Mortal Alchemy

Chen Ping arrived at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, his cultivation still at the eleventh level of Qi Refining.

Zhou Ying greeted Chen Ping, and the two sat down in a private room.

To Chen Ping's disappointment, the Foundation Establishment cultivator behind Zhou Ying did not appear.

Zhou Ying took out Chen Ping's White Jade Flying Shuttle:

"That senior's craftsmanship is excellent, and they have completely repaired Fellow Daoist Chen's shuttle."

Chen Ping took the White Jade Flying Shuttle and carefully inspected it, then nodded in satisfaction.

If this White Jade Flying Shuttle couldn't be repaired, Chen Ping would have been heartbroken. Even with his current wealth, he would be reluctant to spend three thousand spirit stones to buy another one.

After accepting the White Jade Flying Shuttle, Chen Ping asked, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, do you have any defensive magical artifacts on hand?"

Zhou Ying blinked her beautiful eyes: "Fellow Daoist Chen, I remember you bought a high-grade magical artifact before, didn't you?"

Chen Ping's expression was a little awkward: "It's broken..."

The Prism of Radiance was only used once and completely broke.

Zhou Ying gently shook her head: "Not at the moment. Defensive magical artifacts like that usually come from the Eastern Profound Sect, and they're not frequently available."

"However, if Fellow Daoist Chen needs one, I can help you keep an eye out."

"Okay," Chen Ping nodded. He didn't blame Zhou Ying for this matter.

The Eastern Region's cultivation world has extremely strict control over the knowledge of the Immortal Dao's various arts. Chen Ping even had to swear a Heart Demon Oath to obtain the refining methods for Essence Qi Pills, Qi Return Pills, and Body Cleansing Pills from the Mu family.

However, it was precisely because of this that he activated his bloodline inheritance and was able to struggle from the very bottom, gazing towards the path of Foundation Establishment.

As a second choice, Chen Ping asked, "Then, Fellow Daoist Zhou, do you have any better defensive talismans on hand?"

Talismans are all one-time use items. Among them, attack talismans are the most popular, followed by healing talismans. Over the years, the money spent on talismans is not small. For cultivators, using talismans is not very economical.

Zhou Ying said with a smile, "Yes, I just received a batch of excellent defensive talismans recently."

The reason she couldn't give up the Myriad Treasures Pavilion counter was that it allowed her to contact many cultivators and develop them into her own customers, just like what Mu Luofei did in the Mu family.

That's why she risked her life to go to the black market auction to sell her belongings and took over the counter from Old Guo.

"Invisibility Talismans, Shield Light Talismans, Divine Wind Talismans, these are all first-grade, high-quality talismans."

"What's the price?"

Zhou Ying said, "Since they are all high-quality talismans, they cost one spirit stone and fifty spirit sand each."

Chen Ping secretly clicked his tongue. So expensive?

A first-grade, low-quality talisman only costs a few spirit sand to about thirty spirit sand.

This is also a first-grade talisman, but because it's a high-quality one, the price is doubled.

But Chen Ping's trip is dangerous, so even if it's expensive, he has to buy them:

"Okay, I'll take them all."

Seeing Chen Ping's high demand, Zhou Ying faintly guessed that Chen Ping was going on a long journey and said:

"Fellow Daoist Chen, I also have a few second-grade attack talismans on hand. I wonder if you're interested?"

"Oh? Second-grade?" Chen Ping became interested. Whether it was in White Sand Square City, the black market auction, or Ten Thousand Islands Lake Square City, he had never seen anyone selling second-grade talismans.

Having some second-grade talismans on him while traveling outside would be even safer.

Zhou Ying gently patted her storage bag and took out three talismans with powerful spiritual energy: "Thunder Blast Talisman, Fire Dragon Talisman, Golden Sword Talisman."

Chen Ping was immediately tempted: "Fellow Daoist Zhou, how much do these talismans cost each?"

Zhou Ying said with a smile, "If I sell them to Fellow Daoist Chen, they will only cost two hundred spirit stones each."

"Hiss!"

