The auctioneer also stared in amazement, then looked back down at the three pill bottles he held.
Meng Hao’s gaze fell upon the bottles as well. After a while, he smiled. He was friends with Li Tao, and as such, the man had come to him before concocting this batch of Foundation Establishment Day. During their discussion of the Dao of alchemy, Meng Hao had pointed out some variations in the plant and vegetation interactions. You could actually say that it was with Meng Hao’s help that Li Tao gained enlightenment that day, and was able to concoct this batch of pills, which was the pinnacle of his current achievements in pill concoction.
“I won’t ask him about this batch of Foundation Establishment Day,” thought Meng Hao. “However, the variations I talked about that day could only have extracted forty percent medicinal strength from the plants. The final five percent was an achievement based on Li Tao’s personal enlightenment and skill.” Seeing the fervent reaction of the crowds around him, Meng Hao smiled.
Within his bag of holding, he still had several Foundation Establishment Day pills that he himself had concocted. Those pills had ninety percent medicinal strength. If he put those up for auction, it would certainly cause some waves.
“I wonder what the auction of my Bedevilment pill will be like….” he thought, his heart filling with anticipation. The energy he had expended concocting the Bedevilment pills exceeded that he had spent on Foundation Establishment Day by double, triple or perhaps more.
The concoction of the Bedevilment Pills was the true expression of his will, and the pinnacle of his Dao of alchemy.
With a smile, the auctioneer said, “Again, these three pill bottles will not be auctioned separately, but together. The opening bid for the three bottles is 250,000 Spirit Stones.” In his estimation, the price for these bottles would surely reach an incredible height.
In fact, it might be the crux of the entire auction, and would likely cause Li Tao’s name to rise to prominence in the Southern Domain.
This was because, although he wasn’t a Furnace Lord, he had concocted pills of almost exactly the same quality as a Furnace Lord’s. As such, the pills must have plant and vegetation interactions of his own creation, which was the hallmark difference between master alchemists and Furnace Lords.
Any master alchemist who wished to become a Furnace Lord must be able to produce plant and vegetation interactions that were uniquely his own. By rising above other master alchemists in such a way, he could then advance to being a Furnace Lord.
Because of those interactions, the value of such a medicinal pill was far beyond the value of an ordinary pill. Their appearance in the auction would immediately cause a huge scene. Many people would be willing to pay an exorbitant price to acquire the pills for research.
After all, once a master alchemist was raised to Furnace Lord, he would be able to use alchemic concealing techniques to hide the plant interactions. In that way, it would be much more difficult for others to unlock his secrets.
However, a pill concocted by a master alchemist would contain no such alchemic concealing, and would be much easier to unlock and research. The East Pill Division was aware of this, of course, and really had no way to control it. Skill manifest in the path of medicinal pills, was innately researchable.
Leaks like this didn’t occur in all Pill Auctions, but rather, perhaps one in ten. As such, one can only imagine the frenzy caused because of the appearance of this batch of pills.
The East Pill Division naturally had a degree of forbearance. Since the pills had been put up for auction, the East Pill Division would not attempt to cover up their true nature, nor try to prevent people from researching them.
Immediately, people began calling out bids.
“300,000 Spirit Stones!”
“500,000 Spirit Stones. I must acquire these three bottles of Foundation Establishment Day!”
Meng Hao’s eyes glittered. For a Foundation Establishment Day pill of forty-five percent medicinal strength to be so explosively popular caused him to wonder what kind of reaction his own pill would provoke.