After buying the immortal herbs, Qi Zhiheng found a shop selling magical artifacts and bought the cheapest alchemy furnace there.
Qi Zhiheng could accept the price of the alchemy furnace; it was only the price of a top-grade Qian Yuan Di Xian Pill.
After paying the spirit stones, he took his belongings and went back.
Back at the herb garden, everything seemed normal, and Mu Ran didn't reappear after giving his instructions.
Qi Zhiheng estimated that he would not come until the last few days of this month. He would just keep a close eye on him during those last few days, and if he noticed the other party's arrival, he would put away all the Soul-Devouring Insects.
After obtaining the new alchemy furnace, Qi Zhiheng found it much easier to refine pills.
Immortal artifacts are indeed far inferior to spiritual artifacts in the cultivation world!
Qi Zhiheng only spent half a day refining a batch of pills.
The speed has increased several times!
He put away the pills; although there were still two high-grade pills inside, it didn't prevent Qi Zhiheng from selling them.
While the spiritual energy was still plentiful, he immediately refined the next batch of pills.
After refining five batches of pills, Qi Zhiheng finally stopped, as his immortal spiritual energy was completely depleted.
He first went out to check the condition of the spirit field. After confirming that everything was alright, he took a Qian Yuan Earth Immortal Pill and began to meditate and cultivate. The gray mist absorbed the medicinal power of the pill, which also caused the pill to be consumed very quickly.
Two hours later, Qi Zhiheng had digested all the medicinal properties of the pill.
After his soul power and immortal spiritual power were fully replenished, Qi Zhiheng continued refining pills.
By the time the ten-day deadline arrived, fifty furnaces of pills had been refined.
However, one of the bottles of pills had been eaten up by Qi Zhiheng, leaving only forty-nine bottles.
After giving a few instructions to the Soul-Devouring Insect King, Qi Zhiheng went out again and arrived at the same pill shop as before.
The owner of the medicine shop seemed to have been waiting there for a while, and was very happy to see Qi Zhiheng.
When he saw Qi Zhiheng take out forty-nine bottles of pills, he showed a very happy expression, and said with some regret, "If the alchemist who refined these pills were a second-level immortal alchemist, then I wouldn't have to worry about the pills I need for cultivation."
The boss's surname was Xiao, and to show his friendliness, Qi Zhiheng was asked to address him as Boss Xiao.
Qi Zhiheng said, "Boss Xiao is joking. The difference between a first-level alchemist and a second-level alchemist is like heaven and earth. It's not something that can be crossed so easily."
Boss Xiao settled the amount of immortal spirit stones he had obtained from the pills.
Qi Zhiheng seized the opportunity to ask, "Boss Xiao, as you know, I am an ascended cultivator. There are some things about this place that I don't quite understand. If Boss Xiao doesn't mind, could you please explain them to me?"
Boss Xiao handed the Immortal Spirit Stone to him and asked, "Is there anything you don't understand?"
Qi Zhiheng asked, "Why are all the people in the shops in this city half-immortals, while the people setting up stalls outside are all celestial immortals and earth immortals?"
Boss Xiao laughed and said, "That's because the immortals who set up stalls outside are all on a whim. Once they've earned enough resources, they'll pack up and leave. They usually only stay at the stall for a few days, maybe a month or two at most, but it's all temporary. After becoming an immortal, they naturally have to be busy with cultivation. If they're always here watching the shop, how will they have the opportunity to improve?"
Qi Zhiheng finally understood the matter.
The shopkeeper continued, "And then there are the half-immortals in the shops. There's nothing we can do about them. Their internal power isn't fully converted, so they can't even defeat a low-level immortal spirit beast in the immortal realm. Going out on missions is just suicide. They'd be better off working in the city to earn immortal spirit stones. However, although the shops in this city are managed by half-immortals, the owners of these shops must at least be earth immortals. Half-immortals can't keep things under control."
After the shop owner explained, Qi Zhiheng finally understood the reason behind it.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Qi Zhiheng said goodbye and left.
Having earned enough capital, Qi Zhiheng purchased a considerable amount of immortal herbs, intending to try refining other elixirs.
Back in the herb garden, he had just finished refining a new batch of pills when he noticed that the array's restrictions had been touched. This touch was a violent act of destruction.
Qi Zhiheng put away the pills and the pill furnace, and went outside, telling the Spirit Devouring Insects to come back.
Given this situation, Mu Ran will likely come out soon. If he discovers so many spirit-devouring insects here, he probably won't be able to explain it for a while.
Qi Zhiheng had just taken the soul-eating insects back into his own space when, not long after, Mu Ran's aura surged, and it was obvious that he was about to come out.
Qi Zhiheng secretly congratulated himself on having retrieved the Soul-Eating Insect so quickly.
However, Mu Ran's aura leaked out first, but she showed no intention of coming out immediately.
The outer defensive formation was attacked time and again, and it seemed that the formation was about to crack.
Qi Zhiheng waited for a while, but still didn't see Mu Ran come out. He couldn't help but frown. If this continued, the formation probably wouldn't last much longer.
Qi Zhiheng looked around the formation. Fortunately, he had suffered losses in the formation before, so he forced himself to learn some. When he saw the damaged ear, Qi Zhiheng input his spiritual power to temporarily repair it.
After repairing the first layer, he took out some formation materials to repair some cracks.
