All-class Gu Immortal

Chapter 246 Arrogant at First, Obsequious at Later (Part 2)

"I wonder if my alchemy skills are worthy of Elder Xie's attention?"

Zhou Qing looked at Xie Feng, who was in a daze, and coughed twice.

Xie Feng snapped out of his daze and looked at the unremarkable middle-aged man in front of him, thinking that he had never seen such a pretentious person before.

The difficulty of refining the Marrow Cleansing Pill is only medium among second-tier pills, not high. A batch of pills yields five pills, which is not a small number, but all of them are mid-grade pills, which is quite exaggerated.

This suggests that Zhou Chaoxian was either extremely skilled in refining the Marrow Cleansing Pill, or possessed profound alchemy skills, with the latter being more likely.

Xie Feng had clearly heard his mutterings to himself; he could usually produce eight pills at a time!
Regardless of which case it falls into, Zhou Chaoxian's alchemy skills are at least top-tier among second-tier alchemists, and he is indeed capable of refining Heavenly Spirit Pills.

In particular, the main ingredient for refining the Heavenly Spirit Pill is the same as that for the Marrow Cleansing Pill, which is also the Heavenly Spirit Fruit, only the year of its ripening differs.

The ability to refine the Marrow Cleansing Pill indicates not only sufficient alchemy skills but also a thorough understanding of the medicinal properties of the Heavenly Spirit Fruit, and the full utilization of those properties during the alchemy process.

Even though Zhou Chaoxian had never refined the Heavenly Spirit Pill, the two pills had something in common.

The alchemy skills of Xie's second-tier alchemist were significantly lower than those of Zhou Chaoxian.

Anyway, Xie Feng had never seen the other party refine a mid-grade second-tier pill.

The Xie family sent their second young master to the capital to find their eldest daughter some time ago, hoping to purchase some high-grade Heavenly Spirit Fruits.

However, high-aged Heavenly Spirit Fruits are strategic resources for any aristocratic family or powerful clan, and they will not sell them easily.

Thanks to the young lady's connections, she has the opportunity to directly purchase low-grade Heavenly Spirit Pills, or even mid-grade Heavenly Spirit Pills, from the capital city.

However, the price to pay is too high.

The Xie family patriarch was unwilling to sacrifice such enormous family interests for uncertain matters.

With the Xie family's eldest daughter present, the Xie family's rise is only a matter of time. If this generation fails, there is still hope for the next generation.

Even with a top-grade Heavenly Spirit Pill protecting one's meridians, no one can guarantee they will be able to break through the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top unless they possess a Martial Spirit Body.

The Xie family is currently troubled by the difficulty of refining the Heavenly Spirit Pill.

Xie Feng was still somewhat worried when a skilled alchemist suddenly appeared who was capable of refining the Heavenly Spirit Pill.

If Zhou Chaoxian was sent by the Qi family and deliberately wasted the Xie family's medicinal herbs, then the ancestor's hope of breaking through to the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top would be even lower.

For a second-tier alchemist, there is a high probability of failure when refining unfamiliar second-tier pills; it is normal to fail even with a single pill.

Alternatively, if Zhou Chaoxian succeeds once or twice, refining one or two low-quality Heavenly Spirit Pills, it would be no different from failure.

The Xie family cannot blame the alchemist for this incident, otherwise they will not be able to find other alchemists to refine pills in the future.

To achieve the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top using low-grade Heavenly Spirit Pills, one would need at least a dozen pills to produce noticeable results and gain a success rate of 10-20%.

"I admire you!" Xie Feng said, cupping his hands in respect.

Even excluding the possibility that Zhou Chaoxian was sent by the Qi family, his alchemy skills were indeed profound, comparable to those of professional alchemists trained by some wealthy and powerful families.

The Xie family, which is currently rising rapidly, lacks precisely this kind of foundation.

Even if the ancestor breaks through to the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, or even if several Grandmasters of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top appear in the family in the future, cultivating a second-tier alchemist with profound alchemy skills will still depend on luck.

Because aptitude for alchemy, unlike martial arts talent, cannot be directly measured.

Even alchemy geniuses need a lot of resources to repeatedly refine pills in the early stages to improve their skills.

Without the support of a wealthy and powerful family, it would be virtually impossible for a lone wolf to become a second-tier alchemist.

Many precious resources cannot be bought with money; strong martial arts skills are the only ticket to entry.

If a lone wolf can make great strides in martial arts and steadily advance in alchemy, then he must possess extraordinary talent.

"Then what about this Heavenly Spirit Fruit?" Zhou Qing asked.

