Chapter 18: Setback in Alchemy

Seeing the reaction of the Xuan Turtle, Xu Feng was already used to such oddities and continued speaking to himself.

"In a radius of 100,000 li, I've seen it all; this world's spiritual power is truly abundant, with endless layers of various spiritual objects, spiritual medicines, and spiritual ores."

"Unfortunately, I cannot take them out."

"The only benefit I can enjoy right now is letting Xiao Jin feast on the spiritual medicine here."

"Elder Turtle, you know where there is an abundance of spiritual medicine."

Xu Feng chatted casually with the Xuan Turtle.

At this moment, the Xuan Turtle, squinting his eyes, raised his head towards a certain direction and gestured, then blurted out a word that was all too familiar to him.

"Scram!"

"Alright, Elder Turtle, I'll leave first. We can chat more when there's time."

Xu Feng spoke, first sending his 'turtle son' back, then entered the Mountain and Sea Divine Beast World, heading in the direction indicated by the Xuan Turtle.

As expected, in a place surrounded by mountains and water, he discovered a large amount of precious spiritual medicines.

While Xu Feng was observing the age of these medicinal items, suddenly a noisy clamor came from afar.

After noting the terrain of this area, Xu Feng flew curiously towards the source of the noise.

Less than a hundred li away, he saw a group of White Apes fighting fiercely with a group of giant wolves.

Dozens of White Apes wielding huge clubs fought with the giant wolves, which stood over three zhang tall at the shoulder, for more than an hour before the fight ended, each group retreating back to its own territory.

Both sides had casualties; overall, the group of giant wolves was slightly stronger.

Xu Feng was curious and followed the group of White Apes to a cluster of buildings constructed from giant stones.

It was only then that the group of White Apes noticed Xu Feng's presence.

"Roar! Roar Roar!"

All the White Apes roared in the direction of Xu Feng.

From the sound of it, Xu Feng knew they were signaling him to leave.

"If you continue fighting like this, you'll never defeat that group of giant wolves." Xu Feng's voice echoed above the group of White Apes.

The first time he came to the Mountain and Sea Divine Beast World, Xu Feng knew that all the spiritual beasts, immortal beasts, and divine beasts here could understand his intentions.

But the group of White Apes continued roaring, ignoring Xu Feng's words.

"Not very smart, are they~"

Watching the still roaring White Apes, Xu Feng pondered and said.

"Listen to me, I can help you defeat those giant wolves!"

Xu Feng's words boomed in the sky once again.

This time, the roaring White Apes stopped, their eyes filled with puzzlement.

At this moment, an old White Ape, hunched over and leaning on a cane, walked out from the largest stone house.

"#%#@..."

The old White Ape shouted towards the sky.

Although he couldn't understand the words, Xu Feng understood the meaning.

"Defeating the giant wolves is simple; all you need to do is help me collect spiritual medicines daily to feed my spiritual beasts."

Hearing Xu Feng's words, the old White Ape pondered for a moment and then nodded.

Seeing this scene, Xu Feng felt as if he had discovered a new continent.

Previously, within ten thousand li, only a few beings could communicate, but they were all indifferent towards him.

Now, this old White Ape was even willing to set aside its instinctive rejection to converse with him.

After the deal was struck, Xu Feng immediately taught them a simple battle formation.

He also had them sharpen one end of their massive clubs and make additional long spears for throwing.

Xu Feng observed that the strength of these White Apes was generally at the Golden Core Stage, with even the strongest barely entering the Nascent Soul Stage.

With such power levels, he believed he could still manage them effectively.

As long as these White Apes dared to betray, he could quickly evacuate with the Golden Armored Spirit Turtle to a safe place.

After teaching the old White Ape, Xu Feng left the Mountain and Sea Divine Beast World.

The time outside was nearing noon; Xu Feng had a bite to eat and then entered the Alchemy Room.

"I feel like someone as meticulous as me must have a talent for alchemy," Xu Feng said as he rubbed his hands looking at the pile of Spiritual Medicine in front of him.

In the Immortal Realm, those skilled in Alchemy, Artifact Refining, Arrays, and talisman are in high demand. With just a bit of skill and finding a power to join, one could live without worries.

As a child, Xu Feng had told his parents that he wanted to try Alchemy and Artifact Refining, but it only elicited a bitter smile from them before they decisively refused him.

Clean the herbs, dry them, refine, and pre-process,

All these steps went very smoothly.

Xu Feng confidently stuffed a Middle Grade Spirit Stone into the Alchemy Furnace.

A burst of Spiritual Fire suddenly ignited in the furnace, and Xu Feng hurriedly controlled the intensity of the Spiritual Fire with his Divine Thought.

"Fasting Pill, first add ten-year-old rehmannia, then wait three breaths and add five-year Spirit Ginseng."

While following the steps, Xu Feng carefully controlled the size of the Spiritual Fire, while also using a bit of his Divine Thought to slightly adjust the Array inside the furnace affecting the herbs.

"It doesn't seem too hard~"

No sooner had this thought surfaced than there was a muffled noise from inside the furnace.

This signaled chaos in the medicinal strength inside, leading to the furnace's collapse.

Opening the pill furnace, the inner wall was covered with a layer of black sludge.

"Ah, not even a genius could succeed in their first attempt at alchemy; let's continue."

Xu Feng estimated the loss of this one batch to be about 15 Spirit Stones - an amount he could still afford.

After cleaning the pill furnace, Xu Feng analyzed the causes of the failed attempt.

"It must have been when I added the Spirit Grass; the temperature inside shouldn't have been raised to the standard."

Before starting the second batch, Feng carefully reviewed the entire process of refining the Fasting Pill, memorizing it perfectly.

After calming his mind and spirit, he began organizing the herbs for the second batch.

The process was incredibly smooth until he opened the pill furnace, and a quarter hour later, there was another muffled sound.

He was still stuck at the same stage as the first batch.

"Everything was in place, so why did the furnace still explode?"

After pondering, Xu Feng realized that the earlier rehmannia was to blame.

"Not thorough enough, let's try again!"

Xu Feng's eyes were resolute, his mind focused on successfully refining this batch of pills.

In the following days, Xu Feng persisted with refining the Fasting Pill.

Until the one hundred thirty-second batch, the Alchemy Furnace finally couldn't bear the strain and a crack formed on its surface.

"My Alchemy Furnace!!"

Xu Feng was like a gamer obsessively drawing cards.

"Patience, alchemy isn't an overnight affair, master one art and all arts follow, take it slow." Xu Feng consoled himself.

Just then, the Communication Magic Artifact suddenly rang.

Xu Feng checked it and his expression changed slightly.

"A summoning order, has it already become this chaotic outside?"

In the biggest Daoist Field of the Outer Sect, over fifty thousand Outer Disciples gathered.

"Recently, the Sect's outer mines have often been harassed by Outer Disciples of the Xuanyin Sect."

"Now, we need to dispatch thirty thousand disciples to guard these veins and prevent incursions by Xuanyin Sect disciples."

On the high platform, the Outer Sect Elder spoke of the importance of these veins to the Sect.

Below, some clear-minded disciples were fearful, but even more were excited.

This marked the beginning of a confrontation between Immortal Sects, with the fighting among Outer Disciples just the prelude to the larger battle.

According to the tacit understanding between the Immortal Sects, once disciples guarding the veins were in place, the opposite side would also send an equal level of Outer Disciples over.