"Hahahaha... This is the first time I've ever seen such an arrogant alchemist! Very well, I'll pay you first." As he spoke, the eagle-eyed man—Evan Wolfe—threw six stalks of Immortal Spirit Herb before Joe Di. "These are six seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herbs. If you can't refine the pill, hehe..."
Several cultivators who were about to approach turned away instinctively upon seeing Evan Wolfe. Everyone in Tanlang knew this new alchemist had gotten himself into serious trouble.
Evan Wolfe also had another nickname—the Eaglewolf. Known for his ruthlessness and merciless strikes, countless cultivators had perished by his hand in the Moon Ruins. For an outsider alchemist to provoke Eaglewolf, it would be a miracle if he ended up well.
Joe Di took a look; these six seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herbs were all of the most ordinary kind. He didn't mind, since collecting seventh-grade herbs was meant to help him break through to Alchemy King, and he knew it was impossible to find rare seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herbs here.
After putting away the six Immortal Spirit Herbs, Joe Di picked up his storage pouch and walked into the house.
Seeing Joe Di truly accept the Immortal Spirit Herbs and enter the house, the number of onlookers increased sharply. Even those cultivators afraid of Eaglewolf watched from a distance.
Everyone wanted to know how this would end. If Joe Di failed to refine the Prime Jia Pill, Eaglewolf would surely kill him. Of course, some hoped that the alchemist might actually succeed—if he did, it would be a top-tier blessing for them.
The longest it ever took to refine a batch of Prime Jia Pills was a day, so the cultivators here only needed to wait one day to see the result.
Joe Di entered the house and casually set up a restriction. For him, refining a batch of Prime Jia Pills would only take half an hour.
Since this was his first batch of pills here, Joe Di forced himself to take nearly two hours before finally lifting the restriction.
"How did the pill refining go?" As soon as he saw Joe Di, Evan Wolfe stared at him excitedly and asked. The main spirit herb for the Prime Jia Pill was the Threeleaf Jialan, and he had only managed to obtain two stalks himself.
He simply couldn’t find a sixth-grade Grand Immortal Alchemist to refine the Prime Jia Pill for him, and he was desperate to break through to Grand Celestial. So when Joe Di put up his sign, Evan Wolfe figured he might as well take a chance. If Joe Di failed, he’d kill him anyway.
Joe Di raised his hand and tossed a jade bottle to Evan Wolfe. "It's done. See for yourself."
Evan Wolfe snatched the jade bottle and eagerly opened it. Inside were six pills—five of them were top-grade, and one even faintly bore a Dan Stripe, making it barely a special-grade Prime Jia Pill.
Apart from the three Prime Jia Pills he kept for himself, all the pills Joe Di gave Evan Wolfe were top-grade, but none had Dan Stripes. Truthfully, refining this kind of pill was not satisfying for Joe Di. He even had to control the quality—not to make it better, but to make it slightly worse.
Joe Di knew very well: if he refined a batch of special-grade Prime Jia Pills with Dan Stripes, he probably wouldn’t be able to stay here another day.
"Excellent pills! Excellent pills!" Evan Wolfe exclaimed several times in excitement, then clasped his hands to Joe Di before turning and leaving swiftly, disappearing in no time.
Everyone knew Evan Wolfe was preparing to advance to Grand Celestial.
The news that Joe Di had refined Prime Jia Pills for Evan Wolfe spread throughout Shadow Ruin Gorge in just a few breaths.
Countless cultivators flocked to him for pills. In less than an hour, a crowd had gathered at Joe Di’s stall. Even cultivators from other places rushed over, all hoping for Joe Di to refine pills for them.
Which cultivator training in the Moon Ruins doesn’t have a pile of Immortal Spirit Herbs on them? What they lack is just an alchemist to help refine pills.
"I want to refine a batch of Prime Qiong Pills. How many seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herbs do I need?"
"I want to refine Cleardew Elixir..."
"I want to refine Grand Ether Pill..."
Joe Di gestured for the noisy crowd to quiet down. "Everyone, sixth-grade Immortal Pills will be refined first. After that, I'll refine the rest of your pills."
"Why?" someone in the crowd called out in dissatisfaction. "It’s not like I’m not offering seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herbs. Why do sixth-grade Immortal Pills get priority?"
Joe Di replied calmly, "Because the reward for sixth-grade Immortal Pills is six stalks of seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herb. If you offer six stalks, I’ll refine a batch of Grand Ether Pills for you first as well."
"Six stalks it is. I want a batch of Grand Ether Pills." A sallow-faced man squeezed forward, tossing a storage pouch to Joe Di. "There’s the reward for the batch."
Joe Di wasn’t here to benefit everyone—he had only one goal in refining pills here: seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herb. Since the man was willing to offer six stalks just for a batch of Grand Ether Pills, Joe Di certainly wouldn’t refuse.
"I’ll also offer six stalks of seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herb. I want Heaven's Prime Pill..."
