Sleep was more important than anything else. After a good night's rest, Chu Chen woke up early in the morning. When he activated the jade tablet again, he noticed the 24-hour auction period had ended and the red figure stopped at 109 spirit stones.
When Chu Chen saw the final sum, he had been too excited that he almost had a heart attack. He felt as though he just struck the jackpot.
A piece of spirit stone could get him two regular grade spirit gathering elixirs. 109 spirit stones could have gotten him 218 elixirs. Even if his weird cultivation method had turned out any slower, he could have still forcefully boosted its speed by pushing it with elixirs.
The promised duel with Yao Jinghai in three months seemed a little more hopeful.
He would have no longer needed to suffer slow cultivation speed due by saving on elixirs.
Regardless, Chu Chen felt that he should thank the great benefactor that had made the final offer. That great benefactor had just been too generous, having offered 109 spirit stones.
Chu Chen smacked his lips and got out of bed to freshen up, after which he took the spirit jade amulet and ran toward the market.
"Lucky. I'm really lucky!"
Having seen Chu Chen, the elixir store's owner greeted him happily, "Those spiritual herbs were finally sold to a rich client in the sect. Little brother, your luck is really amazing."
"Thank you sir." Chu Chen smiled and passed the spirit jade amulet to him. In return, he received a heavy bag filled with spirit stones and nodded.
"Little brother, please check the contents. It's 100 spirit stones in total. The final selling price was at 109. Although the commission should've been 11 spirit stones, I gave you a special discount since it's our first time working together and only took 9 spirit stones. If you have any more rare spiritual herbs in the future, you must bring it to me for auction," the store owner said delightedly.
For Chu Chen, 100 spirit stones had been a huge sum. However, having checked the time, it had almost been the promised time to meet the pretty elder, having left him little time to shop in the market. He immediately went home and stored the spirit stones in a secured place. In his mind, he already decided to have bought a storage ring. Otherwise, it would have been troublesome if he had to run back and forth every time he sold a treasure.
He then arrived at Hidden Frost Valley, where Elder Ling Xin stayed. This time, Chu Chen had been an hour early. Surprisingly, the moment he entered the elixir refining temple, he had seen a stunning figure who had already been busy working. She was rather happy when she saw Chu Chen.
Elder Ling Xin had not been someone that smiled often. It seemed that something nice had happened to her.
"You're early today. Come help me out. I've just acquired some good stuff that allows me to refine a cauldron of rare elixir!" The pretty elder's face had been filled with delight, obviously in a jovial mood.
"Elder, what good stuff did you find?" Hearing her statement, Chu Chen's curiosity had been piqued. As the master elixir refiner in Crystal Spring Sect, there had hardly been anything that could have made Elder Ling Xin that happy. Even her dignified air had been gone.
"After I finished my evening classes, I habitually took a stroll in the sect market. Guess what I found?"
Elder Ling Xin asked mysteriously, her eyes had been unable to hide the smugness she had been feeling.
"It's an extremely rare Purple Cloud Grass! Those are legendary spiritual herbs that would only grow in extremely cold northernmost regions. It's especially effective in helping a cultivator increase one's mental strength! I never expected to find it in the sect market. I'm so lucky!"
The pretty elder had been overjoyed, but Chu Chen had been at a loss for words. After all these while, the so called rich client, his 'great benefactor', had turned out to be Elder Ling Xin!
"I decided right then to buy it at all costs. In the end, I stayed up all night on the sect's trading system, making seven different bids before finally getting this." Elder Ling Xin had a victorious grin on her face. "They're still too inexperienced to compete with me."
'If I knew this would happen, I would've just sold it to you for 100 spirit stones and avoided the store owner's commission,' Chu Chen laughed internally having felt bitter.
"At first I was planning to refine another cauldron of crimson gold elixir. However, with this Purple Cloud Grass, I can refine some purple cloud elixir instead. It's something of a higher grade than crimson gold elixir!"
"Then I shall congratulate Elder Ling Xin." However, Chu Chen felt that it had not been something worth celebrating.
"I heard the owner claim that it was a mysterious old man that auctioned it. I really want to meet this person. Someone that can get their hands on purple cloud grass is definitely extraordinary."
Chu Chen could not help but scoffed at it internally. In order to have protected his own business, that store owner had really been good at making up nonsense. However, he could not afford to tell Elder Ling Xin the truth, that he was the so-called mysterious old man.
Otherwise, when she questioned him about the source of the purple cloud grass, that would have invited more trouble. It was better for him to focus on working then.
As the eastern horizon was lighted up by the first ray of sunlight, the elixir refining hall's cauldron went ablazed with a resounding boom, covered in glorious flame.
The elixir refining process officially began. The entire elixir refining hall had been like a fully automated machine. Although there were only two of them, under Elder Ling Xin's strict guidelines, the entire process had been orderly and streamlined.
Once they had gotten busy, time passed without them noticing. Whenever the pretty elder started refining elixir, she entered an oblivious state. Her high efficiency elixir refining method had subconsciously affected Chu Chen's efficiency as well. Without him knowing, Chu Chen had also fallen into a similar oblivious state like her. In their eyes, that burning cauldron and the formation of elixirs in it were the only things left in the world.
When refining regular grade elixirs, normal elixir refiners would have only spent about four to six hours to reach completion. However, Elder Ling Xin's elixir refining process had been separated into extremely detailed steps. Each step had been precisely calculated and prepared. It made the refining process several times more detailed than others and similarly cost them a lot more time.
Finally, when the cauldron had finally let out a low thunderous sound, Elder Ling Xin and Chu Chen had let out a long sigh at the same time. Along with a booming sound, the huge cauldron's cover opened up. Rays of purple spiritual rays shot out of the cauldron, having displayed dazzling rays of lights in the air.
Whoosh!
With a wave of Elder Ling Xin's sleeve, a surge of spiritual energy shot forth and formed an invisible net in the air. All the purple rays were caught in one swipe. After counting, there were a total of 18 purple colored elixirs. They were round and glossy, having given off a shimmering purple light.
"Today's result is not bad." Satisfied, Elder Ling Xin nodded. She then took one of them and placed it in a small jade bottle before tossing it to Chu Chen. "You're improving very quickly. This purple cloud elixir is a gift to you as today's payment. Although you can't use it at your current cultivation level, it'll be useful in the future."
"Thank you, Elder." Chu Chen happily received the elixir. This elixir required him to be at least at the Spiritual Droplets Stage before he could use it. However, he had already thought of how he could have used it.
"Alright, you should be quite tired after the past two days. Now that we're done refining these purple cloud elixirs, you should rest for a bit. Come over again in a few days." Elder Ling Xin sent him off with a wave, giving him a holiday due to her excellent mood.