The effect of those words was like throwing a boulder into a still pond. Xiu Mei's carefully maintained professional mask cracked completely, shock flooding her features. She stared at the jade bottle with new eyes, as if seeing it for the first time.
"That's..." She stopped, started again. "You're lying. You must be. A spirit herb of that age and potency is considered a sect-level treasure. Major cultivation sects build their medicine halls around resources far lesser than Five Thousand-Year Spirit Ginseng. The idea that such a treasure would be used to create pills—even extraordinary pills—is simply not credible."
