After Chen Zishun left, Joe Di began his closed-door cultivation. Although Peace Plaza was now open to the public, the Peace Inn had yet to resume business.
Before Joe Di went into seclusion, Mona Chancy delivered a ring to him just in time. The most precious item inside Mona Chancy's ring was a top-grade wood-attribute immortal spirit vein. Together with the compensation from Felix Fang—a high-grade lightning-attribute immortal spirit vein—Joe Di now possessed two attribute spirit veins.
The rings from over ten Immortal Venerables and four Immortal Emperors had suddenly made Joe Di's fortune swell.
There were more than two thousand seventh-grade immortal herbs, and surprisingly, the main contributor was not Mona Chancy but Jade Foster from Starspire Apothecary. Nearly a thousand eighth-grade herbs and over five hundred ninth-grade herbs were also collected.
In addition, Joe Di had amassed a huge pile of refining materials, various divine techniques, and rare treasures. Even the total number of immortal spirit veins exceeded twenty.
For Joe Di, the most valuable item was the Plain Cloud Realm Banner found in Xi Ling Yuanyi's ring.
This banner was the treasure Joe Di coveted most. In the protective array he set up in Immortal City, he already had the Terraflame Banner and the Starwater Banner. Now, with the addition of the Plain Cloud Realm Banner, he had gathered three of the Five Element Banners.
After sorting everything, Joe Di immediately grabbed a pile of eighth-grade immortal herbs, preparing to refine Foundation Sevenfold Pills.
In just one week, Joe Di was able to refine seven-pattern Exalt Will Pills. Two weeks later, almost all the pills he produced had nine patterns.
Advancing to the rank of Eighth-Grade Immortal Pill Grandmaster came as no surprise to Joe Di. With his mastery and understanding of the Dao of Alchemy, stepping into this realm was only a matter of time and Eighth-Grade Immortal Herbs.
For Joe Di, his true goal was to become a Ninth-Grade Immortal Pill Emperor. Now, with five or six hundred ninth-grade immortal spirit herbs at hand, he had enough resources to reach that level.
Even though he had never refined a ninth-grade immortal pill before, Joe Di knew that ninth-grade pills were a completely different concept compared to seventh or eighth grade—they were Emperor Pills. After organizing his thoughts on the Dao of Alchemy, he chose to refine the Emperor Jia Pill first, whose main ingredient was the Dao Essence Fruit.
The reason he chose the Emperor Jia Pill was not only because it was relatively easy to refine, but also because he had an abundance of Jiahuan Immortal Fruits. Among ninth-grade spirit herbs, Jiahuan Immortal Fruit was considered inferior and not very valuable.
Moreover, the primary function of the Emperor Jia Pill was to aid Immortal Emperors in cultivation. However, few cultivators at the Immortal Emperor level actually relied on pills, making the Emperor Jia Pill somewhat awkward in status.
Among ninth-grade immortal pills, the most precious ones were enlightenment pills, healing pills, and divine ability pills.
Joe Di failed his first batch of Emperor Jia Pills outright, and couldn't even pinpoint the reason. The herbs had just begun to melt when they collapsed inside the pill furnace.
Joe Di wasn't bothered. If ninth-grade immortal pills were so easy to make, there wouldn't be so few Ninth-Grade Pill Emperors. Even with his profound understanding of fundamental laws, it was difficult to succeed on the first try.
But after failing batch after batch—from the second to the twenty-seventh—Joe Di started to get uneasy.
Even if Jiahuan Immortal Fruit wasn't worth much, it was still a ninth-grade spirit herb. Failing twenty-seven batches of ninth-grade pills in a row would have bankrupted any ordinary pill house.
For the twenty-eighth batch, Joe Di decided not to continue with the Emperor Jia Pill. Instead, he chose to refine the Earthcore Pill.
The Xingdi Supreme Yuan Pill was also a Ninth-Grade Immortal Pill, mainly used to restore the immortal essence of Immortal Emperors, making it extremely precious. Joe Di only had twelve stalks of its main ingredient, the Earthheart Nettle Fruit.
Just like with the Emperor Jia Pill, this batch of Xingdi Supreme Yuan Pills failed as well, and Joe Di still couldn't figure out why.
Joe Di decided not to waste any more Ninth-Grade Immortal Herbs. If he couldn't find the reason, no matter how many herbs he used to break through to Ninth-Grade Immortal Pill Emperor, it would only be a waste of resources and time. His Dao of Alchemy was unlike anyone else's—it couldn't be achieved simply by accumulating time and herbs.
Opening the formation gate to his closed chamber, Joe Di stepped out and immediately saw Zhong Ao.
"Old Zhong, what are you doing here?" Joe Di asked in confusion as he looked at Zhong Ao.
Zhong Ao rubbed his hands, looking a bit embarrassed, and said, "Joe Di, I suspect my physical body is still inside the Moon Ruins. It's a strange feeling. I think I need to go in and look for it as soon as possible. I have a very bad impression of that place—the longer I wait, the more anxious I get."
