Chapter 78

Chu He and Gu Han rode the Flying Cloud Longitudinal out of the mountain gate, only to find that outside, large snowflakes were dancing in the air, indicating that it was already a severe winter.

Time flew by, and Chu He sighed, still remembering that when he first entered Qingling Mountain, it was early spring, and in the blink of an eye, nearly a year had passed.

Inside the mountain gate, due to the inability of green rice to survive in too low temperatures, the sect had set up some large-scale magical arrays to maintain warmth, so only rain could be seen, not snow.

Coming out and seeing the icy and snowy landscape, everything was covered in silver, the little guy was the most excited: it had never seen such a scene before, and it was extremely agitated, tightly gripping Chu He's collar and constantly calling "Oh hehe."

Qingzhou belongs to the Southern Land's Chiyang Region, one of the places with the most sunlight throughout the year. According to Chu He's understanding, it is like a subtropical area.

However, since Qingzhou is almost the northernmost part of the Chiyang Region, once winter arrives, it still snows continuously, though the winter is shorter than in the north.

The two set out two hours earlier and did not leave with the others in the sect. The reason was that Chu He wanted to take the opportunity to clear out some miscellaneous items he didn't need, exchanging them for spirit stones, such as low-grade talismans and Qi-Enhancing Pills, and low-grade magical weapons.

Chu He had quite a few such low-grade items, and he wondered what the two tall and thin cultivators were thinking: both were at the middle-upper stage of the Innate Realm, yet they still kept a large pile of low-grade items.

In fact, he didn't know the reason; both were capable subordinates of Lord Luo Si, and they had many followers. Those miscellaneous items were prepared for rewarding their subordinates.

Chu He planned to deal with those items and then browse the scattered market in Qinghe Town to see if he could find some good materials or buy some herbs for the Primordial Cultivation Pill, which would be much cheaper than the market price, making it a good deal.

The mid-grade Flying Cloud Longitudinal was very fast, and it only took a few dozen breaths to cover a distance of over a hundred miles, quickly reaching Qingling Town.

On the way, it was evident that the security had tightened significantly, and one could see several senior brothers every few steps.

Those miscellaneous items actually sold for a few high-grade spirit stones, which surprised Chu He. However, after a trip through the scattered market, he also managed to buy some good-quality Yiyang Fruits and two pieces of high-grade琉璃玉 (liuli yu, a type of jade).

He secretly used the Cleansing Fire to purify the two pieces of jade, and the luster changed in the same way as before: they became low-grade. Unfortunately, Little Master Chu's pockets were now full, and he remained unperturbed by this slight increase in value.

After selling the items and finishing the scattered market, it was almost time, and the two left Qinghe Town for Qingling Town.

The entrance to Qingling Town was not as spacious as Qinghe Town and was somewhat simpler. Several senior brothers were guarding it, checking the invitations.

Although Chu He and Gu Han were wearing the inner-disciple robes, the senior brothers still stopped them to check their invitations, not letting them off easily.

After the inspection, they were allowed to enter the market.

Qingling Town was different from Qinghe Town: it was quieter, not as noisy, and had far fewer people.

Those who came and went were either Innate Realm experts or Core Qi Realm immortals. The slight pressure they inadvertently released made Chu He and Gu Han feel very uncomfortable, as if they were two gentle lambs in a pack of wolves.

Qingling Town was much smaller than Qinghe Town, so the shop spaces were not as spacious. Those who could establish themselves here were backed by major forces.

The storefronts were either luxuriously decorated or elegantly unique, each with its own characteristics, almost making one's eyes light up, clearly showing the effort put into them.

There was no scattered market here, but there was an auction house and a Request and Response Tower. The Request and Response Tower was small, while the auction house was not much smaller than the one in Qinghe Town.

Chu He went to the Request and Response Tower and found that the information provided here was less than in Qinghe Town but much more advanced. Whether it was materials or other items, they were all for those at the Innate Realm and above.

With half an hour before the Alchemy Conference began, Chu He took the opportunity to search. After paying the fee and obtaining the access mark, he connected the Traction Jade and started browsing.

The mark could last for about half the time of a small incense stick, so Chu He had to hurry to find what he needed.

First, he searched for demon cores. When he saw that the purchase price for a fifth-grade demon core was around seventy to eighty high-grade spirit stones, he felt a bit pleased.

However, he didn't want to sell the two demon cores he had yet. For alchemists, demon cores, due to their refined and concentrated essence, could be excellent alchemy materials if the soul imprints could be removed, and they could replace many herbs of the same attribute.

Moreover, due to the local resources, Qingzhou's cultivators had been studying demon cores for a long time, and many alchemy formulas had been derived from them. Chu He was not short of spirit stones, so he decided to keep the demon cores for later.

Next, he browsed the alchemy formulas. He had a partial page of the Essence Condensation Pill formula and naturally wanted to look further, as he had nothing better to do.

If he got lucky and found the complete formula, it would be a pleasant surprise.

In the sect, a seventh-grade Essence Condensation Pill formula was only accessible to those at the upper stage of the Innate Realm or qualified disciples who had been examined by the sect for a long time. Reaching the upper stage of the Innate Realm was a bit too far for Chu He.

The Essence Condensation Pill formula in Chu He's possession detailed the various herbs, but its authenticity still needed verification. Apart from that, there was little other information.

The Request and Response Tower's information did not have any news about the Essence Condensation Pill, but there were many entries about Qi-Enhancing Pills and some about Primordial Cultivation Pills. The most common were methods of mixing demon beast flesh with alchemy, and the prices for formulas of ninth-grade pills were not low, with some being exorbitantly high.

Chu He looked for a while without finding anything, so he and Gu Han headed to the next place.

The main venue for this Alchemy Conference was the auction house, and the time was almost up.

The invitation was still the凭证 (pingzheng, voucher) to enter the auction house. Their seats were in the Ding section, a few dozen numbers, ranked fourth after Jia, Yi, and Bing, likely in the outer area, where they could only observe the entire process from a distance.

As expected, under the guidance of a senior brother, they sat down in an outer area.

However, an awkward situation followed: Deng Lu and Zhou Weihong were also in this area.

Faced with Zhou Weihong's invitation, Chu He had originally said he wouldn't come, but now appearing in front of the two was a bit hard to explain.

To ease the awkwardness, Chu He had to explain more, attributing all the reasons to Gu Han: he had an extra invitation and insisted on bringing me along, and I couldn't refuse, so I came to take a look.

Gu Han was very perceptive and quickly self-criticized, helping Chu He smooth over the small lie.

Before the four could chat much, a clear and ancient zither sound rang out from the central platform.

The Alchemy Conference had begun.