Chen Xia did not think Big Yellow Dog was asleep or in secluded meditation.
In his words, Big Yellow Dog was molting.
It was just that the molting was a bit unsightly, with occasional soft snoring sounds.
Maybe he was dreaming?
Chen Xia was also unclear, but hoped it was a good dream.
He placed Big Yellow Dog inside the house, and would check on him once a day. After confirming there were no issues, he would go outside to cultivate alchemy.
Refining pills wasn't actually his hobby, and he had never systematically studied pill refining knowledge.
Chen Xia had always been clueless about refining pills, he only knew how to refine them.
But now that he was bored, he really did start reading introductory books on pill refining. The first book was Herbal Compendium, which recorded 99% of the herbs in the realm, including effects, combinations, pill formation, etc.
It covered everything, but nothing was described in too much detail. This was normal, since it was an introductory book, suitable for novice alchemists.
Chen Xia read it with great interest. After a few months he had read most of it, and gained preliminary understanding on pill classifications and herbal combinations.
This meant Chen Xia could now refine the most basic pills.
He tested it out a little, combining herbs according to medicinal principles, preparing to refine a basic Spirit Pill that could store some Fire Spirit Qi, considered the foundation pill needed by cultivators practicing fire techniques.
Chen Xia didn't find an alchemy furnace, so he used Big Yellow Dog's wok to get by, and also used some alchemy techniques.
With this haphazard combination, Chen Xia's unreasonable alchemy became reasonable, and he reasonably refined a mid-grade Spirit Pill, the Profound Fire Pill.
Everything seemed so reasonable.
Chen Xia weighed the Profound Fire Pill in his hand, planning to later use alchemy techniques to refine it into an Immortal Pill, to see if he could produce a Dao Pill.
If he really succeeded, that would be amazing.
That meant he could directly raise a Spirit Pill by a whole realm, using an Immortal Pill as a Dao Pill, then using a Dao Pill as a Great Pill. When he really refined a Great Pill, wouldn't it become an Emperor Pill?
Chen Xia thought about it briefly, and felt it was quite reasonable. Before, his careless refining could produce pills a bit higher than the herbs.
Now that he carefully refined, he could originally produce pills matching the herb grades, so the effect of karma would need to go elsewhere. Thus the increase in pill grades would be even higher.
When Chen Xia's alchemy reached the Dao Pill Master level, he really could produce Dao Pills.
But there was another method, which was to continue raising his karma, to the point where careless refining could produce Great Pills.
But that would require far too much time. For a Dao Pill to qualitatively transform into a Great Pill also required a qualitative change in karma.
Chen Xia felt that to casually produce Great Pills, at least 5000 karma points would be needed.
That was another long stretch of time, but he had plenty of time. He would refine pills he hadn't tried before based on the book, every few days.
In just fifteen short years, Chen Xia had refined all the pills in the book. Not a single one turned out the same as the book, with all grades raised by more than just a bit.
He placed these two hundred pills in the house, arranged on a shelf. But he didn't recognize most of these pills, so he didn't label them.
Zhang DaoMing looked at the room full of pills, stunned speechless, then turned to glance at Chen Xia and shook his head.
"Even if the Starry Sky Pill Sect's sect master came, he might not have as much money as you."
A wall full of pills, the lowest being a lower-grade Spirit Pill worth 2000 spirit stones. Just these 200 Spirit Pills added up to at least 400,000 spirit stones!
Zhang DaoMing turned again to look at Chen Xia, clicking his tongue. "Are you trying to crash pill prices?!"
"No." Chen Xia shook his head. "Just randomly refining for fun. See which pills you like and take some to play with."
Zhang DaoMing laughed at these words. "In the lower realms, only you would dare say that."
Casually taking some Immortal Pills to play with?
Could anyone actually say that?
"It's not anything difficult, if you like them, take them all." Chen Xia said indifferently.
"I don't need so many pills. It's just, in this short fifteen years, you refined at least 400,000 spirit stones worth of pills. You really are a merciless money making machine."
"With your alchemy skills, even Blue Sky Sword Sea would beg you to stay."
Zhang DaoMing said feelingly.
Chen Xia chuckled. "Blue Sky Sword Sea did ask me to stay, but not for pill refining."
Zhang DaoMing's expression darkened as he shook his head. "Don't take it to heart. Blue Sky Sword Sea was in the wrong, but they have been wiped out."
"Mm." Chen Xia nodded without responding. His feelings for Blue Sky Sword Sea were complicated.
"If you could start over, what would you do?" Zhang DaoMing suddenly asked.
"Probably not much different." Chen Xia thought for a bit, then added, "Or I might oppose Blue Sky Sword Sea. Don't expect me to help anyway, not changing is already good enough."
"Hehe, who can say for sure?" Zhang DaoMing clasped his hands behind his back, shaking his head and chuckling.
In the days after, Chen Xia would just sit in the yard cultivating alchemy, adding karma points whenever he had the chance. There was no harm in having more.
Big Yellow Dog was still sleeping, with no signs of waking.
Chen Xia would occasionally take him out to bask in the sun, claiming it was for photosynthesis, but it was useless.
Zhang DaoMing started making suggestions at the side. "Sunlight alone won't help him grow, you need to water him too!"
"Mm." Chen Xia felt Zhang DaoMing had a point, so on rainy days he would also take Big Yellow Dog out to soak in the rain.
The two stood at the side holding umbrellas, carefully observing if Big Yellow Dog had any changes.
After two years of rain, there were no changes. But grass did start growing on Big Yellow Dog's body.
"It should be working, just no visible effects yet. Think about it, a tree takes over ten years to show change, let alone an Emperor."
Zhang DaoMing explained at the side.
Chen Xia looked him up and down, then nodded. "If the Emperor wakes up and wants to beat someone, you'll be the first I sell out."
"Don't." Zhang DaoMing quickly waved his hands to deter that.
But Chen Xia had already walked away.
Fiftieth year.
Starry Sky Pill Sect came looking for Chen Xia, led by Bai Jie, asking Chen Xia to refine a top-grade Dao Pill.
This was naturally no problem. Chen Xia brought out his iron wok, feeling a bit bored since this posed no difficulty for him. So he took the initiative to increase the difficulty a bit.
Slicing herbs, heating oil in the wok.
No matter how you looked at it, it was cooking.
Even having seen Chen Xia's pill refining before, Bai Jie still frowned, unable to comprehend this avantgarde art.
Chen Xia went through the motions, stir-frying away. But this time he added an extra step, chanting softly while looking at Bai Jie.
"Use 500 years of your lifespan to form the pill!"
Boom!
A roar of thunder sounded from the sky, dense streaks of lightning appearing, a Tribulation forming!
Bai Jie was completely stunned. After a long pause, tearfully and chokingly said to Chen Xia,
"Father, I was wrong."
The heavenly lightning grew louder.
Thunder crashed down, pill fragrance dispersed, dao qi billowed out. It wasn't even a single top-grade Dao Pill, but two!
Bai Jie's face was ashen.
It was over, it came true.
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
