In the days that followed, Xia Dong once again purchased batches of supplementary ingredients for making Qi-Gathering Pills through the Eagle-Wolf Guard and the He Family's civilian channels. The ingredients were all mixed in with ordinary rare medicinal herbs.
Then he asked Qin Wan to obtain fresh primary ingredients and Spirit Firewood for him from the Marketplace.
With everything in place, he began mass-producing pills in the secret chamber of his cave abode on Tiger Hill Mountain.
The Qi-Gathering Pills he produced still had a somewhat grayish hue, and their quality could only be called "mediocre."
But, just as with his talisman-making, his success rate was exceptionally high—exactly ninety percent, no more and no less.
Xia Dong thought to himself that this ten-percent failure rate seemed to contain the very principles of the Heavenly Dao.
On the other hand, this success rate was astonishing.
Even alchemists from immortal cultivation sects who had spent decades immersed in the art of alchemy would consider a thirty- or forty-percent success rate for a basic pill like this something to be proud of. As for higher-grade pills, without sufficient experience, even a ten-percent success rate was considered decent.
If word got out about Xia Dong's ninety-percent success rate, certain factions might find him even more desirable than renowned alchemists capable of producing more powerful pills.
After all, his costs were far lower.
Furthermore, this intense, nonstop pill-making had an unexpectedly excellent tempering effect on his spiritual sense.
Xia Dong had already realized that the Yin Evil Pills made from the low-level ghosts at the Mass Grave had completely lost their ability to improve his cultivation of the Mysterious Yin Spirit Refining Art.
If he wanted to keep advancing his spiritual sense cultivation, he would have to find fiercer, more powerful ghosts to make Yin Evil Pills.
However, powerful ghosts usually occupied places of great evil, or possessed exceptional intelligence and bizarre abilities. At his current level of cultivation, there was no need to take such a risk.
After all, what if the Bronze Ancient Bell still couldn't deal with ghosts that were too powerful?
Yet, as the saying went, willows planted in the shade would grow into a grove. His long-term pill-making and talisman-drawing, with his spiritual sense pushed to its limits and then restored, had imperceptibly driven it step by step to the very peak of Qi Refining Fifth Layer Perfection.
Still, despite how thin this bottleneck seemed, Xia Dong had tried several times and failed to find an opportunity to break through.
"Forget it. Haste makes waste."
Xia Dong wasn't discouraged.
Although low-level Yin Evil Pills could no longer help him break through, they still retained their most basic effect—quickly replenishing his depleted spiritual sense.
Now that he had a Storage Pouch, Xia Dong kept a supply of Yin Evil Pills on him. Whether his spiritual sense ran dry in a fight or he ran out of strength while making pills or drawing talismans, swallowing enough Yin Evil Pills would quickly restore it.
Half a month later, at the Eagle-Wolf Guard's Centurion Office in Pingyang County.
Xia Dong pushed a heavy jade box in front of Zhao Ting and said calmly, "Brother, there's a batch of 'waste pills' in here. See if you can find a way to get rid of them."
"Waste pills?" Zhao Ting raised an eyebrow, a flicker of confusion in his eyes, then reached out and opened the jade box.
Inside, dozens of Qi-Gathering Pills were neatly arranged. Their color was somewhat dull, and their spiritual energy wasn't pure, but Zhao Ting recognized them at a glance as genuine Qi-Gathering Pills.
How could these be waste pills? At worst, they were merely average-quality pills. For rogue cultivators or low-ranking Eagle-Wolf Guard officers who were chronically short on resources, these were already prized treasures!
Zhao Ting's thoughts raced. He looked up at Xia Dong's calm, faintly amused expression, and in an instant, his mind spun an elaborate tale.
"I get it!" Zhao Ting thought. "These must be defective pills produced by those lofty alchemists in the immortal sects. The faction behind Brother Xia must have written them off as 'waste pills' on the books and quietly kept them for themselves. Brilliant. Simply brilliant!"
Using "waste pills" as a cover in the accounts was both safe and discreet.
"Waste pills are great! Don't worry, brother. I'll find a good home for this batch." Zhao Ting's smile nearly spilled over as he tapped the jade box, understanding passing between them without a word.
