The next few days, he worked extra hard. After doing his chores at the herb field, he took the time to have read up on information related to having condensed spiritual droplets.
The next two days, he had managed to come across some amazing discoveries.
First, had been the process of condensing spiritual droplets that had been much harder than Chu Chen had imagined, or rather, the success rate had been much lower than he thought.
Although there had been quite a number of disciples around him that successfully condensed spiritual droplets, almost all of them had not managed it in their first try. Instead, it had been after several failed attempts before they had managed to do it.
While it had still been condensing spiritual droplets, the spiritual droplets condensed at the first try would have been of the highest quality. Meanwhile, with each successive failure, the condensed spiritual droplet's quality would have deteriorated.
The quality of spiritual droplets would have determined the future of the cultivator. Higher quality spiritual droplets meant better achievements while inferior water droplets would have increased the difficulty of future cultivation, eventually having reached a point of stagnation.
That was why every cultivator would have dreamt of successfully having condensed their spiritual droplets on the first try. All that was to have ensured their bright future in the path of cultivation.
Chu Chen remembered that Tong Meng managed to have condensed her spiritual droplet on the first try, surprising many and causing them to have been extremely envious.
The quality of spiritual droplet could have been determined by its clarity. The clearer it had been, the better it was. Those that condensed it after several times would have resulted in an extremely murky droplet.
Due to the low probability of having condensed spiritual droplets, the frost crystal elixir that could have increased the success rate of condensing spiritual droplets became a treasured item.
Although Tong Meng had been a genius and managed to have successfully condensed her spiritual droplet in one try, the frost crystal elixir given to her by Elder Huang from Medicine Hall played an important role.
Even though frost crystal elixirs had just been a level-2 elixir, it had been surprisingly rare. Most of the major sects would have hoarded them in order to have nurtured their favored disciples to help them to have condensed high quality spiritual droplets.
Another reason was that the great difficulty of refining elixirs that helped broke through cultivation stages. The entire reining process had been complex and tedious, making it an extremely strenuous task for the elixir refiner.
Most importantly, the main ingredients used in refining the frost crystal elixir had been unique to the extremely cold northernmost region. With several major sects of the northern region having monopolized those herbs, it caused the ingredients of the elixir to have been extremely rare.
Chu Chen had asked Elder Ling Xin and she, too, had been lacking the ingredients for the frost crystal elixir. Otherwise, she would have been willing to help Chu Chen refine it.
Unresigned to his fate, Chu Chen took a few strolls in the sect market. Turns out that not even a single frost crystal elixir had been on sale. It truly had been a rare treasure.
As a last resort, Chu Chen searched for it on the sect's trading platform and still came up with nothing.
However, when he searched for his own lightning herbs, the result had been a big surprise for him. When he had been looking for the frost crystal elixir in the past few days, he had visited the store owner a few times and was told that no other offers were made apart from the initial one spirit stone.
He had not expected it to have reached a deal on the fifth day. When Chu Chen checked the price, a big red figure of 500 made him wonder if his eyes had been playing tricks on him. After having rubbed his eyes a few times, he finally confirmed that it had been the right figure.
The last time his herbs were sold had only been for a hundred spirit stones. This time, after having processed the commission, he had been left with over 450 spirit stones. Chu Chen felt as though he was about to go crazy. He wondered who had been his great benefactor this time that bought it off for 500 spirit stones.
Chu Chen quickly rushed to the market. The owner grinned so widely that his eyes could not be seen and treated him with great hospitality, having shown no signs of neglect to his money tree.
"Brother, it's such a pleasure to be working with you. If you can continue to find more rare herbs, you'll have a bright future ahead!"
"I have a question. Is it Elder Xing Lin that bought it?" Chu Chen asked while he scratched his head. If Elder Xing Lin turned out to be his great benefactor again, he would have felt bad.
"No. This time, the one that bought the lightning herbs came from above."
The store owner pointed to the sky with a mysterious expression. That gesture had been well understood by each disciple of the Crystal Spring Sect to indicate those from the mountain's peak.
It had been the place where the highest echelon of the Crystal Spring Sect stayed, a place where most ordinary disciples would have never set foot in for their entire lives.
"It's likely that someone at the rank of grand elder suffered from Qi deviation. However, this matter must be kept silent," the store owner's voice grew quieter as he spoke.
Chu Chen found the owner's attempt to have appeared mysterious to have been a little funny. He did not care about the identity of the person who suffered from Qi deviation as long as he had been paid a good price.
"The total is five hundred spirit stones. After deducting the administrative fees, here's four hundred and fifty spirit stones. Please check if it's correct." The moment the store owner talked about money, he immediately went back into his business mode.
"You can give me fifty spirit stones first. I plan to keep the remaining four hundred spirit stones with you for now."
"Brother, I'm not a bank and won't pay you interest," the owner laughed.
"I want you to help me purchase the ingredients for frost crystal elixir. Get as many portions as you can with the four hundred spirit stones," Chu Chen explained his plan.
"Brother, you're trying to refine the frost crystal elixir on your own?" The store owner looked at Chu Chen as though he had been a psycho.
"This you don't have to worry about. Just help me purchase the ingredients."
"Brother, to be honest, the cost effectiveness of refining your own frost crystal elixir is too low. There aren't much of the ingredients for frost crystal elixir in the market. In my shop, I can more or less get you fifteen portions of the supplementary ingredients. As for the rest, I can ask some friends to buy it off the market to make up to twenty portions of the supplementary ingredients. However, that's only the supplementary ingredients. The main ingredient is a herb called black frost soul. That is something beyond my ability to obtain. You'll have to find that yourself."
Chu Chen had been shocked by the news. "Black frost soul. Where can I find that?"
"Black frost soul is a unique herb that would only grow in extremely cold places. You can try to find it in the Taihan Snow Mountain in the north. As for how to find it, I have no idea. After all, I'm only a herb seller," the store owner said with a laugh.
"Okay, then I'll have to trouble you to help me prepare those supplementary ingredients. I'll think of a way to get the black frost soul on my own." Chu Chen nodded, then turned and left the store.
He once again went looking for information in the sect's library. Unfortunately, there had been little records regarding the black frost soul. There had been vague mentions of it being produced in extremely cold places. As for how to have found it, it would have required him to have checked it out on his own.
It seemed that he would have had to make a personal trip to the Taihan Snowy Mountain.
By the time he returned from the library, it had already been late. Upon remembering that he had been busy the entire day and neglected the herb field, Chu Chen quickly headed over in hopes of quickly finishing up his chores in the herb field. He would then have looked for Elder Ling Xin the next day to talk about his situation.
Just as he reached the herb garden, Chu Chen felt a twinge in his heart. A mysterious sensation came up in his heart that made him smile gently. He then surreptitiously walked up to some lush spiritual herbs.
In between a few stalks of tall spiritual herbs had been a pure white hamster with a tuft of red hair in between its brows having carefully hid behind the spiritual herbs. That cute little face had been filled with nervousness, as though it had been hiding something.