Chapter 4853 — The Boat Rises with the Tide
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"You'd better have this planned out down to the last detail, kid. I've sunk a fortune into this—if it ends up not landing him a few formidable enemies, I won't let you off the hook!" Bao Zuoliang said, his heart still uneasy.
His sole purpose in bringing this item out was to borrow another's blade to kill. If, in the end, he failed to bring Wei Zhao down and the thing simply ended up in Wei Zhao's hands through the auction, then no matter how astronomical the price, Bao Zuoliang would only be sick with frustration to the point of spitting blood. After all, this item's rarity was nearly on par with the Thunder Mystery Pill—ordinarily, no amount of spirit jade could buy one.
"Rest easy, rest easy. I've had everything arranged for ages, little brother here. This enemy is weighty enough that even if that fellow surnamed Lin crosses him, he'll be left with more than he can swallow, and I guarantee sparks will fly. That one is in no mood for reasoned talk—heh heh!" Su Kesheng smiled with an air of unfathomable mystery.
"Good!" Seeing that expression, Bao Zuoliang was at once brimming with confidence again, for every time Su Kesheng wore that look, he had never once failed. This time would be no exception.
"Next up is the eighth lot—Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass!" Before the white-bearded elder had even finished speaking, the whole hall erupted, the response far more fervent than for all the previous lots combined. And this time, exactly as Bao Zuoliang and Su Kesheng had predicted, Wei Zhao, who had been unmoved throughout, finally let his eyes light up.
Wei Zhao was himself an alchemist and was hardly a stranger to the Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass, for it was the principal ingredient in refining the Nurturing Origin Pill—its rarity rivaling even that of the Thunder Mystery Vine!
The Nurturing Origin Pill, though effective only on Nascent Soul-stage experts, was a bona fide seventh-grade pill, and its effect was plain and simple: any Nascent Soul cultivator who took one would advance a full level.
To a Nascent Soul expert, this was undeniably a dream-come-true holy pill, a top-tier enhanced version of the Nascent Soul Condensation Golden Pill. After all, the Golden Pill worked wonders only when condensing a Nascent Soul; once one entered the Nascent Soul stage, it could still be taken as an experience pill, but the effect was quite limited—commonplace, even—a squandering of heaven's bounty.
To level up purely by taking Nascent Soul Condensation Golden Pills—well, it was not absolutely impossible, but without eight or ten of them, don't even think about it. The Nurturing Origin Pill was different: whether you were an early-stage or late-stage Nascent Soul expert, a single pill would directly raise you one level! Yet it could not replace the Golden Pill's power to break through barriers—a Golden Core grand completion cultivator who dared to take a Nurturing Origin Pill would, in all likelihood, burst apart and die on the spot.
Just as Bao Zuoliang and Su Kesheng had speculated, Wei Zhao could not possibly have no thoughts at all about such a thing. In truth, so long as one's strength had not reached Nascent Soul grand completion, no Nascent Soul expert—whatever his background—could remain indifferent.
"The judging panel has determined that this stalk of Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass can be divided into five portions—meaning, in theory, up to five Nurturing Origin Pills can be refined from it. The starting price is one million spirit jade," the white-bearded elder announced.
"Two million," Wei Zhao said at once, doubling the starting price outright. Two million spirit jade for a single stalk of Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass was in fact a little high—after all, this was no ready-made Nurturing Origin Pill.