Fang Hao, riding his Flying Sword alone, flew head-down in the sky for seven or eight days before finally catching a glimpse of Hundred Flowers City.
This largest city in the Southern Frontier truly lived up to its reputation; from afar, one could see an endless expanse of buildings, densely packed like a giant beehive, standing in a massive valley basin.
The Spiritual Qi around the city was dense and swirling, even thicker than in Tianqing City.
He was in no rush to enter the city; first, he found a quiet hilltop outside the city to land, changed into the clothes of an ordinary Loose Cultivator, suppressed his cultivation aura to the Foundation Establishnt Middle Stage, and only then strolled towards the city gate.
There was no other way; he was currently a "lone commander," the only survivor after his entire caravan had been wiped out. This matter was too conspicuous, so he had to keep a low profile.
Entering the city was quite smooth; he paid the Spirit Stone and received a temporary identity token.
Once inside the city, the bustling atmosphere hit him head-on.
The streets were much wider than in Tianqing City, lined with shops selling everything imaginable, especially dicinal herb shops, which appeared every few steps, filling the air with a mixed scent of herbs.
The people on the street were a motley crew: Sect Disciples in gorgeous Magical Artifact robes, fierce-looking Southern Frontier natives draped in animal skins, and many Cultivators in strange attire who were clearly from overseas. It was much more chaotic and livelier than Tianqing City.
Fang Hao had no interest in wandering around and first found an inconspicuous, mid-range inn in the city to stay at.
After closing the door and setting up a few small Formation arrays for warning and soundproofing, he plopped down on the bed and let out a long sigh of relief.
He had finally arrived.
This journey had truly been a brush with death.
After resting for a while, he began to ponder his future.
The caravan was gone; return to the Seventh Princes Mansion?
Forget it!
How would he explain it?
Say that everyone else died, and he was the only one who returned alive?
And carrying a pile of "scavenged" wealth?
Would the Mansion believe that?
Even if they believed it, would they suspect him of embezzling the goods?
Or think he was incompetent, unable to even protect the caravan?
Going back would surely bring a pile of trouble, and he might even be punished.
Simply put, he wouldn’t go back!
In any case, he still held his status as a Guest Elder, and for now, no one knew what had happened on the Southern Wasteland Ancient Path.
Hundred Flowers City was far from the center of power; he would hide here first and wait until the Tianyan Secret Realm opened.
Once he entered the Secret Realm, whether he lived or died would be up to fate, and the Mansion wouldn’t be able to control him anymore.
Having made up his mind not to return, he actually felt much more relaxed.
For the next nine months or so, his goals were clear: first, recover from his injuries and adjust his state to the best; second, research the forming golden core Pill Formula and find a way to collect the main ingredients; third, gather information about the Tianyan Secret Realm and prepare.
He first took stock of his "harvest" this ti.
Good heavens, he didn’t realize it until he counted, and he was shocked once he did!
That gang of robbers, especially the three Golden Core leaders, had truly abundant wealth!
The Low-Grade Spirit Stones added up to nearly twenty million!
There were also over three hundred thousand Mid-Grade Spirit Stones!
Various dicinal Pills, Materials, and Magical Artifacts were piled up like a small mountain!
Although he couldn’t use most of them, selling them would also bring in a large sum of money!
Fang Hao also carefully kept the personal effects of Steward Qian, Tu Gang, and Hou Tong, without touching their private items, only gathering the caravan’s public goods and Spirit Stones together.
He didn’t intend to deal with these items for the ti being, to avoid trouble.
After sorting and storing everything, Fang Hao felt like he had suddenly beco a wealthy landowner, his pockets fuller than ever before!
Now, the money to buy the main ingredients for forming golden core was settled!
Next was to study that incomplete forming golden core Pill Formula.
Fang Hao took out the ancient Jade Slip, imrsed his Divine Sense into it, and began to study it carefully.
The Pill Formula was indeed severely incomplete, but the core content was still there.
The main ingredients required seven types of Fourth-Grade Spiritual Plants, which were: tal-type’Sharp tal Grass’, Wood-type ’Azure Dragon Ginseng’, Water-type ’Mystic Ice Lotus’, Fire-type ’earth core fire ganoderma’, Earth-type ’Thick Earth Poria’, and two very rare Yin and Yang attribute Spiritual Plants—’sun flower’ and ’moon shadow grass’.
These seven main ingredients had different attributes and vastly different growth environnts, so it was no wonder that forming golden core was so difficult to refine.
Just gathering these seven main ingredients was enough to make soone run their legs off.
"Must take it slowly, no need to rush."
Fang Hao knew this in his heart.
Fortunately, Hundred Flowers City was a distribution center for dicinal herbs, so there were many opportunities.
He planned to first stroll around the major dicinal herb shops and markets in the city to get a feel for the market and see if he could find so.
After resting for two days and recovering from the fatigue and hidden injuries of the journey, Fang Hao began to take action.
He went out early and returned late every day, lingering in the various large and small dicinal herb shops, auction houses, and markets where Loose Cultivators set up stalls in Hundred Flowers City.
This stroll was truly an eye-opener.
The dicinal herb resources in Hundred Flowers City were too abundant!
Many rare Spiritual Plants that he couldn’t even see in Tianqing City could be found here; of course, the prices were also frighteningly expensive.
Fang Hao focused on inquiring about those seven main ingredients.
The result was that the difficulty was even greater than he had imagined.
The four types like "Sharp tal Grass", "Azure Dragon Ginseng", "Mystic Ice Lotus", and "Thick Earth Poria", although rare, could occasionally be seen in so large shops if one spent a lot of money.
But the three types, "earth core fire ganoderma", "sun flower", and "moon shadow grass", were truly rare finds.
"earth core fire ganoderma" only grew near the earth core fire veins and was extrely difficult to pick; "sun flower" required a place of extre Yang to grow, and its flowering period was extrely short; "moon shadow grass" was even more bizarre, appearing only on certain specific moonlit nights in Secret Realms of extre Yin.
These three types of Spiritual Plants were basically unseen on the market; if one occasionally appeared, it would cause a frenzy and be auctioned off at an astronomical price.
Fang Hao ran his legs off, but only managed to pre-order a five-hundred-year-old "Thick Earth Poria" at a high price in an old-established dicinal shop, and the other party said it would take a month to arrive.
As for the others, he didn’t even catch a glimpse of them.
"It seems that relying solely on buying won’t work; I have to think of other ways."
Fang Hao was a bit worried.
Money was not omnipotent; so things had a price but no market.
In addition to buying dicine, he also kept a close watch on news about the Tianyan Secret Realm.
However, this matter was even more secretive, and ordinary Cultivators had no idea at all.
He could only occasionally receive vague information about the situation in the Southern Frontier sent by the Mansion through his Guest Elder token, from which he could infer a thing or two.
It was said that the exact location of the Secret Realm entrance and the thod of entry would only be transmitted to the holders through the Secret Key about a month before it opened.
As the days passed, Fang Hao rented a single-story house with a small courtyard in a relatively quiet neighborhood in the west of Hundred Flowers City, and he was considered temporarily settled.
He usually stayed in seclusion, either Cultivating or researching Pill Formula and Formation arrays, occasionally going out to inquire about news and purchase supplies.
Life was peaceful, but he knew in his heart that this peace was only temporary.
More than nine months later, that huge vortex of the Tianyan Secret Realm would once again pull him into unknown, turbulent waves.
And before that, he must improve his strength as much as possible and be well-prepared.
The forming golden core, was the biggest hurdle in front of him right now.
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