Chapter 174: Put It on My Master's Tab
The decline of the Vast Heaven Sword Sea meant an opportunity for Chen Xia to escape.
Perhaps the opportunity wasn't obvious yet, but Chen Xia believed that as time passed, he would surely wait for his chance.
For now, he had to get ready. When the chaos came, he would run away immediately, and no one could stop him.
Unless the Great Emperor in the sword sea had a sudden recovery and came out to give him a hard time, then he would really have to back down.
But that probably wouldn't happen.
Chen Xia was now in seclusion in his cave, constantly operating the Turtle Breathing Technique, striving to break through to the second level of the Overturning Sea Realm.
On the other hand, he was collecting medicinal materials for refining the top-grade True Dragon Medicine. He had asked Zhang Daoming to keep an eye out for him and was willing to buy them at a high price.
Now, he had collected most of the dragon bones. They weren't from a single dragon, but by piecing them together, they could still make up a whole.
It was just that some parts might be a bit protruding or short, but it didn't matter. They could be polished a little.
The extra bone powder could even be used to make tea. It was like drinking powdered bones raw.
Hopefully, the flood dragon demons wouldn't encounter Chen Xia in the future. Otherwise, it would cause them a lot of psychological damage.
Besides that, Chen Xia was also making money by refining pills once every twenty years.
His speed of refining pills could only be described as making money.
For a Dao Medicine, even a highly skilled Dao Alchemist would need to refine it for two or three days. And they couldn't even guarantee the specific quality, only that the pill could be formed.
But Chen Xia was different, completely different.
First of all, he refined pills extremely fast, finishing in two hours, never dragging his feet. Other alchemists were very careful when refining pills, taking each step extremely seriously and carefully.
What about Chen Xia?
He was like someone rushing to reincarnation. He even came up with terms like stir-frying with a big fire and flipping the pot, which had nothing to do with alchemy.
Could this be called alchemy?
Even cooking didn't look like this!
If it was just his strange way of refining pills, it wouldn't be a big deal. After all, there were quite a few strange alchemists in the world.
The problem was that Chen Xia could really make pills, and they were extremely precious Dao Medicines.
This really confused all the alchemists. After watching Chen Xia refine pills a few times, they could only come to one conclusion.
It was really that they themselves were too incompetent.
Fortunately, there was only one Chen Xia in the star region, and everyone else was normal.
All the spirit stones Chen Xia earned from refining pills were used to buy medicinal materials. Zhang Daoming was a bit puzzled about this.
"Why do you want to refine this top-grade pill? In ancient times, only the powerful cultivators of the flood dragon lineage needed this kind of pill."
"You've already given the answer," Chen Xia replied calmly and put the newly ground bone powder into his teacup. It didn't taste like much when he drank it, but Chen Xia thought it should be good for calcium.
"You also know the supernatural powers of the flood dragon lineage. Why haven't I heard you mention it?" Zhang Daoming frowned, still a bit confused.
"Not everything needs to be said," Chen Xia shook his head, raised his teacup, and took a sip. He thought it was okay.
Zhang Daoming sat beside him, looking a bit troubled. "But the medicinal materials needed for this pill are really rare. In ancient times, few cultivators refined it. The flood dragon lineage became scarce, and it's even harder to find now."
"Just the whole set of dragon bones you need is worth a hundred thousand spirit stones, not to mention the ten-thousand-year-old dragon heart and a thousand dragon scales later. The total cost of these medicinal materials is more than three hundred thousand spirit stones. It's not really worth it."
Zhang Daoming pointed out the problem sharply. Indeed, he was being practical and not exaggerating.
Three hundred thousand spirit stones could buy Qiong Qi's life. It was a waste to use them to buy these medicinal materials.
"Indeed," Chen Xia also frowned. After thinking carefully, he thought it was really difficult. Fortunately, he was always quick to change his mind. If this idea didn't work, he would change to another one.
"Then I'll just rob them. Zero-dollar purchase."
It was a brilliant suggestion.
Zhang Daoming was stunned for a moment, thought about it, and still shook his head. "Although I really want to support you, these medicinal materials are sold publicly in the auction house. If you rob them, there might not be so many orders for you to refine pills in the future."
"Besides, it's not good to rob the auction house. After all, we're half partners with the Alchemy Association."
