Cooperating to Refine Pills

Whether to reveal his Incantation Avoidance Formula or show off his Sky-Piercing Shuttle, Zhang Xuezhou felt the choice wasn't difficult.

Zhang Xuezhou also wanted to get rid of Hongku, this plague god, as soon as possible, lest the other party leave behind any means of control in the old house area over time.

He seized a moment of opportunity and flew swiftly back to his old residence in Chang'an City under the cover of night.

Zhang Xuezhou tucked the two-inch-long Imperial Shuttle into his sleeve, then took out the Black and White Twin Horses and looked at Hongku through the study window.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, teacher!"

Zhang Xuezhou was so humble and polite that Hongku his words to words.

"Impressive skills, Wu Jin, you truly are impressive!"

Hongku clapped his hands at Zhang Xuezhou. His words could be interpreted as praise or as sarcasm born of jealousy, and they sounded rather sarcastic.

Zhang Xuezhou didn't pay attention to Hongku's words; he pointed to his sleeve.

"In order to quickly meet with my teacher, I used my connections to borrow a precious imperial treasure and rushed to Chang'an City. I must return it immediately, and I cannot afford to waste a single moment," Zhang Xuezhou said, cupping his hands in greeting.

"Did you borrow this treasure?" Hongku asked.

"Teacher, do you think I've been struck by lightning?" Zhang Xuezhou laughed. "Someone of my status in the imperial court is not qualified to possess such a treasure. Even if you Qi Ingestion, others will Qi Ingestion. Any treasure would be a scourge to me, especially since I am ill. Even if I had a treasure, I couldn't keep it!"

The new emperor's empty promises to Zhang Xuezhou were not without reason; rather, this situation was a genuine problem that needed to be addressed.

If someone like him, a mere attendant, could possess such precious treasures, what would the Grand Masters, the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, and the various princes and marquises use? And what level of precious treasures would the Emperor, Empress, and Empress Dowager use?

According to the ranking of court officials, it would be impossible for such a precious treasure to be given to Zhang Xuezhou; if it were ranked according to cultivation level, it would be even more impossible for Zhang Xuezhou to be given it.

Zhang Xuezhou's explanation not only clarified that the Law Treasure did not belong to him, but also explained why he was in the distant Jiangdu region.

"Someone like me, with a bit of flying ability, can at most be considered a backup official cultivated by the court," Zhang Xuezhou laughed. "Teacher, you must have been waiting in Chang'an City for a long time. I wonder if you have prepared something to exchange?"

Zhang Xuezhou had a smile on his face, but Zhang Xuezhou quickly got into the normal conversation, which also confirmed that Zhang Xuezhou had indeed come under the cover of a busy time.

"I'm ready," Hongku said solemnly.

"Just get ready and hand it over to my cousin," Zhang Xuezhou said. "You can examine the black and white horses!"

Seemingly trusting Hongku completely, or perhaps truly in a hurry, Zhang Xuezhou didn't even look at what Hongku was about to take out of the bag. Instead, he let Hongku inspect the goods first.

Hongku reached for the pouch with his right hand, while a pair of exquisitely crafted bone horses appeared in his left hand.

The two skeletal horses were black and white, and one could vaguely see the ghostly fire in their eyes.

As if it were suffering from thirst and hunger, the bony horse looked weak and pitiful.

"How do you use it?" Hongku asked.

"If you want to summon a white horse, just chant 'Mani Mani Gu Nong Bai'. Similarly, if you want to summon a black horse, you can chant 'Mani Mani Gu Nong Hei'," Zhang Xuezhou said. "If you want to change this incantation, just put more effort into the refining process!"

"Is this the incantation that the White Bone used before?" Hongku asked.

"Not bad," Zhang Xuezhou nodded.

"It seems you haven't changed the spells they use all these years," Hongku said.

"At that time, my cultivation level was low, and I was also experiencing occasional drowsiness, so I didn't have the ability to refine it. However, after using it many times, I got used to these tongue-twisting incantations," Zhang Xuezhou said.

"Awkward pronunciation has its advantages!"

When Hongku received the black and white twin horses, he felt both excitement and the wariness befitting a cultivator.

But he quickly abandoned that vigilance.

After chanting the incantation, he reached out and successfully transformed the black and white horses. The two nearly lifeless skeletal horses became lively again under his Law Power.

As long as the Spirit Artifact possesses sufficient Law Power, these two little bone horses can transform into powerful tools for traversing mountains and rivers. Not only can they trample through various terrains as if walking on flat ground, but they can also change direction and run at will according to the thoughts of the person controlling the Law Treasure.

With no hunger, no need to eat, and the ability to maintain peak speed at all times, this set of Spirit Artifact is extremely practical.

There may be many well-trained racehorses that can outrun the Black and White Horses, but compared to the Black and White Horses' many advantages, this shortcoming is insignificant.

When do you plan to refine the Creation Pill?

