Rebirth of a Quasi-Immortal Spirit

Upon arriving at the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion and meeting Jun Wuhen, Gao Zhun finally understood what the other party was planning. After returning to her own courtyard, she looked at the nameless pill formula in her hand, which she had obtained for three thousand Enlightenment Fruits. She stroked her chin and recalled her conversation with Jun Wuhen at the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion. She felt even more strongly that Jun Wuhen's background was not simple.

Rewind time by half an hour—

Jun Wuhen sat upright above the main hall, holding a piece of demon beast skin in his hand. He looked at Gao Zhun with amusement and said, "How about exchanging three thousand Enlightenment Fruits for this thing in my hand? What do you think, Fellow Daoist Gao?"

"Oh?" Gao Zhun chuckled lightly, without even asking Jun Wuhen what the wonderful use of the demon beast skin in his hand was. He directly took out a storage bag, filled it with three thousand Enlightenment Fruits, and threw it to the other party.

"So straightforward? Aren't you afraid of running into a shady merchant?" Jun Wuhen didn't even look at the storage bag Gao Zhun had given him. He believed that since the other party had given it to him, he wouldn't tamper with the amount.

"How could that be? I have complete trust in Pavilion Master Jun." As he spoke, Gao Zhun lowered his head to look, but he was stunned when he saw it. After a long while, he looked at Jun Wuhen with a complicated expression: "This pill formula is quite valuable. Pavilion Master, don't you think it's a loss to exchange it for three thousand Enlightenment Fruits?"

"Hmm? I don't think so." With that, Jun Wuhen let Gao Zhun leave.

Having obtained this formula, Gao Zhun naturally wouldn't keep it to himself. After thinking for a while, he contacted all the people he knew using the communication stone. After pondering for a bit, he also sent messages to Gao Qi and Gao Yaobing, as a way of repaying their kindness in helping him back then.

The first to arrive at Gao Zhun's courtyard were naturally Gao Qi and Gao Yaobing, who were already living in the Gao family. Following them were Xuan Yuan Huanyu, Wu Ya Qiubai, Yun Mu Ning, Gu Xinling, You Ruolan, An Ge, Qian Yu'er, and Qin Hanyuan, who arrived via the teleportation array. However, these newcomers had already gained some influence among the younger generation, so they could not arrive openly at this moment. Fortunately, each of them had a way to conceal their identities, so although there were ten more people on Gao Zhun's side, including eight outsiders, no one paid much attention to it.

With everyone present, Gao Zhun naturally led them into the training room. Once the restrictive formation was activated, even if someone was watching, they would be unable to do anything about it.

"I wonder what Fellow Daoist Gao has gathered us here for?" The one who asked the question was Gao Yaobing. She and Gao Qi were not familiar with Gao Zhun, having only interacted once. Given this mysterious situation, it was understandable that she was cautious.

Gao Qi nodded in agreement as soon as Gao Yaobing said this.

Seeing this, Gao Zhun knew that the two would not be at ease if she did not explain the reason, so she confessed that she intended to repay the kindness they had shown her a few years ago.

"I recently obtained a pill formula by chance. I thought this matter was of great importance and it was impossible for me to make it public. However, if you all trust me, you will be satisfied in ten days," Gao Zhun said slowly.

Apart from Gao Yaobing and Gao Qi, the others' eyes flashed. It wasn't hard to guess that calling them over at this time was related to the Enlightenment Fruit.

Gao Yaobing and Gao Qi exchanged surprised glances, and finally Gao Yaobing spoke up: "What kind of prescription is it?"

Gao Zhun shook his head, but then felt that this was a bit pretentious, so he said, "It's not that I'm unwilling to say the name of the pill formula, but I just happened to obtain it by chance. The name of the pill formula is not recorded on it. However, I happen to have a few samples of the pill here."

As she spoke, Gao Zhun distributed the dozen or so pills she had hastily refined to everyone. Sure enough, everyone's eyes lit up when they saw the pills in their hands, and they immediately looked at Gao Zhun with eager eyes.

Seeing this, Gao Zhun smiled somewhat embarrassedly: "I suppose you all know the effects and main ingredients of this pill. If you trust me, I will not disappoint you in ten days. However, before that, regardless of whether you need this pill or not, you must promise not to reveal the source of the pill. As for the distribution of the pill, I will not interfere."

Gao Zhun's words made Gao Yaobing and Gao Qi somewhat interested, but they didn't rush to express their opinions. Instead, they looked at the other eight people, thinking that these people must be closer to them than they were to Gao Zhun. They decided to see what they had to say first before making a decision.

The eight people exchanged glances. Originally, they had no questions, but An Ge and Qian Yu'er, the two disciples from Danyang Sect, had some questions to ask.

"I wonder which alchemist made this pill?" An Ge naturally asked Gao Zhun this question telepathically. Not everyone present was familiar with him, and if this question were to be revealed, it would definitely be a problem for Gao Zhun.

