Inside the iron door was not the dark, cavernous interior he expected, but a beautiful valley filled with various spiritual herbs and trees, bathed in light!
Su Mei Yao and Bai Youyou hurried out, their faces showing surprise.
"They're all over a thousand years old!" Su Mei Yao exclaimed.
Thousand-year ginseng, thousand-year spiritual mushrooms, thousand-year black ginseng, thousand-year earth spirit grass... While most of these herbs were auxiliary in nature, the sheer quantity was astounding—Shen Xiang estimated there were at least a few hundred!
"Gold Spirit Fruits and a dozen Thousand-Year Fruits, and over a hundred Purple Spirit Fruits… Damn, am I dreaming?!" Shen Xiang shouted, his heart racing with excitement.
Although the Purple Spirit Fruit was not as valuable as the Gold Spirit Fruit, it was still sold at a high price on the market and was a key ingredient for a specific spirit pill.
"Hmph, just this much and you're so thrilled? What a bumpkin!" Bai Youyou said coldly.
Shen Xiang pouted, replying, "I know you two sisters have extraordinary backgrounds, and these items might not be impressive to you, but to me right now, they are treasures!"
"Quickly help me harvest all these spiritual herbs; it'll be enough for me to refine quite a few spiritual-grade pills!" Shen Xiang said excitedly. Although he didn't yet know how to refine spiritual-grade pills, he was aware that he would fail many times. This medicinal garden, rich in auxiliary herbs, would save him a lot of expenses.
Having the two stunning beauties work in the field was something only someone like Shen Xiang could dare to suggest, which led to a subtle disdain from Su Mei Yao and Bai Youyou.
"You're really not much of a man. Beautiful women are meant to be cherished, not made to do hard labor," Su Mei Yao said, though she began to pick the thousand-year-old herbs.
Shen Xiang chuckled, "Since you two sisters won't let me cherish you, what can I do…"
"Hmph, stop the nonsense," Bai Youyou scoffed, prompting Shen Xiang to quickly shut his mouth; he didn't dare offend this icy beauty.
After half a day, most of the thousand-year-old herbs in the garden had been harvested and stored in the spatial rings of Su Mei Yao and Bai Youyou.
"There are a hundred and twenty Purple Spirit Fruits, and over twenty Gold Spirit Fruits and Thousand-Year Fruits. This should be enough for me to refine quite a few Foundation Establishment Pills!" Shen Xiang grinned widely. The Foundation Establishment Pill was not only beneficial for those entering the True Martial Realm, but even those in the True Martial Realm could use it to enhance their cultivation. It was a very useful mysterious-grade pill!
The upper-tier spiritual-grade True Yuan Pill was already quite precious, let alone the mysterious-grade pills above that!
Of course, whether he could successfully refine them was another issue, but Shen Xiang wasn't in a hurry; he knew he would need a lot of time to learn how to refine even the upper-tier spiritual-grade pills.
The garden also contained some other growing spiritual herbs, which were auxiliary herbs a few hundred years old. Shen Xiang wasn't in a rush to harvest those; he already had several hundred thousand-year herbs, most of which were substantial in size.
"This garden has many powerful formations that allow sunlight to penetrate the thick rocks and condense large amounts of spiritual energy to nourish these herbs. It seems the owner must be someone who has left the Mortal Martial Realm," Su Mei Yao remarked, gazing at the beautiful valley.
Leaving the Mortal Martial Realm meant possessing the power to break through the void! Shen Xiang secretly longed for that level of power but didn't know when he would achieve it.
"Shen Xiang, stay here and focus on your cultivation until you reach the ninth level of the Mortal Martial Realm before heading to the Taiwu Sect," Bai Youyou advised. At that moment, she was wearing a stunning golden gown, which shimmered in the soft sunlight, highlighting her noble and cold elegance, resembling an emperor high above.
This outfit was one that Shen Xiang had bought for her, and she liked wearing it. Now, she and Su Mei Yao could wear beautiful clothes and bask in the sunlight, which was a delightful experience for them. If not for dire circumstances, they wouldn't want to stay in that ring at all.
Shen Xiang needed a significant amount of true energy to condense the other three attributes of true energy into shape. After all, he had consumed a tenth-level Mortal Martial Realm practitioner's energy and could only condense two attributes. One could imagine how much true energy would be needed to shape the other three attributes.
The spiritual energy in this garden was very dense. With his Yin-Yang Divine Veins, he felt like he was in an ocean of spiritual energy just by closing his eyes. However, even for him, it would take a long time to reach the ninth level of the Mortal Martial Realm by absorbing this spiritual energy.
Now Shen Xiang understood why people in the secular world usually only reached the ninth level of the Mortal Martial Realm in their old age; it was due to a lack of abundant spiritual energy!
"Let's start learning how to refine the True Yuan Pill now! Refine during the day, and take it at night to digest the medicinal power while absorbing spiritual energy," Su Mei Yao instructed, then began sharing her experience in refining the True Yuan Pill with Shen Xiang.
The Great Yuan Pill was an upper-tier mortal-grade pill that could produce a large amount of true energy, enhancing the speed of cultivation! The True Yuan Pill, however, was much better than the Great Yuan Pill; it was a low-tier spiritual-grade pill and was the most popular pill in martial arts sects.
The True Yuan Pill was an upper-tier spiritual-grade pill and could also generate true energy, but it was much more expensive, making it unaffordable for ordinary people.
The primary material for the True Yuan Pill was just one—the Purple Spirit Fruit! Shen Xiang had over a hundred and twenty of those, and he had all the auxiliary herbs needed. He only required herbs aged five hundred years or more; if he used the thousand-year herbs, he would need just a little bit, making it very cost-effective.
Taking a deep breath, Shen Xiang digested the refining experience imparted by Su Mei Yao and began sorting the herbs into portions. He knew he would fail several times at the beginning.
As he took out the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace, Bai Youyou immediately moved to a distance, quietly chatting with Su Mei Yao. Their sisterly bond was strong, and although Bai Youyou was cold, she treated Shen Xiang and Su Mei Yao well. She wouldn't even look at anyone else, let alone talk to them.
Not long after he began, Shen Xiang failed. Purple smoke erupted from the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace. On the second try, he failed again... Until the tenth attempt, he finally reached the intermediate stage of pill refining, where he melted all the herbs into powder and began blending the medicinal energy with the powder. But at this stage, he failed again!
"Damn it, this Purple Spirit Fruit is like mouse droppings, ruining a whole pot! I keep failing, and it's all because of this Purple Spirit Fruit!" Shen Xiang complained.
From a distance, Su Mei Yao chuckled, "It's natural for the main material of high-tier pills to clash with the auxiliary materials; the higher the tier of the pill, the more pronounced the conflict, making it harder to resolve. You need to explore and find a way through."
Su Mei Yao had always prided herself on her high talent in pill refining, but with Shen Xiang, a peculiar talent appearing, she felt somewhat challenged. Seeing Shen Xiang's frustrated expressions made her very happy.
Shen Xiang glanced at Su Mei Yao's joyful and beautiful face, cursing her silently in his heart.
"Mei Yao, how many times did you fail back then?" Shen Xiang asked.
"Are you testing my memory? I remember very clearly; it was seventy-two times!" Su Mei Yao replied, proud of the number despite the failures. After all, for other alchemists, if they hadn't failed a hundred times, they wouldn't even dare say they had studied refining the True Yuan Pill.