Chapter 737: Departure

In the blink of an eye, Su Fan had already spent twenty-eight years in Yunzhou.

During these twenty-eight years, Su Fan had not merely stayed in Yunzhou; he had traveled to the South Sea, where he discovered countless islands.

On these islands, human cultivators were also constantly multiplying.

Moreover, after the Profound Wood Loose Cultivator of Yunzhou ascended to the Primordial Spirit stage, his deterrent power over the South Sea had increased significantly.

The pressure on the human cultivators residing on these many islands had lessened considerably.

However, battles between human cultivators and the Sea Clans of the ocean were occurring on these islands at every moment.

In the South Sea, there were ten major islands, each with an area no smaller than the State of Wu. Some of these islands were controlled by the top sects of Yunzhou.

Others were established by humans who had come from other major continents.

If Yunzhou was the bridgehead for humanity to push into the Four Seas, then these ten major islands and the surrounding interconnected Star Sea islands were individual chess pieces planted within the Four Seas.

Many Sea Clans wanted to wipe out the humans on these islands at every moment.

But unfortunately, the humans on these islands remained standing.

After the Profound Wood Loose Cultivator of Yunzhou made his breakthrough, the morale of the human cultivators on the South Sea islands increased even further.

Here, the competition between humans and the Demon Clans was even more intense.

Su Fan had seen with his own eyes that on the outer defensive chain of the ten major islands, fierce battles occurred daily, and the deaths of human Purple Mansion and Golden Core cultivators happened frequently.

Naturally, the same was true for the Sea Clans.

In one region, the number of Golden Core cultivators dying daily was no less than twenty.

However, more cultivators were also advancing on this defensive chain, because resources were more abundant here, and fighting on the front lines, experiencing life-and-death tempering, meant one's cultivation realm could improve—not to mention the rich resources.

This caused the cultivation speed of the cultivators here to be indeed much faster than in the interior.

During this period, Su Fan had also taken action; that was on the first defensive chain of Quexing Island, where Su Fan personally intervened.

That time, eighteen fifth-grade Demon Emperors from the Sea Clans appeared, while at the time, the first defensive chain only had eight human Nascent Soul cultivators.

They were nearly broken by the Sea Clans; once that first defensive chain was breached, the defense of Quexing Island would face the crisis of collapse.

As one of the ten major islands of the South Sea, once Quexing Island was in danger, it would trigger a domino effect, where a single hair pulled would affect the whole body.

After all, the ten major islands complemented each other.

Therefore, Su Fan took action, and with a single hand of purple heavenly fire, he directly incinerated ten fifth-grade low-tier Sea Clan Demon Emperors.

The remaining eight did not escape either and were all finished off.

That battle slaughtered nearly all the top powerhouses of the Sea Clans within a million miles of Quexing Island.

Su Fan also obtained ten fifth-grade Demon Clan Nascent Soul inner cores.

With these, he could refine ten furnaces of Nascent Soul Formation Pills.

The Nascent Soul Formation Pill, a fifth-grade high-tier spirit pill—Su Fan had begun to consult the Profound Wood Loose Cultivator about his alchemy techniques as soon as the latter successfully passed his tribulation.

Thus, in a very short time, his alchemy skills had also been raised to the level of a fifth-grade high-tier alchemist.

After all, his original alchemy realm was already very powerful, and combined with his divine soul power that transcended the Nascent Soul stage, as well as having Profound Wood, a top-tier alchemist, naturally, his alchemy skills progressed logically to the fifth-grade high-tier level.

The Nascent Soul Formation Pill was no longer a problem for the future Purple Firmament Sect.

However, the Spirit-Nurturing Pill was much more difficult, as the main medicinal ingredients for this pill were very rare.

To gather them, it would likely be difficult even with the resources of an entire continent.

However, for the Purple Firmament Sect, being able to have one Nascent Soul Formation Pill was absolutely a great blessing for them.

In the Southern Wilderness Continent, how many cultivators attempting to break through to the Nascent Soul stage could have a Nascent Soul Formation Pill?

It was likely that only one out of fifty Golden Core cultivators could barely manage to take a Nascent Soul Formation Pill.

Ten fifth-grade Demon Emperor Nascent Souls—according to Su Fan's alchemy level, he could refine about thirty pills.

Of course, he would not refine them all at once; refining that many would be more than the Purple Firmament Sect could consume.

Instead, it would waste the medicinal efficacy of the pills; rather, sealing those Nascent Souls could best delay the dissipation of the Nascent Soul origin.

"Brother Qingmu, I shall take my leave now."

"I have troubled you much over these years."

On this day, Su Fan bid farewell to Qingmu Sanren. Twenty-eight years had passed in a flash; for top-tier experts like them, these twenty-eight years were but a fleeting moment, felt not at all.

Yet, for the Zixiao Sect, he imagined there must have been quite a few changes.

The distance between Yunzhou and the Southern Wilderness Continent was significant, making communication quite inconvenient.

"Haha! So the Fellow Daoist is leaving already?"

"Has this old Daoist failed to provide proper hospitality?"

Qingmu Daoren said repeatedly.

"Brother, you are too kind. It is just that I have been away from my sect for too long, and I am somewhat concerned. Furthermore, I have gathered the Soul-Returning Pills and Nascent Soul Pills, so I must return to my mountain."

"In that case, this old Daoist shall not hinder your return, Fellow Daoist."

Qingmu Daoren also knew that the other party had come to Yunzhou for the sake of the Golden Core cultivators in his family and sect who were attempting to break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

He had walked this same path years ago.

For the sake of his own disciples, he too had expended much effort back then. After all, the Nascent Soul Pill was one thing, but the Soul-Returning Pill had been extremely difficult to obtain for him at that time.

After all, he was not as powerful back then as he was now, especially during his first life, when his peak strength was merely the seventh layer of the Nascent Soul stage.

The Soul-Returning Pills and Nascent Soul Pills were now in hand, and it had been thirty years since he left his family.

He imagined that Lu Qingshan should have prepared quite a lot by now.

That the Soul-Returning Pills could be refined was, besides Qingmu, also thanks to Qingfeng Laodao. He was truly worthy of being from the wealthiest sect in Yunzhou; under the Piaomiao Palace were several major chambers of commerce.

Although each one was inferior to the two major chambers of commerce of the Four Seas and Jiuzhou, in Yunzhou, the Piaomiao Palace was the local hegemon.

The Jiuzhou Chamber of Commerce had the backing of Zhongzhou, but so what?

A mighty dragon cannot crush a local snake.

Moreover, Qingfeng Laodao was a sixth-tier spirit planter, and he had personally cultivated the main ingredients required for the Soul-Returning Pill. In the end, Su Fan paid another portion of C-grade repair fluid.

From the other party's hands, he obtained a portion of the raw materials for the Soul-Returning Pill.

Added to what Qingmu himself had collected, they finally obtained all the spirit herbs needed for two batches of Soul-Returning Pills.

In the end, he and Qingmu each refined one batch.

During the first refinement, he was indeed inferior to Qingmu; Qingmu refined three pills in total, while he only had two.

Two Soul-Returning Pills, relative to the cost, were actually not a loss; after all, the value of these Soul-Returning Pills was immense.

It was rare for anyone to succeed in refining them.

Generally, for most fifth-tier spirit pills, two or three pills are enough to break even, but because of the difficulty of the Soul-Returning Pill, its price is higher, so two pills are sufficient.

Getting an extra one is a huge profit.

As for refining four, five, or even six or seven pills in one batch, to this day, he had only heard that the spirit herb masters of Zhongzhou could reach the level of six pills per batch.

That was the number one alchemist of Zhongzhou.