Xiao Yan furrowed his brows as he stared at the item oable. When his Spiritual Strength swept over the bck, broken jade fragment, he uzzled to find that even his Spiritual Strength couldn't pee it to see what was inside.

  'Could this be some kind of tool for st spiritual information? But why 't even my Spiritual Strength pass through it?'

  With his current level of Spiritual Strength, ordinary soul jade pieces could be easily peed by him to directly peer into their tents.

  He had given emergenunication jade pieces of this type to Qing Lin and his two elder brothers.

  Generally, aside from being used to send spiritual signals, these soul jade pieces could also store spiritual information such as Qi Methods and Dou Teiques.

  Learning Qi Methods and Dou Skills normally required dedig time to study and prehend them oneself. However, soul jade pieces could directly transmit the information into one's soul via Spiritual Strength. It was akin to sudden enlighte. This allowed the learo skip the step of assimition and prehension.

  Therefore, this kind of soul jade piece was extremely precious.

  "Sir, what I help you with?" The stall owner asked curiously, notig that Xiao Yan had been standing in front of his stall for quite some time.

  Interrupted from his thoughts, Xiao Yan g the man in front of him and smiled as he picked up the bck jade fragment. "Boss, how much are you selling this jade piece for?"

  The jade piece didn't feel smooth in his hand. Instead, it was covered with tiny granules and appeared as if the material was not very good. Moreover, faint cracks were visible on its surface, and there was even sand and dirt lodged in the crevices.

  With a simple touch, Xiao Yan could tell that this was likely excavated from some ruins out from the soil.

  The man's eyes lit up immediately; Xiao Yan was the first person all m to inquire about prices.

  "Um... I... I'd like to trade for a tier 3 medial pill to study and improve my alchemy skills. My talent in alchemy isn't very good; despite practig for so many years, I'm still just an alchemy apprehe man said with an embarrassed ugh.

  Xiao Yan smiled slightly arieved three pills from his ste ring: "Here are three types of medial pills, all for healing injuries. They are a tier 1 Blood Clotting Powder, a tier 2 Body Recovery Pill, and a tier 3 Minor Blood Replenishing Pill. This should be enough for you to study and learn frht?"

  At the sight of Xiao Yan's generous offer, the stall owner quickly rose to his feet. He carefully pced the medial pills into three wooden boxes and looked at Xiao Yan in surprise. "Sir, could you be a 3rd-tier alchemist?!"

  Xiao Yan didn't say much more; sihe transa was plete, there was no need for him to linger.

  As he walked away, Xiao Yan pondered over the jade fragment in his hand, 'No wonder none of the alchemists here discovered this soul jade piece. Using Spiritual Strength to probe it would just make ohink it's an ordinary piece of bck jade.'

  Ordinary soul tools would provide feedback when probed with Spiritual Strength, but this bck jade fragme just like an ordinary jade pendant, without any feedback at all.

  'What was that feeling just now, and why has it disappeared?'

  Tightly gripping the jade pendant, he noticed that the strahrobbiion he had felt upoering the Alchemist Association was now gone.

  Xiao Yan could feel a slight warmth emanating from within the jade piece, but he couldn't find any other clues. He wasn't in a hurry though. Putting the bck jade fragment into his pocket, he decided he would o study this item carefully after returning.

  He tio stroll through the marketpce, his eyes filled with curiosity as he examined numerous rare medial ingredients and other items that even he had never seen before. He had inally e in hopes of finding some treasures and to learn more about the rules of the Alchemist Graing.

  'Alchemists really are arrogant.' Most of the stall owners he entered along the way had an indifferent attitude; even when someone asked about prices, they would only nontly state a number, ag as if they didn't care whether one bought their items or not.

  Here, purchases were not made with gold s; most transas were ducted using medial pills or pill recipes.

  Xiao Yan noticed a special kind of Peach Blossom Fme's fire seed, simir to the Amethyst Fme of the Amethyst Winged Lion King, as they were both kinds of Beast Fmes. Eventually, it was exged by a cold aiful young woman for a tier 4 pill recipe.

  Xiao Yan shook his head. He hadn't found any other items worth buying. Although there were many preedial ingredients here, none were what he was looking for.

  'Too bad there are no Heavenly Fmes for sale.' Xiao Yan was truly daydreaming, thinking he could find Heavenly Fmes to purchase here.

  After wandering around, Xiao Yan approached the association's reception desk and asked in a low voice, "Hello, I need a detailed handbook of the rules for the Alchemist Graing."

  The pretty receptionist gnced down at Xiao Yan's chest and, seeing that he wasn't wearing an alchemist badge, immediately put on an impatient expression. She said, "Only official alchemists participate in the Alchemist Graing. Apprentices are not permitted."

  Xiao Yan shook his head helplessly and said, "I am an alchemist."

  "Then show me your alchemist badge." The receptionist rolled her eyes at him. Which alchemist didn't treat their badge as a symbol of their identity and status, wishing they could wear it even when bathing?

  Xiao Yan crossed his arms and replied in an irritated tone, "Not all alchemists puch importan badge tiers. Is this proof enough?"

  He extended a finger, and with a whoosh, a wisp of bck fme appeared at his fiip.

  The receptionist's face ged drastically when she saw the densed real fire. She excimed in shock, "Real fire! Could it be that you are a 4th-tier alchemist?!"

  Some passing alchemists gnced over curiously when they heard the receptionist's excmation.

  "A 4th-tier alchemist! Where?!"

  "You're saying this seventeen hteen-year-old boy is a 4th-tier alchemist? You've got to be kidding."

  "If yoing to lie, at least make it more believable. Even if he started practig alchemy in his mother's womb, it's impossible for him to be at tier 4."

  Xiao Yan shrugged, not b to expin further, and smiled. " I have the handbook now?"

  The receptionist's beautiful eyes fshed with a strange colardless of whether Xiao Yan was truly a 4th-tier alchemist or not, being able to dense real fire meant his tier was definitely not low.

  Xiao Yan accepted the handbook and noticed that it had an address written on it, along with a lipstick kiss mark. Gng at the bashful expression of the girl in front of him, he smiled wryly and shook his head.

  With a sweep of his bck fme, he swiftly erased the marks before daring to step out of the Alchemist Association.

  If Old Ling caught wind of this and wot back to Xuhere would be hell to pay.

  As Xiao Yan walked back to the Nan Mansion, he read through the rules in the handbook. The regutions of the Alchemist Graing were quite simple. Alchemists uhe age of thirty could participate; the first round was the preliminary sele, followed by the sed round of elimination matches, and the third round would determihe champion.

  In addition to being an honorary elder of the Alchemist Association, the champion would be rewarded with a tier 6 pill recipe—the Spirit Fusion Pill.

  "The Spirit Fusion Pill fuse the soul with the body, rapidly restore Spiritual Strength, and even heal previous soul injuries? That's quite an exceptional pill recipe, capable of rest Spiritual Strength and repairing soul damage."

  Just as Xiao Yan was pting whether to participate in the petition to obtain this pill recipe, a cold voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

  "Boy, get your hands on that Spirit Fusion Pill Recipe for me, and I'll spare your life iure!"