It was eight years since the Xia Country opened up to business from other countries.
Lu Renjia created chaos by betraying the Secluded Mountain Prefecture, and even recruited the help of an evil spiritual knight, and ended up badly hurt together with Liu Yan. Qinghe County, Cangshui County and Jus.h.i.+ County declared to pull out of the Secluded Mountain Prefecture"s governance, and under Lu Renjia"s command.
Of course, all these didn"t affect Fang Yuan.
With the Zhou Family and others as the local families under him, the White Cloud Business Council had a smooth transition into Qingye City; Fang Yuan did not need to worry about the small issues.
He left Huang Fu Renhe in the secluded valley and made him comfortable, before riding the Iron-tailed Black Eagle and arriving at the Green Peak spiritual land.
"Phew... The air here is the best. It is so much different as compared to the air outside..."
The spiritual land was filled with spiritual energy. Fang Yuan unknowingly took a few deep breaths and appeared drunk with power.
"If not for the things I have to settle in the outside world, living here for a long period of time would be like a deity living in heaven..."
He sighed and clenched his fist.
The chaos in the Secluded Mountains Prefecture urgently required strong martial artists as protection.
In terms of martial arts, he had already reached the peak for the Eagle Claw Iron Skin Technique. Unless he changed his cultivation to another type of martial arts, he would have no hope in breaking through to Wu Zong.
However, the Spirit Returning Heart Manual and the Xuan Yin Heart Technique were both profound. Without the hindrance of the 12 Gates, and to train to reach the level of the Eagle Claw Iron Skin Technique would be extremely hard.
"The good thing is that I have another path to take. Based on my prediction, the creation of the 12 Golden Gates is to cover up for the shortcomings of normal humans... Since I have overflowing magical energy, my journey to become a dream master would be a smooth-sailing one!"
If he could break through to obtain elemental force, then he would be the only one in the entire Xia Country who would be able to oppose the Spirit Returning Sect and other Sects!
"What a pity... I have not sent the Flame Jade Rice for an appraisal!"
Fang Yuan took out a handful of flame-red rice grains, with regret in his eyes.
After the trip to the Secluded Mountain Court, he now knew the value of the higher tiered spiritual rice. It might even be more valuable than the Questioning Heart Tea.
This was because there was only one Questioning Heart Tea Tree, but on the other hand, the rice could be planted many times and be resold to earn back the money.
With the valuable plants in his hands, Fang Yuan did not dare to expose what he had, especially after seeing the situation at the Prefecture; he did not want to involve the alchemy masters and spiritual knights.
"The good thing was that I managed to appraise a few spiritual objects, bought a whole bunch of new spiritual seeds, and obtained two new helpers. I should be rather influential now, albeit small..."
Fang Yuan went to take a look at the Questioning Heart Tea and the spiritual bamboo shoots. The Questioning Heart Tea was growing well, with the prospects of another season of tea leaves being able to be harvested. As for the bamboo shoots, the shoots remained small, which made Fang Yuan roll his eyes.
Based on the maturity period of the spiritual bamboo, even if he used his spiritual fertilizer, it would be hundred years later before it would mature.
But then again, if he could harvest around ten bamboo fruits, be it changing to another type of martial arts or by harnessing brute force to break through to Wu Zong, it would be so much more helpful.
"It seems that I have to become a dream master to obtain Master"s next piece of inheritance..."
Fang Yuan went to the red-eyed white king bird"s nest to check that the nest was alright, and glanced at the growing wisteria. He nodded in satisfaction.
"Chirp..."
Suddenly, a shriek came from the cave which broke the silence. It attracted Fang Yuan"s attention to the red-eyed white king bird.
Although it appeared sluggish, its eyes remained ferocious and full of stubbornness. Fang Yuan knew that unless a miracle happened, it was almost impossible to tame it.
"You seem to be quite energetic. Hmm... I shall not feed you then..."
Although this bird refused to eat, Fang Yuan still had other ideas. Previously, he used underhand means to subdue it but was lost for words as it did not appear any less fierce than before. He went up to the straw pavilion, poured out every spiritual seed he bought and began reading through the planting manual.
"The Black Jade Rice and Green Striped Rice are nothing much, I can just directly sow them in the spiritual farm... Their effects are similar to that of the Vermilion Jade Rice, and at most I"ll just have new flavours to try!"
"The Bone Quenching Flower can destroy one"s bones and tendons, and complements the Three Star Fruit perfectly. If I plant them together, I can increase my produce by a few folds!"
"The Sickle Gra.s.s and Serrated Flower are the most troublesome. Other than requiring a specific type of land, it still feeds on blood!"
After a long while, Fang Yuan closed the manual, his eyebrows slightly raised.
Blood-fed meant consuming the bones, flesh and blood of wild animals. If these two spiritual plants did not get the blood they require, their growth would be hindered and they might not even germinate, making the plants feel carnivorous and barbaric.
Of course, these two spiritual plants were not to be eaten or made into pills; they were for protection.
"They are similar to plants like the Pitcher Plant and the Venus Flytrap... The only thing is that the Sickle Gra.s.s and Serrated Flowers are slightly more brutal; their prey are wild beasts or even humans!"
Of course, the normal Sickle Gra.s.s had at most a serrated edge like a knife. If a normal person came into contact with it, his flesh would be cut and he would bleed profusely, causing him to die in a gruesome way. As for martial artists, especially high-levelled martial artists, they would easily dodge these plants, just as for the Serrated Flower.
But Fang Yuan didn"t intend for these normal spiritual plants to protect his home.
