Alchemy Was Simple

First came the white-quality items, such as Yellow Tier Dou Techniques and cultivation methods. There were countless of them.

However, their grade was too low, and Mu Chen had no interest in them. Dou Techniques below the Profound Tier lacked much power, and he had no intention of wasting time cultivating them.

Most first- and second-grade medicinal pills were healing salves and medicinal pastes. Finished pills were rare, and their effects were of little value to Mu Chen now. Still, their listed prices were extremely cheap. Anything costing less than 1 point could be exchanged for with gold coins.

Mu Chen selectively exchanged for some second-grade healing salves and medicinal liquids in case of emergencies.

Although he looked down somewhat on white-quality items, there were still many useful things among them, such as alchemy ingredients and low-grade magic cores of various attributes.

Mu Chen browsed quickly and finally found what he wanted among the blue items.

"Third-Grade Alchemy Cauldron!" Blue quality, worth 100 points.

Effect: It could refine medicinal pills up to the fourth grade. It had three fire vents and a simple spirit-gathering effect, increasing the success rate of pill refinement by half a tenth.

There were three blue-quality alchemy cauldrons in the shop, and their prices and effects were not too different. Mu Chen glanced at his remaining 450 points and decisively bought a Third-Grade Alchemy Cauldron.

Inside the cave, Mu Chen looked at the alchemy cauldron before him, which was nearly half the size of a water vat. The square cauldron walls were carved with exquisite patterns, and its color resembled platinum. When he tapped it with his finger, it gave off a crisp ringing sound.

"It looks pretty good. Three fire vents—it shouldn't be too bad. I just wonder how long this cauldron can last under the tempering of the Xuan Huang Flame?"

Mu Chen's concern was not without reason. The temperature of Heavenly Flames was so high that ordinary materials could not withstand their scorching heat for long. In the original story, Xiao Yan had suffered a cauldron explosion during the Alchemist Convention and nearly failed completely.

"Forget it. I'll look for a better alchemy cauldron later. This one will do for now.

It's cheap, anyway!"

If a cheap item broke, he could just replace it with a new one. Simple and crude. It was only 100 points; refining a few pills would earn that value back.

"First-tier magic cores are needed even for most second- and third-grade medicinal pills. For example, the commonly used third-grade Qi-Replenishing Pill only requires a first-tier magic core. I'll buy them. A second-tier magic core costs 20 points each, which is a little expensive, but I'll buy them anyway."

Magic cores were indispensable materials for alchemy. Even if he could not use them, he could still toss them into an auction house. They held their value, so he would not lose out.

"Third-grade weapon, Fire-Quenched Sword." Blue quality, worth 100 points, with no special effects.

Looking at his remaining 120 points, Mu Chen pondered for a moment before buying the Fire-Quenched Sword anyway.

Weapons could also provide considerable strength and increase one's killing power. They were quite important during the early stages of close combat.

Glancing at his remaining 20 points, Mu Chen's mouth twitched.

Whenever he saw something with good value for money, he could not help buying it! It always felt as though he had not spent much, yet in just a minute, he had spent points worth around 400,000 gold coins. It truly showed how money could flow away like water.

After putting away the alchemy cauldron, Mu Chen took out the flying Dou Technique he had obtained during his trip through the cave: "Eagle Wings," also known as "Purple Cloud Wings."

Flying was the hidden dream of every person, as well as the goal countless people tirelessly pursued.

For this, who knew how many people had devoted themselves to bitter cultivation, all so they could become Dou Wang, spread their wings, soar through the blue sky, and look down upon the mountains and rivers.

After the scroll was unfolded, two pitch-black eagle wings streaked with purple cloud patterns appeared in Mu Chen's sight.

The black eagle wings looked like a painting drawn on the scroll, yet they gave off faint, heart-palpitating auras. If he listened carefully, he seemed to hear the cries of birds echoing from within. Those wings were as vivid as living creatures, making them rather eerie.

At the lower-right corner of the scroll was a line of tiny writing, as small as a mosquito's trail.

"This Dou Technique is called Eagle Wings, also known as Purple Cloud Wings.

