The corners of Zhou Chen’s mouth curled up as he suppressed the joy in his heart.
"Good. I will take it."
Seeing this, the shop owner’s face lit up with joy.
Since he had already pointed out the risks, if the other party insisted on buying it, he could not be blamed.
He had been running a stall in the market for a long time and did not want to ruin his reputation.
But since he had clarified the dangers beforehand and the other party still insisted on buying the cultivation method, if something went wrong during practice later, no one could use it as an excuse to demand anything from him.
Zhou Chen picked up the Great Expansion Technique and quickly left the market.
Naturally, he was not mindlessly planning to practice this technique.
The reason he intended to cultivate it was mainly due to the professional buffs of being a second rank alchemist.
His control over mental strength could be described as meticulous and subtle.
If even he could not successfully cultivate it, then no one could cultivate the Great Expansion Technique.
Zhou Chen purchased another twenty square meter storage pouch.
The storage pouch he used previously was of the lowest grade, with only five square meters of internal space.
The journey back to the Yin Yang Sect was peaceful and smooth.
Zhou Chen’s hanging heart finally settled down completely.
The storage pouch on his right side was bulging, containing nearly two thousand sheets of first rank talisman paper.
Even if a cultivator truly launched a sneak attack, he would not be afraid at all.
The most important thing in the cultivation world is not cultivation resources or one’s own talent, but staying alive.
Then again, if things could be peaceful, that would naturally be for the best.
On top of the previously set formation, Zhou Chen merged several formation flags into the ground.
The consumption of second rank formation flags was significantly higher than that of first rank formation flags.
In one go, Zhou Chen placed nearly a hundred low grade spirit stones, enough to support the operation of the formation flags for over a month.
After everything was settled, Zhou Chen finally let out a long breath.
"It is safe now."
Even if a Golden Core cultivator happened to pass by, they would not easily notice any activity within the courtyard.
Chen Tingwan was with Nan Qiao, planting vegetables in the courtyard.
With the fire toad poison in her body, she could not circulate her cultivation, let alone suppress her injuries.
Even with the Profound Ice Pill suppressing the toxicity, she still felt uncomfortable all day long.
In her spare time, she would chat with Nan Qiao to distract herself.
"Senior Brother Zhou is a good man, but unfortunately his lifespan is exhausted. I am afraid he will not live much longer."
Hearing this, Nan Qiao’s movements froze, and she stared blankly at the ground.
Bi... Big Brother Zhou is going to die?
In her eyes, cultivators had long lives.
Even if Big Brother Zhou was advanced in years, he should at least be able to live for another few decades.
Suddenly learning the truth caused a sharp pain in her heart, leaving her unable to speak.
When she learned of Zhang Xiu’s death, she was considering how to live in the future.
But upon learning that Zhou Chen did not have much time left, she completely lost her composure.
Chen Tingwan was immersed in her own world and did not notice her abnormality at all.
It was not until Zhou Chen returned that Nan Qiao snapped back to her senses and hurriedly went to meet him.
"You are back. What would you like to eat for dinner?"
Her cooking skills were excellent. As long as it was something Zhou Chen wanted to eat, she could basically make it.
At the very least, she did not want Big Brother Zhou to have any regrets before he died.
Chen Tingwan also gave a gentle and polite salute.
Zhou Chen waved his hand.
"I will not be eating today. I bought a cultivation manual, and I have prepared all the pills you can take as well. I will help you cultivate properly."
Hearing this, Nan Qiao’s whole body softened into his embrace.
Even though he had said before that he would buy a cultivation manual for her and help her onto the path of immortal ascension, although she was exceptionally moved, she had not expected Zhou Chen to bring back a cultivation manual so quickly.
[Nan Qiao favorability +2. Current favorability is eighty eight points.]
[The host’s current usable favorability points: eighty seven.]
[Chen Tingwan favorability +4. Current favorability is fifty five points.]
The increase in favorability from the two women was within Zhou Chen’s expectations.
After all, cultivators usually never spared a glance for mortals.
Yet he was meticulously arranging everything for Nan Qiao’s future.
