Each Taking What They Need

Inside the stone chamber, over a hundred precious medicinal herbs and more than a dozen rare pill formulas floated in midair, each radiating a unique glow.

It was the first time Su Heng and the others had seen such a sight, and they were left speechless by the sheer extravagance before them.

"This is the Alchemist Guild's treasure vault? There are so many treasures here—its stockpile even surpasses the Storage Ring of the Xuanjia Snake Emperor!"

Looking around, Su Heng could not help sighing. He had not expected the Black Rock City Alchemist Guild's accumulated wealth to surpass that of a Dou Emperor expert.

"I brought you here today to give you a gift."

"But before that, you should all properly thank Little Su. He risked his life in the Magic Beast Mountains to obtain this gift."

Otto and Frank turned to look at Su Heng, their eyes full of gratitude.

With a casual wave of their hands, several crystal bottles flew out from among the dazzling treasures. Inside each bottle, a tiny black flame burned fiercely.

"The Xuanjia Snake Emperor's Beast Flame? So that's it!"

Upon seeing the divided portions of the Snake Emperor's Beast Flame, Su Heng immediately understood the two elders' intentions. Everyone present was an Alchemist personally trained by the Black Rock City Alchemist Guild, and now they would receive the Sixth Rank Snake Emperor's Mysterious Flame.

As for Xiao Yan, although he was not from Black Rock City, he was Su Heng's friend and someone the Black Rock City Alchemist Guild intended to recruit heavily. Giving him a Beast Flame was a show of the two teachers' sincerity.

"This is the Beast Flame of the Sixth-Order Magical Beast, the Xuanjia Snake Emperor. Today, we are giving it to all of you. We hope you will not disappoint the Black Rock City Alchemist Guild's efforts in nurturing you. Work diligently and continue improving your alchemy."

"Xiao Yan, you are now considered one of the Black Rock City Alchemist Guild's members, so naturally there is a share of the Snake Emperor's Beast Flame for you as well. Of course, you may refuse. We will not force you."

Looking at the Beast Flame before him, Xiao Yan naturally understood what it represented. Taking such a treasure without paying a price was clearly impossible, yet he truly could not bear to refuse it outright.

After a long silence, Xiao Yan grabbed the crystal bottle floating before him and smiled as he thanked Otto and Frank.

Then, he took out a small jade bottle from his Storage Ring, handed it to Su Heng, and said with a smile.

"Brother Su, you risked your life in the Magic Beast Mountains to obtain this Snake Emperor Beast Flame. I cannot simply keep it for myself."

"This bottle contains some Companion Amethyst Source from the Purple Crystal Winged Lion King. The Purple Crystal Winged Lion King's Purple Flame can be extracted from it. I hope it can be of help to you."

Getting Xiao Yan to obey the Alchemist Guild's orders was naturally impossible, but Xiao Yan would never simply take the Snake Emperor Beast Flame either.

In the end, he gave Su Heng a bottle of Companion Amethyst Source as an exchange.

Purple Flame and Profound Flame were flames of the same rank, so no one could object to this arrangement. Moreover, with such an equal exchange, Xiao Yan would not be bound by the Alchemist Guild. It was truly a case of each taking what they needed.

"Alright. Thank you, Brother Xiao Yan!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Su Heng accepted the Companion Amethyst Source. He trusted Xiao Yan, but more importantly, he needed this Purple Flame as well.

The Beast Flame of a Sixth-Order Magical Beast had already caused Su Heng's alchemy to advance by leaps and bounds. Every additional Beast Flame he possessed would greatly reduce the Dou Qi he needed to expend when refining medicinal ingredients.

Most importantly, Beast Flames differed from Heavenly Flames. Without a special cultivation method, an Alchemist could only subdue one Heavenly Flame.

Beast Flames, on the other hand, had no limit on how many one could subdue. In theory, as long as an Alchemist was strong enough, they could subdue tens of thousands of Beast Flames.

Su Heng knew very well that Xiao Yan would soon leave Black Rock City and head to the Tagor Desert to subdue the Green Lotus Core Flame buried there.

With a Heavenly Flame, Xiao Yan's alchemy would improve by multiples. By then, forget contending against him—even catching up to his back would be extremely difficult.

Moreover, without the Flame Mantra and Medicine Elder's assistance, even if Su Heng wanted to seize the Green Lotus Core Flame before Xiao Yan, it would be nothing but a fool's dream.

For the time being, he had no ability to compete with Xiao Yan over Heavenly Flames, so he needed to find another path. In truth, Su Heng had already planned a direction for his own growth.

That was to collect Beast Flames!

Of all flames under heaven, Heavenly Flames reigned supreme!

No matter how formidable a Beast Flame was, it could only bow in submission before a Heavenly Flame. When fighting a wielder of a Heavenly Flame, someone holding a Beast Flame had no choice but to turn and flee.

However, in alchemy, the gap between them was not nearly as great as it was in battle. Several powerful Beast Flames working in tandem could likewise refine Eighth-grade Pills or even pills above Eighth-grade.

And the cultivation methods, Dou Techniques, and even favors that a peak-grade pill could obtain would all become the foundation upon which Su Heng would establish himself in the future.

