Chapter 28: Collaborating on the Great Mystery Pill

With two spirit stones in hand, Lin Donglai thought about buying some seeds.

Blood Marrow Rice seeds could be purchased at the Spirit Plant Hall, costing one spirit stone per jin of grain seeds.

A single acre required eight jin of seeds, which Lin Donglai simply could not afford.

Buying only two jin of seeds would only allow him to plant two *fen* of land; therefore, Lin Donglai considered perhaps planting some low-grade spiritual herbs first.

As for other things like blank spirit stone powder, alchemy wood ash, or spirit beast manure, he set them all aside for now.

However, if he planted those low-grade herbs, who would he sell them to?

Lin Donglai immediately thought of the bald alchemy apprentice who used to set up a stall between Lingxi Peak and Xianmiao Peak.

The Marrow-Nourishing Pills and Tendon-Transforming Pills the apprentice had refined previously could be bought for one spirit stone per bottle.

Other herbs, whether low-grade or semi-spiritual, could also be bought for five sets per spirit stone.

He could likely be a very good cooperative partner.

As an alchemy apprentice, he would certainly need a large quantity of such herbs for practice.

Lin Donglai also needed to hone his farming skills to reach the required standard sooner.

Once he thought of it, he acted immediately; he could not procrastinate.

It would be even better if that bald man could become a formal alchemist during their cooperation; then, Lin Donglai wouldn't have to worry about finding a market for the herbs he grew.

Over the next few days, Lin Donglai traveled between the two peaks and the valley daily, specifically keeping an eye out to see if the bald alchemy apprentice was there.

Effort pays off. On this day, coinciding with a small market gathering, he once again encountered the bald apprentice setting up a stall. Selling things like Small Qi-Nourishing Pills, Marrow-Nourishing Pills, and Tendon-Transforming Pills had already lost its market appeal.

This time, he was selling new types of pills, such as Small Yellow Bud Pills, Fasting Pills, and Lock-Yang Pills.

These items sold reasonably well among low-level disciples and even handyman disciples.

As the apprentice was about to pack up after finishing his sales, Lin Donglai approached him: "Senior Brother, wait a moment!"

The bald man rubbed his smooth scalp and looked at Lin Donglai suspiciously: "Junior Brother, are you addressing me?"

"I am Lin Donglai, an outer disciple of the Spirit Plant Hall. Greetings, Senior Brother."

"You are from this year's Xianmiao batch. You look familiar. Did you come to me for a prescription before?" He became alert. "I'm telling you, my prescriptions are definitely effective. If you've come to find fault after all this time, I won't entertain you."

Lin Donglai waved his hand and smiled. "How could that be? It is thanks to Senior Brother's herbs that I was able to successfully guide Qi into my body and officially become an outer disciple."

"Then why are you looking for me?" The bald man remained cautious and did not reveal his name.

However, since he frequently set up a stall here, Lin Donglai could certainly ask others, but direct communication was more sincere.

"I possess a low-grade Wood Spiritual Physique and am being prioritized for cultivation by the Spirit Plant Hall. I originally wanted to grow spiritual rice, but Senior Sister Huang Yue said that those who grow spiritual rice can only be called spiritual farmers; to be a spiritual planter, one must grow more spiritual herbs."

"However, I cannot afford the seeds for first-order spiritual herbs, so I thought of trying my hand at some low-grade herbs. Since there is no channel in the Spirit Plant Hall to exchange for these low-grade seeds, I thought I would ask Senior Brother."

"I see." Xiao Ran nodded, lowering his guard. "Low-grade spiritual herbs have too little value; no one needs them except for alchemy apprentices."

"Most low-grade herbs are purchased in bulk from external cultivation families and subordinate sects."

"The sect cannot monopolize all these businesses; we have to leave some room for those small families and sects to survive."

"Even when we alchemy apprentices apply for these low-grade herbs for practice, we still have to consume spirit stones and merit points."

"So that's how it is. It seems Senior Brother doesn't have these low-grade herb seeds either." Lin Donglai was slightly disappointed.

"Junior Brother, such seeds can be obtained!" Xiao Yi's eyes flickered as he asked, "Do you truly possess a low-grade Wood Spiritual Physique?"

