Whether Blood-Solidifying Pills or Blood-Benefiting Pills, both were fairly common intermediate-grade pills and widely used. The Hundred Poisons Medical Canon even contained their recipes.
So Qin Dongcheng didn't need to buy the recipes separately. He could learn and refine them directly.
His first attempt at refining Blood-Benefiting Pills naturally ended in failure. He was used to it by now; every day, he set aside a little time to refine them, and each failure was just another failure.
With the Heaven Rewards Diligence System, every failure earned him a certain amount of experience and skill. Occasionally, a critical success gave him even more. He improved with every attempt.
Unlike other alchemists, who often failed many times before making any noticeable progress, he was advancing at a breakneck pace. By the time they could refine a particular pill, they were often already bankrupt—especially when striving to become a higher-level alchemist.
Qin Dongcheng's progress couldn't merely be called fast. He was practically riding a rocket.
At his current pace, it wouldn't take more than ten days or half a month for him to successfully refine Blood-Benefiting Pills. After that, he would only need to steadily improve his success rate.
Though he still hadn't successfully refined any Blood-Benefiting Pills, his Pure Blood Pills were enough for now. They not only met his needs, but he could also occasionally sell a few to buy the medicinal herbs he required.
He hadn't neglected refining Sun Flame Liquid, either. To exchange for the Tide-Rising Muscle-Refining Fist, he had spent all his Sect Contribution. If he wanted to exchange for an even higher-level Bone Refining Technique, he would naturally need to start saving up Sect Contribution in advance.
The Bone Refining Technique required even more Sect Contribution—around thirty thousand points. Even with the price of Sun Flame Liquid having climbed to around thirty points of Sect Contribution, he would still need to refine a thousand bottles to earn thirty thousand points.
Even if he could make that many, Qin Dongcheng wouldn't dare sell them all.
Because he had turned in quite a lot of Sun Flame Liquid lately, the amount required for his monthly mandatory task had already risen to ten bottles.
That was good news for Qin Dongcheng, too. It meant he could earn three hundred points of Sect Contribution each time. He would only need to complete the task a hundred times to afford the Bone Refining Technique.
At his pace, he could save up enough in a year or two.
Add in the Sect Contribution he bought from other people, and he would be able to exchange for the Bone Refining Technique in about a year at most.
That might sound like a long time, but many Martial Artists spent years, even decades, saving up to exchange for higher-level techniques. That put Qin Dongcheng's earning speed into perspective.
Since he had started refining pills and making medicine, only about half a year had passed, yet he had already exchanged for the Diamond Skin Refining Fist, the Evergreen Muscle Refining Fist, and the Tide-Rising Muscle-Refining Fist in succession. Such astonishing speed was enough to leave ordinary Martial Artists dumbfounded.
Dong Hongyan and the others were still busy slaying demons and vanquishing evil to earn Sect Contribution. They also gained additional benefits and goodwill from the many alchemists, Artifact Refiners, Formation Masters, and others. Their harvest was truly bountiful.
Qin Dongcheng didn't need their help. He could complete all his mandatory tasks with Sun Flame Liquid alone.
The dozens of Herb Field laborers were progressing well in their cultivation. Besides Lu Gen, two more had condensed Blood Qi and entered the ranks of Martial Artists, and they were deeply grateful to Qin Dongcheng.
Everything was going smoothly. Though demons and monsters were running rampant outside, Qin Dongcheng was making rapid progress in Bamboo Forest Valley, and he was on the verge of reaching the Perfected Realm of the Flesh Phase.
That afternoon, as usual, he went to the Bamboo Forest Black Market to trade Sun Flame Liquid, Pure Blood Pills, and other goods for the resources and treasures he needed.
He bought all kinds of materials for refining pills and making medicine, demonic beasts and blood-beasts for preparing Medicinal Meals, and asked around about low-grade Strange Treasures. He also traded pills, silver, and other goods to several Black Market merchants for Sect Contribution.
Some disciples had lost the will to strive, while others needed to secure benefits for their descendants. They often traded Sect Contribution for other resources because they felt that exchanging for them through the sect offered poor value. As a result, they made their trades on the Black Market instead.
All it took was a special piece of jade to transfer points of Sect Contribution.
The reason Qin Dongcheng had managed to save up enough Sect Contribution in such a short time was that he had bought quite a lot on the Black Market this way, spending several thousand taels of silver.
Each point of the Five Elements Sect's Sect Contribution was worth more than one tael of silver—and far more valuable than that in practice—so buyers had to pay a hefty premium.
But honestly, many of the Five Elements Sect's techniques, including all the ones Qin Dongcheng practiced, were top-tier. Being able to exchange for them with so little Sect Contribution was already the sect's preferential treatment of its disciples.
If Qin Dongcheng left the Five Elements Sect, he would need an enormous amount of gold and silver to get Body Strengthening, Skin Refining, or Flesh Refining techniques of this caliber. Without it, he wouldn't even be qualified to lay eyes on them, let alone buy them.
The sect offered generous discounts on techniques, combat arts, secret arts, and the like, but it wasn't nearly as generous in other areas. That was why many disciples traded Sect Contribution for silver, pills, and similar goods.
After buying the resources he needed, he headed back at dusk, as the sky began to darken.
He had made a decent haul this time, especially in Sect Contribution: he had earned more than a thousand points, paying several hundred taels of silver and dozens of bottles of pills.
At this rate, he could exchange for the Bone Refining Technique in just a few more months.
But he would probably use up nearly all the silver and pills he had saved over the past months, too.
There were gains and losses. That was only natural.
"I've already handed over every last tael of silver on me. Why are you still trying to hound me to death?"
"You say you handed it all over, so that means you did? How do we know you haven't hidden some away? We have to search you to be sure."
"Exactly. We heard you used to be a True Inheritance Disciple of the Shadow Sect. You're telling us you only have a thousand or so taels of silver on you? Do you think we'll believe that?"
"Fine, fine! I never thought the Five Elements Sect, which prides itself on being an upright and righteous sect, would be no better than this. Killing for loot, extorting and robbing people—what a fool I was to flee here."
As he passed a stretch of dense woods, he was startled to hear voices coming from within. Then came the clanging sounds of a fight.
It seemed that some more troublemakers from the Five Elements Sect were up to no good. Qin Dongcheng had seen plenty of disciples like them.
Even a sect like the Five Elements Sect, which prided itself on being righteous, was bound to have a few rotten apples. Some unscrupulous disciples had set their sights on Qin Dongcheng before, more than once, and tried to ambush him after he left the Black Market.
Luckily, with the Heaven Concealment Art and Phantom Movement Technique to protect him, he had easily escaped every time.
He had run into the same sort of people again, but Qin Dongcheng had no intention of getting involved and inviting trouble. He went around the woods, planning to return to Osmanthus Garden as quickly as possible.
Neither side would help the other; life and death were up to fate. Those people's fighting had nothing to do with him. There was no need to waste time and energy on it.
As for profiting from a fight between two rivals, things like that didn't just fall into your lap. Better to be cautious. He wasn't short on resources or treasures anyway.
Before you continue