Chapter 157: A Profitable Way of Life

"Those two pieces of refined iron are of excellent quality and would be the absolute best choice for upgrading a magical treasure," Feng Ke'er asked with a beaming smile. "Huli, how about I help you upgrade your cloud boat? By refining these two pieces of iron and fusing them into the cloud boat, you can raise its grade to at least a mid-grade precious artifact."

Hearing this, Huli dropped his jaw in shock, momentarily left speechless. A voice inside him was roaring with excitement: *What? Master can also forge artifacts?*

Having consumed her Demon-Subduing Pill, he naturally knew that his mistress was capable of alchemy and was, moreover, an outstanding alchemist. However, he had never imagined that she could also forge artifacts. Judging by her tone, her skill in artifact crafting was likely not low either.

*Oh, Pangu, Great Deity, you truly favor me, Hu San.* Recovering his wits, the fox was trembling all over with excitement. "Can you really do it?" The Silver Fox clan was naturally inept at flying. Without a good flying magical treasure, traveling was terribly inconvenient for him. That was why he had spent a small fortune years ago to have this cloud boat custom-made. If the cloud boat could be upgraded to a mid-grade precious artifact, it would be like adding wings to a tiger for him.

Of course—she couldn't! Big Sister had major plans for those two pieces of refined iron. Feng Ke'er took a deep breath, her voice growing even sweeter. "Fox, I know a superb flying technique. Once you master it, you won't need to rely on any flying magical instruments whatsoever. So, are you certain you still want to upgrade the cloud boat?" As her destined guardian beast, if he couldn't scurry away nimbly during a crisis, it would become a fatal weakness. She had long intended to teach him the Breeze Art, but this stubborn fox possessed a proud and aloof bone in his body. Last time she offered to teach him the first tier of the Clearing Heart Incantation, the fellow had put on airs and hemmed and hawed for ages. Therefore, upon seeing those two pieces of refined iron, inspiration struck, and she decided to seize the opportunity to "sell" the Breeze Art to this stubborn fox. Besides, she genuinely needed those refined iron pieces. With them added, the rice cooker could at the very least be upgraded to an upper-grade precious artifact level.

Huli naturally caught the implication in her words and smiled. "If Master needs those two pieces of refined iron, just take them."

*Always acting like this! Am I the kind of unscrupulous owner who takes advantage of her own pet?* Feng Ke'er gnashed her teeth and said fiercely, "One word: trade or no trade? If not, forget it."

This time, the stubborn fox showed marked improvement over the previous occasion; without further hesitation, he cheerfully agreed.

Thus, Feng Ke'er gleefully tossed out the Breeze Art and tucked the two pieces of refined iron into her spatial orb. *Haha, with these two pieces of refined iron added, the rice cooker can at least step into the ranks of upper-grade precious artifacts!*

After a moment's thought, she waved her hand again, sweeping all ten batches of herbs into the spatial orb as well. "Fox, you don't know alchemy. Once the rice cooker is upgraded, these ten batches of Inaction Pills will be just right for me to practice with." An upper-grade precious artifact plus five-hundred-year-old herbs, combined with her alchemy proficiency, made it difficult not to churn out spiritual pills!

Her tone was quite cheerful, yet Huli remained silent upon hearing this. For he knew that while ordinary fire could be used for artifact forging, alchemy was entirely different.

Aside from herbs and a cauldron, concocting spiritual pills required one supremely important element—spiritual fire. Without superior spiritual fire, even the finest alchemist could not brew pills.

According to the intelligence he had gathered, superior spiritual fire in the spiritual realm was concentrated entirely in the Eastern Spiritual Continent, controlled exclusively by the Alliance and prominent cultivation clans. Meanwhile, the Southern Spiritual Continent lacked the fire element across the board, possessing zero spiritual fire suitable for alchemy. In other words, if Feng Ke'er wished to practice alchemy, she would have to travel to other spiritual continents. However, regulations in the Southern Spiritual Continent stipulated that newly ascended pseudo-immortals could only reside within the Southern Spiritual Continent for the first three years, and any trips to other spiritual continents required returning the very same day. How could spiritual pills possibly be brewed in a single day?

