"Then I'll take a small loss. This legacy counts as a rare treasure," Fang Heng said.
Hearing Fang Heng agree, the man in the ghost mask could not help but let out a sigh of relief.
The Eighth Prince's orders had been carried out.
After completing the transaction, Fang Heng left the City of Life and Death and returned to the Imperial Estate in Dingling County.
He inspected the Imperial Estate and saw that every matter had been arranged in perfect order. Fang Heng nodded in satisfaction.
This was all thanks to his talent for employing people and his excellent leadership.
He entered his cultivation chamber, took out the Poison Art Legacy, and began studying it.
The Poison Art Legacy produced by the man in the ghost mask was incomplete. It did not even have a name, clearly only part of some poison art.
Fortunately, the cultivation method of the Heretical Poison Pill was extremely complete, more than enough for Fang Heng to cultivate.
The so-called Heretical Poison Pill was a method that used an external pill to imitate a Golden Core.
The key lay in refining the external pill.
According to the records of the Poison Art Legacy, the external pill used the fleshly body as the furnace, yin and yang as the craftsmen, qi and blood as charcoal, and herbs and trees as the pill.
Simply put, it meant using the fleshly body to refine a Heretical Poison Pill through alchemical methods.
The cultivator who created the Heretical Poison Pill had himself been an Alchemy Grandmaster.
Using alchemy as its foundation, he had established the legacy of the Heretical Golden Core.
After reading it through, Fang Heng's brows furrowed tightly.
This Heretical Poison Pill method was utterly mad.
Alchemy was a dangerous undertaking.
His second senior sister, for instance, often blew up her furnace.
Using the fleshly body as an alchemy furnace and pill-refining techniques to refine a Heretical Poison Pill—
It could only be described as madness.
If an alchemy furnace exploded, one could simply replace it with another.
But if one's body exploded, replacing it would not be nearly so easy.
Aside from using the fleshly body as a Cultivation Cauldron, the refining technique was also exceptionally profound.
It required one yin and one yang flame to refine it.
Simply controlling the Yin-Yang Dual Flames at the same time required no ordinary level of flame control.
At the very least, one needed the skill of an Alchemy Master to control the Yin-Yang Dual Flames simultaneously.
Fortunately, Fang Heng had an alternative method.
Fire Barbarian was skilled at controlling flames.
It was also his ghost servant, their minds linked as one.
If the two worked together, they could barely achieve this.
After considering it over and over, Fang Heng left the cultivation chamber and went to the alchemy workshop to visit his second senior sister.
"Greetings, Second Senior Sister!"
"Little Junior Brother, what brings you here today?"
"Are you done with the Ministry of Agriculture's affairs?"
A faint trace of surprise flashed through Xiao Luoyu's bright eyes.
Fang Heng was momentarily speechless.
Within the entire Ministry of Agriculture, no one had it easier than Xiao Luoyu.
She had supposedly come out to relax, yet the moment she arrived at the Ministry of Agriculture, she went right back to refining pills day and night.
No wonder she had earned the nickname Pill Maniac at Evergreen Temple.
"Second Senior Sister, I came to seek guidance in alchemy," Fang Heng said with cupped hands.
Upon hearing Fang Heng's purpose, Xiao Luoyu's eyes lit up, and a faint smile curved her lips.
She did not understand farming.
But when it came to alchemy, she understood it all too well.
"Junior Brother, you want to learn alchemy? That's simple. Senior Sister will teach you..."
Filled with interest, Xiao Luoyu patiently guided Fang Heng through alchemy.
Alchemy was one of Evergreen Temple's Four Great Arts.
Across the entire Great Qian cultivation world, it was considered a first-rate legacy, second only to the Ten Great Dao Courts.
The foundation of the "Evergreen Pill Scripture" came from the legacy of the Azure Emperor.
After generations of patriarchs refined and perfected it, it had already become a school of its own.
The "Evergreen Pill Scripture" excelled in the proportions of herbs and plants, often allowing ordinary medicinal herbs to unleash remarkable potency.
After Xiao Luoyu explained tirelessly for an hour, she began the practical demonstration.
"Junior Brother, did you understand?"
"Senior Sister will demonstrate it for you on the spot."
As she spoke, Xiao Luoyu lit the fire, lifted the lid of the alchemy furnace, and tossed medicinal ingredients into it.
