Profound Heaven Soul Sovereign

In particular, its ability to not interfere with other breakthrough-type Pills taken in the future was enough to make many a Martial Artist's heart pound with excitement.

The vast majority of Martial Artists, no matter how sparingly they used them, had taken breakthrough-type Pills at some point. As a result, they would develop a certain resistance, affecting every subsequent breakthrough where they used such Pills.

But this Pill had no side effects and didn't impact future breakthroughs, which caused its value to skyrocket.

'No, I have to get this Pill. There can't be any slip-ups.'

Lin San's expression grew calm as he carefully read the text below.

Beneath the Pill's description was a line of fine print, which typically detailed the seller's special requirements.

This made Lin San slightly uneasy. Special requirements like these often meant the seller wasn't just after Profound Stones but had a specific goal in mind. These kinds of demands usually presented a major obstacle for buyers.

As expected, the seller's demands were harsh. He wasn't asking for Profound Stones or other Pills, but for Spirit Medicines and materials. Moreover, any Spirit Medicines and materials offered in trade had to be Tier Seven or higher.

This condition was harsh, but it was still within the realm of acceptability. Trading a Sixth Grade Pill for Tier Seven materials wasn't completely unreasonable.

However, the next condition made Lin San so frustrated he almost coughed up blood.

All bidders were to submit their offered materials to the trading center. After one day, the seller would review all submissions and choose one bidder to complete the trade with.

Furthermore, the Pill had a reserve price: a minimum of three types of Tier Seven materials were required for the trade to be completed. If this condition was not met, the sale would be automatically canceled.

"Product of the Profound Light Pavilion!"

Finally, at the very bottom of the listing, there was another line of text identifying the Pill's origin.

"What the hell? What kind of place is this Profound Light Pavilion?"

"A minimum of three Tier Seven materials for a single Venerable Pill? This Profound Light Pavilion must be desperate for money. They might as well just rob someone!"

"Profound Light Pavilion? I don't think a faction by that name even exists in our Celestial Capital Prefecture."

"Could this Pill be from a faction outside the Celestial Capital Prefecture? But why bother naming its origin?"

The vast majority of Martial Artists in the trading center began to curse. Their primary grievance was the exorbitant price.

As a rule of thumb, a Sixth Grade Pill was roughly equivalent in value to one Tier Seven treasure. Even if this Venerable Pill was more potent, it might fetch a slight premium, but it would never be worth three Tier Seven treasures.

Secondly, the seller's decision to name the place of origin was baffling.

Items sold at the trading center rarely had their origins specified. In fact, some sellers deliberately went to great lengths to conceal their items' provenance and details.

This Venerable Pill, however, broke that convention, leaving everyone perplexed.

"Hey, have you guys noticed? The ad for this Venerable Pill seems to be running for a while."

Just then, someone voiced their confusion.

Everyone came to a realization. That was right—half a minute had passed, so why was the information about the Venerable Pill still on the main screen?

"Exactly how much ad time did the Profound Light Pavilion buy for this Venerable Pill?"

Some people couldn't resist timing it. Forty seconds, fifty seconds, one minute.

Only after a full minute did the ad for the Venerable Pill finally disappear, allowing the usual stream of information to resume.

One minute. The ad ran for a full minute.

Everyone was dumbfounded. At the trading center, a ten-second advertisement cost two thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones. That meant a full minute would cost twelve thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones.

Of course, a full-minute slot was slightly cheaper due to the bulk duration, but it would still cost at least ten thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones.

Good heavens, this person actually spent ten thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones on a one-minute ad for a single Sixth Grade Pill?

The entire trading center erupted, causing an even bigger stir than the appearance of the Snow Melting Pill had earlier.

"Is this Profound Light Pavilion run by idiots? Spending ten thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones to advertise a Sixth Grade Pill? A Sixth Grade Pill is only worth twenty or thirty thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones. After factoring in the cost, could they even turn a profit?"

"And the main thing is their trade requirement—at least three Tier Seven materials! For fuck's sake, you can normally trade one Tier Seven material for a Sixth Grade Pill, and they're demanding three! I can't tell if they're the idiots, or if they think we are."

"I think the seller has lost their mind. Heh, for that price, you could buy several other Venerable Pills. His Pill might sound impressive, but it's just one Pill, and who knows if the claims are even true."

"Exactly. The standard Venerable Pill might have greater side effects and impact future cultivation, but it's cheaper and widely available. The success rate is about fifty percent, which isn't bad. With that kind of money, who would buy this new Pill anyway?"

"I'm starting to think this Venerable Pill is just a scam."

The crowd buzzed with discussion, most of it scornful. While people had initially been excited by the appearance of such a Pill, the mood had soured. In the blink of an eye, the trading center was filled with sounds of mockery and disdain.