Consequently, he could not manage to be optimistic at all.

Naturally aware of his misgivings, Feng Ke'er laughed heartily. "Fox, don't worry. Your mistress has never needed external fire for alchemy. I use my natal spiritual fire to brew pills. Furthermore, artifact forging is the same; I use my natal spiritual fire for that too." Having advanced, her dantian fire had also upgraded into natal spiritual fire.

Huli was stunned dumb. After a long while, he came to his senses and stammered, "Master, aren't, aren't you an ice spiritual root?" Among all natal spiritual fires, those belonging to ice spiritual roots were the weakest—inferior even to his own water-attribute beast core.

Feng Ke'er retorted with a question, "When did I ever say I was an ice spiritual root?" *I don't have spiritual roots at all, thank you very much!*

"You aren't?" Huli was completely baffled.

Feng Ke'er gave a firm and definitive reply. "Of course not. Enough idle chatter, I'm going to upgrade the rice cooker first, and then brew a fine batch of Inaction Pills for you to see." *Humph, facts speak louder than words.*

Huli sensibly kept his mouth shut. Outwardly he remained quiet, but deep down, he had long since believed Feng Ke'er's words. Sitting cross-legged inside the immortal cave, his heart churned with emotions that refused to settle for a long time: *Being able to use natal spiritual fire for both alchemy and artifact forging—aren't those abilities possessed only by top-tier alchemists and artifact refiners? Hu San, oh Hu San, to be favored by Master means your good fortune has reached the very tips of your toes.*

Upgrading precious artifacts and practicing alchemy were both tasks requiring the utmost patience and consuming massive amounts of time. However, who possessed the dual time-cheating devices of a mustard-seed space and a spatial orb?

Three days later, the rice cooker was upgraded—triggering a massive stroke of good fortune, it actually evolved into a low-grade immortal artifact!

Another three days passed, and the tenth batch of fragrant Inaction Pills was also freshly baked. Low-grade immortal artifacts were simply wonderful to work with. Ten batches yielded a total of one hundred pills, every single one of them a mid-grade spiritual pill with not a single defective piece. Extremely pleased with herself, Feng Ke'er tossed the pills out of the spatial orb and took the opportunity to leap into the mustard-seed space for a bath.

Huli casually popped open one of the vials, and the cave instantly flooded with fragrance. "Gurgle," his stomach offered a unique form of praise.

The fox was given a fright—ever since entering the fourth tier, he had gradually begun using Inaction Pills to fast. Having consumed Inaction Pills for nearly twenty thousand years, he had long since grown sick of them. Unfortunately, to this day, he still could not achieve complete, true fasting—that is, surviving merely on wind, dew, and spiritual energy.

Yet, while he usually felt nauseous just smelling their aroma, his stomach was actually rumbling with hunger right now!

Curiously pouring a pill out from the jade vial, Huli instantly felt his mouth water, experiencing the desire to eat for the first time in over ten thousand years.

The Inaction Pill in his palm was perfectly round, emerald-green in color, and shimmered with a ring of five-colored halo, looking even more translucent than superior jade.

Suppressing his pounding heart, he popped the Inaction Pill into his mouth. The pill melted the moment it touched his tongue; its texture was rich, delicate, and soft, flowing like a thin, warm stream of hot spring water slowly down his esophagus into his stomach. In an instant, warmth spread through every sinew and meridian.

The art of pill-making emphasized five aspects in unison: color, aroma, taste, form, and medicinal efficacy. Clearly, the single Inaction Pill he had just swallowed was a masterpiece combining all five traits. Inaction pills were low-tier pills; for Feng Ke'er to refine one to the standard of a mid-grade spiritual pill was already the absolute limit.

