Mortal Alchemy

Mu Luofei earned three spirit sand from each bottle of essence Qi pills she collected from the disciples of the Pill Hall.

She needed to sell fifty bottles of essence Qi pills to match the profit from just one bottle of spiritual sense pills.

Moreover, both of these business opportunities at the Pill Hall were introduced to Mu Luofei by Chen Ping.

Chen Ping said with a smile:

"That's good. As long as Senior Sister Luofei is making a profit, I can repay some of her kindness."

For other disciples, buying spiritual sense pills meant going to White Sand Bazaar, which not only cost more money but also took several hours. Mu Luofei's sales were cheaper and saved them travel time and expenses.

Mu Luofei looked at Chen Ping with bright eyes:

"I didn't expect Junior Brother Chen to have such opportunities at the Pill Hall. No wonder your cultivation is growing so quickly."

Chen Ping laughed heartily:

"Senior Sister Luofei, you flatter me. I was just lucky."

"Also, I need to ask you to procure some Yuan Qi pills for my senior brother."

"My senior brother provides three bottles of spiritual sense pills each month and would like to purchase three bottles of Yuan Qi pills from you."

Mu Luofei nodded slightly: "Alright, it seems your senior brother is already in the late stage of Qi training."

"For Yuan Qi pills, I can sell them to you for nine spirit stones and fifty spirit sand per bottle."

Three bottles of spiritual sense pills could sell for fifty-four spirit stones. After deducting the cost of the Yuan Qi pills, Chen Ping could earn a net profit of twenty-five spirit stones and fifty spirit sand each month.

Combined with his monthly stipend from the Pill Hall, Chen Ping's income was quite substantial, and this was while ensuring his cultivation resources were continuously supplied.

Chen Ping nodded and said:

"Okay."

He completed the pill transaction first, pocketing the spirit stones.

Mu Luofei said, "Junior Brother Chen, you are already at the ninth level of Qi training. You should also pay attention to the second and third transformations of your spiritual power to lay a foundation for Foundation Establishment."

Chen Ping said, "Please enlighten me, Senior Sister Luofei."

Mu Luofei said, "Following the spiritual sense transformation at the tenth level of Qi training is the third transformation: the spiritual power and physical body transformation."

"The three transformations of Qi training spiritual power are related to aptitude and can determine the speed of cultivation."

"Many cultivators in the late stage of Qi training have weak bodies. After entering the tenth level of Qi training, their cultivation becomes particularly slow. The biggest reason is that their bodies are not strong enough and require a lot of time to temper them with spiritual power."

"This is also in preparation for the birth of divine sense and liquid mana during Foundation Establishment."

"If the physical body is not strong enough, it cannot bear the immense mana and the transformation during Foundation Establishment."

"In ancient times, Qi training only had nine levels and no concept of three transformations. Most of us now practice twelve-level techniques, which include these three transformations, increasing the probability of successful Foundation Establishment by twenty percent."

Chen Ping's expression turned serious: "Tempering the body?"

But he already found cultivation difficult enough. Where would he find the time to temper his body with his own spiritual power?

But he suddenly remembered the body tempering pills recorded in the Alchemy inheritance!

Chen Ping cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Senior Sister. Speaking of which, I have a few materials here that I would like to trouble you to collect through the Hall of Affairs."

"Is it for your senior brother?" Mu Luofei smiled: "What materials are they?"

Chen Ping listed the materials for the body tempering pill: "Adamant Fruit, Dragon Beard Grass, Demon Bone Blood..."

A look of confusion appeared in Mu Luofei's eyes: "What are these materials used for?"

Chen Ping chuckled: "Senior Sister, you're asking me, but I don't know either."

There were seven ingredients in total for the body tempering pill. The remaining four were cheap, common, and not under control.

Moreover, Myriad Treasures Pavilion didn't sell body tempering pills. Chen Ping thought that perhaps the recipe for body tempering pills didn't exist in the Eastern Region cultivation world.

"Alright." Mu Luofei smiled slightly and said, "Then I'll help you inquire about it later."

