Changes Over Three Years

Wang Hong swallowed a freshly refined Body Tempering Pill, then began circulating the Body Tempering Art. The pill's medicinal power transformed into strands of spiritual power, nourishing his sinews, flesh, and bones.

In terms of body tempering, the medicinal effect of one Body Tempering Pill was even stronger than taking two Qi Gathering Pills. It seemed the Body Tempering Art was about to break through again.

Wang Hong summoned Wen Lan and Luo Zhongjie. The cultivation technique the two of them practiced was Immortal Mortal Transformation, modified from the Body Tempering Art. The Body Tempering Pill should work for them as well.

He gave each of them a Body Tempering Pill and had them swallow it on the spot.

Using his Spiritual Sense, Wang Hong carefully observed as the spiritual power transformed from the pills circulated with their techniques and slowly spread into their muscles and bones, gradually improving their bodies.

By the time the two had fully absorbed and refined the medicinal power, five days had passed. This meant they could refine at most six Body Tempering Pills a month.

Wang Hong, meanwhile, needed only two hours to refine one pill and could refine at most two a day.

Yet the effect one Body Tempering Pill had on them was stronger than five Qi Gathering Pills.

Cultivating with Qi Gathering Pills wasted much of the medicinal power. The Body Tempering Pill's effects were slow, but they were all absorbed.

It seemed the overall path for those without spiritual roots—cultivating the physical body—was not wrong. The only issue was that the refining speed was a little slow.

They were merely in the initial stage of feeling their way across the river by the stones, and many aspects still needed improvement. After all, their group's cultivation and horizons were both far too low.

Before they left, he told them that this kind of pill could be exchanged for contribution points in the future, and that it was worth the equivalent of two Qi Gathering Pills.

The two men departed excitedly upon hearing the news.

Last time, Wang Hong had obtained a secret technique called Shifting Form and Changing Position from Cultivator Ding's storage bag.

His body tempering made him formidable in close combat, but cultivators usually fought from several zhang apart, bombarding each other with spells, magical artifacts, talismans, and the like.

If an enemy gave him no chance to get close, then no matter how powerful his body tempering was, he would only become a living target, utterly unable to display its advantages.

He still vividly remembered Cultivator Ding's ghostlike speed.

Shifting Form and Changing Position was divided into three levels. At the first level, one could instantly drift one to ten zhang, though others could still see the direction and traces of the body's movement, and it could easily be interrupted midway.

At the second level, one could instantly move ten to forty-nine zhang. Only an afterimage could be seen during movement, making the trajectory difficult to discern and rendering it even more unfathomable as gods and ghosts.

At the third level, one could instantly move over fifty zhang. As for the rest, the jade slip offered no detailed explanation.

Wang Hong decided to properly cultivate this secret art. Just the first level's ability already made him green with envy, much less the more miraculous, heaven-defying second and third levels.

He spent some time in the space first thoroughly pondering the first level's technique.

Wang Hong stood in his cultivation chamber and circulated Shifting Form and Changing Position. After a breath's time, his body finally drifted forward, stopping after moving just over five chi.

By then, Wang Hong's face had gone pale, and cold sweat poured all over his body. That single breath had drained every bit of spiritual power from him.

Wang Hong had not expected this secret technique to be so difficult in actual cultivation. Activating it took one breath; in battle, one breath was enough for someone else to chop him into minced meat.

He took out some spiritual wine and gulped down a large mouthful. Once his spiritual power recovered, he continued practicing.

Three days later, the activation time had shortened by nearly an instant, and the distance had increased by another inch.

Three months later, he finally recovered to the fifth level of Qi Refining, and his movement distance finally reached one zhang. However, activating the technique still required half a breath.

Six months later, he finally managed to activate it instantly and drift one zhang. Only then could the first level of his Shifting Form and Changing Position be considered an entry-level mastery.

Wang Hong left his cultivation chamber and once more visited the Elixir Pavilion under Wang Kun's identity, replenishing its stock with a batch of pills.

After leaving, he sensed someone following him. Wang Hong unhurriedly walked to a secluded spot and stopped.

"Fellow Daoist! Aren't you tired after following me for so long? If you have something to say, just say it."

A lean middle-aged man emerged from the alley behind him, with two thin wisps of mustache.

"Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist. I bear no ill intent. I wished to discuss a matter with you, which was why I resorted to such a measure."

The mustached man looked around, then continued, "This is not a place for conversation. I have prepared a little wine at the VIP Tower. How about you and I move there?"

After some consideration, Wang Hong agreed. Within Qingxu City, he was not afraid the other party would try any tricks.

Inside a private room at the VIP Tower, the mustached middle-aged man had already laid out a table full of food and wine.

