Chapter Twenty-One Business

  After a night of cultivation, Yuan Futong's divine sense finally recovered. Due to withstanding enormous pressure, Yuan Futong's divine sense was more resilient than before entering the Fire Jade, and it was easier to command. Normally, it would take a long time to cultivate to achieve this effect, which could be considered a gain. After carefully examining his body, he didn't find any other changes, so Yuan Futong put his mind at ease.

  This attempt finally allowed Yuan Fugong to gain some understanding of Huoyu. His divine sense felt that the flame world should be the outer periphery of Huoyu, and the yellow world he sensed last time seemed to be a higher level of flame. From this feeling, the flames on the outskirts of Huoyu should be a kind of flame at the level of terrestrial fire, as the temperature and shape are very similar to those recorded in the "Liu Yun Dan Fang". The flames here, even if they are not terrestrial fire, should not be inferior to terrestrial fire. His divine sense is still unable to mobilize, probably related to his cultivation. According to the records of "Liu Yun Dan Fang", the minimum cultivation standard for controlling terrestrial fire is nine layers of Qi Gong. He believes that if he can reach the ninth layer of Qi Gong, he will definitely be able to guide out this flame, and then he can try to refine the foundation-building elixir. His cultivation speed will have a more reliable guarantee.

  Yuan Futong withdrew his thoughts and put away the Yiqi Dan he had refined yesterday, then went downstairs.

  Jiang Xiaotie had already swept the store clean and saw Yuan Futong coming down, so he came over to greet him. Yuan Futong handed over the Yiqi Dan to him, put everything in order, and was about to return upstairs to continue his cultivation. Just then, two people entered the store. Yuan Futong took a look and it was Feng Tao from yesterday. Behind Feng Tao was a smaller woman wearing green clothes and a veil, so her face couldn't be seen. However, her figure was slender and delicate, and she should be quite pretty.

  Feng Tao walked in and saw Yuan Futong. His face lit up with joy, and he said: "Brother Yuan, I've brought some business for you."

  "So it's Brother Feng, but who is this?"

  "Hehe, I'm here to introduce you. This is my good friend Hu Xinxianzi. She's come to see if you have the dan medicine she needs." Feng Tao pointed to the woman beside him and introduced her to Yuan Fugong, then pointed at Yuan Fugong and said: "This is the alchemy genius I told you about, the owner of Baizhitang, Yuan Fugong."

  Yuan Futong cupped his hands in greeting to Hu Xin: "I've met the immortal Hu before, I don't know what kind of medicinal pill the immortal wants."

  Hu Xin slightly returned the courtesy: "Young Master Yuan, hello. I don't know if you have any Xuan Shui Dan here?"

  Hu Xin's voice sounds very gentle, but it doesn't have the charm of that woman Yuan Futong met in Nanhuafang Market before. It gives people a very comfortable feeling.

  "Xuan Shui Dan, isn't Xian Zi cultivating water-based skills?" Yuan Fu Tong asked.

  "Exactly, since Master Yuan is so familiar with this elixir, it's likely that there's some here?" Hu Xin's voice was somewhat urgent, and Feng Tao's face also showed delight.

  "Sorry, Hu Xianzi. Although I can refine it, this elixir is a special one used for the Water System's Gongfa to condense the Xuan water. Not many people use this normally, and I didn't prepare for it either. Many of the materials are not available, so..."

  "You can refine it then." Feng Tao indeed took over the conversation.

  "Yesterday you said that guests can provide the medicine materials and you will be responsible for refining them, is it true?"

  "Of course I did. What was I supposed to do?"

  "Haha, that's good. I went to other places, they either didn't have dan medicine or only sold finished products at a price that was unaffordable." Feng Tao's words were cut off again as Hu Xin coughed beside him. Feng Tao heard the cough and quickly stopped talking. Hu Xin spoke up, "I don't know how Young Master Yuan is helping with the refining process? How much does it cost?"

  "Oh, is that so. If refinement fails."

  "We absolutely won't blame you." Hu Xin said resolutely.

  "That's good, if the refining is successful, I have two plans. One is to collect the elixir. After collecting the elixir, we will split it 50/50. The second method is to collect spiritual stones, one elixir for 150 spiritual stones."

  Feng Tao and Hu Xin exchanged a glance, thinking for a moment. Finally, Hu Xin spoke up: "We choose the first one."

  "Alright, it's settled then. Are your medicinal herbs ready?"

