Cheng Xu smiled without a word and went up to punch him.
What a joke, the two of them had to work together to ambush it before it was killed. Now that Liu Hong was the only one left, how could he possibly be a match for him?
This time, Liu Hong was prepared. He easily parried the Tiger subduing fist and pushed out a palm with his backhand.
BOOM!
The wind from the palm was full of fire.
Cheng Xu hurriedly activated the protective Dipper energy he had just installed. A layer of Dipper energy circulated around his body, blocking the flaming palm wind.
"Strange, when did you start cultivating your protective Dipper energy?"
Liu Hong was slightly surprised. He stared at Cheng Xu's protective Dipper energy in confusion.
After all, he and Li Zhong had just killed Cheng Xu this morning, so they were very clear about Cheng Xu's methods.
In response, Cheng Xu smiled without saying a word and continued his pursuit.
"You're not Cheng Xu!" Liu Hong seemed to have realized something. He thought that some evil spirit had possessed Cheng Xu's corpse."I'd like to see what kind of evil you are!"
After saying that, he waved his flaming palm and attacked Cheng Xu.
Cheng Xu was neither fast nor slow. He used the Tiger taming fist to parry for a few rounds, and was soon engaged in a battle with Liu Hong.
In the process of fighting, Cheng Xu was surprised to find that he seemed to be able to read the other party's information.
Liu Hong:
[ Cultivation: Middle stage of Qi Refinement realm ]
[ Cultivation technique: Cloud intermediate cultivation technique (13MB) ]
[ Martial arts techniques: Flaming Palm (7.2MB), Plum Blossom Stance (4.5MB), Body Forging Fist (4.2MB) ]
Judging from the data of the cultivation methods and martial arts on Liu Hong's body, he had practiced them quite well.
After exchanging a few blows, Liu Hong took the opportunity to use his Flaming Palm to attack Cheng Xu. The wind from his palm burned with raging flames, and its power was extraordinary.
Cheng Xu didn't dare to be careless. He used cloud steps to narrowly avoid the attack and kicked him away.
Taking advantage of Liu Hong's unstable figure, he accurately shot out the Setting Sun finger at Liu Hong's vital point.
The speed of the Setting Sun finger was extremely fast. Although Liu Hong managed to dodge in time, his shoulder was still pierced by the force of the attack.
"Damn it, how did this guy come up with so many tricks!?!"
In a moment of panic, Liu Hong turned around to flee, but Cheng Xu easily caught up to him with cloud steps.
The injured Liu Hong was obviously unable to withstand the attack of the Tiger Subduing fist. Panic, confusion, and unwillingness appeared in his eyes as he said, "Junior Brother Cheng, let's talk this out. I can return all the things I stole from you, and all of Li Zhong's assets will also be yours."
"Weren't you very arrogant when you killed me?!"
Naturally, Cheng Xu would not show any mercy. His punches became fiercer and fiercer as he pressed on.
"You're also a disciple of the Yunzhong Sect, so you should know the consequences of killing a Yunzhong Sect disciple. As long as you let me go, I can keep Li Zhong's death a secret!" Liu Hong's face turned pale as he tried to beg for mercy.
Unfortunately, what welcomed him was the force of the Setting Sun finger.
Pfft!
Liu Hong let out a blood-curdling screech as he was struck in the chest by the Setting Sun finger. With his eyes filled with unwillingness and bewilderment, he lost consciousness.
Cheng Xu heaved a sigh of relief after he was done and decisively went forward to search the two bodies.
Needless to say, the two of them had added up quite a bit of wealth. Just the spirit stones alone were as many as 475 pieces. In addition, there were some scattered medicinal pills and medicinal herbs, as well as a few cultivation methods and martial arts manuals.
Although Cheng Xu wasn't interested in their martial arts, he could still sell the manuals for money!
After he was done, he found an area where wild beasts roamed, threw the corpses away, and returned to Yuntai Mountain Market with satisfaction.
He found the stall where the two of them had disposed of their stolen goods and sold a few cultivation technique manuals, earning him another 78 spirit stones.
As for the scattered medicinal pills and medicinal herbs, he would definitely keep them for his own use.
