Chapter 383: Attracting Attention

As the night wore on, Bai Xiaochun became obsessed with pill concocting in a way that was completely different from before. By the time the sun rose, he had concocted 50 Ultra Fasting Aid Pills, whereupon he hurried out of his spirit abode toward the public square.

This time, he had barely set up his vendor stall and put the medicinal pill bottles out before a whole crowd of cultivators had gathered, pushing and shoving in their madness to buy some of the pills.

It didn’t take long before all 50 of the Ultra Fasting Aid Pills were gone. Bai Xiaochun was completely taken aback. However, after a bit of thought, he realized why the pills sold so quickly.

Compared to the outrageously expensive spirit food in the city, the pills were very cheap. Furthermore, they were so effective that no one could possibly be unmoved by them. After some consideration, though, Bai Xiaochun decided not to raise his prices. As far as he was concerned, the inhabitants of the city had things rough as it was, and besides, he was already making a great profit.

However, the next day as he was passing by a random shop, he noticed to his astonishment that they had an Ultra Fasting Aid Pill for sale for 3,000 merit points!

Upon arriving at the public square, he couldn’t even sit down before eight cultivators rushed over and began fighting over the chance to be first in line. And furthermore, all of them wanted to buy his entire supply of pills.

By now, Bai Xiaochun was on guard, and after a bit of observation, came to the realization that these cultivators were all employees of various shops in the east district. Obviously, they wanted to purchase the pills at a low price and then resell them for a profit.

Bai Xiaochun was not very pleased at all, and immediately established a new rule governing sales. Each customer could only purchase one pill at the normal price. The second pill would be twice as expensive. The same went for the third pill. However, this new rule wasn’t very effective. After all, the cultivators in Sky City were most unscrupulous....

Bai Xiaochun simply ignored that, though, and continued selling pills for seven days. By that point, he had accumulated close to 100,000 merit points.

Meanwhile, the matter of the Ultra Fasting Aid Pills in the east district had caused quite a commotion. Many people had heard of them, including certain powerful organizations in the city.

There were countless such organizations in Sky City, which were essentially gangs of cultivators. The largest and most powerful of them was the Celestial Sky Society, which controlled nearly eighty percent of the shops. With that monopoly, and the fact that they were backed by a deva clan, no one ever dared to provoke them.

When it came to the east district, there was no single person from the Celestial Sky Society who ran it, but rather, there were three of them, all of them famous orange-robed disciples. Currently, they were meeting in a secret location, serious expressions on their faces as they studied... an Ultra Fasting Aid Pill!

They took turns holding it in their hands and looking at it from all angles. None of them spoke, and a bit of time passed before someone called out greetings from outside of the secret chamber.

Standing outside was an old man with a full head of white hair. He was surrounded by a strong medicinal aroma, and as soon as he entered, the three orange-robed cultivators rose to their feet and greeting him respectfully.

The old man didn’t waste any words. Pointing at the Ultra Fasting Aid Pill, he said, “This pill contains 123 different types of medicinal effects. The combination of so many types of effects can lead to infinite variations.... I've never seen anything like it in my life.

“In terms of ingredients, it contains nineteen different varieties of medicinal plant, which, when merged together, give rise to those 123 different medicinal effects. If my speculations are correct, a unique concoction method was used to produce the pill!

“Whoever concocted it might not have overall skill in the Dao of medicine to rival my own, but when it comes to the techniques of mutual augmentation and suppression, he definitely is my superior!” This old man had spent several days researching the pill, and had been left completely shaken by what he saw.

One of the three orange-robed disciples couldn’t help but ask, “Is there any way you can reproduce the formula and technique so that we can concoct it ourselves?”

“Apparently you didn’t understand what I just said. Let me put it this way: not only have I never heard of an Ultra Fasting Aid Pill before, even after researching it, I can assure you that the formula is not like anything I’ve ever seen before. There are some flaws to it, but consuming it won’t cause any significant harm. At worst, it might cause some temporary damage to one’s vital energy. However, any such damage will quickly be repaired. Furthermore, after consuming the pill, a cultivator will be able to stave off the draining of their energy for about half a month. In the final analysis, I’m convinced... that someone recently invented this pill formula!

“Do you really think that I can simply analyze and reproduce such a powerful, recently invented pill formula? I don’t have that level of skill!”

Eyes shining brightly, the old man continued, “However, what I can do is take an existing pill and possibly split it up into more than one pill. Unfortunately... that would reduce the quality and make the side-effects worse.”