  "It's all here." Hu Xin took out a Qiankun bag and handed it over to Yuan Futong.

  Yuan Futong glanced into the Qiankun bag, "En, the main ingredient Blue Ice Grass is enough. The auxiliary ingredients are almost enough too. Can refine about thirty-six Xuan Water Pills. Do you two need it urgently now?"

  "Of course, the sooner the better." Feng Tao added. Hu Xin did not object and nodded to Yuan Fu Tong.

  "Alright, I'll go and light the furnace now. It's expected to be ready by noon. Please wait in my shop for a while, Xiao Tie, take them to the inner room to wait."

  "Yes." Jiang Xiaotie led the two into the inner chamber to serve tea. Yuan Futong went upstairs to start refining the elixir.

  Xuanshui Dan is a relatively rare type of dan medicine. The method and formula for refining it are recorded in the Liuyun Dan Fang. Feng Tao and his group brought back roughly the right medicinal materials, but they clearly didn't know the detailed proportions inside. They gave too many auxiliary ingredients, including two that were unnecessary. Yuan Futong also didn't tell them to take out all of the blue ice grass and its matching auxiliary ingredients from the Qiankun bag, and start refining Xuanshui Dan.

  After yesterday's tempering, Yuan Futong's spiritual consciousness indeed became much more agile. During the alchemy process, his control over the flame was even more precise. The greatest difficulty in refining the Xuan Shui Dan lies in grasping the fire timing. It is very difficult to purify the medicinal properties of the Blue Ice Grass; if the firepower is insufficient, it cannot extract the medicinal properties. If the firepower is too strong, it will easily destroy the medicinal properties of the Blue Ice Grass, and it will not be able to achieve the effect of assisting the water-based law. Although Yuan Futong was refining for the first time, his grasp of the fire timing was indeed very high, coupled with his powerful spiritual consciousness. This successful refinement yielded 40 Xuan Shui Dan, mostly mid-grade, with only four being low-grade.

  He put away the medicine, and Yuan Fu Tong also let out a sigh of relief. After all, it was his first time doing this kind of business, and if he failed, it wouldn't be good for his reputation. His way of making money was rare among low-level alchemists, because the prices of low-level medicines weren't very high, and most people could afford them. Collecting medicinal materials was also a lot of trouble. Only special medicines like the Xuan Shui Dan would someone come to him to refine.

  But when it comes to high-level alchemy, the prices of many elixirs are no longer affordable for ordinary cultivators. Foundation-building and Golden Elixir stage cultivators have plenty of time to collect medicinal materials, but many cultivators who have advanced in their cultivation will also learn and practice alchemy, yet without sufficient talent and practice, their alchemical skills cannot reach the high level required. When they need high-grade elixirs, they can only seek out true alchemy masters for help. It is at this time that this method of helping to refine elixirs becomes widespread.

  From now on, I will conduct transactions in this way. On the one hand, it gives myself more opportunities to practice, and on the other hand, it also accumulates some popularity in advance. The current self is a lonely loose cultivator, not even having a friend. Through this method, you can get to know more cultivators and weave your own network of relationships. As someone who has been through the world, he always believes in the saying "more friends, more paths".

  They arrived at the inner room downstairs. Feng Tao and Hu Xin were already somewhat anxious, especially Feng Tao, who couldn't sit still and was pacing back and forth in the room. Hu Xin was a bit better off, sitting quietly sipping tea, without showing any impatience, but constantly glancing at the door.

  When he saw Yuan Futong walk into the inner room, Feng Tao hurried over.

  "How was it? Was it successful?"

  "Fortunately, I didn't disappoint you, there are forty in total." Yuan Futong handed the Qiankun bag to Hu Xin who was walking over and also passed him a jade bottle.

  "This time there are thirty-six medium-grade and four low-grade. At the first transaction, I gave you twenty medium-grade ones."

  Hu Xin opened the jade bottle, poured out a grain and observed it for a moment before putting it back in the bottle. He nodded to Feng Tao.

  "Thank you, Brother Yuan! You've really helped us out this time." Feng Tao spoke up to express his gratitude.

  "Haha, just bring me some business next time and that'll be enough." Yuan Futong also replied with a smile.

  "Well, we'll be off then."

  Yuan Futong returned to the store after seeing off the two men.

  "Not bad at all, two big deals in just two days. Looks like my luck is really good." thought Yuan Futong.