Killing for Treasure?

In the Cultivation World, at the Red Cloud Sect, Chen Wang was sitting cross-legged on Green Bamboo Peak, cultivating the Niwanzhen Preservation Art.

Originally, cultivating this Niwanzhen Preservation Art was a slow and painstaking process, and there was no shortcut to strengthening the Primordial Spirit.

But Chen Wang was able to take a shortcut. After refining the power in the seal engraved with the words "Mountain Water," his Divine Sense became even stronger.

He could clearly feel that when he circulated the Niwanzhen Preservation Art, his Divine Sense passed through the Niwan and circulated very smoothly.

After a long while, he finished his training session, his eyes clear and bright.

He stood up, stretched out one hand and placed the other behind him, his fist technique carrying an ancient and unadorned quality, his Qi and Blood flowing smoothly.

He remained expressionless after completing the set of exercises.

"Cultivating immortality is the fundamental goal."

Chen Wang muttered to himself.

Green Bamboo Peak was quiet.

Old Wang still hadn't returned.

Chen Wang had encountered a bottleneck when refining pills before, so today he wanted to refine pills again.

He is very calm when he does things, which is one of his strengths.

Moreover, after returning and going through that special period of spiritual enlightenment, coupled with practicing the Niwanzhen Preservation Art and martial arts, Chen Wang's mood calmed down.

At this moment, while refining the elixir, his hands were very steady, and he controlled each step with great precision.

Only three medicinal herbs are needed to refine the Returning Spring Pill, and he was currently refining the pill methodically.

Surprisingly, a batch of Returning Spring Pill was successfully refined, and the pills had a rich fragrance and a smooth appearance.

Chen Wang smiled and said, "Sure enough, when you're stuck at a bottleneck, you can't just keep practicing hard; you have to change your mindset."

"Perhaps it is also related to the fact that my Divine Sense has grown stronger."

Chen Wang took a deep breath, preparing to seize the opportunity to refine a few more batches of pills.

He knew that the hierarchy in the Winter was very strict, and that killing Old Wang would definitely cause a huge uproar. However, Chen Wang was not panicked and continued to refine pills with peace of mind.

"If anyone can come to the Cultivation World to arrest people, I'll give them a thumbs up!" Chen Wang thought to himself.

His mind was completely focused on alchemy, and he thought he had mastered the essentials of alchemy, but the next batch of Returning Spring Pill was still completely ruined! Chen Wang was dumbfounded.

"What the hell is this probability? There's absolutely no pattern to it!"

Chen Wang's lips twitched, and he took a deep breath.

The materials for refining the Returning Spring Pill are worth more than a dozen Spirit Stone per batch, which is only possible because he is very wealthy.

He quickly cleaned up the materials and took out another batch to prepare for refining. He did each step very meticulously, which made him look very experienced.

But he ended up with a batch of useless pills! Chen Wang's expression changed, his mood fluctuating wildly, leaving him quite bewildered.

"I thought that once I crossed this threshold, the alchemy process would go smoothly, but I didn't expect it to be this damn difficult!"

Chen Wang was completely unable to calm down at this moment, and his eyes were somewhat blank.

"Why do I feel like I've learned a lot from playing ranked matches, but I still can't climb the ranks?"

Chen Wang took a deep breath and quickly composed himself.

This alchemy experience brought back the feeling he had when he first learned to draw talismans, and the high failure rate of drawing talismans was also quite astonishing.

Chen Wang recited a Heart Cleansing Mantra to soothe his mind, and his gaze became firm.

"You have to be patient in everything you do. You can't rush things. The most important thing is that you can't have big mood swings, otherwise you'll just make a mess of things."

Chen Wang continued refining the pills, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing.

Chen Wang's mood wasn't too fluctuating. He summarized his experiences each time and paid attention to subtle changes.

He found that his firepower was sometimes unstable. Although he could control his Law Power with great precision, flames were different. They were an extremely terrifying power, even the true fire in Chen Wang's hands was like that.

While it's possible to maintain a constant temperature, ensuring stable combustion requires considerable skill.

He then focused on cultivation, and with the support of his profound Foundation Establishment Realm Law Power, he refined many batches of pills before feeling somewhat fatigued.

He swallowed some pills, then sat cross-legged in meditation. After recovering his cultivation, he continued refining pills.

Solving the firepower problem is not something that can be done overnight.

Although he has a high affinity for fire, he lacks precise control over it.

The image of the fourth-tier warrior from Winter who controlled fire flashed through his mind. "If there were that kind of potion to help, I wonder if it would enhance his ability to control fire."

This thought came to Chen Wang's mind.

