Chapter 114: Are Jianzong

Shortly after Yue Ling left, the two finished the remaining rice balls in sweet wine and fried lotus petals.

One of the Foundation Establishment disciples came over to clear the table.

Xu Xing paid with the spirit coins he had left over from Xuanjian City.

Leaving the snack stall, the two continued walking; after exiting the ancient town, they soon reached the foot of Dan Ding Ge.

The number of tourists around had clearly increased significantly.

Dan Ding Ge is one of Jianzong’s most popular tourist attractions; besides selling high-quality, affordable, and diverse medicinal pills to outsiders, it also permits external cultivators to set up stalls selling their own crafted pills or trading ancient pill formulas.

Everyone knows how treacherous this is.

Dan Ding Ge understood this well, so it placed two notice boards at the foot of the mountain, each bearing a single line of bold, red text.

【Tourists unfamiliar with pill alchemy must purchase pills only from Dan Ding Ge’s official store to avoid being deceived.】

Despite the warning, many tourists are still scammed each year, and incidents of unrest occur from time to time.

Yet Dan Ding Ge has never revoked the rule allowing external cultivators to sell their own crafted pills and ancient pill formulas.

After all, Dan Ding Ge never relied on this for income—it is already the wealthiest department within Jianzong and doesn’t need such petty gains.

The real purpose is to train the disciples’ discernment and expand their experience.

Whether they are deceived due to poor judgment or truly uncover a valuable find through their own knowledge, both outcomes will help them advance more smoothly in their pill alchemy careers.

Xu Xing and Bie Xuening walked up the mountain path.

The higher they climbed, the more tourists lined the trail; many had found suitable angles to take photos as souvenirs.

But the two had no such intention, so they kept going until they reached the summit.

The most striking sight was the massive pill cauldron, dozens of meters tall, standing before Dan Ding Ge and casting a vast shadow like a skyscraper.

Behind the cauldron lay neatly arranged acres of spirit fields, planted entirely with spirit herbs, guarded by several sword cultivators with deep, steady qi signatures.

The scents of various spirit herbs mingled into a uniquely refreshing aroma, pleasant and calming.

These were specially selected varieties whose fragrance had a tranquilizing effect on the spirit; Dan Ding Ge planted them outside specifically, and rarely used these herbs in actual pill crafting.

“Dan Ding Ge has improved considerably since before,” Xu Xing said with a slight nod.

Bie Xuening shook her head slightly: “But it still falls far short of Jishi Valley.”

“No need to compare with them. In pill alchemy, who could possibly surpass them?”

Jishi Valley was the immortal sect renowned for its mastery of pill alchemy and medicine.

Shii! Shii-shii!

Several streaks of light shot across the sky, vanishing instantly as they landed within Dan Ding Ge.

Each streak was a storage ring, packed full of various spirit herbs.

A new batch of spirit herbs had arrived.

The starry sky was vast; the territories under Jianzong’s control held no shortage of planets rich in spiritual energy. Aside from a few spirit herbs requiring the unique environment of the Central Continent, the vast majority could be grown on suitable planets across the stars and cultivated on a large scale.

Thus, the vast majority of spirit herbs Jianzong used daily came from the stars.

The arrival of the spirit herbs drew no attention; neither the tourists nor the vendors on the summit noticed a thing.

After glancing, Xu Xing and Bie Xuening turned their attention elsewhere.

Opposite the spirit fields lay Dan Ding Ge’s designated “Free Trading Zone,” bustling with activity.

Many cultivators set up stalls there, most of whom were Jianzong disciples.

Although rumors of people being scammed were constant, they did nothing to dampen people’s enthusiasm.

Some were cheated; others found hidden treasures.

Last week, someone even unearthed an unspoiled ancient pill and sold it to Jishi Valley for a fortune in spirit coins.

“Go take a look?”

As he asked, Xu Xing had already started walking.

“Mm.”

Bie Xuening followed him into the “Free Trading Zone.”

The place was crowded, but most buyers were Dan Ding Ge disciples; tourists mostly entered out of curiosity.

Yet… eighty percent of the items in this “Free Trading Zone” were fakes.

Especially the stalls run by Jianzong disciples—nearly all of them sold counterfeit goods.

Still, the counterfeiting techniques were surprisingly sophisticated.

At that moment, a commotion erupted ahead.

Many people rushed over; even Xu Xing and Bie Xuening turned to look.

In the center of the crowd, a young man dressed in Dan Ding Ge’s uniform, of ordinary appearance, lay in another’s arms, foaming at the mouth, his face purple, his body convulsing uncontrollably. In his hand he clutched a pill as translucent and lustrous as white jade, with swirling mist-like hues inside.

“Brother! Brother! Don’t scare me, brother!” The man holding him continuously poured true energy into the youth to suppress the poison.

The vendor was not a Jianzong disciple but an outsider; he was now drenched in sweat, repeating the same phrase over and over.

“I told you! Don’t lick pills! You can’t blame me! Don’t blame me!”

At that moment, an old man stood inside Dan Ding Ge, looking down at the convulsing youth.

“Hmph! Forgot the most basic taboo? Deserved it!”

His tone carried the frustration of a master seeing a disciple fail.

Are pills something you just lick?

You shouldn’t even smell pills you don’t recognize!

He hadn’t rushed to help immediately precisely to let the youth learn a lesson—if Jianzong saved him, what if he were outside the sect?

If he remained this reckless outside, he’d be playing with his own life.

“Sister, do you think he’s lucky or unlucky?” Xu Xing watched the scene with interest.

If unlucky, the pill in his hand was one of the few genuine items in the entire “Free Trading Zone,” and quite valuable.

But if lucky, that pill was precisely a poison pill that suppressed magic power and carried a faint toxicity.

“A reckless lucky fool,” Bie Xuening said coolly.

She flicked her finger, sending a speck of spiritual light into the disciple’s body.

The poison, which had already spread over half his body, melted away like snow under sunlight, vanishing completely under the spiritual light’s suppression.

In less than ten seconds, the purple hue vanished from his face, and his convulsions ceased.

Fortunately, he’d only licked it—if he’d swallowed it, he’d have been dragged off for burial on the spot.

Huh?!

The old man, about to descend and help, froze in shock.

What? How did it vanish?! That poison was notoriously stubborn—even he needed a day or two to slowly extract it.

Hmm… could it be that the pill’s potency had faded due to age? But the pill’s appearance suggested its power was perfectly preserved!

Or perhaps… it wasn’t the type of pill he assumed?

A new kind of pill?

The thought made his curiosity itch.

Go down and test it!

The old man flashed forward, appearing instantly in the crowd’s center.

Huh? Who’s this old man…? But soon, someone recognized him.

“Chief!”

“Chief, what are you doing here?”

Deputy Chief of the Outer Gate Dan Ding Ge, a Grand Void cultivator.

Ignoring the voices around him, the old man reached out and summoned the translucent white jade pill into his hand.

The crowd instantly understood.

So that’s it—the Deputy Chief had saved the poisoned Jianzong disciple.

Then, they watched as he picked up the pill and licked it.

“...”

Never mind that it was a poison pill—this was grossly unsanitary! But before anyone could react, something even more shocking happened.

The Grand Void cultivator, Deputy Chief of Dan Ding Ge, suddenly showed a faint purple tint on his face.

Then, right before everyone’s eyes, he collapsed straight down.

【Didn’t guess wrong…】

That was his final thought before falling.

“...”

After a moment of silence, Bie Xuening turned to Xu Xing—and found him looking at her.

These days, are Jianzong’s juniors really playing like this?

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(End of chapter)