Later, a comment from a well-known Alchemist in the Celestial Capital Prefecture only served to intensify the crowd's scorn for the Venerable Pill.

The Alchemist said that in his decades of practice, he had never once heard of a so-called Venerable Pill and figured it must be some kind of newfangled scam.

His words immediately sealed the crowd's verdict on the Venerable Pill: it was a fraud.

"Haha, the seller is going to be stunned when they find out tomorrow that not a single person made an offer. They wasted ten thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones for nothing, haha."

The crowd chattered and mocked, eagerly waiting to see the so-called Profound Light Pavilion make a fool of itself.

"Young Master Ye, are our demands a little too excessive?"

Standing at a counter in the trading center, Ge Puzi and the others grew anxious as they listened to the surrounding chatter.

The Venerable Pill was the very one Ye Xuan had just put up for sale.

In truth, the Venerable Pill was just a Gumo Menglan Pill. Ye Xuan had refined ten of them at once. He had consumed three himself and given one each to Dongfang Zisi, Yun Aoxue, Xia Qixi, Luo Cheng, and Zhang Lie, leaving him with two.

The one he was selling now was one of those two.

Su Xiuyi was also at a loss for words. "In the Celestial Capital Prefecture, only the disciples of major factions can afford to trade large quantities of Tier Seven materials for Pills. But those factions usually have their own Alchemists, and even if they don't, they can just buy similar Pills from the city's various pill pavilions. They simply don't need to buy from us."

"As for the Loose Cultivators, even if they wanted to buy it, they wouldn't have the resources. Most of them would opt for cheaper breakthrough Pills, even with the harsh side effects."

It had to be said that while Su Xiuyi wasn't an Alchemist, his market analysis was spot-on.

Even Dongfang Xuan shared the same thought.

The entire group couldn't help but feel anxious.

If the Profound Light Pavilion became the laughingstock of the Celestial Capital Prefecture before it even officially opened, it would be a disaster.

Ye Xuan couldn't help but chuckle. "Relax. I have my reasons for setting this price. Anyone with a discerning eye will recognize this Venerable Pill's true value. The results will speak for themselves tomorrow."

Though they were utterly confused, seeing Ye Xuan's confident expression, they could only nod helplessly. 'Let's hope so,' they all thought.

The appearance of the Venerable Pill caused a brief stir in the trading center, but the commotion soon died down.

At that very moment, however, Lin San shot out of the trading center as if he had gone mad.

He hastily boarded a flying vehicle, sped across several main roads, and arrived in the heart of the Celestial Capital Prefecture's Eastern District. Under the astonished eyes of two guards at the gate, he burst into an opulent mansion. He sprinted toward one of the inner courtyards at top speed. At that moment, he felt as if the blood in his veins was boiling.

"Young Master Lin Tian! Young Master Lin Tian!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Third Uncle, I'm over here. What's the rush?" In a pavilion set over a pond in the courtyard, a young man of about twenty, who had been cultivating with his eyes closed, was startled by Lin San and immediately stood up.

"Young Master Lin Tian!" Lin San gasped, panting heavily. The frantic sprint had left even him, a Tier Five Martial Sect, completely winded. Sweat quickly soaked the back of his robes.

"Here, drink some water first," Lin Tian said, quickly handing him a cup of tea.

Lin San gulped down the tea from the stone table in one go. After catching his breath, he finally said, "Young Master Lin Tian, earlier... a Pill appeared at the trading center. It's... it's a Sixth Grade Venerable Pill..."

"A Sixth Grade Venerable Pill?" Though Lin Tian was inwardly confused as to why Lin San would make such a fuss over a Sixth Grade Pill, he sensed there was more to the story and waited for him to continue.

Indeed, Lin San caught his breath and continued, "The effect of that Sixth Grade Venerable Pill is to allow a Tier Five Peak Martial Sect to break through to the Tier Six Martial Venerable realm, bypassing any bottlenecks... and it has zero side effects."

"What?" Lin Tian, who had been perfectly calm moments before, shot to his feet, his face a mask of shock. "Is that true? It allows a Tier Five Martial Sect to break through to the Tier Six Martial Venerable realm, ignoring all obstacles? And with no side effects? Did you get it?"

Lin Tian's calm demeanor vanished, replaced by wild excitement. He dashed out of the pavilion and stood right before Lin San, his eyes boring into him.

"N-no..." Lin San stammered.

"Don't tell me someone else got it?" Lin Tian's face turned ashen, and he slumped back onto his seat, his eyes filled with utter disappointment.

"N-no, that's not it..." Lin San said hastily. "Young Master, it's not that I couldn't buy it. The seller is only accepting rare materials as payment. They're going to review all the offers tomorrow and then decide who to trade with. And... they said it will take at least three types of Tier Seven materials to trade for this Sixth Grade Venerable Pill!"