Chapter 349: Acquired

"Actually, it's not that simple!"

An old man in the front row turned around and said, "This little girl's hearsay has cost lives!"

"If Chunyu Fang's century-old brew only boosted virility, it would've vanished centuries ago—why would it still be passed down today?"

"The truth is, Chunyu Fang's immortal brew has two other functions, especially the second one…"

He Pingsheng had a feeling this old man was skilled with words.

The old man continued, "First, the aged brew contains spirit and spiritual energy. Drinking it can slightly increase your cultivation base, and crucially, it can purge lingering medicinal toxins from long-term elixir consumption!"

"Just this first point has driven cultivators mad!"

"The second point—the most important one—is that this aged brew can serve as a spiritual liquid for alchemy, used to soak herbs and refine Golden Core pills!"

"It can enhance the success rate of alchemy and improve the quality of the finished pills to a certain degree!"

Hearing this, He Pingsheng finally understood.

So that's how it is.

Indeed, a fine item.

"But… buying five hundred casks? Isn't that too much?" He Pingsheng asked.

The old man replied, "They're all master alchemists who use large quantities in their daily practice. But don't worry—even if they can't use that much, most will resell them at the entrance of the merchant association after bidding!"

No one can consume that much alone—they'll have to distribute it.

He Pingsheng nodded: "Thank you, fellow cultivator, for clarifying!"

No need to bid then—wait it out!

In the end, the five hundred casks of century-old brew sold for seventeen million.

Each cask was worth roughly thirty thousand lower-grade spirit stones.

Not cheap, by any means.

"Congratulations to this fellow cultivator for winning the spirit wine—please prepare for delivery!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, next up for auction is a Lower Earth-grade cultivation technique—Earth attribute…"

One by one, items were auctioned off.

He Pingsheng had little interest.

Soon enough, the auctioneer finally brought out the golden small tripod He Pingsheng had been waiting for.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the auctioneer said, "This tripod was recovered from an ancient ruin and is being auctioned on behalf of a fellow cultivator. Our merchant association has studied it—it was originally a top-grade magical treasure, but due to centuries of decay, the ancient tripod has sustained some damage, slightly lowering its rank!"

"Now, it bears ten sealing layers—it's a Middle-grade magic treasure!"

"Starting bid: fifty thousand lower-grade spirit stones. Each raise must be at least ten thousand lower-grade spirit stones!"

Fifty thousand…

How to put it?

Not cheap, but reasonable.

Back in Dingxiang City, He Pingsheng once bought a Lower-grade magic treasure, 【Cloud-Chasing Boots】, for over eleven thousand.

But that was pure luck—no one else bid.

Many were repulsed by the idea of wearing shoes previously worn by others.

Later, at another trade fair, the 【Earth Elemental Armor】 was bid up to over thirty thousand.

And that was still a Lower-grade magic treasure.

So a fifty-thousand starting bid for a Middle-grade magic treasure is perfectly normal.

"Fifty-one thousand!" He Pingsheng bid first.

"Fifty-two thousand!"

"Fifty-three thousand!"

…

Soon, more bidders joined in.

He Pingsheng stopped bidding.

He waited quietly.

When the price reached eighty thousand and bidders began to dwindle, he spoke again: "Eighty-five thousand!"

A five-ten-thousand jump—determined to win.

After two or three more rounds of bidding, He Pingsheng secured the alchemy furnace for ninety-nine thousand lower-grade spirit stones.

At He Pingsheng's level, buying things no longer mattered in terms of profit or loss.

If you like it, that's enough.

There's no absolute gain or loss—only personal preference.

He made no further bids in the rest of the auction.

After the auction ended, just as the old man had said, people were selling 【Century-Old Immortal Brew】 at the entrance.

It was a middle-aged man, holding not the brew itself, but a stack of tokens.

"Forty thousand spirit stones per cask—twenty jin per cask!"

Impressive!

This guy was making money too!

Forty thousand per cask—five hundred casks meant twenty million.

He Pingsheng remembered the man had paid only seventeen million to buy all of them at auction.

But what could you do? He bought in bulk—if he couldn't sell them, he'd bear the loss alone. He took risks too.

"I'll take fifty casks!" He Pingsheng walked over and handed the man two hundred middle-grade spirit stones.

The man took a jade slip and input a message into it.

"Fellow cultivator… the wine is all outside, on the cart. After leaving the merchant association, present this token to claim your share!"

"Got it!" He Pingsheng took the token and stepped out of the merchant association, then spotted a large cart pulled by a beast not far from the entrance.

On the cart were cask after cask of spirit wine.

All were century-old immortal brew.

He Pingsheng showed his token to the guard at the stall and directly retrieved fifty casks before leaving.

Back at his lodging, He Pingsheng immediately opened one cask of the spirit wine.

A rich, intoxicating aroma instantly filled the air.

He took a sip.

The taste was excellent!

A sensation no spiritual tea could match.

Moreover, it contained potent spiritual power sufficient to support a Jin Dan cultivator's training.

This was truly a fine item.

One cask held energy equivalent to a 【Gather Essence Pill】.

Crucially, it was even cheaper than a Gather Essence Pill.

It seemed brewing was indeed a profound art.

Set it aside!

With some enhancement later, it might become even more useful.

He Pingsheng did not immediately enhance the wine. Instead, he tossed the palm-sized golden tripod directly into the Treasure Basin.

After a night's rest, he headed to the Immortal Ship Plaza the next day.

He boarded a large vessel bound for Hongshi County, Hongshi City, north of Tiannan City.

During the journey, he enhanced the ancient tripod into two.

One black!

One green!

Both had an ancient, simple appearance.

All original cracks on the tripod had been automatically repaired by the Treasure Basin.

He Pingsheng picked up the black ancient tripod and examined it.

Name: Gu Xuan Ding

Rank: Top-grade Magic Treasure (twelve sealing layers)

Function: After refinement, usable for alchemy and artifact forging; possesses exceptional defensive capabilities, can serve as a defensive magic treasure.

Note: Attributeless.

Excellent item.

Attributeless—meaning I can channel any type of magic power into it; as long as power flows in, the defense activates.

Impressive.

Even without alchemy, the defense alone is worth it.

The second one—the green small tripod.

He Pingsheng picked it up and looked.

Name: Qing Xuan Ding

Rank: Top-grade Magic Treasure (twelve sealing layers)

Function: After refinement, usable for alchemy and artifact forging; possesses exceptional defensive capabilities, can serve as a defensive magic treasure.

Note: Water attribute.

This one has an attribute now.

But it doesn't matter—I can give it to Sister Qiao; she has an Ice Spirit Root, so it's perfect.