"Definitely."
Chen Xuan nodded in agreement.
He was naturally pleased to have a steady outlet for his pills, especially one that did not leave him shortchanged.
The two quickly completed the transaction. The shopkeeper transferred the Contribution Points to Chen Xuan, then accepted the pills.
Chen Xuan cupped his hands and took his leave.
After leaving the pill shop, Chen Xuan began buying resources for body cultivation.
The first volume of the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art contained a pill recipe.
The pill was called the Dragon Pattern Pill. It was the only pill suitable for cultivators practicing the first volume of the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art.
Its ingredients were precious indeed: blood from a demonic beast with dragon blood in its veins, along with several spiritual herbs closely tied to dragons.
In short, the ingredients were expensive.
If Chen Xuan had not been in the Cloud Sea Sect, he might not have found everything he needed for the Dragon Pattern Pill even at the Sect Market.
The thirty thousand Contribution Points he had just earned were soon gone again.
Besides the ingredients for the Dragon Pattern Pills, he bought enough to make fifty batches of Qi Gathering Pills.
After all, he still needed to earn Contribution Points by selling Qi Gathering Pills to support his cultivation of the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art.
With his purchases complete, Chen Xuan returned to Danxiao Peak.
At his disciple residence, Chen Xuan began cultivating in seclusion.
He summoned the Purple Imperial Dragon Flame and set it to refining pills.
Then he called up the system panel.
[Host: Chen Xuan] [Realm: Qi Gathering Perfection] [Spirit Awakening Points: 1] [Cultivation arts:] [Flowing Cloud Technique (Spirit Awakened)] [Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art (not Spirit Awakened)] [Dao Techniques:] [Flowing Cloud Myriad Forms · Proficient (Spirit Awakened)] [Flowing Cloud Moon-Chasing · Proficient (Spirit Awakened)] [Purple Imperial Dragon Flame · Beginner (Spirit Awakened)]
Looking at the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art listed on the panel, Chen Xuan immediately used his Spirit Awakening Point.
[Your cultivation art, the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art, is examining your body.] [Weak. Far too weak. What a little chick.] [Your cultivation art, the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art, is getting to work, remaking your tendons and cleansing your marrow to strengthen your body.]
Chen Xuan immediately felt a stinging sensation spread throughout his body.
It was not especially painful. Gradually, it even began to feel rather pleasant.
Oh no. I don't have a taste for pain, do I?
After the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art had finished working on him, Chen Xuan's physique had improved to a certain extent.
The improvement did more than strengthen his body. It also enhanced his talent somewhat.
Chen Xuan did not notice the latter.
He certainly felt the former.
[Your cultivation art, the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art, has stopped cultivating.] [Dragon Pattern Pills! Give me Dragon Pattern Pills!]
Seeing this, Chen Xuan thought, Don't rush me. They're being refined.
The Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art was very different from the Flowing Cloud Technique.
Even without resources, the Flowing Cloud Technique could cultivate slowly on its own by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
The Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art was another matter entirely. This body cultivation art was powerful once mastered, but it could only be cultivated using dragon-related resources.
It was a bottomless pit for money.
Time passed.
The Purple Imperial Dragon Flame soon refined a batch of Dragon Pattern Pills.
Once again, the batch yielded twelve pills, all of them first-tier supreme grade.
Dragon Pattern Pills ranged from first to third tier. For now, Chen Xuan could only absorb first-tier pills.
When they were ready, Chen Xuan did not bottle them. He took one and swallowed it.
[Your cultivation art, the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art, has begun refining the Dragon Pattern Pill.]
Once the pill reached his stomach, the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art rapidly refined it.
A faint, flickering azure Dragon Mark appeared on Chen Xuan's arm.
The first volume of the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art cultivated the skin, forming Dragon Marks upon it.
This first volume could also be called the Dragon Pattern Scroll.
The Dragon Pattern Scroll had three stages. At the completion of all three, a cultivator could form three hundred and sixty Dragon Marks.
Completing one stage meant forming one hundred and twenty Dragon Marks.
Forming one hundred and twenty Dragon Marks also meant that one's body had reached the first realm's perfection as a body cultivator.
There was no need to worry about the marks affecting one's appearance. Dragon Marks could be hidden.
Chen Xuan kept taking pills.
He swallowed one Dragon Pattern Pill after another.
With the Spirit Awakened Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art drawing out every bit of their medicinal power, azure Dragon Marks formed across his body.
He soon finished all twelve pills.
Their effects were good, too.
He had formed twelve Dragon Marks.
At this rate, a hundred and twenty first-tier supreme-grade Dragon Pattern Pills would be enough to bring him to the completion of the first stage.
A hundred and twenty Dragon Pattern Pills might not sound like many, but they were.
The ingredients for even one batch were extremely expensive.
It was only because he had his cheat that ten batches of ingredients could supply everything he needed for the first stage.
For anyone else, who knew how many Contribution Points or Spirit Stones it would take to gather those resources?
Hiring someone to refine the pills might cost even more Contribution Points.
But... could I sell Dragon Pattern Pills to earn Contribution Points, too?
Forget it. They sell for a high price and bring in a good profit, but finding buyers would be hard.
Countless cultivators needed Qi Gathering Pills.
Dragon Pattern Pills, on the other hand, were only for body cultivators. Almost no one except cultivators practicing the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art would buy them.
After all, those practicing other body cultivation arts could choose other, more cost-effective pills.
Those cultivating the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art had no choice. Its first volume required Dragon Pattern Pills.
Of course, certain rare and unusual treasures of heaven and earth could also aid its cultivation.
But those were even more precious than Dragon Pattern Pills.
More precisely, they were harder to find.
Dragon Pattern Pills were precious, and their ingredients cost a great deal, but they could still be bought.
Those other treasures of heaven and earth were difficult even to track down.
But back to the matter at hand.
Over the next two months, Chen Xuan settled into a strict routine.
He refined Dragon Pattern Pills and Qi Gathering Pills.
He took the Dragon Pattern Pills and sold the Qi Gathering Pills.
He bought more ingredients and continued refining.
He went back and forth between his residence and the Sect Market, repeating the cycle without end.
He was glad he had joined Danxiao Peak and taken Jiang Qiong's advice to learn the Spirit-Devouring Profound Fire and try his hand at Alchemy.
Otherwise, where would he have found so many resources?
Two months passed.
Chen Xuan had formed a hundred and twenty Dragon Marks.
His body cultivation had reached the first realm's perfection.
Moreover, given the power of the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art, a body cultivator at that level could hold his own against a Spirit Sea Realm cultivator.
The Outer Sect Grand Competition was as good as settled.
After completing the first stage of the Dragon Pattern Scroll, Chen Xuan stopped taking first-tier supreme-grade Dragon Pattern Pills.
He could have kept using first-tier pills to cultivate the second stage and form more Dragon Marks.
But doing so would have cut off his own Dao Path.
The first volume of the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art set out clear requirements for cultivation.
The first stage required first-tier Dragon Pattern Pills, the second required second-tier pills, and the third required third-tier pills.
The art's Dragon Marks were, in essence, formed from the medicinal power of Dragon Pattern Pills.
When cultivating the second stage, the Dragon Marks formed with first-tier pills differed from those formed with second-tier pills.
The marks formed with first-tier pills were weaker.
Before you continue