“Kid, I have been completely open with you. Now, it’s your turn to tell me that body cultivation method of yours!”
He wanted to still pose as a senior, but Zhuo Fan’s bluntness was hard to cope with. He thus reverted to his Mad Dipper, robber self.
Scratching his nose, Zhuo Fan was just as calm as he smiled, “Elder Li, how do you know my cultivation method is better than Imperial Tyrant Body Art?”
“Humph, anyone can tell after the stunt you pulled in Drifting Flowers City!”
Li Jingtian huffed, “Huangpu Qingyun just entered the seventh stage of Imperial Tyrant Body Art yet, could only take one Bursting Pill. And then there’s you, taking five of them and killing him outright. Even a blind could see whose is better!”
Zhuo Fan and Vicious Pill King shared a look and nodded. Not everyone was stupid, able to tell which was which.
Yet, Zhuo Fan still chose to shake his head, “Elder Li, you are a renowned senior, most clear on the power the Imperial Tyrant Body Art holds. Think it through, just how many cultivation methods are there that can surpass it? “
Li Jingtian was at a loss.
“Ha-ha-ha, Elder Li, as you know the full recount of what happened in Drifting Flowers Edifice, then you must also know what my other title is!”
“Eminent Alchemist Zhuo Fan?” Li Jingtian was stunned, “You mean…”
Zhuo Fan nodded with a crafty smile, “I managed to display such power with my body because of my cultivation method, yes, but also thanks to the pills personally refined. Just one was enough to boost my power five times!”
“What, is that possible?”
Body cultivators were stronger than average because of their tough bodies. And the only way to obtain it was through arduous training, no exceptions.
But if there was a pill that could do the same thing, where’d the body cultivators’ advantage go?
[Does the world have such a miraculous pill?]
Li Jingtian was skeptical, but Zhuo Fan’s logic held some truth. How else could Zhuo Fan with his Bone Tempering Stage cultivation stand up to Huangpu Qingyun?
Li Jingtian was clearly hesitating, but then he said coldly, “Kid, give me the pills or I’ll waste you.”
“Can’t, I ate them all. How else could I have finished off Huangpu Qingyun?”
“Then you better make some. Aren’t you an alchemist?”
“Out of ingredients!”
“Then, I will stay with you until you get them!” Li Jingtian was shouting now.
Raising an eyebrow, Zhuo Fan caught Vicious Pill King showing off a peculiar smile. One that Li Jingtian clearly spotted.
“In that case, I need the blood of a red tail ice fox, a third level beast. Let’s go to Allbeast Mountain Range.” Zhuo Fan proposed.
Li Jingtian waved him off with a smile, “Hold on. Why should we go that far? There’s plenty of third level spiritual beasts in a nearby forest. They aren’t as many in Allbeast Mountain Range, but should be enough for refining.”
Frowning, Zhuo Fan had no choice but to sigh and nod, “Very well. Let’s go.”
Turning around, he gave Vicious Pill King a look. Vicious Pill King didn’t seem to have caught it but Li Jingtian was on guard to pick up this particular strange behavior.
He pulled Zhuo around by the shoulder and squinted, “Kid, a third level spiritual beast doesn’t need all three of us. Let Yan Song get it while we wait.”
“Ha-ha-ha, I am an alchemist and pay close attention to the details when picking any ingredient. How could I let Elder Yan go?” Zhuo Fan wiped his brow of sweat.
Li Jingtian snorted inside. He didn’t know what Zhuo Fan’s game was, but rumors about his cunning and treachery floated everywhere. It’s best to be on the safe side. How many’s blood ended up in this kid’s hands just because they looked down on him?
Li Jingtian was a veteran and saw through everything. He laughed, “Ha-ha-ha, kid, cut the act. I said he will go alone and that’s final. He is also an alchemist and knows what spiritual beast to pick.”
Gnashing his teeth, Zhuo Fan furrowed his brows, but sighed in the end and took out a gourd from his ring, “Elder Yan, here are the favorite worms of the red tail ice fox. Bait it with this and catch it quickly.”
Yan Song’s eyes lit up, catching his meaning, and nodded.
