Chapter 367 Thirty Years Later

Thirty years later, on Qianyuan Island, in a pavilion.

Zhong Cai sat at the stone table, carefully flipping through a very old book.

He turned each page very carefully, lingering on each page for a long time, as if he were constantly frowning and deep in thought.

·

Not far away, Wu Shaogan was sitting in the middle of the nearby area, swallowing pills while absorbing the energy surging in from all around at an extremely fast speed.

At the edge of the arena, a shimmering array plate was being set up and was in operation, continuously gathering the spiritual energy of the sect and squeezing it all into the air above the arena, making it so dense that it almost became tangible.

Under Wu Shaogan's cultivation technique, the energy of heaven and earth seemed to form a huge energy vortex, firmly enveloping him.

And so, countless forces rushed into the vortex, and countless more forces were absorbed by Wu Shaogan.

Wu Shaogan's expression was calm, with only his hair trembling slightly under the impact of the energy.

As if there were no end in sight, Wu Shaogan ferociously inhaled, and such terrifying energy flowed into his body, yet he remained motionless, as if it had no impact on him whatsoever.

·

At this moment, Zhong Cai in the pavilion turned another page.

He muttered to himself, "A level six Snow Breaking Pill replenishes quite a lot of energy at once, but it's not much faster than Old Wu absorbing the energy of heaven and earth himself. It's more suitable for cultivators whose aptitude hasn't reached the Heavenly Rank... Oh well, I'll just refine it casually. There are still quite a few cultivators placing orders."

After thinking for a while, Zhong took out dozens of medicinal herbs and brought out a level six alchemy furnace engraved with natural patterns—the kind of ancient alchemy furnace that can shorten the time for refining pills.

The herbs were thrown into the furnace, the technique slightly clumsy.

The fire burned fiercely, and the patterns on all the alchemy furnace shimmered with an orderly glow. Before an incense stick's time had passed, a loud "bang" came from the furnace, and a burnt smell wafted out.

Bad news, the oven exploded.

Good news: the stove is sturdy; the inside exploded, but the stove itself is unharmed.

Zhong Cai habitually threw the wood into the furnace to burn off all the impurities inside. Before long, the burnt smell disappeared, and the ashes from all the impurities were swept away by the wood and carried away by the wind.

Then, he picked up a number of medicinal herbs and threw them into the alchemy furnace again.

The firewood returned to the furnace and began melting the medicinal herbs again.

·

Zhong Cai is currently in the mid-stage of integration.

This level of skill is indeed not high enough, but it's normal. The higher the level, the more difficult it is to study alchemy, and the more time an alchemist will naturally spend on it. And with more time spent on alchemy, less time will be spent on cultivation.

Zhong Cai's improvement speed is already fast enough.

First, he consumed a large amount of pills; then, he cultivated with Wu Shaogan, and under Wu Shaogan's guidance, he improved much faster than ordinary cultivators; then, every time he advanced to a small realm, Wu Shaogan would suppress his strength and fight "guidance battles" with him, which not only honed his combat power but also solidified his volatile realm, saving him a lot of trouble for the next breakthrough... Of course, the Starlight Arena, the Ancient City Cultivation Room, and various rare and precious materials obtained through card draws also provided Zhong Cai with considerable assistance.

Even though Zhong Cai's breakthrough speed was no slower than that of many martial arts geniuses, his cultivation level ultimately held him back.

When Zhong Cai reached the top of the fifth-level alchemist ranking, he was already capable of refining sixth-level pills. Although he wanted to study fifth-level alchemy for a while longer, the limitations of his realm were indeed a constraint.

When he later felt he could advance to level six, his cultivation level was still only at the peak of the Suspended Illumination Realm... He had to concentrate on cultivation for a period of time, and Wu Shaogan, who had already established a palace, carried his primordial soul and wandered through the part of the ancient city that had merged with Wu Shaogan many times... Zhong Cai finally succeeded in merging in the shortest possible time.

Zhong Cai breathed a sigh of relief; she could finally begin attempting to refine a level-six pill.

Very smoothly, the simplest one only took two or three tries to pop the oven before it was successful.

The success rate, quantity, and quality of the pills produced are also quite impressive.

