Qin Mu didn't care about the people from the aristocratic families. As long as they didn't bother him, that was fine. There was nothing they could do anyway.

Han Chen stood somewhat awkwardly in front of Baili Rou, holding a large jar, though the scene was rather beautiful.

Han Chen is not short, over 1.8 meters tall, but he looks rather thin, at least compared to Baili Rou.

"I raise my head to gaze at the bright moon, then lower it to think of my hometown." This line of poetry came to Qin Mu's mind.

"Ahem!" One stood stiffly, the other lowered his head shyly, and Qin Mu had to break the somewhat awkward atmosphere.

"Oh dear!" Baili Rou grabbed the jar, lowered her head, and ran away.

"What are you doing!" Han Chen said, somewhat exasperated.

"Wouldn't that be considered prioritizing romance over friendship?" Qin Mu said with a smile.

"Go get it yourself if you want to eat! It's all laid out there!" Han Chen rolled his eyes at him and said.

Their skills far surpass those of ordinary constables, so they are certainly not suited to a life of ease.

With more medicinal herbs and better ingredients, Han Chen and his team meticulously prepared more than ten jars of medicinal cuisine.

With a "bang!", Qin Mu threw an alchemy furnace into the tent.

When it comes to medicinal herbs, it's better to refine them in an alchemy furnace, as this concentrates the herbs, making the resulting pills more effective than decoctions.

Xi Junmai stood guard outside the tent, while Han Chen helped out. This time, Qin Mu wanted to directly refine the beast's carcass using alchemy.

Large chunks of meat and jars of collected blood were continuously poured into the two-meter-tall alchemy furnace. Han Chen operated and moved the furnace, while Qin Mu's hands flew across the surface, continuously channeling his righteous energy into it.

Ginseng is arguably one of the most nourishing medicinal herbs, and like radishes, it was thrown in as well.

The alchemy furnace was like an insatiable monster; tens of tons of beast meat simply vanished inside.

Qin Mu nodded wearily to Han Chen, then sat down cross-legged and began to recover.

Han Chen nodded slightly to indicate that he had received the message, and then controlled the heat, keeping it at a low flame to maintain the operation of the alchemy furnace.

The spiritual energy in the secret realm was indeed very strong. The righteous energy that used to take a whole night to recover was restored in just two hours.

Once his vital energy was restored, Qin Mu stood up again and began channeling spiritual energy into the alchemy furnace. Han Chen also cooperated by increasing the heat, using not only high-quality pine charcoal but also spiritual energy to fuel the fire.

This is martial fire! Spiritual energy is added to the flames, and the alchemy furnace is instantly enveloped in flames.

"Huff! Huff!" Qin Mu took two deep breaths in succession, then slammed his hand down! A powerful surge of righteous energy rushed into the alchemy furnace. At the same time, Han Chen waved his sleeve, and the furnace fire was instantly extinguished.

As the fragrance in the air faded, the two were not disappointed; instead, they smiled. This was the medicine's power being contained, and the pill taking shape.

Qin Mu understood that alchemy involved extracting the essence from substances and then compressing it, truly embodying the principle that concentration equals essence. The alchemy furnace was opened, revealing numerous white-red pills, each about the thickness of a thumb.

Han Chen stretched out two fingers, picked up a pill, and put it in his mouth. He didn't chew it; he just closed his eyes and stood there quietly.

"How is it?" Qin Mu asked nervously when Han Chen opened his eyes. This was the first time he had ever used ginseng to refine pills, not to mention that he had added so much beast meat, and most importantly, the righteous energy. Even with his current cultivation level, he had used it to recover once, so one can imagine how much righteous energy was contained in the pill.

"Excellent! It's rich in qi and blood, and has a body-strengthening effect. The righteous qi is also well preserved in the pill, making it very suitable for Confucian cultivators. Of course, others can also use it. The righteous qi is extremely yang and strong, and can remove some unfavorable conditions. But for us, it's not very useful," Han Chen nodded and said.

Qin Mu was not surprised by this, after all, this was just his experimental subject, and he used his own righteous energy. With the essence of a ferocious beast, plus his righteous energy, even with ginseng, the medicinal effect of the medicine would be unimaginable when it was distributed among thousands of pills.

"That's feasible," Qin Mu asked with a smile.

“It’s feasible!” Han Chen nodded firmly and said affirmatively.

Qin Mu was overjoyed to receive Han Chen's affirmation. He had come up with the idea, and the two of them had worked together to refine it. Now, they had taken the crucial first step.

The next day, Qin Mu did not set off with the hunting party, but instead led his men to set up camp. Li Shimin supported his strategy and gave him a lot of jade, which finally came in handy.

He needed to set up a large-scale Three Enclosures and Four Symbols Formation, a massive formation covering the entire camp. This required a large number of formation plates, but fortunately, he was familiar with all of this; it just would take time to make.

