Foundation Establishment Peak
Six months later.
Fang Pengyi opened the furnace to refine the Golden Core Pill, Song Wen, Rong Jingyun, and Huo Ding went to observe.
The formula for the Golden Elixir is complex, involving over a hundred kinds of medicinal herbs.
The refining process was extremely difficult; it took Fang Pengyi a full half-month to successfully refine the first batch.
Two Golden Core Pill.
After meditating and regulating his breathing for several days, Fang Pengyi started the furnace again.
The second batch of Golden Core Pill was also successfully refined, yielding three elixirs.
By witnessing the process of refining the Golden Core Pill firsthand, Song Wen gained a deeper and more intuitive understanding of its Golden Core Pill.
Song Wen noticed that, unlike him, a second-tier Alchemist, they used the residual heat of the Earthcore Smelting Flame to refine pills.
Fang Pengyi directly activated the Earthcore Smelting Flame sealed deep underground.
Blue flames shot out from the ground through the deep hole in the Alchemy chamber. Under Fang Pengyi's precise control, the flames sometimes blazed brightly and sometimes dimmed.
This greatly shortened Fang Pengyi's Alchemy time and increased the success rate of Alchemy.
Song Wen realized that different spiritual fires each had their own unique and wonderful uses.
While the Earthcore Smelting Flame may not be particularly powerful in combat, it possesses unparalleled advantages in Pill Formula.
This is something that Song Wen's Jade Radiance Flame and Nether Corpse Cold Flame do not possess.
During these six months, he also secretly collected the spiritual materials needed to Golden Core Pill.
Apart from two extremely rare spiritual herbs, he had collected all the other spirit medicine.
The two missing spiritual herbs are Star-Soul Flower and Heart-Congealing Herb.
The former is a second-tier spirit medicine, but it is unique to Primordial Unity Temple and is almost impossible to find outside.
Every few years, the Beast Taming Sect purchases a batch from the Primordial Unity Temple.
These Star-Soul Grass eventually ended up in the hands of Golden Core cultivators within the sect, making it very difficult for the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators like Song Wen to obtain them.
The Heart-Congealing Herb is a third-tier spirit medicine that cannot be artificially cultivated. It is a symbiotic spirit medicine that grows next to the burrows of the poisonous insect 'Gloomcave Ant'.
Due to its rarity, it commands an extremely high price and is virtually priceless.
The distribution of the Gloomcave Ant is completely random; they may appear in blessed lands rich in Spiritual Qi, or in desolate places lacking Spiritual Qi.
Finding the Heart-Congealing Herb was entirely a matter of luck.
Occasionally, some Rogue Cultivator would sell Heart-Congealing Herb in the various markets, but it was almost always snapped up by the major powers.
Since Star-Soul Grass is currently unavailable, Song Wen plans to try and find a solution from Fang Pengyi later.
You can try your luck at East Birch Market and the Mountain Ravine Ghost Market to get the Heart-Congealing Herb.
However, Song Wen was unsure whether Lan Chen of the Blissful Union Sect was still staying in East Birch Market, so he dared not set foot in the market lightly.
He didn't even want to go to the Mountain Ravine Ghost Market in person.
Back then, Blissful Union Spring Night Tower, Song Wen always felt that Lan Chen had recognized him.
If he were to go out alone and run into Lan Chen, he would likely be like a lamb entering a tiger's den, possibly becoming her cultivation furnace and never to return.
"I need to find someone to go to the Mountain Ravine Ghost Market for me. And this person won't easily reveal that I bought the Heart-Congealing Herb."
As a second-tier Alchemist in the Foundation Establishment Realm, his painstaking efforts to procure third-tier spirit medicine would inevitably arouse suspicion if word got out.
After pondering for a moment, Song Wen got up and went to the outside of Zhou Siyi's cave abode.
"Senior Sister Zhou, I am Wu Sheng. I need your help with something."
Zhou Siyi opened the cave abode's protective barrier and stepped out, a smile she couldn't hide on her face.
"Junior Brother Wu, this is your first time visiting my cave abode. Please come in."
Zhou Siyi's cave abode, though not luxurious, was meticulously and carefully arranged.
