Chapter 456: A Chanced-Upon Method

Chapter 456: Chapter 456: A Chanced-Upon Method

’My Spirit Beast is still quite agreeable.’

Bai Mo had no intention of doing anything to it. Within a few breaths, he dispelled the upside-down Pill Furnace.

Even the flames within were pulled away and dissipated.

Ah Er broke out in a cold sweat.

Seeing the light of day again, it let out a sigh of relief but couldn’t help but shoot Bai Mo a reproachful glance.

The fire in the furnace had been warm, not scorching, but it was enough to make it sweat profusely.

"Don’t move. Let me see."

Bai Mo came closer, crouched down, and parted its fur to look at the sweat seeping from its skin.

The sweat it secreted was cloudy, not transparent.

One look was all it took for Bai Mo to understand the key.

It wasn’t just sweat; it also contained some of the power from its physique and vital essence.

The reason it was so easily refined out was likely because Ah Er usually ate and drank well, causing medicinal power to accumulate in its body without being fully digested.

Bai Mo estimated that the amount refined in that short time was equivalent to what it consumed in a single meal.

’This is a decent technique. It can be further perfected,’ Bai Mo thought.

Although his cultivation was still shallow and the Pill Furnace manifested from his Divine Thought wasn’t high enough quality, it was destined to be unable to trap an enemy for long.

But as his cultivation grew, this technique would likely prove to be very useful.

Seeing the serious look on his face, Ah Er knew this was unusual and didn’t dare to move, letting Bai Mo inspect it.

A moment later, Bai Mo retracted his thoughts and let it go.

"Go wash up properly. Look at you. You don’t temper your body properly, letting all this good food go to waste."

Hearing this, Ah Er tilted its head and gave a couple of perfunctory yelps.

It snuck a glance at Bai Mo, and seeing that he didn’t seem to mind, it scampered over to the Spiritual Spring to rinse off.

It was a Spirit Beast, not one that had to fight for its master. Naturally, it didn’t need to struggle desperately to improve itself like the Demon Beasts in the mountains.

Just as it was enjoying its bath, it heard Bai Mo speak again:

"When you have the time, go to the War Hall and see if you can get a Golden Core."

"I’ll refine an Outer Golden Pill for you, but it’s for important matters. You can’t use it for brawling and fighting..."

Ah Er gave a muffled grunt in response; it was hard to tell if it had been listening.

...

Bai Mo returned to his stone house and took stock of his Spirit Stones.

"Over fifty-five thousand..."

After some thought, he set aside a portion, about twenty thousand, and packed it up separately.

Yuan Chu had mentioned the matter of the Divine Kingdom during his last visit.

The Divine Kingdom had collapsed, and some of its divine items had been scattered.

Ordinary Cultivators couldn’t even dream of the major items, but Bai Mo could keep an eye out for the scattered fragments.

Especially things like herbs and ores. Those with divine properties had unique effects in forging and Alchemy.

It was a worthy direction for research.

After sending Ah Er to the War Hall to find a Golden Core, Bai Mo shut himself in his stone house and concocted a furnace of Pills.

The Pills were yellow, their surfaces covered in fine, breathable pores. The God-Facing Flower was their main ingredient.

God-Facing Flowers usually grew outside of temples. Because they always faced the temple, people often saw them as a mystical phenomenon.

Bai Mo had heard that many of these flowers grew near the Divine Kingdom.

A vast sea of flowers, every one of them facing the Divine Kingdom—it must have been a magnificent sight.

Not long after he finished refining the Pills, Ah Er returned on the Flying Ship.

This time, it had obtained two Golden Cores of similar quality, for an average price of five thousand Spirit Stones each.

Bai Mo refined them into two Outer Golden Pills, keeping one for himself and putting the other in Ah Er’s mouth.

He gave Ah Er the Pills refined from the God-Facing Flower and instructed it:

"Go to the major markets within the sect and search for items with divine properties for me."

"Here, light this Pill. Search wherever the smoke drifts, but don’t let anyone trick you..."

At times like this, the markets were full of fakes passed off as genuine, shoddy goods sold as high-quality, and rampant price gouging.

Bai Mo had no choice but to explain things carefully.

Seeing Ah Er nod in deep agreement, a vigilant and serious look in its eyes, Bai Mo paused mid-sentence.

’This badger is no less shrewd than I am when it comes to these things.’ ℯℯ𝑙.

’Heaven knows how it learned to be like this.’

So, Bai Mo directly took out twenty thousand Spirit Stones and handed them to Ah Er.

"Twenty thousand Spirit Stones. Buy what you see fit, just don’t waste them..."

And so, after a day of rest, Ah Er boarded the Flying Ship, its paws gripping the railing, and set off once again.

This trip would probably take some time.

Bai Mo sealed his door and began to contemplate the new technique he had chanced upon.

Using Divine Thought as a furnace to condense fire and refine another’s cultivation and vital essence was, in fact, imitating the process of Alchemy.

But there were still many problems.

In Alchemy, you could mess with the medicinal ingredients yourself; if something couldn’t be refined, you could supplement it with other materials.

With a living creature, you didn’t have that kind of convenience.

Furthermore, the vast majority of Alchemy techniques were nearly impossible to apply in this situation.

’The Qi-Gathering Art, which can draw in the qi of heaven and earth, should be compatible with this. But... there are still some difficulties within it that I need to figure out one by one...’

「Leaving Mi Mountain.」

Ah Er steered the Flying Ship, heading first toward a familiar market.

Seeing that it now had its own ride, the disciples at the market were all amazed.

Just as they were about to greet it, they saw the well-off badger take out a yellow Pill.

It lit the Pill with a tinderbox. Smoke curled up from it, but after a slight waver, the smoke scattered in the wind.

This meant that this market had no items with divine properties for sale, or that the divine properties of any items here were extremely weak.

Ah Er was surprised.

To think that the place it frequented had no items with divine properties for sale.

’Weren’t those kinds of things supposed to be all the rage right now?’

Thinking this, Ah Er shot a disdainful glance at the disciples, hopped back on its Flying Ship, and took off again.

’These merchants are so un-enterprising, so lacking in ambition.’

"Heh, what’s gotten into it now?"

One disciple chuckled.

But another thought deeper.

"It’s not that simple. Behind this badger stands an extremely wealthy Alchemy Dao disciple."

"Someone like that makes big purchases whenever they act. Sending it out probably means it’s here to procure something. What is it that we don’t have here?"

Amidst the lively chatter, someone mentioned that they had smelled the God-Facing Flower earlier.

The group of disciples then had a realization.

"It’s looking for items with divine properties."

"A pity. Nowadays in the market, anyone will claim any old thing was picked up from the original site of the Divine Kingdom."

"No one can tell what’s real, and it’s too much trouble to gather and sell those kinds of items..."

As for items with divine properties, no one would sell one where the divinity was obvious. Anyone who got their hands on something like that would probably melt it down and refine it into their weapon right away.

Only those with deeply hidden and unobvious divinity were left to circulate in the market for people to pick through.

Ah Er, carrying its few Pills, traveled a winding path and finally arrived at a large market.

The place was teeming with people, the sounds of hawking and chatter filling the air.

The moment it lit a Pill, the smoke split into several wisps, drifting in a few different directions.

Ah Er glanced at the goods the smoke was pointing to and secretly memorized their locations.

It casually put away the Pill, then puffed out its belly and, with a nonchalant air, sauntered toward the stalls.

The disciple watching the stall was about to offer a warm welcome when he was met with Ah Er’s disdainful and picky gaze.

The disciple froze for a second, then subconsciously licked his lips. He put on a serious expression, preparing for the impending round of haggling.