He bought these seeds to produce them in large quant.i.ties, so as to increase their chances of evolving their special traits. Hopefully, they would evolve into even more fearsome spiritual plants, and together with the hypnotizing fog around the Green Peak spiritual land, it would be able to guard against even the strongest 4 Heavenly Gate martial artists!
To produce large quant.i.ties of spiritual plants would be almost impossible to do in the small farm at the secluded valley; he could only go ahead with the plan at the Green Peak spiritual land. Everything had to be done by Fang Yuan personally.
As for the farm at the secluded valley, a few farmers already raised the problem of the soil getting less and less fertile.
If Fang Yuan still refused to reveal the secret of the spiritual fertilizer, the next season"s Vermilion Jade Rice harvest would be much lesser, and eventually, it would lead to too many farmers at the farm.
"This is not too bad... At least I can dismiss those thoughts of greed! It would be even more beneficial during times of war."
Fang Yuan stroked his chin and started to worry.
Fighting a war is all about resources, especially the long-standing wars. One should not execute the decisive move as the first move, otherwise, the entire war would deplete all the resources available.
To a martial artist, doctor, herbs and storage of spiritual objects, a war was a test to all of these.
"What a coincidence that Qinghe County was named as one of the betrayal counties now in chaos. It is not a matter of whether it will spread, but that it will surely spread! Unless one had enough influence from the start, otherwise trying to control it would be to remove the insignificant powers!"
Fang Yuan slowly understood as he looked in the direction of the county.
If he guessed correctly, he would be able to face of s.h.i.+ Yutong the next time round.
"Based on my current stage of cultivation, it is still not enough, and I am still not there yet!"
He was lost in his thoughts...
Chaos ensued in the outside world, but it did not seem to have spread to the secluded valley yet.
The gra.s.s was lush, the insects and birds were making their noise, the farmers were farming and the servants were was.h.i.+ng clothes; the entire scene was one of tranquillity.
Unknowingly, a few days went by.
In the pavilion, Fang Yuan wore his normal clothing and was sitting with Huang Fu Renhe. Both of them were looking at the stove in front.
"The skill of alchemy is all-encompa.s.sing. The art of lighting fire is already very profound, and normal people might not even be able to comprehend it in their lifetime..."
Huang Fu Renhe explained, and at the same time added a few animal charcoals underneath the stove.
This was a valued possession brought here personally by Zhou Wenwu. There was only a hint of burnt smell, and every piece was delicately carved into animal shapes. They were extremely valuable and were sold by the piece.
However, Huang Fu Renhe treated it like garbage and didn"t even blink an eye as he threw it into the fire.
"Hong! Hong!"
The fire grew larger, and the green flames licked the green stove. A strong fragrance filled the air.
"An alchemy master would use spiritual fire to make their pills. I am useless and can only use normal fire as a replacement, which is much less efficient and would make a whole lot of difference..."
Huang Fu Renhe blushed, and timed it right before lifting the stove. "It"s done!"
White smoke rose into the sky, and as Fang Yuan channelled his energy into his eyes, he could see a puddle of liquid medicine at the bottom of the furnace.
Huang Fu Renhe"s faced turned red and was totally engrossed in his role. He began the extraction, purification and evaporation process - This was not how the alchemy masters would describe it, but to Fang Yuan, this was what he saw.
After the filtered medicine evaporated into crystals, what appeared in front of Huang Fu Renhe was many piles of yellow, fragrant and seemingly tasty powder.
"This is Spiritual Grain Powder. It can be consumed directly, and after eating it, one would not feel hungry for three days. However, it harms one"s digestive system, and therefore is not considered top grade..."
Huang Fu Renhe pa.s.sed the medicinal powder to Fang Yuan, but his face was full of regret. "Based on my ability, I could possibly make Combat Ration Pellets in the future, but forget about Royal Valley Pill..."
"Alchemy Master?"
Fang Yuan thought of the Questioning Heart Tea and smiled cheekily. "Don"t give up so soon, you might be able to do it in the future!"
Powder, Pellet and Pills were the three types of medicine, and their medicinal powers were in increasing order. It was also how pharmacist and alchemy masters proved their own worth.
Using the same ingredients to make the pills, the Spiritual Grain Powder could last for three days but would harm the digestive system, while the Combat Ration Pill could last for 7 days. As for Royal Valley Pill, it was a common food source for high-levelled cultivators who planned on going into closed-door cultivation for long periods. A prolonged period of consumption would strengthen one"s body, which led to some highly-skilled martial artist giving up on food and eating spiritual pills instead, to strengthen their foundation.
But for Huang Fu Renhe, he could only forcibly produce Combat Ration Pellets from spiritual grains; this was because he had no help from spiritual fire and therefore could not attain the level of an alchemy master.
"You"re talking about learning martial arts? I can"t do it!"
Huang Fu Renhe laughed. "I"ve tried this path before, but I have no potential for it and I could spend my life training but will not be able to harness inner force."
He was dumbfounded, clenched his teeth, and was feeling determined again. "My lord saved my life and Lanruo"s, and even took us in. I have nothing to hide. In alchemy, other than controlling the fire, the most important is to understand the properties of every ingredient and be highly skilled in appraising them... I am useless and have not accomplished much in this field, but I have a gift for you, master!"
As he spoke, he loosened his belt and retrieved something stuck in between, and pa.s.sed it to Fang Yuan.
"This is... a piece of jade?!"
Fang Yuan was surprised and pleased at the same time. He knew that this person had totally given his trust to him.
"This is indeed a piece of jade... This is from my master... I took it from him, but it was a pity that I was unable to see its contents..."
Huang Fu Renhe blushed and explained.