Chapter 166: Everything Was Fine When I Arrived

"Wuya~"

The little fox rubbed its head against Xu Chen's leg, looking longingly at the jade bottle in his hand.

Xu Chen paused for a moment, then lowered his head to stroke the little fox's scalp and said, "You want to eat this too? But you haven't advanced yet; if you eat it, you might end up poisoned to death just like those toads!"

"Wuya, wuya~"

The little fox felt as if it had suffered a great insult, jumping up and yelping in front of Xu Chen.

Xu Chen hesitated for a moment, but still poured out one Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill into his palm and said, "Smell it first. If you feel you can eat it, then go ahead. But it's agreed, if you get poisoned to death, I won't be held responsible!"

The little fox sniffed the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill lightly, hesitated for a moment, licked it gently, and then swallowed the spirit pill in one gulp.

Xu Chen watched the little fox nervously.

Zhao Xuan was also squatting nearby, her face full of tension, but she did not step in to stop it.

The little fox was a spirit beast by nature, possessed very high intelligence, and was extremely picky about its food, always hunting for itself.

Furthermore, Xu Chen had been feeding the little fox various pills since it was small, from the initial Qingshui Pill to later Peiyuan Pills, Small Yuan Pills, and it had even eaten Great Origin Pills.

Therefore, compared to those completely degenerated toads, the little fox's foundation and tolerance were far more robust.

Moreover, this Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill was actually refined using low-tier spirit medicines and was similar to the Great Origin Pill; the only uncertainty was the white Qi component inside.

However, every time Xu Chen practiced the Demon Refining Art, the little fox would sleep alongside him, so it should not be repulsed by the white Qi.

Sure enough, after the little fox swallowed the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill, there were no abnormalities. Its fur simply rippled like waves for a while, then it rubbed its head against Xu Chen's hand with a "wuya wuya" sound, eyes slightly closed, appearing as if it were drunk.

Xu Chen observed the little fox carefully. Aside from detecting a faint fluctuation of Spirit Qi, there were indeed no signs of poisoning, so he picked up the little fox and said, "Senior Sister, let's leave the golden toads here for now. Later, I will ask Eldest Senior Brother to help me refine an array disk to place in the Medicine Garden. As for the rest, I'll have to trouble you to look after things for a few days; I need to prepare to reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible."

Zhao Xuan nodded and said, "Alright. Once you succeed in Foundation Establishment, Junior Brother, I will prepare for Foundation Establishment as well!"

Xu Chen said apologetically, "Actually, Senior Sister could have reached Foundation Establishment before me, but taking care of Xiaobai and the Medicine Garden has taken much of your effort. Once you succeed in your Foundation Establishment, I will give you some good things as a congratulatory gift!"

Zhao Xuan immediately beamed with joy and said, "That's a promise, don't you dare lie to me!"

Xu Chen immediately shook his head righteously and said, "How could I? This time when I went to Yuqing Hall, besides those low-tier spirit medicines, I really did get a few good things—they were all won from bets while refining the Seven Spirit Pill. By the way, I also brought back some spirit tea, spirit wine, and spirit flower dew. Let's go back and have a few cups to relieve our fatigue first. This trip out was truly not easy; it was such a trial!"

Zhao Xuan scolded, "You're getting the best of both worlds and still acting coy. With Fairy Lan accompanying you at Yuqing Hall, I'm afraid you were so happy you forgot to return home every day; I even thought you weren't coming back!"

Xu Chen immediately laughed dryly and said, "How could that be? Didn't I rush back as soon as I got the benefits? By the way, I also used a Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill to coax back a third-tier spirit sparrow; it will be convenient for you to ride when you go out in the future, Senior Sister."

Zhao Xuan said with a strange expression, "That spirit sparrow of yours, I'm afraid it wasn't a gift from Fairy Lan, was it?"

Xu Chen rubbed his hands in embarrassment and chuckled, "Isn't this me scraping together benefits for the sect? Daoist Friend Lan said she didn't have a use for it for the time being, so she gave it to me to ride back and raise first. Yuqing Hall has a vast estate and doesn't lack one flying spirit beast..."

Speaking of this, Xu Chen changed the subject and said, "Senior Sister, I've noticed you've been speaking with a bit of sarcasm lately. Daoist Friend Lan didn't offend you, did she?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xuan immediately threw out her flying sword in a huff, stepped onto it, and said, "She didn't offend me, but you did! You go back and drink your tea and wine; I'm heading back first!"

"Hey, Senior Sister, wait!"

Amidst Xu Chen's calls, Zhao Xuan transformed into a green escape light and sped away instantly, disappearing upon reaching Zhaoyang Peak in the blink of an eye.

"What's wrong with Senior Sister? She was perfectly fine when I arrived..."

Xu Chen scratched his head in confusion, but thinking that he had just returned and still had a pile of matters to sort out, he could only smile bitterly and stroke Xiaobai's soft fur as he headed back to the small wooden house.

The harvest from this trip to Yuqing Hall far exceeded Xu Chen's expectations.

The basic knowledge alone—the pill formulas, artifact formulas, array methods, and magic spells he learned—was enough to transform him from a mere cultivation novice into a profound cultivator with a rich accumulation of knowledge in just one month.

He believed that his theoretical knowledge in alchemy, artifact refining, arrays, and Daoist arts was now enough to crush ninety-nine percent of the cultivators in the Immortal World, including a large number of personal and core disciples of Yuqing Hall.

However, he had swallowed all this knowledge whole and memorized it by force; he had to record it as soon as possible, otherwise, he feared he would slowly forget it as time passed.

