Chapter 354: Honored Guest

354. Chapter 354: Honored Guest

Half a month later, Long Xuan finally returned to the familiar City of Sin.

He did not immediately return to Master Song's Insect Armor Shop, but instead disguised himself as Master Wei and went back to Master Wei's Pill Shop.

As soon as he stepped through the shop door, a small boy immediately came out to greet him.

"Master, you have finally returned; there are many orders placed by customers in the shop that urgently require your handling."

Long Xuan looked at this small boy and, seeing his appearance, knew that he was still unaware of the news that Master Wei had died.

Having been neighbors with Master Wei for such a long time, Long Xuan knew many things about him; Master Wei had over fifty Medicine Boys under his command.

These Medicine Boys were his coolies, and more than half of the low-grade Pills sold in the shop were produced by these Medicine Boys.

This small boy was one of those over fifty Medicine Boys, and moreover, he was the Medicine Boy with the best Alchemy talent under Master Wei.

Many of the Second Grade Pills in the shop were made by this Medicine Boy, and he was highly valued by Master Wei.

However, since this was the case, these people around Master Wei must know him extremely well, and there was a fear that they might recognize him as an impostor.

Long Xuan immediately narrowed his eyes, killing intent arising in his heart, but soon the killing intent dispersed; it would be a pity to kill so many coolies, so it was better to keep them to work for him.

These low-realm Gu Cultivators posed no threat to him whatsoever; even if they saw through his identity, it would not matter. Later, he only needed to split fifty souls to possess these fifty Medicine Boys, which would allow him to monitor them at all times, while taking their lives would be merely a thought away.

"I will handle the accumulated orders later; for this journey, your master encountered another opportunity and obtained quite a few Pills; you are responsible for selling these Pills off as quickly as possible."

"I am going upstairs to enter seclusion; unless something major happens, do not disturb me."

Speaking thus, Long Xuan placed eighty bottles of King-Rushing Pills on the counter, then proceeded to walk upstairs.

Too many words inevitably lead to mistakes; the more he spoke to this Medicine Boy, the greater the risk of exposure, so after saying just one sentence, he went upstairs as quickly as possible.

The Medicine Boy temporarily had no suspicions regarding Master Wei's identity, but looking at the full eighty bottles of King-Rushing Pills on the counter, surprise appeared in his eyes.

As an Alchemist, how could he not know the value of eighty bottles of King-Rushing Pills.

Once these eighty bottles of King-Rushing Pills were all sold, it would simply be an overwhelming fortune.

Did this Master Wei go out this time and secretly kill a Heavenly Pride Alchemist? the Medicine Boy could not help but wonder at this moment.

After returning upstairs, Long Xuan entered the space within the Heaven-Devouring World Toad's body and formally began his life of seclusion.

The business downstairs could be left to the Medicine Boy; to avoid increasing the risk of exposure, he decided not to show his face for a short period.

At the same time, Master Song's Insect Armor Shop, located opposite Master Wei's Pill Shop, also reopened; Long Xuan was now operating two shops simultaneously, both with booming business and rolling profits.

Next, while entering seclusion to research the Blood Lotus Pill formula, he utilized these two shops to rapidly collect the materials listed on the formula for him.

Unknowingly, half a year passed.

In a small pavilion on the Main Island, Long Xuan looked at the formula in his hand, revealed a satisfied expression, and then stretched his back greatly.

"The formula for the Straw Gu Exclusive Three Hundred Year Lifespan Pill has finally been successfully researched; after the Straw Gu completes its Transformation by devouring this Pill, it should be able to transport a Spirit Sea Stage Gu Cultivator."

Long Xuan showed a smile, slowly signed this formula, and placed it into a small box.

This Three Hundred Year Straw Gu Exclusive Lifespan Pill naturally drew inspiration from Master Sun's Three Hundred Year Lifespan Pill formula.

He gained much inspiration from this formula; many problems that had previously stumped him found answers within it, so his research on this Pill proceeded like splitting bamboo, without any blockages, and after spending two months, he finally succeeded in researching it.

