The marketplace was indeed a big place with a number of large stalls organized to sections according to their products. One section had large stalls of alchemy products, another had magical artifacts and like that, the rest were arranged.
Moving around the marketplace, from one section to another, he checked the available products until he came to the alchemy section. This section seemed the busiest with disciples coming and going. Cultivation was truly the epitome of mortal existence.
The first stall he entered was quite big and was divided into two parts. The front part was with row of shelves filled with lower grade pills and plants while the back was where the higher grade and above products were stored.
The alchemist was a middle aged man who was wearing a pristine white robe. He was busy attending to disciples who were looking for one form of product or another. Ju Feng out of their way and started checking the shelves since their names were on the bottle stickers. He saw stickers with intriguing names, solemn star spirit pill, heartflame spirit pill, purple dream illusion and others like that.
The stall was a bit too busy for him therefore, he went to the next stall and met the same scenario. He kept trying the stalls until he came to one that was fairly quiet and entered. The stall owner was an old man of the golden core stage. The other disciple in the stall had left after buying the product he came for leaving only Ju Feng in the stall with the stall owner.
"Greetings senior."
"Greetings young one, how can I help you?"
"Uhm senior, do you by any chance have a heavenly root spirit pill?"
"Hmm. The heavenly root spirit pill, the heavenly foundation pill. Well, it's not that difficult to get as long as you have your money, after all, its usefulness stops at the Zhuji stage."
"Senior, please forgive me for asking. Why did you say its usefulness stops at the Zhuji stage?"
"Oh, ok. It looks like you are not truly aware. You see, the heavenly root spirit pill is only a perfect foundation pill good for any disciple less than the Zhuji stage, it no longer has any effect after that. So, it's not that scarce for people to buy though its expensive. Let me tell you, there are some spirit pill that could take your cultivation level directly to the golden core stage from the Zhuji stage, even from the Ningchi stage. You see?"
"What? A pill from Ningchi to Golden Core? Senior, can that really happen?"
"Yes, the white diamond spirit pill. A single pill could cost between twenty thousand to fifty thousand gold coins. These pills were concocted by the Hegemon alchemists, as you can see, they are very expensive but they do their jobs effectively."
"Senior, there must be something to it. It can't just be that good. Or, can it?"
"Well, it has one major flaw which is the foundation of the user. It will be shaky, not as solid as that of a normal cultivator and could make most to be stuck at the golden core stage. The pill is mainly good for people with less chances of cultivation, but make no mistake, it may have flaws but it gives them the immortality of hundreds of millions of years if they survived their tribulations."
"Oh, it is truly a formidable pill. But, I think the heavenly root spirit pill will be just fine for me, senior."
"Yes, the heavenly root pill. Although you are a Last-Sword, it will still cost you five thousand gold coins."
"That's fine senior. Senior, can you please take a look at this?"
Ju Feng produced a blue crystalline from his pocket.
The alchemist eyes went wide and wild as he stared at the blue crystalline with opened mouth.
"Is that crunchy spirit crystal? Do you know how much this can cost if it's pure grade? Well, I will need to check the level of the spirit energy condensation to determine how much it can cost. Do you mind?"
"Of course not, senior. I completely trust you."
As he sent the crystal to the alchemist master.
The alchemist master took out a small transparent mirror, a small transparent bottle and a talisman. After setting them on the table, he put the crystal into the bottle and placed it on the talisman.
"This mirror is a scale of time, the translucent scale, it tells how long an alchemist product or a plant has been existing. The bottle is to contain the potency and aura of the thing being tested from leaking or contamination. And, the talisman is time seal on the product to prevent time effect on the product."
A few seconds later, the crystal started to give off a brilliant radiance with the bottle slightly vibrating. Then, the translucent mirror started to glow with a faint changing lights before stopping on the rainbow light.
"A total grade spirit crystal?"
He asked in absolute shock.
"How? Do you know this can make more powerful evil hearted ones to seek your death? How do you come by this? No, don't tell me, it's better for me not to even think about it talk-less of knowing. You don't just sell this, you have to auction it anonymously."
"Senior, I think I will manage by. But, is there any chance I can exchange this for the heavenly root pill?"
"You really want to exchange it? Alright, though I don't know how much this can sell for but i guess we can do that. I only need to find a suitable auction event for it, I have to check with neighbouring cities to see which one will be hosting an auction soon."
Watching Ju Feng with a mixture of fascination and bewilderment.
"Do you have any more crystals?"
"Yes senior, I do have five more. And, we will share the money equally if you can sell them. What do you think, senior?"
"Hmm, no problem. Let me handle it, I'll see what i can do. But, keep this quiet, okay? I will inform you when i have some information."