Mu Jinyu was indeed in need of pill formulas at the moment.
In the "Pill Scripture" he had acquired at the auction, he had only gained numerous alchemy techniques and secrets to alchemy experience. Only a few pill formulas were included at the end.
However, most of these pill formulas were for first-grade elixirs, suitable for cultivators from the Mingjin to the Energy Transformation Warrior levels. By the early stage of the Divine Realm, only some of the elixirs could still be somewhat useful.
Now, he was stuck at the sixth layer of the Divinity Transformation Realm and had not been able to break through to the later stages of the Divine Transformation Realm, rendering those pill formulas essentially useless to him. He wondered if he could find suitable pill formulas in this shop.
"Pill formulas?" Upon hearing Mu Jinyu's words, the shopkeeper was taken aback and then looked at Mu Jinyu with a strange expression, shaking his head, "No, we don't have any pill formulas for sale."
He thought Mu Jinyu must be foolish. Alchemists in the Kunlun Ruins were so rare, and pill formulas were essentially their closely-guarded secrets. How could they be so casually disclosed?
Being able to befriend those alchemists and get a batch of elixirs for sale each month was already a testament to the considerable influence of the powers behind them. And this guy actually wanted to buy pill formulas?
"None?" Mu Jinyu, upon hearing this, couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed. Then, after thinking for a bit, he said, "Then what kind of elixirs do you have here, suitable for use from the mid to the later stages of the Divine Realm?"
"We do have those. Let me recommend this 'Rush Yuan Pill' to you. It's most suitable for cultivators at the fourth and fifth layers of the Divine Realm. Even for those at the seventh and eighth layers, although the effectiveness is reduced, it's still quite good..."
"Alright, how many spirit stones for one Rush Yuan Pill?" Mu Jinyu knew that the Rush Yuan Pill was most effective for those at the fourth and fifth layers, which made it a second-grade elixir. He understood the price definitely wouldn't be cheap.
The shopkeeper said, "One Rush Yuan Pill costs ten medium-grade spirit stones each."
"Ten medium-grade spirit stones?" Mu Jinyu felt that it was a little expensive, but still acceptable. He then asked, "If I buy four, can you give me a discount, say for thirty-nine medium-grade spirit stones in total?"
"Ah?" The shopkeeper, upon hearing Mu Jinyu's words, was momentarily stunned and then could not help but laugh and cry, saying, "Alright."
He had not expected Mu Jinyu to bargain even over a single medium-grade spirit stone.
"Great, then go get me one hundred medium-grade spirit stones, and bring over four Rush Yuan Pills," Mu Jinyu said with a smile.
The shopkeeper then ordered the attendant to fetch them.
Soon, the attendant brought Mu Jinyu a small bag and in the other hand was holding four porcelain bottles, most likely each bottle contained one Rush Yuan Pill.
Mu Jinyu took the bag, scanned it with his divine sense to confirm there were indeed one hundred medium-grade spirit stones without mistake, and put it into his storage bag. Then he took the four porcelain bottles, pulled out the corks, and began to examine the Rush Yuan Pills.
As soon as the porcelain bottles were opened, a faint scent of Dan Fragrance wafted out from the opening, refreshing and pleasing to the senses.
Mu Jinyu scanned them with his divine sense and his expression became somewhat stiff.
Because he saw that these Rush Yuan Pills had only a single Danwen on their surfaces, which meant only one layer of the medicine's potency was locked in.
It can be said, elixirs with only a single Danwen are the worst quality, apart from those without any Danwen, which are considered poisonous pills.
Mu Jinyu opened the corks of all four porcelain bottles in succession and found that they all contained elixirs with just a single Danwen.
With a stiff expression, Mu Jinyu looked up at the shopkeeper and asked, "Shopkeeper, don't you have elixirs with more Danwens? Elixirs with just a single Danwen are rather poor in quality, aren't they? They don't seem worth ten medium-grade spirit stones."