That Three Hundred Year Lifespan Pill formula was searched from Master Sun's person, and naturally, Master Sun's Storage Ring contained many materials related to this formula.

Due to the relationship of borrowing inspiration, the Straw Gu exclusive formula created by Long Xuan had a high similarity to that formula, so he did not need to worry about finding most of the materials.

Including the main material, which was the most difficult to collect for the Lifespan Pill, Master Sun's Storage Ring also contained it, so he did not need to exert any effort to collect it at all.

The rarity of the remaining few materials was not high; collecting all the materials on this formula did not waste much of his time at all, which saved him trouble.

Thus, the problem of the Straw Gu's Transformation was considered solved; it was only a matter of time before the Straw Gu could transport a Spirit Sea Stage Gu Cultivator.

Long Xuan then fished out another formula from this small box and looked at it with concentrated attention.

At the very top of this formula were written the three large characters "Blood Lotus Pill," and below that were written the three smaller characters "By Long Xuan," with neat handwriting.

He had already completed the Blood Lotus Pill two months ago; for this long period, he had been collecting the materials on the formula.

Starting from when he wrote down the first material for his self-created Blood Lotus Pill formula, he had already begun having the two major shops collect the materials on the formula; up to now, the materials on the formula had been collected by him for half a year.

After such a long time, the materials required by the formula had been mostly collected by him.

He scanned the materials on the formula, then quickly checked the materials collected for him by the two major shops over these half a year, and soon discovered that the materials for the Blood Lotus Pill formula were basically complete, lacking only the main material, the Blood Lotus.

Thinking of this Blood Lotus, Long Xuan felt a headache.

The first material he had correctly guessed was the Blood Lotus, yet after collecting for half a year, he still had not found the Blood Lotus, which showed the difficulty of its collection.

The Blood Lotus is a rare Spirit Medicine that only has a chance of being born when a certain place is stained with the blood of a High Grade Spirit Beast.

Blood Lotuses exist from Fifth Rank to Twelve-Rank, but there are absolutely no Blood Lotuses below Fourth Rank.

This gave him a huge headache; limited by the thinness of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power, Spirit Medicines above Fifth Rank simply do not grow in this world, so where was he supposed to find a Blood Lotus.

The only place in this world where a Blood Lotus might possibly appear is in an Ancient Tomb from an extremely distant era.

In extremely distant times, Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power was abundant, and Blood Lotuses grew in this world; once brought into a tomb by a dead person and permanently sealed, it was possible for them to survive until today.

But the probability of discovery was truly too low.

He had not failed to consider replacing the Blood Lotus with another material, or creating another formula with similar effects.

But he soon discovered that it was simply impossible.

Because the Pill that increases the success rate of devouring Heavenly Fire is too Heaven-defying, its Pill grade has far exceeded Fourth Grade, and the main material must also exceed Fourth Grade to refine such a Pill.

He could only do as he did when refining the Heaven Mending Pill, using a large amount of trash materials to downgrade it, in order to refine it with his own cultivation realm.

In other words, the auxiliary materials for a Heaven-defying Pill could be fudged, but the grade of the main material must be high and absolutely cannot be saved on.

If one wants to research a Pill similar to the Blood Lotus Pill, the main material must be a High Grade Spirit Herb exceeding Fourth Rank; using a Spirit Herb below Fifth Rank as the main material makes it absolutely impossible to research such a Pill.

And what difference is there between collecting other Spirit Herbs exceeding Fourth Rank and collecting the Blood Lotus?

Long Xuan could only bite the bullet and continue collecting the Blood Lotus; whether he could ultimately collect it or not depended entirely on luck, as he had no other method.

However, just as Long Xuan was headache-ing over the matter of collecting the Blood Lotus, the black Storage Ring on his finger trembled slightly; Long Xuan stroked the Storage Ring, and soon a Communication Talisman was taken out by him.

After reading the content on the Communication Talisman, his eyes immediately widened; he quickly stood up, revealing an expression of wild joy.

