Danzun War God

Chapter Five: Third-Order Qi-Increasing Pill

With his final strike, Han Qi slammed his palm into Lu Yong's chest, while Lu Yong's fist only landed on Han Qi's shoulder. Lu Yong's punch shattered Han Qi's arm, but the impact also injured his internal organs, leaving him unlikely to wake up for some time.

The arena erupted in chaos, with those placing bets clamoring about the winner. Han Yuanshan rushed onto the stage to support Han Qi, exclaiming excitedly, "As expected of someone from the Han family, you've got guts!"

The head of the Lin family came to Han Yuanshan and his son and said with a smile, "Congratulations, Brother Han, on raising such an outstanding child. It's truly a case of the younger generation surpassing the older."

At this moment, Han Qi's victors were overjoyed, their bowls overflowing with wealth, and they admired Han Qi to the point of worship. The losers, on the other hand, were seething with rage, wishing they could devour Han Qi. How could a good-for-nothing like him have won? It was utterly unreasonable. The crowd in the martial arts arena remained excited for a long time before gradually dispersing.

The news of Han Qi's victory over Lu Yong quickly spread throughout Muyun City, a city with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. Han Qi was also hailed as a god. The Lu family suffered in silence, unable to express their grievances. They had originally intended to use this opportunity to weaken Han's strength and gradually crush the Han family, but now they had lost both their wife and their army, and had no choice but to give one of their alchemy pavilions to the Han family.

Alchemy pavilions are considered a scarce resource in Muyun City, because each one is located at a geothermal fire outlet. There are only ten geothermal fire outlets in Muyun City. The Lin family previously owned two, and the remaining eight are under the control of the Lu family. These ten alchemy pavilions ensure the supply of pills for tens of thousands of cultivators, which shows how valuable alchemy pavilions are as a way to make money.

Previously, the Han family mainly dealt in herbs, supplying the alchemy pavilions of the Lin and Lu families. The Lu family also had its own herbal medicine business, but its reputation was far less renowned than Han's Herbal Hall. The Lin family's business mainly consisted of weapons and magical artifacts, and its elixir business had always been suppressed by the Lu family.

Now that all three major families in Muyun City possess alchemy pavilions, their power dynamics in the city are bound to change. Previously, although the Han family was a prominent family in Muyun City, their relationships with the Lin and even Lu families were better than with their patriarch, Han Yuanshan, because cultivators couldn't live without elixirs. Furthermore, Han Yuanshan's conservative style and lack of authority as patriarch resulted in weak family cohesion; the family was largely characterized by each member minding their own business.

After Han Qi defeated Lu Yong and won a pill-refining pavilion, some people considered returning, since they were now family and had their own pavilions. Others, however, remained hesitant, as having a pavilion and actually being able to refine pills were not the same thing. Due to the limited conditions for pill refining in Muyun City, most pill refiners were unwilling to stay there, making it difficult to find suitable alchemists.

With the help of elixirs and sacred techniques, Han Qi's arm injury healed quickly. This is one of the strengths of the Hunyuan Five Elements Sacred Technique, which can repair skin and flesh injuries, although the repair speed is still limited at present.

To everyone's surprise, after acquiring the Alchemy Pavilion, Han Qi meticulously renovated and tidied it up before starting to refine pills himself. Those who heard this were amused; Han Qi had never touched alchemy before, how could he possibly succeed? It would be a complete waste of medicinal herbs.

Even Han Chen, the second young master of the Han family, was waiting to see Han Qi make a fool of himself. Han Cheng, on the other hand, was busy helping Han Qi with various tasks. Although he had doubts about using cold energy to refine pills, he ultimately chose to believe in it. After all, his older brother had been giving him surprises recently, and Han Cheng himself had been researching pill refining. Although he had never actually done it, he could understand the effects and pharmacology of some medicines and had a good talent for pill refining.

With everything ready, Han Qi prepared to refine a batch of Qi-replenishing pills, specifically third-tier Qi-replenishing pills, since Qi-replenishing pills are the most commonly used Qi-replenishing pills by alchemists.

Because it was the first batch of pills produced by the Han family, the Han family attached great importance to it, and even the Lin and Lu families paid close attention. As a result, the front hall and the entrance of the alchemy pavilion were crowded with onlookers. Lu Yuanshan sat in the middle of the front hall with a calm expression, but his heart was churning with emotions. Although Han Qi told him that there was no problem, at this moment he felt like a newlywed bride meeting her in-laws for the first time, with both anticipation and fear in her heart.

Inside the alchemy room, Han Qi opened the seal of the earth fire, and a surge of heat rushed out. "As expected of earth fire, such a high temperature," Han Qi murmured. He set up the alchemy furnace, preheated it, and then put the herbs into the furnace one by one in order. Han Cheng stood silently to the side, watching.

Han Qi quickly finished adding all the medicine and used his divine sense to control the intensity of the fire. After all, in his previous life, as a Pill Master, he was an expert in alchemy and had summarized the seven-word formula for alchemy: Gather, Disperse, Refine, Separate, Mix, Condense, and Collect. Among them, Gather and Disperse are the spiritual techniques for controlling the intensity of the fire, Refine is to refine the medicine, Separate is to separate the dregs, Mix is ​​to mix the medicinal liquid, Condense is to condense into a pill, and Collect is to collect the pill. A mere third-order Qi-filling pill was no problem at all.

Nearly an hour later, they had reached the stage of condensing the pill. The room was filled with the fragrance of medicine, and Han Cheng had a smile on his face. At this moment, he was completely certain that Han Qi could indeed refine pills.

