Devouring Soul Emperor

Chapter 336: Chapter 336: Preparation

"Hehe, our final haul this time is... twenty-four thousand drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid!"

Qin Ya said with a smile, then suddenly whisked the cloth cover off a nearby chest.

Inside the chest, large, square jade boxes were stacked in perfect order. Each one was filled to the brim with glistening, translucent Primordial Spirit Liquid!

There were twenty-four jade boxes in the chest, each containing one thousand drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid.

"There’s so much!"

Seeing the chest full of Primordial Spirit Liquid, Chu Qingyun’s heart couldn’t help but skip a beat, and a look of delight appeared on his face.

In the past, he had only ever received Primordial Spirit Liquid by the small vial, or even drop by drop. He had never seen an entire chest full of it.

’A total haul of twenty-four thousand drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid... that means I’ll get twelve thousand drops!’

’I bet even an average Earth Spirit Realm expert, or even a poorer Celestial Spirit Realm expert, couldn’t come up with this much Primordial Spirit Liquid.’

"Hey, Chu Qingyun, show a little composure, would you? You’re a super-genius Alchemist, for goodness’ sake. Are you really that stunned by a mere twelve thousand drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid?"

"I heard my grandfather say that for a King-level Alchemist, the fee for a single commission is far, far more than this."

Qin Ya found Chu Qingyun’s slightly dazed expression amusing.

Twenty-thousand-some drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid was certainly a large sum, even for the Qin Family. But it wasn’t enough to leave Qin Ya dumbfounded. After all, her family held a majority share in the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower, Lianshan County’s biggest cash cow.

The Qin Family might not be formidable in terms of martial power, but their wealth absolutely surpassed that of most Celestial Spirit Realm experts.

"How much does a King-level Alchemist get paid for a single commission?" As an Alchemist himself, Chu Qingyun was naturally curious and couldn’t help but ask.

Qin Ya shook her head. "I’m not sure, but it must be a huge amount. Besides, I’ve heard my grandfather say that once you reach the King Realm, something like Primordial Spirit Liquid becomes almost meaningless. Treasures at the King Realm level are usually bartered, item for item. They’re almost never sold for Primordial Spirit Liquid unless someone is in dire need."

In the Great Xia Nation, the very name "King Realm" was synonymous with mystery and immense power.

It was a realm that ordinary people, even those at the Celestial Spirit Realm, rarely ever came into contact with.

Take Chu Qingyun, for example. He had been with the Great Xia Dragon Guard for some time now, yet he had never once met the so-called King Realm expert, the Lord Chief Manager.

In fact, he didn’t even know how many Lord Chief Managers the Great Xia Dragon Guard had, let alone what their Cultivation Realms were!

But as a Spirit Level Alchemist, Elder Qin had some contact with a few King-level experts in his daily life, so Qin Ya had heard a thing or two.

"Oh, by the way, Chu Qingyun," Qin Ya said with a radiant smile, "my grandfather said that in light of the huge risk you took during the life-or-death challenge, not to mention using up seven precious Elixirs, all of this Primordial Spirit Liquid should go to you."

"All of it for me?"

Chu Qingyun was astonished, but he immediately shook his head. "No, we agreed on a fifty-fifty split. I’ll take my half of the Primordial Spirit Liquid, and the rest belongs to you."

The Qin Family had taken a huge risk this time.

If something had gone wrong in the life-or-death challenge, even if the Celestial Spirit Realm experts from the Great Xia Dragon Guard had saved Chu Qingyun, it still would have counted as a loss. The Qin Family would have been completely ruined, suffering a catastrophic loss.

Besides, without their support and the reputation of the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower, the whole affair would have been impossible.

Therefore, Chu Qingyun’s conscience wouldn’t be clear if he took all the Primordial Spirit Liquid for himself.

"Are you sure you don’t want it? You know, the rotating auction held across the major County Cities starts in just five days. You definitely won’t have enough Primordial Spirit Liquid then."

