"But Prince Zheng?"
"Yes, thank you, Immortal Master, for lending a hand to suppress the demon," Zheng Chenggong bowed in gratitude.
"This ghost ship, which I pursued across the sea to this place, aimed to absorb the qi-blood and souls to replenish its primordial energy. It was merely my duty."
Pursuing a ghost ship?
Zheng Chenggong grew even more respectful. "May I ask where the Immortal Master comes from? Are you also from Penglai Fairy Island?"
"Penglai Fairy Island?"
"This is East Sea Dharma King from Penglai Fairy Island," Zheng Chenggong introduced Li Changzhou.
"East Sea Dharma King? Penglai Fairy Island? Impostors!" the Daoist sneered, drawing his Immortal Sword and slashing directly at Li Changzhou.
Boom!
The Daoist turned into a blood mist, scattering in the evening breeze.
Li Changzhou looked towards Yang Qinglan, Li Qianxia, and Turquoise Pool, asking in bewilderment, "...What have you done?"
"I only wanted to stop him," Yang Qinglan also expressed confusion, putting away the "Illusion" "Hallucination" Radiant Light.
"Brother, he wanted to attack you; I merely wanted to employ a strategy of encircling Wei to rescue Zhao," Li Qianxia had somehow positioned herself near where the Daoist had just been.
"Don't look at me," Turquoise Pool withdrew her palm, her expression serene, "I, a noble fairy from Penglai and a reincarnation of the Queen Mother of the West, would never kill anyone."
Zheng Chenggong's pupils constricted. Emerging from a sea of blood, he now could not help but feel terrified—the Daoist, alive moments ago, had vanished into a blood mist in the blink of an eye!
"Immortal Master, this—" he looked towards Li Changzhou.
"It doesn't matter," Li Changzhou waved his hand dismissively.
... Was this really no big deal?
The Daoist was dead, and the Immortal Sword was nowhere to be found; nothing was left, except for a small bag.
"A chance to broaden my understanding has been lost," Li Changzhou said.
"I'm so sorry! Truly sorry!" Li Qianxia clasped her hands together, her eyes tightly shut, "But you initiated the attack on my brother; this was self-defense. I hope you understand that my actions were absolutely lawful!"
Zheng Chenggong could tell that these Immortal Masters were not good people, or rather, they were indifferent to others' life and death.
But he had wandered the south and fought countless battles, claiming it was for the Great Ming, yet he dared not say there were absolutely no wrongful kills; he did not dwell much on it.
Moreover, it was the other party who had struck first without any provocation.
"Immortal Master, I plan to set out for Treasure Island via the waterways of Lu'er Gate tomorrow at the hour of Yin. This is what I am most concerned about—the recovery of Treasure Island!"
For this purpose, he was willing to pay any price.
"As for the battle, Prince Zheng, you decide," Li Changzhou said.
Injecting mana into the bag, a space the size of a car's trunk appeared, containing books, medicinal herbs, clothes, and gold and silver.
"A Storage Bag? A fine item, do any of you want it?" Li Changzhou asked the trio.
"The person was killed by me," Turquoise Pool took the bag from his hand.
"...Aren't you a noble fairy from Penglai, a reincarnation of the Queen Mother of the West, one who does not kill?"
"I've reincarnated, so why should I care about my past life? I only believe in this life. 'Nine Heavens Sword Control', elixir recipes, medicinal ingredients..." Turquoise Pool said as she began to lightly tap on the spoils of war.
"Nine Heavens Sword Control" is a cultivation method that divides the cultivation realm into: Nourishing Form, Refining Essence, Qi Transformation, Unification, Returning Void, and Golden Core.
"Nourish the form to refine essence, accumulate essence to transform qi, refine qi to unite with the god, refine the god to return to void, and then the golden core is formed." Yang Qinglan's voice sounded like pearls colliding, clear and pleasant, "This is recorded in the 'Golden Core Essence·Upper Medicine Chapter'."
"The Golden Core is the Immortal." Turquoise Pool said, "The first stage in the game is 'Nourishing Form', the higher the physical quality, the stronger the essence generated. This 'Nine Heavens Sword Control' is quite common, only capable of achieving two full values."
"So to say, refining essence, transforming qi, unifying, returning void, and golden core are each corresponding to the five breakthroughs in visualization methods?"
"Yes."
"The visualization techniques recorded in 'Nine Heavens Sword Control' are pretty good, capable of three breakthroughs, which is equivalent to an A-grade, and the highest realm achievable is Unification."
"This…" Turquoise Pool handed over the elixir recipe, "see if you can refine it."
'Jade Pill', effect: maintains youth for twenty years.
Ancients believed that carrying jade prevents aging, and even some nobles used jade pieces to make 'jade burial suits' for preservation after death, such as Western Han Jing King Liu Sheng.
This elixir is named 'Jade', and jade is also used in its materials, though it's unclear if there's a connection to this belief.
Or perhaps it's simply a beautiful implication: hoping that people, like jade, despite the years, still shine brightly.
'Top-grade jade (one thousand jin), black sesame (one hundred jin), pig kidney (three hundred units), longan meat (half tree), renzhongbai (three yuan), coix seed (eight liang), Huang Jing (one liang).'
'Refine the jade in the alchemy furnace into a liquid, remove impurities to extract essence, ten liang of jade liquid from one thousand jin of top-grade jade.'
'Refine the black sesame, remove impurities to extract essence, one hundred jin of black sesame yields...'
'...'
'Children should avoid using.'
This is the elixir recipe.
The ingredients are strange, hard to imagine who came up with them, just like it's hard to imagine who first ate hairy eggs and fishy grass.
Following the steps, it seems not difficult, but Li Changzhou, who has tried refining elixirs several times and failed every time, knows that this is not something achievable just by following the diagram.
Alchemy is not cooking; to combine the medicinal properties, one must have extremely high control over both the medicinal ingredients and the flames.
In the flames, the ingredients are constantly changing, and every alchemy attempt faces a slightly different situation.
'Little Jade Cauldron', as a noble S-grade alchemy furnace, can only guarantee a 100% success rate for fifty basic elixirs, which, compared to the vast number of elixir recipes, is insignificant.
"Let me try." Yang Qinglan took the elixir recipe.
"I'll provide the materials, and after it's refined, I only want one-third." Turquoise Pool said.
Yang Qinglan nodded, indicating no problem.
"Brother," Li Qianxia leaned over and breathed into Li Changzhou's ear, "you missed out on the mature woman Qing Lan, who hasn't reached 30 yet."
Before Li Changzhou could say anything, she shouted again, "Wait a minute! It won't affect the development of my chest, will it?!"
"You think you're only twelve?" Li Changzhou pinched his ear that had been close to the shouting, "You're twenty, and your chest will be a B for life."
"What's wrong with B! Have you been drinking your own milk?!"
"I have."
"...Damn, Qian Xia, I can't even refute that."