Huli opened the rest of the vials and inspected them one by one.

Every single pill was a fine masterpiece!

"Master, Master..." The usually composed fox clutched the pile of jade vials, nearly wild with joy.

Having finished her bath and returned to the spatial orb, Feng Ke'er saw him in such a delirious state of delight, chuckled uncontrollably, and said triumphantly, "Fox, you aren't planning to go sell these pills, are you?"

What was the one thing master and servant lacked most right now? Spiritual stones, of course.

The herbs in the market were of high quality yet low price, but the price of spiritual pills was shockingly high. With Huli's methods, opening up a commercial route in the market would certainly be no problem at all. Heh, buying herbs cheap and selling pills dear—they'd make a fortune.

This was what you called "making money through proper channels"!

Unexpectedly, Huli poured a bucket of cold water right over her enthusiasm. "Master, do you really think these Inaction Pills can be peddled in the market?"

"Can private individuals not sell spiritual pills?" Feng Ke'er frowned, racking her brain to recall what she had seen while shopping a few days ago. There seemed to be no indication that spiritual pills were exclusively sold by the Alliance.

Huli smiled. "It's not that they can't be sold; rather, the Southern Spiritual Continent lacks the fire source for alchemy, so all the spiritual pills on the market are smuggled in from other spiritual continents. Furthermore, all spiritual pills appear to come from only five sources." Because his master practiced alchemy, he had paid special attention to this matter.

Understanding what he meant, Feng Ke'er found herself unable to stay cheerful—meaning that the spiritual pill market in the Southern Spiritual Continent was essentially monopolized by five pharmaceutical merchants.

Although the recipes were identical, different fire sources and techniques meant that the spiritual pills brewed by different alchemists were never the same.

For example, Feng Ke'er's natal spiritual fire was the purple Netherflame, which belonged to cold fire. Therefore, regardless of their grade or variety, the pills she crafted were always pale purple cold pills. Moreover, before the spiritual pills were finished, the alchemist had to condense them one last time using their natal spiritual light. Her natal spiritual light was a scorching five-colored radiance. Consequently, once the pills emerged, they carried a five-colored halo. At first glance, this halo effectively masked the purplish hue on the surface of the pills. At the same time, the cold pills transformed into warm pills, boosting their medicinal efficacy by nearly ten percent.

However, upon careful inspection and tasting, the purple color and cold nature remained her distinct alchemy hallmarks, which could never escape the discerning eyes of veteran appraisers.

In other words, the spiritual pills she produced could not possibly impersonate the output of those five major houses.

In the market, spiritual pills constituted a monopolized, super-profitable industry. Huli was a newcomer whose footing was still unsteady, while she was an unverified non-entity living in the shadows. Competitors were enemies; with what leverage could master and servant hope to grab a piece of the pie?

*Damn it, I hate monopolies the most!* Feng Ke'er clenched her fists. *Are we supposed to hold a golden rice bowl and starve to death?*

Hearing this, Huli asked with a puzzled expression, "A golden rice bowl?" Then, comprehension dawned, and he chuckled softly, "It won't come to that. Under heavy rewards, brave men will surely step forward; we'll find a way."

That was true. Commerce in the spiritual realm was far more developed than in the lower realms, teeming with merchants. How could a mere five pharmaceutical merchants possibly block so many people's dreams of getting rich? Still, was there any need to thrust oneself into the spotlight?

Feng Ke'er sighed. "Fine, if this path is difficult to walk, we'll switch to another. My artifact-forging and talisman-making skills are no less inferior to my alchemy anyway." If none of those three worked out, Big Sister could always sell spatial orbs—from her observations, not a single shop in the market sold those.

In short, she was a self-taught, all-around player. The fox could also buy formations, restrictions, and the like.

All roads lead to Rome; she refused to believe she couldn't conquer this wretched place.

"Master makes talismans too?" Huli nearly tripped over his tongue.