Immortals of the End Times

Chapter 27: Alchemy and Cultivation, Minor Success in Pill Manipulation
Through Tao Fei's letter, Zhao Wuji learned that the busty female knight-errant was actually a member of the Imperial Observatory.

The other party already knew that Tao Fei had obtained the whereabouts of Li Shaojun's treasure, so they deliberately approached him.

After using Tao Fei to find the exact location of the treasure, he kicked Tao Fei aside and quickly reported the news to his superiors.

The treasures left by Li Shaojun are now being excavated by the people sent by the Imperial Observatory, and will most likely be presented to the royal family in the end.

Zhao Wuji had only heard that the duty of the Imperial Observatory was to help the emperor collect ancient books and artifacts related to immortals throughout the world.

In addition, they were responsible for important matters such as star observation, divination, and presiding over national sacrifices, and had branches set up in various parts of Xuan Kingdom.

Unexpectedly, the methods used by the Imperial Observatory to collect antiquities were so despicable that they even resorted to using honey traps to seduce his wicked friend.

Tao Fei, who usually boasted of being able to "pass through a sea of ​​flowers and have a single petal stuck in his clothes," was now hunting geese all day long, only to have his eyes pecked out by the geese.

"It seems that not only will I not be able to share in Li Shaojun's treasured alchemy cauldron this time, but I've also lost a Golden Spear Fiery Pill. What a losing proposition."

Zhao Wuji lamented that he had suffered a huge loss.

Seeing that Tao Fei also expressed his desire for revenge in the letter, he could only shake his head.

Revenge? How do I get revenge?

The Imperial Observatory serves the Emperor of Xuan Kingdom, and Li Shaojun's treasures will inevitably fall into the Emperor's hands in the end. To talk about revenge is rather audacious.

He only had Xiaoyue prepare pen and ink, and wrote a letter to comfort his bad friend. This bad friend had been to places where even sunlight couldn't penetrate many times before. He hadn't lost anything in his life, so he shouldn't think too much and cause trouble for himself.

After instructing his assistant, Xiaolin, to deliver the letter.

Zhao Wuji then instructed Xiaoyue to assist him in preparing to formally attempt to refine the Golden Jade Pill.

Once the Golden Jade Pill is successfully refined, he will be able to completely decipher the art of ingestion, which may alleviate the problem of insufficient Yang energy.

Although the sunflower in the prescription has not yet been found, there is still a piece of moon dew grass that Nan Zhixia sent.

With the other materials already collected, we can try finding medicines with similar medicinal properties to sunflowers; it shouldn't be a problem.

"The sunflower is yang in nature. According to the description of the hospital director, it is extremely scorching, which is completely opposite to the yin sunflower liquid. They belong to the opposite yin and yang."

The sap of the sunflower is easy to find; it's the saliva of a crow. Only the sunflower can provide a substitute. Currently, the only alternative is the fiery red sunflower.

Inside the medicine room, Zhao Wuji weighed the medicines while pondering, "Although Yinghuohong is somewhat lacking in yang energy, perhaps it can be compensated for if I infuse it with a wisp of yang energy. I wonder if this method is feasible."

Beside her, the young apprentice Xiaoyue was also busy tending the stove fire, her temples glistening with beads of sweat, and her cheeks flushed pink.

The sun and moon are busy on the bird's path, and time passes by in the blink of an eye.

Soon, half a month passed, and the Xuan Kingdom officially entered the depths of winter.

A small-scale war broke out at Gushan Pass in the northern border of Xuan Kingdom. General Fu Yuntao forcefully repelled the invading troops of Qian Kingdom, which greatly boosted the morale of the front line, but the situation also became increasingly tense.

At this time, rumors spread that a white deer carrying a lingzhi mushroom had appeared at the Penglai Palace, which greatly pleased Emperor Zhang Zhaoming. He then used the news of the victory in the northern border war to reward General Fu Yuntao, causing the entire court to celebrate.

While people sang and danced in the imperial palace, thousands of villages outside the capital were deserted, and some people were suffering from hunger and hardship due to the harsh winter.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Supreme Sect and the White Bone Sect carried out numerous activities outside, distributing porridge and rice, bewitching the people to believe in them, and expanding their influence.

On this day, snowflakes suddenly began to fall, drifting and dancing lightly, rustling and chirping, covering the sky and earth, making a rustling sound like silkworms eating mulberry leaves.

Inside the Zhao family mansion, the alchemy room was filled with the rising energy of elixirs, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere.

Zhao Wuji unleashed his inner force in both palms, which materialized into physical palms half a foot away from his hands. He then rubbed the flames of the alchemy furnace, covering the furnace body, as if a fire dragon were swimming around, which was quite mysterious.

"When internal energy takes form, one reaches the realm of a grandmaster, where one can condense energy into a wall around the body to protect it from flying flowers and falling leaves, and remain impervious to water and fire."
Reaching this level means being a top-tier expert among mortals, impervious to ordinary weapons, and capable of living to be a hundred years old.

Zhao Wuji manipulated the furnace fire remotely with his internal energy, achieving exquisite skill and gaining profound insights into a new realm.

In the past half month, he has condensed 47 strands of spiritual energy, and his cultivation of immortality has reached the Qi Induction stage, which is nearly halfway complete.

Ten days ago, his martial arts cultivation had already broken through to the Transformation Grandmaster realm, his inner energy had taken form, and his combat power had become much stronger.

In terms of magic, the earliest technique he mastered, the Ball Manipulation Technique, was improved from the initial understanding to a slightly accomplished level, making it the highest level among the magic techniques he currently possesses.

