Chapter 56

The early autumn weather was slightly cool, and the bright sunlight on the body felt not the slightest bit scorching.

On the top of Luogang Ridge, some trees and shrubs had already begun to shed their leaves. When the autumn wind blew, the leaves fluttered about, creating a desolate scene.

However, the spirit fields on the ridge were quite the opposite. The newly planted green rice was full of vitality, a lush green that was pleasing to the eye.

Luogang Ridge was usually peaceful and orderly, but recently, a certain area on the hillside had been bustling with people coming and going, extremely lively.

Chu He was a bit troubled at this time. He had only been back for two days and had already received several groups of visitors.

Zhang Jiaoxi and Gu Han were familiar, but some of the visitors were completely unknown to Chu He, and he had never even seen their faces before.

They all brought rich gifts and called him "Nephew Chu" repeatedly, showing great affection. Those who didn't understand might think they were really a loving family.

These people wouldn't stay for long, but they all specifically mentioned that they were delivering greetings from Lord Luo and emphasized Lord Luo's deep concern for Chu He.

Although Chu He was confused, he didn't refuse the generous gifts. He loved high-grade cultivation pills and high-grade spirit stones!

Soon, Zhang Jiaoxi concluded based on the list of visitors: all of them had a background with the Luo family.

Chu He guessed as much when he heard this: the Luo family was trying to recruit him.

The mastermind behind this, Lord Luo, was truly magnanimous. He had sent people to recruit Chu He just a few days after Chu He killed several of his subordinates, showing the characteristics of a true hero who could let go of grudges.

If it were before he entered Qingling Mountain, before he obtained the Two Instruments True Law, and before he was pursued by the Luo family, Chu He might have considered it. But after all these events, he had a bad impression of both the Luo and Wu families, especially the Luo family. Even if he didn't hate them to the bone, it was close enough. How could he let bygones be bygones?

Dealing with these people at home was a hassle, and he didn't know when he would be able to finish brewing the Fuyang Queti Soup. Chu He had to seek help from Zhang Jiaoxi to find a place to hide.

Upon hearing Chu He's request, Zhang Yu immediately arranged for him to go to Lingguan Peak.

Lingguan Peak was relatively close to the mountain range with the "Qing" prefix. It was mainly responsible for the seclusion of many disciples. There were many relatively quiet rooms built in the area with the best spirit energy, and a large spirit-gathering array was set up, making the spirit energy stronger than on other spirit peaks. Disciples who needed to seclude themselves could do so by paying a certain amount of spirit stones and contribution points.

Generally, the cultivation environment here was a notch higher than in other places, and the demand was usually high. However, there was a rule that priority was given to inner disciples.

Therefore, disciples like spirit farmers and tool apprentices rarely got the chance to be scheduled unless designated by a teacher.

Teachers had special privileges and could designate one disciple each year. Zhang Yu gave this year's slot to Chu He.

Although he got the slot, the free period was not long, and the daily payment of spirit stones after that was quite substantial. However, for Chu He, who had just plundered two innate realm cultivators and received a large number of spirit stone gifts, this was not a problem at all.

Little Master Chu was short of everything now, except for spirit stones.

The house he rented with a lot of spirit stones was even smaller than the one on Luogang Ridge, about half the size.

It seemed that the law of housing was the same everywhere: the scarce and expensive ones were always occupied by the rich.

After sighing for a while, he quickly prepared for his own affairs. Brewing the Fuyang Queti Soup was the most urgent task, and he needed to adjust and balance his spirit body first. Otherwise, there would be no hope of advancing.

After activating the isolation array in the room, he took out a magic tripod from his storage ring and began the process of refining.

This black iron magic tripod was obtained by Gu Han. Originally, Chu He had a better one, but it was unsuitable for his cultivation level, so he had to ask Gu Han to find this one.

The black iron magic tripod was a mid-grade magic tool, black in color, slightly larger than a basin, and could be held with one hand, making it quite small and exquisite.

It had eighteen fire-type rune points and two mid-grade rune arrays: "Fire Generation" and "Fire Gathering."

The Fire Generation rune array's function was to convert the spiritual energy input into the tripod into flames. There was a fire toad in the tripod's belly, where the Fire Generation rune array was imprinted. To activate the tripod, one had to channel the magic light into the fire toad's mouth according to the control method.

The Fire Gathering rune array's function was to enhance the flames, and it was imprinted on the bottom of the tripod in a circular pattern.

Chu He first used hand seals to channel several beams of magic light, and the small tripod began to spin, quickly growing to the size of a water vat.

Originally, with his cultivation level at the sixth layer of the Qi Condensation stage, Chu He couldn't control the black iron magic tripod, but his spirit essence was sufficient, so there was no problem using it.

Actually, there was another method to fully unleash the power of the black iron magic tripod: using a continuous external force. Most alchemists set up their alchemy furnaces at the mouth of a volcanic vent, using rune arrays to gather the volcanic fire, which could achieve twice the result with half the effort.

However, this was a bit far for Chu He at the moment. Places where volcanic fire broke through the layers of the earth's crust were usually the sites of fire spirit veins, and their stability was questionable. Even cultivators at the innate realm found it difficult to ensure complete safety.

After channeling several beams of magic light into the fire toad's mouth, the tripod began to emit a faint red glow, overpowering its original black color.

Chu He took out several grade-five herbs from his storage ring. Grade-five herbs were difficult to refine and needed to be added first.

He then channeled a beam of magic light to lift the tripod lid high. As soon as the lid opened, several bright red tongues of flame shot out, reaching a foot high, indicating that the flames inside were already raging.

The room immediately became scorching hot as the flames shot out.

He wrapped the herbs in his spirit essence and threw them into the tripod, producing a light hissing sound, followed by the lid closing and sealing the tripod.

Next, it was time for his spirit sense to play a role.

At Chu He's current cultivation level, his spirit sense could extend up to about ten feet, which was enough for this task.

Under the meticulous monitoring of his spirit sense, any changes inside the tripod were clear, making it easier to control the amount and frequency of spirit essence input.

The grade-five herbs were indeed formidable. After being burned for two hours, they finally began to show signs of melting.

Following the instructions of the recipe, Chu He gradually added the remaining herbs.

The subsequent refining process was the most arduous and extremely tested Chu He's skill in controlling his spirit essence.

It took nine days to refine the Fuyang Queti Soup, and Chu He was exhausted. Although he had the help of spirit pills and spirit stones, the process of converting water-type spirit essence into fire-type spirit essence was quite wasteful, requiring ten times the effort to achieve seven times the result. No wonder he was so tired.

In the past, he had envied alchemists for their luxurious lifestyles, but this kind of lonely and arduous work was enough to justify their enjoyment.

Once the soup was ready, Chu He couldn't rest immediately. He had to soak in it while it was still hot to absorb the medicinal power into his body.