CHAPTER 28: CHAPTER 27: EXPLODING ALCHEMY FURNACE

Sitting on the bed with five hearts facing the sky, Li Xing held a low-grade Crystal Stone in her right hand and began to operate the Eternal Green Technique.

The Chaotic Power contained in the low-grade Crystal Stone was richer than that in the air, but it was only enough for Li Xing to complete one cycle. After a short quarter of an hour, the Crystal Stone in her hand had already turned to powder.

The initial practice of the Eternal Green Technique is fast, but as one progresses, more Chaos Qi is required, making it increasingly difficult to advance.

Talent and comprehension affect the speed of cultivation, but that’s not the fundamental reason the Eternal Green Technique is difficult to practice. The main issue is the lack of sufficient Chaos Qi. The founder had a stroke of luck, acquiring thousands of pieces of Chaos Soil, which enabled him to pass through in one go.

Li Xing has only reached the Body Tempering stage and already feels the Chaos Qi is insufficient. When she advances to the stages of Organ Tempering and Soul Tempering, acquiring a vast amount of Chaos Qi will truly be a great challenge.

Taking out dozens of Crystal Stones and arranging them in a circle around her body, Li Xing continued to cultivate. Whatever it may be, when the boat gets to the pier, it will go straight with the current; solutions are always more numerous than difficulties.

The next day, Li Xing didn’t continue hunting in the Star Beast Forest but instead went to the place where she had traversed from.

Once again returning to the abandoned military outpost outside the city, the area covered with Feather Grass still exuded an aura of Immortal Energy, but Li Xing would no longer be deceived by their soft and harmless appearance.

In this world, there are many who hide their true strength behind a facade, just like her. She, too, wears a deceptively innocent and gentle exterior, but in truth, her heart is as calm and formidable as steel.

We’re all sly foxes here; no one should try to fool the other.

Hacking through the thick vines, she entered the abandoned outpost. The ground floor, originally a hall, was now filled with rubble, weeds penetrating the floor, which was riddled with potholes and covered with moss and lichen. She released Little Fatty to clear the field, frightening away any snakes, insects, rats, and ants, and then burned away the unnecessary vegetation. Li Xing picked a flat area and used Spirit Stones to set up a Shielding Array.

Before leaving home this morning, Li Xing picked a lot of Spirit Plants from her garden, plus several kinds she gathered from the forest yesterday, enough for over thirty furnaces of material. She planned to test the medicinal properties of the Spirit Plants.

Taking out the Shennong Cauldron, Li Xing, with a slight movement of her Divine Sense, made several Spirit Grasses fly into the air, and under her control, peeled them, removed the veins, and retained the usable parts for medicine.

"Little Fatty, ignite the fire!"

With a bang, an Abnormal Fire lit up, and the bottom of the Shennong Cauldron turned visibly red. Li Xing put the prepared Spirit Plants into the cauldron.

Refining the plants into liquid, gathering the liquid into a pill, the Elixir was about to take shape when the Spiritual Energy within suddenly became uncontrollable, bursting open the cauldron lid with a loud explosion—it had blown up.

Unwilling to give in, Li Xing kept trying, but failed repeatedly, going through twenty furnaces without producing a single Elixir.

"Cough, cough, cough—bleh bleh!"

The medicinal residue splattered all over Li Xing’s head and face, and her expression was more bitter than the medicinal juice.

Li Xing was puzzled. Back on the Blue Star, she could at least succeed in forming pills four out of ten times. Why did her success rate drop now with higher-grade Spirit Plants?

She didn’t use the Spirit Plants she didn’t recognize or wasn’t sure about. The Elixir she aimed to form was the Small Returning Pill, the one she had the highest success rate with and found easiest to refine. How could she not produce even a single pill? Where was the problem?

Holding a piece of Spirit Grass, Li Xing fell into deep thought, unaware of a strange shadow in the pile of rubble at the corner of the hall, stealthily shifting towards her.

After thinking for a while, Li Xing still had no clue, so she decided to empty her mind and meditate to restore her energy before trying again.

Seeing Li Xing close her eyes and remain motionless, the shadow grew bold, quickly moving to the edge of the Shielding Array, picking up a Spirit Stone intending to flee.

At that moment, Li Xing abruptly opened her eyes, and the Immortal Binding Rope shot out, binding the thief stealing the Spirit Stone like a zongzi, swiftly flying back into her hand.

"Little thief, daring to steal my Spirit Stones—quite bold!"

"Ah ah ah ah ah, it hurts the flower! Help—help—!"

A wailing voice suddenly echoed within Li Xing’s Divine Sense. The voice was so loud it nearly startled her into jumping up.

Who! Who’s speaking?

Looking down at what the Immortal Binding Rope captured, no matter how composed and calm she normally was, she couldn’t hold it in, nearly shouting herself.

The Immortal Binding Rope had captured a flower with an incredibly ugly appearance: a gigantic fish-shaped head of light purple with varying sizes of white spots. A seam two-thirds of the way down formed a mouth, full of sharp teeth, with slick sepals along the edges resembling lips.

At the back of the head, there were two clusters of small, gray-green leaves the size of a fingernail, extending down to a thin goose-neck-like flower stem disproportionate to the head. At the very bottom were four cross-shaped webbed roots. Even when caught, its roots clung tightly to the Spirit Stone.

Isn’t this the Big-mouth Flower from Plants vs. Zombies?

The Big-mouth Flower’s mouth opened and closed, and a voice sounded again in Li Xing’s mind, clumsy and echoing.

"Ah ah ah ah ah, help, they’re about to ravage the flower—!"

Possibly due to its particularly large mouth, the Big-mouth Flower had an enormously loud voice, directly communicating with Li Xing’s Divine Sense. Every sentence echoed, making her head throb.

"Shut up! If you keep it up, I’ll feed you to Little Fatty for a snack!"

Hearing there might be food, Little Fatty immediately flew over with excitement, circling the Big-mouth Flower, terrifying the flower even more.

"No no no! Don’t feed me to the Abnormal Fire, getting burned hurts a lot. I—I’ll be quiet..."

Li Xing squinted, bringing the Big-mouth Flower closer for an inspecting gaze.

"You actually recognize Abnormal Fire? Speak! What exactly are you?"

"I—I am Wisdom Flower."

Li Xing raised an eyebrow, Wisdom Flower?

The "Wisdom" on the Qianyuan Continent should have the same meaning as she understands, right? Why couldn’t she see any trace of wisdom from the Big-mouth Flower’s appearance?

Seeing Li Xing’s skeptical expression, the Big-mouth Flower felt insulted. Its only pride in life was its wisdom and beauty, and this little girl actually bore such an expression—isn’t it intolerable!

"I am smart! I know you’re different from the people here, you’re a Cultivator!"

One sentence pinpointed Li Xing, yet what the Big-mouth Flower said next shocked her even more.

"I also know you’re a Dan Cultivator, but you don’t understand the medicinal properties of Spirit Plants in the Qianyuan World, which is why you fail at Alchemy and frequently have explosions."

The Big-mouth Flower spoke accurately, prompting Li Xing’s curiosity: "How did you know I am a Dan Cultivator? Have you seen other Dan Cultivators? Where have you seen them?"

"... I might have seen them."

Li Xing wasn’t satisfied with this answer and vigorously shook the Immortal Binding Rope: "Either you’ve seen them or you haven’t. Why say ’might have’!"

"Stop, stop! I hibernated for a long time, and after waking up, I can’t remember many things, but I have a feeling I must have seen other cultivators, maybe even knew them very well."

"Were these cultivators seen before or after your hibernation?"

"Of course, before. I just woke up not long ago, and you’re the first person I’ve seen since."

"Then do you remember how long you slept?"

The Big-mouth Flower’s tone turned wistful: "I don’t know, but after I woke up, mountains had turned to valleys, deserts to forests—the world wasn’t the same anymore. It must have been a long time, right?"

Changes over thousands of years, could it be that the cultivators the Big-mouth Flower mentioned were the Thirty-six Sages?