Chapter 294: Chapter 234: Testing the Pill on Oneself

"Fellow Daoist Jia is a Pill Master?"

The one who spoke was a middle-aged Daoist, a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, and Fang Qingyuan’s neighbor to the left.

This man’s name was Pang Yixuan, the manager of a business team that hunted sea beasts. He had a friendly face, but the immense aura of death and resentment clinging to him was extremely dense.

It was so dense it made Fang Qingyuan’s nose itch. Due to his cultivation of the Qi Eating Technique, scents that others couldn’t detect were as conspicuous as a firefly in the night to him.

Fang Qingyuan endured the discomfort in his nostrils and said with a smile,

"I wouldn’t dare call myself a Pill Master. I just refine some powders to barely make ends meet."

Pang Yixuan chuckled a few times, his tone also quite friendly.

"Fellow Daoist Jia, you’re too modest. Pill Masters are respected no matter where they go. In the future, I may just have to ask you for a few Elixir Pills."

In the Cultivation Realm, the status of a Pill Master was quite noble. Even an unskilled Pill Master who was a Loose Cultivator, like the one Fang Qingyuan was pretending to be, would be treated well wherever they went.

This was because Elixir Pills had an incredibly wide range of applications.

There were Elixir Pills for healing injuries, for advancing one’s cultivation, and Antitoxic Pills for poison. There were also pills for resisting Heart Demons, breaking through bottlenecks, and so on.

Cultivators couldn’t do without all sorts of Elixir Pills. If they could get to know a Pill Master, their expenses on pills could be greatly reduced.

Moreover, when faced with special problems that required specific Elixir Pills, a familiar Pill Master could also help refine them.

Therefore, the identity of a Pill Master was something Fang Qingyuan had deliberately designed. He had come here this time to make many friends, as this would allow him to gather more information.

After chatting with Pang Yixuan for a short while, Fang Qingyuan tactfully took his leave. It was best not to appear overly enthusiastic on a first visit.

After Fang Qingyuan left, Pang Yixuan looked at the few bottles of common Elixir Pills Fang Qingyuan had brought, pondered for a moment, and finally put them away.

After visiting Pang Yixuan, Fang Qingyuan went to another residence.

Unfortunately, though Fang Qingyuan knocked for a long time, no one came to open the door.

’Is the master of the house not home?’

This residence was enveloped in a Tier Two Middle Grade Array, capable of blocking the Divine Sense probes of a Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Fang Qingyuan did not specifically use his Divine Sense to peek inside.

This was a provocative act. If the owner were to discover it and a conflict arose, the loss would outweigh the gain.

Thus, Fang Qingyuan stood at the gate for a moment, and after confirming that no one was there, he returned to his own courtyard.

But only after Fang Qingyuan had left did someone inside the courtyard secretly heave a long sigh of relief.

.....

Returning to his own courtyard, Fang Qingyuan reactivated the Array enveloping his residence.

The Array covering Fang Qingyuan’s residence was a Tier Two Middle Grade Five Elements Inverted Enchantment Array, the most inconspicuous one in his vast collection.

Inside Fang Qingyuan’s Immortal Mansion, there were three sets of Tier Two High Grade Arrays, but it was not suitable to take them out and expose them to the outside world right now.

Although Pill Masters were wealthier than ordinary Cultivators, possessing a Tier Two Middle Grade Array was already quite impressive.

Pang Yixuan was a Business Team Manager, and he also only used a Tier Two Middle Grade Array to protect his residence.

However, while this Five Elements Inverted Enchantment Array lacked killing power, it had a unique function in concealing auras and hiding traces.

Furthermore, with Fang Qingyuan controlling it from within, this Array could erupt with the power of Tier Two High Grade. He was even confident he could detect the prying of a Golden Core Cultivator.

Back in his own courtyard, Fang Qingyuan let out Jinbao and the Crimson Young Bird.

The two little guys had been cooped up in the Immortal Mansion for over a month and were likely bored to death. As soon as they were out, they began to run around excitedly.

Seeing Jinbao’s silly look, Fang Qingyuan smiled knowingly. He then took a bottle of Elixir Pills he had tried refining a few days prior from his storage bag and said to Jinbao,

"Here, here, I have something good for you to try."

