Chapter 286: To Scour For Treasure

At the place where two streets intersected, stood a very large building, which was perpetually shrouded by a faint medicinal pill-like fragrance. Above the towering main door was a plaque with ‘The Alchemist Association’, three ancient looking flamboyant large words. It twinkled with a pale-silver glow that caused the passersby to involuntarily throw it a respectful gaze.

Being the headquarters of the Jia Ma Empire Alchemist Association, even the emperor would have to be modest and courteous when he came to this place. After all, the people that lived within this building could create a force that was sufficient enough to shake the entire empire. They belonged to the most respected occupation in the entire Dou Qi continent.

At the large door of the Alchemist Association, numerous alchemists who were usually rarely seen were entering with hurried footsteps. Their bodies had different colored alchemist robes which proudly represented their tier.

Standing by the large door, Xiao Yan raised his head to look at the extremely majestic and imposing looking Alchemist Association Headquarters. He could not help but praise and shake his head. Such an imposing presence really lived up to its position as the head of the dragon for the alchemists in the Jia Ma Empire.

“Are you planning on participating in the Alchemist Grand Meeting?” Hai Bo Dong, who stood beside Xiao Yan raised his head and also looked at the Alchemist Association which was even more crowded and lively than usual before tilting his head as he inquired.

“We’ll see. If there is a reward that can move me, I may participate. If there isn’t...” When Xiao Yan said to this point, he waved his hand. Clearly, if there was no reward that moved him, he would naturally not want to be involved in this troublesome matter.

“It’s up to you. This kind of Grand Meeting is an event that is indispensable for you alchemists. There are many alchemists from other countries that have also hurried over.” Hai Bo Dong nodded his head. He then patted Xiao Yan’s shoulders and said, “Since it’s like this, you should enter by yourself. I wish to go settle some things and meet some old acquaintances.”

“You are going to the Primer clan, right?” Xiao Yan glanced at Hai Bo Dong and laughed.

Hai Bo Dong smiled but did not directly reply. He waved his hand at Xiao Yan before turning around and slowly walked along the street on the left side.

Eyeing the old back which was slowly absorbed into the human flow, Xiao Yan softly muttered, “Looks like he has quite a deep relationship with the Primer clan...”

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

After deliberating for a moment, Xiao Yan shook his head slightly. He threw out all these questions within his mind. Regardless of whether Hai Bo Dong had an old relationship with the Primer clan, it did not have much to do with him. Xiao Yan once again eyed the horizontal signboard that carried an ancient aura before lifting his feet and shoving into the Alchemist Association.

The current Xiao Yan still had the ice silk mask covering his face and he wore a tier two alchemist occupational robe. His ordinary manner was very inconspicuous.

Stepping into the main entrance of the Alchemist Association, a rich pill fragrance pounced onto his front. The fragrance caused people to involuntarily inhale a breath and with a refreshed feeling they would lift their eyes to check their surroundings.

The interior of the Alchemist Association was extremely spacious. It was roughly divided into three areas, the east, south and west. On the eastern side of the large hall, there were many square counters that were neatly constructed using large amounts of green granite. Some alchemists wearing long robes were seated behind these counters while many different kinds of medicinal ingredients, jade bottles, scrolls, etc, were placed on top of these counters. Looking at the appearance, it seemed to belong to the region for trading and the place to scour for treasure.

The southern part of the large hall, on the other hand, had quite a number of cauldrons which were burning. Some alchemists were behind the cauldrons, controlling the flame with serious expressions. Completely surrounding them were some low tier alchemist. As they pointed out different things to one another, they were softly exchanging their refining experience.

The western side of the hall was undoubtedly quieter compared to the other two sides. At the aisle, there were even some guards standing. It appeared that only alchemists who had reached a certain tier had the qualifications to enter. When some low tier alchemist occasionally passed by, they would throw over a respectful and envious gaze.

Standing at the entrance, Xiao Yan watched the large hall which was filled with lively energy. He could not help but watch somewhat stupidly. A long while later, he gradually recovered and shook his head with a bitter smile.

Xiao Yan slowly walked into the hall. His gaze wandered all around. After hesitating for a moment, he lifted his leg and headed to the trading and scouring treasure region. With the experience of accidentally scoring the ‘Vacuum Palm’ Dou Skill back at Wu Tan City, he was extremely interested in scouring for hidden treasure in such a vast dump.

After walking into the eastern area, Xiao Yan slowly walked in front of the square counters placed all around. His gaze contained curiosity as he weighed these many rare medicinal ingredients and other things that he had never seen before.