Stir-fried Spirit Bamboo Shoots, Phoenix Tail Spirit Chicken stewed with century-old Ginseng, braised Ironclad Spirit Turtle...

This table of food and wine was worth at least one or two hundred Spirit Stones. Clearly, he had put considerable thought into it.

"My name is Qian Gui. Please be magnanimous regarding my earlier offense. I shall punish myself with a cup first." With that, he lifted a cup of spiritual wine and drained it in one gulp.

"My name is Wang Kun. What matter did Fellow Daoist invite me here for?" Though Wang Hong had already guessed part of it, he still asked.

"I run a small elixir shop. Although my ancestors left behind several mu of spiritual fields, they are slightly insufficient to supply a whole shop, and we often run out of stock. I wonder whether Fellow Daoist has any sources of goods?" Having spoken, he gazed at Wang Hong expectantly.

Since the matter had been laid bare, Wang Hong could not be bothered to keep beating around the bush. After pondering briefly, he said, "I do indeed have goods."

Qian Gui immediately revealed a delighted expression. He had not expected to convince the other party in a single attempt. To his surprise, Wang Hong admitted it so frankly.

Wang Hong took a light sip of spiritual wine, then added:

"However, I truly cannot make the decision myself. I still need to submit an application to the trading house."

Hearing this, Qian Gui did not feel disappointed. Anyone capable of supplying so many pills and spiritual herbs clearly could not belong to a minor force. Naturally, a Qi Refining cultivator could not make such decisions.

"May I ask how your trading house is called?"

"You do not need to know that for now. Our trading house has agents in every cultivator city, and I am merely the lowest-ranked among them. At present, I can only provide some first-grade spiritual items," Wang Hong said blandly.

Qian Gui was shocked. The information contained in Wang Hong's few simple sentences was immense.

Doing business in every city was something only a major force could accomplish.

Moreover, this organization could provide not only first-grade spiritual items, but likely spiritual items above the first grade as well.

Qian Gui suppressed the heat in his heart. "How can I obtain supplies from you?"

"I can submit an application to supply you. You may use Zhao Ning's Elixir Pavilion as a reference for the types of goods."

"Including Barrier Breaking Pills?" Qian Gui asked carefully.

"There are Barrier Breaking Pills as well, but the quantity will not be large. There may only be one per month."

Qian Gui's heart settled completely. One pill a month was already excellent. His elixir shop had never even sold a Barrier Breaking Pill before.

"However, the spiritual items we provide are all priced at a ten-percent markup. No bargaining," Wang Hong added.

Qian Gui considered it for only a moment before understanding. Their prices were slightly higher than ordinary suppliers, differing by half to one discount tier.

But as long as he had a sufficient supply of goods, he could still reap rich profits in the end.

As long as he could obtain one Barrier Breaking Pill every month, he could earn over a thousand more Spirit Stones than before.

Ten days later, Wang Hong provided Qian Gui with a batch of pills and spiritual herbs worth twenty thousand Spirit Stones, including the Barrier Breaking Pill Qian Gui had been yearning for.

He also promised to supply him over the long term, making Qian Gui so excited that his little mustache trembled wildly.

Wang Hong discovered that although his pill refinement success rate was high, he was still having some trouble keeping up with the supply.

Thus, he gave Zhang Chunfeng one thousand sets of Qi Gathering Pill ingredients and told him to practice alchemy, startling Zhang Chunfeng greatly. He had never seen anyone use so many ingredients for practice.

Wang Hong had no choice. Among his subordinates, only Zhang Chunfeng and Skinny Monkey had sufficient cultivation to refine pills. Skinny Monkey managed the Spiritual Wine Pavilion and was responsible for brewing wine.

He could only place this task on Zhang Chunfeng's shoulders. Although alchemy emphasized talent, with enough materials piled up, even one without talent could be piled into a master.

Over this period, the Spirit Bee Queen in his space had long since successfully hatched. It could communicate with him through their thoughts, and he could issue commands to it with his mind.

It had now bred over ten thousand spirit bees. However, the space was currently too small.

The various spiritual flowers he had transplanted from Hundred Flowers Valley had yet to bloom, while the Spirit Fruit trees he had planted were still only saplings, far from their flowering season.

At present, only some flowering spiritual herbs could provide spiritual flower honey, and the amount was limited. Once their number reached ten thousand, Wang Hong ordered the queen bee to stop laying eggs. That was the greatest number the space could currently sustain.

At this time, another batch of Spirit Gathering Grass in the space had matured. After another three months spent refining it into Qi Gathering Pills, he handed them to the Elixir Pavilion for sale. His success rate in refining Qi Gathering Pills had finally reached fifty percent.

During these months, the space expanded by over two more mu, reaching six mu. The flow of time had reached thirty-five times that of the outside world.

