The Wealthy Pill Sect

Having found another treasure today, Wen Jingshu could not wait to return to the Pill Sect for secluded cultivation.

First, she replanted those half-dead spiritual plants in a plot of spiritual land she had set aside inside the Shengsheng Bead. Only then did she split off a wisp of her divine sense and infuse it into the Hunyuan Bead.

The Hunyuan Bead floated gently into the air, radiating a brilliant light. Once the light dissipated, Wen Jingshu saw a faint, blurry phantom.

“As expected, my cultivation base is still too low to make the clone look identical to my original body.”

Wen Jingshu tested the distance and found that this clone could only exist within a ten-meter radius of her.

She estimated that she would need to reach the Nascent Soul Stage before she could use the Hunyuan Bead to manifest an identical version of herself that was completely unrestricted by distance.

Fortunately, although this clone did not look like much, it functioned quite well.

After spending a little more time familiarizing herself with it, she set the clone to sit in meditation and cultivate, while she herself went to process the spiritual plants and refine pills.

Even after the auction ended, Wen Jingshu remained in secluded cultivation.

Xinghui and Nianyan arrived at the Pill Sect, bringing the auction items Wen Jingshu had specifically requested, along with the remaining spirit stones.

Having served in the Heaven-grade private rooms, Xinghui and Nianyan had witnessed many grand occasions and visited many major sects. Yet, upon arriving at the Pill Sect, they were still thoroughly shocked by the sheer luxury displayed at every turn.

To save face, the two conversed via divine sense:

“Is... is that grass in the decorative roadside flowerbed actually thirty-year-old Spirit-Prolonging Flowers?”

“The floor beneath our feet... is Spirit-Nourishing Jade?! Although Spirit-Nourishing Jade is not particularly expensive, paving the entire ground with it... just how many spirit stones would that cost?”

“And that massive Vermilion Fruit tree is just planted so casually right in the middle of the plaza? It is laden with so much fruit, yet no one steals them?”

“Xinghui... look closely at the outer sect disciple leading us. Is the Daoist robe he is wearing made of Thousand-Year Cold Cicada Silk?”

“Shh, stop talking. We are about to reach Misty Peak's main peak. Behave professionally.”

The two took deep breaths and stepped through the barrier formation of Misty Peak's main peak. Caught off guard, they were hit right in the face by a wave of incredibly dense spiritual energy.

Even the spiritual energy in minor realms was probably not this dense!

Seeing the astonished expressions on their faces, the outer sect disciple could not help but feel a surge of pride.

“Please wait here for a moment. I will go and report your arrival.”

Hearing the outer sect disciple's words, the two quickly bowed respectfully. Only after the disciple left did they realize, in hindsight, that they had overreacted.

He was merely an outer sect disciple of the Pill Sect with a cultivation base of only the second level of Qi Refining. There was really no need for them to be so respectful.

If this were at the auction, even the inner sect disciples of the Pill Sect would not be worthy of being received by them...

The outer sect disciple had no idea what they were thinking. After reporting and receiving permission, he led them to the reception hall halfway up the mountain.

The one who received them was not Zhao Xun or Li Xunzhi, but a chore disciple specifically tasked with serving Misty Peak. That chore disciple had only a five-element spiritual root, yet despite being under a hundred years old, his cultivation base had actually reached the fifth level of Qi Refining!

One had to know that many cultivators with five-element spiritual roots could only reach the third level of Qi Refining in their entire lives. Yet this chore disciple, whose lifespan was not even half over, had already cultivated to the fifth level of Qi Refining!

As for why someone with such poor aptitude could cultivate to the fifth level of Qi Refining, it was purely because the benefits on Misty Peak were too good! He had been forcefully piled up with pills!

“Thank you both for making this trip. This is a reward from our Young Mistress.”

The chore disciple did not use Misty Peak's backing to bully others. After saying this, he handed each of them a storage bag.

