Chapter 734 - 393: An Era Where Promotion to Master of Fire Is Impossible

Chapter 734: Chapter 393: An Era Where Promotion to Master of Fire Is Impossible

Hoo...

Outside the window, snow and wind were swirling.

Inside, the aroma of warm food filled the air.

The cafeteria of the Ninth Pharmaceutical Factory had just opened; the tables and chairs were new, the floor shiny, even reflecting the televisions hanging from the ceiling.

The administrative staff and workers, some holding bowls of hot noodle soup, some eating warm soaked bread, chatted and laughed while they ate.

"Our factory’s meal standard isn’t worse than that of the distillery, is it?"

"Yeah, look, there’s so much lamb in the soaked bread, haha."

Some workers, in groups of four, applied for a small hot pot at their table.

Bai Mo did just that, with Wu Qingyun, Fang Xiaoyu, and Coconut Fruit, surrounding the steaming hot pot, dipping and eating.

"Sss ah..."

Fang Xiaoyu dipped tripe into the red oil, enjoying it richly.

Wu Qingyun preferred thick potato noodles, pulling them out and slurping them down after dipping them in.

At the table, only Coconut Fruit seemed a bit down.

"Awo?"

It ate dipped beef slices, feeling something wasn’t quite right.

The other students who came with their master to eat in the cafeteria all started with three servings, with no upper limit.

Why was it that when it came to Coconut Fruit, it could only have a quarter hot pot set meal?

Stretching out a fox claw, it fished two beef balls from the pot, one for the master, one for itself.

As it ate, its eyes drooped, thinking it could only be two-tenths full.

Bai Mo also felt he miscalculated... He forgot to remind Old Jin in the kitchen to add more meat.

Just as he was reaching his chopsticks into the pot to fish for potato slices, he suddenly felt he encountered something heavy.

"Hmm?"

He lifted it up to see, surprisingly, a plump rib of beef!

Coincidentally, Old Jin from the kitchen was circling in the cafeteria, checking how everyone was enjoying their food, and turned towards Bai Mo.

"Expert Bai Mo, today’s hot pot used rib soup, so I scooped some for you. Don’t mind it, yeah?"

Bai Mo twitched his mouth... Old Jin used beef ribs as soup residue, huh?

Watching Old Jin wink and walk away, Bai Mo dryly laughed, and with a "swish," he placed the beef ribs in his disciple’s bowl, seeing his disciple’s eyes light up.

"Ying?"

Bai Mo again explored the boiling soup with his chopsticks.

"Ha, there’s enough soup residue here for the four of us to struggle to finish.

"Let’s eat it together!"

While eating, the television reported about a recent hospital-related mystical terror case in the Chunshan District, interviewing the Chunshan Immortal Committee.

"Can you tell us what exactly is in the treasure vault?"

"Sorry, no comment. Some things are too complicated to let the public know, I hope you understand."

Bai Mo watched the young Immortal Technique Committee member on TV, wearing a uniform, spouting official talk, looking upright, and found it a bit amusing.

Most of the Immortal Technique Masters probably really don’t know what’s in that treasure vault!

Even Bai Mo himself didn’t fully understand.

While gnawing on a beef rib, suddenly, his Spiritual Sense was triggered, it came from Guan Yuexi, new information just came out!

He quietly, with narrowed eyes, switched views.

Then he saw in a dim machining workshop, Guan Yuexi with short hair, wearing work clothes, sleeves rolled up, explaining something on the cloak hanging on the rack.

"That kind of short knife was very famous during the Ancient Immortal Dynasty, its full name is the Blood-sucking Tiger Fang Bronze Knife.

"Crafting it is extremely, extremely difficult, at least Sequence Six is needed to have the ability to craft it.

"That thing is actually a forbidden artifact, banned by the Nine Kingdoms.

"Because its effect is... to pierce a prince’s heart, extracting the Heart’s Blood with the highest concentration of bloodline!"

Once again targeting the prince bloodline?

In the cafeteria, Bai Mo continued eating and sighed.

For now, it seems the ancient immortals considered the prince bloodline an important means for disciples to pass through Sequence Seven, possibly even the sole means!

And the emergence of the Tiger Fang Blade Treasure Vault, might not be a coincidence... Those several Immortal Technique Masters, who knows how much effort they spent finding this Tiger Fang Blade Treasure Vault!

...

In the workshop.

Guan Yuexi leaned against the workbench, spinning a hammer like a pen, trying to share as much information as she knew, telling it to the cloak.

"The Tiger Fang Knife, actually in the current world, can no longer be crafted.

"A small knife, composed of over seventy parts, requiring more than a hundred different crafts from start to finish.

"These parts, crafts, are not simple, with many even being the exclusive skills of the Holy Land.

"It can be said, this small knife contains the core ideas and core technology of artifact refiners, but also heavily relies on the industrial chain, heavily depends on the Artifact Kingdom’s refining civilization back then, relies on the entire society’s division of labor and cooperation.

"My master said, unless one day, ancient immortals descend upon the world, achieve civilization restoration, and allow the Immortal Dao to develop for hundreds or thousands of years, it would be impossible to craft this short knife again.

"My master also said, some paths, some sequences, are extremely dependent on social division of labor, reliant on the industrial chain, dependent on the industry ecosystem.

"After leaving the Nine Kingdoms back then and coming to the present world, it’s impossible to advance successfully.

"For example, our Immortal Artifact Path’s Sequence Five, Spiritual Artifact Master.

"And your Alchemist Path’s Sequence Five, Grass Pill Master.

"In this era, cannot advance further, impossible to advance to Sequence Four."

In Guan Yuexi’s mind, a plump old lady sat in an armchair nodding.

