White Cloud Immortal City,

Golden Spring Square household.

After a month of flying, Zhou Xun returned to his home in White Cloud Immortal City.

As soon as he opened the door, he discovered dozens of Sound Transmission Talismans floating behind it.

It turns out that over the past year, news had leaked about Zhou Xun's breakthrough as a Tier Two Low-Grade Alchemist.

The many cultivators of Golden Spring Lane were utterly shocked upon hearing this news.

In their minds, reaching the level of a Tier Two Alchemist typically requires reaching the age of fifty or sixty,

and the last Alchemy Master with such outstanding talent in White Cloud Immortal City was Master Yun Ku, but he was already over forty when he achieved Tier Two Low-Grade.

Whereas Zhou Xun is now only around thirty, at Late-Stage Qi Refining Cultivation,

yet he is already a Tier Two Alchemist, demonstrating his extraordinary talent in alchemy.

"With such talent, becoming a Tier Two High-Grade Alchemist in the future is almost certain!"

The cultivators of Golden Spring Lane, as well as the shopkeepers of various elixir shops and the patriarchs of large families in White Cloud Immortal City,

could no longer sit still and rushed to pay him visits, only to find Zhou Xun's Cave Mansion fully sealed, indicating he wasn't inside.

They had no choice but to leave Sound Transmission Talismans.

Zhou Xun waved his hand and glanced over them hastily; they were all words of congratulations.

Even the current Chief Steward of White Cloud Immortal City, Zhou Buqi, personally sent a Sound Transmission Talisman to win him over.

It seemed that this person had forgotten about the time when Zhou Xun was wanted.

...

Entering the courtyard, a spirit beast with a body covered in profound armor, tinged with a hint of gold, crawled over and affectionately nuzzled Zhou Xun's hem.

Nearly a year had passed since they last met, and the Profound Armor Armadillo had grown even larger.

Its spiritual power fluctuations were noticeably higher than before.

Zhou Xun took out a High-Grade Spirit Feeding Pill and tossed it into the mouth of the Profound Armor Armadillo.

Originally, Zhou Xun thought he could return in at most two months, but little did he expect it would take nearly a year.

Fortunately, the spiritual qi within the Cave Mansion was abundant, and the Profound Armor Armadillo didn't suffer from a lack of food in the short term.

The greatest crisis lay in offending Master Fengyue, or rather, discovering that Master Fengyue intended to kill him.

"Fortunately, now that I've returned to White Cloud Immortal City, with Master White Cloud here, there won't be danger for a short time!"

The relationship between Cloud Light Sect and Master White Cloud wasn't very harmonious, and Fengyue, being a True Pill cultivator from Cloud Light Sect, wasn't welcomed by Master White Cloud.

Moreover, Master White Cloud was an experienced True Pill Cultivator, whereas Fengyue was just a newly advanced True Pill, so naturally, she wouldn't dare come to White Cloud Immortal City.

He himself didn't warrant such ostentatious treatment.

Zhou Xun believed that Master Fengyue's pursuit was likely just a trivial matter for her.

"In the future, I must act even more discreetly; unless it's absolutely necessary, I won't step out of White Cloud Immortal City!" Zhou Xun mused.

If he absolutely had to leave, he'd wear the Thousand Faces Mask, transforming into someone else before setting out.

With his current level of divine sense, only Late-Stage True Core Cultivators could see through his disguise; at least for now, no one in Xui Country could.

However, this outing wasn't without significant gains.

Firstly, there's the Talisman Treasure.

The Talisman Treasure is extremely precious, refined from consuming the power of magical treasures, and possesses immense power.

Even in the hands of a Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, it could be considered a trump card.

Zhou Xun carefully examined it, finding that more than half of its power remained, enough for several uses.

However, he didn't plan to use it; with his current Cultivation, a Top-Grade Spiritual Artifact was entirely sufficient, and even using the Talisman Treasure wouldn't significantly boost his strength.

It's better to save it for after Foundation Establishment.

Besides that, the greatest gain was a piece of Frost Crystal, weighing a full seven taels and eight qian, worth over twenty thousand spirit stones.

Previously, he had searched all over the major shops in White Cloud Immortal City, including the Hundred Treasures Tower, but couldn't find Frost Crystal.

