Chapter 168: Arrangements

In the blink of an eye, five years passed. Su Fan had been in the Taihe Market for five years. He was like a shut-in, doing nothing but practicing, refining pills, and making talismans every day, and when he had time, he would try refining artifacts.

In five years, he had absorbed all the power of the soul seed, and plus the fact that he had developed a drug resistance to the Zhu Yuan Pill, Su Fan's cultivation had finally reached the peak of the first level of Foundation Establishment.

He still hadn't broken through to the second level of Foundation Establishment. The five-spirit-root cultivation speed indeed had a great impact. If there weren't a large number of pills, it would probably be even worse.

Of course, the cultivation speed was not satisfactory, but Su Fan had polished every step extremely solidly. After taking medicine for several years, his mana cultivation didn't show the slightest instability.

At the same time, Su Fan's physical body had also made progress again, now firmly reaching the level of the Datang peak.

The power of his physical body alone—not to mention compared to second-grade monster beasts, at least compared to those first-grade high-tier monster beasts, it probably wasn't much worse.

Using the combat method of Blood Qi Transformation into Gang, he had a few chances of winning against cultivators below the third level of Foundation Establishment. And if he added immortal cultivation methods, he believed he had the strength to fight against the Great Elder.

Because not long ago, he had beheaded a second-grade low-tier Iron-Skin Pig. He had fought that second-grade monster beast in close combat and hammered it to death with violent attacks.

This second-grade Iron-Skin Pig was indeed thick-skinned and fleshy. If it were an ordinary third-level Foundation Establishment cultivator, they generally wouldn't be its match.

The Iron-Skin Pig had no attack spells; it relied on its two sharp tusks and violent charges.

Once truly hit by it, even a second-grade mid-tier defensive artifact would be hard to block.

Plus its own defense was extremely strong, so ordinary cultivators didn't like facing it.

But Su Fan wasn't afraid. With his martial arts foundation, his movement technique was extremely strong. The Iron-Skin Pig was fast, but not as agile as him.

It could be said that Su Fan was quite a counter to the opponent.

Cultivating for five years, Su Fan's strength improved quickly. At the same time, his alchemy skills naturally didn't fall behind. Now he could refine two kinds of second-grade low-tier spirit pills, both of which were for Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivators to take to improve their mana.

His talisman-making level was also not bad; he could barely refine a second-grade low-tier spirit talisman: the Fire Dragon Talisman.

It didn't have much effect on him now, but for Qi Refining cultivators, this kind of spirit talisman was a good trump card.

The power of a Fire Dragon Talisman was equivalent to a full-force strike from a Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivator. Qi Refining cultivators, while unable to exert its full power, could still exert eighty percent, which was not something an ordinary ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivator could withstand.

The price of this Fire Dragon Talisman in the market was not low, requiring a full four hundred spirit stones.

Su Fan had refined six or seven of them over these few years, but he hadn't sold them, instead handing them over to the family.

After all, it wouldn't be long before the monster beast riot began. These spirit talismans could also increase the strength of the family's Qi Refining cultivators. Once they were conscripted, if they had these few spirit talismans in the great war, they might play an unexpected role.

Unfortunately, wanting to refine second-grade spirit talismans required second-grade talisman paper or the leather of second-grade monster beasts.

These materials were not easy to obtain and rarely appeared on the market, especially in the Taihe Market. Once they appeared, most were collected by the Taihe Chamber of Commerce.

Although the Taihe Ancestor was not a high-level talisman maker, he had a disciple who was a third-grade talisman maker.

It could be said that most of the spirit talismans in the market were monopolized by this person.

Not only that, artifacts, pills, and such in the Taihe Market were more than half occupied by the Taihe lineage.

Su Fan becoming a second-grade alchemist was actually not as profitable as he had imagined.

First of all, there were only so many cultivators in the Taihe Mountain Range, and the spirit pills needed every year were a fixed amount.

The demand for second-grade spirit pills was even smaller.

What if Su Fan's pill success rate was high? If the market demand was not high, he had no way.

For example, the second-grade low-tier Zhu Yuan Pill was suitable for Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivators to take. However, a Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivator would probably need two months to refine one such spirit pill.

And afterward, they would need to settle down for a year before they could take the second one.

Generally, for a Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivator, the effect would be greatly reduced after taking ten or so of these Zhu Yuan Pills.

Most other pills were the same. Even if Su Fan could refine a dozen furnaces a year, if he couldn't sell them, he would still be losing money.

So for these five years, he could only cooperate with the Taihe Chamber of Commerce, handing over some of the spirit pills he refined to the Taihe Market, and the profit was reduced a lot.

Of course, in these five years, Su Fan had also made quite a name for himself in the Taihe Market. Everyone knew that there was a second-grade alchemist on Cloud Terrace Peak.

Being able to refine spirit pills that improve mana, Su Fan also had a good reputation in the circles of some Foundation Establishment cultivators.

He had built quite a reputation.

Even with his name, the Su Family had opened a "General Store" in this Taihe Market, which could be considered a new source of income for the Su Family.

"Lin Wei, this time you go back to Yu County with the Seventh Elder and the others."

In the cave dwelling, Su Fan looked at the respectful Lin Wei and suddenly said.

Three years ago, Su Fan took Lin Wei in as his first disciple. In these five years, his cultivation had also been not bad, reaching the sixth layer of Qi Refining.

The speed was considered extremely fast. After all, he had only just reached adulthood now. If he hadn't started practicing much later than ordinary family disciples, his cultivation might have been even higher.

With two spirit roots, plus the resources Su Fan provided and his special guidance, he had broken through to the sixth layer of Qi Refining in these five years.

But with this bit of cultivation, in the future great war, he wouldn't even be enough to serve as cannon fodder.

The Taihe Mountain Range was the front line. The cultivators here naturally couldn't escape. Once the monster beasts attacked, they would become objects of conscription.

And in fact, as early as three years ago, the Taihe lineage had already issued a conscription order.

Loose cultivators in the Taihe Mountain Range couldn't refuse. Once you fled, unless you didn't mix in Zheng State anymore, the consequences go without saying.

Because Su Fan was participating, Lin Wei didn't have to accept the conscription order.

Once the great war broke out, Su Fan wouldn't be able to spare any attention to take care of Lin Wei.

"Yes, Master."

Lin Wei heard this, nodded after a moment of silence, and his hands clenched tightly.

"Go!"

The master and disciple didn't say much. Now the Taihe Mountain Range had entered a state of alert.

The hundred-year monster beast riot didn't happen exactly in that year; sometimes they would sneak attack in advance.

Once monster beasts reach above the third grade, their intelligence is no worse than humans, especially some monster clans, which are even more insidious and cunning. Sometimes, humans have suffered great losses.

After Lin Wei left, Su Fan was the only one left in the cave dwelling.

"Five years. Time to travel through again and try my best to improve my strength." ===== CHAPTER 169 =====