"First like this, then like this, and finally like this..."
"Junior Brother, do you understand now?"
Xiao Luoyu looked at Fang Heng with expectant eyes.
Fang Heng felt utterly bewildered.
Like this, like that—what exactly did she mean?
Fang Heng finally understood why Xiao Luoyu was known as the Pill Maniac at Evergreen Temple, why her alchemy ranked among the top three, yet why she had never taught Evergreen Temple's disciples alchemy.
A giant in practice, a dwarf in teaching.
If not for the boost from his Flash of Inspiration fate, Fang Heng would not have understood what Xiao Luoyu meant by "like this" and "like that."
"I understood seven or eight parts out of ten."
"Senior Sister, let me borrow your alchemy furnace."
As he spoke, Fang Heng sat before the alchemy furnace beneath Xiao Luoyu's expectant gaze.
Fang Heng did not aim too high. For his first attempt at alchemy, he refined the most common pill—the Qi Nurturing Pill.
The Qi Nurturing Pill was a pill found everywhere.
Yet being common did not mean it was easy to refine.
Heavenly Immortal Herb, one mace.
Azure Mist Grass, two mace.
Jade Spirit Ganoderma, one mace.
After Fang Heng measured out the herbs, he flicked his right hand and tossed the Heavenly Immortal Herb into the alchemy furnace.
Light the fire, open the furnace, extract the essence of the herbs.
A stream of Pill Fire burst from his palm, blazing fiercely beneath the alchemy furnace.
Pill Fire was the most common type of alchemical flame.
Even first-realm cultivators of the Daoist School could wield it.
As for its power and effectiveness in pill refinement, they were merely average.
If one could obtain Spirit Fire, the success rate of pill refinement could rise dramatically.
Unfortunately, Spirit Fire was difficult to find.
Ordinary cultivators could go their entire lives without ever seeing Spirit Fire.
Only those with great fortune could obtain a wisp of Spirit Fire through a fortunate coincidence.
Pill Fire and Spirit Fire each had their own limitations in alchemy.
Earth Fire possessed power between that of Pill Fire and Spirit Fire.
Moreover, compared to Spirit Fire, Earth Fire was not difficult to find.
Unfortunately, Earth Fire was too violent and difficult to control. Using it for alchemy was harder than climbing to the heavens.
This was why Xiao Luoyu was obsessed with improving methods of refining pills with Earth Fire, so that Earth Fire could be used in the path of alchemy.
If she succeeded, it would be an earth-shattering, revolutionary feat.
Fang Heng also thought highly of the Earth Fire alchemy project. It was just that too little time had passed, and the artifact refiners of Evergreen Temple had yet to bring any good news.
Sizzle, sizzle—
The sound of impurities burning rang out from within the alchemy furnace.
The Pill Fire blazed fiercely, scorching the air until it seemed ready to twist and warp.
Amid the flickering flames, the Heavenly Immortal Herb was quickly refined into a mass of azure liquid.
Every trace of impurity was removed.
Only the purest medicinal potency remained.
Then Fang Heng placed the Azure Mist Grass into the alchemy furnace.
He began the process of extracting its medicinal potency anew.
He repeated the process again and again.
After roughly a quarter of an hour, five masses of medicinal liquid floated within the alchemy furnace.
All the ingredients for refining the Qi Nurturing Pill had been completely extracted.
After that came the most crucial step.
"Condense!"
Under the control of his divine sense, the medicinal liquids fused into one.
Vaguely, the outline of a round pill flickered in and out of sight within the Pill Fire.
Fang Heng focused entirely on condensing the pill.
His divine sense swept through the alchemy furnace, monitoring the fusion of the medicinal potency.
According to how the medicinal potency fused, he adjusted the intensity of the Pill Fire.
Before long.
A faint fragrance of herbs and plants drifted out from the alchemy furnace.
That herbal fragrance grew increasingly rich.
In the end, it seemed as though it were about to burst forth from the alchemy furnace.
At the side, Xiao Luoyu watched Fang Heng's entire pill-refining process from beginning to end.
A satisfied and delighted smile appeared on her flawless, delicate face.
As expected, Master had been wrong.
Clearly, it was the disciples of Evergreen Temple who were foolish and could not understand what I taught.
Little Junior Brother could understand. He succeeded on his very first attempt at alchemy.
It was all thanks to my guidance.
Before you continue