The Grand Elder looked at Shun Long's disappearing back with a smile on his face, before he turned his attention to the wooden barrel in front of him and said laughingly
''Let's see what gift this kid decided to give me.''
The Grand Elder didn't use his soul sense to scan the wooden barrel, and instead, he decided to directly take off the barrel's lid.
At the same time, Mao Jing simply shook her head and said in her heart with a disdainful tone
''No matter what it is, how can any gift that that kid can produce, possibly compare with the Grand Elder's personal token?''
Although she said that, Mao Jing's eyes were still focused on the wooden barrel in front of the Grand Elder.
And yet, the moment that the Grand Elder removed the barrel's lid, an intoxicating scent suddenly wafted out from the barrel, before it quickly filled the private room, causing Mao Jing to be utterly stunned.
Even the Grand Elder seemed to have lost his words as the intoxicating scent coming from the barrel in front of him kept assaulting his senses, making his steady and calm heart start beating wildly.
''Wine? How can wine smell like this?'' The Grand Elder looked at the wine barrel in front of him and mumbled to himself in a shocked voice while even his heart shuddered in excitement.
Even he, a powerful Dao Emperor who stood at the peak of the Dao Emperor realm and had roamed throughout the central region for many years had never smelled a wine like this before.
''No! Even the Shu family's wine is inferior to this wine in terms of scent alone!''
As he finished speaking, the Grand Elder didn't hesitate any longer, as he hurriedly took out a jade-like cup of wine from his spatial ring and filled it with the wine from the wooden barrel.
Under Mao Jing's eyes that were filled with jealousy, he then took a light sip from the colorful red wine, before he emptied the rest of the jade cup at once!
...
''Brother Shun, was that wooden barrel filled with the same wine that we tasted back in your room those months ago?''
Bai Longtian looked at Shun Long and asked in a curious voice as their group of 5 walked back towards their private room.
Jiang Chen, Liu Mei, and Xingyi all looked at Shun Long who smiled as he nodded his head and said
''Although I wasn't planning to share this wine with anyone else, since the Grand Elder gave me his personal token I wouldn't take advantage of him.''
''Pfft. Most likely, the Grand Elder won't be able to enjoy another wine again in the future after drinking brother Long's wine.'' XIngyi's voice had hints of laughter on her face, while Liu Mei simply smiled while Jiang Chen nodded his head in agreement.
Although they only tasted Shun Long's wine rarely, the 4 of them understood that, in terms of winemaking, Shun Long's wine stood at the very peak of the cultivation world.
Bai Longtian and the rest were confident that if Shun Long was willing to set up a shop and sell his wine in any city within the central region, experts would happily come and take it all regardless of the price.
A few minutes later, Shun Long's group arrived back to their private room.
As they all entered inside, Shun Long finally had a chance to take a look at this room that the Refinement Hall provided.
It was a relatively spacious room, around half as big as Mao Jing's own private room, but the room itself was practically empty, aside from a single bronze cauldron that was placed in the center of the room.
Shun Long's eyes instantly lit up as he moved towards the bronze cauldron right away. After all, he only needed a glance to realize that this was actually a peak rank 3 gold-grade cauldron.
Naturally, the Refinement Hall would have a peak rank 3 gold-grade cauldron inside every single room, while a few of the rooms may even have a star-rank cauldron inside them.
Of course, the price to rent such a room was extraordinary.
Sitting in front of the cauldron, Shun Long had a smile on his face as he let his soul sense enter inside the small hole on the floor of the room that was right beneath the bronze cauldron.
Soon, a wave of orange flames erupted from the small hole, immediately enveloping the entire cauldron and raising the temperature inside the room to a terrifying degree.
''Earth flames!''
This was the same thought that passed through everyone's minds as they looked at the orange flames that enveloped the cauldron in the blink of an eye. The orange flames were identical to those that they had seen inside Mao Jing's private room a while ago.
It was only that these flames were much weaker compared to the flames inside Mao Jing's room.
Jiang Chen, Xingyi, and Bai Longtian didn't need to use their unique physiques to resist the heat of the earth flames, while Liu Mei barely used any of her qi to cover her body as well.
Of course, compared to when a Dao Emperor like Mao Jing was using the power of the earth flame, Shun Long's earth flame was much weaker.
And yet, Shun Long had a big smile on his face as he started to control the earth flame using his soul sense, without warming the cauldron right away.
Shun Long knew that the most important thing when using an earth flame for the first time, was for the alchemist to familiarize himself with the earth flame.
After all, earth flames were completely different from qi flames created from a person's qi.
Qi flames could be used without any restraint, but although it was exceedingly easy to control them, they couldn't be compared to earth flames in terms of their power and their ability to help an alchemist refine pills.
In this regard, earth flames were truly in a league of their own.
This was why countless alchemists would do anything they could to get their hands on an earth flame.
After all, with the power of an earth flame, an alchemist's ability to refine pill would truly rise to a terrifying level.
However, earth flames weren't easy to control, which was why Shun Long wasn't in a hurry to start warming the cauldron.
Instead, he allowed the earth flame to take various shapes, sometimes taking the form of a snake, while a moment later it may take the shape of a lion.
A little more than an hour later, Shun Long sat cross-legged on the ground and first planted the rank 6 'five-elements grass' inside the herb garden.
After using his qi to accelerate the flow of time inside the herb garden, Shun Long finally opened his eyes a few hours later, his gaze fully focused on the bronze cauldron in front of him.
It was time to attempt to refine the rank 6 'five-elements awakening pill'.