Mu Jinyu finally successfully exchanged for a large-capacity storage bag in the Gathering Fortune Tower and put all the spiritual medicine stored in the Shennong Cauldron into it.
"Dear customer, please come again soon," bid the shopkeeper and his assistants warmly, as they stood at the doorstep and sent Mu Jinyu off.
An hour later.
Mu Jinyu had returned to the Heavenly Sword Faction from the small town.
The first thing he did after returning to the sect was not to hand over the mission materials to the Mission Hall to complete the three tasks that he had undertaken during his trip, but to check on Jian Ruyan and Wen Rou first.
"Hmm?! Could the Sect Leader and the others already know?"
When he learned from Jian Ruyan that a few days ago the Sect Leader had personally visited, showing ardent enthusiasm in inviting her and Wen Rou to move to the Inner Gate, and that Jian Ruyan had also detected the unique fragrance of his elixirs, Mu Jinyu's expression changed abruptly as he realized that his secret ability to craft fine elixirs might have been discovered by the Sect Leader.
He immediately knew that it must have been those few bottles of fine elixirs he had carelessly given away that had been uncovered.
"Those two wastes!"
Mu Jinyu cursed inwardly, thinking that he should not have simply urged those two Outer Sect disciples to be careful that day, but should have directly stuffed the elixirs into their mouths and made them burst—better yet!
That had gotten him into trouble.
"However, it's a relief that the Sect Leader and the others seem to have no ill intent and have kept the matter under wraps; otherwise, these past few days would not have been so peaceful for us, with nobody coming to bother us," Jian Ruyan calmly commented.
"Yeah, that's a piece of relatively good news amid the bad," said Mu Jinyu, trying to find some comfort in the situation.
He knew that if the Sect Leader had not intervened to suppress the matter, his residence in the Yuntian Mountain Range would have been besieged daily by people clamoring for pills, wearing out his doorstep.
The incessant disturbances would have driven him crazy.
"Should we run?" Wen Rou asked from the side.
"Run?" Mu Jinyu heard this, shook his head gently, and said with a wry smile, "There's no need. Taking you away from the Heavenly Sword Faction now would probably cause even more trouble. Staying within the faction and maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship with them is likely the better option."
By choosing not to leave the Heavenly Sword Faction, the Sect Leader and other higher-ups would see his intentions and probably wouldn't harm him; they might even consider nurturing him.
But if he were to leave just like that, should any of the Faction's higher-ups be narrow-minded and feel that they can't just let him go, fearing that they would be nurturing a threat, or if they wanted to secretly take him down and force him to craft pills for them indefinitely, then that would be truly troublesome.
Sighing deeply, Mu Jinyu whispered softly, "Let's play it by ear. If they are not short-sighted, there probably won't be any problems."
Jian Ruyan agreed with a sound, not blaming Mu Jinyu for inadvertently leaking the matter of the pills, and she changed the subject, asking, "Tomorrow is the Outer Gate's grand examination. Are you still planning to participate?"
"Of course, I'm participating," Mu Jinyu's eyes flashed as he said, "It's a good opportunity to see what their attitude is."
"If it really doesn't work out, I might indeed have to take you both and leave."
Mu Jinyu wasn't too worried; he still had some trump cards up his sleeve.
Although the Heavenly Sword Faction's Sect Leader and Supreme Elders were likely at the Fanxu Realm and currently beyond his ability to contend with, he had brought with him the Dragon Resentment Evil Poison, a transformative evolution of the lethal aura from the Deathly Shrouded Dragon Vein of Yinlong Mountain.
The power of this evil poison was not to be underestimated. Mu Jinyu vaguely felt that even strong practitioners at the Fanxu Realm, if contaminated, would be in for a dire fate!
If they were to corner him, then he would let them have a taste of the Dragon Resentment Evil Poison.
Afterward, Mu Jinyu said goodbye to the two women and went to the Mission Hall alone to complete his next three tasks.
The rewards for the tasks were quite substantial. He received three hundred and fifty Contribution Points.