Ten days passed in a flash. Baili Bing had no idea what Qin Mu was busy with. What intrigued him most was that he had hunted so many prey that it was impossible for him to finish them all, yet there wasn't a single one to be seen at the camp. Fortunately, he was a gentleman, so he didn't ask any questions.

After dinner, Baili Bing, unable to contain his curiosity any longer, asked, "Brother Qin! Why is the camp constantly strengthening its defenses? Are you worried about an attack? The Tianshui family wouldn't do that."

The camp Gao Kan chose was originally located at the foot of a mountain, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Over the past ten days, Qin Mu had his men continuously strengthen the defenses, leaving only a narrow path. Huge trees surrounded the camp, forming a wall, with an additional ring around the outside, making the camp look like a hedgehog.

Baili Bing had figured it out, and roughly guessed what the four major families were planning, so she settled down to hunt the prey. Of course, she was still happy if no one was constantly around her sister.

"I don't feel safe," Qin Mu said with a smile, revealing his white teeth.

Bai Libing knew, of course, that wasn't the reason, and couldn't help but roll her eyes at him.

Qin Mu looked up at the bright moonlight in the sky and said with a serious expression, "It's almost time!"

"Huh?" Baili Bing asked, puzzled.

"Just follow me." Qin Mu kept everyone in suspense before walking into the camp.

Those who came from Chang'an understood what was going to happen, and the others also received orders and quickly went to their respective posts.

Baili Bing stood not far from Qin Mu, watching the soldiers running in full armor with a blank expression. Then she saw Qin Mu take out an array plate, place it on the ground, and then his hands flew up and down, forming a series of hand seals.

Only then did Baili Bing realize that the drainage ditches dug out in the camp, which he had initially thought were for future use, were now filled with saplings and thick blood. He then realized that the entire camp was now covered by a large formation.

Somewhat confused, seeing that everyone else had sat down, Baili Bing also sat down next to her sister. Just as she was wondering why she didn't see Han Chen, who was always sticking to her, she noticed that the spiritual energy in the camp was gathering at a speed visible to the naked eye.

A huge alchemy furnace appeared next to Qin Mu and started to burn brightly.

"Is he going to refine pills?" The thought had just crossed Baili Bing's mind when she saw Han Chen activate his martial fire.

Qin Mu waved his hands, and the Dao patterns on the alchemy furnace began to glow. Then, Qin Mu was seen continuously adding things into it.

There are certain taboos regarding alchemy, so people usually practice it in seclusion. This was the first time Baili Bing had ever seen someone practicing alchemy in public, and he watched with great interest.

After watching for an unknown amount of time, Baili Bing suddenly realized that the alchemy furnace was like a bottomless pit, frantically absorbing the spiritual energy in the air. Visible to the naked eye, the mist-like spiritual energy was constantly surging towards the alchemy furnace.

At this time, Qin Mu was also not having an easy time. Refining the bones and flesh of ferocious beasts and medicinal herbs was one thing, but the main thing was that he had to filter the spiritual energy absorbed by the alchemy furnace. Only after he refined it could the pills still absorb it.

This was the method he and Han Chen combined: utilizing the abundant spiritual energy of the secret realm, along with the array set up with the Moon Pearl, to compress the purest spiritual energy into the pills as much as possible. Medicinal herbs also possess spirituality; they mainly absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to acquire their powerful medicinal effects. This method of infusing spiritual energy was intended to make the pills even more potent.

Fortunately, the array patterns on the alchemy furnace itself have the function of purification; otherwise, Qin Mu would not have been able to purify such a huge amount of spiritual energy.

Huang Sanjian and the others were also somewhat surprised. They thought it would be another pleasant training session, but they didn't expect that all the spiritual energy would be absorbed by the alchemy furnace. However, this made them even more excited. In the past, when setting up formations for cultivation, excess spiritual energy would eventually return to the air. This time, not a single drop was left in the alchemy furnace. With such a large amount, what would the final product be? Everyone was eagerly anticipating it.

Qin Mu was equally astonished. In the past, he could only sense that the spiritual energy in the wild was higher than in the city, and even higher in the secret realm than outside. Although he knew it was much higher, he thought that when distributed among the air, it wasn't an exaggeration. Now, attracted by the formation, a tornado formed on the pill furnace. In his divine sense, the spiritual energy, after being filtered, condensed into water droplets, soaking the pills.

At this moment, pills were continuously entering the inner lining of the alchemy furnace, and then it began to rotate continuously.

As the spiritual energy condensed into water, Qin Mu's divine sense could clearly perceive that the pills were continuously absorbing the spiritual energy into the water.