Jinbao saw Fang Qingyuan’s smile, and its heart skipped a beat. It slowly shuffled over and sniffed hard at the pill bottle in Fang Qingyuan’s hand.

Seeing Jinbao’s cautiousness, Fang Qingyuan laughed to himself. ’I added Flower Nectar to this Elixir Pill to cover up the bitterness. With Jinbao’s brain, it probably won’t be able to tell.’

Sure enough, after sniffing for a long time, Jinbao found nothing unusual. It opened its mouth wide and stuck out its tongue, indicating its desire to eat.

’Since you want to eat it, I’ll indulge you.’

Fang Qingyuan pulled the stopper from the jade pill bottle, poured out a few blood-red, longan-sized Elixir Pills, and tossed them into Jinbao’s mouth.

The Crimson Young Bird, seeing Jinbao get a treat, flapped its wings, fluttered over to Fang Qingyuan, opened its beak, and chirped.

’One more test subject for comparison isn’t a bad idea,’ Fang Qingyuan thought, so he took out another pill and tossed it into the Crimson Young Bird’s mouth.

After both little creatures had eaten the Elixir Pill, Fang Qingyuan hesitated for a moment before tossing one into his own mouth as well.

’It’s just a Blood Qi Pill. It shouldn’t be fatal, right?’

This Blood Qi Pill was one of the recipes recorded in the Pill Master’s legacy that Fang Qingyuan had won at auction.

There were a total of five pill recipes in that legacy, and the Blood Qi Pill was the one of the lowest grade.

Once successfully refined, the Blood Qi Pill could only be rated as Tier One Middle Grade. The pill’s main effect was to increase the user’s qi and blood, strengthening the body.

But one couldn’t take too much of this pill. The main ingredient required for its refinement was the essence blood of various demonic beasts. If one consumed too much, their qi and blood would become impure, which would affect their future cultivation.

There were even recorded cases of a certain cultivator who took too many Blood Qi Pills and ended up developing some characteristics of a demonic beast.

That cultivator met a tragic end, as he was ultimately dealt with as a Demon-possessed Cultivator.

A few days ago, while gathering information, Fang Qingyuan had tried refining a batch. He had never practiced Alchemy before, but his spiritual soul was now no weaker than that of a Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Surely, refining a pill equivalent to the Mid-stage Qi Refining level wouldn’t cause the furnace to explode.

Thus, following the information in the jade slip, Fang Qingyuan had tried refining the Blood Qi Pill for the first time. Although many problems arose during the process, he managed to control the situation with his powerful spiritual soul, ultimately producing this one bottle of Blood Qi Pills.

As the blood-red pill entered his mouth, Fang Qingyuan chewed a few times. It tasted like a hawthorn berry.

After he swallowed, the Blood Qi Pill entered his stomach, and a searing heat instantly spread from it.

This energy spread through his meridians, bringing warmth wherever it went.

But this energy only lasted for about a dozen breaths before disappearing. Immediately after, Fang Qingyuan let out a series of three loud farts.

This development was not what Fang Qingyuan had expected. Before he could react, he saw Jinbao’s bear-like face scrunch up, and the next moment, it also started letting out a volley of stinky farts.

"PFFT! PFFT!"

Jinbao couldn’t stop. The smell was truly something else, especially for Fang Qingyuan, whose sense of smell was exceptionally sharp due to his cultivation of the Qi Eating Technique.

Seeing Jinbao fall victim, Fang Qingyuan was greatly disappointed. ’I clearly followed all the steps in the jade slip.’

’Hmm, perhaps there was no problem with my refinement. It’s just that this Blood Qi Pill isn’t suitable for me and Jinbao. Look, nothing’s happened to the young bird yet.’

Before Fang Qingyuan could finish finding an excuse for himself, the Crimson Young Bird stuck its rear end high in the air. A black-and-white substance instantly shot out like a cannonball, splattering against the distant enclosure wall.

Witnessing this scene, Fang Qingyuan secretly changed the label on the pill bottle from ’Blood Qi Pill’ to ’Strong Diarrhea Pill’!