“It wasn’t made by an alchemist,” Gao Zhun replied, a mysterious smile on his face. Even the usually composed An Ge felt an urge to punch that irritating smile.

"These are the Enlightenment Fruits we obtained in the secret realm. Please help us, Fellow Daoist Gao." An Ge suppressed the urge to punch someone, put the Enlightenment Fruits of the eight people on their side into their storage bags, added their unique labels, and then handed them to Gao Zhun.

Now that An Ge and the others had resolved their situation, Gao Zhun turned his attention to Gao Qi and Gao Yaobing, who then followed suit.

However, the group clearly had no intention of leaving immediately. How could Gao Zhun not know what they were thinking? She looked at them and deliberately pretended to be troubled: "Gentlemen, I only promised ten days. If you continue to sit here, I'm afraid that time will have to be postponed."

An Ge and the other eight people naturally twitched their lips, while Gao Qi and Gao Yaobing, who were not very familiar with Gao Zhun, had no choice but to get up and take their leave. An Ge and the others, on the other hand, remained seated, unmoved and at ease.

"Ahem." Seeing that these people still had no intention of getting up to leave, Gao Zhun had no choice but to pretend to cough. However, the people seemed not to hear him and continued doing what they were doing, without even glancing at Gao Zhun.

"Alright, alright, I'm really defeated by you guys. Who said that cultivators all have their own secrets? When it comes to me, I'm afraid even privacy can't be protected." Gao Zhun shook her head, but in the blink of an eye, she took out the best alchemy instrument that she had left behind.

Upon seeing this, An Ge and Qian Yu'er, both from the Danyang Sect, looked puzzled. Gu Xinling, however, squeezed to the front of the instrument, examining it closely and repeatedly saying "interesting." When asked what was interesting about it, she smiled mysteriously, just like Gao Zhun, and did not answer.

Seeing that Gu Xinling was unreliable, An Ge and Qian Yu'er exchanged a glance. They decided it was better to rely on themselves than others. So An Ge asked again, "With all the Enlightenment Fruits here, it would be close to 100,000. Even if we had our Danyang Sect's alchemists work, dozens of them would have to work non-stop for a month to refine such a large quantity. And it would be absolutely impossible to achieve the flawless effect shown in the pill you gave us before. Xiao Zhun, we've already said all this, are you still going to keep us in suspense?"

"Since Sister An has said so, I will not keep you in suspense any longer. Just take a good look. This is the result of my two years of seclusion at the Gao family a few years ago."

As she spoke, Gao Zhun made no attempt to hold back, directly placing a high-grade spirit stone onto the alchemy instrument in front of everyone, including the two alchemists from the Danyang Sect. Then she added in the medicinal herbs one by one. After that, Gao Zhun hardly needed to do anything else; she simply stood at the back, preparing to condense the pill herself.

The alchemy had been refined to such an extent that even those who didn't know much about alchemy, like Xuan Yuan Huan Yu, were dumbfounded. Even An Ge and Qian Yu Er, the two professionals, were speechless. Although they refused to admit it, when they saw that the pill could actually be condensed in the end, and that it was just like the pill they had seen at the beginning, of superior quality and without any impurities, they were truly astonished.

An Ge glanced at the alchemy equipment with a complicated expression, then looked at Gao Zhun: "Xiao Zhun, how can you expect us alchemists, who work so hard but can only produce one batch with a success rate of less than 50%, to accept this?"

Gao Zhun touched his nose sheepishly: "It was just a sudden idea of ​​mine, I didn't expect it to actually work." As he spoke, his embarrassment vanished, and his cunning eyes swept over the eight people. The eight people felt a chill run down their spines and had a bad feeling.

"Although this instrument can replace many steps in alchemy, and even assist in pill condensation, I've tested it, and ultimately, it's better for cultivators to condense pills using their own spiritual energy. So, including Ah Zhong, there are ten of us in total. If I were to condense pills here for ten days, even with my spiritual energy reaching the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, it would be too much for me. How about this, I, your humble sister, will be in charge of the first day and demonstrate for everyone. What do you all think?"

Only then did the eight realize what Gao Zhun was up to. No wonder he hadn't forcefully driven them away; he was waiting for them here!

While waiting in the courtyard to check if there were any suspicious people watching him, Ah Zhong suddenly felt an itch in his nose and sneezed.

How could a cultivator sneeze like a mortal? Ah Zhong remained silent, gazing wistfully towards the training room. Although he didn't know the specifics, he was certain that he had been betrayed by his master.

For the next ten days, just as Gao Zhun had said, each person was responsible for helping the instrument condense pills for one day. After taking turns for a day, everyone had a general understanding of the job.

At first glance, condensing the pill seems simple. However, it is the most mentally taxing step in alchemy. After thousands upon thousands of attempts, even those who had reached the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm had their mental energy reduced to only one-tenth. However, thanks to the pills prepared by Gao Zhun, their mental energy was completely restored. Furthermore, they discovered a slight increase in their mental energy. (166 Reading Network)