Within an hour, Qin Mu had completed the hand seals for collecting the pills, and Han Chen extinguished the furnace fire in cooperation. Although it only took an hour this time, both of them were quite exhausted. Qin Mu's technical work was mentally taxing; there was no way around it, only he possessed such strong mental power to control it. Han Chen, on the other hand, had been controlling the fire the entire time, or rather, he had been using spiritual energy to propel the furnace fire all day, so as soon as he stopped, he closed his eyes and began to recover.

Looking at the alchemy furnace covered in cracks, Qin Mu knew it was ruined. He gently lifted the lid and saw the clear, crystal-clear pills, which made him extremely happy.

"Aren't you going to start cultivating?" Qin Mu put away the pills and, seeing everyone staring at him, couldn't help but remind them.

Huang Sanjian and the others then realized that because the alchemy had stopped, all the spiritual energy that had gathered had dissipated in the camp. So they hurriedly sat down on the spot and began to cultivate.

"Woo-woo!" Not long after starting her cultivation, Baili Bing heard the roars of wild beasts coming from outside the camp. The sound was quite loud, and she was startled. Just as she was about to get up, she heard Qin Mu say, "Cultivate peacefully! Someone is handling this!"

"Swish! Swish swish!"

"roar!"

"Waaah!"

Sure enough! No sooner had Qin Mu finished speaking than Baili Bing heard the sound of crossbow bolts piercing the air, the roars of wild beasts, and the cries of agony from afar.

Having understood Qin Mu's purpose in setting up the formation and what the camp was guarding against, Baili Bing cleared his mind of distractions and began to cultivate in peace.

When he felt the spiritual energy fading, Baili Bing opened his eyes and looked at Qin Mu, who had already stood up. He was very surprised. He had never heard of a way to cultivate once that was equivalent to half a month of hard work.

As the spiritual energy faded, the sounds of the beasts disappeared into the darkness.

"With the spiritual energy gathering, I was worried that wild beasts would come running, and it turns out they did. Luckily, the birds didn't come. I wonder if any of the big ones from the forest are here," Qin Mu explained with a smile. He didn't mean to hide it; he was just busy making the array plate before the full moon and didn't have time. Now that he was done, he naturally wanted to explain to his friend.

To Qin Mu's displeasure, this hastily constructed Three Enclosures and Four Symbols Formation lasted far shorter than the meticulously crafted one in Chang'an. Furthermore, the jade stones had already been exhausted; the next time he would need to set up the formation, he would have to wait until he had enough jade stones to replenish his supply.

“Birds rarely move at night, and as for those big guys in the forest, we're so far away, they might not come,” Baili Bing nodded in understanding. He understood Qin Mu's explanation, because such a big thing couldn't be prepared all at once. And Qin Mu's deliberate explanation, in Baili Bing's view, showed that he genuinely considered him a friend.

Apart from nocturnal birds, other birds are practically blind at night. In another world, people hunt at night for this very reason.

After the sounds of wild beasts outside disappeared, Qin Mu did not order anyone to clean up the battlefield, but simply signaled the guards to continue their posts.

"I don't know how effective it will be!" Qin Mu said, spreading his hands as he looked at the anxious pairs of eyes.

"Let me try to help you!" Huang Sanjian said with a smirk.

"Okay!" Qin Mu nodded and readily agreed. He then took out a bottle, poured out one pill, and handed it to Huang Sanjian.

Huang Sanjian stared wide-eyed at Qin Mu, then looked at his palm, and said hesitantly, "Boss! You're not messing with me on purpose, are you? This is clearly a gemstone!"

Qin Mu ignored him, poured out another pill, and casually tossed it into his mouth. He knew he had to experience the effects of the medicine himself to know.

The pill, which looked crystal clear like jade, melted instantly upon entering the mouth, releasing a vast and pure spiritual energy that spread throughout the body. Qin Mu's expression changed, and he quickly sat down, circulated his inner energy cultivation technique, and began absorbing the spiritual energy.

Not only the spiritual energy, but the medicinal properties also became somewhat incredible. Originally, the pills with such compressed medicinal power had little effect on him, only slightly stronger than tempering his body himself. However, after the pills dissolved, the surging medicinal power began to spread from his body, nourishing it and making him feel that every cell in his body was being stimulated by the medicinal power, including his bones and internal organs.

Stimulated by the medicinal power, the internal organs became more active, while the bones felt itchy and numb. The pill in the lower abdomen was like the sun, constantly radiating its medicinal power, making it impossible to think too much; one could only keep circulating the mental cultivation technique.

Qin Mu focused intently on absorbing the medicinal properties, but the pill in his lower abdomen, being without a source, eventually disappeared slowly.

"Phew!" Qin Mu exhaled a breath of stale air, opened his eyes, and saw pairs of eyes filled with concern and expectation, as well as Huang Sanjian sitting cross-legged beside him. He couldn't help but smile.

"How is it?" Han Chen asked expectantly when Qin Mu opened his eyes. He was also very eager to know the effects of the pill that had absorbed such a huge amount of spiritual energy.