Once it became clear that only those offering six stalks of seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herb had a chance, nearly every cultivator hoping for pills brought out six stalks. Using six stalks for fourth- or fifth-grade Immortal Pills was obviously not worth it, so they all chose the hardest pills to refine.
But the pills these cultivators asked Joe Di to refine were all rare immortal pills, ones that even ordinary Grand Immortal Alchemists struggled to make.
Joe Di refused no one. His alchemy path was derived from the Ninth Prime Law—if he could refine one kind of sixth-grade Immortal Pill, then as long as he had the formula, he could refine any other sixth-grade Immortal Pill.
In just three days, Joe Di stopped accepting seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herb. The new rule was: to have pills refined, you now needed eighth-grade Immortal Spirit Herb—just one stalk could get you two batches of pills.
As soon as this condition was announced, the number of cultivators seeking Joe Di’s alchemy dropped sharply. Many wanted to cause trouble for him after seeing the reward raised to eighth-grade Immortal Spirit Herb, but worried he might call on others for help through his pill refining. Offending a sixth-grade Alchemy Master was no joke—it could easily cost them their lives.
Ordinary seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herb could still be found in Shadow Ruin Gorge, but the ones brought out for Joe Di were the cultivators’ accumulated treasures from years past. Eighth-grade Immortal Spirit Herb, though—even the most common kind was extremely hard to find.
After waiting several days, Joe Di received only five or six stalks of eighth-grade Immortal Spirit Herb. He realized that collecting more this way was unlikely.
He didn’t do much business in those days, but it wasn’t wasted time. The seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herb he’d collected in the first three days had been mostly refined by now. At this point, he was already a seventh-grade Pill King capable of producing eight-stripe immortal pills. With a different pill furnace, he could even refine nine-stripe seventh-grade immortal pills.
Even if he couldn’t get more eighth-grade Immortal Spirit Herb, once he returned to Harmony Hall, he could still open the third floor.
This chapter isn’t over yet~.~ Please click next page to continue reading the exciting story!
Now officially a seventh-grade Pill King, Joe Di decided to leave the Moon Ruins. He’d been out for some time and needed to return for secluded cultivation.
"Can you refine seventh-grade immortal pills?" Just as Joe Di packed up his stall and was about to dismantle his pill shop, a middle-aged man with a corpse-like face walked in.
"We’re closed. Come back when I have pills to refine." Joe Di ignored the corpse-faced man—this mid-stage Immortal King acted as if everyone owed him something.
Though the corpse-faced man didn’t understand what "closed" meant, he still stared at Joe Di. "If you can refine seventh-grade immortal pills, and help me with a batch in the future, I’ll tell you where to find Liora Starfruit."
Joe Di paused. Liora Starfruit was a seventh-rank immortal fruit, used to refine the King's Liora Pill. The King's Liora Pill gives Grand Celestials a high chance to advance to the Immortal King realm. Joe Di himself didn’t crave it, but Aaron Jace and Moria Lane would both need it eventually.
The man clearly knew Joe Di hadn’t reached Immortal King yet, which was why he dangled the Liora Starfruit as bait.
"What pill do you need refined?" If it were anything else, Joe Di wouldn’t bother with this Immortal King, but he did want the Liora Starfruit.
"I’ve noticed your sixth-grade immortal pills are almost never medium-grade—they’re basically all top-grade, and sometimes even special-grade. Plus, you started collecting seventh-grade Immortal Spirit Herb and now eighth-grade, so I suspect you’re already a seventh-grade Pill King." The corpse-faced man stared unblinkingly at Joe Di.
Joe Di replied coldly, "Just get to the point. The Liora Starfruit is indeed precious, but with my skills, getting one isn’t all that difficult."
The corpse-faced man seemed to know Joe Di wasn’t lying—a seventh-grade Pill King really could get a Liora Starfruit.
"Can you refine this pill? If you can't, I'll provide you with plenty of Seventh Grade Immortal Spirit Herb for practice, and you can refine it for me in three years. Your reward will be just as generous." After speaking, Master Grimlife handed Joe Di a somewhat incomplete pill formula.
Joe Di swept it with his divine sense—it was the Foundation Seven-Turn Pill, with main ingredients Liora Starfruit and Hundredvein Flower. Both were Seventh Grade Immortal Spirit Herbs, and extremely precious ones at that. Joe Di had never seen this formula before; his path in alchemy was derived from the Ninth Prime Law, and with one glance he could tell the Foundation Seven-Turn Pill was extremely difficult to refine.
Joe Di didn't have many seventh-grade pill formulas, and this pill was several times harder to refine than any Seventh Grade Immortal Pill he'd made before. Moreover, the pill would only be effective if he produced seven Dan Stripes—otherwise, even a successful refinement would result in a wasted pill.
Joe Di was sure he could refine this pill. He casually tossed the formula back to Master Grimlife, his tone flat: "I can refine this pill..."
Hearing Joe Di say he could refine the Foundation Seven-Turn Pill, Master Grimlife was not pleased. Instead, killing intent surged around him, enveloping Joe Di as his voice grew icy. "If you wish to die, I can oblige you right now."