"Junior Brother Chen, I'm leaving now."

"Senior Sister Luofei, let me see you off."

"No need."

Mu Luofei was also very busy, collecting various resources and then selling them to earn resources.

For Chen Ping, who didn't lack resources at the moment, buying what he needed through Mu Luofei could save him a lot of time.

He could then concentrate on his time to break through to the tenth level of Qi training, the late stage of Qi training.

This would take a long time and require more resources.

He estimated that with a constant supply of Yuan Qi pills, along with spiritual sense pills, it would take at least two more years.

...

In a flash.

Two years had passed, and Chen Ping was twenty-two years old.

During these two years, the transaction between Chen Ping and Mu Luofei never stopped, and he had accumulated a fortune of six hundred and forty-three spirit stones.

The Adamant Fruit and Dragon Beard Grass needed for the body tempering pill were acquired from several small cultivation families through Mu Luofei's mission postings in the Hall of Affairs.

Chen Ping also bought the remaining materials in the market. The only remaining ingredient for the body tempering pill was Demon Bone Blood.

This had to be collected from demon beasts, and it was only found in fierce demons such as wolves, cattle, and pigs. The best effect came from cattle demons.

Mu Luofei posted a mission, and after two years of testing, no demon bone blood was found on wolves and pig demons.

Cattle demons were rare.

After screening, it was determined that the horns of the Red Horn Blood Bull contained the demon bone blood Chen Ping needed.

But this item had not been found for a long time, and Chen Ping couldn't refine the body tempering pill to test its effect.

Over the past two years, Chen Ping's cultivation had reached the peak of the ninth level of Qi training and was then stuck by the spiritual sense bottleneck.

He was helpless but had no better solution. He could only take spiritual sense pills to slowly wear down the spiritual sense bottleneck.

Just the second spiritual power transformation was so difficult. Chen Ping couldn't imagine how difficult the subsequent spiritual power and physical body transformation would be.

But he could only work hard to cultivate. With the cultivation bottleneck stuck, Chen Ping could use the time originally used to improve his cultivation to practice the "Four Seasons Sword Technique" given by Mu Luofei.

The Four Seasons Sword Technique had several moves: Thunder Light Sword, Sharp Gold Sword, Ice Rain Sword, and Bright Fire Sword. One had to have the corresponding attribute spiritual roots in their body to successfully cultivate it.

And its power was not small.

This made Chen Ping touch his nose: "Senior Sister Luofei really remembers carefully, knowing that I have five mixed spiritual roots."

This Four Seasons Sword Technique was simply tailor-made for him.

This kind of mutated attribute spell could only be cultivated by people with more spiritual root attributes in their bodies, such as water and fire spiritual roots, who could use mutated thunder attribute moves.

It looked strong, but the more mixed the spiritual roots, the slower the cultivation.

Foundation Establishment was difficult, more difficult than ascending to the heavens.

This day, Chen Ping was eating in the Spirit Food Hall when Xu Fengshan found Chen Ping with an embarrassed look, somewhat embarrassed to say:

"Junior Brother Chen, are you tight on money?"

A look of doubt appeared in Chen Ping's eyes: "What's wrong, Senior Brother Xu."

Xu Fengshan sat down, his face flushed, and sighed:

"I have been in the Pill Hall for fifty years and only need ten more years to regain my freedom."

Chen Ping had been in the Pill Hall for seven or eight years.

Xu Fengshan rubbed his hands and said, "Don't I have a grandson? I sent him to the Miscellaneous Service Yard a few years ago. These days, it's time to allocate affairs and build relationships."

Chen Ping suddenly understood.

Xu Fengshan continued: "I plan to make him a son-in-law of the Mu family. These days, I have been busy picking a granddaughter-in-law, which requires a betrothal gift of one hundred spirit stones."

"I spent a lot of money on gifts for the allocation of affairs. Hehe, Junior Brother Chen, can you lend me some? I will pay you back when I make money from alchemy."

Chen Ping asked, "Senior Brother Xu, how much do you want to borrow?"