Chapter 1523 — Refusing the Trade

"The Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit," Wei Zhao said.

"What!" Xiao Qing's gaze congealed; her eyes fixed on Wei Zhao, sharp as a blade, and she seemed shaken. "How do you know of the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit? Who told you of such a thing?"

Her reaction made Wei Zhao falter. Could the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit be some extraordinary treasure? Yet he had no wish to hide anything from Xiao Qing, and answered honestly: "I saw it in an ancient text. My friend... needs the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit to cure an illness."

"An ancient text?" Xiao Qing studied Wei Zhao for a long while before she nodded. To her mind, he was probably not lying. But as for the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit, scarcely a handful even among the ancient sects knew of it, for the fruit grows only where the Ice Palace stands, and is exceedingly rare.

So when Wei Zhao suddenly named a thing only the Ice Palace possessed, Xiao Qing was deeply startled. She did not know how he had come by word of the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit, and naturally she was wary.

"Since you know of the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit, you must know its worth as well. To the Ice Palace, it is a treasure beyond price. If you wish to trade for it, what have you to offer?" Only after judging that Wei Zhao bore no ill intent did Xiao Qing ask this.

At her words, Wei Zhao could only smile bitterly. How should he know the worth of the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit? Still less could he guess how it had come to be a priceless treasure to the Ice Palace.

"I have a Qi Gathering Pill... would that serve as payment, I wonder?" Wei Zhao had thought a Qi Gathering Pill would surely suffice in exchange for the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit; after all, the pill is a keen weapon for breaking through to the Heaven Rank. But now, having heard Xiao Qing, he found his heart had lost its footing.

"A Qi Gathering Pill? A rank-three pill? You actually have such a thing?" Xiao Qing was astonished; then a flicker of delight crossed her eyes. "You know an alchemist of the third rank or above?"

"I do not..." Wei Zhao shook his head. "I found the Qi Gathering Pill in an ancient tomb."

"So that is it!" The delight in Xiao Qing's face vanished in a flash, and her former coldness returned. "If you knew an alchemist of the third rank or above, I could speak with the Palace Master and have a pill refined for the Ice Palace; perhaps we might then part with one Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit as payment. But since you do not, there is nothing to discuss."

One Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit as payment? Wei Zhao had been reckoning on two! But having heard Xiao Qing, he dared not raise it. Alchemists—he truly knew none. Though he had been striving to learn the craft himself, he had made no progress at all.

His present skill in alchemy could never produce a pill for the Ice Palace. Show them such bungling work, and in their rage they might well kill him.

"The Qi Gathering Pill... is no good, then?" Wei Zhao was puzzled. Xiao Qing seemed not to care for the Qi Gathering Pill at all; she had asked only about alchemists, and showed not the slightest interest in the pill itself.

"In the eyes of the hidden families and the common sects, the Qi Gathering Pill may be a treasure; but in the eyes of us ancient sects and ancient families, it is no different from poison," Xiao Qing said mildly.

"Poison?" Wei Zhao was startled.

"Since you are the first-place winner of the trial tournament, I will say a few more words to you." Xiao Qing nodded. "Poison, indeed. The Qi Gathering Pill can lift a fighter at the peak of the late Earth Rank straight into the Heaven Rank—but it has its flaws."

"Flaws?" Wei Zhao asked quickly. "Then why do the hidden families still treasure it?"

"Different eyes see different ends," Xiao Qing said lightly. "The ultimate aim of the ancient sects and the ancient families is to break through the Heaven Rank and step into the Heavenly Dao. The hidden families count it a great feat merely to produce a single Heaven Rank fighter; as for breaking through the Heaven Rank, that is a thing they dare not even dream of."

"So once one takes a Qi Gathering Pill, one can go no further than the Heaven Rank?" From Xiao Qing's words, Wei Zhao had begun to catch the flavor of it.

"If you had a great many Qi Gathering Pills, you could keep taking them until you reached the peak of the late Heaven Rank, and by some stroke of fortune you might break through it as well." Xiao Qing said, "But the Qi Gathering Pill is exceedingly difficult to refine. From what I know, even a rank-four alchemist may fail to succeed in nine furnaces out of ten, and the demands upon the alchemist's own attribute are severe. Thus every single Qi Gathering Pill is worth a city."

"Then... by that account, the Qi Gathering Pill has no true flaw at all? Unless... you mean that once one has taken it, one can no longer cultivate by oneself?" The thought struck Wei Zhao all at once.

"Clever." Xiao Qing said, "The energy held within a Qi Gathering Pill is too pure. Once the body absorbs such pure energy, it grows insensitive to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, unless one finds a place where that energy is especially rich. At the least, all those who have taken a Qi Gathering Pill before met with obstacles in natural cultivation after breaking through to the Heaven Rank, and were forced to keep using all manner of heavenly treasures to advance."

"Easy to go from frugal to lavish, hard to go from lavish to frugal?" Wei Zhao understood her meaning. So this was why the Qi Gathering Pill was called poison. Yet in the notes on alchemy left behind by Zhang Liju, no such thing had been mentioned? He was still somewhat puzzled: "I read in an ancient text that in former days the Qi Gathering Pill had no such flaws."

"Of course it had none then—the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was abundant in those days, and now it grows thinner year by year, until cultivation is harder than hard." Xiao Qing said, "Now you understand? If you mean to trade a Qi Gathering Pill for the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit, we can in no way agree. Beyond that, have you any other request?"

"Then... what would it take for you to give me the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit? I could buy it with money." Before the Ice Palace, Wei Zhao could only keep himself lowly and humble. If the Ice Palace would not trade, he could not force them to.

"I told you, the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit is a treasure beyond price to the Ice Palace," Xiao Qing said. "Unless you have something of corresponding value to us, and I speak with the Palace Master—perhaps then we might barely consent."

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