Chapter 113: Chapter 112: The Return of Silver Armor (Seeking Subscriptions)_1 Chapter 113: Chapter 112: The Return of Silver Armor (Seeking Subscriptions)_1 At the beginning of spring, the grass grows and orioles fly.
Before a carefully prepared acre of Spiritual Field, Fang Xi inspected it carefully and couldn’t help but nod, “The spiritual energy in this plot is the most abundant. It’s suitable for planting some Spirit Herbs and medicines.”
After another survey, with a flick of his finger, a Sword Qi emerged, dividing the field ridge into two.
“Half will be planted with ‘Blood Replenishing Grass,’ and the other half with Snake Orchid Fruit!”
Both ‘Blood Replenishing Grass’ and ‘Snake Orchid Fruit’ are main ingredients for a lower-tier first-stage pill — the Hemostatic Pill.
The Hemostatic Pill only works well for external wounds and is considered one of the cheaper pills in the marketplaces.
Because they are common, the seeds are also easy to find.
Fang Xi then turned to Lu Guo nearby, “This first year, I’ll guide you in planting. Next year, you’ll be on your own.”
“Yes.”
Lu Guo watched Fang Xi’s actions closely, secretly learning and memorizing.
“Master, let me lend a hand too!”
Before long, another person joined beside the field ridge; it was none other than Widow Wang!
After tending to her own Spiritual Field, she came over to help.
Fang Xi did not reveal Widow Wang’s ulterior motive, tacitly allowing her to lend a hand.
The technique for planting these particular Spirit Herbs would be worth a Spirit Stone or two in the Individual Cultivator Market.
…
Underground cavern.
Looking at the Demonic Tree that was now over thirty feet tall, Fang Xi fell into deep thought.
Recently, the crown of the tree had reached the top of the cavern, and growing taller would be problematic, so he planned to command it to mainly expand its roots.
“With a ten-year Green Wood Spirit Body, it seems like a hundred years are needed to cultivate the Wood Spirit Body, isn’t it?”
This rate was indeed slow.
Fang Xi didn’t want to spend so much of his lifespan here.
“I must speed things up!”
Wanting the Demonic Tree to grow faster, Fang Xi’s first thought was of Taisui.
Recently Taisui’s Demon Qi had reached the peak of a mid-grade first-stage beast. If it advanced one more stage, to a high-grade first-stage Demon Beast, its flesh would certainly be much more nourishing!
Apart from that, Fang Xi also deactivated the Array controlling the underground water vein, allowing the Demonic Tree to go out and catch fish to supplement its diet.
“That Dead Salted Fish is also useless… If it were to advance to a high-grade first-stage and gain the ability to command fish schools, it could drive large numbers of wild Spirit Fish to feed the Demonic Tree.”
After considering his options, Fang Xi found that the most suitable action was to hasten Taisui’s development to a high-grade first-stage!
After developing Divine Consciousness, he had added another Divine Consciousness brand to Taisui, so he wasn’t worried about any surprises from the beast.
“Taisui’s foundation is solid, it’s just missing that last bit…”
He then proceeded to the Alchemy room to start practicing the refinement of mid-grade first-stage pills.
From the jade slip that contained pill-refining heritage, Fang Xi selected a Spiritual Pill called ‘Beast Food Pill’!
This type of pill is a favorite among most spiritual beasts and has a stimulating effect on growth and development when taken regularly.
If he could refine it, Taisui and that salted fish might both have a more significant chance of advancing.
…
Spring passed and autumn arrived.
In the Spiritual Field, the Blood Replenishing Grass was blood-red, while the Snake Orchid Fruit was vividly green, with branches resembling coiled snakes and bearing one or two blue raspberry-like fruits in the middle.
Fang Xi had carefully chosen these two Spirit Herbs, which can be made into a medicine after just one year of growth.
Of course, for the herbs to be fully potent, five to ten years would be ideal.
“This harvest, we’ll take half of the Spirit Herbs and leave the rest to continue growing,” Fang Xi decided after coming over for a look.