The only downside is that once you've achieved a basic level of proficiency in a technique, the required skill level has doubled, and you need 200 skill points to advance.

However, with some initial success in the art of manipulating pills, one can truly put into practice the theoretical function of manipulating pills.

This means that one can conjure pills out of thin air (virtual pills) or modify the medicinal ingredients in physical pills.

This undoubtedly accelerated Zhao Wuji's alchemy skills and the speed of his internal energy cultivation.

Therefore, after half a month of cultivation, he gained a great deal, but his yang energy was depleted relatively quickly.

Currently, 1693 strands of Yin energy remain within the Nine Yin Nine Yang Pearl.

Only 320 strands of yang energy remained, of which 7 strands were used in the research to refine the Golden Jade Elixir.

This is because he often uses spiritual energy to perform guiding techniques during cultivation, which reduces the loss of yang energy; otherwise, the loss would be even greater.

However, with his current 47 spiritual powers, if he were to use them all solely for guiding techniques...

Each day, he consumes one unit of spiritual energy and condenses another, repeating this cycle. This cycle is enough to sustain his cultivation for four months before his spiritual energy is completely depleted. "Life is slowly getting better."

puff! ——

At this moment, Zhao Wuji felt a strange noise coming from the alchemy furnace in front of him.

He suddenly made a hand seal and used the Pill Manipulation Technique to manipulate the medicinal liquid in the alchemy furnace into pills, and even precisely controlled the removal of impurities.

However, not long after, he smelled a pungent medicinal fragrance emanating from the furnace hole and lingering in the room.

"My lord, has the Golden Jade Pill been successfully made?"

Behind the screen in the alchemy room, Xiao Yue, who was grinding medicinal powder, peeked out nervously and excitedly, and asked in a low voice.

Zhao Wuji sniffed the aroma of the medicine in the furnace and shook his head, saying, "This smell is wrong. The aroma of a genuine finished Golden Jade Pill should be strong but not pungent, and after a while, it should emit the fragrance of snow lotus. It should not be finished yet, but it is close."

He silently observed the second set of tadpole-like characters on the first Yang Pearl in his sea of ​​consciousness, and found that ninety percent of them had been deciphered, meaning that the ingestion technique was indeed about to be deciphered.

Ka—

He lifted the lid of the alchemy furnace to inspect it, and saw that the crimson gold liquid inside was like molten gold, but it quickly turned black in the rising steam, like cracks in ice.

"It's not even a low-grade pill; it's toxic."

Zhao Wuji shook his head, secretly regretting it.

Even though the art of pill making can now be combined with alchemy, without the right materials, it's like a skilled cook trying to make a meal without rice.

He placed his hand on the alchemy furnace.

The Yang Pearl in the sea of ​​consciousness, like a dim sun wheel, rotated and absorbed the remaining Yang energy in the elixir.

Although it was less than a wisp, it was still a small consolation.

In recent days, he has spent a lot of gold and silver on researching how to refine the Golden Jade Pill.

It was only after selling the Golden Spear Fiery Pills a while ago that I earned several hundred gold coins; otherwise, I would have been struggling to make ends meet.

He instructed Xiaoyue to tidy up the alchemy room, and after washing his hands, he went out of the alchemy room and strolled in the courtyard to watch the snow.

Mo Quancai had invited him to the Drunken Moon Pavilion tonight to discuss the transaction of elixirs and wine, and he was to go there later as agreed.

If this deal goes through, he will have a stable and considerable source of Yang energy.

Just then, he vaguely sensed a presence and glanced at the snowflakes.

Then I saw a small white figure dart through the snowflakes and quickly disappear into the dog hole in the backyard.

"The fox from a few days ago?"

Zhao Wuji stopped in surprise.

Then he saw the white figure that had crawled into the dog hole pause for a moment, glance back at him, its eyes seemingly sparkling with intelligence, but the next moment it disappeared through the dog hole.

Zhao Wuji felt strange. This fox had come near his residence a few days ago.

He was surprised that there were foxes in the imperial city, wondering which young master kept them as playthings.

I never expected you to bother me again today.

He sensed the fox's presence from afar and became somewhat interested, so he leaped into the air.

With a flurry of golden needles in his hand, he used the Needle Crossing Technique to swiftly traverse across the snow like a bird soaring through the air, chasing after the white figure without leaving a trace.

Not long after, Zhao Wuji landed between the two buildings, his feet stepping on taut needles and threads. He stood with his hands behind his back, watching the fox that had run off to the outer city and disappeared, and thought to himself that it was strange.

That fox was incredibly fast; even a typical martial artist with the Qi Refining Realm couldn't keep up.

It could even leap several feet high, and would occasionally turn its head back, as if trying to lure him outside the city, which seemed very strange.

It doesn't resemble a proper fox; it's more like a spirit or monster.

In this degenerate age, the existence of spirits and monsters is strange to him, and it is also extremely peculiar why they are targeting him.

"The emperor has a white deer carrying a lingzhi mushroom in his Penglai Palace, and I have a white fox seducing me in my own house?"

Zhao Wuji did not persist in his pursuit.

I don't believe in free lunches, but I might fall into a trap.

"The Supreme Sect, the Xuan Kingdom royal family, and Consort Zhang who appeared in my dream, now another spirit has appeared."

This world is truly chaotic! But Consort Zhang is one thing, but why are spirits also targeting me?

Zhao Wuji, filled with doubt and vigilance, walked through the snow towards Zuiyue Tower, reflecting on whether something had been targeted by a spirit or monster.
My friends, please vote for me!

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(End of this chapter)