Unfortunately, this thing could only be eaten once; taking more later had no effect. Planting an entire acre was truly too wasteful. It would be best if he could acquire some ready-made ones!

But how could everything go as one wished?

Only after returning to his residence did Wang Hao realize he had been so preoccupied with thoughts of the Spirit Gathering Pill that he hadn’t given the already-refined Spirit Nurturing Pills to Yaya and Xiao Bai!

Yaya was the Golden-Eyed Duck, and Xiao Bai was naturally the Frost-Eyed White Tiger!

Wang Hao patted a Spirit Beast Pouch, and a duck with golden eyes, already taller than Wang Hao himself, appeared before him. Seeing Wang Hao, it let out two “quacks”!

“Don’t rush, let Xiao Bai out first!” As he spoke, he controlled another Spirit Beast Pouch to open and release the Frost-Eyed White Tiger. Xiao Bai was a few years younger than Yaya, but its growth rate was very fast. Its size now almost reached Wang Hao’s shoulder. Moreover, observing its aura, it was on the verge of reaching Tier 1 Mid-Grade.

“Awoo!” The cute white tiger roared fiercely the moment it emerged, only to be met with a disdainful glance from the Golden-Eyed Duck! It seemed to be looking at an idiot!

“As expected of spirit beasts that can grow to Tier 3,” Wang Hao praised, taking out two Spirit Nurturing Pills and feeding one to each.

Yaya was still a step away from reaching Tier 1 High-Grade. One Spirit Nurturing Pill wouldn’t allow it to break through. On the contrary, after eating the pill, Xiao Bai became drowsy—a sign of an impending breakthrough. Wang Hao put it back into the Spirit Beast Pouch. As for Yaya, it could play in the courtyard for a while!

Spirit beasts were more intelligent than ordinary animals. Plus, Wang Hao had raised Yaya since it was young, so it was also very close to the Wang family members and wouldn’t cause trouble.

And so, Wang Hao spent over a year cultivating, tempering his body, and occasionally practicing alchemy—days that were monotonous and tedious.

There was still no news about the Three-Leaf Spirit Calming Grass from the commission house. Wang Hao had already withdrawn the commission. His farm’s batch had matured, so what was the point of keeping it listed? Due to the extreme complexity of the Spirit Gathering Pill, he only succeeded in refining four pills in one attempt, far below his average success rate of sixty percent.

Over the year, he had attempted to refine Qi Gathering Pills several times but failed each time. However, he wasn’t discouraged. He had already reached the pill-forming stage. He believed that after refining the Spirit Gathering Pill and trying a few more times, he would succeed! After all, Old Wang only became a Tier 2 Low-Grade alchemist after reaching the ninth layer of Qi Refining.

Unfortunately, Old Wang arrived and told him they needed to go to Qingyuan Market. Naturally, his breakthrough plans had to be postponed.

“Are you ready?”

“What is there to prepare? Old Wang, you’re not going to pocket my three thousand Spirit Stones, are you?”

Wang Yanzhao twitched upon hearing this. Although this son of his had become capable—his cultivation, combat skills, and business acumen were all good—that mouth of his was still as infuriating as before!

He casually tossed out a storage pouch. “Here you go. Since we’re going to Qingyuan Market this time, buy some good stuff!”

Wang Hao chuckled twice and took the storage pouch. Upon checking, besides the three thousand Spirit Stones, there were quite a few good items: some spells collected by the Wang family and two Tier 2 talismans.

Wang Yanzhao explained, “You’re now a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator too. Still using Fireball Technique to keep up appearances? This Three Transformations of Essence Fire allows you to control flames to transform into various shapes for attack. It can even be used up to the Foundation Establishment stage. Practice it more. As for the other two Tier 2 talismans, they are from the Patriarch for your protection!”