“Wait!”
Li Jingtian felt something was off, “What is this? Let me see!”
Yan Song hesitated but Zhuo Fan nodded.
Li Jingtian took the ice-cold gourd and opened it. A blood-colored worm wiggled its way out.
Li Jingtian looked at it with a critical eye but found nothing unusual. He gave it back to Vicious Pill King, “This fox eats worms?”
“Ha-ha-ha, who else but us alchemists know the habits of every spiritual beast?” Zhuo Fan laughed.
When Li Jingtian found Vicious Pill King had gone ten meters away, he shouted, “Yan Song, you have one day to bring a third level spiritual beast. Be late and we won’t wait for you.”
Yan Song staggered in his flight looking back at Zhuo Fan and nodded.
Zhuo Fan sneered inside. Li Jingtian was quite cautious, leaving no stone unturned. Even though he let Yan Song go, he gave him a deadline.
Now, it wouldn’t matter even if he got help, since these two would be long gone.
[Humph, getting hounded in his younger days worked wonders for his prudence it seems. But despite all this caution, it only sends him deeper into my trap.]
Zhuo Fan grinned.
Around twelve hours later, Vicious Pill King carried a snow-white fox’s body. Its tail was a vibrant red.
Vicious Pill King placed the body down and returned the gourd to Zhuo Fan with a slight nod.
Zhuo Fan smiled, “Now, we can refine.”
“Wait!”
Li Jingtian again butted in, his eyes flashing eerily. A flick of his finger cut the fox in two.
Li Jingtian stooped and squeezed the parts until a red worm came out.
“Now you can begin!” Li Jingtian squashed the worm to a paste.
Vicious Pill King was startled yet found Zhuo Fan calm as a well.
“So now I will refine a body pill for Elder Yan to prove my words!” Zhuo Fan took a deep breath and used his Yuan Qi flame.
But Li Jingtian barked, “Wait. I want ten. The more you have, the better.”
“But you can only take it once in your life! Taking any more would be useless!” Zhuo Fan furrowed his brows.
Laughing, Li Jingtian’s eyes were sharp, “If I say you make ten, then that’s what you’ll do. Unless you two don’t want your heads on your shoulders!”
For lack of a better option, Zhuo Fan started refining. When the pills were just about done, he added the ice fox’s blood.
With a hum, ten pills radiating cool air and colored red flew into Zhuo Fan’s palm.
Li Jingtian cried in shock, “Why are they so cold yet came out of a Yuan Qi fire?”
“Elder Li may not know that this 3rd-grade pill, Freezing Body Pill, is a clan secret. Refined with a yin yang flame, it is hot inside and cold on the surface. Once ingested, hot and cold will travel through the body hundreds of times, tempering it.” Zhuo Fan explained.
Li Jingtian reached over, “Give me one!”
Zhuo Fan nodded, acquiescing his demand.
“Wait!”
Li Jingtian had a sly smile, “Give me the other nine!”
Zhuo Fan frowned but complied. Li Jingtian then pointed at the one Zhuo Fan was holding and said with a cold smile, “Kid, eat it.”
“I told you, this pill only works once!” Zhuo Fan frowned,
Laughing, Li Jingtian’s eyes bore into him, “I know of course. But it won’t matter if you take one more. If you don’t eat it, that this pill must have a defect and I will kill you.”
Zhuo Fan ate it in the end.
Seeing him fine, Li Jingtian’s eyes roamed around in thought, “Kid, pick one from these nine.”
Zhuo Fan sighed and took one.
“Give it to me!” Li Jingtian said.
Zhuo Fan complied, yet Li Jingtian shouted again, just before he ate it, “Hold on. You eat it, Yan Song.”
“Me?” Yan Song stammered but was forced to eat it either way.
In this way, Li Jingtian made Zhuo Fan pick again and again, until only three were left. He picked one himself then checked the two’s faces before eating it.
Li Jingtian felt a chill seep into him, then a warmth. It was so gentle and cozy.
Zhuo Fan raised an eyebrow then snickered.
[This guy is paranoid, but he took the bait anyway, he-he-he…]