Nether Bone Vine, a rare, supremely yin spirit elixir.
Its form resembles bone!
Even Yin Realm martial artists who cultivate yin skills dare not absorb and refine it directly.
As one of the auxiliary ingredients for the Breaking Forbidden Elixir, it is truly priceless!
Xu Yang never dreamed his luck would be this good.
The Breaking Forbidden Elixir requires three main ingredients and seven auxiliary ones!
"This is fantastic."
Overjoyed, Xu Yang hurried over.
The dog struck the bone vine and instantly shivered from the cold.
Seeing this, a smile flickered on Xu Yang’s lips: "Dog, this thing’s no joke. You can’t eat it for now. Give it to me, and I owe you a pile of pills."
He gestured what "a pile of pills" looked like. The dog immediately barked excitedly and completely lost all interest in the vine.
With its current strength, it wouldn’t dare eat this thing anyway.
It’d burst itself open and die.
Xu Yang pulled out the Nether Bone Vine. His palm turned icy; yin qi shot right up his arm.
He quickly put it away into his storage ring, and his hand took a long while to warm up again.
This unexpected harvest left him completely satisfied!
"This place is pretty secluded."
Xu Yang scanned his surroundings, deciding to cultivate here for a while.
"Barbarian army... and the barbarian princess..."
It was only now that he calmed down to consider the information he learned earlier.
He had clearly missed the real rescue team sent by the Barbarians.
But maybe, that wasn’t such a bad thing!
"The contract only has my name as Zheng Yang, but they’ve never seen my face. No one recognizes me."
"If I arrive at the Barbarian Race through the Barbaric Mountain Range and settle down somewhere, relying on my identity as an alchemist, no one will ignore me."
Even among the Barbarians, he’d be granted high status.
That’s hundreds of times better than marrying into the Barbarian royal family!
Xu Yang had some confidence in his pill-refining skills.
"And there’s information about my mother!"
Xu Yang’s gaze turned cold. In just a few words, Su Yun had revealed shocking secrets.
The former number one overlord of the Northern Territory—destroyed by Zheng Xuan!
His mother passed away right after giving birth to him.
Zheng Xuan ascended the throne!
No one in the Prince’s Residence knew what had truly happened.
If there weren’t secrets behind this, he’d never believe it!
"Zheng Xuan, you’d better hope you didn’t do evil back then!" Xu Yang clenched his fists and buried his endless hatred deep inside.
For all these things, he could only rely on Su Yun and the Celestial Travelers’ Commerce Association!
Hopefully, everything would go smoothly!
A thought flashed by. Xu Yang took a deep breath and sat cross-legged.
"Dog."
Xu Yang called over the treasure hunting beast.
The dog bounced twice merrily in front of him, wagging with joy.
"Dog, go out and find some spirit elixirs for me. When you get back, I’ll make you some pills."
Woof woof~~
The dog barked twice excitedly and dashed off in high spirits.
He wasn’t worried about anything happening.
With the dog’s strength, speed, and heaven-defying senses, it could escape any danger it encountered.
Alchemy requires spirit elixirs.
Letting the dog search for them was almost too convenient.
As he watched the dog disappear from sight, Xu Yang summoned the Celestial Refining Divine Tripod, absorbing the spiritual qi of Heaven and Earth.
Though spiritual qi refined from Heaven and Earth wasn’t as potent as true treasures, lacking resources, this clumsy method was all he could count on for now.
Still, it was much faster than if an ordinary martial artist absorbed spiritual qi on their own to cultivate.
Absorbing while cultivating at the same time.
Three days passed.
Xu Yang had completely recovered.
His late-stage Innate cultivation was now utterly solid.
"Most of the spirit elixirs the dog brings back are second-tier."
"Hopefully next time it’ll find some third-tier ones!"
For a Late Stage of Innate cultivator, in terms of combat strength, he could rival a True Void Realm expert without any exaggeration!
He wanted to try refining third-tier pills.
With the Celestial Refining Divine Tripod’s help, he felt there shouldn’t be much of a problem.
