his seat, Zhang Dingxiang put an ingratiating smile on his face, as he looked at Shun Long and Liu Mei and hurriedly said
''Young master Shun, young lady, please wait. It was my fault just now, as I seemed to have forgotten another way to verify the effects of the pills. Please, if you are willing to sit down and discuss this, then I would be very happy to be of assistance.''
Shun Long however shook his head as he said
''Elder Zhang, this seems to be the second time that you are 'at fault'. I already forgave you the first time, so tell me, why shouldn't I just go to another guild now? After all, I am certain that with the 'Silver-winged panther king', other guilds will be more than happy to welcome us, and offer me the same benefits as your 'Pale Moon merchant guild'.''
Zhang Dingxiang's eyes bulged out as he heard this, and with a pained look on his face he asked
''You-Young master Shun. Would you really do that? B-But... you have already joined our 'Pale Moon merchant guild'. I even gave you a peak rank 2 silver grade cauldron.''
Shun Long scoffed at the pretentious behavior of the bald Elder in front of him, and with the same cold look, he narrowed his eyes as he replied
''You can only blame yourself for being greedier than you should be. I accepted your offer to join your guild but you were still dishonest, and tried to take advantage of me for one extra pill. Who knows if you will be dishonest again tomorrow, or the day after?''
The bald middle-aged Elder felt as if he had fallen into a trap, hook, line and sinker.
However, with the way that things had developed so far, he clearly understood that he was in the wrong and that his greed had gotten the better of him.
Hence, although he knew that he was in a passive position, he couldn't help but take a deep breath as he asked
''Then... young master Shun... what must I do, for you to forgive me?''
A big smile covered Shun Long's face, as he finally heard the words that he had been waiting to hear, since the first time that they had met with Zhang Dingxiang.