"If you can agree to one condition, the Xie family might give you priority when high-grade Heavenly Spirit Fruits arrive, or even give them to you directly," Xie Feng said thoughtfully.

"What are the conditions?" Zhou Qing's heart stirred, and he roughly guessed what the other party was thinking.

"What is your success rate in refining the Heavenly Spirit Pill?" Xie Feng asked seriously.

"I have never refined the Heavenly Spirit Pill before, so I estimate that the success rate might only be 10% at first," Zhou Qing said, not exaggerating.

The mastery of alchemy increases the success rate of refining second-tier pills by 15%.

With Zhou Qing's current alchemy skills, even if it's his first time refining the Heavenly Spirit Pill, he should have a success rate of over 20%, and maybe even a normal 30% success rate from the start.

"One percent?!" Xie Feng's expression changed slightly. A one percent success rate was actually higher than the success rate of the Xie family's alchemists, but not by much.

"If you want me to refine pills, I can agree, but if there aren't enough high-grade Heavenly Spirit Fruits, I can't guarantee success."

Zhou Qing added another sentence.

He needs at least enough medicinal materials to refine four or five batches of pills to guarantee a success rate. If he can only refine two or three batches, it's not impossible for all of them to fail, which would be counterproductive.

Moreover, after learning about the Xie family's urgency, he decided against rushing to refine pills for them.

My initial motivation for helping the Xie family refine pills was simply to repay a favor to Yao Xuewei.

However, if the Xie family really has such connections and can obtain all kinds of precious pills, then Zhou Qing would like to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with the Xie family to integrate the medicinal resources of Southern Xinjiang and Jinyun Prefecture and make full use of them.

Xie Feng hesitated.

If this matter succeeds, it will be a great achievement and will earn a substantial reward from the clan.

However, if it fails, the consequences will be quite severe.

He dared not easily place a bet on a stranger.

Seeing this, Zhou Qing said calmly, "The matter of the Heavenly Spirit Fruit can be discussed later. Can the Xie Clan Trading Company obtain the Five Elements Spiritual Objects and the Purple Moon Lotus?"

Although the Five Elements Spiritual Objects and the Purple Moon Lotus are more precious, there are probably very few Martial Saints in the Five Elements Gathering Realm in the Great Jin Dynasty today. Martial artists at this level already have the initial ability to break through space and forcibly enter various blessed lands, instead of staying in the outside world where the power of heaven and earth is thin.

If it is a high-grade Heavenly Spirit Fruit, it is priceless, extremely precious, and in high demand.

Those Five Elements Spiritual Objects and Purple Moon Lotus are extremely rare and highly sought after, with very few people demanding them, because there are practically no Martial Saints left in the world.

Purple Moon Lotus has powerful medicinal properties, but it does not provide any benefit to the human body. Direct ingestion may even lead to severe damage to one's qi and blood, causing general weakness and injury, and a decline in one's spiritual cultivation.

Only by refining it into an elixir can the medicinal properties of the Purple Moon Lotus be brought into play.

Purple Moon Lotus can only be used to refine a few types of third-tier pills, the most famous of which is the Five Palaces Forging Yuan Pill.

Even grandmasters can't use this elixir, because the quantity is too small, the effect is minimal, and it's a waste of money.

There are very few people in the world who are extravagant enough to use the Five Palaces Forging Pill to strengthen their five internal organs in advance in order to break through the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, and who also have the ability to refine this pill.

Moreover, a typical peak-level cultivator who has undergone twelve blood exchanges probably cannot withstand the medicinal power of the Five Palaces Forging Yuan Pill. Taking it haphazardly may have the opposite effect.

Therefore, the only pill that can actually help a Grand Martial Master break through to the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top is the Heavenly Spirit Pill.

As for most of the Five Elements spiritual objects, they all require a long period of cultivation. For example, the Heavenly Fiend Corpse is essentially a Five Elements spiritual object, but it is acquired. Similarly, only a Martial Saint at the Five Qi Convergence Realm has a long lifespan to slowly cultivate an innate Five Elements spiritual object.

Of course, if Zhou Qing is simply using it for alchemy, he doesn't need five-element spiritual materials of particularly high age; ordinary ones will suffice.

"You're not perhaps preparing to refine a third-tier pill, are you?" Xie Feng was startled, but his hope for him was rekindled.

Zhou Qing smiled but remained silent.

"It was my rudeness." Xie Feng realized that he shouldn't have pried into his guest's privacy, but this might be an opportunity for him to rise in the Xie family, so he was torn.

Taking a gamble might give them a chance to rise to the top in the Xie family, or it could lead to their downfall.