There were a total of 553 spirit stones, which was still far from enough to upgrade the hard disk, but it could be used as the capital for making money from refining elixirs.
He found a stall selling all kinds of alchemy materials nearby, and only after taking a look did he realize that the stall owner looked a little familiar. He then looked at the stall next to it, and it was the one where he had installed the protective Dipper energy.
The two stalls were owned by the same person.
"Eh ~ isn't this the fellow Daoist from earlier?" The stall owner was a female cultivator in her early twenties. Although her appearance was not outstanding, it was quite pleasing to the eye.
"It seems that you have considered it carefully."
"Uh," Cheng Xu murmured as he shook his head in embarrassment. "I want to buy some medicinal herbs."
"You don't want that protective Dipper energy anymore?" the female cultivator was stunned.
"I don't want it." Cheng Xu chuckled and shook his head.
"Alright," she said. The female cultivator was somewhat disappointed but she went on and asked, "May I know what herbs you need?"
"Heavenly Aroma herb, Old Mountain ginseng, White Beard flower..." Cheng Xu listed out seven to eight types of medicinal herbs in one breath.
"Fellow Daoist, are you going to refine a Qi-gathering elixir?" the female cultivator's eyes lit up after hearing this.
"What? fellow Daoist, you know how to refine elixirs?" Cheng Xu was a little surprised.
"I don't have that kind of ability. I've only learned it for a while, so I remember the materials needed for the Qi-gathering elixir."
The female cultivator smiled and asked, "I wonder how many Qi-gathering elixirs you are preparing to make, and if it's possible, can you save a few for me?"
Cheng Xu's eyes lit up slightly. It could only be said that alchemists were indeed very popular in the immortal cultivation world. He hadn't even started refining, and yet he already got his first customer.
"Fellow Daoist, how many do you need?"
"Five, five should be enough." The female cultivator said after thinking about it for a moment.
"Sure," Cheng Xu nodded readily."But what about the price?"
"That will depend on how much the Qi-gathering elixir is worth, Fellow Daoist," the female cultivator replied with a smile.
Cheng Xu smiled, understanding that the other party was going to offer her price based on the quality of the pills.
After a round of small talk, he successfully purchased a batch of good medicinal herbs with 409 spirit stones. In the end, the female cultivator even specially rounded the price down for him and sent Cheng Xu off with a smile.
After buying the herbs, Cheng Xu did not leave the market. Instead, he rented a quiet room in the market for a price of two spirit stones a day, which was still acceptable.
He closed the door of the quiet room and activated the sound-proof formation that came with the room.
He took a deep breath and opened the [ Alchemy ] application that came with the cultivation computer. An ancient-looking window popped up in front of him.
[ Alchemy ]
[ Pharmacology level: Level 1 ]
[ Refining ability: elementary ]
[ Formula: Qi-gathering elixir, Qi-exploding pill, Mind-clearing pill, Small recovery elixir ]
The four pill formulas were all recorded in the two alchemy books. At the same time, they were also a few of the more common primary pills in the immortal cultivation world.
Among them, the Qi-gathering elixir could be used for assistance during cultivation in the Qi refinement stage, the Qi explosion pill could be used to temporarily increase the genuine Qi, and the Heart Clearing pill could suppress the distracting thoughts in one's heart.
As for the small reversion pill, it was a common healing medicine. In short, it was very practical.
Of the four types of pills, the one that sold the best was naturally the Qi-gathering elixir, which was also the reason why Cheng Xu had chosen to refine Qi-gathering elixir.
On one hand, it was easy to sell, but on the other hand, he needed it himself.
'Tsk, tsk. It's really different with the system. You don't even need a pill furnace.'
Cheng Xu secretly clicked on the formula for the Qi-gathering elixir, and the Qi-gathering Elixir's production page quickly popped up in front of him. Then, he placed the corresponding medicinal materials in the corresponding positions and clicked on the production button.
In the next second, the floating medicinal ingredients gathered into a ball of light and gradually revealed the shape of a pill furnace with a progress bar floating above it.
"Damn, it's so slow?"
Looking at the tortoise-like progress bar in front of him, Cheng Xu was somewhat speechless.
They were using black technology to refine medicine, yet they still had to wait?