"How could it be false?" Lin Donglai said loudly. "That was personally measured by Inner Sect Senior Brother Li Yunze. Even Senior Sister Huang Yue of the Spirit Plant Hall said she would prioritize my cultivation!"

"I see." Xiao Yi's gaze shimmered. "Junior Brother, to be honest, I need a large amount of low-grade herbs to practice alchemy. I need to raise my pill success rate to eighty percent before I can become a low-grade first-order alchemist."

"I have connections to get these low-grade herb seeds, and I can give them to you for free."

Lin Donglai was surprised. "How could I possibly accept that?"

"There are conditions. Once you grow them, you must hand them all over to me for my alchemy practice. For the money earned from selling the pills in Qingmu Immortal City, we will split it fifty-fifty. How about it?" Xiao Yi smiled triumphantly. After all, alchemy had a much brighter future than farming; under these circumstances, offering a fifty-fifty split was already showing great respect to this junior brother.

"Deal!"

Lin Donglai hadn't expected him to have connections in the outer sect's Qingmu Immortal City.

The two made an agreement on the spot, using their outer disciple tokens to leave imprints on each other for future communication.

Two days later, Xiao Yi sent a message to Lin Donglai via the outer disciple token.

"This bag contains Seven-Star Grass seeds. This bag is Lock-Yang Grass seeds. This bag is Replenishing Essence Flower seeds, and this bag is Kidney-Essence Grass seeds..."

"I've looked into it. The best-selling pill in Qingmu Immortal City right now is called the All-Mysteries Pill. It comes from a recipe passed down from the Hehuan Sect; it can replenish Yang and aid arousal."

"Moving forward, I will focus my skills on this recipe to promote myself to a low-grade first-order alchemist."

"For this pill, only the main ingredient is the low-grade first-order All-Mysteries Flower; the rest are all low-grade herbs. They are all here. We can harvest a batch in six months."

"Let's sign a contract. It is agreed that once these herbs grow, they will all be used to support my alchemy, and the spirit stones earned from selling the pills will be split fifty-fifty."

"No problem!" Lin Donglai nodded, not attempting to haggle.

Although the "All-Mysteries Pill" didn't sound like a proper medicinal pill, Lin Donglai didn't care.

Lin Donglai felt he was "trapping a wolf with empty hands"—securing an alchemy apprentice to fund his farming and obtaining herb seeds was already a great profit.

Xiao Yi also felt that his early investment in alchemy would involve a lot of trial and error, but he wouldn't lose money. Using some seeds to tie down a talented spiritual planter to support his alchemy was a bargain.

"How should I take care of these herbs?"

"That is your business." Xiao Yi shook his head. "The person who sold me the seeds didn't give me any cultivation methods. You'll have to research books and figure it out yourself."

"Let's be clear: there are two hundred seeds of each kind in here. You must successfully grow at least half for me, otherwise, you must make up the deficit."

"No problem. But it definitely won't be this year. I need to figure things out; once I find the cultivation method, I can give them to you next year."

Lin Donglai was also a lone wolf and was confident he could grow them.

In the past few days, besides waiting for the seeds, he had been cultivating. He had already accumulated a grain-sized amount of Earth Essence, and by using nine extra drops of essence blood, he had refined a portion of Innate Fetal Breathing, converting it into Earth Fetal Breathing and planting it into his spleen. It faintly resembled the aura of a "Blessed Field Seed."

Everything was progressing surprisingly smoothly.

At this rate, it would only take about a month to gather five portions of Earth Essence, after which he could switch to practicing the "Renzi Water-Gathering Technique" to condense Water Essence.

It would likely take less than three months to gather all fifteen portions of the Five Elements Essence.

During this period, although his cultivation level would be difficult to increase—as all his efforts were spent nourishing his spiritual marrow and condensing essence blood—he could use the time to comprehend the "Sprouting and Gestation Technique," learn various spiritual plant knowledge, and seek advice from Huang Yue on the experience of growing these low-grade herbs.

As for the two spirit stones, he still had to exchange them for two jin of Blood Marrow Rice seeds. That matter was crucial, as it involved nourishing his spiritual marrow and condensing his essence blood.