When it comes to cultivating immortality, it naturally starts with upgrading the herb garden.

A week later.

In the dead of night, all was quiet. The streets of North Alley were deserted, with only a gust of cold wind whistling through the air.

The lights were still on in one of the houses in the north alley; it was Song Chen's house.

He let out a long sigh of relief in the room, his body burning hot, having just swallowed a Crimson Flame Pill.

The Crimson Flame Pill is neither a Qi Gathering Pill nor a Spirit Gathering Pill. It cannot be taken every day, otherwise, crimson energy will accumulate in the body, which may damage the meridians or even harm the foundation of one's health.

He takes it twice a week, using spiritual energy to force out the crimson energy, and then cultivates with spirit stones, which is already the limit for his body.

Increasing the dosage further might damage the foundation.

"I'm getting closer and closer to the fourth level of Qi Refining..." He glanced at the remaining eleven Crimson Flame Pills. "With these, there shouldn't be any obstacles to breaking through."

There is a small bottleneck between the third and fourth levels of Qi Refining, but this bottleneck is not difficult and can be easily broken through with the help of external forces.

For the past week, Song Chen has been shuttling between the pharmacy and his home.

Without the system's assistance, the success rate of his Crimson Flame Pills was already 60%, and with the system's assistance, it would be 80%.

With such a high success rate, one could easily purchase spiritual herbs, refine Crimson Flame Pills, and sell them for profit.

Generally speaking, the success rate of pill formation is 50%, and as long as there are at least two inferior pills among the remaining 50%, you can earn the spirit stones for one Crimson Flame Pill, which is nine spirit stones.

Song Chen's 60% success rate in producing pills is quite remarkable; none of the remaining four pills were defective, all were of inferior quality.

One such batch can earn approximately thirty-five spirit stones.

Purely exorbitant profits!

Unfortunately, Feng Sancai was pushing him too hard, so Song Chen could only study alchemy diligently every day. He was so busy that he had no time to refine pills to earn extra money.

This made him somewhat dissatisfied, but he didn't say anything.

After all, instruction from those in the later stages of Qi Refining is rare and hard to come by.

Moreover, Song Chen does not rely on alchemy to make money.

Three of the eight ordinary medicinal herbs in the backyard have transformed into spiritual herbs.

It is worth a total of sixty-five spirit stones.

Excluding the handling fee of Linglong Tianlou.

There are still sixty-two pieces left.

Song Chen took advantage of the deserted streets in the early morning to make the transaction.

The transaction went smoothly, but then we ran into that old man again.

As the number of transactions increased, the look in his eyes towards Song Chen grew increasingly hostile.

To avoid any unforeseen complications, Song Chen decided to sell herbs at a different time next time, hoping to avoid clashing with the old man.

In addition, many inferior medicinal herbs had already matured and produced seeds, which Song Chen collected in time; otherwise, they would have rotted in the soil and damaged soil fertility.

He planned to use these inferior pesticides as fertilizer later, but he also did not give up the possibility that their seeds could transform into spiritual herbs, so he buried them in the soil one by one.

To Song Chen's surprise, the insect-repelling film was surprisingly effective. He found many dead insects inside, which he packed up and stored for later use as fertilizer.

After finishing his training, he went to the front yard and practiced the Fire Shield spell in an open space. This was a mid-grade spell worth seventeen spirit stones.

In addition to purchasing this spell, Song Chen also spent twenty-six spirit stones to acquire a low-grade magic weapon specifically for sneak attacks, named the Trident Hook.

This thing emits a cold glint, hooking the target before it arrives, killing without a trace. Its power is boundless, and if one is caught off guard, even a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator will perish from it!

This is truly a must-have tool for cunning and manipulative people like Song Chen!

With such advantages, as a low-grade magic weapon, its disadvantages are naturally also obvious. If one is careful, it may not even be able to break through the defenses of a Qi Refining stage cultivator.

That's more than enough for Song Chen.

After that, cultivation cost four spirit stones, and selling aphrodisiac pills at Feng Sancai's shop yielded two more spirit stones.

As of now, he still has twenty-two spirit stones in his possession.

In the courtyard, the fiery red lava in the night sky was particularly eye-catching.

The shield's surface is covered with flowing lava, and its shape can change at will.

If the spiritual energy output is increased, the card will expand further, up to the point where it can cover the entire body, easily resisting spells cast by spiritual energy at the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

Most importantly, this spell consumes very little spiritual energy.

With his current spiritual energy reserves, he can use it for a quarter of an hour, which is more than enough for self-defense. Combined with fire control and the trident, it can be considered both offensive and defensive.

However, he wasn't very skilled at using it, and the fire shield always had gaps and holes.

Song Chen wasn't worried about that.

He believed that with more practice, this problem would definitely be solved soon.

Three days ago, just as Zhou Ming had said, a beam of light shot into the sky over Guanshi Peak.

It didn't last long, only a short hour.

Even so, it was still discovered by countless people.

Many talented and extraordinary individuals have formed teams to try their luck there and see if they can find any opportunities.

These past few days, as Song Chen walked down the street, all he heard people talking about was the demonic inheritance of the late-stage Qi Refining realm.

It is said that this late-stage Qi Refining inheritance is extraordinary. It was left behind by a Foundation Establishment cultivator who fell to the late-stage Qi Refining stage and passed away here in his later years.