From the initial integration of Zhong Cai to the refinement of elixirs and the mastery of alchemy, he refined a sixth-grade top-quality elixir in less than ten days.

Zhong Cai hadn't publicized it until someone noticed that Wu Shaogan had started taking large amounts of top-grade pills again, and every ten days or so, he would produce a suitable top-grade pill... This confirmed that this very young alchemist had become a sixth-level pill king at an unprecedented speed.

·

Of course, Wu Shaogan's own combat power also improved rapidly.

Not long after becoming a cultivator at the Palace Building Realm, Wu Shaogan has already made it onto the Level 6 Sky Ranking. Chao Hanxiao, who reached the Palace Building Realm a little earlier than him, is already on the list—both of them made it onto the list upon reaching the Palace Building Realm, and are currently ranked slightly higher than Wu Shaogan.

But in the blink of an eye, the following month, Wu Shaogan adapted to the level six strength, and his ranking surpassed Chao Hanxiao's.

Then, the two continued to improve their rankings rapidly, with their rankings rising almost every month without ever stopping.

By the time Wu Shaogan was in the middle stage of building his palace, he had already entered the top ten; in the later stage of building his palace, he became the number one.

Chao Hanxiao's ranking was always a bit lower than Wu Shaogan's, but he was always able to catch up with Wu Shaogan, constantly getting closer to Wu Shaogan's ranking and constantly surpassing other Sky Kings.

—If you calculate the timeline, just as Wu Shaogan climbed to the middle of the Sky Ranking, Zhong Cai became a sixth-level Pill King, and from then on, Wu Shaogan never let go of pills.

During this time, Chao Hanxiao was not idle either.

As soon as Wu Shaogan reached the sixth level, he started sparring with him. When Wu Shaogan started taking pills, he began contacting Zhong Cai through Wu Shaogan and buying pills from Zhong Cai in large quantities. Except for pills with different attributes, he wanted to take the same kind of pills as Wu Shaogan that could be used.

When Chao and Wu left the fifth-level ranking, Weng Yuxian became the top-ranked person. She was unwilling to accept this, but she was able to patiently continue to hone her skills.

Not long after the two "ran away," Weng Yuxian also built her palace and joined the sparring. However, after fighting for a while, she could no longer keep up with Chao Hanxiao's pace, let alone Wu Shaogan. So she further developed her special physique—coincidentally, at that time, Zhong Cai also advanced to level six and spent some time researching and developing a level six Hundred Beast Pill.

There were too many experts at the sixth level. By the time Chao and Wu were ranked in the top two, Weng Yuxian had caught up to the twentieth or so. However, she was getting stronger with each battle and was gradually climbing to a higher position...

·

Besides getting closer to the Zhong couple, Chao Hanxiao and Weng Yuxian also became major clients of Zhong Caidan medicine.

They not only purchased a large number of top-grade pills that Wu Shaogan could not use, but also acquired a large number of other-quality pills that Zhong Cai was not satisfied with, and sent them back to their respective forces, either to train their clansmen or to train their followers.

·

Wu Shaogan is currently in the late stage of palace construction.

Chao Hanxiao and Weng Yuxian had already reached the peak of the Palace Building stage—this was precisely because their aptitude had reached the upper-grade Immortal level, much higher than Wu Shaogan's top-grade Heaven level, so their breakthrough speed was actually faster than Wu Shaogan's.

However, Wu Shaogan's ranking rose very quickly, while Chao and Weng only truly caught up to Wu Shaogan's closest position when they were at the peak of their Zhugong careers.

The rankings seem to be a replica of the old five-tier leaderboard.

First place: Wu Shaogan.

Second place: Chao Hanxiao.

Third place: Weng Yuxian.

Furthermore, this ranking has remained unchanged for several years.

It didn't budge.

·

It's worth mentioning that top-grade immortal materials are probably really hard to come by. So even though the Zhong and Wu couple were very wealthy and not only wrote posts in the Land of All Beings but also secretly sent puppets to search for materials in various places, decades have passed and they still haven't managed to gather all the top-grade materials with the five elements.

Thus, apart from the reward that could replace any top-tier refining material, the two of them only obtained two top-tier refining materials: water-attribute and wood-attribute.

Two more are still missing, and they haven't been able to get them yet.