Since Xiao Yan was willing to give him the Purple Crystal Winged Lion Flame, Su Heng naturally had no reason to hesitate. After all, there were only so many Sixth-Order Magical Beast Flames in the Jia Ma Empire.

If not for the fact that his Dou Qi had been exhausted and he lacked the strength to refine the Purple Flame, Su Heng would have loved to swallow the Amethyst Source whole right then.

Unlike Xiao Yan's cautious approach, Lin Fei, Xue Mei, and the others did not hold back at all. They joyfully accepted the crystal bottles, then ran over to thank Su Heng.

Lin Fei took out a formula for the Third-grade Qi-Replenishing Pill, while Xue Mei gave Su Heng more than a dozen medicinal herbs for refining Third-grade Pills. The other apprentices also brought out the best gifts they could offer.

Although these gifts were far less valuable than a Sixth Rank Beast Flame, Su Heng did not care. Their thoughtfulness was enough. After all, the Beast Flame had been intended for his senior sisters and junior brothers in the first place.

"Little Su, now that you have the Snake Emperor Beast Flame, Frank and I have decided to let you choose any other treasure from our guild's vault and take it with you."

"Take a look and see if there is anything you want. Just say the word. As long as it is in the vault, you may take it."

Otto spread his arms, signaling Su Heng to choose freely. Su Heng did not stand on ceremony and directly named the thing he had long coveted.

"I want a formula for the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill!"

The Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill was a Peak Fourth-grade Pill that could help a Dou Master break through into a Da Dou Shi. If a Da Dou Shi took it, there was a certain chance of rising three stars in a row. It was one of the most valuable Fourth-grade Pills.

Although there was an extremely small chance that a Da Dou Shi would suffer a backlash from its medicinal power after taking the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill and lose one or two stars of cultivation, that failure rate was negligible compared to the temptation of gaining three stars at once.

Moreover, it could be used not only by Su Heng himself, but also by Qing Lin after she advanced to the Da Dou Shi realm.

Most importantly, the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill was extremely valuable!

A Two-Stripe Green Spirit Pill could sell for roughly four hundred thousand gold coins, while a Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill could fetch the high price of six hundred thousand.

Whether for building connections through gifts or escaping poverty and growing wealthy, the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill was Su Heng's best option, without question.

As for the three kinds of flames needed to refine the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill?

Su Heng's original plan had been to spend money at the Mittel Auction House on two low-rank Beast Flames. But now that he had Sixth Rank Purple Flame, obtaining the final Beast Flame would no longer be much trouble.

"This... Little Su... our guild really does not have the formula for the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill. The Imperial Capital's main Alchemist Guild does have a copy, but Guild President Fa Ma probably would not agree to give it to us..."

"How about... you take this formula for the Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill instead? It is similar to the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill and is also a Peak Fourth-grade Pill."

Seeing Otto's ashamed and helpless expression, Su Heng understood that his teacher was not lying. The Black Rock City Alchemist Guild truly did not have the formula for the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill.

If they truly did not have that formula, then the Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill would do as a substitute.

The Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill was a Peak Fourth-grade Pill. Like the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill, it could directly raise one's cultivation, except it could only be used by Da Dou Shi-level experts.

A Da Dou Shi could rise one star after taking a Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill. Its advantage was that one person could take two pills in succession without developing resistance or suffering any harm.

Simply put, one Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill could let a Da Dou Shi rise three stars, with a small chance of losing one or two stars instead. The Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill could raise two stars with absolute certainty, but required taking two pills.

Compared with it, the Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill was the perfect inferior substitute for the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill.

With things having come to this, what else could Su Heng say?

Such were the troubles of the poor. Many times, it was not that one did not want to get everything done in a single step—it was that one simply did not have the conditions to do so.

Taking the formula for the Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill from Otto, Su Heng felt a trace of disappointment, but he still smiled and thanked his teacher.

This was already the best formula Otto could offer. How could Su Heng bear to blame him?

With the Purple Crystal Winged Lion King's Purple Flame, Su Heng was confident that he could advance to a Fourth-grade Alchemist in about three months, then begin producing Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pills in batches.

"Little Su... if you truly want the formula for the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill, there may not be no other way."

After pondering for a moment, Frank lightly stroked his chin and spoke in a deliberately mysterious tone.

"Half a year from now, a new Alchemist Competition will be held in the Imperial Capital. If you can win the championship then, forget a Fourth-grade Pill formula—even a Sixth-grade Pill Formula might be offered as a prize."

"This Alchemist Competition will gather not only many Alchemists from the Jia Ma Empire, but even Alchemists from other empires across the continent will come to compete. It is a grand event in the Jia Ma Empire's alchemy world. It would be a pity to miss it."

As Frank spoke, he secretly glanced at Su Heng and Xiao Yan. Clearly, he hoped both of them would participate.

Su Heng and Xiao Yan were both Alchemists registered with the Black Rock City Alchemist Guild. If either of them won the competition, the funding Black Rock City would receive from the main guild next year would certainly multiply several times over.

"Alright, Master Frank. If nothing unexpected happens, I will participate."

