Chapter 249: 225 Key Points Part 1

In a dense forest thousands of kilometers away from Citong.

The night is dark, and the full moon gradually reveals a corner from the blue-black clouds.

Below is a dense dark forest.

In a cemetery within the forest, rows of tombstones stand slanted, having endured much wind, sun, and rain, many of them now showing signs of cracking.

Hiss.

A large, slightly dark hand holds a bouquet of pure white flowers, gently placing it in front of a bronze-colored tombstone.

The bouquet is swayed by the cool breeze in the forest, the petals slightly trembling, faintly releasing dew drops.

The person offering the flowers is a tall figure wrapped entirely in a large black cloak.

From the outline, it is clearly a male.

But because he wears a hood and mask, his face is completely obscured.

Only a pair of deep blue eyes deeply gaze at the name on the tombstone.

“Old friend… this world has truly deteriorated as you predicted.” The man speaks in a low tone to the tombstone.

“Spirit Court… Great Dao Teaching, Zhenyi Sect… haha… one forcibly split, one forcibly weakened back then, and finally, they see their chance now, with Buddhism weak, it is the time.”

He gently pulls down the mask, revealing a face completely burned and ruined.

“Rest assured, our shared vision, perhaps won’t take long to fulfill.”

His eyes reflect countless past memories, his pupils slightly softened.

After the fierce battle of the past, hatred is the only source that keeps him from falling now.

Swish!

Suddenly, a figure swiftly emerges from the shadows of the forest, arriving behind him, kneeling on one knee.

“Report to Sect Leader, there’s a message from a Citong informant, a carrier pigeon.”

The man extends his hand, receiving a small bamboo tube sealed with wax.

Crushing the wax seal, he pours out the paper scroll inside, gently unfolding it.

The content on the paper makes his brow slightly furrow.

“Still not succeeding? What are these people doing!? Blood Path Teaching, Fist Earth Altar, two branches acting together, and still they fail?

What on earth is Wang Xichi doing!?”

The man crushes the paper scroll in his hand, his expression darkening.

“Just a mere Daoist, even with Internal Law Spiritual Veins guarding, can you not first distract, then act?”

The subordinate behind him remains silent, fearing to provoke this Sect Leader, nicknamed Demon Eagle, into venting his anger on him.

Demon Eagle Xia Long, is one of the true Grandmasters standing at the pinnacle within the Thousand Teachings Alliance.

Achieving Grandmaster status, then worshiping gods, achieving Spiritual Veins.

Outside of the only Spirit General in the alliance, it’s their group of Spiritual Veins that holds the highest power.

Thinking for a moment, Xia Long slowly speaks.

“Notify Han Ying, tell her to immediately go to Citong, investigate and determine the details of that Great Dao Teaching Daoist.

I suspect, with Yue Dewen valuing this person so much, there must be some kind of unspeakable secret hidden.”

“Yes!”

The subordinate gets up, retreats, then quickly darts into the forest, disappearing.

Demon Eagle Xia Long sighs.

If the arrangements on the Great Dao Teaching side have issues, the subsequent plans will need adjustments.

Perhaps… if it doesn’t work, changing the target to another Daoist is also possible?

He closes his eyes and begins to consider the feasibility.

*

*

*

The next day.

At Cituogang Port, in a half-mountain courtyard.

Bright red coal fire rises under the bronze pill furnace, the thick coal smoke follows a specially made flue, emitted from one side of the pill furnace, turning into light blue smoke as it rises into the sky.

At the center of the courtyard.

Zhang Rongfang sits quietly in his robes, holding a black iron shovel used for stirring the pill furnace materials.

The material of this shovel is also required to fulfill the proper alchemy configuration, needing at least five types of stirring shovels.

The pill furnace is not large, only half a person’s height, exquisitely small and decorated on the surface with turtle shell-like cracks.

Facing Zhang Rongfang is a black and white Tai Chi Diagram marked.

“May I ask Daoist, are you doing alchemy?” Chen Han in the courtyard finally couldn’t help asking after seeing Zhang Rongfang sitting like this for two hours.

“Yes… it’s a very important elixir.” Zhang Rongfang nodded in response.

According to his current tests.

Cultivating martial arts, the medicines used must leave an imprint of memory on the body. Afterwards it can use attribute points, following the direction of this imprint forward.

As for why the Golden Toad Skill can’t continually add points to enhance like Super Grade External Medicine.

It’s probably also because each level of the Golden Toad Skill requires completely different medicines.

“I hope this time I can succeed at once, otherwise the cost of materials is really quite expensive.” He sighed.

The alchemy skill he personally feels isn’t a problem, it’s just that for some reason, the medicine’s properties always seem unbalanced to him.

But thinking about the Golden Toad Skill being an ultimate unique skill, having unique characteristics is normal.

He strictly followed the records from the manual.

Completing every step to perfection.

Now…

Poof!

Suddenly, a soft sound comes from the pill furnace.

Zhang Rongfang’s heart skipped a beat, his train of thought interrupted, quickly grabbing the tongs to remove the lid of the pill furnace.

The moment the lid was removed, thick black smoke wafted out, accompanied by a certain unpleasant burnt smell.

“Failed…” Zhang Rongfang sighed.

But fortunately, he had pre-ordered four hundred-year-old Red Reishi, unwilling to accept that repeated attempts can’t succeed.