The materials he has are all from the cultivation world, so he can probably only maintain this formation for the time being.
The opponent was able to break through the formation here, so his cultivation level must be above that of an Earth Immortal. Even if he could defeat a Celestial Immortal, it would be inappropriate for an Earth Immortal to personally intervene.
Two days later, cracks began to appear again in the array that Qi Zhiheng had repaired, and this time the repair was not as effective.
He could assert that the formation could not hold for another two days.
He took a pill to begin restoring the immortal spiritual power in his body. If a fight were to break out, he would have to be in the best possible condition to face the enemy.
Qi Zhiheng spent two days like this, and his immortal spiritual power recovered.
Almost immediately, the array outside the mansion shattered.
Within Qi Zhiheng's spiritual sense range, three Celestial Immortals and more than ten Earth Immortals broke in.
They started vandalizing the houses in the courtyard.
One of the celestial beings led several terrestrial immortals toward the medicine garden.
Qi Zhiheng sighed and walked over.
The celestial being also saw Qi Zhiheng, but he was just an earthly immortal. He acted as if he hadn't noticed Qi Zhiheng and simply shouted to his subordinates, "Dig up all the immortal herbs here! Smash anything you can't take away!"
"yes!"
Just as the five Earth Immortals were about to carry out the order, Qi Zhiheng gently pushed them with his palm, and the Earth Immortals who were about to step into the medicine garden were sent flying backward.
Qi Zhiheng also stepped forward and said with great regret, "I'm sorry, I accepted the mission for this herb garden. I can't control what you do to the outside world, but you can't touch a single weed here."
The celestial being, enraged, laughed: "What arrogance! A mere terrestrial immortal dares to spout such nonsense before me! Do you even know who I am?"
Qi Zhiheng glanced at the other person and said honestly, "This junior does not know."
Upon hearing his reply, the celestial being immediately frowned: "I am Xu Shang of the Heavenly Gang Palace! If you know what's good for you, get out of my way, or I might just let you die a quicker death!"
Qi Zhiheng remained unmoved and said calmly, "I'm sorry, I just came from the countryside and I don't know the Tiangang Mansion."
"You won't listen to reason, so you'll have to suffer the consequences!" Xu Shang drew his longsword and shouted, "Today I will definitely tear you to pieces!"
When Qi Zhi saw that he had taken out a sword, he had no choice but to take out a sword from his own storage ring as well.
As soon as he drew his sword, Xu Shang scoffed at him: "You dare to bring out a mere semi-immortal weapon and make a fool of yourself."
Qi Zhiheng brandished his sword, preparing for battle, and said, "There's no other way, I'm short of money, so this sword is still my best weapon."
Qi Zhiheng was not a sword cultivator, but he had some knowledge of swordsmanship. Influenced by his uncle Qi Zhenhao, he had also practiced for a period of time.
Xu Shang's swordsmanship was clearly superior to Qi Zhiheng's. Qi Zhiheng guessed that this person was a sword cultivator. After several dozen rounds, Qi Zhiheng's sword could not withstand the weight and broke in two.
Xu Shang felt no sense of victory whatsoever! He, a Celestial Immortal, had actually had his attack blocked by an Earth Immortal! It was truly shameful to tell anyone.
After Qi Zhiheng's most expensive sword broke, it was casually tossed to the ground.
As expected, the quality of non-divine artifacts is still subpar.
When Xu Shang attacked again, Qi Zhiheng was unarmed. Xu Shang's attack came like a rain of swords. He used the power of space to block the opponent's swords! He blocked the power of the swords one by one!
After the two fought for a while, Xu Shang's expression grew increasingly grim. How could a mere Earth Immortal have managed to hold out against him for so long!
After another exchange of blows, both of them retreated a short distance!
What Xu Shang didn't notice was that although the battle between the two was fierce, not a single trace of its power reached the herb garden.
Xu Shang was somewhat embarrassed and angry! He yelled at the several Earth Immortals beside him, "What are you all standing here for! Go and empty this medicine garden halfway!"
"Yes!" Several Earth Immortals quickly agreed, wanting to take advantage of Xu Shang and Qi Zhiheng's battle to deal with the medicine garden.
The first Earth Immortal had barely stepped into the herb garden when he let out a miserable scream!
The next moment, he collapsed to the ground.
The second person heard his voice was so mournful that he immediately went to check on him, only to find that the man had already lost his breath and his soul had vanished.
"This...what's going on!" Another earthly immortal was a little flustered.
Xu Shang was somewhat annoyed: "It's just that someone died! What? You don't even have this much courage!" As he spoke, he picked up a terrestrial immortal and threw him into the herb garden!
But then, something terrifying happened again: the earth immortal was cut in two at the waist, and his soul was also destroyed.
Xu's face darkened: "I didn't expect you to have some skills!"
Just as the two sides were locked in a standoff, a whooshing sound rang out! Mu Ran's aura dissipated, and she began to fight against two other Celestial Immortals.
Qi Zhiheng remembered that there was also a protective formation outside the place where Mu Ran was in seclusion, so it must have taken those two Earth Immortals quite a bit of effort to open the formation.
Qi Zhiheng glanced over there with his divine sense and saw that Mu Ran was fighting against two Celestial Immortals alone without being at a disadvantage. So he turned his attention back to Xu Shang.
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