“Alright!”
Lu Guo and Widow Wang both held jade vials and boxes, using a specific method to harvest the Spirit Herbs and fruits, while also employing Magic Power to seal in the medicinal properties, ensuring each plant was in its most perfect condition.
Just this kind of farm work was beyond Wang Xiaohu’s ability; he could only pick up grains in the Spiritual Field…
After the harvest was complete, Fang Xi directly stored the medicinal herbs in his Storage Bag and went back inside the manor to refine pills.
Lu Guo and Widow Wang watched as Fang Xi left. Widow Wang suddenly pondered, “Is the master going to refine ‘Hemostatic Pills’ now? After all these years and so many resources invested, we’re finally seeing some results…”
Many cultivators can refine Avoiding Grain Pills.
But those capable of refining Hemostatic Pills are few, and they could even act as an Apprentice in pill shops in the marketplace.
Widow Wang was aware of the copious investments Fang Xi had made in the art of pill-refining over the years.
She even once bought Spirit Coal for Fang Xi.
Surprisingly, it led to some accomplishments.
Looking back now, she couldn’t help but feel envious, “Ah… if I had known, I would have had Xiaohu become the master’s apprentice, even if not for learning the Eternal Spring Skills, it would have been good for him to learn pill-refining…”
Hearing this, Lu Guo’s face darkened.
By now, he had a rough understanding of the level of the Eternal Spring Skills he was practicing.
Knowing she had spoken out of turn, Widow Wang quickly changed the subject, “Have you heard about the Mu Family’s situation?”
“The entire Peach Blossom Island is abuzz with it, of course, I’ve heard,” replied Lu Guo indifferently.
Mu Wen had made up his mind to mortgage the family’s Spirit Land to purchase shops in the Ling Kong market.
Several elders couldn’t dissuade him and in a fit of anger, went to Ruan Xingling to file a complaint. Under the Island Master’s supervision, they divided a few acres of the Spiritual Field and formally split the family.
Then, unfettered, Mu Wen used the Spirit Land as collateral to borrow a large sum of Spirit Stones from the Feng Family and Mo Family, wholly investing them in the Ling Kong market and even managed to acquire a shop. He has been lavishly entertaining guests recently, proclaiming this ‘good news’!
“The head of the Mu Family is indeed decisive!”
Widow Wang couldn’t help but sigh, “Recently, every inch of land in the Ling Kong market is worth its weight in gold. Even if a shop is rented out to outsiders, it can earn many Spirit Stones every year. By working a little harder, the difference in annual repayments is not big… Just endure the hardship for forty or fifty years, and both the shop and the Spirit Land would belong to the Mu Family.”
“Ling Kong market…”
Lu Guo murmured, his eyes full of envy.
He wished to strive in the market as well, but unfortunately, his identity was somewhat special, and the Island Master and others might not be willing to let him leave.
At this moment, that was all he could think about.
…
Inside the Pill Refining room.
Fang Xi lit the charcoal and set up a fire-controlling Array beside it.
With these two, the Spirit Fire needed to concoct Qi Refining Stage medicinal pills was sufficient.
As for second-tier medicinal pills?
If one didn’t have a Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s Innate True Fire, it was better to obediently rent Earth Flames.
He took out fresh Blood Replenishing Grass and Snake Orchid Fruit, following the Pill Recipe, either grinding them into powder or crushing them to extract juice for later use.
Then, he opened the Pill Furnace, put in the materials, and began concocting pills.
His Divine Consciousness entered the Pill Furnace, swiftly grasping the multitude of changes within the medicinal liquid, allowing Fang Xi to make rapid progress in understanding the properties of the medicine.
If it were any other Qi Refining Stage pill concocter, they could only ponder laboriously in front of the pill furnace, inferring from the results of each pill concoction—the gap between them was simply too vast to put into words.
Bang!
A faint explosion sound came from the Pill Furnace.
Fang Xi, with an expressionless face, opened the Pill Furnace and scooped out a lot of black, foul-smelling fragments.
