Leaving the Palace

"Tolkien, your cheap teacher ripped us off badly, taking away a lot of our Sacred Land's medicinal herbs!"

"Herbs that can't be refined into pills are useless; they'll just get eaten away by insects if left out too long. You won't lose out by exchanging them!"

"Sigh, why can't I refine pills like you guys?"

In the underground palace of the Xieluosi River Holy Land, the Goat Strength Demon King looked at the Qi and Blood Creation Pills being produced like beans being poured out of a furnace, and he was filled with envy.

As the number one Alchemist in the Xieluosi River Holy Land, Goat Strength Demon King has devoted his life to studying alchemy and has made a name for himself. However, compared with Zhang Xuezhou and others, his alchemy skills are completely insignificant.

"Alchemy relies on talent. No matter how hard you work, you can only reach the lower limit of Alchemist top-tier Alchemist, not the upper limit!"

Zhang Xuezhou offered only perfunctory words, while Zou Bugui crushed the Goat Strength Demon King's little scheme to learn, responding directly with the statement that talent determines one's potential.

There aren't that many alchemy geniuses in the world. The main reason why the Yin-Yang School is good at alchemy is because of their Realm Technique. Anyone with abundant Law Power and exquisite control is already halfway to success.

This is somewhat reminiscent of Zhang Fei's embroidery skills; such requirements seem simple, but few cultivators actually meet them.

The Goat Strength Demon King was lacking in his skill in controlling the Pill Furnace, and his ability to vibrate the medicinal mud to achieve fusion was also insufficient. Once his cultivation was finalized, there was almost no way to improve it. In particular, most demons have fewer acupoints than humans, Demon Power is rough and fierce. They are somewhat clumsy when doing such delicate work, making it too difficult for them to excel in alchemy.

"Talent... sigh!"

Hurt by Zou Bugui's words, the Goat Strength Demon King Yangli felt that his life as a demon alchemist was utterly bleak, and that no matter how hard he worked for decades, he could not compare to the achievements of a genius in just a few years.

"Boss, we can't compete with Tolkien's diligence. We usually only manage to refine one batch of pills every ten days or so, but he's already refined over two hundred batches!"

"Their Pill Furnace is excellent!"

"You couldn't use this kind of Pill Furnace even if I gave it to you!"

Tiger Strength Demon King and Demon King Luli muttered twice, then glanced at the dazzling array of Qi and Blood Creation Pills.

Thousands of Qi and Blood Creation Pills were lined up in rows. The strong medicinal smell of the pills made people's Qi and Blood tremble, and even made them feel drowsy.

Half of the demon kings and great demons who were helping with odd jobs were unable to withstand working day and night and fell asleep, while the other half were too weak and fell asleep due to the aura of the pills. Only the demon kings like Yangli, who were slightly stronger and had been exposed to the medicinal aura for many years, were able to hold on until now.

"Stop talking, get to work! Thirty more batches and we're done!"

Zhang Xuezhou previously had a record of refining around two thousand pills consecutively, and now he has already refined nearly ten thousand.

The Venerable One's true form was suffering from "medicine fatigue," having taken too many pills at once and fallen into a deep sleep. Zhang Xuezhou, on the other hand, only wanted to finish refining the pills to meet the target and leave.

He still needed to buy time to get Ren Anran's Yang Soul into this world as much as possible.

Before interacting with Zhu Jiuyin, Zhang Xuezhou hoped that 'Bai' wouldn't cause trouble, especially not him.

A growing sense of anxiety crept into his heart. As he continued the mechanical, repetitive tasks, Zhang Xuezhou urged the demon kings, who were violently crushing the medicinal herbs, to keep working.

"How many are in thirty batches?"

"One batch yields thirty-six pieces, thirty batches would yield a thousand pieces!"

"Something doesn't feel right with this calculation!"

"You still don't believe my math? I never miss a calculation when I round down!"

"Boss, you've refined thirty-six batches in three years, how come you haven't produced a thousand pills?"

Don't compare yourself to the boss!

The demon kings worked silently, but their mouths never stopped talking.

"It will be finished in four more hours!"

Rong Tianding pursed his dry lips.

Zhang Xuezhou is fine if he doesn't work, but when he does work seriously, no one can keep up with him.

His tireless body, his consistently high energy, and his flawless alchemy techniques were all qualities that were difficult for others to replicate.

Once Zhang Xuezhou succeeds once, he almost always copies others' work.

This underground palace was filled with nearly ten thousand low-grade Qi and Blood Creation Pills; not a single mid-grade pill appeared. The consistency of the pills' quality was truly remarkable.