A third-tier alchemist would be considered mid-tier even among the great powers.
After all, a True Void Realm martial artist is far from weak and already a backbone; if one can refine third-tier pills, their treatment and status anywhere will rise dramatically.
"It’s time to refine the Locust Demon Crystal."
After boosting his spiritual power, refining third-tier pills would be even simpler.
Once he’d refined it, he’d be ready to set out.
Taking out the Locust Demon Crystal, Xu Yang grew solemn and pressed it to his brow.
Buzz!!
A bone-piercing chill made Xu Yang shudder involuntarily.
Soon, streams of icy gas surged into his soul.
Xu Yang felt as if his ethereal soul was wrapped in a cold, foggy mist.
His whole body’s temperature seemed to be draining away.
Just an illusion!
Fighting through the discomfort, Xu Yang forced himself to concentrate, controlling his spiritual power to gradually devour the crystal’s energy.
A full two days.
He finally absorbed all the energy inside the crystal.
The most obvious change was his senses sharpened, nearly doubling in strength.
With a thought, he summoned the Celestial Refining Divine Tripod.
His spiritual power taking control, the Divine Tripod hovered in mid-air.
Xu Yang’s eyes narrowed.
Swish!
The Divine Tripod shot forth like a bolt of black lightning, slamming straight into the mountainside.
Boom!
The cliff quaked, leaving a massive crater, cracks webbing everywhere around it.
Xu Yang’s eyes sparkled: "What power! If my spiritual strength had been at this level before, I could have seriously wounded that barbarian with a single strike!"
Controlling the Divine Tripod like this wasn’t particularly profound—just a brute-force impact!
Such performance was beyond his expectations.
But that was due to the Divine Tripod’s unique recognizing-master bond.
Otherwise, with his current cultivation and spiritual power, there’s no way he could control objects out of thin air.
Swish!
A yellow blur flashed in the distance.
"Dog!"
A grin broke out on Xu Yang’s face.
The dog trotted up and spat out a pile of colorful spirit elixirs, then looked at Xu Yang, awaiting praise.
"Good dog!"
Xu Yang praised it, and after a quick check, his face lit up: "You’re in for a treat."
He’d gathered enough for a batch of third-tier pills.
The dog gazed up at Xu Yang, puzzled.
Xu Yang grinned and wasted no time getting to work.
Third-tier pill: Jade Cloud Elixir—used for healing wounds.
Having previously made near-third-tier Blast Spirit Elixirs, with improved spiritual power, Xu Yang brimmed with confidence.
In just a few breaths’ time,
a furnace of five perfect Jade Cloud Elixirs emerged, pill patterns etched—each of supreme quality!
Xu Yang felt he could even refine two more batches!
The rich medicinal aroma made the dog race back and forth beside the Divine Tripod, its eyes ablaze with hunger and excitement.
When Xu Yang handed one over, it could no longer resist and wolfed it down immediately.
Rolling on the ground with delight, utterly content.
Xu Yang couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, his face softening into a smile.
Such a simple-minded dog!
When the dog finished frolicking, Xu Yang rubbed its head. Pinching a Jade Cloud Elixir between his fingers, he still didn’t hand it over.
"Dog, I’m about to leave. I’m leaving these mountains."
"You won’t get any more pills if you stay here."
Saying this, Xu Yang dangled the pill, then swiftly clasped it out of sight, shaking his head at the dog.
The dog understood.
No more pills.
It jumped up anxiously, pawing at Xu Yang.
As if saying: You promised me!
The dog’s reaction made Xu Yang inwardly chuckle, ’Got it!’
"Unless you come with me."
"Then there will be endless pills to eat!"
Xu Yang made his offer, flashed a grin, and stood, walking away along the canyon path.
The dog stood there in a daze, blankly watching Xu Yang’s departing figure.
In its mind, it didn’t seem to understand what ’come along’ or ’leave these mountains’ meant.
Xu Yang didn’t look back, acting indifferent, walking farther and farther away.