Rumble...
Thunder rumbled, and the Might of Heaven and Earth made the entire Great River Market grow quiet.
The bustling scene of evasive lights filling the sky in the past was much sparser at this moment.
After all, no one dared to guarantee whether they would be unlucky enough to get struck by lightning if they flew in the sky.
That way, it was hard to tell whether it would count as undergoing a tribulation ahead of time.
The Great River Market covered an extremely large area, featuring one inner city guarded by a Tier 3 Great Formation, which was sufficient to defend against attacks from demon beasts below Tier 3.
Even if a Third-Order Demon Beast launched a sudden attack, it could usually hold out for a while, giving the people inside the city enough time to react.
Of course, operating and maintaining such a great formation on a daily basis required a tremendous amount of resources, which was why it only encompassed the inner city.
In contrast, the rogue cultivator settlement that radiated outward, with the inner city as its core, was not nearly as safe.
Thousands of wooden and stone houses stood scattered across the four directions of southeast, northwest.
Right beside a stream in the southwest corner, a wooden house consisting of a single bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen sat quietly, separated by nearly two miles from the nearest rogue cultivator dwelling.
It was quiet outside, but inside the kitchen, things were in full swing.
One catty of Chinese yam, sliced and added; two taels of white poria; three taels of one-year-old ginseng...
One catty of Tier 1 Demon Beast yellow beef, minced into fine meat, without a single speck of bone residue.
Add scallions, ginger, japonica rice, fennel...
The chanting voice came from a shirtless young man who stared intently at the pot, frequently and skillfully taking some materials from the wooden shelf beside him to add to the pot.
The ladle in his hand stirred and flipped with flying speed.
As a large pot of milky-white beef bone soup was poured in, Luo Chen could not help letting out a sigh of relief.
He poked at the firewood in the stove, pulled out a few logs from time to time, and then quietly waited for the finished product!
An hour later, the young man lifted the pot lid, looked at the thick concoction inside, and took a deep breath.
Look at this color, smooth, white, and bright—top grade!
Smell this aroma, rich without being burnt—top grade!
Luo Chen reached out a finger, poked a bit from the ladle, and popped it into his mouth.
He pressed his lips together!
Essence Full Spirit Manifestation; stimulated by the angelica sinensis and ginseng, the spiritual qi of those five catties of Tier 1 Demon Beast yellow beef has been evenly distributed into this grain avoidance powder.
Not bad, the flavor aspect is also mastered to perfection—top grade!
Licking his fingers, Luo Chen could not help revealing a satisfied smile.
According to his experience over this period, just this one pot of grain avoidance powder could at least roll into five bottles of grain avoidance pills.
It sounded somewhat laughable, but the truth was that Luo Chen was pill refining!
And he was making the grain avoidance pills most commonly used by the majority of cultivators, though it was only a low-configuration version that at best could only be called grain avoidance powder.
Without waiting for the temperature to drop, he lifted the pot and poured the contents onto the cutting board.
Luo Chen picked up a yellowed bamboo slip, poured the viscous paste onto it, added a few drops of hundred flowers fragrant honey, and then began to roll the bamboo slip.
Under the rolling of the bamboo slip, the piping-hot grain avoidance powder gradually turned cylindrical, and its color also grew slightly yellowish due to the blending of the hundred flowers fragrant honey.
His hand movements were extremely fast, pinching and breaking the cylindrical medicinal paste into round pills, each about the size of a thumb.
One, two, three...
When Luo Chen stopped working, the cutting board was already neatly lined with fifty grain avoidance pills.
Gazing at this result, Luo Chen had no time to celebrate before his attention shifted to the invisible panel in front of his eyes.
[Name: Luo Chen] [Lifespan: 27/75] [Spirit Root: Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth] [Realm: Third Layer of Qi Refining Stage: 75/100] [Cultivation Method: Evergreen Art Mastery: 235/300] [Spells: Cleanse Spell Novice 49/100, Entangling Spell Proficiency 176/200, Fireball Spell Mastery 268/300] [Skills: Tier 1 Alchemist: Grain Avoidance Powder Grandmaster 501/1000] [Achievement Points: 10 points (can be used for corresponding realm cultivation methods, spells, skill entries)]
Ten achievement points secured, I can use them to master All Wonders Pill!
Looking at this proficiency panel, Luo Chen felt a sudden wave of emotion.
He had been here for a year!
