Wang Hong took out his massive pill furnace and began refining Elixir. In his previous attempts, he could simultaneously refine twelve portions of materials in one furnace.
Now that his cultivation had advanced and his Divine Sense strengthened, he should be able to refine even more materials simultaneously.
Igniting the spirit charcoal and preheating the pill furnace, he meticulously added materials in proportions suitable for fifteen Condensing Qi Pills. The medicinal herbs, upon entering the furnace, had impurities melted away by the high temperature, forming wisps of green smoke.
The essence of the remaining Spiritual Herbs melted into liquid, and Wang Hong consecutively cast a dozen or so spells towards the furnace.
After over half an hour, he lifted the lid of the massive three-thousand-jin pill furnace, revealing a small pile of Elixir at the bottom.
With a wave of his hand, a heap of Elixir flew towards him, and he hastily caught them in a jade plate.
Counting them on the table, there were one hundred and two pills, approaching a seventy percent success rate, and among them were over ten high-grade Condensing Qi Pills.
As Wang Hong separated these Elixirs into bottles, one pill rolled off the table.
Little Peng found a dried twig from somewhere and was energetically playing with it. Suddenly, it noticed a round bead rolling nearby. It was startled at first, flapped its wings and took a few steps back. After observing for a while, it seemed not too frightened.
Slowly inching closer, it tilted its head for a long look. Seemingly convinced there was no danger, it tentatively extended a claw to poke the Elixir. As it did, the Elixir rolled, startling it once again, and it fluttered away.
After repeated attempts, Little Peng finally realized the thing was harmless. It could be rolled on the ground by clawing or pecking, which turned out to be extremely amusing.
Seeing Little Peng enjoying itself, Wang Hong left that Elixir for it to play with and started a new round of Elixir refinement.
He consecutively refined three batches of Elixir, each with a success rate of around seventy percent.
Little Peng's thoughts came again. Wang Hong turned to see the little one tugging at his robe hem with its mouth.
He grabbed two small fishes from his space, placed them on a plate, and set it in front of Little Peng.
After devouring the two fishes, it sent hungry thoughts again. Wang Hong brought out another one, but this time, it refused to eat and continued signaling hunger. Wang Hong was puzzled.
Little Peng walked to where it had played with the Elixir earlier, circled the area, then returned.
After several peculiar exchanges, Wang Hong finally guessed that Little Peng had accidentally eaten one Elixir and, having found it enjoyable, wanted another. Wang Hong picked it up, noticed no adverse reactions, and handed it another Elixir, letting it play on its own.
Continuing with his alchemy, three months passed. During this period, Little Peng would eat one or two Elixirs every day. Initially treating them as toys, it occasionally accidentally ate one. Later, finding the taste pleasing, it stopped playing with them and started requesting one or two Elixirs daily.
However, it couldn't express the concept of Elixir directly. Each time, it first transmitted a few hungry thoughts, then walked in circles at the spot where it used to play with the Elixir.
Now, half a year had passed since he last visited Azure Void City. Wang Hong decided it was time to go back.
After a casual preparation and a leave of around ten days, he set out from the sect with Little Peng.
Wang Hong prepared a Spirit Beast bag for Little Peng. After stuffing it inside, a chaotic mix of thoughts emanated from within. Helpless, he released it again.
Although the world inside the Spirit Beast bag had air and light, it lacked everything else. It was like being in a small dark room, cut off from all external sensations.
Not many Spirit Beasts would probably enjoy staying inside, especially tier beasts like Little Peng, which were young, ignorant, and lively.
Holding it in his hands wasn't much trouble. However, on the way out of the sect, he attracted many curious gazes, especially from female cultivators. It seemed they naturally liked fluffy, round creatures.
Some even took the initiative to strike up conversations, wanting to hold or touch Little Peng. Wang Hong politely declined; he didn't have much time to indulge in such interactions. Was earning Spirit Stones not more important?
If Sun Er had such a Spirit Beast, he might have used it as a tool for charming female cultivators.
After leaving the sect, Wang Hong flew towards Azure Void City on his Windsoar Boat.
As Wang Hong neared Azure Void City, a Magical Weapon from behind swiftly approached him, moving much faster than his Windsoar Boat.
Two figures stood at the front of the Flying Boat, both dressed in black robes. One was tall, at the sixth level of Qi Cultivation, while the other was slender, at the seventh level of cultivation.
"Fellow Daoist ahead, please stop. My brother and I have something to inquire about," the slender cultivator said respectfully.
Wang Hong stopped, knowing that his Flying Boat couldn't outrun theirs, and with their cultivation levels, they couldn't harm him much.
He casually stuffed Little Peng into the Spirit Beast bag, disregarding whether it liked it or not.
"I wonder what advice the two Fellow Daoists have?" Wang Hong inquired.
"Well, we noticed Fellow Daoist wearing the Qingxu Sect attire, so we wanted to ask about something," the slender cultivator explained.
"Oh, what urgent matter brings you two here?" Wang Hong asked.
"We heard yesterday that the Sect Master of Qingxu Sect had died."
Wang Hong was taken aback, and just then, he sensed danger approaching from an unknown direction, seemingly silent and invisible.
Just as he prepared to use the Dragon Serpent Escape to dodge, a black, thin needle was embedded in his chest.
However, with his robust physique, such small needle-type Magical Weapons couldn't penetrate his flesh defense.
The needle had only pierced less than an inch before it could go no further.
Although surprised, the two attackers didn't seem overly disappointed.
"Not good! This needle is poisoned."
Wang Hong summoned his Flying Sword and cut a large piece of flesh from his chest. However, the toxin had already begun spreading throughout his body. Removing that chunk of flesh only provided temporary relief. He hurriedly took an antidote pill.
"It's useless. You've been poisoned with our secret concoction. Unless you have the antidote we made, no one can save you," the attackers gloated.
Feeling his body growing weaker, Wang Hong, who usually possessed tens of thousands of pounds of strength, now struggled even to stand. His Spiritual Energy no longer obeyed his command.
Just as they anticipated Wang Hong's imminent demise to claim their spoils, a swarm of Poisonous Bees appeared suddenly.
These Poisonous Bees materialized right beside them, some even crawling directly onto their bodies.
Caught off guard, they had no time to defend themselves. The swarm began biting them, and despite their desperate attempts to shake off the bees, it was futile. Panic-stricken, they wanted to scream, but no sound came out. Poisonous Bees crawled into their mouths, nostrils, and ears, biting while forcefully burrowing inside.
After struggling for a few breaths, the two attackers fell silent, their bodies plummeting along with the Flying Boat.
Wang Hong maneuvered his Flying Boat to catch up, stowed their Flying Boat into his Storage Bag, and slowly descended to the ground with their lifeless bodies.
First, he took off their Storage Bags, finding more than a dozen potion bottles inside.
Among them, he found two bottles labeled "Poison" and "Antidote."
Wang Hong poured out one Elixir from each bottle. The Elixir labeled as the antidote was white and had a refreshing fragrance, while the other black Elixir emitted a foul smell.
Instead of immediately ingesting the antidote, Wang Hong took out a small knife and scraped a bit of powder from each. He then cast two Fireball Techniques, each engulfing the respective powders.
After a moment, the two sets of powder turned into blue smoke. Wang Hong examined the smoke and took a whiff.
By now, he had almost lost all his strength. Even moving a finger felt incredibly heavy, as if each finger weighed a thousand pounds.
Struggling, he forced the black, foul-smelling poison into his mouth. After that, he could no longer move, collapsing on the ground. Above him, a swarm of Poisonous Bees circled and danced.
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