Although Xinghui and Nianyan were somewhat disappointed not to see Wen Jingshu again, they knew they could not force it. After handing over Wen Jingshu's auction items and the remaining spirit stones to the chore disciple, they departed.

The two remained silent throughout the journey, their minds filled with everything they had seen and heard at the Pill Sect.

Only when they were almost back to Yundan City did Xinghui open the storage bag.

“Holy crap, ten supreme-grade Rejuvenation Pills! And a Second-Grade Treasure Tool!”

Nianyan was startled by Xinghui's reaction and quickly opened her own storage bag, only to find that she had received the exact same two items.

“According to our auction house's market price, this bottle of Rejuvenation Pills must be worth nearly fifty top-grade spirit stones, right?”

Although neither of them particularly cared about fifty top-grade spirit stones, they would absolutely never bring themselves to spend fifty top-grade spirit stones to buy a bottle of supreme-grade Rejuvenation Pills.

The actual value of a supreme-grade pill was often one grade higher than its original rank.

For example, although a supreme-grade Rejuvenation Pill was only a low-tier first-grade pill, because it was supreme-grade, its efficacy was five times that of a regular Rejuvenation Pill, and it contained absolutely no pill toxins. Its actual value was comparable to a mid-tier second-grade pill!

However, Rejuvenation Pills were consumables. Ordinary cultivators would never be willing to spend three times the price to buy supreme-grade Rejuvenation Pills. Now that Wen Jingshu had rewarded them with a bottle, they could finally afford to indulge in such luxury.

Holding the bottle of supreme-grade Rejuvenation Pills in her hand and thinking back to the chore disciple they had just met, Nianyan could not help but feel a trace of envy.

They had received a bottle of supreme-grade Rejuvenation Pills just for running an errand. Wouldn't the chore disciples who worked on Misty Peak every day have opportunities to obtain them daily?

It was a pity they did not have the luck to enter Misty Peak.

Or perhaps they had originally hoped to curry favor with Wen Jingshu, but unfortunately, they were destined to have no connection to the Pill Sect.

Wen Jingshu read books, refined pills, and tended to her herbs. In the blink of an eye, half a month had already passed.

After retrieving the final batch of Rejuvenation Pills, Wen Jingshu recalled the Hunyuan Bead. The moment the phantom merged back into her body, she felt a majestic surge of spiritual energy, no different from if she had personally sat in meditation and cultivated for half a month.

Not only that, but she could also feel that her divine sense had grown slightly. This was likely because the clone required her control; dividing her attention had naturally trained her divine sense.

Holding the golden bead, Wen Jingshu could not help but marvel. Just a few days ago, she had been fantasizing about whether she could stretch time to aid her cultivation, yet today she had already found the Hunyuan Bead, which could split her in two.

After playing with the bead for a little longer, Wen Jingshu began to take stock of her assets.

Because two sub-beads had been found, the mountainous and grassy regions outside the main palace of the Shengsheng Bead had expanded significantly. The space was now roughly the size of the entire Qingyun Sect.

At the same time, an immortal tower had also appeared inside the Shengsheng Bead.

She had explored that immortal tower before; it did not have much of a purpose other than continuously pouring out immortal energy.

If she had not yet shed her immortal root, this tower would have been useless. But now... it was practically tailor-made for her!

Wen Jingshu thought about it. On the surface, she possessed a lightning spiritual root, and she would not easily reveal her wood immortal root. Thus, she placed the Hunyuan Bead inside the immortal tower. With a thought of her divine sense, a phantom sat cross-legged inside the immortal tower, focusing entirely on shedding her bones and immortal root.

Perhaps due to the process of shedding her immortal root, the Glazed Fire she was nurturing in her hidden dantian underwent a mutation. It was originally named Glazed Fire because it flickered with a clear, transparent, glazed luster. Although the current Glazed Fire still shifted colors and flickered, its presence had diminished significantly, becoming almost completely transparent.

Wen Jingshu did not know if this was a good or bad thing. After refining a few batches of pills and finding no difference, she simply decided to ignore it.