Chen Xia reached out and rubbed his face, sighed and said, "It's so difficult."
He didn't expect that he would be worried about not having enough money.
Zhang Daoming also spread his hands. "The pill you want to refine is too rare and precious. Otherwise, it definitely wouldn't cost so many spirit stones."
"Why don't you go borrow some spirit stones for me?" Chen Xia had a sudden idea.
"Why me?" Zhang Daoming frowned, very puzzled.
Chen Xia chuckled and patted Zhang Daoming's shoulder, starting to reason. "You're old now. Go borrow tens of thousands of spirit stones. Don't worry about paying them back. After you die, you don't have to pay them back."
His reasoning was always good.
Zhang Daoming was stunned for a moment and looked deeply at Chen Xia. "But I have an estate. After I die, I still have to compensate others."
"It's simple," Chen Xia smiled even more. "Give me all your estate and die peacefully."
He really wanted to take all the good things.
Zhang Daoming didn't say anything for a long time. Finally, he waved his hand. "If you want to borrow, go borrow it yourself. I can't bring myself to do it."
He lifted his feet and walked away in a hurry, not wanting to stay at all.
Chen Xia didn't get a single spirit stone. He sat there, propping his head up with one hand, still looking troubled.
The three hundred thousand spirit stones he borrowed before, it wasn't that he didn't want to pay them back. It was that most of the preparatory disciples had left and had even taken Chen Xia's flying sword.
It could be considered as collateral.
The junior elders didn't dare to accept Chen Xia's repayment, mainly because the ring on Chen Xia's arm was too scary. They were afraid that if they accepted the money, they would end up like Qiong Qi.
That wouldn't be worth it.
Chen Xia was happy that he didn't have to pay back the previous three hundred thousand spirit stones, but now that he was short of money again, it was hard to borrow.
He was famous far and wide, and the cultivators in the Vast Heaven Sword Sea all knew his "glorious" deeds. They definitely wouldn't lend him money.
In the eyes of other cultivators, lending money to Chen Xia was no different from throwing meat buns at a dog.
Chen Xia changed the hand propping up his head and thought carefully. He thought he should still try to get some money from the old sheep.
After all, the old sheep had a lot of wool and it was thick.
He stood up, patted his sleeves, and planned to go visit the Old Fisherman first to see if his master could "be generous" again.
But as soon as Chen Xia approached the Supreme Hall, he was turned away. No matter how he knocked on the door, he got no response.
"Master, are you there?"
There was no response from inside the hall.
Chen Xia frowned, a bit troubled. This was a bad start.
"Isn't this the Fourth Law Elder?" a startled voice came, accompanied by a figure approaching. It was a formal elder.
Chen Xia's expression changed instantly. He looked sad and bowed his head towards the Supreme Hall, looking worried and said.
"Master, disciple doesn't have enough spirit stones to refine the top-grade Dao Medicine. I'm really ashamed of you!"
The formal elder frowned and looked anxious. He quickly stepped forward and asked, "Elder Chen, what's wrong with you?"
"Short of money," Chen Xia said in a low voice, sounding gloomy. His words were simple, and it was obvious that he wasn't in a good mood.
"How much? I can lend you some. The Guardian Supreme Elder will understand you," the formal elder quickly advised.
"You decide how much to lend. I'm embarrassed to ask. If I can't refine this top-grade pill, I really feel sorry for my master," Chen Xia continued to speak with his head down.
"Is ten thousand spirit stones enough?" the formal elder frowned and asked. Mainly because it involved the Old Fisherman, he was really embarrassed to offer too little.
"Yeah," Chen Xia nodded, with a bit of joy in his tone. "Thank you so much. I'm sure my master will be happy when he knows."
Hearing this, the formal elder couldn't hold back anymore. He quickly took out his storage magic weapon, counted it, and handed it to Chen Xia, smiling.
"Being able to help you and the Guardian Supreme Elder is also my contribution to the sect."
"Okay, okay, okay," Chen Xia said in an excited tone. At the same time, he took the storage magic weapon and left quickly. Right before his figure disappeared, he left a sentence.
"Put it on my master's account."
The formal elder stood in front of the Supreme Hall, frowning. He always felt that something was wrong.
But he couldn't put his finger on what it was.