Seeing that Zhang Xuezhou was about to leave after entrusting everything to the Black and White Twin Horses, Hongku couldn't help but ask questions quickly.

The Law Power can be converted into the kinetic energy of the black and white twin horses, or stored in this set of Spirit Artifact, but a cultivator's Law Power does not grow out of thin air in the body.

Zhang Xuezhou had never been troubled by Law Power powers, but the Realm Technique of Hongku and others were far less powerful than those of the Yin-Yang School.

The amount of Law Power is limited, which means that there are significant differences in the generation, transformation, and retention of Law Power.

Hongku sensed it only slightly, but he knew very well that trying to take advantage of the Black and White Twin Horses was a bottomless pit that would drain his Law Power.

Without enough elixirs to restore his Law Power, Hongku become exhausted from using the black and white twin horses to travel long distances, making it difficult to cope with any unexpected events.

However, the competitive environment he had been in over the years in the Sacred Land meant that the Law Power he needed to cultivate the Yang Soul Incarnation Technique was also a huge drain on his resources.

If there was anything that could help him, the only thing Hongku could think of was the Creation Pill.

The Creation Pill is not Hongku can obtain at will; it requires sufficient materials and the exquisite skills of Alchemist.

It's quite normal to produce one Creation Pill from three to five materials, and the quality of Creation Pills from the Northern Kuru Continent is even more unpredictable.

Knowing that Zhang Xuezhou possessed the alchemy skills to refine the Creation Pill, and that the other party had even traded the Black and White Twin Horses at a corresponding exchange rate, Hongku indeed intended to act as a middleman for substantial profits.

"Let's wait a few more days!"

Zhang Xuezhou waved his hand at Hongku, indicating that he was not in a hurry to refine the pills.

He flicked his sleeves, and the two-inch-long Imperial Shuttle was grasped in his palm.

Although it is said that the distance is three thousand miles, Zhang Xuezhou to Jiangdu is six thousand miles.

He left the new emperor waiting by the Jing River for a day. Zhang Xuezhou was indeed pressed for time, so he had no time to answer Hongku's irrelevant questions.

After signaling to Rong Tianding the goods, Zhang Xuezhou also intended to step onto the Imperial Shuttle and leave.

"Wait a minute!"

Seeing that Zhang Xuezhou wanted to run away less than two minutes after returning, without even taking stock of the items he had traded, and that his trip seemed rushed, Hongku could only seize the time to explain his thoughts as briefly as possible.

"Shall we collaborate on alchemy?"

Zhang Xuezhou didn't even have Pill Furnace at the moment, nor had he ever refined a Creation Pill. How could he know the true success rate of his pill refining, or whether he could profit from it? This made Zhang Xuezhou somewhat hesitant about a long-term cooperation with Hongku.

However, given Dong Zhongshu's prior testing of the Eight Steps to Immortality Pill, and the possibility that his own verification could also address the issues with the Heaven and Earth Bridges, Zhang Xuezhou felt he had a significant need for Qi and Blood and Blood Creation Pills and Law Power Creation Pills.

Zhang Xuezhou felt he could take advantage of Hongku's connections, but he didn't want to risk incurring Hongku by failing at alchemy.

"Let's not even talk about splitting the profits 50/50, even 40/60 or 30/70 is fine, you get 70% and I get 30%," Hongku gritted teeth.

The materials lying in the storage bag are useless; they can only be effective when they are transformed into elixirs.

Let alone 70-30%, even 80-20 or 91-100%, as long as it would bring him profit, Hongku felt he would do it.

He left himself some leeway in terms of the price he was willing to pay, and also waited to see how Zhang Xuezhou intended to allocate the funds.

"There's no problem with me and the teacher splitting the profits 50/50," Zhang Xuezhou emphasized. "But as you know, refining the Creation Pill depends on the nature of the demon core, the ingredients, and many other factors such as the Pill Furnace and the fire. When luck is on your side, you can refine pills one after another, but when luck is bad, you only get dregs. If you succeed, that's fine, but if you fail, it will affect our harmony!"

"The teacher isn't someone who can't afford to lose money; at worst, he can just send those two bone horses away again!"

The success rate of pills focuses on the ratio of a large base, not on whether one batch succeeds and another fails, which would result in a 50% success rate. It is normal to fail ten or eight times in a row, and it is also normal to succeed ten or eight times in a row. In many cases, luck plays a big role.

Hongku took a deep breath.

Hongku didn't believe in luck, but he believed in Zhang Xuezhou.

Given Zhang Xuezhou's status in the Great Han Dynasty, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't have reached the Divine Ability Realm without possessing some skill in Cultivation Resources.

He didn't see how many Creation Pills Zhang Xuezhou took out, but Rong Tianding had plenty of Spirit-Forging Pill and Origin-Nurturing Pill on him, which was unlike the stingy spending of a cultivator with a shallow family background.

Zhang Xuezhou laid out the unpleasant truths upfront, but that's also the attitude for cooperation.

Hongku felt he was willing to go all in and take a gamble.