Mysterious mirror hanging high

"Senior, are you here to buy the [Foundation Building Pill]?"

A servant at the first level of Qi training flashed in front of Huang Youfu and asked abruptly, "Do you want to buy the finished pills directly, or bring your own ingredients to refine them?"

Huang Youfu's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "Is there a foundation-building alchemist here?"

But the servant shook his head and said, "No, you just came out of seclusion, right?"

"We don't have many finished Foundation Establishment Pills in stock, and they've basically all been reserved. If you bring your own materials, we can help you refine them."

Seeing Huang Youfu's doubtful expression, the servant brought him to a secluded alchemy room. The room was empty and there was no alchemy furnace. There was only a brass puppet standing in the room, motionless.

"This is?"

The servant said, "Please put the medicinal ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill into the [Foundation Establishment Pill Puppet]. The pill will be naturally refined in half an hour."

"What?" Huang Youfu tightly grasped the storage bag in his hand, his face filled with horror. "Don't try to trick me... There's no such thing!"

Upon hearing this, he immediately turned around and left.

The servant looked helpless but did not stop him.

But when Huang Youfu walked out of the alchemy room, he happened to see a middle-aged cultivator who was also at the ninth level of Qi training walking out of another alchemy room happily holding a jade bottle. It was obvious that he had gained something, which made the old cultivator hesitate again.

After a struggle between his conscience and his desires, Huang Youfu returned to the alchemy room obediently, his eyes red:

"My fellow Daoist, the herbs in this storage bag are my life savings. They can only make one Foundation Establishment Pill, but I absolutely cannot afford any mistakes..."

"What's the success rate of your [Foundation-Building Pill Puppet] in refining pills? Can it be compared to a Foundation-Building Pill Master?"

But the boy shook his head and said, "No comparison."

Huang Youfu felt a chill in his heart when these words came out, but the next moment the servant changed the subject:

"What kind of rotten fish and shrimp is a Foundation Establishment Pill Master? How can he compare with the [Foundation Establishment Pill Puppet] that specializes in refining Foundation Establishment Pills? Generally, a veteran alchemist with many years of experience can only have a 50% success rate in refining Foundation Establishment Pills. But as long as the medicinal ingredients are properly proportioned, this puppet has a 100% success rate!"

Seeing Huang Youfu's face becoming more suspicious, the servant consoled him, "Senior, if you bring your own herbs with you, and if you fail to refine the pills later, or if the pills are of poor quality, we can compensate you with the full price of the herbs or the equivalent amount of spirit stones."

Huang Youfu was stunned when he heard this. "What a boast! If the success rate of the pill doesn't meet expectations, they'll pay the full amount? So, if this puppet doesn't achieve a 100% success rate, won't they have to pay the full amount?"

With the servant's assurance, Huang Youfu made up his mind and handed the storage bag to the other party, just to try his luck.

But the servant opened the storage bag and skillfully put various medicinal herbs into an entrance on the brass puppet's abdomen according to the precise quantity. After doing all this, he embedded a spirit stone into the groove on the puppet's chest.

The next moment, a magical thing happened. The brass puppet suddenly became lively, sat cross-legged on the spot, and made a posture of Qi circulation around the body, as if practicing breathing exercises.

After about half an hour, the brass puppet slapped its dantian, and the entire alchemy room suddenly glowed with rosy light. Two elixirs shining brightly flew out of its abdominal cavity and fell into Huang Youfu's hands.

Huang Youfu stared blankly at the two golden patterns on the outer shell of the pill in his hand, his eyes a little blurry:

"Authentic Foundation Establishment Pills... Both are authentic Foundation Establishment Pills!"

The servant smiled and said, "I'm glad I fulfilled my mission. I've made two pills. Since you brought your own herbs, I'll only charge you a processing fee. Thank you for the twenty spirit stones..."

"Only twenty spirit stones?" Huang Youfu was shocked again.

"Senior, perhaps you've been in seclusion for too long, so you don't know much about the current world of immortal cultivation anymore," the servant explained. "Spirit stones are much more valuable in the world of immortal cultivation now than they were a few years ago... Twenty spirit stones are now worth the same as forty."

"Why?"

The servant curled his lips and said, "It can't be helped. With the emergence of various puppets, there are too many spiritual resources such as elixirs, weapons, and arrays on the market. In most areas, the currency in circulation is spirit stones, which have to be mined slowly..."

"The number of spirit stones is growing slowly, but spiritual resources for cultivation are being refined continuously, so the value of spirit stones is naturally rising."

The servant was amazed. "A few years ago, mining spirit stones was a hard-earned income with meager profits, but now it's truly lucrative! Now, if you want to run a spirit stone mine, forget it if you don't have the right connections."

Huang Youfu had only been in seclusion for five years, but he felt as if he was out of touch with the entire world of immortal cultivation.

He also felt quite puzzled at this moment. It was obviously not a big deal to retreat for a few years in the world of immortal cultivation. Why did he fall behind the times this time?

He suddenly asked, "Little Daoist friend, may I ask who created something like the [Foundation Building Pill Puppet] that can steal the good fortune of heaven and earth?"

The servant smiled faintly, "I'd like to inform you, fellow Daoist, that there is a True Lord in the East China Sea, named [True Lord Zhangjing Canxuan Siming], and we all call him [True Lord Xuanjing]... These puppets were created by Lord Xuanjing!"

"Master Xuanjing..." Huang Youfu murmured, "I'll remember this."

The servant asked, "I haven't asked for your name, Senior?"

"Blessed are the old and the old."

"Senior, your name is indeed correct." The servant said with a smile, "You are truly blessed, to have come out of seclusion and encountered such a great era."

"This junior would like to congratulate the senior on building the foundation of immortality, and from now on enjoy three hundred years of carefree happiness!"

Huang Youfu held the foundation-building pill in his hand. Upon hearing these words, his originally dry heart seemed to be permeated with some kind of vitality, and the flower of hope blossomed.

The fire in his eyes ignited once again, and he suddenly smiled with great passion:

"Thank you for your kind words, if I can truly establish my immortal foundation, I will definitely treat you to a meal..."

The servant bowed and said, "Then I will wait patiently for good news."

Huang Youfu murmured:

"Build the foundation of immortality, and transform from mortal to immortal..."

"At this moment!"

An invisible thread of cause and effect extended from Huang Youfu's body and also flew towards an unknown distance.

----

This thread of cause and effect flew for an unknown amount of time before it finally reached the retreat cave of the Xuanjing Immortal Sect's founder on Fugui Island in the East China Sea, where it was held between the fingers of a large hand that was as flawless as white jade but strong and powerful.

Jing Yu, who had been breathing with his eyes closed, opened them and murmured, "Huang Youfu...another thread of cause and effect."

He casually connected the thread of cause and effect to his own [navel], and the thread of cause and effect suddenly disappeared, as if it had never appeared.