Chapter 64

There are many martial arts sects, each one vying against the other, hoping for the slightest mistake from the other side to seize and exploit. What surprised Shen Xiang was that someone like Zhang Long, a young Eighth Level Mortal Martial Realm practitioner, was not given much importance. This suggested that there were many powerful martial artists within those sects, and those who were valued had a bright future ahead of them.

After things calmed down, Shen Xiang began to focus on learning alchemy and cultivating medicinal herbs. He did not take the True Essence Pill, as Su Meiyao and Bai Youyou both advised him to take it when he hit a bottleneck, as it would be of great use to him then.

After the Shen family took over the medicinal business from the Yao family, the prices dropped, which made many martial artists very happy. They all supported the Shen family, and this gained the Shen family a lot of popularity, greatly helping their future development.

In this world, the law of the jungle was the norm. The wealth the Yao family had accumulated over many years was now all in the hands of the Shen family! This was the Yao family's own doing. If they had not opposed the Shen family, they would still be doing well.

After swallowing the Yao family, Shen Xiang now had no shortage of spiritual herbs for alchemy. He was currently picking some herbs in the Yao family's medicinal garden, preparing to refine Upper Grade Mortal Pills. The process of refining Upper Grade Mortal Pills was much more difficult, and the herbs required were even more precious.

There were not many types of Upper Grade Mortal Pills, and the ones commonly used were those most beneficial to martial artists. The difficulty in refining them was also high, and such pills were essential for alchemists to master. When Shen Xiang began learning to refine higher-grade pills, he also started with these types of pills.

"The status of Upper Grade Mortal Pills is somewhat awkward! How to put it? In the true martial world, there are generally more martial artists above the Tenth Level Mortal Martial Realm, and they are relatively wealthy! These people have very high requirements for pills, so when they buy pills, they generally do not choose Mortal Grade pills, but rather Middle and Lower Grade Spirit Pills, and they buy them in large quantities, which has a significant effect after consumption," Su Meiyao said.

Shen Xiang said, "So, in those martial arts sects, Eighth and Ninth Level Mortal Martial Realm practitioners are quite poor?"

Su Meiyao said, "Of course, so they can only afford Upper Grade Mortal Pills. But you should know that Upper Grade Mortal Pills are not very effective for Ninth and Eighth Level Mortal Martial Realm practitioners."

"So, you only need to master the few types of Upper Grade Mortal Pills that are more expensive. The main ones are Qi Cultivation Pills, Great Essence Pills, and Essence Transformation Pills," Su Meiyao said.

Shen Xiang had already learned about these pills, and they were indeed among the more expensive Upper Grade Mortal Pills. After taking them, their effects were very noticeable and highly useful. Qi Cultivation Pills mainly improved the quality of true qi, allowing some martial artists to refine their true qi to a higher purity.

Great Essence Pills were pills that enhanced cultivation. After taking them, one could obtain a large amount of spiritual energy, which could be directly refined into a large amount of true qi without worrying about the scarcity of spiritual energy or the quality of spirit veins. The last one, Essence Transformation Pills, could directly transform the true qi in the body into spirit energy, mainly to strengthen the divine sense and cultivate the divine sense.

Shen Xiang had the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace, a holy-level dragon artifact that could accelerate time inside the furnace, saving him a lot of time in refining high-grade pills.

Some pills could take several years, or even decades, to refine, but the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace could help Shen Xiang shorten the time.

Shen Xiang first refined the Great Essence Pill because he needed to enhance his cultivation through this pill. He had to reach the Ninth Level Mortal Martial Realm to enter the major sects.

The main ingredients for the Great Essence Pill were three, not many, but all required over five hundred years of age. The auxiliary ingredients numbered over twenty, with the highest age being a hundred years and the lowest being fifty to sixty years, showing how precious the Great Essence Pill was. If he failed, the alchemist would certainly cry for a long time.

"This stone-like fruit is really hard to handle!" Shen Xiang had already started refining, using the herbs originally from the Yao family. There were only four sets, each worth over ten thousand large spirit coins.

Although the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace could make the flames more suitable for refining and control the temperature more freely, it was useless if he did not understand the degree of heat the spiritual herbs could withstand.

Shen Xiang now divided his divine sense into over twenty parts, each controlling a flame to burn over twenty types of spiritual herbs. These herbs had to be turned into powder at the same time, with no significant difference in time. Shen Xiang also needed to focus his mind on gathering the various medicinal energies extracted from the herbs, which was very draining on his divine sense. However, the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace could save him divine sense, so he did not need to take pills to recover his divine sense while refining.

To Shen Xiang, it felt like a whole day had passed inside the alchemy furnace, but only a short while had passed outside! This was because time inside the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace flowed faster than outside!

"Damn it, it's all over!" Shen Xiang was drenched in sweat, looking at the colorful mist rising from the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace, cursing loudly.

This was over ten thousand large spirit coins, which had just turned into smoke. Shen Xiang did not cry, which was already good.

"Truly worthy of the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace, it didn't explode," Su Meiyao giggled.

"Sister Meiyao, don't tease me!" Shen Xiang grumbled.

He had failed because of the "Iron Essence Fruit," a spiritual herb that was incredibly hard. No matter how much he burned it, it did not break down, so he increased the flame. However, the Iron Essence Fruit suddenly exploded, releasing a surge of spiritual energy that mixed with the other medicinal powders and energies, causing various reactions and ultimately leading to an explosion, which spewed out from the exhaust port of the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace.

"I told you long ago that the fruit is very hard to handle. I failed many times with that grayish fruit back then! Now seeing someone fail in front of me, I am naturally very happy," Su Meiyao stuck out her red tongue and continued to giggle.

Every time Shen Xiang refined pills, Su Meiyao would come out to be with him. Sometimes she would wipe his sweat, sometimes she would gloat, sometimes she would encourage him, and occasionally she would tease or seduce the innocent young man.

Shen Xiang pouted and said, "You can afford to fail, but I can't. Now I only have three sets of materials left." He marveled at the abundant resources Su Meiyao had when she was learning alchemy, allowing her to fail many times.

"Good little brother, don't be discouraged. I was just reminiscing about the old days, which I miss a lot," Su Meiyao walked over with a silk handkerchief, smiling sweetly as she wiped the sweat from Shen Xiang's face.

Shen Xiang inhaled Su Meiyao's refreshing fragrance and felt her tender hand occasionally caressing his cheek, giving him an indescribable sense of beauty.

After resting, Shen Xiang continued refining...

The second time, he failed again, at the same stage of handling the Iron Essence Fruit.

The third time, he successfully dealt with the Iron Essence Fruit, but failed to control the fusion of the various medicinal powders and energies during the final pill formation, causing a small explosion inside the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace!

"I am really a spendthrift. In just two hours, nearly four hundred thousand large spirit coins have evaporated." Shen Xiang lay on the ground, looking at the mist floating in the secret chamber, his face filled with pain.