Chapter 20

Yao Tianhua's pale and handsome face turned ugly, his facial muscles twitching slightly. He was also shocked by Shen Xiang's alchemy skills. He never expected that there would be a young alchemist in the world who could match him!

Shen Xiang placed the five Body Tempering Pills in his palm and popped them into his mouth one by one, like eating candy. While eating, he smiled at Yao Tianhua and said, "Now, can you give me the materials for the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill?"

Seeing Shen Xiang casually eat the Body Tempering Pills he had just refined, everyone's mouths twitched. They cursed Shen Xiang for being wasteful and wished they could kick him hard for treating the pills like snacks. This was too demoralizing. Could alchemists really treat pills like candy?

The head of the Spirit Pill Pavilion handed three packets of materials to Shen Xiang with trembling hands, his face filled with surprise. "You're not going to try refining the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill, are you?"

Shen Xiang scratched his head and laughed, "Trying it out can't be a bad thing, right? Your Spirit Pill Pavilion is selling pills so expensively now, so I have to refine them myself."

Shen Xiang put away the herbs and turned to leave. As he reached the door, he turned back to Yao Tianhua and said, "Young Master Yao, in a few days, it will be the time for our duel. I hope you can bring a bet that will satisfy me. Since it's a competition, let's make it exciting. I'll add a bigger bet then. If you can't handle it, don't come and compete with me."

Shen Xiang left gracefully, and the Spirit Pill Pavilion was immediately abuzz with discussion. A thousand-year-old Blood Spirit Grass as a bet was already astonishing, and he wanted to add more!

Yao Tianhua let out an angry cold snort and walked upstairs.

The head of the Spirit Pill Pavilion muttered, "Impossible, he's only sixteen years old. It's impossible for him to refine the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill. Absolutely impossible..."

Shen Xiang, however, was in a very good mood because he had obtained three sets of mature Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill materials for free. He could soon start trying to refine the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill.

"Brat, don't mess up. Be careful!" Su Meiyao reminded him.

"Competing in alchemy, how boring! We should just go up and chop him to pieces," Bai Youyou's cold voice came, making Shen Xiang shiver. He knew Bai Youyou was a world-class female demon who practiced demonic arts. Suddenly, he didn't want to practice her demonic arts anymore.

Shen Xiang returned to the Shen Family Manor and asked Shen Tianhu about Xue Xianxian and her father. He learned that they were guests at the City Lord's residence and would be visiting some families in Wohu City. Xue Xianxian's father had a wide network of connections.

Shen Xiang went to a very secret underground stone room. He needed to concentrate on his first attempt at refining the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill and couldn't be disturbed.

Opening the paper packets containing the herbs, Su Meiyao used her delicate fingers to handle the herbs and said contentedly, "Fifty-year-old Blood Ginseng, fifty-year-old Lingzhi, Xuan Yuan Fruit, and Fire Yang Flower. These four main herbs are of good quality. The other ingredients are just average, but they won't affect the refinement of the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill."

Shen Xiang picked up a walnut-sized white fruit and a small sunflower-like flower. These were the Xuan Yuan Fruit and Fire Yang Flower, which were very expensive because they took several decades to mature.

Su Meiyao and Bai Youyou didn't want to stay in the ring all the time, so whenever they had the chance, they would come out to breathe fresh air and chat with Shen Xiang, making them feel less bored.

Shen Xiang was very happy that these two beautiful women would occasionally appear. After all, they were very pretty, and their presence was pleasing to the eye and soothing to the mind. Having two beauties for company was a wonderful thing.

"Meiyao, if I use the Dragon Saliva Technique to ripen the herbs, how long will it take to get the materials for the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill?" Shen Xiang asked, knowing that the materials needed to be several decades old.

Su Meiyao's beautiful eyes twinkled as she said, "About ten days! You are now at the Sixth Level of the Mortal Martial Realm, and using the Dragon Saliva Technique will also enhance your abilities."

Being able to ripen decades-old herbs in just ten days delighted Shen Xiang.

Su Meiyao said, "Start refining. There are two key points in refining the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill! First, the herbs are more numerous than those in the pills you've refined before, and each material has a different tolerance to fire. You need to control the heat well and not burn the auxiliary herbs! Second, when forming the pill, you'll have to figure that out on your own."

Shen Xiang remembered her words and then said to the cold beauty nearby, "Youyou, can you go back into the ring? The cold aura you emit affects my control over the fire..."

Bai Youyou's face turned cold, and Shen Xiang quickly added, "Youyou, you're really beautiful. I wouldn't want to put you in the ring unless it's absolutely necessary."

Su Meiyao giggled, "Beautiful senior, don't scare this little guy. Let him refine the pill properly."

Bai Youyou huffed and returned to the ring.

Shen Xiang began refining the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill, a mid-grade Mortal Pill. One pill could sell for 5,000 large spirit coins, and with the current price increase at the Spirit Pill Pavilion, it could cost over 10,000 large spirit coins, equivalent to one million small spirit coins.

After putting all the herbs into the pill furnace, Shen Xiang released the flames and controlled the temperature inside the furnace. Each area had a different temperature to burn the herbs and fully evaporate their characteristic spiritual energy.

The herbs for the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill were not ordinary. It took Shen Xiang over an hour to understand their characteristics and their tolerance to fire. At this point, the pill furnace was filled with colorful spiritual energy, which was the essence of the herbs being evaporated by the true fire. This was the main component of the pill.

The herbs slowly turned into powder, and Shen Xiang needed to use his divine sense to envelop the powder. He had to blend the powder with the evaporated "medicine vapor" and then solidify it into a pill to succeed.

At first, everything went smoothly, but at the end, Shen Xiang was drenched in sweat because the "medicine vapor" was very violent and difficult to blend.

"No wonder it requires the Divine Sense Realm to refine the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill. The medicine vapor from these herbs is hard to control!" Shen Xiang thought, then focused his mind and released a stronger divine sense to blend the colorful medicine vapor. He then turned it into black spiritual energy and mixed it with the gray powder.

"Almost there! Hold on!" Shen Xiang silently encouraged himself. The powder and medicine vapor slowly merged, but he felt his divine sense was not strong enough to form the pill.