As a woman, Chen Tingwan was bound to be moved by it.
He did not take Chen Tingwan’s favorability to heart.
Everything still depended on how Junior Brother Li fared in the Xue Jin Secret Realm.
Knowing the two were going to practice, Chen Tingwan did not intrude on the mood and went back to her room early to rest.
Nan Qiao had never practiced a cultivation method before, and her first attempt made her extremely nervous.
Under Zhou Chen’s gentle comfort, Nan Qiao lay in his arms and unconsciously began to shed tears.
Zhou Chen deeply understood the saying that women are made of water.
It turned out this made of water phrase was not just a hidden meaning. It was also true on the surface.
She could cry at the drop of a hat, and she looked like a rain drenched pear blossom when she did.
Instead of appearing pathetic, it gave off a visual sense of wanting to ravish her.
Nan Qiao wiped her tear stains and explained softly.
"Big Brother Zhou, I am just too happy. I cannot control myself."
What mortal would not want to become a high and mighty cultivator?
Who would not want eternal youth and immortality?
But she was born to poor farmers. Besides being beautiful, she had nothing.
She thought she would spend a dull and uninteresting life in Wutan Town.
However, after meeting Zhou Chen, everything changed.
Under the guidance of the manual and the direction of Zhou Chen, for the entire night, Nan Qiao was trying to sense spiritual qi.
Until the early morning of the next day.
Nan Qiao rubbed her legs with a face full of exhaustion.
"Big Brother Zhou, is my talent very poor? Why can I never draw qi into my body?"
Sitting cross legged for a long time had caused her straight, smooth legs to flush slightly with a red hue, aching and swelling incessantly.
Zhou Chen pinched her face and gently massaged them with both hands.
"Do not worry. It took me three days back then to successfully draw qi into my body. Take it slow. No need to rush."
Practicing a cultivation method is not something that happens overnight.
Those geniuses with a Heavenly Spiritual Root were naturally a different story.
For cultivators with three spiritual roots or even four spiritual roots, being able to draw qi into the body and step onto the immortal path within three days would be considered decent.
Nan Qiao had been busy all night and fell asleep in a daze.
Drawing qi into the body requires clearing the mind and highly concentrating one’s mental strength.
For her, this was already a significant drain.
Zhou Chen stretched and took a Soul Nurturing Pill.
He would not need to watch over Nan Qiao every day from now on. He could just let her try to draw qi into her body herself.
The initial teaching had to be accompanied by him, even if it wasted a night.
It was better than Nan Qiao fumbling around blindly. If she ended up causing her body to explode, that would be bad.
Zhou Chen took out several pill formulas, hesitating over which medicinal pill to refine first.
Although he had not found a Foundation Establishment Pill, the medicinal effect of the Spirit Origin Pill was also extremely powerful.
Its medicinal effect was several times stronger than that of Qi Gathering Powder.
If a cultivator below the fifth layer of Qi Refining rashly consumed a Spirit Origin Pill, they would be blown apart by the spiritual qi.
With his current cultivation at the peak of the eighth layer of Qi Refining, Zhou Chen naturally did not have such concerns.
His cultivation had just reached a bottleneck. If he consumed a Spirit Origin Pill, he could rely on its powerful medicinal strength to smoothly break through to the ninth layer of Qi Refining.
Thinking this, Zhou Chen did not hesitate much longer.
With a light flick of his right hand, he pulled out a bronze pill furnace and began refining.
He flicked the fingers of his right hand repeatedly, and several strands of spiritual power flames ignited from beneath the alchemy furnace.
"It seems I should buy a better alchemy furnace in the future."
The quality of the alchemy furnace also affects the success rate and grade of the medicinal pills.
When the grades of alchemy furnaces are not too different, there is essentially no major difference. It mainly depends on the alchemist’s technique.
But if the material of the alchemy furnace is too poor while the alchemist’s cultivation grows stronger, the temperature of the spiritual power flames would get higher and higher, and it would not be able to last very long.
"What a pity."
If it were not for the Five Elements Covering Heaven Formation being too expensive and consuming most of his savings, he would have bought one while he was in Jiangdu City.