In his past life, he was merely a corporate drone who went out early and returned late, and whenever he had occasional leisure, he could only play little Xianxia leveling-up games on his mobile phone.
Because he had no money, such games relied entirely on grinding, grinding the cultivation method progress bar whenever he had nothing to do.
Who knows, unable to sleep one deep night while grinding a game dungeon, he transmigrated right as he farmed.
The original owner of this body was also named Luo Chen, and even shared the exact same age as him.
In his early years he entered the deep mountains, where he obtained a fortuitous encounter inside a cave and stumbled upon a cultivator's remains, stepping onto the ten-year path of cultivation from then on.
Following the map guidance within the remains, he arrived at this great river market, wanting to participate in the nearby sect's disciple recruitment.
Yet ten years ago he was already seventeen, having missed the sect's sixteen year age limit.
On top of that, he possessed a balanced five spirit roots physique comparable to a mortal without spirit roots, so no sect wanted him.
Logically speaking, he should have returned the way he came.
However, the original owner's heart of seeking the Dao was extremely firm. Relying on a bottle of pills, a scroll of the evergreen art, and a few spirit stones from the fortuitous encounter, he settled down right here in this great river market.
Early on, due to an empty purse, he could not even afford to live in the wooden houses near the inner city, and could only rent a place by the stream on the very outskirts.
Dwelling in the market is truly not easy.
Even for a house on the absolute outskirts, the rent required half a spirit stone a month.
Although he built the house himself, that half of a spirit stone still had to be handed over every month.
After spending his few spirit stones, the original owner did not just sit and wait for death.
Sometimes helping others mind stalls, sometimes joining others to hunt deep in the mountains, in short he managed to barely survive.
Later on, feeling this was no solution, he simply pondered the two pill recipes found within the remains.
The all wonders pill was somewhat difficult, so he could only begin researching from the lowest-grade grain avoidance powder.
One can only say that people with fortuitous encounters have good fortune to a greater or lesser degree.
After experiencing a few failures in the beginning, he successfully refined the grain avoidance powder.
Although the quality was ordinary, for some rogue cultivators who frequently went hunting in the mountains and stayed away for ten days or half a month at a time, there were always people willing to buy it.
From then on, the original owner barely managed to settle down in this great river market.
However, winds of heaven are unpredictable and human fortunes can change overnight.
Feeling that the grain avoidance powder was no longer enough to support his cultivation, the original owner set his sights on an incomplete pill recipe he had collected.
Then during his very first attempt at pill refining, the cauldron blew up!
The violent explosion even caused this wooden house to collapse at the time.
That was precisely when Luo Chen transmigrated over and took over this body.
Whenever he thought of his plight at the start of the transmigration, Luo Chen felt like crying without tears.
It was also raining heavily back then, and amid a pile of ruins he faced this world with a face covered in blood, bewildered and helpless.
Fortunately, however, everything was already in the past.
"A year has passed, and the grain avoidance powder has finally reached grandmaster level proficiency from the perfect grade, which will barely be enough to sustain daily life."
"The biggest harvest is that achievement points have accumulated to ten points, which can be used to achieve entry level for the all wonders pill!"
Luo Chen currently held a total of three pill recipes in his hands.
A tier 1 grain avoidance powder pill recipe, a tier 1 all wonders pill recipe, and an incomplete tier 2 pill recipe that the original owner had managed to acquire by sheer luck.
That pill recipe was called the jade dew pill. If refined successfully, one could obtain the tier 2 jade dew pill, which was of immense use for cultivators practicing water attribute cultivation methods.
Usually the selling price of a single bottle was as high as a mid-grade spirit stone!
With such a colossal profit, it was no wonder the original owner lost his head back then.
Perhaps believing in his own luck, perhaps given confidence by the easy entry into grain avoidance powder, or perhaps driven to take a desperate gamble by the harsh reality of poverty.
In any case, he bravely charged right into it.
The final result was that the cauldron blew up, the house collapsed, and the person was gone.
Now Luo Chen had also arrived at this fateful crossroads.
Depending solely on grain avoidance powder could only keep him alive; wanting to cultivate was definitely not enough.
To have resources for cultivation, besides grain avoidance powder, he had to open up another financial path.
His target was not on the jade dew pill at all, and ten achievement points were not enough to gain entry level for refining a tier 2 pill.
Therefore, upon discovering the achievement point function on his proficiency panel, he had already made up his mind.
"The all wonders pill must be refined!"
"It has to be refined!"
"Even if I lose my reputation!"
Before you continue