Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Chapter 200 Enlightenment Pill, Entrusted to Meet an Enemy

Heavenly Tripod Pavilion's backyard

Guest reception room,

Zhao Sheng was seated on the chief purple wooden chair, his expression calm as he scrutinized a worn and yellowed beast skin in his hands.

To his left sat a scrawny old man in a black short robe, his face sallow and appearing quite destitute. This person was anxiously sizing up Zhao Sheng.

Half an hour later, Zhao Sheng finished examining the elixir recipe in his hands and, lost in thought, placed it on the wooden table beside him, tapping the beast skin with his fingers.

Seeing this, the scrawny old man couldn't help but tentatively say, "Senior Zhao, I stake my life on it, this Enlightenment Pill recipe is genuine."

Zhao Sheng listened, smiled playfully, and calmly said, "The last three ingredients—Seven-flavor Fruit, Stem Lotus, and Heart-opening Fruit—are your additions, aren't they!"

Upon hearing this, the elder was initially taken aback and then his face filled with indignation, just about to argue.

At that moment, Zhao Sheng raised his hand to stop him and quickened his speech, "No need to explain. The primary ingredient in this recipe is the Thousand-year-old Xuanxuan Fruit. Don't you know that Xuanxuan Fruit must absolutely never be mixed with Seven-flavor Fruit?"

Seeing the elder's clueless expression, Zhao Sheng continued unhurriedly, "Not knowing is no matter, but you should have heard of the Seven Mysterious Absolute Poison from the Seven Mysterious Sect. Xuanxuan Fruit and Seven-flavor Fruit are the two primary ingredients in that poison."

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The Seven Mysterious Sect was infamously known throughout the Shattered Star Sea, especially skilled in poisoning and assassination, and their Seven Mysterious Absolute Poison was renowned for being incurable.

Hearing this, the scrawny old man began sweating profusely, terrified, he suddenly knelt down, bowing repeatedly, begging Zhao Sheng for mercy.

In the Cultivation World, it was common for people to deceive alchemists with fake elixir recipes, and just as common for such deceptions to be uncovered.

However, it was audaciously reckless for the old man to attempt such a fraud on a Foundation Establishment Realm alchemist, only to have his deception exposed.

The consequences of this affair were severe, severe to the extent that being beaten to death was deserved.

Zhao Sheng, seeing this, slightly smiled and raised his tone, asking, "What about the refining method of the recipe?"

"Spare my life, Senior... uh, uh, the refining... the refining method is here!"

The scrawny old man startled, then snapped back to reality, immediately fumbling to pull a folded piece of beast skin from his chest and presented it respectfully.

"Spare my life, Senior, I have not spoken falsely, this recipe truly is passed down from my ancestors. If I dare utter a single lie, may I be struck by thunder!"

As the elder swore his oath, Zhao Sheng swiftly glanced over the Spirit Pill's refining method, then felt more confident internally.

From his experience and knowledge, the refining method seemed correct, just missing two critical steps.

And apart from the last three added ingredients, the ingredients in the rest of the recipe were also most likely genuine.

This could be verified by combining various alchemy steps.

Zhao Sheng was eighty percent sure that the recipe was authentic, only missing a few key ingredients and one or two steps in the alchemy process.

"Ah, what a pity," Zhao Sheng sighed inwardly.

This recipe revealed just how severe the problem of guarded secrecy was within the Cultivation World.

For millennia, countless divine skills and secret knowledge had been lost or remained incomplete for reasons of selfishness, monopoly, myopia, and so forth, eventually disappearing from the world.

Thinking this, Zhao Sheng felt utterly speechless and signaled impatiently with a wave of his hand for the old man to leave quickly.

The scrawny old man, seeing this, burst into fits of ecstasy, hopping up and rushing out of the guest reception room.

Zhao Sheng then picked up the recipe again and studied it thoroughly.

This time, he pondered it alongside the refining method, gaining insight with each review.

This Enlightenment Pill... the name must also be genuine, but let us call it the Enlightenment Pill for now.

The Enlightenment Pill recipe listed thirty-one different Spiritual Medicines, with a total of eleven alchemy steps written on the beast skin. Refining a batch would take about three to five days.

From his experience, he judged the grade of the Enlightenment Pill to be at least Second Order, possibly even Third-Order Spirit Pills, and the difficulty of its refinement was extremely high.

After analyzing the properties of the ingredients listed in the recipe, Zhao Sheng felt fairly certain that the Enlightenment Pill was likely a type of "Smart Pill" that could temporarily enhance a cultivator's aptitude.

If that was the case, the value of this recipe was incalculable, with a huge difference between its upper and lower limits.

The lower limit might be somewhat similar to Soul Condensing Pills, causing a short-term surge in spiritual power and a significant boost in mental capacity.

The upper limit was harder to guess, the best expectation being a permanent increase in a portion of a cultivator's aptitude.

Yet, regardless of the final outcome, this was a "lucky find" for Zhao Sheng.

Just as he diligently studied the recipe, a young man in white swiftly entered the reception room and respectfully said, "Master, Senior Jin is here!"

"Haha! Surely I'm excused from being announced,"

Before the voice fell, Jin Ming, wearing a smile, suddenly appeared at the doorway, then strolled leisurely into the reception room.

At this moment, a middle-aged man with a pale, beardless face and eyes shining with sharp light followed him in.

Zhao Sheng put down the recipe, stood up from his chair, and smilingly said, "Mr. Jin, you certainly don't need to be. Please, come in."

After speaking, he instructed the young man in white, "Xiao Yong, go brew two pots of Phoenix Tea."

The young man in white immediately bowed in agreement and quickly stepped back.

"Please, have a seat!"

Once the three were seated, Zhao Sheng examined Jin Ming and noticed that he now had white hair and numerous dark spots covering his face, looking completely aged compared to just a couple of years ago.