Chapter 65

As Shen Xiang came into contact with higher-level elixirs, he increasingly understood why there were so few powerful alchemists—most people simply couldn't afford the spirit herbs. He was relatively talented and had the assistance of the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace, yet he had failed three times in a row in refining this ordinary-grade superior elixir! How much more difficult would it be for others?

"Mei Yao, if you kiss me, I'll have the motivation. I'm getting scared after failing so many times," Shen Xiang said timidly, followed by a silly smile.

Su Mei Yao spat out, "You little rascal, still pretending to be silly! Joking with me is fine, but don't ever say such things to my senior sister, or your face will be swollen for days."

Shen Xiang chuckled, "Of course I know, Mei Yao, you've kissed me before, so what's one more?"

The last time Shen Xiang got the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace, Su Mei Yao was so happy that she kissed his cheek, but she didn't expect him to remember it.

"Daydreaming, huh? If you keep this up, I won't talk to you anymore," Su Mei Yao huffed, her face turning slightly red as she recalled kissing Shen Xiang's cheek, her cheeks flushing with a charming blush, making her even more alluring and captivating, which left Shen Xiang in a daze.

"Humph, hurry up and refine the elixir!" Su Mei Yao's face turned even redder, and she stomped her foot, scolding him before turning into a beam of white light and entering the ring.

Shen Xiang felt a bit disappointed, but he knew that to win the heart of a beauty, he had to become stronger. After resting for a moment, Shen Xiang began refining the elixir again, determined to succeed this time, or he would have to buy more herbs.

After half an hour, a wicked laugh echoed from the secret room, "Haha... I finally succeeded! In just half a day, I learned to refine the Great Origin Pill, haha..."

Hearing the disgusting laugh, Su Mei Yao and Bai You You both rushed out of the ring.

"Never make that awful laugh again, or I'll knock out your teeth," Bai You You's icy voice made Shen Xiang, who was celebrating, feel like he had eaten dog feces. He quickly stopped the laugh, tightly closing his mouth, worried that Bai You You would really knock out his white teeth.

Seeing this, Su Mei Yao burst into laughter.

The Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace opened, revealing five pure white pills the size of longan, emitting a very strong aura of spirit energy. These were elixirs worth 80,000 large spirit coins each!

"This kid, always so discouraging. I thought he would fail at least ten times, but he only fails two or three times before succeeding," Su Mei Yao said with a pout, though she was inwardly very happy.

Shen Xiang, though proud, said on the surface, "This is all thanks to Mei Yao's guidance and You You's help..."

"This has nothing to do with me," Bai You You interrupted.

"Well... of course it has a lot to do with You You, because I always think about helping the two fairy sisters recover their strength," Shen Xiang grinned.

Although Bai You You knew Shen Xiang was flattering her, she was slightly moved by his consideration.

"Work harder in the future. When you learn my dark arts, I will definitely teach you seriously," Bai You You said before returning to the ring.

"Kid, hurry up and take the elixir to practice. Try to reach the Ninth Level of the Mortal Martial Realm as soon as possible," Su Mei Yao wiped his sweat and also returned to the ring.

Shen Xiang didn't take the elixir but rested for a while, then called out Su Mei Yao to teach him how to refine the Essence Transformation Pill and the Qi Cultivation Pill. Seeing Shen Xiang's enthusiasm, Su Mei Yao patiently guided him.

The Essence Transformation Pill is one of the most difficult ordinary-grade superior elixirs to refine, with the most expensive herbs and the highest price. It can rapidly enhance one's divine sense, which is even harder to cultivate than true qi. Many powerful cultivation techniques require a certain level of divine sense as a foundation!

But even with this difficult Essence Transformation Pill, Shen Xiang only failed once and succeeded on the second try, producing six pills in one batch. This left Bai You You and Su Mei Yao speechless and even more excited. They were confident that Shen Xiang would become a great alchemist and stand at the pinnacle of alchemy.

The Essence Transformation Pill requires four sets of herbs. After failing once, Shen Xiang successfully refined all subsequent batches, producing a total of eighteen pills. At 100,000 coins per pill, that's 1.8 million coins! Each set of herbs costs only about 150,000 coins and can produce six pills. If he could always succeed, Shen Xiang would make a fortune, though he didn't plan to make money in the secular world but in the true martial world.

"Kid, enjoy it now, but when you refine spirit-grade elixirs, don't complain," Su Mei Yao said, amazed and happy about Shen Xiang's alchemical talent, but not wanting him to become arrogant.

Shen Xiang nodded. It was already evening, and after eating, he went outside the city to practice. He didn't just cultivate true qi; he always cultivated both internally and externally, using various methods to temper his physical body. This not only made his body stronger but also quickly converted true qi into mental energy, refining it into divine sense.

A month passed, and Shen Xiang had become proficient in refining three useful ordinary-grade superior elixirs and had tried refining some obscure elixirs to improve his alchemical skills. To test himself, he also tried refining with other alchemy furnaces. While he initially failed, he succeeded in all subsequent attempts, though ordinary alchemy furnaces took much longer.

For example, refining the Great Origin Pill took only half an hour with the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace, but it took him almost a day with an ordinary alchemy furnace!

Over the past month, the Shen family's status in the capital had become more stable, and their elixir business had grown significantly. Although the elixirs were sold cheaply, more people bought them, allowing the Shen family to make a good profit.

In the morning, Shen Xiang returned to the new Shen family residence from outside the city. After taking a shower, he saw the steward, Old Ma, rushing in with a worried look.

"Master, something serious has happened," Old Ma shouted urgently.

"What is it? Speak quickly," Shen Xiang asked anxiously.

"Ten days ago, the clan leader went out to resolve some matters. When he returned, he was poisoned. Now, several elders and Old Meng are using their true qi to suppress the poison in his body. The clan leader is in critical condition," Old Ma said, and Shen Xiang turned into a blur and left.

Shen Xiang's face was very serious. He entered a secret room where several elders and Uncle Meng were pressing their hands on Shen Tianhu's body, infusing him with true qi to suppress the poison.

Shen Tianhu's muscular body was pitch black, his face pale and tinged with a faint black aura, clearly indicating he was severely poisoned.

Shen Lüzong, however, was frowning and looking at a very fine steel needle!