Joe Di patted Zhong Ao on the shoulder. "Old Zhong, forgive me for deceiving you once. Actually, when I went with you last time, I had already found your physical body..."
"Brother Joe Di, you really found my physical body and bones?" Zhong Ao grabbed Joe Di's shoulder, his voice trembling with excitement. He didn't care at all whether Joe Di had deceived him.
Joe Di took out a ring and handed it to Zhong Ao. "Old Zhong, this is a minor world I got from an Immortal Emperor. Take it."
"What do I need a minor world for..." Zhong Ao started to speak, but stopped halfway, then quickly snatched the minor world Joe Di handed him.
Inside this minor world, his remains lay atop a high-grade immortal spirit vein.
"Thank you, thank you..." Zhong Ao repeated his thanks over a dozen times, then rushed past Joe Di and into his own closed chamber, clearly eager to begin merging with his physical body.
Joe Di shook his head, deciding to wait until Zhong Ao finished merging with his body before explaining what the Moon Ruins really was.
However, less than ten breaths after Zhong Ao rushed into seclusion, he burst out again.
"Old Zhong, what's wrong? Weren't you going to merge with your physical body?" Joe Di asked in confusion.
After expressing his gratitude again, Zhong Ao said excitedly, "Joe Di, no matter how many times I thank you, it's not enough. If you hadn't helped me recover my body, my Dao would have ended here. My Dao is different from others—it's fused with my physical body. But right now, I still can't merge with it."
"Why?" Joe Di asked, puzzled. As far as he knew, Zhong Ao's previous body was just a temporary one, not fused with any top-grade treasures and could be discarded at any time.
Zhong Ao sighed, "I'm still missing some Immortal Wood Marrow—preferably over a hundred million years old. Besides that, I can't merge my body here. If I try, the laws of heaven and earth here will crush me to pieces."
"Old Zhong, don't worry. I'll take care of the hundred-million-year-old Immortal Wood Marrow you need for the merge. As for the right place, I'll let you know once I find it." Joe Di patted Zhong Ao. Since Zhong Ao couldn't merge now, he would stay here longer—which was good, since his cultivation was still weak, especially with Ye Xi around. Joe Di was still worried about him.
"Alright." Zhong Ao agreed without hesitation, then asked, "Do you know my origins? And why I ended up in the Lunar Celestial Sea?"
Joe Di chuckled, "Actually, I do know. You were imprisoned in the Lunar Celestial Sea by a guy named Zach You..."
At the mention of Zach You, a deep sense of disgust welled up in Zhong Ao's heart. He waved his hand, "Don't worry about me, just keep going."
"There's not much more to say. Both the Lunar Celestial Sea and the Moon Ruins are actually treasures belonging to Zach You, called the River Mountain Vessel. He imprisoned you inside it, apparently to refine the Sacred Yin Pearl..."
"That's right! The Sacred Yin Pearl can't be refined at all. That bastard Zach You wanted me dead." Zhong Ao suddenly remembered something. "By the way, Joe Di, how did you refine the Sacred Yin Pearl?"
Joe Di chuckled, "The Sacred Yin Pearl acknowledged me as its master."
Zhong Ao gave Joe Di a disdainful look—the Sacred Yin Pearl couldn't recognize a master, who was he trying to fool? But he didn't press the issue any further.
"Old Zhong, next I need your help to re-arrange the protective array for Great Cauldron City. After that, I might need to head back for a while—wait for me here. I'll definitely help you find what you need." Joe Di's first priority was to repair the city's array, then go to the teleportation array in the Four Immortal Continents.
Zhong Ao affirmed, "I won't leave until I find the hundred-million-year-old Immortal Wood Marrow. Also, once you do, I want some of your Pure Yin Chaos Qi."
"I've got plenty of that, don't worry." Joe Di wasn't a stingy person—Zhong Ao had helped him a lot, so he was happy to return the favor.
"Big Brother, someone just delivered an invitation." Tree Brother came running over excitedly.
Recently, life in Great Cauldron City had been exceptionally good for him. Everywhere he went, people greeted him as Brother Tree.
As far as Tree Brother was concerned, he hoped these good days would last forever.
Joe Di took the invitation; it contained only a few lines: "Fellow Daoist Joe Di, on the twenty-seventh of next month, my Radiant Lake Palace will host an Immortal Fruit Gathering and invite you, Pill Master Joe, to taste immortal fruits and participate in a goods exchange. Radiant Lake Palace, Nate Shee."
It wasn't particularly polite, but neither was it deliberately disrespectful.
Joe Di chuckled, "Who does this guy think he is?"
Zhong Ao also saw Joe Di's invitation and asked curiously, "You're not planning to go?"
"No, I am going." Joe Di put away the invitation.
He had intended to wait before dealing with Ye Xi, but since Ye Xi couldn't hold back, Joe Di decided to act first.