Although this place was named as a trading and treasure scouring area, the people who were selling here did not shout out loudly like the shop owners at the marketplaces. All of them sat on their chairs in a laid-back manner. Occasionally, their gaze would glance over at the people standing in front of their counter. If they felt that the other party may have some economic foundation, some of the alchemists who were selling would stand up and converse with them. However, most of them still lazily shrunk back onto their chairs. This kind of laid-back and lazy manner totally did not look like a merchant selling something. Of course, they were not merchants. What they needed was not the gold coins or other treasures that the merchants coveted. Instead, they wanted to exchange their things for other items.

If one wanted to obtain the necessary medicinal ingredients or medicinal pill from their hands, one must take out a rare and unique treasures that they were interested in.

During Xiao Yan’s slow walk, Xiao Yan was able to feast his eyes on the many different kind of rare and unique medicinal ingredients and medicinal pills. Among the medicinal ingredients, he even saw a few of the medicinal ingredients needed to refine the ‘Spiritual Recovery Purple Pill’. Being driven by curiosity, he went forward and inquired. It was unexpected that the old man selling merely glanced at him and indifferently mentioned a tier four medicinal pill. Therefore, Xiao Yan could only helplessly withdraw. Although those medicinal ingredients were indeed very rare, it was obviously impossible for Xiao Yan to take out a tier four medicinal pill to exchange for them. In any case, he would not need to be overly concerned about the issue of the medicinal ingredients. After he went back, he would tell Hai Bo Dong and let him think of a solution.

As Xiao Yan slowly walked around this area of boundless treasures, he looked left and right and had made quite good gains in knowledge. The most popular spot in the scouring treasure area was undoubtedly where a somewhat old man took out a kind of pink colored flame seed. The fire seed was contained in a large transparent jade bottle. It writhed slightly and emitted some peach scent.

This kind of flame was named ‘Peach Blossom Flame’. It only existed within a rank five wood affinity Magic Beast, Kui Wood Beast’s body, which was quite rare. It was of similar grade when compared to the Amethyst Winged Lion’s Purple Flame but it was much more docile and thus, also easier to tame it. Of course the flame’s temperature and its destructive power was naturally weaker than the Purple Flame. Even if this was the case, the ‘Peach Blossom Flame’ flame seed also caused many alchemists in the scouring treasure area to covet it. Some of those who had some economic foundation would step forward one after another to inquire. However, the price that the old man wanted seemed to be very high. Therefore, until now, no one had successfully managed to obtain the bottle of ‘Peach Blossom Flame’.

Standing in the crowd, Xiao Yan stroked his chin. He eyed the ‘Peach Blossom Flame Seed’ on the counter. He frowned and mused for a moment before deciding to give up that thing. Currently, this kind of flame did not have much use for Xiao Yan, who possessed both the ‘Heavenly Flame’ and the Purple Flame. Therefore, he didn’t need to pay such a high price to obtain something he didn’t need.

After musing in this manner, Xiao Yan dispelled the thought of exchanging for it. He stood outside and merely watched the fun.

After many people had successively failed to trade, many people knew their limits and chose to give up. However, they did not immediately leave. Instead, they still stood on the spot and eyed that enchanting and blooming pink colored flame.

Seeing those peoples’ comical expressions, Xiao Yan was a little dumbfounded as he smiled involuntarily and shook his head. He was about to turn around to leave when a silver colored shadow suddenly shoved out of the crowd. Under the full view of everyone, she hurried to the side of the rock counter. Her pretty eyes shone brightly as she stared at the pink colored flame.

“It’s her?” Eyeing the lady who wore the silver colored dress, Xiao Yan was momentarily blank as he said softly, “Is she also here to participate in the Alchemist Grand Meeting?”

The silver robed lady that had shoved her way out of the crowd was shockingly the lady called Xue Mei whom Xiao Yan had met back at Black Rock City. She was also the personal disciple of Frank, the Branch Chairman of the Black Rock City’s Alchemist Association Branch.

This woman who was usually a little icy appeared to have a great liking for this pink colored flame. She held the transparent jade bottle with both hands. Her manner, which suggested she liked it too much to put it down, caused Xiao Yan to helplessly shake his head. This foolish woman. By revealing such a manner now, was she not obviously asking the other party to open his mouth and ask for an exorbitant price?

Indeed, when he saw Xue Mei’s manner, a smile was pulled onto the old man’s face. His voice was indifferent as he said, “Miss, do you want to exchange for this ‘Peach Blossom Flame’ flame seed?”

“Yes, what do you want?” Xue Mei nodded her head and randomly asked.

“A medicinal formula for a tier four medicinal pill that has clear spiritual traces.” The old man said with a smile.