The three orange-robed disciples didn’t respond. All of them knew that if these pills continued to be concocted and sold to the inhabitants of Sky City, it would have a seriously detrimental effect on the sale of spirit food. In fact, it could even end the industry altogether.

Obviously, the Celestial Sky Society had no desire for the status quo to change.

If only they could acquire the pill formula, then they would be able to get a handle on the situation, and perhaps even prevent the pill from being concocted!

The three orange-robed disciples exchanged glances, and then two of them turned to the third.

“Killing people violates the rules set forth by the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect,” said one of the two, “so we should avoid that if possible. Even the main headquarters agrees with that.” Both of the men clasped hands respectfully. “Therefore, Fellow Daoist Zhou, would it be possible for you to get in contact with the cultivator selling this pill, and somehow acquire the pill formula? If not, well... hmph, I guess we could use the cooperation method!”

Meanwhile, Bai Xiaochun had been enjoying life for the past seven days. He was both pleased and shocked at his rapidly growing accumulation of merit points, and had been constantly splurging on the most expensive spirit foods. He had even gone to the Magic Pavilion to buy a large collection of magical items and defensive treasures.

What excited him most was that in Sky City, there were certain shops that sold beast mounts. The most expensive could cost millions of merit points, and even the cheapest went for more than 100,000.

Bai Xiaochun immediately fell in love with the idea of having a beast mount. After all, the cultivators he had seen in the city who went around on such mounts were all extraordinary figures. His desire itched in his heart, but unfortunately, he was worried that he couldn’t actually afford one. Therefore, he waited a few days until he couldn’t hold back anymore, and then spent over 100,000 merit points on a battle mount.

To most cultivators in the city, a mount like this would be considered a luxury. It was fully 90 meters long, and looked like a fearsome crocodile. It had three eyes, was covered with armor-like scales, and had a cultivation base comparable to the early Foundation Establishment stage.

When Bai Xiaochun sat on the back of the crocodile, he felt extremely grand and imposing. Its growling cry echoed like thunder, and ensured that he was the subject of much envy as he rode it back to his spirit abode.

“In a few days, I’ll pick a new place to stay,” he thought. “This spirit abode doesn’t fit me anymore. I need an immortal's cave! And the best one at that!” Even as his eyes sparkled with pride, he realized that there was an orange-robed cultivator waiting for him outside of his spirit abode, hands clasped behind his back.

He was flanked by seven or eight red-robed disciples, all of whom seemed energetic and ready to fight. In fact, they weren’t suppressing their cultivation bases, which ensured that a weighty pressure filled the entire area surrounding the spirit abode.

However, even the orange-robed disciple was only in the great circle of Foundation Establishment. As for the other Foundation Establishment cultivators, Bai Xiaochun could tell that they wouldn’t pose a threat to him at all, so he ignored them.

They looked at him, and he looked back at them. As for the orange-robed disciple, as soon as he got a look at Bai Xiaochun’s face, his expression turned very serious.

Everyone in the city usually suppressed their cultivation bases to the limit. However, as for this orange-robed disciple, with careful scrutiny, he could determine if a person was weaker than him or not. The only people he would be unable to assess would be people who were already in the great circle of Foundation Establishment, or higher.

Currently, he couldn’t assess Bai Xiaochun at all....

However, it didn’t occur to him that Bai Xiaochun might be in Core Formation.... That was because, despite how packed Sky City was, there were actually very few Core Formation cultivators there.

After all... with a Gold Core cultivation base, it would be a relatively simple thing to go on missions and earn the merit points necessary to be promoted to the rainbow district.

“Well this might be a problem....” the orange-robed cultivator thought, frowning. Despite having run a background check on Bai Xiaochun, he hadn’t found any information about him other than his surname. After a moment, he decided that, considering the level of cultivation base he was dealing with, he shouldn’t beat around the bush. The Ultra Fasting Aid Pill was too important, and therefore, the best choice in the situation was to start out by trying to cooperate with its maker. His frown turned into a smile.

As Bai Xiaochun neared, the orange-robed disciple clasped hands and bowed.

“Brother Bai, I presume? I am your humble servant Zhou Tao, a leader of sorts within the Celestial Sky Society. I was hoping to discuss the Ultra Fasting Aid Pill with you. If we cooperate, I think we can make a handsome profit!”

--

Translator:

Deathblade.

Chinese language consultant:

ASI a.k.a. Beerblade.

Editor:

GNE.

Memes:

Logan.

Meme archives:

Tocsin.

Transcendent Patrons:

Daoist Elder N, BLE, ttre208.

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