Immortality begins with Becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster

Chapter 1426: Chapter 533 Blood Meal

Time flowed like water, years passed like a shuttle.

Half a year later.

Yao Yue Island, surrounded by over thirty islands both large and small, welcomed a Glint.

After circling in the sky for a moment, the Glint descended on Yao Yue Island, guided by a token.

Upon landing, a tall and graceful figure couldn’t help but glance at the stele standing in the center of the island, a look of yearning flashing in her eyes.

But she knew it was beyond her grasp, so forcibly suppressing her desire, she stepped into the depths of the swirling white mist.

As she walked, the thick fog around her seemed to part with spirituality, opening a narrow path one meter wide.

A short time later.

Cheng Haixin arrived in front of a splendid palace, with carved beams and painted rafters, so exquisite it could be praised.

However, upon closer inspection, there were still many rough spots.

There was no choice; the time Luo Chen had given was too tight, just one month. The cultivators of the Flying Swallow Islands, even if eager to please him, couldn’t perform miracles.

This very palace was constructed mostly from materials readily available from other islands.

”Fortunately, Demon King Qingyang is magnanimous and doesn’t care about these things.”

She muttered to herself, lifted the hem of her dress, and stepped into the palace.

As if aware of her arrival, it didn’t take long before a figure appeared in Cheng Haixin’s field of vision.

Cheng Haixin respectfully presented two Storage Bags.

”Ascendant Master, here is the first batch of True Flame Pill materials collected by the clans for you, totaling seventy-eight portions as per your standards.”

Luo Chen glanced at the other Storage Bag in her hand, then took the one filled with alchemical materials.

His Divine Consciousness swept through it, and after a brief scan, his face showed displeasure.

”Half a year’s time, and you’ve only gathered seventy-eight portions. You haven’t been very diligent!”

Her heart trembled, and she hurriedly explained, ”Please forgive us, Ascendant Master. The truth is, most of the materials you require are Fire Attribute, and the islands around us simply can’t provide enough. It’s only by my elder brother uniting all the clans and forming a merchant team, and after making many contacts in Feileng City, that we were able to collect these fully.”

Luo Chen raised an eyebrow. ”Is it that troublesome? Isn’t our North Sea known for its abundant resources?”

Cheng Haixin shook her head. ”That is indeed true, but the issue is that the Flying Swallow Islands are too remote. To get to the Inner Territory would take decades of effort. Even Feileng City, the closest Immortal Island city to the Flying Swallow Islands, takes a lot of time to reach.”

Too remote?

A thought flickered in Luo Chen’s mind.

That was understandable.

It was like when he was in The Great River District; despite being directly opposite the resource-rich Million Mountains, if one talked about High-Order resources, they were still scarce compared to those deep in the hinterlands of the Great Territories.

Seeing Luo Chen’s expression soften, Cheng Haixin slightly relaxed.

Seizing the moment, she delivered good news.

”The first few batches of materials might be slower and less, but once my Flying Swallow Merchant Team establishes a foothold in bustling places like Feileng City and Mowhua Island, the subsequent collection of True Flame Pill materials you require will become much easier.”

Once the supply channels were established, the supply would naturally stabilize.

Luo Chen had been a businessman himself; he understood this principle.

With this in mind, he no longer blamed her.

As he inspected the alchemical ingredients in the Storage Bag, he casually inquired, ”How much for each Gleaming Seed?”

”Fifteen Spirit Stones each, but they’re not sold individually. They’re normally in sets of a hundred. Only with a large purchase can you get a small number of extras.”

”What about Yan Hua?”

”That’s a Third Order Elixir, very expensive, a single one is more than six hundred Spirit Stones. My elder brother had to do plenty of bargaining and promising many benefits to get the price down to exactly six hundred.”

”And the prices for Purple Smoke Candles?”

”One hundred and twenty Lower Grade Spirit Stones per box, which is a bit expensive, but they’ve been processed beforehand.”

As Luo Chen inquired about the prices of each ingredient, Cheng Haixin gave the answers one by one.

Luo Chen was getting an indirect understanding of the full picture of the North Sea Cultivation World through these common alchemical ingredient prices.

The price often reflected the level of development of a region.

Of course, this wasn’t absolute.

Prices could be affected by many factors: war, scarcity, the manipulation by powerful forces, and so forth.

Even so, Luo Chen could still glean an understanding of the bigger picture.

From what he saw at the moment, the raw materials for one True Flame Pill cost around three thousand Spirit Stones.

That price was not considered low!

For the same Third Order Elixir, the cost of a Starry Pill was just barely two thousand.

And if he were in Yu Ding Realm, Luo Chen had once estimated that gathering the materials for one True Flame Pill would cost around two thousand three to four hundred Spirit Stones.

Now it was selling for a premium of six to seven hundred more!

This indicated that the North Sea Cultivation World was either more affluent, or its situation was more strained, leading to the rise in prices of various resources—or perhaps, a combination of both!

While Luo Chen analyzed these things in detail,

Cheng Haixin also took the chance to tout the achievements of the Cheng Family.

Like how Cheng Dou personally coordinated with the major families of the Flying Swallow Islands, setting up the Flying Swallow Merchant Team expressly to collect materials for Luo Chen.

Negotiating prices, asking for favors, and such.

Oh, and she also mentioned that out of the first batch of seventy-eight portions of ingredients, the Black Swan Island Cheng Family alone provided ten!

Luo Chen clearly understood their intent.

That Cheng Dou, instead of focusing on Closed-Door Cultivation, had gone through all this trouble, undoubtedly to curry favor with him.

The aim was none other than to exchange for the Core Formation Secret Art inscribed on the stele on Yao Yue Island.