He took the time to change his appearance several times and collect second-grade spiritual herbs and Spirit Fruit from major shops, planting them in the space.

After finishing these matters, he changed his appearance again and found a team of mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators heading into Black Dragon Marsh for training, joining them.

Although he was still only at the fifth level of Qi Refining this time, compared to when he had first entered Black Dragon Marsh, his strength was as different as clouds and mud.

He had both offensive and defensive magical artifacts, his body tempering cultivation had advanced another level, and he had also mastered the first level of Shifting Form and Changing Position.

This training trip did not encounter any major trouble. In a little over a month, he familiarized himself with an area and harvested over a hundred spiritual herbs.

In this way, Wang Hong went to Black Dragon Marsh for training every few months. Over three years, aside from several extremely dangerous areas, he had nearly traversed every corner of Black Dragon Marsh.

Previously, he had trained in teams with others. Since breaking through to the seventh level of Qi Refining last year, along with his great advances in body tempering and other aspects of strength, he had begun acting alone.

The area of his space had now reached fifteen mu, and the rate of time flow had reached forty-four times that of the outside world.

Wang Hong sorted and organized the spiritual items in his space. The Spirit Fruit orchard occupied five mu in total. Three mu were first-grade Spirit Fruit, which had already been harvested several times. He distributed some to his subordinate soldiers for consumption, while the rest was brewed into high-grade first-grade spiritual wine.

The Spiritual Wine Pavilion now sold a fixed amount of one hundred jin of high-grade first-grade spiritual wine each month. Each bottle held two liang and sold for thirty Spirit Stones. It brought him an additional income of thirty thousand Spirit Stones every month.

The two mu of second-grade Spirit Fruit had long growth cycles and had only begun bearing fruit. It would likely take several more decades before they could be harvested.

Of those, the fifteen White Crystal Fruit trees were only a little taller than a person, with a few small white fruits hanging from each tree.

The Azure Spirit Peach he had planted earlier had only grown to five chi tall after all these years. Three pink flowers bloomed upon it. Those three flowers had already been blooming in the space for over a decade, with no sign of fruit forming.

Some Spirit Fruit were said to bloom once every few hundred years, bear fruit once every few hundred years, and ripen once every few hundred years. This was probably what that meant.

The various spiritual medicines gathered from Black Dragon Marsh occupied five mu. There were only three to five plants of each kind, showing just how numerous the varieties of spiritual medicine in Black Dragon Marsh were. If not for the fact that any spiritual medicine, no matter how finicky, could grow in the space, this truly could not have been done.

Spirit Gathering Grass and its supplementary herbs occupied two mu, mainly supplying the Elixir Pavilion for sale. His success rate in refining Qi Gathering Pills had now reached eighty percent, and around ten percent of the pills produced were middle-grade.

Wang Hong himself now only took middle-grade Qi Gathering Pills. A small quantity of middle-grade pills was also supplied to the Elixir Pavilion.

After continuously refining pills over these past years, Zhang Chunfeng's alchemy success rate had also reached forty percent, relieving much of Wang Hong's pressure.

The medicinal herbs for Body Tempering Pills occupied one mu, mainly supplying Wang Hong's own cultivation and his subordinate soldiers. Now that his income in Spirit Stones had risen, his soldiers' treatment had improved as well.

Every soldier could exchange for at least two Body Tempering Pills each month, along with a large supply of Demonic Beast meat. Besides being rich in spiritual power, Demonic Beast meat contained a great deal of essence blood, making it highly beneficial for body tempering.

All the soldiers had now converted their Internal Energy into spiritual power cultivation, and some had already reached the second level of Qi Refining.

The main purpose of converting to spiritual power was merely to facilitate using talismans, magical artifacts, and similar items. The soldiers' primary cultivation direction remained body tempering, and Immortal Mortal Transformation was currently the cultivation technique found to suit them best.

Of the remaining two mu, the spiritual grain and spiritual wheat that had successfully mutated again occupied two fen. Their stalks stood a full zhang tall, with many branches, making them look more like spiritual grain trees. Each grain was as large as a fist, and the spiritual power it contained was several times denser than before mutation. They ripened once every five years, enough for his own consumption.

The Solomon's Seal planted earlier had also completed its mutation, turning entirely golden yellow. He searched through much information but still did not know what variety it was. In any case, he tested it and found it nonpoisonous and edible, with an excellent effect in replenishing vital essence and blood.

He added a tiny amount to the Spirit Meals he prepared for himself each time, greatly enhancing their effects. The broth was no longer milky white as before, but had turned golden yellow and even emitted a golden sheen.

Though he did not know the specifics, the effects seemed quite good. He planted three fen of this Solomon's Seal as well.

The remaining more than one mu of land was filled to the brim with all kinds of other spiritual medicines.