Damn Monopoly Dogs

Dressed in black from head to toe, with a black gauze mask over his face, Luo Chen stepped through the courtyard gate and cautiously glanced behind him.

The dim, quiet alley was utterly silent.

Luo Chen moved behind the door and stood there in silence for a while longer.

"No one followed me."

Once Luo Chen confirmed that no one had followed him home, he could not help letting out a sigh of relief.

Low-level cultivators actually had few concealment methods, and their tracking methods were even more pitifully scarce. They often had to rely on talismans and Magic Tools.

Therefore, as long as one was careful, it was quite easy to tell whether someone was following them.

Since the Great River Gang had already taken notice of him, Luo Chen resolved that he would have to be careful whenever he came and went from now on—careful, and then even more careful.

The moment he turned around, Luo Chen suddenly went rigid from head to toe, every hair on his body standing on end.

In the corner by the wall, a white-clad figure with waist-length hair stood there quietly with her back to him.

Luo Chen swallowed. It can't be a ghost, can it?!

But he quickly relaxed.

It was a person!

"Why hasn't it sprouted after two months?"

The woman in white seemed to be talking to herself.

"Could it be that the herb gatherer sold me fake Ziyang Flower seeds?"

"Ahem, ahem."

A cough sounded from the gate, and the woman turned around.

"Fellow Daoist Luo Chen?"

"Fellow Daoist Fu Xiu Xiu?"

"Mm."

So she was the neighbor from the East Wing!

Luo Chen walked over to her side and asked curiously, "What are you doing?"

Fu Xiu Xiu said troubledly, "I spent one Spirit Stone on these Ziyang Flower seeds and planted them two months ago. When I came home this time, I thought I would see seedlings, but there's nothing at all."

Following her gaze, Luo Chen eyed the patch of ground in the corner suspiciously.

Wasn't this where he usually practiced the Fireball Spell and Entangling Spell?

Seeds?

He had even replaced the dirt and stones dozens of times!

With a dry laugh, Luo Chen said stiffly, "Maybe they aren't acclimated to the soil and water here."

Fu Xiu Xiu sighed and could only nod helplessly.

"The Yin Qi here is a little heavy. Several flowers and plants I planted haven't been growing well. And since I'm often away from home, they're practically dying."

Luo Chen blinked. "Is that so?"

"That should be the reason. Usually, they ought to be taken out to get more sunlight." Fu Xiu Xiu sounded helpless.

After skipping over that topic, she curiously examined Luo Chen's attire.

"What were you doing dressed like that, fellow Daoist Luo?"

"Just call me Little Luo! I wasn't doing anything in these clothes. I'm simply used to wearing black."

Luo Chen still felt a little uncomfortable being addressed as "Fellow Daoist" every other sentence by a Qi Refining Ninth Layer cultivator.

Seeing that Luo Chen did not wish to say more, Fu Xiu Xiu did not press him.

She looked at the night sky and extended an invitation to Luo Chen.

"I rarely come back, so I'm planning to invite the neighbors over for a meal. Little Luo, would you like to come?"

Someone was inviting him to dinner? There was such a good thing?

Then Luo Chen would certainly not shirk his duty!

Sitting on the child-sized swing in the courtyard, Luo Chen had changed into another set of clothes. As he waited for Fu Xiu Xiu to prepare dinner, he began calculating his plans for what came next.

Raw materials that had cost four hundred Spirit Stones were the biggest investment he had ever made!

This time, failure was not an option.

So before refining pills, he had to consider every aspect thoroughly.

First was the new Pill Refining tool—the Purple Cloud Copper Furnace.

There was bound to be a huge difference between refining pills with a Spirit Iron Pot and refining them with a Magic Tool Alchemy Furnace.

He first had to familiarize himself with the Magic Tool that was the Purple Cloud Copper Furnace, lest he make a mistake during refinement and fail to remedy it in time.

Second was the processing of some raw materials.

He could no longer use his old methods.

The Spirit Iron Pot was small and could not withstand high temperatures, so he could only refine pills with slightly weaker fire. With weaker fire, the process would inevitably take longer.

During such lengthy refinement, the handling of medicinal herbs also had to lean toward caution.

But the Purple Cloud Copper Furnace did not have such concerns. Its Magic Tool grade was enough to withstand scorching temperatures.

That being the case, he could be much bolder in how he handled those raw materials.

Lastly, there was the construction of a pill-refining room.

Yes, Luo Chen planned to partition off a pill-refining room in the Rear Room he rented.

The Purple Cloud Copper Furnace took up a huge amount of space. When burning firewood, it also needed a dedicated fire pit, with heat-insulating bricks laid beneath it to prevent the heat from escaping.

The surrounding walls would preferably be made primarily of Cloud Sand Brick, which had good ventilation.

Otherwise, if medicinal fumes leaked out, it was entirely possible for him to be poisoned unconscious inside.

Thinking over one matter after another, Luo Chen's head began to ache.

He was going to be busy for a while!

"Hey!"

A petite figure suddenly jumped in front of him.

Luo Chen greeted her helplessly. "Miss Xiao Ling, you're off work?"

Wasn't that nonsense? She was already standing right in front of him.

But in reality, greetings were often like this.

When someone was eating, you said, "Eating?"

When someone was getting off work, you said, "Off work?"

The worst was running into a friend in a public toilet, only for them to say, "Taking a dump?"

What nonsense. Why else would someone squat over a toilet if not to take a dump?

Naturally, Bai Mei Ling could not imagine that Luo Chen's thoughts had leapt to so much random nonsense. She held out a pale, tender hand.

"What?" Luo Chen asked strangely.

"Where are the pills you refined? Let me see whether they're demonic pills!"

"You sure are meddlesome!"

Bai Mei Ling put both hands on her hips. "As your Qi Refining Seventh Layer neighbor, can't I keep an eye on you?"

Damn it, what he hated most in this life was people using their cultivation realm to crush others!

Luo Chen took a deep breath and shamelessly produced a pill.

Bai Mei Ling accepted it curiously. "A Grain Avoidance Pill? No, it's Grain Avoidance Powder. The grade is decent, though—it's already high-grade."

She studied Luo Chen for a while, then could not help nodding.

"You're a stuffy little gourd, kid, but it looks like you're pretty capable. What a pity. If you had the Pill Recipe for Grain Avoidance Pills and got a little practice, you could make a living from it."

Luo Chen had originally planned to brush this woman off and leave it at that.

But the moment he heard her say that, his interest was instantly piqued.

He had always known that the Grain Avoidance Pills he refined were actually just Grain Avoidance Powder.

Otherwise, why could five bottles of Grain Avoidance Powder—fifty pills in total—sell for only one Low-Grade Spirit Stone?

Proper Grain Avoidance Pills were Tier 1 Pills no less valuable than Qi Nourishing Pills.

A bottle of ten sold for a hundred Spirit Stones. That was truly a business with a hundredfold profit!

If he could refine genuine Grain Avoidance Pills, would he not be rich?

"Do you have the Pill Recipe for Grain Avoidance Pills?"

Faced with Luo Chen's eager, knowledge-thirsty gaze, Bai Mei Ling spread her hands.

"Of course I don't! Recipes like that are all controlled by the great sects. How could I possibly have one?"

Luo Chen rolled his eyes. Then why bring it up?

He was not particularly disappointed.

Or rather, he had never held much hope for Pill Recipes for mainstream pills.

Not only in Great River Market, but throughout the Jade Cauldron Domain and the Six Regions of the far east, Pill Recipes for mainstream pills were tightly controlled.

If even the slightest leak occurred, sect cultivators would use every possible means to reclaim them.

They would buy them, seize them by force, or recruit Pill Refiners who could refine mainstream pills.

Luo Chen's assessment of this was, "Damn monopoly dogs. May they die a miserable death!"

He could actually understand the sects' approach.

Resources in this world were extremely abundant. Whether in the lands inhabited by humans or the desolate mountains and vast marshes where demon beasts lived, there were countless Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

When raw materials could not be restricted, controlling Pill Recipes became the best method.

That way, mainstream pills could only be refined, distributed, and sold by sects.

Thus, the great sects could ensure that their profits far exceeded those of Cultivation Families and independent cultivators.

If not for that, how could the great sects offer such generous benefits, casually giving disciples Magic Tools, Daoist robes, and even precious Storage Bags for free?

"Xiao Ling, Little Luo, dinner's ready."

A gentle voice drifted over. Luo Chen hurried into the East Wing, which was Fu Xiu Xiu's home.

Bai Mei Ling followed behind him as well, but after taking two steps, she felt that something was off.

"A Fire Hound Whip can be used to refine Grain Avoidance Powder too?"