First-grade talismans only cost one spirit stone, but the price of these second-grade talismans has reached a hundred spirit stones. The price has increased a hundredfold!

Chen Ping showed a pained expression: "I'll take them."

No matter how expensive they are, life is more valuable. These attack talismans can save lives at critical moments.

He paid Zhou Ying another six hundred spirit stones.

Chen Ping couldn't help but ask:

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, why are these second-grade talismans so expensive?"

Zhou Ying lowered her voice and said, "These second-grade talismans can only come from the major sects. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators have to pay a great price within the sect to acquire the knowledge."

"The knowledge within the sects cannot be leaked, and these talismans cannot be easily circulated."

Chen Ping nodded. Information asymmetry leads to a monopoly, and the cost is too high.

"I'm not afraid to hide it from Fellow Daoist Chen, these talismans are the relics of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. His family descendants sold them to me, otherwise, I wouldn't have a channel to obtain them."

Chen Ping nodded: "I see."

Having wide connections makes earning money convenient. These cultivator families pass down from generation to generation, and sooner or later, they will make a name for themselves.

Chen Ping was even more convinced of the benefits of establishing a family.

After chatting with Zhou Ying for a while, Chen Ping changed his appearance and modified his aura, walked out of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, took out the Flying Gourd, and left the Myriad Treasures Pavilion Square City.

After controlling the Flying Gourd for five hundred miles, he summoned the White Jade Flying Shuttle in a deserted place and quickly headed towards Cloud Ice Mountain, eleven thousand miles away.

On the way, Chen Ping didn't waste any time and took out the Azure Phoenix Furnace to start refining pills.

He was already extremely familiar with the refining of Body Tempering Pills. Now that he had reached the thirteenth level of Qi Refining, his control over spiritual power was even more meticulous, and the success rate of refining Body Tempering Pills had increased by 20%.

He can refine at least two more furnaces of Body Tempering Pills a month, which means he can now refine ten furnaces of Body Tempering Pills a month.

He needs to take two bottles himself, and there are eight bottles left... He consumes Essence Qi Pills and Spiritual Sense Pills every month...

Now it takes him three hours to refine one Essence Qi Pill, and he consumes sixty to ninety spirit stones a month.

He takes one Spiritual Sense Pill every half an hour, and he takes Spiritual Sense Pills for a maximum of two hours a day, which is four pills. He consumes two hundred and twenty-eight spirit stones a month. He buys Spiritual Sense Pills from Zhou Ying, and the price is nineteen spirit stones a bottle.

That is, Chen Ping can save twenty spirit stones a month, or even less.

If he consumes more Essence Qi Pills, Chen Ping will be unable to make ends meet, let alone the consumption of the Flying Shuttle...

That's not right, he also needs to temper his body and needs to consume spirit beast meat and spirit rice.

Calculated, Chen Ping can earn three hundred and eight spirit stones a month, which is exactly equal to his consumption.

Chen Ping was refining the pill furnace, thinking:

"Although I used to think that refining pills has a lot to do with spiritual sense, now that my cultivation has improved several times, this feeling is even more obvious."

"When I cultivate to the fourteenth level of Qi Refining and rebuild my Spiritual Sense Transformation, the success rate of refining pills should increase significantly."

Chen Ping is quite looking forward to the fourteenth level of Qi Refining. If his spiritual sense improves greatly, he will have some confidence in refining Foundation Establishment Pills.

The stronger the spiritual sense, the more meticulous the control over medicinal materials, pill furnaces, and spiritual fire. On the contrary, the huge spiritual power becomes an auxiliary.

"And if I get the Glacial Nether Fire this time, the success rate of refining pills should increase again."

While refining pills and cultivating, he arrived outside Cloud Ice Mountain five days later.

The huge mountain range towered into the clouds. From a distance, many places on the mountain were frozen into ice.

Chen Ping immediately put away the White Jade Flying Shuttle, changed to the Flying Gourd, and controlled his aura from the eleventh level of Qi Refining to the eighth level of Qi Refining.

Then he slowly went to the nearby square city gathering place.