“The Five Elements spiritual items are too rare. Many aristocratic families cultivate them as heirlooms. As for the Purple Moon Lotus, it should be possible to obtain it in the capital, but it is quite expensive. It would cost at least 200,000 taels of silver to buy one.” Xie Feng responded to Zhou Qing’s question.

"Two hundred thousand taels? No problem!" Zhou Qing was also shocked by the price of the Purple Moon Lotus. However, he had accumulated a lot of money over the years, and the Blood Exchange Realm Grand Martial Masters who died at his hands were not unknown figures. He could afford to buy ten Purple Moon Lotuses.

Even with his physical strength, he couldn't consume too many Five-Element Forging Pills, so refining just one batch would be enough. His pursuit of a perfect breakthrough mainly relied on Heavenly Spirit Pills.

Xie Feng shook his head slightly: "Your Excellency is unaware that although there are very few people who need the Purple Moon Lotus, those who do seek it must be martial artists with profound backgrounds and great strength."

Therefore, the Xie family would have to use a lot of favors to obtain the Purple Moon Lotus.

Compared to this, two hundred thousand taels of silver is just the bare minimum.

"I cannot guarantee the Heavenly Spirit Pill, but as for the Marrow Cleansing Pill, as long as the medicinal materials are sufficient, I can refine as many as needed. I will be frequently traveling between Golden Cloud Valley and Southern Frontier for the next twenty years. I wonder if the Marrow Cleansing Pill alone will be enough to repay the Xie family's favor?" Zhou Qing pondered.

No major power would consider the Marrow Cleansing Pill useless.

The Marrow Cleansing Pill is of great benefit to the cultivation of martial artists in the Blood Exchange Realm, and even top martial masters in the Qi and Blood Furnace Realm can use it.

Even for those powerful families that have multiple Grandmasters of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, the Blood Exchange Realm is still considered high-end combat power.

After all, a normal person wouldn't play a royal flush right away when playing cards.

Once a battle involves Grandmasters, it could become a war of annihilation.

"Are you from the Southern Frontier?" Xie Feng inquired.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qing shook his head: "I was seriously injured in a fight and ended up in the Southern Frontier. I was rescued by a young man. After I recovered, I discovered that he had an extremely strong talent for alchemy, so I decided to teach him the art and promised to train him to become a second-tier high-grade alchemist before leaving this place."

"Twenty years to train a second-tier high-grade alchemist?!" Xie Feng was shocked, wondering if he had misheard.

For those wealthy and powerful families with deep-rooted traditions, cultivating a second-tier low-grade alchemist over twenty years is something they can do, but the Xie family certainly can't.

The Xie family's alchemists were trained from the age of sixteen, and it wasn't until they were forty-eight that they barely became second-tier low-grade alchemists, and their alchemy skills did not improve significantly for many years.

Zhou Chaoxian was so confident that he could cultivate a second-tier high-grade alchemist in twenty years!
This shows that he was not only highly skilled in alchemy, but also very confident in teaching his apprentices.

Or rather, the young man he encountered truly possessed an incredibly extraordinary talent for alchemy.

"I wonder what your disciple is?" Xie Feng wanted to see the disciple Zhou Chaoxian had mentioned.

"That young man was named Zhou Qing. He was originally Wei Sheng's disciple in the Five Poisons Sect of Southern Xinjiang. Later, when the Five Poisons Sect was in turmoil, Wei Sheng left the sect, and Zhou Qing also left the sect. That's when I met him."

Zhou Qing explained.

"Wei Sheng of the Five Poisons Sect? Zhou Qing? I've only ever heard of a senior named Wan Shentong from the Five Poisons Sect in Southern Xinjiang," Xie Feng said thoughtfully.

Zhou Qing paused for a moment. It seemed that he wasn't famous outside of the Southern Frontier, but that was a good thing.

"The reason I came to Xie's Trading Company this time is not only to purchase Heavenly Spirit Fruit, but also to purchase some second-tier medicinal herbs for Zhou Qing to use in alchemy."

Zhou Qing added.

"Second-tier medicinal herbs? Could it be that Zhou Qing is already a second-tier alchemist?" Xie Feng was somewhat incredulous.

"Not bad. With a rudimentary understanding of a few simple methods for refining second-tier pills, I can barely be considered a second-tier alchemist." Zhou Qing nodded with some self-satisfaction, knowing that appropriately displaying one's talent would not have a negative effect.

Anyway, Zhou Chaoxian is a second-tier high-grade alchemist, what does he have to do with Zhou Qing?

