Leaving the City and Entrusting a Task

Zhang Xuezhou to Yunyi Daoist Temple was short, and his return to the Zhang residence was equally swift.

"How about it?"

Locked in the cellar, Li Shaojun waited almost until dawn before Zhang Xuezhou finally appeared.

Cough cough cough!

Zhang Xuezhou coughed a few times, then waved his hand, signaling Rong Tianding to remove the long bamboo pole.

"Hey Dong, you're letting me go? I told you long ago I wasn't targeting you for no reason, I was really beaten to death. Only someone like me could vent my anger after being beaten to death. If it were anyone else, they wouldn't have this chance, wouldn't they have died unjustly... Hey, why are you spitting blood?"

"It's nothing, I just happened to run into Master Zhenyuan and he slapped me!"

"Ah?"

Li Shaojun had a lot of grievances against Zhang Xuezhou, after all, this guy had brought a scourge with him, and he never imagined that he would die so easily.

If it weren't for the existence of a third-person perspective after his death, Li Shaojun wouldn't even know how he died.

Li Shaojun thought about Zhang Xuezhou, whom even the Fish Intestine Sword hadn't managed to wound, and then looked at the blood spilling from the corner of Zhang Xuezhou's mouth after he coughed, and the torn pieces of clothing on Zhang Xuezhou's chest. It was almost exactly the same situation as when he was attacked, except that Zhang Xuezhou was spitting out blood, while Li Shaojun had died from vomiting blood.

After comparing the two, Li Shaojun felt that Zhang Xuezhou was once again on his side, and all his previous resentment disappeared.

"Why is that Daoist priest still near my temple?" Li Shaojun asked anxiously. "Why is he so determined to kill me?"

"I asked Cai Ma... cough cough cough... she said you might know a secret that can't be told," Zhang Xuezhou coughed.

"A secret that can't be told?"

After Li Shaojun was pulled out of the cellar mound, his expression changed repeatedly.

Zhang Xuezhou's words made Li Shaojun uneasy, after all, he had many secrets he couldn't reveal, and even Li Shaojun couldn't figure out which one he had broken.

"Did Cai Ma say anything else?" Li Shaojun asked anxiously, "This is the first time I've ever met Zhenyuan. I really don't know what made him want to kill me!"

Which one?

Zhang Xuezhou took a sip of water, then spat out the fresh pig's blood he had been holding in his mouth. He felt that Li Shaojun had a lot of secrets.

But after putting on this act, the conflict between him and Li Shaojun disappeared.

"Zhenyuan has spent a lot of time in Chang'an City these past few years, and you've also made quite a bit of money from the Empress Dowager. You should lay low for now!"

Now that the Empress Dowager has passed away, Li Shaojun has no chance of gaining any advantage at Anle Palace; instead, he will likely encounter a menacing figure.

Zhang Xuezhou didn't understand why Divine Lord Zhenyuan had intervened. He clutched his chest and gestured for Li Shaojun to leave as soon as possible, and return after Divine Lord Zhenyuan left Chang'an City.

"What did Zhenyuan say when he hit you?" Li Shaojun asked after thinking for a moment.

He said, "Wrong number!"

"Wrong number?"

Li Shaojun felt a chill run down his spine at the explanation given by Divine Lord Zhenyuan after beating Zhang Xuezhou.

On the one hand, Divine Lord Zhenyuan's statement that he "hit the wrong target" meant that there was a clear objective, and Li Shaojun felt that he, from Yunyi Daoist Temple, was the first to be targeted.

On the other hand, Divine Lord Zhenyuan seemed to take the matter of hitting the wrong person far too lightly, killing someone as if it were slaughtering a chicken or duck, and he couldn't reason with the other party at all.

In the eyes of a Grand Master of the True Self Realm, human life is no different from weeds, and they don't care about laws or systems.

After Zhang Xuezhou said that, Li Shaojun felt that it might be better to leave early and hide for a while.

He didn't want any justice or explanation; if he couldn't afford to offend him, he could at least avoid him. As for Anle Palace, let them do whatever they want.

Li Shaojun felt very free if he didn't want to gain any advantage over the imperial court.

"It's a bit of a pity about my Eight Steps to Immortality Pill. I couldn't find the Empress Dowager's medicine gourd, and her Nine Dragon Cauldron is difficult to use. I'm also short almost half of the medicinal ingredients..."

Even Cai Ma managed to gather two sets of fate-related resources, and Li Shaojun's goal of coming to Chang'an City was nearly half achieved.

Some of these gifts came from the Anle Palace, but most were from banquets he attended.

Perhaps he obtained the corresponding reward at the banquet, or learned which family possessed the item, which he could then pursue later. Li Shaojun's goal of obtaining the elixir was nearly half achieved.

