Old Bai

The next day, Yue Wen handed over the agency to Zhao Xing'er again and took a high-speed train to City Number Six.

There are interconnected highways and railways between satellite cities within the same city. Inside a large formation barrier, travel is convenient without having to cross the wilderness.

The other party even gave him his house number. Since it was within the city, he shouldn't have to worry about any traps.

Yue Wen's only concern was whether the other party's Blazing Flame Powder could meet the requirements for cultivating Chaos Dragon Gang. He actually had no knowledge reserves in alchemy; he had only crammed some methods for judging high-quality Blazing Flame Powder overnight.

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However.

After arriving at the station and transferring to a taxi to reach his destination, he looked up at the building in front of him and couldn't help but freeze for a moment.

It was several connected white buildings. The one at the very front had a conspicuous bright red sign hanging before it: "Jiang City Mental Hospital, City Number Six Branch."

This...

After going to so much trouble to get here, he thought he was meeting an online friend, but it turned out to be a fellow patient?

Why would a mental hospital allow patients to play with their phones!

Yue Wen's vision went black.

He couldn't possibly expect a mental patient to be a top alchemist, right?

However, he still held a sliver of hope: not everyone living in a hospital is a patient. What if this "Old Bai" was a doctor?

It's perfectly reasonable to be an alchemist part-time outside of work.

Even a security guard would do...

In reality, he knew this possibility was extremely slim. In today's cultivation world, alchemists are quite valuable, especially excellent alchemists who can refine high-quality Blazing Flame Powder.

With such skills, there would be no need for any other part-time jobs; making money would be as easy as playing.

But since he was already here, he hesitated for a moment and didn't turn around to leave. He went to the security booth at the entrance and asked, "Uncle, I'm here to see Old Bai. Can I go in?"

"Looking for Old Bai, buying medicine, right?" The old man in the security booth sized up Yue Wen and then pointed to a building next to them. "Turn right, room 208."

He's actually reliable?

Before he could turn to leave, the old security guard pulled out an unopened gas mask from under his arm. "It's best to buy this when you see him. I'll sell it to you cheap for eight hundred yuan."

"Don't worry, Uncle, I have cultivation," Yue Wen waved his hand.

He was actually becoming more curious about this alchemist.

The building the security guard pointed to seemed to be the special ward, with single rooms on the upper floors. Yue Wen followed the floor guide and arrived at room 208. The area of this room was much larger than the others, occupying almost half a floor.

Through the glass door of the room, Yue Wen saw green mist swirling inside.

It was indeed a bit eerie.

Yue Wen knocked on the door, pat, pat, pat.

No response.

He had sent a message to the other party on Cultivation Chat when he got off the car, but he still hadn't replied. He wondered if he was still asleep or busy. So Yue Wen took a deep breath, held his breath, concentrated, and then carefully pushed the door open and walked in.

Sss--

The green mist inside was thick and viscous. When it touched his skin, it made a corrosive ssss sound, and his skin stung slightly. This was only possible because Yue Wen's cultivation was high and his physique was strong. For an ordinary person, entering this room would be no different than swimming in sulfuric acid.

This was not a problem that a gas mask could solve!

Strangely, even with the door open, not a trace of the gas in the room escaped, as if it had a spirit of its own.

He passed through a large workbench covered with various items in the green mist and entered the inner room. Yue Wen saw a figure in white busy inside.

It was a man with messy long hair, of a decent height, wearing a white protective suit and a mask. In front of him was something like an experimental table, inside which was a large glass cup containing a pile of purple liquid of unknown origin, bubbling and rolling.

He kept adding things to it, muttering, "Add some of this... and some of this..."

Yue Wen watched as he poured in two cans of something unknown. Suddenly, the large mass of purple liquid stood up!

That's right, the liquid gradually formed a ferocious human shape and stood up from the cup, emitting a faint whimpering cry: "Ah--"

As Yue Wen's eyes widened, the man directly pulled a gun from his pocket and pulled the trigger at the liquid's head.

Bang!

Yue Wen's eyebrows twitched.

He was sure he hadn't seen wrong. An alchemist "shot" a blob of medicine?

Although he didn't understand alchemy, he was greatly shocked.

After the shot, the purple liquid settled down again, scattering back into the cup with a splat, becoming a cup of ordinary liquid spiritual medicine.

"Heh heh, it's done."

The man let out a strange laugh, examined his masterpiece with satisfaction, and then turned to get a bottle to store the potion. Only then did he notice Yue Wen standing beside him.

"Who are you?" he asked in a hostile tone.

"I'm the one you arranged to meet on Cultivation Chat, here to test the Blazing Flame Powder," Yue Wen said with an awkward smile, feeling extreme caution towards the person in front of him.

"Oh."

The man recalled for a moment before nodding. He first packed the potions by himself, then took out a gourd. He raised the gourd into the air, and the green mist in the air was all sucked into the gourd's opening.