"Where is Zhou Qing now? Did he come to the city with you?" Xie Feng asked hurriedly. If he could recommend a genius alchemist to the family, the risk would be much smaller, and the benefits would not be less.

If Zhou Qing is from the Five Poisons Sect of Southern Xinjiang, then his background can be easily investigated, and he is not afraid that Zhou Chaoxian is lying.

“He is traveling with me and staying at Liangyou Restaurant. He is currently visiting friends in the prefectural city.” Zhou Qing nodded, understanding the other party’s thoughts.

"I wonder if the Xie family is involved?" Xie Feng asked tentatively.

“This matter has nothing to do with me; it’s entirely up to him,” Zhou Qing interrupted him.

A moment later, Zhou Qing came downstairs with a large bag of medicinal herbs and a high-quality alchemy furnace.

He spent 500,000 taels of silver in one go.

Xie Feng escorted him all the way to the door.

After confirming that no one was following him, Zhou Qing entered an alley and returned to his original appearance.

With the Green Wood Scripture and Gu techniques, he can not only conceal his aura after disguising himself, but also change his own aura. In particular, he possesses multiple skills and can even change the attribute of his true essence, so even those who spend every day with him find it extremely difficult to see through his disguise.

Zhou Qing returned to his private room at the restaurant to rest. After a short while, he heard a group of people rushing towards his room.

"They've arrived so quickly?" Zhou Qing thought to himself with a smirk.

boom!
The next moment, the door shattered with a loud crash. As the energy surged, wood chips flew everywhere. A young man dressed in fine clothes with a slightly pale face walked in, followed by two tall and powerful martial artists, both of whom were Grand Martial Masters at the Blood Exchange Realm.

hum!
Zhou Qing raised an eyebrow, and his protective energy was automatically activated, isolating all the wood chips.

"You do have some skill." The young master sneered, then directly ordered the two martial artists beside him, "Beat this shameless bastard!"

"Yes!"

Two Grand Martial Masters at the Blood Exchange Realm flew towards Zhou Qing.

boom--!
The next moment, the two of them were sent flying backward at several times the speed they had come from, as if hit by a cannonball. Their bodies crashed through the corridor walls and fell directly from the third floor onto the main road.

"You?!" The young master looked surprised.

Swish!
Zhou Qing appeared before him like a ghost.

Sensing the powerful aura emanating from Zhou Qing, the young master showed no fear whatsoever, and sneered, "I am the third young master of the Yao family. If you dare to touch me, you will never leave this city!"

Zhou Qing narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint in them, and reached out to grab the other person's clothes, lifting him up.

"Release the Third Young Master!" The two injured martial arts masters flew back into the corridor.

"Wait! Wait!"

At this moment, a middle-aged man with a large belly came to the door; it was Xie Feng.

"Is this young master Zhou Qing?"

"I am Zhou Qing, and you are?" Zhou Qing asked, puzzled.

"I am Xie Feng, manager of the Xie Family Trading Company. I greet Young Master Zhou." Xie Feng sized up Zhou Qing. He was indeed an extraordinary man, a dragon among men. More importantly, his aura was powerful, probably a martial artist of the same Qi and Blood Wolf Smoke Realm as him.

Xie Feng no longer had any doubts about what Zhou Chaoxian had said.

"Please, Young Master Zhou, give me some face and put this Young Master Yao aside for now," Xie Feng said with a smile.

"Very well." Zhou Qing raised an eyebrow, paused, and put the young master down.

"Manager Xie, it's not that I'm disrespecting you, but this person is seducing you," Young Master Yao said coldly.

Xie Feng leaned close to his ear and quickly whispered something.

"Are you sure?" Young Master Yao frowned.

“Absolutely true!” Xie Feng affirmed.

Young Master Yao walked up to Zhou Qing and looked him up and down.

Zhou Qing's expression was unfriendly, and the two martial arts masters beside him instantly tensed up, the scene on the verge of exploding.

However, the next moment, Young Master Yao's expression changed drastically, his attitude completely altered. A warm smile appeared on his face, and he cupped his hands in apology, saying:

"It turns out it was all a misunderstanding. I apologize for my rudeness earlier, Brother Zhou!"

Zhou Qing was stunned for a moment, and the muscles on his forehead twitched slightly.

"How about this, I'll host a banquet with twelve tables at Tianyue Restaurant in a few days. I hope Brother Zhou will do me the honor of joining me." Young Master Yao was completely unconcerned about Zhou Qing's reaction, and his smile grew even brighter.

The sudden and drastic contrast left Zhou Qing speechless, and he almost wanted to laugh.

(End of this chapter)