"Daoist friend, is it true what you said about all those cultivators going missing?"
Lin Chang’sheng looked at a middle-aged cultivator in his forties and asked.
"Alchemist Zhang, it’s absolutely true!"
"When I just got here, I saw that the Dugu Family had sent cultivators out searching everywhere. Apparently, there were so strange noises outside the Dugu Family last night, and after two of their Qi Cultivation Eighth Layer Elders went out to check, they just disappeared and never ca back."
"It seems the Chen Family and Jiang Family are also looking for people, and all of the missing are cultivators of Qi Refining Seventh Layer and above! The way they disappeared is exactly the sa!"
The middle-aged cultivator nodded as he spoke.
"This is..."
Lin Chang’sheng felt a chill in his heart. Multiple cultivators missing, and all of them are Qi Refining Seventh Layer and above – this is definitely strange.
......
Outside Celestial Lake City.
Thirty li away.
Celestial Spirit Mountain Range.
Imposing beyond asure, sheer cliffs and giant ancient trees blocked out the sun, and the roars of demon beasts faintly echoed from deep within the mountains.
Qi Refining Stage cultivators from over a dozen cities near Celestial Lake City would co here to temper themselves, slaying demon beasts to acquire materials for cultivation.
At this mont—
Behind a smooth, mirror-like cliff a hundred ters across was a cavern inside the mountain.
The space inside was around eighty ters in diater, with nearly a hundred old stone coffins lined up across the cavern floor. Disturbing sounds of sharp nails scraping against the stone kept echoing through the cavern!
Blackened claws poked out one by one, struggling to erge from the coffins.
Three Qi Cultivation Eighth Layer cultivators, robed in black with chilling Yin Qi swirling around them, were relentlessly casting spells at the stone coffins. As the spells struck, the sound of nails scraping against stone faded significantly inside the coffins.
The black claws withdrew, falling silent.
The robes of the three all bore the pale white insignia of a small coffin.
"Junior Brother Mao, Junior Brother Xiang, this ti we’ve hit the jackpot! We’ve caught seven Qi Refining Seventh Layer cultivators and above to refine into Iron Corpses! I think we should lay low for a while now—after all, this is the Southern Domain Cultivation Realm! Too much attention isn’t good for us!"
The leader’s eyes flashed with a fierce, evil light. Sweeping his gaze over the coffins scattered through the cavern, he looked satisfied and muttered to himself.
Xiao Zhengxing was thin and of dium build, at the Peak of Qi Cultivation Eighth Layer, a disciple of the Demon Path Corpse King Sect. This ti, he’d brought along Mao Butong and Zhang Bangchang, sneaking into the vicinity of Celestial Lake City to capture Righteous Dao cultivators and refine Iron Corpses.
It wasn’t just them—the vast majority of Corpse King Sect disciples had infiltrated the Southern Domain Cultivation Realm.
"Senior Brother is right. We should lay low for a while!"
"We’ll do as Senior Brother says!"
Mao Butong and Zhang Bangchang nodded, bowing in assent.
......
Lin Chang’sheng sat in the Elixir Shop.
There weren’t any custors at the mont.
"There’ve been so many Qi Refining Seventh Layer and above cultivators going missing in Celestial Lake City lately. This is dangerous. I need to take my pills soon and push my cultivation up to the Peak of Qi Refining Ninth Layer."
"Or I should find so new ans of protection!"
Lin Chang’sheng muttered to himself. He knew very well that only by making himself strong enough would he be truly safe.
"Is Alchemist Zhang in?"
Just then, a voice sounded from outside the door.
"Oh, I’m here, Daoist Jiang. Are you buying more elixirs?"
Lin Chang’sheng walked out from the inner room and saw a thin elderly man with purple spots on his face standing outside the shop. He asked.
He recognized that old man—Jiang Cheng, an elder of the Jiang Family, who’d already visited for seven days straight.
Each day, he ca to buy a few elixirs and chat.
"Zhang Dansheng, actually, I’ve co on behalf of my family patriarch to discuss sothing with you."