In the blink of an eye, the room returned to clarity.

Yue Wen finally relaxed his breathing.

After the air cleared, the man removed his mask, revealing a disheveled face with a receding hairline, a hooked nose, and a thin mustache. He looked to be in his forties or fifties, one eye staring directly at Yue Wen, the other looking askance in another direction.

He looked quite wise.

"What I was refining just now was Soul Dream Yellow Springs Water, infused with a hundred or so Nightmares. It's very active. To prevent them from escaping, I released this Yang Poison Miasma to block yin creatures."

After a few explanations, he took a small bottle of transparent, sealed white powder from a nearby box and tossed it onto the experimental table. "Test it."

There was only a tiny amount of powder in the bottle, specifically for him to test the goods.

Yue Wen had learned before that the most important thing about Blazing Flame Powder was that it ignited upon contact with Qi, allowing the flames to reach their maximum intensity within the Qi Sea. However, he hadn't actually operated it before, so he put on an expert's demeanor and said to Old Bai, "Just ignite a little for me to see."

"Hmm..." Old Bai took a few steps back and shook his head. "I only sell this stuff, I don't touch it."

Huh?

Yue Wen found it a bit strange, but this person had more than one or two peculiar points about him, so he could only pick up the small bottle himself and remove the stopper.

There was only a pinch of powder at the bottom of the bottle. He didn't expect any accidents, so he gathered his true Qi, ignited the fire, and set the powder ablaze.

According to the knowledge he found online, taking half a fingernail's worth of Blazing Flame Powder, if it could ignite a palm-high spiritual fire, it was qualified; if it could ignite a foot-high spiritual fire, it was excellent; if it could ignite a three-foot spiritual fire, it was the world's finest.

As his spurred fire spirit energy came into contact with that small pinch of Blazing Flame Powder, the powder at the bottom of the bottle suddenly glowed particle by particle. A warning flashed in Yue Wen's mind.

He threw the bottle in his hand away.

The bottle exploded in mid-air into a winding, ten-foot-long fire dragon, scorching the air like a dragon's roar, rumbling across the sky!

Boom--

If Yue Wen hadn't reacted in time and the fire dragon had exploded in his hand, he would have been disfigured.

"What's going on?" He turned and glared at Old Bai. No wonder the man wouldn't touch it; he probably knew how dangerous this stuff was!

"You saw it." Old Bai's eyes gleamed with excitement. "The Blazing Flame Powder I refined is absolutely more potent than any fire-assisting spiritual medicine on the market! Just this tiny pinch can cause your Qi Sea to erupt to the extreme!"

"This is way too intense, isn't it?" Yue Wen frowned. "Are you sure I can consume this?"

"Not sure." Old Bai immediately shook his head.

Yue Wen: "..."

You're quite honest.

"You only said you wanted high-quality Blazing Flame Powder, you didn't say you wanted it to be edible," Old Bai seemed to sense his displeasure and scratched the back of his head. "You just need to see if the quality is high or not."

How novel.

Did I buy Blazing Flame Powder to swallow it into my Qi Sea to refine Gang Qi, or to put it into fireworks to celebrate the New Year?

"Can you refine some normal ones for me? High quality is good, of course... but it doesn't need to be this high," Yue Wen tried to ask.

"No." Old Bai flatly refused. "This is my unique secret recipe that I developed. No one in the world but me can refine this supreme Blazing Flame Powder! If I were to refine ordinary goods, what would be the difference between me and those mediocre alchemists outside?"

"Master, I understand your principles," Yue Wen persuaded. "But the customer is God. Who are you going to sell this stuff to?"

"Of course, I sell it to peerless geniuses like you who have the aura of a rising dragon!" Old Bai placed his hands on Yue Wen's shoulders, took a deep breath, and then said, "I can smell it, the true Qi you just emitted is of superior quality, definitely a top-tier cultivation technique! True Qi of this quality should be paired with my Blazing Flame Powder for breakthroughs!"

"Although there's a little danger..."

"But the supreme Blazing Flame Powder I refined can maximize the catalysis of spiritual fire, allowing the Gang Qi you refine to be extremely pure and refined! Once you break through, the strength of your Gang Qi will be comparable to that of experts who have been immersed in the Gang Realm for many years. Your starting point will exceed that of ordinary people, and your achievements will be even more limitless!"

"And it's not like you'll die if you fail. As long as you can find the best Grand Unity Profound Blazing Cinnabar to protect yourself, even if refining Gang fails, your cultivation will only drop slightly, and you can start over. What's there to fear?"

Yue Wen listened to his seductive words and was indeed a little moved, but looking at the man's shifty eyes, he still asked with some concern, "Have any of the spiritual medicines you sold before caused death?"

"Why do you think I live here?" Old Bai shrugged. "Mainly to get free rent and utilities, and secondly, killing people isn't illegal."