Three or four days passed in the blink of an eye. Apart from refining pills, Chen Wang practiced Law Technique and cultivated the Niwanzhen Preservation Art, steadily improving his cultivation level.

He had run out of materials and needed to go to the Market again.

But after visiting several shops, he discovered that the materials needed to refine the Returning Spring Pill were all gone.

Chen Wang frowned immediately. He had changed his appearance and become an ordinary-looking middle-aged man.

He asked a shop assistant at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, "When did the Returning Spring Pill become a rare and precious elixir? Not only have the raw material prices gone up, but we're also out of stock?"

The shop assistant was a pretty female cultivator; it seemed that the Hundred Treasures Pavilion tended to give people a warm and welcoming feeling.

The female cultivator explained, "I don't know either. The materials for the Returning Spring Pill were available before, but they are now indeed unavailable. It will probably take about a month for the supplies to arrive."

Chen Wang visited several stores and found the same thing. He didn't realize that it was because he had purchased a large quantity of raw materials for refining the Returning Spring Pill.

The already tense Market was filled with suspicion among the residents, all thinking something was about to happen.

Therefore, he secretly accumulated some alchemical materials.

Chen Wang simply wanted to refine a pill. Since he had both money and time, he spent some money to grind for proficiency.

After Chen Wang left the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, he was suddenly stopped by a young cultivator dressed in black.

"Hey bro, do you want the materials for the Returning Spring Pill?"

The man, who was probably in his thirties and had a full beard, asked cautiously.

Chen Wang glanced at him and said calmly, "Not bad."

He had originally intended to visit those stalls again.

I'm really into alchemy now, and I want to keep going and master more techniques. But what if I don't have the raw materials?

The young man said in a low voice, "Brother, you're confused. This stuff is in such high demand right now. Even the raw materials for the hemostatic and wound-healing pills are under control."

Chen Wang was slightly startled, but then he understood the key point, and a bitter feeling welled up in his heart.

"I'm afraid it's not that someone is deliberately going against me, but rather that I caused a misunderstanding at this time."

The young man appeared to be chatting casually, but he was actually trying to sell something.

He said in a low voice, "I have a way to buy some herbs for the Returning Spring Pill. If you want them, come with me."

The ingredients for refining an ordinary Returning Spring Pill are now being traded like underground... Chen Wang pondered for a moment, then followed him out.

This Market was very large, and some houses were rebuilt after the outbreak of war.

He and Chen Wang turned left and right until they arrived at the edge of the Market. "Fellow Daoist, you don't know, but things are tense right now. Not only are Returning Spring Pill sold out, but some other healing pills have also been bought up."

"That's what the young man said."

"If a real conflict were to occur, neither the Red Cloud Sect nor any other force would be short of Healing Pill," Chen Wang said.

"Who knows who's pulling the strings behind the scenes... Besides, these forces might not necessarily need it. Even if we don't use it ourselves, buying it all up and preventing them from stockpiling supplies for a while wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?"

"Furthermore, things are valued for their scarcity. Many independent cultivators also want to buy them. It's always good to have a copy at home in case of emergency."

The young man said casually.

"If you can't refine pills, what use is this thing to you?" Chen Wang asked.

"If you don't know how to refine it, find someone to do it. Although there are relatively few Alchemist, you can still find one or two in the Market," the young man said.

He quickly led Chen Wang to a secluded spot in the Market and whispered, "There aren't many people here, brother. How many medicinal herbs would you like?"

Chen Wang thought for a moment and said, "Do you have ten portions? I'll prepare some for my relatives and friends."

"You're right. It's always good to have something on hand."

The young man laughed and said, "Oh my, when I saw you come out of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion earlier, I thought you were a man of great bearing and talent. I didn't expect you to be so intelligent!"

"Brother, in my opinion, you've come to the right person. I happen to have more than a dozen copies. This stuff is in high demand, and it wasn't easy to get my hands on them."

When Chen Wang followed this man into the alley, he initially thought that this man was a cunning merchant who had lured him here to ambush and rob him.

But when he extended his divine sense, he found that there was no one around.

After some haggling, Chen Wang bought the materials for refining the Returning Spring Pill from the young man.

Chen Wang suddenly said, "Fellow Daoist, making money this way is too slow. If I were you, I would just kill and rob people."

The young man paused for a moment, then said, "Brother, your idea is a bit dangerous."

Chen Wang said, "A horse won't get fat without night grass, and a man won't get rich without unexpected wealth!"

The young man smiled, but his heart tightened, and he unconsciously wanted to distance himself from Chen Wang.

"Brother, I'm just a medicine seller. I don't have the guts to kill anyone. Don't scare me. If you want to buy medicine, you can come to me. My name is Zhou Ping. Sometimes I also set up a stall at the third to last stall at the east end of the Market."