It is unknown where this rumor came from, but once it spread, the competition for the inheritance became even more intense.

Even cultivators at the peak of Qi Refining from both the righteous and demonic paths wanted to share a cup.

Upon hearing this, Song Chen felt fortunate that he hadn't gone with Zhou Ming and his group, otherwise he probably wouldn't have had enough lives to survive.

call!

Just then, a faint gust of wind came from outside the courtyard gate, its sound weak, like the sound of a flying boat landing.

There are cultivators with flying boats nearby, but Song Chen only knows one person... that is Zhou Ming!

Why is he back?

Isn't the inheritance just beginning?

And judging from the noise, it seems he was the only one there?

Song Chen pressed himself against the courtyard gate, listening to the sounds outside, only hearing Zhou Ming's intermittent complaints.

"Those two old bastards are really troublesome... Luckily, I'm more skilled, or I would have really been in trouble!"

"You know what, this couple actually has quite a bit of wealth!"

Song Chen felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this; Jiang Wan and his wife... were dead.

He died at the hands of Zhou Ming!

Zhou Ming glanced at Song Chen's courtyard gate out of the corner of his eye, his eyes narrowed, full of ferocity.

Unfortunately, Song Chen couldn't see it because of the door.

"And then there's Song Chen. I don't know what stroke of luck he had, but he actually gained Feng Sancai's favor. If he finds out the truth about his parents' deaths... oh dear!"

At this point, Zhou Ming shuddered and ran into the house as if fleeing.

The streets returned to silence, with only the whistling of the wind.

Song Chen, standing behind a door, looked utterly shocked.

Based on the memories of the original body, no one would have imagined that Zhou Ming was the murderer who killed the original body's parents.

this......

Song Chen removed his head from the door, paused for a few seconds, and then resumed practicing his spells.

Thinking about all that is pointless. I should just focus on training and improving my strength!

He focused intently and devoted himself to cultivation.

Under such intense attention, the fire shield, which was originally riddled with flaws, actually became complete for the first time.

This is a huge leap from 0 to 1. From 1 to 100, you can simply keep reviewing the experience gained from this performance.

The next day, early in the morning.

Zhou Ming left home early. He wandered around and eventually entered a small alley. Finally, he stopped in front of a magnificent courtyard and knocked on the door.

"Who?"

"I am Zhou Ming."

The person who opened the door was a well-dressed, middle-aged man with a respectable appearance: "What? Didn't you already give me this month's spirit stones?"

"Manager Zhang, may I come inside for a chat?"

Before long, Zhou Ming and Zhang Guan sat facing each other in the magnificent hall.

"Song Yunshuo, does Zhang Guan still remember him?"

"What? What happened to him? Didn't you kill him? Did you secretly let him go?"

Zhang Guan took a sip of the spiritual tea and smiled faintly.

Zhou Ming was not only the representative of the Zhang family's loan sharking business in the North Alley, but also the eye for selecting suitable targets to plunder money.

The Song Yunshuo couple were an ordinary, moderately wealthy family that the Zhang family had their eye on. They owned a shop with a decent income of fifty spirit stones a month. The couple's cultivation level was only at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, and they happened to have a son at the early stage of Qi Refining, making them suitable as loan applicants. In the eyes of the Zhang family, they were naturally a "perfect family."

So the Zhang family released so-called inside information to lure them out, then seized the opportunity to kill them and take their money.

Of course, this inside information was true, otherwise Song Yunshuo wouldn't have fallen for it.

Through the maneuvering of the Zhang family and the Lower Sword Sect, Song Yunshuo's shop will also become part of the Zhang family next month.

In this way, everything belonging to the Song family became part of the Zhang family.

"How could that be! Of course I killed them, just like Jiang Wan and his wife, it was their son! Song Chen!"

Zhou Ming quickly defended himself, his tone extremely respectful, not daring to utter a single word: "He has a master who, for some reason, has recently started to value him."

"His master? There's such a person?" Zhang Guan raised an eyebrow.

"Feng Sancai! A second-grade alchemist in the late Qi Refining stage!"

"What? It's him! He actually helped Song Chen?"

Zhang Guan was no longer able to relax.

Feng Sancai's name is known throughout Broken Cliff Island. Everyone knows him. Although he is not the strongest, he is the one that no one dares to offend.

After all, everyone, more or less, will use the pills he refines.

"It's absolutely true. A few days ago, Song Chen was unable to pay his rent, but Feng Sancai helped him by giving him spirit stones, which helped him through the crisis."

Zhou Ming was completely flustered as he spoke, but he didn't stop talking:

"What should we do? What if Song Chen discovers the truth about his parents and sends Feng Sancai to seek revenge...?"

This is indeed a problem. The strongest cultivator in the Zhang family is only at the tenth level of Qi Refining, still a bit short of the peak of Qi Refining. It's really hard to say how he will fare against Feng Sancai.

Zhang Guan pondered for a moment, and Zhou Ming waited quietly.

He has served the Zhang family faithfully and loyally, so the Zhang family will surely not abandon him.

Unexpectedly, Manager Zhang asked, "Did you do a clean job?"

Zhou Ming blinked and replied, "Clean, very clean."

"That's good, then your life might be saved!"

Zhang Guan sneered.

"Manager Zhang? What...does that mean?"

"You have two choices..."