She used stone walls to divide the cave abode into several areas, including bedrooms, halls, Alchemy Chamber, and even a kitchen.
After the two were seated in the hall, Zhou Siyi asked...
"Junior Brother Wu, what brings you to my cave abode today?"
Song Wen said, "I have come today to ask you for a favor."
Zhou Siyi said, "Junior brother, please speak. As long as it's within my power, I will not refuse."
"I would like to ask my senior sister to go to the Mountain Ravine Ghost Market and the East Birch Market to help me find and purchase the Heart-Congealing Herb."
Zhou Siyi looked puzzled and asked, "Heart-Congealing Herb! That's a third-tier spirit medicine. As far as I know, Heart-Congealing Herb is almost never used in refining second-tier pills. Junior brother, why are you looking for Heart-Congealing Herb?"
Song Wen said, "I have my own reasons, so please don't ask too many questions, Senior Sister. Due to certain reasons, I am unable to go to the Mountain Ravine Ghost Market and East Birch Market, which is why I asked Senior Sister to buy them for me."
Zhou Siyi said, "Alright, I won't ask. Helping my junior brother find the Heart-Congealing Herb is naturally no problem. It's just that I've never been to the Ghost Market Mountain Ravine Ghost Market, and I don't even know where it is. As for East Birch Market, forgive me for being frank, but the chances of finding the Heart-Congealing Herb in the market are really quite low."
Song Wen recounted the information about the Mountain Ravine Ghost Market.
Then, he handed Zhou Siyi a Storage Bag.
Storage Bag were ten thousand Spirit Stone and an iron mask.
This mask originally belonged to Wang Ming. It can shield Foundation Establishment cultivator from their Divine Sense perception, making it impossible for others to detect their true cultivation level and appearance.
A month ago, Song Wen asked an elder from the Artifact Peak to reforge the mask, changing its appearance.
No one would guess that the mask came from Wang Ming.
"Senior Sister Zhou, the Ghost Market is a mixed bag, so please be discreet and careful in your actions. Also, please don't tell anyone about buying the Heart-Congealing Herb."
Zhou Siyi put away the Storage Bag, a hint of joy on her face. It seemed that being trusted by Song Wen was an extremely happy thing.
"Don't worry, junior brother. This is a secret between you and me; no third person will know."
Song Wen took his leave and turned to leave.
One month later.
Zhou Siyi appeared in Song Wen's cave abode.
"Junior Brother Wu, I've been staking out East Birch Market for many days, and even inquired at various sect shops in the market as an elder. I can confirm that the possibility of buying Heart-Congealing Herb in the market is extremely slim."
"I went to the Mountain Ravine Ghost Market, and the small trade Ghost Market next to it, but I still couldn't buy the Heart-Congealing Herb."
"There's no other way. I can only follow your instructions and pay two thousand Spirit Stone to reach an agreement with the owner of the 'Immortal Herb Pavilion' in the Ghost Market. The Immortal Herb Pavilion will purchase the Heart-Congealing Herb- Heart-Congealing Herb Grass on my behalf, and they will notify me as soon as they find it."
The Heart-Congealing Herb was not easy to obtain, as Song Wen had anticipated.
Reaching a pre-purchase agreement with the Immortal Herb Pavilion was also Song Wen's idea.
"Senior Sister Zhou, you've gone to so much trouble. I'm deeply grateful," Song Wen said.
"It's nothing. I'm already very happy to be able to help my junior brother."
The difficulty in procuring the Heart-Congealing Herb far exceeded Song Wen's expectations.
It wasn't until two years later that Zhou Siyi brought back her first Heart-Congealing Herb from the Ghost Market.
One Heart-Congealing Herb was clearly insufficient to meet Song Wen's needs.
Three years later, I finally bought the second Heart-Congealing Herb.
Then, four years later, I bought the third Heart-Congealing Herb.
At this moment, with the help of a large number of Blood Spirit Pill, Song Wen's cultivation had broken through to the Foundation Establishment Peak Stage.
If Song Wen cannot form his core, his cultivation will not progress further.
If he wants to increase his strength, he can only cultivate the <Corpse King Blood Refinement Art>, but being in the Beast Taming Sect, it is obviously not suitable for him to cultivate this Cultivation Method.