. The Alchemist Guild's herb warehouse is actually a stone tower built underground.
Following Fa Ma, Mo Tang and Mo Tang passed through layers of inspection and detection before arriving at a pitch-black gate.
Fa Ma glanced at Mo Tang and said, "Come on, come in with me. If you like anything, just tell me directly. I'll give you a reasonable price, up to the equivalent of your recipe. Otherwise, you can take anything. I won't stop you."
Mo Tang smiled and nodded.
Fa Ma had so readily agreed to bring Mo Tang, an outsider, to the herb warehouse because he was confident that he wouldn't be able to cause any trouble.
After all, he was an old monster who had lived for over a hundred years. While his alchemist level wasn't as high as Gu He's, his strength was far greater.
Upon entering the herb warehouse, Mo Tang was instantly struck by a hazy, fluorescent world.
A closer look revealed that the entire warehouse was made entirely of cold jade.
Upon entering, a faint, cool energy flowed into the body, creating a very comfortable sensation.
Mo Tang was also familiar with this kind of cold jade; it was an excellent material for preserving medicinal herbs and elixirs. Many high-quality elixirs were stored in these cold jade boxes.
"Tsk tsk, the Alchemist Guild truly deserves to be the wealthiest organization. They're truly generous!"
Mo Tang exclaimed in admiration, observing everything around him.
Fa Ma simply smiled, not wanting to join in the conversation.
It couldn't be helped. Who on the continent didn't know that alchemy was the wealthiest profession in the world?
He pointed to the small compartments on the cold jade wall, each holding a precious medicinal herb.
If it weren't sealed off, the entire space would have been filled with the aroma of medicinal herbs.
"These are the Alchemist Guild's collection, accumulated over hundreds of years. Would you like me to show them to you one by one?"
Mo Tang waved his hand. "No need. Just open the seals one by one and let me see..."
Although Mo Tang's request seemed a bit strange, Fa Ma complied.
Since he was watching closely, he wasn't worried about the boy's hidden tricks.
However, before opening each slot, Fa Ma briefly explained the name and properties of the herb, making it easier for Mo Tang to identify.
Unbeknownst to him, Mo Tang had no interest in understanding the efficacy or properties of these items. He simply touched them, and the system would immediately indicate the amount of energy they could transform. As for the rest, who cared?
"Intermediate energy detected: 130 points. Absorb?"
"Yes/No."
An ice-blue fruit, Fa Ma explained, was called the Cold Blood Fruit, a highly prized ice-attributed herb.
Discovering its ability to transform over a hundred points of energy, Mo Tang decisively picked it up and tossed it into his storage ring.
Fa Ma, who was explaining the fruit, twitched his lips at this, then, suppressing a throbbing ache, managed to say, "This Cold Blood Fruit is an extremely rare, high-grade herb, worth over a million gold coins!"
Mo Tang shrugged, saying, "Continue..." "
..."
As the two emerged from the herb storeroom, Mo Tang could already feel the old man's face twitching.
Fearing the old man might have a seizure, Mo Tang simply called out and quickly slipped away.
Fa Ma, standing there, felt his heart pounding... especially when he thought of the other man frantically stuffing herbs into his ring like a shopping spree, Fa Ma almost felt like he was having trouble breathing.
But truly, he deserved it.
The value of those recipes was truly extraordinary, especially the two volumes of sixth-grade recipes. To Fa Ma, their value was beyond measure.
As for Mo Tang...
"Intermediate energy detected: 8,680 points. Absorb with one click?"
"Yes/No."
"Yes!"
Over 8,000 points of intermediate energy, plus the two previous harvests and the remaining, totaled exactly 9,800 points.
"Upgrading to a Six-Star Dou Wang requires 3200 Intermediate Energy Points. Do you want to increase it?"
"Yes/No"
"Yes!"
...
"Upgrading to a Seven-Star Dou Wang requires 3300 Intermediate Energy Points. Do you want to increase it?"
"Yes/No"
"Yes!"
...
And then...
then it turns out that upgrading from a Seven-Star Dou Wang to an Eight-Star Dou Wang requires 3400 Energy Points, but Mo Tang was off by a mere 100 points...
Seeing this final number, Mo Tang nearly choked to death.
"Fuck, just this 100? This is driving my OCD crazy!"
The more he looked at it, the more annoyed he became. Unable to help himself, Mo Tang ran to the president's office again, pestering the old man to find him another high-quality medicinal herb or elixir...
Of course, this time, Mo Tang wouldn't trade for a precious elixir formula. Instead, he sought out a seemingly useless fighting skill...
the Blowing Fire Palm, a low-level Xuan-level fighting skill that generates powerful wind pressure. According to the original novel, Zhong Yao Lao himself acquired it by trading spare elixirs for a favor he had asked him to refine.
It had been sitting in his storage ring, gathering dust until he accepted Xiao Yan as his disciple. He then dug it out from some hidden corner of his family's library and gave it to Xiao Yan to practice.
While the Blowing Fire Palm wasn't particularly powerful on its own, when combined with Xiao Yan's lucky draw, the Suction Palm, a fighting skill Mo Tang had acquired, it was surprisingly effective.
This time, with this item, despite being significantly less valuable, Mo Tang managed to obtain an Eight-petaled Immortal Orchid from Fa Mammoth through much persuasion. While not inherently rare, it held a significant amount of energy, perfectly supplementing the remaining 100 energy points.
"Upgrading to Eight-Star Dou Wang requires 3,400 intermediate energy points. Do you want to increase it?"
"Yes/No"
"Yes!"
A surge of Dou Qi surged, and the aura surrounding Mo Tang soared again, then quickly settled within him.
Already an Eight-Star Dou Wang, Dou Huang was only a step away.
Only by truly achieving Dou Huang could he truly enter the ranks of the powerful...
His name would truly command awe throughout the Jia Ma Empire!
Dou Wang and Dou Huang are two completely different levels in the Jia Ma Empire...
Meanwhile, as Mo Tang racked his brains to improve his strength, the entire imperial capital was in turmoil over his plan to hold an unprecedented auction.
In the Nalan Family, in the Patriarch's study,
Nalan Yanran, who had just been urgently summoned back to the family by her father, Nalan Su, looked at him with a complex expression.
"Father, are we really going to do this?"
Nalan Yanran, having heard her father's unreserved words, was in a state of deep distress.
Just now, her father urgently called her back from the Alchemist's Guild. Nalan Yanran initially thought something had happened at home, but she didn't expect her father to tell her that he was planning to bring his family to join the Mo Alliance...
Such words were still difficult for the always proud Nalan Yanran to accept.
(End of this chapter)