This batch of Qi-Gathering Pills, along with the low-grade talismans Xia Dong had brought, was worth a fortune.
Zhao Ting knew that if he sold the goods through the Prefecture City and the Black Market, he would not only earn a fortune in Spirit Stones but also firmly secure his standing in the Thousand-Household Office.
After returning with a full load from Zhao Ting, the first thing Xia Dong did was use a voice-transmission talisman he had made to send Qin Wan a message.
The voice-transmission talisman was a new type of talisman Xia Dong had learned to make. It required a specific hand seal to activate and was more discreet.
"Wan'er, there's no need to rent that alchemy furnace anymore. Let's meet first. I'll give you the Spirit Stones then, and you can buy it outright for me."
After conveying this through the talisman, Xia Dong returned to Tiger Hill Cave Abode. Looking at the enormous bronze alchemy furnace, he seemed quite pleased.
In the world of immortal cultivation, alchemy furnaces were actually easy-to-wear-out magical artifacts.
The frequent "furnace explosions" and clashing medicinal properties during alchemy caused violent spiritual energy to inflict irreversible damage on the furnace's inner formations and materials. If an ordinary alchemist used a low-grade furnace, repeated failures would leave it completely ruined in just a few years.
But Xia Dong's furnace was an exception.
Thanks to Xia Dong's terrifying ninety-percent success rate, furnace explosions were rare. And every time a pill successfully condensed, the spiritual energy inside the furnace completed a full cycle.
With spiritual energy cycling so frequently, the furnace wasn't worn down. On the contrary, the constant flow of spiritual energy scoured and refined its inner walls.
So this low-grade alchemy furnace, which had originally been of modest quality, had not only held up to use but had been better maintained with every passing day of circulating spiritual energy.
Inside Tiger Hill Cave Abode.
Xia Dong fired up the furnace again. With his rock-steady ninety-percent success rate, he smoothly produced another batch of Qi-Gathering Pills and, while he was at it, made a batch of basic talismans.
By his reckoning, it was time to meet Qin Wan again.
Xia Dong sorted the goods into separate packages, used the Wind-Riding Technique, and quietly headed toward Pine Slope Pavilion outside the Marketplace on Qixia Mountain.
Outside the pavilion, the clouds and mist remained as before.
When Qin Wan opened the bundle Xia Dong handed her, she found the expected basic talismans—and then she pulled the stoppers from the jade bottles containing Qi-Gathering Pills. Their fragrance made her breath catch.
"These are... Qi-Gathering Pills?!" Qin Wan picked up one of the slightly grayish pills.
The pill's color wasn't especially lustrous, and its spiritual energy was somewhat impure, but it was undeniably a Qi-Gathering Pill capable of improving a cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm.
Qin Wan's thoughts at that moment were much the same as Zhao Ting's earlier, and perhaps even more far-reaching and clear-eyed.
With a hidden dragon like Brother Xia by her side, what could possibly stand in the way of her immortal path?
Qin Wan carefully put away the jade bottles and talismans, then quickly set to work.
From then on, on the surface, Xia Dong had Zhao Ting, an Eagle-Wolf Guard Centurion, moving his goods through the Thousand-Household Office and the Black Market. He could also use his own standing as an Eagle-Wolf Guard Flag-Bearer to gather supplies. In secret, the inner disciple Qin Wan of the immortal sect helped him as well.
These two channels, one open and one hidden, never interfered with each other.
With income far greater than that of ordinary low-level cultivators, Xia Dong no longer had any worries holding him back. He no longer needed to pinch every Spirit Stone and scrimp as he had before.
He handed all the day-to-day affairs of Changchun Medical Hall over to Xiao Hong, while he himself became like a cultivator in a complete seclusion, spending long stretches hidden away in Tiger Hill Cave Abode and the Well-Bottom Secret Chamber.
The outside world's turmoil, the Unborn Cult's unrest, and the infighting in officialdom were all shut out.
Aside from maintaining his income, he devoted most of his energy to continuing his cultivation of the Evergreen Qi-Circulation Art.
As the Evergreen Qi-Circulation Art flowed day and night, the misty green "qi" within him grew stronger by the day, reshaping his spiritual root and undergoing a transformation that reversed him back to his innate state.
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