"Hey, you surnamed Dong, you know I came to Chang'an City to get a copy of the Eight Steps to Immortality Pill. Now that I'm leaving, I'm afraid I won't be able to gather enough pills. Do you think I could get my hands on some?"

Li Shaojun pondered his goal of acquiring top-tier external elixirs in Chang'an City, and ultimately handed the matter over to someone else.

The refining of great medicines is no small matter. Li Shaojun knew that Zhang Xuezhou possessed alchemy skills, but he also knew that Zhang Xuezhou was refining internal elixirs, which were completely different from external elixirs.

Even if Zhang Xuezhou managed to gather all the necessary rare materials, it wouldn't be easy for the other party to successfully refine it; in the end, he would still have to ask Li Shaojun for help.

"Alright, is there anything else you want to say?"

Zhang Xuezhou gave a brief reply.

With Divine Lord Zhenyuan overseeing Anle Palace, if Anle Palace possesses the necessary materials, it wouldn't be too difficult for him to gather all the ingredients for the Eight Steps to Immortality Pill mentioned by Li Shaojun.

Although his cultivation of the Realm Technique had hit a snag, Zhang Xuezhou was still quite interested in this elixir.

If he had the chance to obtain some elixirs, he would be happy to prepare them in order to avoid lacking them when needed for cultivation.

"Fine-quality cinnabar, sulfur, lead oxide, chalcanthite, realgar, orpiment, zirconia, and mineral water!"

After reading the ingredients of the external alchemy medicines written by Li Shaojun on the bamboo slips, as well as their purity and origin, Zhang Xuezhou's eyelids twitched slightly.

"Are you sure this kind of pill made from this material is safe to take?" Zhang Xuezhou asked doubtfully.

"I knew you people who refine internal elixirs would question external elixirs," Li Shaojun said with dissatisfaction. "Both internal and external elixir medicines originate from innate ancestral energy. External elixir medicines are derived from ancestral energy that, although hidden in the Dantian at birth, can sometimes be released outwards. This outwardly released energy is then returned inwards. Thus, although it originates from within, it comes from without, hence the name 'external elixir medicine.' This medicine is not inedible, but it can only be taken when one reaches a certain level!"

"That seems to make sense!"

"Look at my cultivation so far, when have I ever taken any external elixirs?" Li Shaojun said. "This Eight Steps to Immortality Pill is only used to enlighten the body when entering a higher realm, thereby increasing the chances of success!"

"That sounds reasonable!"

Li Shaojun's external elixirs were mostly made from chemical substances, requiring extremely high purity. This meant that Li Shaojun could only seek out the imperial court, which had the qualifications for large-scale refining.

Whether it's crafting Law Treasure, forging weapons, or developing currency, many minerals are constantly consumed in the process, and some high-purity minerals are also produced, which can then be used as basic materials for high-standard external elixirs.

Zhang Xuezhou thought that Li Shaojun's Eight Steps to Immortality Pill was just a mineral poison, but after thinking about Zhang Xuezhou, he figured that if someone like Li Shaojun dared to take it, it was impossible for someone like him, who possessed a poison-avoidance technique, to die from it. In the end, he chose to agree with him.

"I currently have cinnabar, gallstones, and primordial water. Try to gather the other five. Once we have them all, our chances of advancing in cultivation will increase by half," Li Shaojun murmured. "Then we shouldn't be able to get our heads slapped by a True Self Realm cultivator."

"No problem!"

"You're skilled at refining inner elixirs; outer elixirs shouldn't be refined lightly," Li Shaojun cautioned. "Wasting the materials is one thing, but making the wrong medicine and causing illness is a much bigger problem. Once you've gathered all the ingredients, you must call me. We'll find a top-tier Pill Furnace and refine the elixir in one go, then head towards a brighter future!"

"Become!"

Zhang Xuezhou nodded and readily agreed.

If Zhang Xuezhou needed to find rare and exotic herbs, identifying their components would be very difficult, and finding similar substances would present numerous challenges.

But when it comes to minerals, that's a piece of cake for Zhang Xuezhou.

The Great Han Dynasty's industrialization was insufficient and its technological level was not high enough. However, its ore refining level in the real world was not low, and these minerals were largely the same, with little difference between the two.

Let alone the 90% purity that Li Shaojun believes in, even a purity of 999% could be easily obtained.

Zhang Xuezhou is not skilled in external alchemy, but with enough materials, he has plenty of room for error.

With repeated setup and configuration in the laboratory, Zhang Xuezhou became familiar with the process, and it wasn't difficult for him to refine a normal Eight-Step Ascension Pill.