With a shout from Han Qi, the furnace's extraction port opened, releasing an even richer aroma of medicinal herbs. Thirty-three high-grade pills were successfully produced. In Muyun City, producing over thirty third-grade pills at a time was a rare feat, even the Lu family's fifth-grade alchemists could only manage around twenty at most.

Han Cheng's eyes widened when he saw the finished pills. He excitedly said, "Big brother is amazing! This is wonderful! Now I don't need to go anywhere else to learn. I can just learn directly from you."

Han Qi then took out three pill bottles, each containing eleven pills. He put two bottles into his pocket, glanced at Han Cheng, and said, "Third brother, keep this a secret after we get out. This time, we'll only make eleven pills."

"Yes, I understand, don't worry, big brother," Han Cheng nodded solemnly.

He resealed the fire pit, then picked up the medicine bottle, opened the door, and walked towards the front hall.

Everyone stood up when the door to the alchemy room opened, staring at Han Qi as he emerged. Han Qi remained calm, but Han Cheng, following behind, was extremely excited, seemingly announcing the results of his alchemy to everyone. Everyone awaited Han Qi's results, waiting for him to announce them personally.

Han Qi walked to Han Yuanshan's side, took out a bottle of pills, and said, "The first batch yielded eleven Qi-Boosting Pills. Please take a look, Father." Han Yuanshan took the bottle without comment, opened the stopper, and a refreshing medicinal fragrance wafted out. Overjoyed, he immediately poured out a Qi-Boosting Pill into his palm for everyone to see.

"It really is a Tier 3 Qi-Boosting Pill, and a high-grade one at that!" someone in the crowd immediately shouted.

"Congratulations to the Han family for producing a third-grade alchemist!" Everyone offered their congratulations.

"When did Young Master Han learn alchemy?" someone asked, and many others immediately echoed. Gradually, the crowd quieted down, all looking at Han Qi and waiting for his answer.

Han Qi smiled slightly, knowing he would have to give everyone an explanation. He looked around at everyone and slowly said, "As you all know, I was injured a while ago and almost became a cripple." He paused here, and seeing everyone nodding, he continued, "Until one night, an old Taoist priest appeared and said that he had a special connection with me. He taught me how to heal my injuries and used the technique of soul enlightenment to teach me the art of alchemy. When I asked the old Taoist priest for his name, he left, saying as he went, 'There is a successor now. I am finally free.' That's how it is."

"So that's how it is!" Everyone immediately pretended to understand. Whether they believed it or not, the third-grade high-quality Qi-filling pill was right in front of them, and it was refined in one go.

At this moment, the happiest person in the alchemy pavilion was Han Yuanshan. He finally felt a sense of pride and triumph. After so many years in Muyun City, the Han family finally had its own alchemy pavilion. As the head of the family, he was very proud.

After Han Qi finished speaking, he ignored everyone's reaction and walked towards the door. When he reached the door, Gao Sheng said to the people outside, "Starting tomorrow, Han's Alchemy Pavilion will officially open for business and start taking orders for alchemy. We will directly accept orders for third-grade pills. We will only accept ten pills a day, four batches of pills, and guarantee that ten pills will be produced."

After saying that, he strode out, immediately causing an uproar in the crowd. It was well known that in Muyun City, the price of third-tier pills had always been five portions for one batch, with no guarantee of the quantity produced. Han Qi's rule of ten business transactions per day was partly to avoid incurring the hatred of the Lu and Lin families, partly to allow himself time for cultivation, and most importantly, to alleviate the Han family's recent financial difficulties.

Although the Nine-Turn Wind and Dew Pill had been sold, it only fetched less than half price. It was bought for one million taels of silver and sold for four hundred thousand taels, which solved the immediate crisis. After all, Han Qi had suffered significant losses, and he planned to make some compensation. Alchemists also have a success rate in their alchemy. In Muyun City, it generally takes three batches to produce one batch of third-grade pills. By collecting five portions of pills, he could still earn at least two more. Han Qi could guarantee a 100% success rate. Although he collected four portions, he was guaranteed to earn three. His order volume was higher than others, so even though the price was lower, his profits were much higher.

At this moment, everyone congratulated him, especially the Han family. Seeing that Han Qi had refined a third-tier pill, they knew that the Han family's strength had been further enhanced. They all tried to get closer to Han Yuanshan, since refining pills was relatively cheap and they could reserve a spot for each day in advance if they wanted to refine pills themselves.

The Han family of Muyun City owns nearly a hundred pharmacies. Han Yuanshan himself owns more than a dozen, while the rest are distributed among family members. Each family has the right to operate at least one pharmacy. Han Yuanshan's pharmacies are managed by Han Qi and Han Chen, which is also a training opportunity for them. However, after Han Qi was injured, the management was handed over to Han Chen. Han Chen has a good business sense, and his dozen or so shops are thriving. This time, with the Han family acquiring the Alchemy Pavilion, Han Chen is happy for the family, but on the other hand, his jealousy of Han Qi has deepened.

The most furious was the head of the Lu family, feeling like he'd shot himself in the foot. He'd endured so much infamy for seizing the Alchemy Pavilion. Now, Lu Yong was still severely injured, his internal organs damaged. If it weren't for Elder Lu Hongtao's timely intervention, he probably wouldn't have survived. Although he'd woken up, his vital energy was greatly depleted, and he couldn't get out of bed. He and Han Qi were even now. It proved the saying, what goes around comes around.