"Yes, tell him just like that.

"Let him understand, the path ahead is blocked, there’s no need to rush.

"Once removed from the soil of civilization, some paths will inevitably be cut off. This cannot be helped.

"If the paths of this era are not cut off, his best decision would certainly be to suitably lower the requirements for the knowledge container, upgrade quickly, and ascend to a higher sequence quickly.

"But in this era, the paths have been cut off, so there is no need to rush for promotion. Take your time polishing at Sequence Six. Make the knowledge container of higher quality!"

...

Whoosh...

Strong winds poured into the Bronze Hall.

Butterfly Knot and Small and Big Eyes stood beside the washbasin, both rather sullen.

Previously, Big Flower Arm and Hu Toujian brought back a heap of documents from the mortal world, and they hastily washed them clean, preparing to show their master, only to find it was not in the script of the Alchemy Path, and their master couldn’t understand it.

"Waaaah..."

"Ooooooh..."

...After so much effort, it was all for nothing!

On the other side, Bai Mo sat behind the Bronze Table, looking at the documents his disciples had just brought back from the excavation site, suddenly understanding what Guan Yuexi’s words meant.

"So, to ascend to Sequence Four, one needs to refine a pill?"

This pill is named "Flint Fire Pill," swallow it, let it merge into the Dantian, and it can fuse with the Pill Fire.

[...The fire borrows the pill’s Qi, the pill borrows the fire’s Qi, circulating endlessly, growing continuously, lasting millennia without cessation, lasting ten thousand years without extinction...]

This Flint Fire Pill is further divided into different grades.

[...Throughout history, all Emperors refined the Purple Qi Suifu Pill at Sequence Five...]

[...Throughout history, all Princes refined the Red Dawn Suifu Pill at Sequence Five...]

[...Throughout history, all Marquises refined the Fish Belly Suifu Pill at Sequence Five...]

[...Throughout history, those below the Marquis who stopped at Sequence Four had all swallowed the Chenxi Suifu Pill...]

This format of documentation, Bai Mo had become very familiar with.

The one he desires the most, of course, is the Purple Qi Suifu Pill!

But setting aside the refining techniques and origin catalysts, just considering the types of herbs required.

The lowest-grade Chenxi Suifu Pill requires...two hundred and thirty-eight thousand types.

Bai Mo furrowed his brows, sighed, and rubbed the numbers on the copper plate with his fingers to ensure he hadn’t seen incorrectly.

"Is it really this difficult?"

Bai Mo picked up the tea from the table, sipped slowly, then continued reading the documents.

[...I once thought that a genius like me, even born from humble beginnings, would certainly be able to refine a Flint Fire Pill and ascend to Sequence Four]

[For a thousand years, I have always held onto this belief, striving tirelessly]

[I rise at dawn to practice, studying and practicing diligently day after day, returning home at night under the stars, falling asleep as soon as I reach home, only to rise again upon hearing the rooster’s crow]

[Day after day, year after year, watching the seas change into mulberry fields in my memory]

[I finally reached Sequence Five and began preparing that Flint Fire Pill]

[I worked diligently like an ox in Beiluo Holy Land for many years; the Holy Land naturally helped me collect the herbs needed for the Flint Fire Pill]

[I was on close terms with the Third Saint Child of the Holy Land; he and I were of similar age, similar talent, and similar realm]

[When I was preparing the Flint Fire Pill, he was too]

[Twenty years passed, filling ten halls with herbs for him, and filling ten halls with herbs for me]

[One day we both opened our alchemy furnaces, and the Pill Fire burned relentlessly for three years]

[In the first year, my alchemy furnace was completely destroyed, turning endless herbs to waste]

[I washed my face with tears, anxious and lost, slept for ten days and nights in confusion, and went to his palace where he was refining]

[I discovered his alchemy skills were actually inferior to mine]

[Yet his elixirs in the furnace were steadily being refined, why was this?]

[I suddenly noticed his chrysanthemum flowers had nine large petals, while mine had only six small petals]

[His turtle shells were glossy and verdant, while mine were dried and crumbly]

[His mystery furnace’s clear water was crystal-clear, while mine was as cloudy as broth]

[In a fit of rage, I intended to seek an explanation from the Prince, but halfway there, I suddenly understood that perhaps my thousands of years of contributions to the Holy Land only merited these subpar herbs]

[The Third Saint Child barely contributed to the Holy Land, spending his days wandering leisurely, yet the bloodline within him was priceless...]

[My face streamed with tears, at this juncture, what else could be said?]

[I changed direction, left the Holy Land, and came to the Cyan Moon Pill Palace, devoting myself to alchemy, never again concerning myself with affairs of the Flint Fire]

[Two years later, I heard that the Third Saint Child had successfully refined the Chenxi Suifu Pill, swallowed it, and ascended to Sequence Four]

[All I could do was smile bitterly]

[What is the use even if one has talent?]

[To advance to Master of Fire, both talent and heritage are indispensable!]

Bai Mo put down the copper plate, quite moved.

This Ancient Immortal felt distress that due to his insufficient status, he couldn’t obtain the quality herbs he needed.

This... is understandable.

But as for Bai Mo, in this mortal world, if he wishes to ascend to Sequence Four.

"It seems even harder.

"In his era, even if those top-quality herbs weren’t his, and even if those well-processed herbs weren’t his, they still existed.

"In my era, those top-quality herbs, those well-processed and refined herbs..."

Bai Mo looked at the ruined great hall, gazed at the holes in the ceiling.

"Not to mention top-tier or even ordinary-grade, so many types of herbs, so many factories, workshops, families, or industrial chains that handle the herbs... simply do not exist!"