Chapter 407: A Rare Commodity

The rise of the Xinyi Sect is a phenomenon of the past seven hundred years!

Three generations of Grand Masters lifted it to a height where it nearly rivals the Five Great Treasures; not to mention Grand Master Da Ding, even his uncle was a peerless genius of his time!

Rumors say he was a bald, hopping, unkempt man with an unimpressive appearance, disliking quiet mountain cultivation, preferring instead to mingle in the mortal world—he called himself the Bald Monk!

He was active sixty years ago, when his fame was immense, but now, what most people know is that he was defeated by Wan Wan Zhuliu!

"This deal can be done!"

As Li Yuan pondered, Long Xi Xiang spoke: "But this matter still depends on Li Yuan himself!"

"Of course!"

Long Long Yingchan had no objection: "I won't promise outright—Li Yuan, what do you think?"

"Your disciple has no objections!"

Li Yuan's mind raced—drawing his blade was a profitable venture for him; those monks of the Xinyi Sect were obscenely wealthy, and just thinking of their incense aura made his heart ache with desire!

"I won't let you suffer a loss!"

Long Long Yingchan pinched his eyebrows—he understood Li Yuan better than Long Xi Xiang did—and smiled faintly: "The Xinyi Sect is wealthy and powerful; if they have needs, don't miss the chance!"

I want incense!

Li Yuan shifted his thoughts and asked: "According to your old master's advice, what should I ask for?"

Gold, silver, land, divine weapons, divine arts, spirit pills—choose freely; even if you ask for a Fucheng, Da Ding won't refuse!

Long Long Yingchan had no objection to this—he cared more about the Bald Monk and Grand Master Da Ding!

"Fucheng…"

The thought of carving out an entire prefecture made Li Yuan blink in surprise, but he had no desire to govern a city in Lei Yin Da Zhou; after thinking, he said: "I only need a divine weapon and spirit pills; additionally, if there's incense, I'd like some too…"

"Incense"

Li Yuan had already prepared excuses—like how the secret forging methods of Divine Weapon Valley required incense—but to his surprise, Long Long Yingchan merely exchanged a glance with Long Xi Xiang and agreed instantly!

"Then I'll accept on your behalf!"

Long Long Yingchan smiled slightly: "The Xinyi Sect operates on the edge of imperial court law; their sect certainly has plenty of incense—perhaps you can secure some even before drawing your blade!"

"Advance some—I'm sure they won't object!"

Long Long Daozhu understands me!

Li Yuan's eyes lit up!

"The Xinyi Sect is too far from Mount Hengshan, and the Bald Monk is still wounded; even if he sets out now, he won't arrive until next rainy season…"

Long Long Yingchan had already planned: "You needn't suppress your realm—break through when you're ready; after all, he's the one seeking us, so don't overthink it!"

"Your disciple understands!"

Li Yuan thought the same!

Having shattered the sixth level of the Longhu Tower as if it were rotten wood, Li Li Daoye felt nostalgic for the Martial King—he wanted to use this world's greatest as a mirror to reflect upon his own cultivation!

"Don't be careless!"

Long Xi Xiang glanced at him: "Wan Wan Zhuliu's Wu Gong reached completion during blood transformation; when he once overthrew a Grand Master, he had no divine weapon!"

"He overthrew a Grand Master without a divine weapon?"

Li Yuan's eyelid twitched!

These days, he's stormed the True Disciple Trials of the Yu Xuanjing Sect many times, but so far, he can only evade with his footwork; in direct confrontation, he must activate the Liehai Yu Xuanjing Hammer—and he'll inevitably die from the recoil!

Though the Grand Masters in the True Disciple Trials are all thousand-year-level masters, this alone shows how terrifying a Grand Master can be!

"Blood transformation is the final metamorphosis of the body, tied to one's Suo Xiu Wu Gong and the forms one possesses; back then, Wan Wan Zhuliu secluded himself for years in the Da Yun Library before achieving blood transformation—he likely possessed a thousand forms!"

Long Long Yingchan dismissed it lightly: "As long as Li Boy, before completing blood transformation, gathers a thousand forms, he'll naturally have the confidence to match him on equal terms!"

Long Xi Xiang frowned slightly,

and though Li Yuan's talent made changing a thousand forms possible, it would take too much time; he was about to speak when Long Long Yingchan handed him a silk scroll:

"Bai Xing Dan?"

"Correct."

Long Long Yingchan had considered this too: "This formula was obtained by Li Boy during the True Disciple Trials—it's a great merit; by custom, the first batch of pills must go to him!"

Long Xi Xiang flipped through the Bai Xing Dan formula and was deeply shocked—the formula looked complex and hard to refine, yet its benefits were incalculable!

Altering one's root constitution can, to some extent, accelerate the evolution of one's talent.

For example, Long Long Xinglie—a peerless talent with a hundred-form body; if he added another hundred, or even several hundred forms, might he not push his talent to the thousand-year level?

"This formula!"

Long Xi Xiang was deeply moved—he saw the formula's potential!

Altering one's root constitution is not easy; ordinary martial artists often spend years of arduous cultivation to change just a few forms; even a genius like Long Long Xinglie changes only a few forms per year!

It took him nearly thirty years to achieve a hundred forms.

"One batch of pills—even if only ten are successfully made—is still a thousand forms."

Long Long Yingchan pinched his eyebrows; during his spare moments, he had been communicating with the Yangsheng Furnace Spirit, painstakingly deciphering this formula.

"Thank you, Master!"

Li Yuan hurriedly thanked him—this formula's deciphering came at the perfect moment!

"Don't thank me yet; the formula's been deciphered, but refining it isn't easy—if you can produce it within two years, that's fast!"