“Black...” Hearing the old man’s words, Xiao Yan could not help but shake his head and curse quietly in his heart. Just a medicinal formula for a tier four medicinal pill was even rarer than this ‘Peach Blossom Flame’, much less the request for the spiritual trace on the medicinal formula to be clear. It should be known that every medicinal formula for any medicinal pill was written using one’s Spiritual Strength. Each time it was read once, the spiritual trace within it would fade. Basically, a scroll of medicinal formula could only be read about up to five times before it would gradually become blurry. When one read it at such an instance, one would have to use his own ability to try and figure out some vague portions. In this way, it would undoubtedly waste a lot of time and effort.

TL: The ‘black’ is the incomplete word, meaning an unscrupulous merchant

The making of a medicinal formula scroll required at least a tier four alchemist’s strength. Moreover, the chances of failure were extremely high. Therefore medicinal formulas for medicinal pills were not simply randomly recorded by just holding a paper and pen as one would imagine. Some of the things that related to the flame temperature, the richness that the ingredients must be refined to, the response from the mixing of different ingredients etc were extremely complicated like chemistry formula. If they were to be written on a paper, it would cause anyone to have blurry sight and a giddy head. Therefore, these medicinal formulas all used Spiritual Strength to be composed. As long as someone obtained the medicinal formula, one would only need to use his Spiritual Strength to scan over it in order to deeply imprint all the necessary things from this medicinal formula into his mind, just like a brand.

Hearing the request of the old man, Xue Mei’s face obviously changed. Clearly, the other party’s request placed her in a difficult situation. However, she appeared to be poor at something like bargaining. Adding this to the overly great liking for the pink colored flame, she actually nodded her head in front of Xiao Yan stunned eyes after musing for a moment.

“This foolish woman. She is actually willing to take out a tier four medicinal formula? Ah, That Frank would likely be so distressed that he would die...” Xiao Yan smiled bitterly and shook his head. He suckled his tongue at the degree of this lady’s generosity.

Seeing that Xue Mei nodded her head so easily, the old man was also at a loss. He immediately asked half believingly, “You agreed?”

Xue Mei did not say any more nonsense. She drew out a scroll from her storage ring and threw it at the old man. After which, she held the transparent jade bottle with both hands as though this had already become hers.

The old man scrambled to receive the scroll. He swiftly inspected it and then used his Spiritual Strength to quickly probe into it. A joy immediately surfaced on the old man’s face.

Seeing the expression of the two of them, Xiao Yan sighed and shook his head. He glanced at Xue Mei who was hugging the ‘Peach Blossom Flame Seed’, loving it too much to put it down. Xiao Yan skimmed his lips. He did not have any intention of going over to greet her. Instead, he turned around and headed to the outside of the scouring treasure area.

Before he was about to leave the scouring treasure area, Xiao Yan’s footsteps suddenly stopped at a corner that was close to the door. He tilted his head and eyed a somewhat tattered rock counter by the corner. He frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment and slowly walked over.

Behind the rock counter was a skinny man whose appearance was a little wretched. Due to the medicinal ingredients that were displayed being not too rare, there were very few people who had come over to examine them. Therefore, his face had some bitterness. When he saw Xiao Yan slowly walking over, he was a little blank. His eyes became much brighter when his eyes drifted over to the tier two alchemist badge on Xiao Yan’s chest. He hurriedly stood up and eyed Xiao Yan fawningly.

“Sir, what do you need?” Seeing Xiao Yan stopping in front of the rock counter, the man hurriedly asked.

Xiao Yan glanced at the man in front of him and asked with a smile, “Are you still a trainee alchemist?”

Having his ins and outs being seen through, the man nodded his head with embarrassment. He was somewhat envious as he eyed Xiao Yan’s young face. With a bitter smile, he said, “Yes. My talent for refining medicine isn’t very good. After training for so many years, I am still at the alchemist trainee stage.”

Xiao Yan carelessly smiled. As he eyed this man whose age appeared to be considered middle-aged, Xiao Yan felt somewhat touched in his heart. With the support of Yao Lao, he had an extremely smooth time on the alchemist path. He had almost never met any major setbacks. With the experience from his predecessor, he had taken a lot less detours. Now that he had seen this person in front of him, Xiao Yan finally understood that advancing as an alchemist was not as easy as he had imagined.

Clearly sensing the man’s envious gaze, Xiao Yan’s heart rejoiced and sighed. He lowered his head and swept across the rock counter. Some of the medicinal ingredients that were stored in the jade bottles were even a little wilted. They naturally could not satisfy Xiao Yan’s discerning eyes. Therefore, he automatically omitted them. His hand slowly moved along the things on the rock counter one at a time. Finally, under the somewhat disappointed gaze of the skinny man, it paused above a piece of black colored broken jade that looked extremely unattractive...