Promptly, he uses the shovel to take out the dregs in the pill furnace, cleaning the copper pot inside, then reconfiguring the pre-cut and cleaned medicinal herbs.

Reigniting the fire, Zhang Rongfang returns to the pill furnace, continuing to control the flame.

This is quite a tedious and boring process, but unavoidable.

Because no youth skilled in this field is around to assist.

Time slowly passes.

In the blink of an eye, another two-plus hours have passed.

The sky gradually darkens.

Pfft!

Another soft sound.

Zhang Rongfang’s brow twitched.

He executed strictly according to the essential instructions of alchemy, choosing the appropriate amount for the middle portion, so why…

He quickly isolated the fire and used large tongs to open the lid of the pill furnace.

As expected, inside the copper pot, there was only a mass of black, unknown sticky substance.

It was clearly another failure.

’Something’s not right… something feels off.’

Zhang Rongfang frowned tightly, carefully removing and inspecting the residue.

All the medicinal materials in this residue showed no signs of melding in the oil and water.

This meant that the medicinal properties hadn’t formed, and it wasn’t related to his fire control.

Generally, with poor fire control, there would still be some fusion of the medicinal materials.

But there was nothing in this residue.

Extinguishing the fire, Zhang Rongfang decided not to attempt further.

He felt that even if he continued, it would surely end in failure.

Because right now, he hadn’t even caught a glimpse of success, let alone approaching or reaching complete success.

Returning to his room, he took out the engraving secret manual and studied it carefully.

Under the lamp, he compared each word to ensure he didn’t make any mistakes.

“Then, is it possible there are requirements for the fire temperature?”

Zhang Rongfang decided to adjust the flame and try again.

Perhaps the pill was burnt because the fire temperature was too high.

Lowering it might work.

Immediately, he instructed Ah Er to purchase a considerable amount of coal and firewood, slowly beginning to adjust the flame temperature.

After all, the recipe did not mention what temperature of flame to use for alchemy.

However, several days later, after four consecutive attempts, the alchemy failed again.

Even though he divided the purchased hundred-year-old red reishi main ingredient into ten parts, trying each part individually.

They were all used up now.

Not a single success.

This threw Zhang Rongfang into deep contemplation.

“So, where exactly is the problem?”

In the study, he looked at the Golden Toad Skill engraved secret manual on the table, feeling irritated and frustrated.

“I tested the fire control several times, and the medicinal properties showed no signs of fusion. So perhaps it’s not a fire control issue either?”

“Could it be that….”

Suddenly, he was struck with a thought.

Standing up, Zhang Rongfang paced back and forth in the room, recalling the comparison with his time at the Celestial Treasure Palace.

“Perhaps… it’s really this issue!”

He quickly walked to the courtyard, where Chen Han was standing at the courtyard gate, speaking softly with Ah Yi.

Seeing him come out, both of them gave him a distant bow, but Zhang Rongfang had no time to talk to them.

He waved his hand in acknowledgement and swiftly approached the pill furnace.

“It seems there’s really only one true reason!”

He took a deep breath.

“Definitely.”

“It has to be this pill furnace causing the failure rate to skyrocket!”

Immediately, he reignited the fire, using the remaining materials to freely concoct a simple energy-replenishing formula for pill creation.

Adding water, oil, and material powder.

Then boiling and stirring.

Soon, in less than an hour, a small pot of energy-replenishing medicine was made.

Zhang Rongfang scooped up a bit, checked it carefully, then blew it cool and tasted it.

“The medicinal properties are perfectly melded….” His smile froze instantly….

This clearly proved there was no issue with the pill furnace.

“Then, which part is the problem?” Picking up the large pot from the pill furnace, he placed it high up to cool, preparing for subsequent hand-kneading of the pills.

While replaying his previous alchemy steps repeatedly in his mind.

“Could it be the materials?”

His eyes flashed suddenly.

“Did the proportions of the materials go wrong?”

He quickly took out the secret manual and checked it again.

But the record of the material proportions on the manual was very clear. A portion of the pill must contain how much materials, minerals, oil, etc.

“No issue with the proportions either….. then…..”

Zhang Rongfang frowned tightly.

“Could it be… the materials… are counterfeit!?” He squinted his eyes, immediately taking the last bit of material residue and heading out.

“Ah Er, stay here and watch the house, Brother Chen Han, please accompany me to the pharmacy.”

“Yes!”

Chen Han nodded, although he didn’t know why the Daoist looked upset or what pill the Daoist had been struggling to make these days, but as a guard, following along was the right choice.

The two quickly disappeared into the night, heading down the mountain.

However, after just an hour, they returned to the courtyard.

The anger on Zhang Rongfang’s face was obviously gone.

The materials had been verified, and there was no problem at all.

Due to the small amount of alchemy, he couldn’t distinguish between genuine and fake materials, but the pharmacists from multiple shops confirmed that the materials in the residue were absolutely genuine, without issue.

At this moment, Zhang Rongfang found himself in a dead end.

He sat cross-legged in front of the pill furnace in the courtyard, opening the attribute panel, his eyes scanning the list of skills.

These days, he had been using a basic level of alchemy skills for his alchemy.

But since the Golden Toad Skill is a top-tier auxiliary skill, the required pill might need vastly superior alchemy skills to successfully create it?

’Perhaps, I should enhance my alchemy skill level first?’

Zhang Rongfang hesitated slightly in his heart.

Originally, he planned to reserve the attribute points for the level of External Medicine.

But now….

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep