Qing Lin Has Grown a Lot; Heading to the Chuyun Empire

The Snake-People Race lacked alchemists, medicinal ingredients, pills—everything!

Alchemists were naturally rare talents, one in ten thousand. They could not be cultivated by force.

And the Snake-People Race's constitution was generally unsuited for becoming alchemists; only a very small number met the requirements.

At present, the entire Snake-People Race had only a handful of second- and third-rank alchemists. Not a single Fourth-Rank Alchemist existed.

Alchemists needed vast quantities of medicinal ingredients to gain experience. Other than continuously refining pills, there were no shortcuts whatsoever.

But the Snake-People Race had few medicinal ingredients and could not purchase them in human cities. Naturally, they lacked enough ingredients to support their alchemists in improving their skills.

With insufficiently skilled alchemists and too few ingredients, there was also a shortage of pills.

Whether for humans or magical beasts, having pills and not having them were two completely different states.

Many times, when cultivation encountered a bottleneck, a single pill could solve it.

Humans had enough alchemists and medicinal ingredients.

But the Snake-People Race did not.

Thus, when many snake-people encountered bottlenecks, they could only break through on their own and had no way to rely on pills.

But things were different now.

Ning Su had traded for a large batch of high-grade medicinal ingredients from the Mitel Auction House, enough to refine many high-grade pills.

Over the past few days, he had devoted himself wholeheartedly to alchemy, refining many pills that could promote breakthroughs.

Then, he distributed those pills to the people who needed them.

In just a few days, the Snake-People Race gained many more Da Dou Shi and Dou Ling.

Cultivators of that level could be considered the backbone of the race. They were very important.

Of course, Ning Su had not forgotten to bring two pills to Qing Lin.

"Qing Lin, come here."

Qing Lin immediately came over before asking, "What is it, Young Master?"

"Didn't you recently reach the bottleneck at the peak of Dou Shi? This pill can help you break through to Da Dou Shi." Ning Su held a pill out before her.

"This... is for me?"

The girl was a little surprised.

In her understanding, pills were incredibly, incredibly precious.

Moreover, whether in Stone Desert City or among the Snake-People Race, pills were exceedingly scarce.

"Yes. I specially refined this for you, so you are not allowed to refuse."

Ning Su had anticipated what Qing Lin would say.

With this girl's personality, she would definitely try to refuse it.

Qing Lin's words were immediately stuck in her throat.

She could only obediently accept the pill.

"That's more like it. I'm going on a long journey later. When I return, I want to see that you've broken through to Da Dou Shi," Ning Su said.

"Mm, I definitely won't disappoint you, Young Master!" Qing Lin nodded heavily.

"But, Young Master, how long will you be gone this time?"

"This time may take quite a while. I need to go to the Chuyun Empire to find Crane Bamboo. At the very least, it will take more than ten days, perhaps even a month." Ning Su could not be certain either.

"So long..."

The girl was reluctant to part with him.

"I want to go with you too..."

"Not yet. Your cultivation is too low. Once you break through, I can take you out with me next time." Ning Su reached out and stroked her silky hair, as though comforting a child.

Qing Lin greatly enjoyed his touch.

Suddenly, she gathered her courage, stepped forward, and wrapped her petite body around Ning Su.

"Young Master, I'll wait obediently for you to come back."

The girl carried a faint, delicate fragrance, pure and elegant.

The soft warmth before him pressed against Ning Su's chest.

This girl... seemed to have grown quite a bit again.

She was developing so quickly.

Ning Su wrapped an arm around her slender waist, gently inhaling the girl's fragrance and feeling her presence.

"Mm. When I come back, I'll bring you a gift."

To refine the Spirit Fusion Pill, he was now only missing the final medicinal ingredient—Crane Bamboo.

It was an extremely poisonous medicinal ingredient.

The Jia Ma Empire currently had no such medicinal herb. She could only try looking for it in the Chuyun Empire.

After all, that place produced poisonous herbs in abundance, so the chances were better.

Ning Su set off alone for the Chuyun Empire.

Mo City.

After retrieving Ya Fei, Hai Bodong and the others left the Tagor Desert without delay.

Only after returning here did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Ya Fei, during the time you were with the Snake-People Race, they didn't do anything to you, did they?" Hai Bodong asked.

Ya Fei shook her head.

Aside from being discussed by some of the snake-people, she had not encountered any trouble.

None of the things she had kept anxiously imagining had happened either.

"What exactly happened? Weren't you conducting a transaction with the Fengxing Auction House? How did you end up being captured by the Snake-People Race?"

Ya Fei recounted the entire course of events in detail.

This included the Fengxing Auction House going back on its word, as well as how Ning Su and the others had intervened at the end to keep her alive.

"So, the Fengxing Auction House people attacked first and killed the others, then the Snake-People Race stepped in and saved you?" Hai Bodong could hardly believe it.

The Snake-People Race actually saved people?

"More precisely, the Snake-People Race had gone there for the medicinal herbs too. They merely saved me in passing."

Now that she was safe, Ya Fei calmed down and sorted through her thoughts, realizing that it really did seem to be Ning Su who had saved her.

"But they didn't save you for nothing. They also took a huge batch of medicinal herbs from us." Hai Bodong's heart ached terribly.

That batch of medicinal herbs was worth a whole month's business for their auction house!

"It's good enough that you're unharmed. We didn't lose too much. Let's hurry back."

"Mm."

Ya Fei took one last deep look toward the depths of the desert...

Chuyun Empire.

This was a nation famed for its Poison Masters.

Most cultivators here knew a thing or two about poison arts.

However, because they favored such underhanded methods and often poisoned their opponents in battle, the Chuyun Empire did not have a very good reputation.

Many people were repulsed by them.

In a small town on the border of the Chuyun Empire, close to the Snake-People Race's territory.

Quite a few mercenaries gathered in groups of two or three, either bragging, sharing intelligence, or casually chatting up women.

"I heard the Snake-People Race has grown much stronger lately. That Queen Medusa successfully evolved into a Dou Zong."

"Really?"

"Of course it's true. Even the Jia Ma Empire is on guard now. A war could break out at any time."

"Eh, that has nothing to do with us. It wouldn't matter even if the Snake-People Race wiped out the Jia Ma Empire."

"That's true."

The Chuyun Empire and the Jia Ma Empire were bitter enemies.

If the Jia Ma Empire were destroyed by the Snake-People Race, they would be overjoyed.

Nearby, a mysterious figure completely shrouded in a black robe slightly turned her head as she listened to their discussion.

"The Jia Ma Empire, the Snake-People Race..."

Hearing these two familiar names, the black-robed figure extended a fair, jade-like hand from her sleeve, lifted the tea on the table, and took a sip. She then looked toward the Monster Mountain Range in the distance.

"I wonder if I can find Crane Bamboo here."

"There isn't much time left before the Calamity Poison Body erupts again. I have to hurry."

She murmured softly, left behind several silver coins, and headed toward the Monster Mountain Range...