Preparation and Refinement

The materials were rare and came in such a wide variety that they were not easy to find; if Xu Bai wanted to gather them all in a short time, he would inevitably have to scour the entire Qinghe City again.

But as the saying goes, a smart person never trips over the same stone twice.

Xu Bai naturally categorized himself as a smart person, so this time he did not search the city in such a high-profile manner as he had before. Instead, he went straight to the Seven Treasures Trading House in Qinghe City.

Because he sold Clear Heart Oranges, he had established some rapport with the Seven Treasures Trading House in Qinghe City. The staff there had long since pegged him as a direct descendant of some Soul Master family, or perhaps even a young master out experiencing the world.

After all, what kind of child could bring in a large quantity of Clear Heart Oranges every month—items that were quite valuable to ordinary people—for trade? Especially in the last few months, the quantity had increased several times over.

As for why Xu Bai came every month, the staff, though slightly puzzled, never asked, simply assuming it was a peculiar hobby of this young master.

Upon arriving at the Seven Treasures Trading House, the person who received Xu Bai was still that young lady in blue.

Seeing the familiar little child, she assumed Xu Bai's purpose was the same as usual—to sell Clear Heart Oranges—so she signaled for her staff to prepare to take the goods while she walked up to greet him with a beaming smile.

For the past two months, Xu Bai had been bringing in tens of thousands of Clear Heart Oranges, which counted as a relatively large order for the Qinghe City branch of the Seven Treasures Trading House.

While tens of thousands of Clear Heart Oranges might seem like a large number, in the context of the entire Douluo Continent, it was merely a drop in the ocean.

For some small and medium-sized Soul Master families that made a living by farming fruit-bearing Soul Beasts, producing hundreds of thousands or even millions in a year was not a difficult task.

However, relying on this fairly large order, she had managed to raise her status within the trading house quite a bit.

Seeing a VIP arrive, she naturally welcomed him with a smiling face.

"Is the young master here to sell Clear Heart Oranges again this time?" Ever since Xu Bai brought out those tens of thousands of Clear Heart Oranges, she had naturally changed how she addressed him.

Xu Bai waved his hand and took out the list of materials he had prepared in advance from his pocket, handing it over:

"Give me twenty portions of each material on this list. Be quick; if the quality is good, I will continue to buy from you in the future."

The young lady in blue took the somewhat thick list and looked it over carefully, her beautiful eyes lighting up instantly.

As an employee of the Seven Treasures Trading House, she naturally knew the price of these materials. If he wanted twenty of each, a rough calculation put the total at around forty to fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins.

Of course, the forty or fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins were not the point; the point was the long-term purchase mentioned afterward.

If this deal went through, she would surely be able to leave the ranks of ordinary employees, and perhaps even become a head manager at a branch in a small location.

Thinking of this, her gaze toward Xu Bai became a bit more eager, but as she looked at the list again, she felt a bit troubled.

After a moment of internal deliberation, she gritted her teeth and said cautiously:

"Young master, I can help you gather the vast majority of these materials now, but a small portion will need to be transferred from elsewhere. If you are willing to wait, I guarantee I can gather them all for you within two or three days."

Only two days?

Xu Bai was surprised inwardly, but he nodded calmly on the surface and took out an address from his pocket:

"Just send someone to deliver the materials to this place when they are ready."

The young lady in blue was overjoyed and hurriedly accepted it respectfully.

Afterward, Xu Bai paid the deposit and strode away, turning his direction toward the largest blacksmith shop in Qinghe City.

The Hundred Herb Liquid was easy to refine and could be managed with an iron pot, but the refining methods for the Spirit Ascension Liquid and the Thousand Wood Spirit Powder were much more difficult than that of the Hundred Herb Liquid, requiring some special equipment.

For instance, a small-sized alchemy furnace?

Two days later, at the small courtyard.

Looking at the large pile of materials in his Beast Taming Space, Xu Bai took a deep breath and walked into the newly built small room next to the kitchen.

This was something he had commissioned others to build over the past two days to house the alchemy equipment he had the blacksmith shop rush to forge.

"It's starting to feel a bit like a fantasy world."

Walking inside and looking at the object in the center that resembled an alchemy furnace, Xu Bai clicked his tongue. He first took out the materials for the Spirit Ascension Liquid.

After all, he had promised Diyi that once he had money, he would help him become stronger first; a person must keep their word.

He tossed the Fire Soul Crystal into the bottom of the furnace, pulled up the refining method for the Spirit Ascension Liquid from his Manual, and began the process.

Time slipped away bit by bit; inside the room, it was a scene of intense activity, while outside, the days passed in peaceful stillness.

Little Blue was swaying back and forth in the sunlight as usual, able to keep itself entertained for a long time.

Diyi looked toward the room from time to time, its tiger eyes filled with melancholy.

Well, the Beast Tamer had told it before entering that strange room that he might have to stay inside for a few days, and that it should eat those pre-made meals prepared for their travels during this time.

But those pre-made meals really didn't taste good...

Dastardly house, give my Beast Tamer back!

Time slipped away once more, and in the blink of an eye, three days had passed...

The door to the newly built room in the small courtyard finally opened.

Hearing the movement, Diyi, who had been lying not far away and was on the verge of a breakdown, suddenly stood up and rushed to the door at an incredible speed.

Upon getting close, the first thing it smelled was a strange, medicinal fragrance. The moment it caught the scent, every cell in its body began to boil, and a primal, instinctive craving surged from within.

Diyi's eyes lit up, and it lifted its paws to charge in, only to be forced back by another strange odor after taking just two steps.

It was a stench of rot mixed with the slick, greasy sensation of oil. Just a shallow whiff was enough to make it feel choked, nearly causing it to lose its breath and pass out on the spot.

Beast Tamer, have you rotted away in there?

Di Yi stared at the pitch-black entrance of the room with a look of horror, instinctively retreating two or three steps.

Soon, Xu Bai slowly walked out, his current appearance revealed under the illumination of the sunlight.

His face was covered in grease, his eyes were circled with dark shadows, and his cheeks were sunken—he looked like someone who had indulged in excess.

It was hard for anyone to imagine that this was the face of a child not even nine years old.

Three days. Three whole days of sleepless, tireless effort, and after thirty failures, he had finally managed to produce the Spirit Ascension Liquid and the Thousand Wood Spirit Powder.

According to his initial estimates, given the difficulty of these two concoctions, he should have been able to produce each one with at most ten failures.

In fact, his psychological expectation had been five to seven.

Then, he had made mistakes seven times during the very first step of refining the Spirit Ascension Liquid, which had completely broken Xu Bai's composure.

If he had stopped in time, or brought Little Blue over to cast "Calm Heart Focus," things might have gone better.

But the result was clear: a broken Xu Bai had chosen to use his own abilities to fight these two concoctions to the bitter end.

The final result was seventeen failures for the Spirit Ascension Liquid and thirteen for the Thousand Wood Spirit Powder before he finally managed to refine them.

"Di Yi, I'm going to sleep first. Whatever it is, we'll talk about it after I wake up."

Glancing at Di Yi as it approached, Xu Bai forced himself to stay alert long enough to say this before heading straight into the bedroom. He didn't even bother to tidy up, simply collapsing onto the bed and falling fast asleep.

After three days and three nights of high-intensity mental labor, if his spiritual power hadn't already reached the peak of the Soul Ancestor realm and touched the threshold of the Soul King, he likely would have died of exhaustion right then and there.