Therefore, their ancient city is still only at level nine, mid-grade quality.

However, the ancient city's various functions have been fully adapted to the top-tier continent. Although there are still some restrictions, they have been greatly reduced, which undoubtedly provides the two of them with a lot of assistance once again.

The couple wasn't in a hurry, after all, they were still very young, and their top-tier aptitude was more than enough.

·

Zhong Cai and Wu Shaogan have long been the pride of the Lingxian Sect and the War God Hall, and are also a well-known name.

Many alchemists and martial arts practitioners have traveled long distances to join the two forces because of them, and many of them are very talented, providing the two forces with a considerable talent pool.

The two factions never mistreat Zhong and Wu, two top geniuses; as long as their strength improves, they will give them various generous rewards.

When Wu Shaogan reached the top of the fifth-level ranking, his treatment was improved again and again—for example, the opportunity to be guided by a powerful expert was originally only once a year, but was later increased to twice.

Zhong Cai was the same; with each rise in his alchemist ranking, his benefits would increase. When he became the top-ranked alchemist, not only did Xiao Zinuo personally reward him, but the leaders of each branch also gave him rewards.

In addition, Xiao Danhuang also brought the sect leader's reward.

The opportunity for Danzun to provide guidance each year has also been increased to twice, and he has also given a book of his insights on alchemy.

The sect leader's own insights into alchemy.

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It is said to be a treatise on alchemy, but it contains the entire alchemy framework that the sect leader himself has outlined, from level one to level five, all in great detail and full of the sect leader's personal style.

The notes contain the sect leader's alchemy ideas, some uncommon pill formulas, various formulas created by the sect leader, the sect leader's many experiences, and much of the sect leader's knowledge...

Zhong Cai treasured it as if it were a priceless gem.

After he made it into the top ten of the sixth-level alchemist rankings, the sect leader gave him another reward: sixth-level alchemy insights.

When he reached the top of the rankings, the sect leader gave him a seventh-level alchemy manual—yes, a few months earlier, Zhong Cai had also become the top at the sixth level.

This is even more incredible than when he was at level five.

But upon closer reflection, it's not surprising. Zhong Cai himself possesses extremely high talent, and his realm seems to become more and more apparent as he progresses. After carefully studying the insights into alchemy, he has used up his quota of guidance from alchemy masters, which can take anywhere from four or five years to a few months.

Although Dan Zun was still in seclusion, his avatar sat opposite Zhong Cai and gave Zhong Cai a lot of guidance.

Strangely, Zhong Cai's impression of Dan Zun was that he was quite amiable, but he couldn't quite remember his appearance. Facing such a top-level expert who had lived for over ten thousand years, with an aura as deep and unfathomable as the sea, he really couldn't look him in the eye. Besides, it would be impolite to stare at someone.

Interestingly, Wu Shaogan also sought guidance from the Grand Hall Master, at a similar location to where Zhong Cai went, and was also received in disguise. It's obvious to anyone that the Sect Master and the Grand Hall Master were in seclusion together.

Zhong Cai gained a great deal of inspiration from the insights and guidance of the Danzun, further understood the various classic texts he had previously read, and quickly absorbed many of his master Sang's insights. He also diligently digested the alchemical materials extracted from the altar...

Over the course of thirty years, he continued to treat many people and conduct extensive research.

Zhong Cai even went so far as to study the contents of a book called "The Complete Book of Unsolved Poisons" in order.

He tried everything that was within his level and succeeded in everything he tried—which played a crucial role in his leap in the ranking of alchemists.

After Zhong Cai ranked second, he saw no improvement for a long time. He felt that his sixth-level alchemy skills had reached a bottleneck, so he went to the Pill God Tree on the top continent to refine sixth-level top-grade pills to feed to the pills.

The Dan Shenmu trees on the top continent are of higher quality, larger in size, and located in an extremely secluded place... After Zhong Cai fed it, he received a great deal of benefits from it.

With this advantage, Zhong Cai gained even more insight and soon became the top scorer.

·

At this moment, with Zhong Cai's successful extraction of the elixir, the commotion on Wu Shaogan's side subsided.

Wu Shaogan has successfully broken through to the peak of the Palace Constructing Realm.