Qin Ya said with a teasing smile.

Hearing this, Chu Qingyun shook his head. "I just want to buy some Tier Four Spiritual Medicine. My share of over ten thousand drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid should be enough."

’I’ve already reviewed the Secret Techniques for the Fourth and Fifth Layers of the Profound Celestial Divine Pattern.’

’The Fourth Layer requires about five stalks of earth-element Tier Four Spiritual Medicine, while the Fifth Layer needs about twelve stalks of ice-element Tier Four Spiritual Medicine.’

’Even at Elder Qin’s highest estimate of eight hundred drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid per stalk, my twelve thousand drops should be enough. At the very least, mastering the Fourth Layer won’t be a problem.’

"An auction of this caliber might not happen even once in a decade. Every single item will be of the highest quality. Are you sure you only want Tier Four Spiritual Medicine? What if you come across something you desperately want but don’t have enough Primordial Spirit Liquid to bid for it?"

"The best part of an auction is the unexpected treasures that show up. But without enough Primordial Spirit Liquid, all you can do is watch them slip through your fingers."

Qin Ya said, batting her eyelashes at Chu Qingyun.

"Well..."

He had to admit, Qin Ya’s words made him hesitate.

As an Alchemist, he had found recipes in his Alchemy Dao inheritance for several powerful Elixirs—some of which would be crucial for his future cultivation.

However, those Elixirs often required extremely precious Spiritual Medicines or other Celestial and Earthly Treasures.

Some of these ingredients weren’t necessarily high-tiered, but they were exceptionally rare. They were the kind of thing you could only stumble upon by chance, not find by searching. If he ever encountered one, he absolutely couldn’t let the opportunity pass.

And beyond his needs for Alchemy, Chu Qingyun had other requirements as well.

In terms of Sword Techniques, while the Thunder Sword Manual was a King-level technique and had another form after the Thunder Light Sword Qi, Chu Qingyun felt that its final form... was strange. He had no idea if he could even continue practicing it.

As for Secret Techniques, the Profound Celestial Divine Pattern would likely become less effective by the time he reached the Earth Spirit Realm. Even if he pushed its limits, it would probably only be useful up to the Celestial Spirit Realm.

And while the Vajra Indestructible manual was better than the Profound Celestial Divine Pattern and would still be very useful in the Celestial Spirit Realm, starting it from scratch would consume an enormous amount of resources. It clearly wasn’t worth it just for use in the Celestial Spirit Realm; the return on investment was too low.

Therefore, learning from his experience with the Tier Four Spiritual Medicine, he knew it was best to prepare for his next Secret Technique in advance.

Chu Qingyun shook his head sharply, forcing himself to stop thinking about it.

’It seems I really should prepare as much Primordial Spirit Liquid as possible...’

In the end, after some discussion with Qin Ya, Chu Qingyun took seventy percent of the haul—a total of 16,800 drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid—leaving the remaining thirty percent for the Qin Family.

After placing all the Primordial Spirit Liquid into his Storage Ring, Chu Qingyun went with Qin Ya to the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower headquarters.

Chu Qingyun still had some items in his Storage Ring that he needed to get rid of. According to Qin Ya, the upcoming auction wasn’t just for buying things; one could also put their own unused Treasures up for sale.

As it turned out, after sorting through the contents of his Storage Ring, Chu Qingyun found that the only thing he owned worth auctioning—aside from the Elixirs he could refine himself—was the Spirit Level Curved Saber he had taken from Tunfeng.

He sold off all the miscellaneous junk, which only fetched him a little over two hundred drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid.

His seventeen thousand-plus drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid would probably be enough to win the Tier Four Spiritual Medicine he needed, but it was likely still not enough to contend for one of those so-called "unexpected treasures."

’Just a single Spirit Level Curved Saber probably won’t be enough. It looks like I’ll have to refine some more Elixirs to sell...’

Chu Qingyun muttered to himself, toying with the only valuable item he had left—the Spirit Level Curved Saber.