Even without prizes, Su Heng wanted to attend such a grand event as the Alchemist Competition just to see the excitement.

Besides, he remembered clearly that the prize for this Alchemist Competition was the formula for the Soul-Melting Pill. That was something that had created quite a "legend"!

"Brother Xiao Yan, what about you? Would you like to go and join in the fun then?"

"Me? I think I'll pass... In a few days, I'll be leaving Black Rock City to train at the empire's border. As for the Alchemist Competition, I can only leave it to fate and luck."

"You're leaving so soon... Alright. Since you have important matters to attend to, then I suppose it can only be left to fate."

Su Heng knew that after Xiao Yan exchanged for the medicinal ingredients needed to refine a Heavenly Flame, he would leave Black Rock City.

However, Xiao Yan would ultimately still participate in the Alchemist Competition, so Su Heng did not care much.

"Right, you said you were going to the empire's border? The Tagor Desert?"

There was no other border outside Black Rock City besides the Tagor Desert, so Xiao Yan was not surprised by Su Heng's deduction. He merely nodded silently.

"If that is the case, you will definitely pass through Stone Desert City. Remember to send my regards to Second Brother Xiao and the others. Also, consider this a small gift from me. Please give it to Second Brother Xiao for me."

Su Heng took out two bottles of the Second-grade Pill Bone-Regenerating Pill that he had refined himself, handed them to Xiao Yan, and continued.

"If you see Second Brother Xiao and the others from the mercenary group, tell them Qing Lin and I are both doing well. Once I finish dealing with the matters at hand in a few months, Qing Lin and I will go to Stone Desert City to visit everyone."

Xiao Yan put away the pills, nodded solemnly, and replied.

"Alright. I will certainly convey Brother Su's regards to my second brother and the others."

By now, the date of Su Heng's agreement with Bo'er, the lord of Salt City, was drawing near.

After going to the Imperial Capital and purchasing a Profound Tier fire-controlling Dou Technique, Su Heng planned to return to Salt City and resolve the Mo Family problem.

Before that, Su Heng needed to raise his Alchemist rank as much as possible. If he became a Fourth-grade Alchemist, then joining forces with Dou Wang Bo'er to eliminate the Mo Family would not be impossible.

After all, Mo Cheng was only a Five-Star Dou Spirit. Once he died, the Mo Family would naturally collapse like a tree with monkeys scattering.

Once the Mo Family fell, with Su Heng's abilities as a Fourth-grade Alchemist, along with the medicinal ingredient stockpiles of the Xuanjia Snake Emperor and the Mo Family, he was confident that he could make the Su Clan Salt City's number one great clan within half a year.

After settling the gifts for Xiao Li, Su Heng turned to all the newly promoted Alchemists and raised an arm as he cheered.

"Since everyone has gotten what they need, I'll host a banquet at Chengyue Tower tonight. Let's celebrate properly!"

"Brother Xiao Yan, you have to give me this face. Tonight, we drink until we drop!"

"Alright, I'll follow Brother Su's arrangements."

Xiao Yan had originally planned to leave Black Rock City after obtaining the third-tier magical core and Ice Spirit Cold Spring, but Su Heng's warm invitation was hard to refuse, and Xiao Yan was quite willing to befriend him. He immediately agreed.

That night at the banquet, Xiao Yan, who normally never drank, made an exception and drank heartily with Su Heng, Lin Fei, and the others until they were thoroughly drunk.

At the feast, the drunken Su Heng and Xiao Yan found each other kindred spirits to an absurd degree. They shared a bed, exchanged their alchemy insights, and did not fall into a deep sleep under the lingering effects of the wine until late into the night.

The next day, when Su Heng opened his bleary eyes from his hangover with a heavy head, the sun was already high in the sky. The blazing sunlight was like fire. He rubbed his aching head, looked at the thin blanket covering him, and slowly sat up.

He was the only one in the room. Xiao Yan, with whom he had talked for most of the night, was nowhere to be seen. It seemed Xiao Yan had awakened much earlier than he had.

"Brother Su Heng, you're awake! Young Master Xiao Yan left this Hangover-Relief Pill for you."

A youthful yet delicate oval face appeared before Su Heng. Qing Lin's cute little head swayed proudly, and at some point, a pale purple pill had appeared in her tender white hand.

"Brother Xiao Yan? Did he go out?"

Su Heng swallowed the Hangover-Relief Pill Xiao Yan had left him. In an instant, most of his hangover vanished. Medicine Elder's pill formulas were truly comprehensive; none of the formulas Otto had taught Su Heng included anything like a Hangover-Relief Pill.

"Young Master Xiao Yan said he had some important matters to attend to, so he left first. He said that if fate brought us together again, he would definitely treat us properly."

"Mm. I doubt that day will be far away. He truly has something very important to do. I hope everything goes smoothly for him."

Su Heng gazed at the blue sky beyond the window, feeling deeply moved.

After today's parting, when we meet again, you will be Mr. Yan Xiao, wielder of a Heavenly Flame, while I will surely be Master Su Heng, the youngest Fourth-grade Alchemist in the entire Jia Ma Empire.