This caused his body refining progress to stagnate for nearly a year.

Now that he had it, he could set to work on cultivating the Fourth Layer of the Hundred Veins Body Refining Technique.

Zhou Xun speculated that once his Hundred Veins Body Refining Technique reached the Fourth Layer, his physique would rival Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment demon beasts.

"Then I can venture to Hundred Savage Mountain to hunt for Demon Pills, so long as I avoid the extremely powerful demon beasts, safety shouldn't be an issue!!"

"Acquiring a Demon Pill should be relatively easy, and the Foundation Establishment Pill won't be a problem either!"

"Foundation Establishment is within reach!" Zhou Xun thought to himself.

...

Shortly after sitting down at home, another Sound Transmission Talisman flew in.

It was Master Chuyun, and Zhou Xun immediately went outside to welcome him in.

At this moment, Old Daoist Chuyun had a radiant glow on his face, looking plumper than before.

Because of his close relationship with Zhou Xun in Golden Spring Lane, he had been doing exceedingly well recently.

Many cultivators had hosted Spiritual Banquets to be introduced to Zhou Xun through him.

And his catchphrase had changed to

"I live next to Alchemist Zhou, and we are very close!"

"Congratulations to Alchemist Zhou on advancing to Tier Two Low-Grade!" said Master Chuyun, presenting a jade box as a gift.

"Tier Two Low-Grade Spirit Medicine!"

Zhou Xun couldn't help but look at the old Daoist in surprise; this was a grand gesture indeed.

"Only such Spirit Medicine is worthy of Alchemist Zhou's skills!" Old Daoist Chuyun laughed heartily.

"Moreover, thanks to Brother Zhou, I earned quite a lot!" Then, Master Chuyun recounted his experiences over the past year.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to get close to Zhou Xun, Master Chuyun expanded his network considerably, and his talisman sales increased several times, clearing his stock, earning a significant sum.

"That's because Daoist Chuyun's talismans are of top quality!" Zhou Xun smiled slightly, then covered the jade box's lid and put the Spirit Medicine away.

After chatting for a while, Old Daoist Chuyun took his leave.

In the following days, Zhou Xun spent his time receiving visitors.

The visitors were endless.

It wasn't just the independent Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivators, but also shopkeepers from large establishments like the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

Even the representative of the Lin Family's Hundred Treasures Pavilion in White Cloud Immortal City personally came to invite Zhou Xun to become an Honored Guest Elder at Pill Treasure Pavilion.

However, Zhou Xun refused.

Only after more than ten days did the visits gradually decline.

Afterward, Zhou Xun went to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion to purchase the remaining auxiliary materials for the Fourth Layer of the Cultivation Refining Body Technique.

With the Frost Crystal, he began his cultivation.

...

In the cultivation room, Zhou Xun took out the jade scroll that recorded the Insect Cultivation Technique.

He studied it carefully.

With the Thousand-Answering Insect, ranking eighty-first on the Spirit Insect List, he certainly wouldn't let it go unattended.

Besides, just its Sensing Technique fascinated Zhou Xun greatly.

In the past, when he ambushed a middle-aged man at Guya Ridge, it was the Thousand-Answering Insect that exposed his whereabouts.

Luckily, he was powerful enough; otherwise, he wouldn't have fared well.

This also indicated the remarkable ability of the Thousand-Answering Insect.

According to the jade scroll, the Thousand-Answering Insect is extremely sensitive to anything containing spiritual qi.

There have been cultivators who used the Thousand-Answering Insect to search the mountains for Spirit Medicine, with efficiency ten times that of ordinary cultivators.

Following the spells recorded on the jade scroll, Zhou Xun forced out a drop of essence blood, then performed a peculiar dharma seal.

The essence blood merged with the Thousand-Answering Insect.

In just a moment, Zhou Xun established a connection with the Thousand-Answering Insect, successfully taming it.

Zhou Xun tested it, finding the Thousand-Answering Insect extremely sensitive not only to Spirit Grass and Spirit Stones, but also to spiritual power nodes in arrays and restrictions, detecting them quickly.

"With this insect, breaking arrays and lifting restrictions will be as easy as drinking water!"

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