"We'll have plenty of time in the future!"

Judging from his appearance, this young man named Zhou Ping seemed very afraid that Chen Wang would frame him.

Chen Wang glanced at him a few times, nodded, and then left.

Chen Wang thought to himself,

"I've seen plenty of murder and robbery, so I'm not used to encountering someone who's honestly making a deal like this."

He had just learned some clues from Zhou Ping.

"The price of food and ironware only rises when war is about to begin. The same is true in the Cultivation World; the price of Healing Pill only rises when something bad is about to happen."

Chen Wang muttered to himself.

"The Market has been a mixed bag these past few days, so we need to be extra careful. If we accidentally kill someone, we'll have to reveal our identity as True Disciple of the Red Cloud Sect."

Chen Wang thought to himself.

How could I, a dignified Foundation Establishment cultivator, get into a fight with those juniors in the Qi Refining stage? I wonder if it's because the security has improved recently, but Chen Wang, disguised as this middle-aged man, didn't encounter any problems as he entered the mountains and returned to Green Bamboo Peak.

"What era are we living in? There are still drug dealers who take people to remote places to do legitimate business."

Chen Wang shook his head as he thought of Zhou Ping.

His hand was already poised, ready to crush the other person's head at the slightest movement, but the other person was only trying to bargain.

He just seems to be a young man who wants to take advantage of the chaos in the world and risk his life to make some money.

Chen Wang then continued refining pills.

This medicine is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, and he held his breath and concentrated fully.

Chen Wang is now a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, and he flies at an extremely fast speed while riding the Green Ox Sword.

Staying in the mountains at this time always made him feel somewhat uneasy.

Chen Wang was unwilling to simply sever ties with the Red Cloud Sect.

After all, Old Wang can provide him with better guidance here.

The identity of the Red Cloud Sect is quite impressive, better than that of a rogue cultivator.

If he were to reveal his Foundation Establishment Realm strength, he could probably become an elder directly.

However, for Chen Wang, it would not be a good thing to show his face and make a name for himself in the Red Cloud Sect at this time, so he has been hiding.

There hasn't been much work to do in the fields lately, and Wang Yue hasn't returned yet, so Chen Wang decided to go to the Black Market to take a look.

Chen Wang knew of two Black Market. One was in the Zheng Kang Kingdom, which Gao Xingqiu told him about, and the other was closer and smaller in scale, which Old Wang told him about.

Other disciples might need to ask their master or their teaching elder for leave before going down the mountain, but this wouldn't be acceptable if it lasted too long.

But Chen Wang didn't need to. His mountain peak only had two people, so there weren't such complicated personnel procedures.

Moreover, Wang Yue, the Green Bamboo Peak Lord, has not returned yet. He and Wang Yue are brothers, so he can leave whenever he wants without anyone noticing.

Gao Xingqiu once told him that Zheng Kang Kingdom's Black Market was 1,600 li to the north of this place.

Another Black Market is closer, though it's about 400-500 miles away, in the Funiu Mountain.

"I've never been to Black Market like this before, so I'll go to a smaller Black Market first to get familiar with it."

Chen Wang thought to himself.

To be honest, Chen Wang has never had the opportunity to properly practice Sword Flight.

He used to possess a flying sword specifically for escape, but because he hadn't properly refined it, and also because the Golden Wind Sword in the hands of Wang Changjing, the son of the Seven Stars Sect Master, was too vicious, it shattered the flying sword.

Therefore, he has had very little flying experience.

Now that Chen Wang has left the Red Cloud Sect, he directly rode the Show Overlord Sword and broke through the air.

The Green Ox Sword consumes too much Law Power when activated. It's fine for short-distance escape, but it's a waste to use it for traveling. It's a Spirit Artifact, after all.

Chen Wang used his Sword Flight this time.

It flew very fast at first, and was somewhat out of control, nearly crashing into a mountain. Chen Wang couldn't help but gasp.

"Damn, if I run into a mountain as soon as I step out the door today, I'll probably become a laughing stock!"

Chen Wang thought to himself.

Chen Wang was in the air, watching the scenery on both sides rushing past and the ground beneath his feet, feeling an indescribable sense of beauty.

He quickly adapted to this feeling. His previous cultivation level was not high enough; he was only at the Qi Refining stage. He couldn't fly high or fast with his flying sword, so he was easily targeted.

Now things are different. Chen Wang's Law Power is profound, and he has successfully Foundation Establishment. He controls his flying sword at an extremely fast speed in the sky.

Moreover, his Law Power had undergone meticulous training, and he quickly mastered them.

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