Long Long Yingchan shook his head!

Most of the herbs on the Bai Xing Dan formula were unknown to him—he had to select substitutes from countless herbs and spirit plants based on their properties and principles!

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That's also why he's been aggressively gathering beast blood—every first batch of pills is the hardest and most costly to refine!

In the past, the Longhu Longhu Dadan took thirty to forty years from acquiring the formula to successful refinement; the cost of herbs, converted to gold, could have piled into a mountain!

"You can try starting by refining a One-Form Pill."

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Li Yuan took the pill formula, flipped through it, and offered a suggestion!

"As if I needed you to tell me that."

Long Long Yingchan glared at him: "You needn't bother with these trivial matters. Just focus on cultivating your martial arts. Within two years, I will surely give you a furnace of Hundred-Form Pills."

"Thank you, Master!"

Li Yuan was sincerely grateful!

This was the benefit of leaning on a great sect. If he had to decipher the pill formula from scratch on his own, screen out the medicinal ingredients, and try them one by one, he might well have died of old age without ever refining a single furnace of Hundred-Form Pills!

The cost of research and development was far higher than that of the pill itself!

"Mm, you'll need to prepare as well!"

"Prepare?"

Li Yuan was taken aback!

"To close this deal and get the advance benefits, naturally we must give them some reassurance!"

Long Yichan looked toward the Dragon Tiger Pagoda: "The monks of the Xinyi Sect have plenty of questions, but their brains are sharp enough. If you don't show them a thing or two, they won't feel at ease!"

A sample demonstration!

Li Yuan indicated his understanding: "This disciple will go prepare right now!"

At once, Li Yuan rose and took his leave. For such a major transaction, of course he had to prepare thoroughly!

"Can this Hundred-Form Pill really be refined within two years?"

In the small temple, Long Xi Xiang was still mulling it over. He wasn't skilled at alchemy, but he still knew the difficulty of refining a new pill!

"This Hundred-Form Pill is very complex, but fortunately it can be broken down. A hundred forms is hard, but one form is easy. Find more alchemists, and we can try from many directions. Two years should be enough!"

Long Long Yingchan was somewhat confident. The Dragon Tiger Temple was not short of alchemists — if not a thousand, then eight hundred were still available. If the spirit beast blood weren't so hard to come by, he would even be confident of refining it within a year!

Long Xi Xiang asked no more!

"Speaking of which, the people from the Green Dragon Pavilion should be arriving soon."

Long Long Yingchan was already thinking about the Heavenly Silkworm Daoist. Though the Xinyi Sect was fabulously wealthy, the Green Dragon Pavilion's foundation was by no means shallow either!

"Mm, and those few other firms as well — we can drop a hint—"

"Perhaps we won't even need to…"

"Junior Brother Li!"

Li Yuan had just stepped out of the small temple when he ran straight into Long Long Xinglie!

"Senior Brother!"

Li Yuan cupped his fist in greeting!

"You…"

Long Long Xinglie looked somewhat haggard, as if he hadn't slept all night. In fact, he had lain in bed until now, only just barely recovering his wits.

"Junior Brother Li, I wonder — has that Senior Han who created the Hundred Beasts Thunder Dragon come to take part in the Various Dao Martial Exhibition?"

"Mm."

Li Yuan was taken aback and shook his head. He was still trying to track down Old Han's whereabouts, but to no avail!

"Why? What's the matter, Senior Brother?"

"A feeling in my heart — I wish to meet the senior who created that supreme art!"

Long Long Xinglie gathered his thoughts and pulled several ingots of refined gold about the size of a fist from his bosom. When the sunlight struck them, they gleamed with golden light!

"The bets collected from the gambling pools over the past half year should come to over seven hundred taels of refined gold. This is your share!"

"That much?"

Li Yuan was startled and hurriedly reached out to take them!

These fist-sized ingots of refined gold weighed nearly three hundred taels in total — heavy in the hand, and a joy to the spirit!

Three hundred taels!

One tael of refined gold is priced at forty thousand taels of silver. Three hundred…

"Thanks to those monks of the Xinyi Sect!"

Long Long Xinglie's expression shifted slightly. Of these seven hundred taels of refined gold, well over half had been wagered in just yesterday's single day, and the Xinyi Sect's monks had contributed ninety-nine percent of that!

"Rich and powerful indeed!"

Li Yuan could not help but sigh with feeling. The refined gold clutched in his hand was a sum that the vast majority of clans, great or small, could not have accumulated in hundreds or even thousands of years!

And it was merely one day's worth of wagers from those monks!

"The Thunder Sound Great Province has many mountains and many islands. They say there are over a hundred large-scale gold mines of significant size. For them, this money really amounts to nothing!"

Long Long Xinglie, for his part, was hardly surprised!

Thirty years ago at Yanshan Dao, those monks had wagered far more ferociously than this, and quite a few of them had actually backed Brother Zhongli Wang Luan correctly, so much so that the members of the Samadhi Cave who ultimately won first place all had black faces!

"Thank you, Senior Brother!"

After a brief moment of reflection, Li Yuan cupped his fist in thanks. This windfall of refined gold was truly a timely rain — he really did want to take that batch of spirit beast hides from Tiger Gate!

"This was Master's intention. I merely delivered it!"

Long Long Xinglie waved his hand. He did not claim credit — such a large sum of refined gold was not his to decide.

"And thank Master as well!"

Li Yuan's thoughts turned, and he already understood the Dao Master's intentions. He instantly felt that being a Dao Master was no easy matter — one still had to maintain relations among one's disciples!

The job of Dao Master — easy to do, easy to go bald!