The amount of Spiritual Energy in ten medium-grade spirit stones is quite substantial. If it were a Rush Yuan Pill with three Danwens, maybe it truly wouldn't compare, but for a Rush Yuan Pill that locks in only one-tenth of the potency, its effects wouldn't match up to ten medium-grade spirit stones at all.
Unless these elixirs possess special effects that spirit stones can't compare with, only then could the price be somewhat justified.
The shopkeeper, hearing Mu Jinyu's words, showed an even greater look of surprise and bewilderment, wondering why Mu Jinyu would ask such a question. Nonetheless, he patiently explained, "How could it not be worth ten medium-grade spirit stones? Here in Gathering Fortune Tower, across all the Kunlun Ruins, the Rush Yuan Pills are priced the same, no one has ever said they're not worth it."
"If there are more elixir patterns, then the price is different, it can't be just ten medium-grade spirit stones. For example, if you want a Rush Yuan Pill with two elixir patterns, that would cost thirty medium-grade spirit stones to buy."
Hearing the shopkeeper's words, Mu Jinyu's expression changed slightly; he hadn't expected such a rip-off. Just one additional elixir pattern and the price had doubled.
Thirty medium-grade spirit stones, why the hell don't you just go rob people!
Then, Mu Jinyu suddenly had a thought and realized he had underestimated himself. He was able to refine fine elixirs with six elixir patterns, and it seemed that their value far exceeded his expectations.
One more elixir pattern, even if it was just fine quality elixir, could quadruple the price. So what about his fine elixirs with six paths? Wouldn't they be worth hundreds of times more?
Mu Jinyu came to see that he might have found a new path to wealth.
However, his current strength wasn't sufficient to dominate the Kunlun Ruins, and he couldn't just casually reveal his ability to easily refine fine elixirs, as the consequences would be worrisome.
"Do you still want them, sir? If not, I'll process a refund for you,"
the shopkeeper said, noticing the changing expressions on Mu Jinyu's face and assuming he no longer wanted the Rush Yuan Pills.
At these words, Mu Jinyu came back to his senses and replied, "Yes, I want them."
After speaking, he put away the four Rush Yuan Pills.
Although the quality of these elixirs was trash and not worth ten medium-grade spirit stones, in order to try and deduce the pill formula, Mu Jinyu could only grit his teeth and make the purchase.
If he could successfully deduce the pill formula from these elixirs, then it wouldn't be a loss, and he would make a huge profit!
Latter, Mu Jinyu asked the shopkeeper, "By the way, do you have storage bags for sale in your store?"
"Yes," the shopkeeper nodded, and asked, "How big of a storage bag do you need, sir?"
Mu Jinyu thought for a moment and said, "A storage bag big enough to fit four or five of those snake skin bags we just saw, how much would that cost?"
The shopkeeper replied, "That won't be cheap, at least thirty superior-grade spirit stones."
"Thirty superior-grade spirit stones?" Mu Jinyu's expression shifted slightly; thirty superior-grade spirit stones meant three hundred medium-grade spirit stones, a decidedly expensive price.
However, he was in real need of a high-capacity storage bag. Using the Shennong Cauldron as a magical storage treasure was very inconvenient; he had to remove everything inside each time he performed alchemy, and in the Kunlun Ruins, he would frequently need to use the Shennong Cauldron.
Taking things in and out like this, if someone were to see him even once, the exposure of the treasure would bring big trouble.
Therefore, he must get some large storage bags!
Biting his lip, Mu Jinyu decided to sell some more fierce beast materials and spiritual medicines that he didn't need, to buy this storage bag!
"Shopkeeper, could I borrow a room? I need to fetch some things to sell," Mu Jinyu said.
"Of course," the shopkeeper responded, glimpsing a hint of shrewdness in Mu Jinyu's request, aware that Mu Jinyu probably didn't have any large storage bags and that taking things out of his valuable treasure was somewhat inconvenient, which was why he was accommodating him.
The shopkeeper instructed an assistant to take Mu Jinyu to an empty room where he could retrieve his items.