When Lin Chang’sheng asked, Jiang Cheng respectfully clasped his fists and spoke.
"Oh? Go ahead."
Hearing Jiang Cheng’s words, Lin Chang’sheng’s eyes flickered—he’d been expecting this.
Jiang Cheng had co here day after day. He definitely wanted sothing.
The last few days had just been feeling things out—only today did he get to the point.
"Here’s the thing. Our family needs a large supply of elixirs, but we don’t have an alchemist. So we wish to invite Alchemist Zhang to be our Jiang Family’s contracted alchemist. We’ll provide all the pill materials, and you’ll refine elixirs for us. Each month, we’ll pay you five hundred spirit stones as your salary, just like the Wang Family. What do you think, Alchemist Zhang?"
Jiang Cheng eyed Lin Chang’sheng with respect, and offered up a storage bag, saying, "Here’s a small token from our Jiang Family. Please don’t refuse, Alchemist Zhang!"
"Tiger Killing Array? Five hundred spirit stones, and an Ice Spirit Fruit!"
Lin Chang’sheng swept his divine sense over the storage bag, heart stirred.
Inside were a book of array scripture, five hundred sparkling white spirit stones, and a heap of dicinal herbs—including a rare Celestial Spirit Fruit!
He knew it well.
The Celestial Spirit Fruit was an auxiliary ingredient for refining Foundation Establishnt Pill. He hadn’t expected the Jiang Family to offer up ingredients for Foundation Establishnt Pills!
Even though it was just an auxiliary ingredient, it was still hard to co by, and necessary for Foundation Establishnt Pill refining.
Right now, he already had two Foundation Establishnt Pills from Murong Tian, as well as a Flawless Dao Foundation, but before forming a foundation, it was best to prepare as thoroughly as possible!
"That’s fine, but I can’t go to your Jiang Family. You need to send the pill materials here, I’ll refine them, and then you can send soone to pick up the finished pills."
Lin Chang’sheng looked thoughtful and replied.
He guessed the Jiang Family wanted to compete after seeing the Wang Family hire him as their contracted alchemist.
To Lin Chang’sheng, it was a deal worth making.
He had to refine elixirs anyway, whether for one family or two, it hardly made a difference.
"No problem! We’ll do things as you say, Alchemist Zhang."
Upon hearing Lin Chang’sheng’s response, Jiang Cheng looked pleased, imdiately clasping his fists and asking, "Alchemist Zhang, when can we start sending over the pill materials?"
"Let’s... start tomorrow, then."
Lin Chang’sheng replied gravely.
Right now, he could only publicly refine Spirit Storage Pill, Qi Condensing Pill, and Essence Pill—three types of elixirs.
As long as they brought over the materials, he could get started. At his current pace, he could refine pills incredibly fast, and his pill completion rate was excellent.
"Great! I’ll get everything ready right away. Alchemist Zhang, I’ll co back tomorrow!"
Jiang Cheng bid Lin Chang’sheng farewell and turned to leave.
"Tiger Killing Array?"
Lin Chang’sheng glanced at the scripture in his hand, eyes shining as he thought, "Wait, didn’t I get the Illusionary Stone Collection Array from Murong Tian? If I can master a powerful array, I’ll gain another layer of protection."
He’d obtained the Illusionary Stone Collection Array from Murong Tian, and now he had the Tiger Killing Array. If he bought a few more arrays from the market, learned their basics and simplified them, could he fuse them all into one, creating a stronger grand array?
The thought left Lin Chang’sheng filled with anticipation.
Thinking this, Lin Chang’sheng imdiately shut the shop’s door and headed to the neighboring store to buy array scriptures.
He rembered—
In the market, they mostly sold low-level arrays like the Cloud Mist Array and Illusion Array. But even low-level arrays could be useful; if he mastered and then fused enough together, he was bound to create sothing powerful.
He was using the alias "Alchemist Zhang Han" now, pretty much counting as a loose cultivator.
This was nothing like the sects.
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