Purple Haze Grass

Holy Dark Grass had been monopolised by the Divine Family. It had the effect of strengthening one's soul force based on the age of the grass. The older it was, the stronger it became. A single 5 years old Holy Dark Grass was worth 50 thousand demon spirit coins, as for 10 years old and 20 years old Holy Dark Grasses, they were several or even dozens of times more expensive.

"We'll listen to Young Master Chen!"

"Yeah, we'll listen to you!"

Chen Linjian looked around and counted the amount of people present saying "A total of 20 people, but we still need to find some more!"

Recently, the ruins of a city had been found. Most likely left behind during the Age of Darkness, quite a number of people had gone there to explore. Therefore, Chen Linjian was now finding more people to explore together.

Du Ze, Lu Piao, and the others looked towards the distant crowd.

"If we had Holy Dark Grass, Du Ze would definitely breakthrough into 1-star Bronze rank!" Lu Piao murmured, but things like Holy Dark Grass weren't something someone like them could afford.

If they had the money, they would be able to buy large amount of precious herbs and elixirs to assist in their training!

What Nie Li cared about wasn't money, but it was something else. In his previous life, a lot of experts had gone to explore the ancient ruins outside of Glory City but couldn't find anything. Who would have thought that Chen Linjian and his bunch would find a secret passage, and had eventually found a large amount of treasures.

Nie Li had heard the entire detail of what had happened in the exploration as Ye Ziyun had also participated in that event. Shen Yue had also found a Spiritual Lamp from the exploration which had been auctioned for 1 million demon spirit coins.

It wouldn't be worth Nie Li's attention if it was only 1 million demon spirit coins, but Nie Li knew the true usage of that Spiritual Lamp. If he were to obtain that Spiritual Lamp, it would be of great help to his future.

That Spiritual Lamp, he had to have it!

Nie Li got up and walked towards Chen Linjian's direction.

"I wish to join your team, I wonder if Young Master Chen is willing?" When Nie Li looked at Chen Linjian, a hint of memories floated in his head. Chen Linjian had been very outstanding among the other members of nobility, he had been one step away from being a Black Gold rank Demon Spiritualist in the previous life. He couldn't be considered good or bad as Nie Li didn't know him too well, but in the final battle of Glory City, once Chen Linjian had known that the Sacred Family had run away from the battle and allowed the west gate to be broken through, he, in a rage, had beheaded 6 members of the Sacred Family.

He could be considered as someone who knew his grudges well!

Chen Linjian raised his head, looking at Nie Li for awhile and non-committally replied, "Who are you? Do you know what we are going to do?"

The people beside Chen Linjian looked towards Nie Li, showing hints of ridicule.

"Brat, have you reached the Bronze rank yet? If you haven't, then don't come here to join the fun."

Nie Li turned facing those that ridiculed him, saying, "Of course I know what you guys are intending on doing. You people are preparing to explore the Ancient Orchid City Ruins, right?"

Chen Linjian showed a hint of astonishment on his face. 'How did this guy know that we are going to explore the Ancient Orchid City Ruins? This matter has always been carried out in secret and without telling anyone, if our families were to know of this matter, then we will certainly be prevented from going', he thought.

"Who are you?" Chen Linjian slightly narrowed his eyes, within flashed a hint of dangerous light.

"Nie Li."

"Nie Li?" Chen Linjian suddenly remembered, recently Nie Li had become famous. It was said that he had even damaged the Sacred Family's reputation over a matter of Inscription Pattern fraud, even Chen Linjian felt shame for them. "They say that you have read all sorts of ancient books?"

"Right, I have read anything that can be found in the library." Nie Li slightly nodded, revealing strong sense of self-confidence.

"Haha, such a big tone!"

"You have yet to undergo puberty, but you still dare to say that you've read all the ancient books in the library. How laughable. Even if you had been reading since you were in the womb, you couldn't have read so many books", a few people by the side mocked.

'Nie Li, this person is indeed interesting,' Chen Linjian didn't doubt Nie Li's words, gently tapping his finger on the desk as he said, "Since you have read so many books, do you know what era the Ancient Orchid City Ruins belong to?"

"According to the present clues found, Ancient Orchid City Ruins' buildings are round, however the whole city is square, and with such construction there are only two compatible eras. One would be the Snow Wind Empire Era and the other would be the Sacred Empire Era. However taking into account murals, I heard that some people found a large lotus mural. Lotus murals were popular at the later period of the Sacred Empire, so I can be sure that the Ancient Orchid City Ruins belonged to the era between the later period of Sacred Empire Era to the Age of Darkness' period…." Nie Li's tone wasn't gentle nor swift as he analysed the origin of the Ancient Orchid City Ruins.

Upon hearing Nie Li's speech, Chen Linjian's underlings were dumbfounded, they only understood half of Nie Li's speech.

"Good!" Chen Linjian suddenly got up. He had never thought that Nie Li could so easily determine the origin of the Ancient Orchid City Ruins. Although that knowledge may have seemed simple, even some of Glory City's historians might not be able to conduct such in-depth investigations. He looked at Nie Li, revealing admiration through his eyes, "Follow me from now on, I'll provide you with training and learning materials, how about it?"

Chen Linjian's underlings were a little surprised, they hadn't expected Chen Linjian to value Nie Li like this.

