Traveling through time to cultivate immortality: a life and death test

Liu Xing returned to his Yulan Bay cave and began refining pills. He needed to refine the Dingyan Pill and Qiling Pill before the auction began. This would be his fastest way to raise money. With his previous experience refining the Foundation Establishment Pill, he was relatively confident in refining the Dingyan Pill. However, he still proceeded with caution, not wanting to be careless. After all, there was only one thousand-year-old elixir, and if it was wasted, there would be no replacement.

Prior to this, he had refined a batch of Qiling Pills. With his previous success, he was familiar with the process this time, achieving a very high success rate and facing no obstacles. He harvested six high-grade pills. He still had more than half a bottle of Emperor Liujiang left, and he had also stockpiled a large amount of Qiling Pill auxiliary ingredients. He planned to refine more pills later. At this auction, he planned to offer one bottle of Qiling Pills first, not too many, as the scarcer the product, the more valuable it was. He would hold off on selling the remaining pills at the next auction. Scarcity makes things valuable, and the hunger marketing tactics of his previous life could be applied here as well.

After returning to peak condition, he began refining the Beauty Pill. He took out the Nightshade Grass and reluctantly stroked the jade box, but ultimately, he came to the conclusion that a wolf cannot be caught without a child. He decisively opened the jade box, tossed the Nightshade Grass into the alchemy furnace, and began refining the elixir. The potency of the thousand-year-old elixir was truly immense; even simply consuming it raw would likely improve one's cultivation significantly. However, this method was rarely used, as it not only wasted considerable potency but also accumulated toxins in the body, requiring significant detoxification efforts after consuming it raw.

"Open!" With a loud shout from Liu Xing, the alchemy furnace opened, revealing six purple pills resting quietly within, emitting a faint purple aura of magnificent beauty. Liu Xing picked up a pill and examined it carefully. It was round and plump, its spiritual energy condensed and undispersed, worthy of a thousand-year-old spiritual elixir. He could faintly sense its immense potency. Liu Xing was extremely pleased with the results of this alchemy refining. He also discovered that his success rate in opening the furnace was much higher than described in the book. Could this be related to his extraordinary spiritual energy and powerful spiritual awareness? The experience recorded in the alchemy book should be correct, so let's just assume it was due to his unique conditions. However, this was a good thing. His success rate for talisman making and pill refining was as high as 90%, three times that of normal talisman makers and alchemists. If this were to get out, he would be captured and used as a research monkey in a laboratory. So he silently reminded himself to keep these ridiculously powerful abilities hidden to avoid being discovered and causing trouble.

He tossed the Dingyan Pill into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. Instantly, a surge of medicinal power washed over him. He felt his physical functions improve slightly, especially his facial features and hair. It was as if they were frozen in time, as if he would maintain the youthful appearance of a twenty-five or twenty-six-year-old for the rest of his life. He nodded, feeling more certain of the Dingyan Pill's effectiveness, mentally calculating that it would fetch a good price. So, he divided the remaining Dingyan Pill into two bottles, intending to auction two first and save the remaining three for later sale.

With only ten days left until the auction, Liu Xing packed up and headed for Tongda Commercial City in the northern part of the city. He first wandered around the city, checking out the prices of various goods. It was incredibly crowded. The Foundation Establishment cultivators, usually rare, suddenly increased in number, seemingly all attending the auction.

Liu Xing came disguised as an old man with a white beard. He took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention and quietly came to the auction management department. He met the manager inside and explained his purpose of entrusting the auction.

"Welcome, fellow Taoist. May I know what you would like to entrust for auction? If it is an ordinary commodity in the market, it will not be accepted for auction unless it has a certain value." The manager asked and explained in advance.

"I have two bottles of pills to be auctioned." Liu Xing calmly took out the Dingyan Pills that he had prepared long ago and handed them over.

"Pills?" The manager was pleasantly surprised. Elixirs were the most popular auction items.

"Dingyan Pill?!" The steward opened the pill and took a look, then exclaimed uncertainly.

"Fellow Daoist, please wait a moment. I'll send a message to our shopkeeper, asking him to come and personally inspect the goods and determine the price." The steward had handled so many consignments for auction that it had been a while since he'd been surprised by anything. Liu Xing observed silently, figuring that this must be an extremely rare elixir.

A few minutes later, a middle-aged man and an old man in red arrived at the office. The middle-aged man was at the late Foundation Establishment stage, his magical powers condensed. Liu Xing immediately became alert, his expression growing even more serious. The old man in red was alright, only at the early Foundation Establishment stage. He exuded a faint medicinal aroma, suggesting he was an alchemist.

"Hahahaha, welcome, fellow Daoist! You bring honor to the Tongda Chamber of Commerce!" The middle-aged man entered with a hearty laugh and a warm greeting. He was deeply surprised. Liu Xing appeared to be only at the early stages of Foundation Establishment, yet his magical powers were unfathomable, making him a little wary. He suspected he possessed a rare treasure or practiced a special technique. He immediately decided to befriend Liu Xing, not make him an enemy.

"I am Chang Qing, the manager of Tongda Chamber of Commerce. May I ask your name, fellow Taoist?" The middle-aged man bowed.

"My surname is Dongfang, hello is Manager Chang." Liu Xing hurriedly returned the greeting.

"Fellow Daoist Dongfang, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Li, the alchemist of our Chamber of Commerce." The middle-aged man introduced the old man in red next to him.

"Greetings, Fellow Daoist Dongfang."

"Meet Fellow Daoist Li."

After both parties exchanged greetings, the guests were seated. The red-robed elder took the Dingyan Pill from the table, poured out a pill, and placed it in his palm, examining it from side to side as if admiring a rare treasure. He then brought it close to his nose and sniffed it, carefully examining it. He then took out a thin blade, gently scraped some powder from the pill's surface, and tasted it. A quarter of an hour later, Master Li finally finished inspecting the pill. He nodded to Shopkeeper Chang and said, "This Dingyan Pill is undoubtedly made from a thousand-year-old elixir. It's so recent that its potency hasn't been lost at all. His alchemy is exquisite, and the efficacy is excellent. It must be top-grade." He then glanced at Liu Xing with a look of doubt. Could he have personally refined it? Someone actually used a thousand-year-old elixir to make Dingyan Pills? What a waste of natural resources!

"Okay, okay, okay! The price of the two Dingyan Pills will be better if we auction them together. The auction price will be set at 40,000 yuan. What do you think, Fellow Daoist Dongfang?" The middle-aged man was very happy, so he set the starting price after pondering for a moment and asked Liu Xing for his opinion.

"Everything is up to Manager Chang to arrange." Liu Xing was quite satisfied with the starting price. He expected it to fetch more than 60,000.