The lowest grade pills have the most toxic effects. Even when His Majesty ingested large doses, he couldn't withstand it and frequently fell into a deep sleep. When he was awake, he constantly adjusted the earth fire to temper his body, which resulted in extremely high temperatures in the underground palace. The scorching environment was difficult for normal people to adapt to.

Rong Tianding had worked with Zhang Xuezhou in refining pills at Shanglin Garden, and he felt that this was not Zhang Xuezhou's usual style; the other party hadn't even shown any mercy.

Given that His Majesty was currently taking medication, Rong Tianding felt he could easily keep secrets, let alone Zhang Xuezhou.

Why is my cousin suddenly so eager to leave? What happened?

Rong Tianding couldn't figure this out.

He had been following Zhang Xuezhou almost the entire time, and Zhang Xuezhou had remained inside the underground palace without venturing out. This change made it difficult for him to find the answer.

Of course, if risks are involved, it's best to point them in the direction of Zhu Jiuyin.

Things were hard to understand, and time just kept passing by silently.

"Dongfang Shuo, I really don't want you to leave. Why don't you stay with me permanently? My place is top-notch; you can enjoy all the comforts I offer!"

A dull thud followed, accompanied by the sight of a gigantic head lowering down.

A head as large as a small mountain approached, and the dense aura of the giant creature enveloped them. The intimidating presence of Zhu Jiuyin's true form silenced all the demon kings.

"Even the best alchemy techniques require materials. The Great Han Dynasty lacks demon cores and cannot produce Creation Pills as continuously as Your Majesty. My return to the Great Han Dynasty will not pose any threat to you. Besides..."

What are you saying?

"Besides, Yang Jian and I are going to collaborate on refining an elixir of immortality. You might be interested then!"

"Oh?"

Zhu Jiuyin's enormous head retracted.

Zhang Xuezhou's simple sentence contained two pieces of information that Zhu Jiuyin had to consider. One involved Yang Jian. It was best not to provoke a cultivator like Yang Jian, because provoking him would only lead to endless trouble. Zhu Jiuyin deeply hated such invincible cultivators.

The other piece of information involves the elixir of immortality, a top-tier elixir for maintaining youth, second only to the elixir of eternal life in importance.

Although the elixir of immortality cannot extend lifespan, no one would not strive for it if given the opportunity.

This forced Zhu Jiuyin to retract his little thought.

"I'm very interested. As long as you can give me a share, I'll take any medicinal herbs from the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains," Zhu Jiuyin said.

"It's easy to discuss," Zhang Xuezhou nodded in agreement, then added, "See you again in a few days!"

"Good!"

Zhu Jiuyin nodded slightly.

Zhang Xuezhou was so fast that even Zhu Jiuyin had to stay alert to avoid losing track of time.

Most importantly, the results achieved by the other party resolved Zhu Jiuyin's dilemma in a short period of time.

This was quite reminiscent of his former master's decisive and efficient style. However, Zhang Xuezhou was willing to submit to others and chose to serve the emperor of the Great Han Dynasty, which made Zhu Jiuyin feel extremely regretful.

"No one who becomes a lackey will amount to anything!"

He silently recited Hongjun's words from the past, watching Zhang Xuezhou and the others retreat step by step and leave.

Zhu Jiuyin had seen too many extraordinary cultivators who were only briefly successful. As long as they did not have the idea of self-reliance and self-improvement in their minds, these people would ultimately end up as worthless.

He also expressed some regret that Zhang Xuezhou could not establish a regional power or become the ruler of a Sacred Land.

Even if he leaves the Great Han Dynasty, it will be difficult for him to cultivate the art of destiny in the present day. Even if he has the elixir of immortality, he will inevitably turn into a pile of dust!

After much deliberation, Zhu Jiuyin realized that apart from those long-lived individuals in the Three Realms who had benefited from the creation of heaven and earth in their early years, there was little chance of finding an elixir of immortality, thus eliminating the possibility for many people to obtain 'pseudo-immortality'.

As for Laojun's longevity pills, they are as easy to obtain as sunflower seeds; it is difficult for anyone to accumulate twenty years of lifespan through these pills and achieve immortality.

He watched Zhang Xuezhou and the others leave, and calculated the time it would take for Zhang Xuezhou to agree, without taking the Qi and Blood Creation Pill again.

A figure emerged from his massive body and began to perform magic again.

Before engaging with someone skilled in the Yang Soul Incarnation Technique, Zhu Jiuyin clearly needed to prepare himself.