Become Chen Linjian's underling? Nie Li faintly laughed, saying "This time it's cooperation, each takes what he needs. I believe no one understands the structure of Ancient Orchid City Ruins better than me. If there is treasure, I will first choose one item, the others will be yours. If that's not possible then I will have to go by myself."

"Choose one item first, who do you think you are?"

"You haven't even stepped into the Bronze rank and you dare to talk terms with our Young Master Chen?"

Chen Linjian looked at Nie Li. This thirteen years old in front of him emitted a strong sense of self-confidence, causing Chen Linjian to be puzzled in his heart. Nie Li had not even reached the Bronze rank, where did he get his confidence from?

"I guarantee that there will be definitely be a harvest if you bring me along!" Nie Li said proudly. He clearly knew the location of the treasures in Ancient Orchid City Ruins, that's precisely why he was so confident.

Chen Linjian had a piece of Ancient Orchid City Ruins' map, however it was incomplete. He was silent for a moment, could it have been that Nie Li had a more complete treasure map in his hands?

"Okay, you got a deal! I'll repeat myself, if you were to follow me, there wouldn't be any lack of benefits, if you're unwilling, I still believe that there will be chances to cooperate in the future." Chen Linjian proudly laughed.

Chen Linjian's underlings were surprised, he had actually agreed to it?

"I hope that we can cooperate happily." Nie Li calmly said then turned around and left.

"3 days from now at 6 o'clock in the morning, we'll meet here!" Chen Linjian looked at the back of Nie Li who was currently walking away, and revealed a little playful smile on his face. 'Nie Li, this guy, is quite interesting', he mused.

"Exploring the Ancient Orchid City Ruins? Seems that there are still some preparations that need to be done." Nie Li murmured. He would need to prepare as if he was going alone because going to the Ancient Orchid City Ruins without reaching the Bronze rank was still quite dangerous.

Time slowly went by and afternoon arrived.

--- Glory City, Alchemy Association ---

The director of the Alchemy Association was a woman called Yang Xin. Although she was only 25 years old, she had achieved success at young age. Yang Xin was only a Gold rank Demon Spiritualist ,and, although they could not be considered outstanding, her achievements had already surpassed some of the older guys in the Alchemy Association.

As she was very beautiful, when she had just started as the Director of the Alchemy Association, the people in Alchemy Association all thought that she had used her looks to get that position. But as Yang Xin had slowly revealed her talent, those who had gossiped about her had shut up quickly.

As usual, Yang Xin was collecting all the letters in the Alchemy Association's mail box. A lot of alchemists would write the experiences they had when refining medicine in a letter and then the Alchemy Association would arrange those letters containing the experiences of these alchemists into a book which they would distribute to every alchemist.

With 90% of the ancient alchemy books being lost, although an alchemist was very important, due to the limited effects of the elixirs, alchemy became an embarrassing occupation in Glory City.

Yang Xin opened one letter after another. Some of the letters were love letters addressed to her, but those were thrown aside by her without hesitation, but soon, one of the letters caught Yang Xin's attention.

'Regarding Purple Haze Grass' application in alchemy?' Yang Xin slightly frowned, doubt showing on her delicate white face.

What other effects were there for Purple Haze Grass other than burning it to repel insects?

Yang Xin continued reading the letter which described the uses of the Purple Haze Grass. When refining Soul Assembling Pills and Spiritual Enhancing Pills, by adding a little Purple Haze Grass in them could increase the effect of the pills by 30%. By combining Purple Haze Grass and 5 other herbs and taking an herbal bath with them, one could nourish the soul force and so on.

More than sixty uses of Purple Haze Grass were listed. Within those sixty uses, almost half of them were extremely valuable. If all of them were proven then the price of Purple Haze Grass would skyrocket by several dozen times!

Yang Xin coldly sneered 'Trying to borrow my hand to raise the price of Purple Haze Grass? You'll at least have to come up with something more realistic! This person is definitely a liar!'

Yang Xin threw the letter aside as she couldn't believe that an ordinary Purple Haze Grass would have this many effects!

Looking over the other letters, Yang Xin had some hesitation. If Purple Haze Grass were to have so many uses then it would greatly affect the development of countless alchemists.

"Forget it, I'll just give it a try! Come, pass me some Purple Haze Grass!" Yang Xin yelled. There was quite a few supplies of herbs in the Alchemy Association, so someone would be able to find some Purple Haze Grass for her.

Soon, someone brought over some Purple Haze Grass.

"Yang Director, our storage of Purple Haze Grass isn't a lot, we only have 3 pounds of it."

Yang Xin slightly frowned. Recently there had been a large acquisition of Purple Haze Grass by someone, as the Director of the Alchemy Association how could she not know.

"Okay, I know!" Yang Xin nodded her head, and started using Purple Haze Grass to refine the Soul Assembling Pill and the Spiritual Enhancing Pill.

The Soul Assembling Pill's and the Spiritual Enhancing Pill's formula had been passed down in Glory City for hundreds of years. No one would dare to alter the formula for the Soul Assembling Pill and the Spiritual Enhancing Pill. After all the raw materials needed for these 2 pills were very expensive. Failing it once would cause the alchemist to feel heartache because of it, so who would still dare to casually add other materials?