Over three hundred Contribution Points might not seem like a lot, but they could grant him access to the Scripture Pavilion three times or exchange for some hard-to-find items in the Heavenly Sword Faction's Treasure Pavilion.
If the secret of the fine elixirs hadn't been leaked, Mu Jinyu would have considered selling some of the Spiritual Medicine to the Heavenly Sword Faction in exchange for more Contribution Points, but now, with a sense of crisis, he abandoned that idea.
If it weren't for the requirement that every Outer Sect Disciple must complete a task each month, he wouldn't even have bothered to complete these three tasks.
With these Contribution Points in hand, Mu Jinyu made a special trip to the Treasure Pavilion, not planning to hold onto the points.
After all, if he really had to flee, wouldn't it be a great loss if he hadn't spent those Contribution Points?
Upon arriving at the Treasure Pavilion, the first thing Mu Jinyu did was to ask if there were any Pill Formulas for sale.
Unfortunately, there weren't any.
Instead, he received strange looks from people, as if they were looking at a toad that wanted to eat swan meat.
Mu Jinyu didn't mind these looks, though he felt a bit disappointed in his heart.
The Miscellaneous Disciple working at the Treasure Pavilion finally explained to Mu Jinyu that in their Heavenly Sword Faction, only Elder Cheng knew Alchemy, and if he wanted to learn it, he could consider taking Elder Cheng as a mentor once he entered the Inner Gate.
Mu Jinyu responded half-heartedly, not taking it too seriously, and then proceeded to spend the three hundred and fifty Contribution Points in the Treasure Pavilion. He bought three Second-Grade Elixirs with effects similar to the Rush Yuan Pill, all with a single Danwen, and then he also bought a book titled "Spiritual Medicine Collection" before heading back home.
There was only half a day left before the Outer Gate's grand examination.
Though Mu Jinyu hadn't taken the grand examination of the Outer Gate seriously, he had been stable in the Sixth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm for a while and was ready to attempt to break through to the Seventh Layer.
The six pills he acquired were only single Danwen Elixirs, not enough to give him the confidence to break through to the later stages of the Divine Transformation Realm after taking them. However, his thought was to see if he could analyze the Pill Formulas from them.
If it were indeed possible, then he would no longer lack Pill Formulas.
"Ao!"
"Munch, munch!"
Mu Jinyu first took a Rush Yuan Pill and chewed it vigorously, as if he were a cow chewing a peony.
It seemed very casual, but he was carefully analyzing the ingredients contained within the elixir.
While eating, he used his Divine Sense to quickly go through the newly acquired "Spiritual Medicine Collection," checking if there were any medicinal herbs in the Rush Yuan Pill that he wasn't familiar with but were recorded in the Kunlun Ruins.
After he had digested the entire Rush Yuan Pill, Mu Jinyu opened his eyes and said, "It's somewhat useful, but still not enough."
Then, he continued to consume the remaining two Rush Yuan Pills. This time, he didn't worry about wasting the pill's efficacy by taking some time to refine the Rush Yuan Pill. Instead, he focused solely on analyzing the ingredients of the Rush Yuan Pill.
Finally, when the effects of the Rush Yuan Pills ended, Mu Jinyu opened his eyes, a glint of sharpness flashing through them, and he muttered, "Vermilion Cloud Fruit, Red Scorpion Grass, Cloud Arrival Branch, Seven Star Mallow..."
He listed the ingredients of the Rush Yuan Pill as if he were counting his treasures.
The reason he was able to do this was not only because he had an exceptional talent in Alchemy but also because he cultivated the "Green Emperor's Wood Emperor Art," which made him extremely sensitive to all flora.
Compared to Alchemy Masters, he was better at analyzing the components of elixirs.
"Whew..." Mu Jinyu exhaled lightly, his expression becoming more confident and relaxed, yet still somewhat solemn, as he murmured, "Although I've analyzed the components of the elixir, the specific methods of concoction still require step-by-step exploration."