A jade bottle glided through the air, drawing a graceful arc before landing lightly on the jade platform with a soft 'ding.'
Xiao Jietian turned to look at Xuan Yi behind him. This was the bottle she had thrown. They exchanged a glance, and with their deep mutual understanding, everything was conveyed without words.
"This is a two-colored eighth-grade pill called the Soul Gathering Pill. After consumption, it can temporarily increase one's soul power by half, but it is only effective for souls below the Heaven Realm. I wonder if this is satisfactory?" Xuan Yi said calmly.
The old man stiffened for a moment, then his face flushed with ecstasy. He swiftly grabbed the jade bottle as if afraid the other party would take it back and chuckled, "Of course it's satisfactory! Extremely satisfactory!"
With this pill, he might even be able to attempt refining an eighth-grade pill with one-colored Pill Lightning. With an excited expression, he casually pushed four or five other items forward. "Consider these a small gift to you all."
Xiao Jietian glanced at them. They were all medicinal ingredients for refining sixth- and seventh-grade pills—not bad at all. He didn't stand on ceremony and collected these items along with the Liuli Grass.
"This old man will take his leave first!" The old man could no longer hold back his urge to return and experiment. He had already inspected the pill and found no issues. Moreover, the other party's purple-gold badge was enough to reassure him.
After all, a mere two-colored eighth-grade pill was probably insignificant in their eyes.
Seeing that the old man was about to leave, Xiao Jietian also took Xuan Yi and the others away. There was nothing else of value at the stall.
The group continued browsing the entire trade fair but couldn't find the other three main medicinal ingredients. However, they did obtain five auxiliary ones.
"The harvest from this trade fair is quite good," Xiao Jietian said with a smile.
"This place isn't open every day. It's usually held once every one to two years, so naturally there won't be a shortage of good things inside."
Unless she was in seclusion, Xuan Yi would basically attend every time to see if there were any overlooked medicinal ingredients.
This time, she had also found two ingredients she needed. For an alchemist, medicinal ingredients were treasures they loved. Whether they could use them immediately or not, they always liked to collect high-grade ones when they appeared.
Alchemists were a profession full of collectors. Killing a high-level alchemist would instantly make one rich, but very few people dared to do so—except for certain individuals.
Seeing that there was nothing else worthwhile, the four of them returned to the second floor and approached the counter.
At the counter, besides the original deacon, two more old men had appeared.
"Elders, these two are here to exchange for the medicinal ingredients from upstairs," the deacon said respectfully when he saw Xuan Yi and the others return. He then introduced the ingredients the two men were offering.
What surprised Xiao Jietian was that one of them was selling a Green Wood Heart.
The Green Wood Heart was the heart of an Evergreen Tree—a rare medicinal ingredient used for healing injuries, strengthening the body, and enhancing elemental affinity.
The other person was offering two auxiliary medicinal ingredients, both relatively rare and hard to find.
In the end, Xuan Yi exchanged one Soul Gathering Pill with each person for the three medicinal ingredients.
The two old men who completed the transaction quickly left. After all, facing a core elder of the Pill Tower, they—mere intermediate seventh-grade alchemists—felt considerable pressure.
"You did very well this time. This is your reward. If there are more in the future, you can directly ask someone to find Elder Qin Zhengfeng. The more you find, the greater the reward will be."
Xuan Yi took out a seventh-grade intermediate pill and placed it on the counter. After giving her instructions, she left with Xiao Jietian and the two girls.
"Yes! Thank you for the Elder's reward!!!" The deacon's face couldn't hide his excitement. Seeing how generous the other party was, he decided to work even harder to find medicinal ingredients. This was a rare opportunity.
Other elders in the past had always been arrogant, offered no benefits, and sometimes even humiliated people.
...
After strolling around outside for a while longer, the four of them returned to their residence on the top floor of the Pill Tower.
"Daddy, quickly take out that thing you found and let us see!"
In Xuan Yi's room, Xiao Ling climbed onto Xiao Jietian's lap and sat down, eagerly urging him.
Xiao Meng and Xuan Yi on the other side also looked at him with expectant eyes.
"Alright, alright." Xiao Jietian took out the fist-sized amber from his system space and placed it on the table.
"Just this broken stone? Isn't this just ordinary amber?" The three of them curiously examined the yellow amber. Xiao Ling poked it with a puzzled expression. "Are you saying the treasure is that small, beetle-like insect inside?"
Xuan Yi scanned it several times with her soul power but found nothing unusual. Inside, there was only an insect and some small black stones. She had never seen that kind of insect before.
However, its aura was only equivalent to a Dou Zong, and its life force was already gone. It was truly a dead object.
"Exactly. Daddy, stop teasing us~~" Xiao Meng pulled on Xiao Jietian's shoulder, acting spoiled.
"Alright~" Xiao Jietian patted the heads of his two daughters. He summoned his Sea Heart Flame, and a Deep blue flame appeared in his palm as he began to burn the amber.
Xuan Yi's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the Sea Heart Flame.
Sea Heart Flame…
She had seen the Eight Desolate Destruction Flame on him before, and now, Sea Heart Flame. As an alchemist, she felt deep envy. She herself didn't possess even a single Heavenly Flame, yet Xiao Jietian already had two—and one of them was ranked in the top six. She also suspected he had the Life Spirit Flame, the dream flame of every alchemist.
Xuan Yi asked you to have more heavenly flames
"Yes," Xiao Jietian replied. "I have more Heavenly Flames. Don't envy me. I'll give you a very powerful flame—one that can even rival Rank 4."
Xuan Yi was stunned. As an alchemist, a Heavenly Flame was extremely important to her, so she was secretly looking forward to it.
Xiao Jietian continued using the deep blue Sea Heart Flame to burn the black stones.
Xuan Yi asked in confusion, "What is happening? There's no reaction."
Hearing Xiao Jietian's earlier words, she understood that the outer layer of the amber was not the real treasure.
Five seconds later, the golden-yellow amber had completely disappeared, leaving only four black stones the size of rice grains and a small black beetle on the table.
Xiao Ling looked at the beetle, which was slightly larger than an adult's finger, and took out a jade rod from her storage ring.
The moment the jade rod touched the black beetle, it shattered with a crisp 'snap,' breaking into small pieces.
Xiao Ling was instantly stunned. The jade rod slipped from her hand and fell onto the table with a clear sound.
"Th-th-this… I… I didn't mean to. I didn't expect it to be so fragile," Xiao Ling looked at Xiao Jietian with a hint of panic, then hurriedly picked up the jade rod again and scraped the beetle's remains together.
"Hahahaha." Seeing Xiao Ling shrug her head and her flustered actions, Xiao Jietian couldn't help but burst out laughing. He then feigned a stern face. "You destroyed my treasure. Your butt is forfeit."
"Ah?!!!" Xiao Ling immediately threw away the jade rod and burrowed into Xuan Yi's arms.