Without a doubt, this pill concoction had failed.
Even with the help of Divine Consciousness, concocting pills was not an easy task!
Fang Xi recorded the experience and lesson with an expressionless face, “The operation was too hasty, too eager to achieve the perfect expression of the medicinal properties… Continue!”
The Spirit Fire soared without extinguishing.
Three days and nights later, Fang Xi looked at the Purple Copper Pill Furnace in front of him, his hands forming the pill-collection Magic Spell, “Open!”
Hum hum!
The lid of the Pill Furnace opened, and this time, a rich medicinal fragrance wafted out.
The next moment, several pills flew out, landing in Fang Xi’s hands.
Fang Xi, expressionless, examined them. He saw that these pills were the size of pearls, round and plump, with a reddish sheen moving across their surfaces; there were a total of seven!
But the next moment, the luster of two pills began to fade, turning a pitch-black color.
Out of the remaining five, one showed a grey line on its surface.
“Seven pills from one batch, two waste pills, one defective… ”
Fang Xi murmured to himself, putting the remaining four genuine Hemostatic Pills into a jade bottle.
Such a success rate, among first-tier lower-grade Apprentice pill concocters, was already considered quite good.
Having practiced to this extent, he felt confident enough to challenge the more difficult Beast Food Pill.
However, now was clearly not the time.
After all, he had been concocting pills for a long while, and both his Divine Consciousness and body were extremely tired.
Fang Xi stepped out of the Alchemy room, bathed and changed clothes, and took a good rest, feeling refreshed. Then, he went out for a stroll.
Lu Guo was sitting idly by the field. When he saw Fang Xi coming over, he quickly got up: “My lord!”
“What’s going on over there?”
Fang Xi pointed to the Widow Wang’s house.
From Widow Wang’s home came the shrill cries of Xiao Hu.
“Widow Wang has not been in a good mood recently, and Xiao Hu just happened to make a mistake, so he was beaten,” explained Lu Guo, his feelings quite mixed, not really knowing whether to feel envy or something else.
“Hmm, it seems like beating a child on a rainy day, there’s nothing better to do anyway… Why is Widow Wang in a bad mood?”
Fang Xi stroked his chin.
“Aunt Wang, eager for a few more Spirit Stones, did not bring her accumulated Spirit Rice to the exchange on Peach Blossom Island. Instead, she had it taken to the Ling Kong market to sell. The previous attempts went without a hitch, but this time it was robbed, and she lost both the rice and the Spirit Stones…” Lu Guo reported.
“Encountered a cultivation-robber? That’s common…”
Fang Xi nodded. It was common for cultivation-robbers to lurk around markets, let alone one as bustling as the Ling Kong market.
“Mmm, several cultivators from Peach Blossom Island were also killed, but no bounty has been issued,” Lu Guo added.
“That is odd. I wonder who the culprit might be?”
Fang Xi was curious. Could it be that the cultivation-robber this time was a tough character, the kind that even Ruan Xingling was afraid of?
“It is said that the cultivation-robber was clad in Silver Armor and wielded a black iron sword… The attacks were very brutal,” Lu Guo relayed what he had heard in detail.
“Silver Armor, black sword?”
Fang Xi inhaled sharply. His first reaction was that he hadn’t taken any action, and then he felt a huge undeserved blame coming his way!
“You’ve heard of this person?” Lu Guo immediately showed interest.
“About ten years ago, when you were still young…” Fang Xi sighed, “there were ruthless attacks on the previous elders and heads of the Mo Family and the Feng Family, even severely wounding Old Gold Teeth Weirdo. Back then, people saw the assailant in Silver Armor, wielding a black sword… I can’t believe that after hiding for ten years, this criminal has reemerged to cause trouble!”
As he spoke, Fang Xi also came to a realization.
The Silver Armor cultivation-robber that had appeared was either an old enemy of his trying to frame him, or… someone was deliberately using his former reputation to fish in troubled waters!