He could not help but sigh that when good luck arrives, nothing can block it.

This Communication Talisman had been sent by the Medicine Boy attending to business downstairs.

Since he had previously claimed to be in closed-door cultivation and forbidden disturbance, this Medicine Boy had not dared to knock on the door, instead using the Communication Talisman to send him a message.

The content of the Communication Talisman was simply that a customer wished to purchase the shop's Town Shop Treasure.

The Communication Talisman contained only this single sentence, very concise.

Selling the Town Shop Treasure was such a major matter that an ordinary shopkeeper certainly could not decide it alone; naturally, he had to notify Master Wei, who was in closed-door cultivation upstairs.

After seeing this Communication Talisman, Long Xuan immediately could not wait to emerge from the space within the Heaven-Devouring World Toad, then swiftly walked downstairs.

The Town Shop Treasure in his shop was an Ice-Fire Polar Pill; when he had been refining the Ice-Fire Polar Pill for Yang Zhan, he had refined three pills in total.

After giving one to him, two remained; Long Xuan had thus decided to place one of the Ice-Fire Polar Pills in the shop to attract customers.

The trading method for the Ice-Fire Polar Pill was one Blood Lotus; since this person dared to come and trade for the Ice-Fire Polar Pill, they must have already found the Blood Lotus—how could Long Xuan not be delighted at this moment?

……

At this moment, inside Master Wei's Pill Shop, a fat man stared intently at a pill bottle on a shelf.

This shelf was made of precious white jade, flawless, and protected by a Barrier; the pill bottle placed within the Barrier was difficult for anyone to take away.

Naturally, the Pill placed on such an extraordinary shelf could not be an ordinary item; the Pill placed on the shop's finest material shelf was naturally this shop's Town Shop Treasure.

The fat man gazed at this Pill with greedy eyes, his breathing somewhat rapid.

"Unimaginable, truly unimaginable, that someone could actually refine an Ice-Fire Polar Pill; it is truly miraculous."

"This is one of the few Spirit Pills capable of summoning a Heavenly Phenomenon; its refinement difficulty is notoriously great, and the slightest mistake will cause a Furnace Explosion, killing the Alchemist; even a Fourth Grade Alchemist finds it difficult to refine this kind of Pill."

"How exactly did your shop owner refine this Ice-Fire Polar Pill? This level of Alchemy Technique—I'm afraid there are few Alchemists in all of Central Earth who can match it; I did not expect such a small City of Sin to harbor hidden tigers and coiled dragons."

Facing the fat man's incessant muttering to himself, the Medicine Boy remained silent.

How could he not know Master Wei's level of Alchemy? This Ice-Fire Polar Pill absolutely could not have been refined by Master Wei.

Recalling how Master Wei had suddenly produced a batch of King-Rushing Pills that were obviously not his own work, the Medicine Boy concluded that this Ice-Fire Polar Pill and that batch of King-Rushing Pills came from the same person, obtained by Master Wei through murder and treasure seizure.

When Long Xuan walked downstairs, he saw that fat man excitedly circling the Ice-Fire Polar Pill; it seemed he was extremely interested in the Ice-Fire Polar Pill.

"The shelf clearly states that our shop's Town Shop Treasure accepts only trade-by-goods with a Blood Lotus; do you have a Blood Lotus on your person?"

Feigning a steady demeanor, Long Xuan asked this question the moment he descended the stairs.

"Naturally; our Cao Clan is a Tomb Robbing Family; while this Blood Lotus cannot be found elsewhere, nothing can stump our Cao Clan."

"Our Cao Clan obtained this Blood Lotus from an Ancient Tomb five hundred years ago, but since Pill Formulas concerning the Blood Lotus no longer exist in this world, we have kept it until now."

"I have brought this Blood Lotus with me; let us proceed with the transaction immediately!"

Cao Shuang turned his gaze once more toward the Ice-Fire Polar Pill, staring at it with great excitement. (End of Chapter)