The materials were precious, and there were so many different kinds that they weren't easy to find. If Xu Bai wanted to gather them all in a short time, he'd have to turn Qinghe City upside down again.
But how did that saying go? A smart person would never fall into the same pit twice.
Xu Bai naturally counted himself among the smart ones, so this time, instead of making a scene and searching the whole city like before, he went straight to the Seven Treasures Trading House in Qinghe City.
Since he sold Clear Heart Oranges, he'd built up a bit of a relationship with the Seven Treasures Trading House in Qinghe City. The people there had long since taken him for a direct descendant of some Soul Master family—or even the family's young master, sent out to experience life.
After all, what family's child could bring in large quantities of Clear Heart Oranges every month to trade, when they were valuable to ordinary people? In the past few months, the amount had even multiplied several times over.
As for why Xu Bai did this every month, the people at the trading house were a little puzzled, but they hadn't asked. They simply assumed it was this young master's peculiar hobby.
When Xu Bai arrived at the Seven Treasures Trading House, the young lady in blue was still the one who received him.
Seeing the familiar little boy, she assumed he was here to sell Clear Heart Oranges as usual. She called for staff to prepare to collect the goods, then came forward with a beaming smile to greet him.
For the past two months, Xu Bai had brought in tens of thousands of Clear Heart Oranges each time. That was a fairly large order for the Seven Treasures Trading House in Qinghe City.
Though tens of thousands of Clear Heart Oranges seemed like a lot, across the entire Douluo Continent, it was but a drop in the ocean.
For some small- and medium-sized Soul Master families that made their living raising fruit-tree Soul Beasts, bringing out hundreds of thousands or even millions in a year was no difficult task.
Still, that fairly large order had helped raise her standing in the trading house considerably.
Now that a valued customer had arrived, of course she greeted him with a smile.
"Little Young Master, are you here to sell Clear Heart Oranges again?" Ever since Xu Bai had brought in tens of thousands of Clear Heart Oranges, she'd naturally changed the way she addressed him.
Xu Bai waved a hand and took the materials list he'd prepared from his clothes, handing it over.
"I want twenty of each material on this list to start with. Make it quick. If the quality's good, I'll buy from you in the future."
The young lady in blue took the rather thick list and looked it over carefully. Her lovely eyes immediately lit up.
As an employee of the Seven Treasures Trading House, she knew how much these materials cost. A rough calculation showed that twenty of each would come to around forty or fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins.
Of course, the forty or fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins weren't the point. The point was the long-term purchases that would follow.
If she secured the deal, she could certainly rise above the ranks of ordinary employees. She might even become head manager of a branch in some small town.
At the thought, her gaze grew even more eager as she looked at Xu Bai. But when she turned back to the list, a hint of worry crossed her face.
After a moment's thought, she gritted her teeth and asked cautiously:
"Little Young Master, I can gather most of these materials for you right now. The rest will have to be shipped in from elsewhere.
"If you're willing to wait, I promise I can gather them all within two or three days."
Just two days?
Xu Bai was surprised, but showed nothing as he nodded. He took an address from his clothes.
"Once they're ready, just send someone to deliver the materials to this place."
The young lady in blue was overjoyed and hurriedly accepted it with a respectful bow.
Xu Bai then paid the deposit and left. From there, he headed to the biggest blacksmith shop in Qinghe City.
Hundred Herb Liquid was easy to refine and could be made in an iron wok, but Spirit Ascension Liquid and Thousand Wood Spirit Powder were much harder to refine than Hundred Herb Liquid. He'd need to prepare some special equipment.
Something like a small pill furnace, perhaps?
Two days later, in the small courtyard.
Looking at the piles of materials in his Beast Taming Space, Xu Bai took a deep breath and entered the new room beside the kitchen.
He'd had it built over the past two days. It was meant to house the refining equipment he'd ordered from the blacksmith shop on an urgent basis.
"This has a bit of a fantasy-world vibe."
Inside, he looked at the thing in the middle of the room, which was practically a pill furnace, and clicked his tongue. Then he took out the materials for Spirit Ascension Liquid.
After all, he'd promised First he would help him grow stronger as soon as he had the money. A man had to keep his word.
He tossed the Fire Soul Crystal into the bottom of the pill furnace, pulled up the instructions for refining Spirit Ascension Liquid from the Manual, and got started.
Time trickled by. Inside the room, the flames roared; outside, the years passed in peaceful quiet.
As usual, Little Blue swayed in the sunlight, keeping itself happily entertained for ages.
First kept glancing at the room from time to time, its tiger eyes filled with gloom.
Mm. Before entering that strange room, the Beast Tamer had told it he might have to stay inside for a few days. During that time, it was to eat the pre-cooked meals he'd prepared for trips.
But those pre-cooked meals tasted awful...
Damn this house! Give my Beast Tamer back!
Time trickled by once more. In the blink of an eye, three days passed...
At last, the door to the newly built room in the courtyard opened.
At the sound, First, who had been lying nearby waiting until it was on the verge of breaking down, sprang to its feet and rushed toward the door at top speed.
As it drew near, the first thing it smelled was a strange medicinal fragrance. The instant the scent reached it, every cell in its body seemed to boil, and the most primal craving surged through it.
First's eyes lit up. It lifted a paw to charge inside, but after just two steps, another strange smell drove it back.
It was sour and rancid, mixed with the greasy stench of fat. It only took a faint sniff for First to feel as though it had been choked. It nearly couldn't draw another breath and almost passed out on the spot.
Beast Tamer... did he rot in there?
First stared in horror at the pitch-black entrance to the room and instinctively backed away two or three steps.
Soon, Xu Bai slowly emerged, his appearance revealed beneath the sunlight.
His face was greasy, his eye sockets dark, and his cheeks sunken. He looked like he'd indulged himself to excess.
It was hard to imagine that a child not yet nine years old could look like that.
Three days—three whole days without sleep. After thirty failures, he'd finally managed to produce the Spirit Ascension Liquid and Thousand Wood Spirit Powder.
According to his initial estimate, given how difficult these two medicines were, each should take no more than ten failed attempts to get right.
In truth, he'd expected five to seven tries.
Then, he botched the very first step of refining Spirit Ascension Liquid seven times, and that was enough to push Xu Bai over the edge.
If he'd stopped in time then, or brought Little Blue over to use Calm Heart Focus, things might have gone better.
But the result was clear: Xu Bai, pushed over the edge, had chosen to pit his own ability against those two medicines until one side gave in.
In the end, he failed to refine Spirit Ascension Liquid seventeen times and Thousand Wood Spirit Powder thirteen times before finally producing both medicines.
"First, I'm going to sleep. Whatever it is, we'll talk after I wake up."
Xu Bai spotted First approaching and forced himself to speak. Then he walked straight into the bedroom and collapsed into bed without even tidying up.
After three days and nights of intense mental work, if his mental strength hadn't already reached the peak of the Soul Ancestor rank and touched the threshold of the Soul King rank, he might have dropped dead on the spot.