During the process of refining the pill, Cheng Xu could clearly feel that his brain was being occupied by some kind of power, and his mental strength was slowly being consumed.
From this, it could be seen that the system had to mobilize the computing power of the [ immortal cultivation computer ] to refine medicine.
"If that's the case, then after I level up my configuration, will I be able to speed up my refining?"
At this thought, Cheng Xu couldn't help but look forward to it.
After a while, the progress bar reached the end. After a dazzling glimmer, a faint medicinal fragrance filled the air.
There was a small pile of yellow powder in front of him.
"The quality seems pretty good." Cheng Xu nodded in satisfaction and used the oil paper he had prepared to divide the Qi-gathering powder into three small bags, leaving only a small handful.
Cheng Xu had just estimated that it would take about twenty minutes to make a batch of Qi-gathering elixir, which was still acceptable.
He had thought that he would be able to use up most of the materials in one night.
However, it turned out that he had been overthinking it. After making two furnaces in a row, his mental power was almost exhausted.
He had no choice but to take a break before refining.
Just like that, the Qi-gathering elixir, which he had planned to finish refining in one night, was dragged on to the third day.
In the subsequent refining process, Cheng Xu was pleasantly surprised to find that the system did not seem to have any failures or defects in the refining process. The refining results were very stable.
He had originally thought that it would be good enough if he could produce a dozen or twenty sets of Qi-gathering elixirs, but he had not expected that not a single one of the medicinal ingredients he had bought would be wasted. In the end, he had managed to produce a total of 35 sets of Qi-gathering elixirs.
After paying the four spirit stones, Cheng Xu walked out of the quiet room in the market square, feeling dizzy.
However, when he saw the 35 sets of Qi-gathering elixir in his storage bag, his mood instantly improved.
He found the female cultivator's stall and gave her five packets of Qi-gathering elixir.
"Fellow Daoist, the Qi-gathering elixirs you wanted are ready."
"Really?" The female cultivator's eyes lit up and she hurriedly opened a packet to check it. Her beautiful eyes were filled with amazement. "The medicinal properties are close to at least the middle-grade. Fellow Daoist, your alchemy abilities are really surprising."
"It's alright. After all, I've put in a lot of effort in refining those elixirs." Cheng Xu put on an act.
The female cultivator nodded happily. "The current price of low-grade Qi-gathering elixir in the market is usually around 60 spirit stones. However, your Qi-gathering elixir is close to middle-grade, so how about 70 spirit stones per bag?"
"Sure." Cheng Xu smiled and nodded. He then successfully obtained 350 spirit stones.
Only five packets were sold and he was already almost breaking even. He could only say that the alchemy industry was really profitable.
"By the way, I'm Yue Wanling." The female cultivator happily put away the Qi-gathering elixir and suddenly looked at Cheng Xu.
"Cheng Xu."
"Alright, Fellow Daoist Cheng." Yue Wanling chuckled and nodded. She closed her stall and was about to leave. It was obvious that she was going to try to reach the late-stage of Qi refining. Jianghu is a long way to go. We'll meet again if fate allows.
After she finished speaking, she hurriedly closed the stall and left the market.
Cheng Xu had originally wanted to ask how he could improve the sales of the Qi-gathering elixirs, but upon seeing her leave, he could only shake his head helplessly.
He spent five spirit stones to rent Yue Wanling's stall and placed 20 sets of Qi-gathering elixirs on display on the spot.
The facts proved that he had been overthinking.
Not long after the Qi-gathering elixirs were displayed, they attracted many cultivators. Although many customers were skeptical about the price of 70 spirit stones, they were happy to accept it after seeing the quality of the Qi-gathering elixirs.
In less than two hours, the 20 packets of Qi-gathering elixirs were sold out. Including the spirit stones for the five packets that Yue Wanling had paid him, he had earned a total of 1750 spirit stones.
As for the remaining 10 packets, they were naturally left for Cheng Xu's own use.
After he was done, he packed up the stall and rented another quiet room. He couldn't wait to upgrade his hard disk.
The moment he confirmed the upgrade, the 1,000 spirit stones in front of him disappeared in an instant. Cheng Xu only felt a buzzing sound in his head, and his sea of consciousness began to expand rapidly. Even his spiritual power had improved a little.