Wang Hao expressed his satisfaction and thanks. Wang Yanzhao said no more, took out a crimson flying sword, and flew into the sky with Wang Hao.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator’s sword flight speed could reach three thousand li per hour. With Wang Yanzhao’s cultivation at the second layer of Foundation Establishment, he could fly for three hours continuously. However, Qingniu Market was hundreds of thousands of li away from Qingyuan Market. Wang Yanzhao couldn’t bear to use pills to restore his Spiritual Power; he could only slowly meditate and recover. The two traveled for over ten days before finally reaching Qingyuan Market.

Qingyuan Market was much larger than Qingniu Market. In terms of area alone, it was at least ten times bigger. Its permanent population exceeded one hundred thousand—and this was just the permanent population. Qingniu Market only reached fifty thousand when attracting large numbers of cultivators during Foundation Establishment Pill auctions; usually, there were less than ten thousand people in the market, most of whom were temporarily staying while striving in the Duan Yuan Mountain Range.

Qingyuan Market had two Tier 3 spirit veins and several Tier 2 ones, which were moved here by the Qingyuan Sect using formation techniques precisely to support the cultivation needs of so many people.

The Wang family had a general store in Qingyuan Market, but business was dismal. The few Spirit Stones earned could barely cover the rent. If not for needing a foothold in Qingyuan Market, they would have closed it long ago.

The shop manager was Wang Yanzhi, ranked tenth among his generation. Upon meeting Wang Hao, he immediately grabbed his hand. “You must be our Wang family’s prodigy, Wenhao? You must give your Tenth Uncle some ideas! Tenth Uncle doesn’t ask for much; just let the shop break even so we don’t have to ask the family for money anymore!”

Wang Yanzhi needed family funds every year to pay rent, making him too ashamed to return to Wang Family Ridge. Seeing Wang Hao was like seeing a savior.

Wang Yanzhao intervened to rescue Wang Hao. “Tenth Brother, everyone understands the shop’s situation. Even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice—without large quantities of goods, how can one manage well? The family has never blamed you!”

“Ah!” Wang Yanzhi sighed. “I know that’s how it is too. But looking at these bustling streets and then at our desolate shop… I feel truly ashamed!”

With such high foot traffic here, if managed well, they definitely wouldn’t have fallen to this state.

Wang Hao thought for a moment and said, “Tenth Uncle, aren’t we here now? With two alchemists here, how can we lack goods? Does the shop have any ready-made spiritual herbs? Bring them quickly!”

“Yes! Yes!” Wang Yanzhi hurriedly agreed. “We purchased a batch some time ago. Although not large in quantity, it’s enough for several furnace batches!”

Wang Yanzhao considered that the auction was still two months away; since they were idle anyway… “Tenth Brother can spread the word that we want to purchase more spiritual herbs! I’ll be staying here for two months!”

Wang Yanzhi was overjoyed and thumped his chest emphatically. “No problem! I’ll go notify the familiar herb-gathering teams later! You rest first; I’ll go get the herbs!”

The herbs weren’t plentiful; Wang Yanzhao took them all himself for refining later on the grounds that he wanted Wang Hao to focus on practicing spells instead!

Naturally happy about having less work himself—though not rushing into practicing Three Transformations of Essence Fire—Wang Hao took out the Spirit Gathering Pill first! Strengthening his Divine Sense would make practicing spells more efficient—order matters here!

The Spirit Gathering Pill looked pitch black; swallowing it directly down his throat, he felt warmth spreading throughout his abdomen. But instead of flowing towards his Dantian, the energy entered his Sea of Consciousness!

Initially, there was a tingling sensation, followed by gradually increasing pain. Yet simultaneously, the misty cloud within his Sea of Consciousness slowly expanded, nurtured by the medicinal efficacy!

This process felt long—at least subjectively so, perhaps due to the distorted time perception caused by the painful expansion within the Sea of Consciousness itself…

Only after the pain subsided did he realize the misty cloud had expanded by at least one-third. His original detection range was thirty zhang; now, it exceeded forty zhang—slightly more than forty zhang, indeed…

Taking out his Gale Sword, he found his control range had indeed reached forty zhang. Though he could make the sword fly beyond this distance, retrieving it would exceed his Spiritual Sense reach then!