Several friends and I spent three years successfully capturing a Blackflame Purple Cloud Eagle. We used a secret method to take its wings and seal its soul, finally creating this flying Dou Technique for others to cultivate.

"This Dou Technique was drawn before my death with all the Dou Qi of my life. It can only accommodate one cultivator. If the cultivator's will is not firm enough to subdue the assault of the Blackflame Purple Cloud Eagle's beast soul, remember not to force the cultivation."

"The Blackflame Purple Cloud Eagle's beast soul?" Mu Chen pressed his hand against the pair of black eagle wings. His palm actually felt the texture of real feathers, and he could vaguely sense that remnant soul power truly remained within them.

However, this remnant soul lacked the violent aura unique to magical beasts. Mu Chen understood that this was the system's power. Anything placed in the inventory had already been marked as belonging exclusively to him, and he possessed absolute control over it.

The incomplete beast soul within the Purple Cloud Wings had therefore been purified, clearing away the mental remnants within it. Only pure soul power remained.

With a thought from Mu Chen, the Purple Cloud Wings flowed into his body through his fingers. He absorbed the pure soul power within them without hesitation, greatly improving his soul power.

Unfortunately, due to the passage of time, there was not much of this soul power left.

Within his meridians, two black streams of light continuously darted about before finally gathering at the meridians along Mu Chen's spine. A flash of light followed, and Mu Chen groaned in pain. Two strange meridians emerged from his back, ultimately imprinting a pair of palm-sized black eagle-wing tattoos there.

Mu Chen was greatly amazed. With a thought, the black eagle-wing tattoos shimmered with rays of light, and a pair of wings nearly a foot long grew from his back. Purple cloud patterns flowed across the wings, while Dou Qi coiled around them, adding yellow and green radiance. They were exceptionally magnificent.

"So this is Purple Cloud Wings. It really is amazing. I don't feel the slightest rejection from it. It feels like a part of my body."

Mu Chen could not resist trying it out. The Purple Cloud Wings flapped slightly, generating a fairly strong whirlwind. As the whirlwind appeared, Mu Chen's body rose from the ground.

Mu Chen rubbed his forehead, which was covered in dust. He had been so focused on testing the Purple Cloud Wings' flying ability that he had forgotten he was still inside the cave. Naturally, he crashed into the ceiling.

Outside, the sky had already darkened. The moon hung above the branches; it was deep into the night.

The night was quiet. Occasionally, the roars of magical beasts sounded out, while the surrounding grass and trees were filled with the chirping of unknown insects. The moonlight was dim, and he could see less than a hundred meters into the distance. Tree shadows swayed, the night breeze was slightly cool, and branches and leaves rustled softly.

Mu Chen helplessly returned to the cave. He had embedded Moonlight Stones into the surrounding stone walls, and beneath their radiant glow, the cave was no longer dark.

"Alchemy begins."

The platinum alchemy cauldron landed heavily on the ground. Mu Chen rubbed his hands together, sat cross-legged beside it, and pressed his palm against one of the fire vents. His fire-and-wood dual-attributed Dou Qi slowly poured inside, where the formation transformed it into an orange-yellow flame.

The first step of alchemy was to warm the cauldron. Once it had been warmed sufficiently, he could begin extracting the medicinal essences from the ingredients.

"Blood-Stasis-Dispelling Salve," a first-grade medicinal pill. It required one Blood-Activating Grass, two sections of Redwood Vine, and one first-tier wood-attributed magic core.

Effect: It activated the blood, dispersed stasis, and accelerated the recovery of external injuries.

Mu Chen had exchanged for three sets of ingredients for this Blood-Stasis-Dispelling Salve. Its refining difficulty was about the same as common medicinal pastes such as Blood-Coagulating Powder.

Mu Chen first placed the Blood-Activating Grass into the cauldron, then carefully controlled the temperature of the flames, wrapping the herb within them and beginning to refine its essence while removing its impurities.

To his surprise, the entire process of extracting the essence went extremely smoothly. Mu Chen felt as though he had performed this process of refining medicinal ingredients thousands upon thousands of times before.

Three minutes later, Mu Chen took out a jade bottle and placed the refined Blood-Stasis-Dispelling Salve inside.

"Alchemy seems pretty simple."