Chapter 347: Dao Root Emerges, the Treasure Cauldron of Gold

He Pingsheng spent some time enveloping the small tower he had rented at Immortal Guest Lodge with a third-rank array.

Third-rank defensive array!

Third-rank illusory array!

Third-rank spirit-suppressing array!

And a third-rank early-warning array.

Only after everything was done did he begin to inventory.

He took out each item one by one.

A large chunk of extreme-yin blue gold, unenhanced.

Dozens of phoenix feathers, unenhanced.

Twenty-seven Suanluo Sacred Fruits, all low-grade, unenhanced.

Twenty-one strips of ten-thousand-year ice marrow, unenhanced.

A large pile of fire crystals, unenhanced.

One blood jade purple-skinned date, unenhanced.

These above are unenhanced.

Four Speed-Enhancing Talismans, enhanced.

Two Heavenly Fire Condensed Armor Talismans, enhanced!

One black-and-white lotus root, enhanced.

One phoenix egg, enhanced.

Four Crack-Soul Thunder Fruits, enhanced.

Two treasure beads of Fa Bao grade, already enhanced to repel poison.

The two jade slips contained the 【Three Thousand Thundering Law】 and 【Earth-Shortening Law】, both enhanced.

These are the enhanced items.

This trip to the Five Dragon Gully secret realm was truly a windfall.

What comes next is simple.

Cultivate while enhancing.

Before he knew it, one and a half years had passed.

After cultivating the 【Five Elements Merged Heaven Scripture】, He Pingsheng achieved the Golden Core pathway; the Dao root naturally sprouted from his dantian and extended straight to his spiritual sense.

Meanwhile, over the course of this year, he had raised his entire cultivation base to Golden Core Stage One.

Now, within his dantian, there were five Golden Cores: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

He had also fully refined the final seal on the Five Elements Poison-Avoiding Treasure Beads.

Moreover, his body refinement had reached Golden Core Stage One, and his spirit refinement had as well.

In addition, he had brought the 【Three Thousand Thundering Law】 to perfection.

It was time to go out and purchase the materials for crafting the 【Supplement Dao Elixir】.

He Pingsheng stepped out of the Immortal Guest Lodge and headed toward Tiannan City's main commercial street.

Outside the eastern gate of the city governor's mansion, countless shops lined the street.

He Pingsheng avoided the large merchant guilds and instead browsed individual shops.

"What would you like, fellow cultivator?" A Golden Core-stage shopkeeper hurried out from behind the counter upon seeing He Pingsheng, speaking with respectful haste.

The shop was small, selling only materials related to elixirs.

He Pingsheng said: "I'd be grateful if you could help me—I need several batches of herbal materials."

"Of course!" the shopkeeper said. "Name them."

He Pingsheng said: "Two batches each of the materials for crafting Kongming Elixir, Zhuanggu Elixir, Longyou Elixir, and Mingxin Elixir."

The 【Supplement Dao Elixir】 requires seventeen auxiliary materials.

All seventeen auxiliary materials are contained within the four elixirs: 【Kongming Elixir】, 【Zhuanggu Elixir】, 【Longyou Elixir】, and 【Mingxin Elixir】.

To avoid drawing attention, He Pingsheng did not purchase them individually but instead claimed he was buying these four elixirs.

This way, no suspicious eyes would be drawn.

"Uh…" The shopkeeper clearly hadn't expected such an unusual order—he smiled weakly. "Fellow cultivator… I only have materials for Kongming and Longyou Elixirs. Mingxin and Zhuanggu are incomplete."

"Fine!" He Pingsheng said. "Give me what you have—even the incomplete ones."

He bought them all.

He could sort through them later at home.

After purchasing the materials, He Pingsheng left the elixir shop and entered another shop specializing in third-rank elixirs.

He went in and out of dozens of shops like this, stopping and moving, until he had gathered all the auxiliary materials.

With the auxiliary materials complete, he still needed two main ingredients.

The four main ingredients for the 【Supplement Dao Elixir】 are: Xuan-Huang-Bai-Hei Lotus Root, Tianyuan Fruit, Purple Loquat, and Tian Su Leaf.

He already possessed the Xuan-Huang-Bai-Hei Lotus Root and Tianyuan Fruit; what he still lacked were the Purple Loquat and Tian Su Leaf.

Though not exceedingly rare, these two were still quite valuable.

He visited several ordinary elixir shops but found none.

No choice—he had to go to a major merchant guild.

He Pingsheng did not immediately go to the largest 【Tiannan Merchant Guild】, since it was backed by the city governor's mansion and the Liang Kingdom.

He inquired and learned that the 【Nanchuan Merchant Guild】 in Tiannan City was privately owned, rumored to belong to a certain old prince of Liang.

He Pingsheng entered the Nanchuan Merchant Guild.

"Elder!"

As soon as he stepped inside, a young woman approached and bowed to him.

He Pingsheng's gaze was immediately drawn.

What caught his eye was not the young woman, but the promotional banners on either side.

They announced that the Nanchuan Merchant Guild would hold an auction in approximately three days.

Many items would be auctioned off.

"Wait…" He Pingsheng's eyes fixed on the auction poster. "Let me look at this first!"

"Of course, Elder!" The girl stood obediently beside him. "If you need anything, please ask me!"

"Good."

He Pingsheng scanned the list.

The auction items were varied, but few were useful to him.

He already possessed nearly every category of equipment—he struggled to find anything he truly lacked.

If he had to name one thing missing…

Hmm…

A cauldron.

Perfect—there was one being auctioned here.

In the image, the cauldron was golden, ancient, seemingly excavated from some ruin, its rim slightly damaged.

It was labeled as a Fa Bao.

But whether it was low-, mid-, or high-grade was not specified.

"This item…" He Pingsheng pointed at the cauldron. "Do you know its exact grade?"

"I'm sorry," the girl shook her head. "Elder, I don't know. If you're interested, you can attend the auction—it starts in three days!"

"Hmm." He Pingsheng nodded. "Not bad."

"Call your Elder over—I wish to purchase some items."

"By the way, I'm a Golden Core cultivator."

Low-rank disciples like her lacked authority to handle purchases of third-rank heavenly treasures—they'd have to summon an Elder anyway.

He Pingsheng simply revealed his identity outright.

"Ah…" The girl was stunned. "Yes, Elder, please wait!"

Soon, an old man appeared before He Pingsheng.

Golden Core Stage Four.

The old man studied He Pingsheng. "What item do you seek, fellow cultivator?"

He Pingsheng said: "I'm crafting the 【Allure Demon Elixir】 and still need one main ingredient—【Tian Su Leaf】. Do you have it?"

Tian Su Leaf was not extremely rare, but it was certainly valuable.

It was the main ingredient for the 【Allure Demon Elixir】.

It was also a third-rank 【Spirit Beast Elixir】 ingredient, used to feed spirit beasts.

"We have it… How much do you need?"

He Pingsheng said: "Two batches will suffice."

Soon, He Pingsheng received the 【Allure Demon Elixir】 materials and departed.

He paid roughly forty thousand spirit stones.

The price wasn't high.

Of course, as he left, the old man gave him a token, saying it granted entry to the auction in three days.

He Pingsheng had some interest in that golden cauldron, so he did not refuse.