Although the fusion of the Blue Light Treasure Bottle and his soul had stabilized his soul and given him extraordinary memory, and his powerful Divine Sense allowed him to almost never forget what he saw, even the strongest memory would eventually be filled. On the journey back these past few days, he felt that a large amount of memory had actually begun to become distant, unfamiliar, and even blurred.

Therefore, after returning to the small wooden house, Xu Chen rested for a moment, took out a jade slip, recorded a segment of audio with his Divine Sense, and then raised his hand to throw it out.

The sound transmission jade slip transformed into a stream of light and flew to the Eldest Senior Brother's Artifact Refining Hall in the blink of an eye.

The Eldest Senior Brother was, as usual, holding a piece of spirit material and deliberating carefully. After reading the jade slip, a Divine Sense transmission landed directly in Xu Chen's ears: "Understood. The array disk will be done in three days. As for the three thousand recording jade slips, are you trying to work me to death!"

The Eldest Senior Brother seemed to be feeling quite indignant.

"Hehe, the capable should do more work! I am about to go into seclusion for Foundation Establishment. Besides, Eldest Senior Brother, you are already a Great Elder of Yuqing Hall; why do you need to do something like making jade slips yourself? Issue a Great Elder's decree, and all those outer sect disciples will finish it in a few days. How are you acting as a Great Elder? You're not reliable at all!"

"Uh, Junior Brother is right. I just became a Great Elder and am still not quite used to it..."

The Eldest Senior Brother's voice quickly vanished, and Xu Chen shook his head in relief.

Having stayed at Yuqing Hall for a long time, he realized that such an Immortal Sect with strict rules and clear hierarchy, while lacking a bit of warmth, was truly methodical in its operations. With one order from a hall Elder, a large number of people would get to work.

Whereas their group of senior brothers and sisters at Taiyuan Sect had been self-reliant since they started on the mountain, and they simply lacked the experience and opportunities for such division of labor and collaboration to accomplish big things.

Not to mention that they had to slowly polish and craft even the most common small items like recording jade slips themselves; even for magic treasures and spirit pills, they were stingily preparing materials and working on them slowly on their own.

But at Yuqing Hall, all sect tasks were team collaborations: some collected spirit materials and spirit medicines, some were responsible for preliminary processing, some were responsible for refining, and some were responsible for post-processing. With dozens or hundreds of people working together, dozens or hundreds of pills and magic treasures were produced in batches.

After seeing it with his own eyes at the Alchemy Hall, Artifact Refining Hall, and Talisman Hall, he was shocked beyond measure by such a grand scene, feeling that this was the truly terrifying strength of a large-scale Immortal Sect.

Think about it: previously at Taiyuan Sect, it took half a month or a month to refine one bottle of Great Origin Pills.

But at the Yuqing Hall Alchemy Hall, Great Origin Pills were just practice items for over a hundred disciples learning alchemy. Every day, the first thing they did to warm up the pill furnaces was for each person to refine a batch of Great Origin Pills or equivalent Buqidan.

Therefore, this spirit pill, which was regarded as a treasure by folk rogue cultivators and small-to-medium Immortal Sects, was exactly the same as ordinary sugar beans at Yuqing Hall.

Back when he was betting with Xu Wen and Lan You in Wild Wolf Valley, Xu Wen had tossed out four bottles of Great Origin Pills with a wave of his hand.

And before that, Xu Chen had even treated them as treasures and sold them off bit by bit to Song Qingshi and the others.

This huge wealth gap was enough to cause a psychological imbalance that was hard to let go of, and a sense of "wealth-envy" was inevitable.

However, from now on, Taiyuan Sect would also slowly become the target of wealth-envy for small-to-medium Immortal Sects and rogue cultivators.

Putting this matter aside, Xu Chen entered the small house and sat cross-legged on the couch. He put down the Dust-Avoiding Bead, closed his eyes, and sank his mind into his Sea of Consciousness, beginning to circulate the Demon Refining Art to recover and adjust his body first.

Knowledge was important, but cultivation and realm were even more important.

He had to temporarily cast aside all thoughts and succeed in Foundation Establishment first.

As the Demon Refining Art circulated, a blue starlight sprayed out from his myriad pores, forming a faint, illusory cloud around his body.

At the same time, in his Sea of Consciousness, tiny, colorful flashes of lightning suddenly lit up like brilliant fireworks beneath the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, and instantly, the terrifying roar of the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus emanated from the jade bottle.

However, the struggles and roars of the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus were to no avail; amidst the thunder and lightning, a large amount of Black Mist turned into white light and spewed out from the mouth of the treasure vase, then, under the guidance of Xu Chen's Divine Sense, it merged into his Soul and body.

In fact, two months ago, Xu Chen had already felt that the enhancement effect of the white light on his Soul and body had become negligible, so he had also rarely practiced the Grand Void Soul Refining Art.

But after going out this time, especially after a full-force confrontation of Yuan Qi and Divine Sense with Yi Zhen, he had new insights into the use of his Soul and Yuan Qi.

Furthermore, after a pill-refining competition with Han Qing in the Alchemy Hall that lasted for three days and two nights, this high-intensity consumption of his Soul and Yuan Qi made him feel that his cultivation, which had already tended toward perfection, was actually loosening again, as if it could be cultivated to be even more perfect.

However, under the eyes of a group of Danyuan Realm cultivators and two True Monarchs in the Yuqing Hall, he would definitely not release the white light to strengthen his body.

Therefore, he kept it until he returned to the mountain, and he decided that before Foundation Establishment, he would strengthen and improve his body once more, so that after Foundation Establishment, his foundation would be more stable and his strength stronger.

(End of this chapter)