Meng Fan returned to the Sword Pavilion and continued his cultivation.
During this period, not only had he advanced his cultivation level to the second level of the Heavenly Origin Realm, but he had also made significant progress in the True Scripture of Scarlet Blood.
The demonic energy he cultivated within his body had grown considerably.
At the very least, it could now support him in wielding the Seven Absolute Demon Swords and the Eternal Night Sword Technique while maintaining his sanity and not falling into the demonic path.
This was a significant improvement!
For Meng Fan, it also meant some progress and refinement in his Primordial Great Way of the Sword.
Besides him, the Hong Qi Sword had also undergone noticeable changes during this time.
Of course, Meng Fan was more concerned about Hong Qi herself rather than the Hong Qi Sword.
Every time Hong Qi appeared, Meng Fan could sense that she had become slightly stronger than before, and her spiritual form had become more solid.
Lastly, there was Xiao Qing.
The little snake had finally succeeded in stepping into the boss-level entity realm and had begun the path of transformation.
Once she successfully transformed and became a Demon King, Meng Fan would have an additional trump card in his hand.
However, this was not an easy feat; it was extremely difficult!
At this moment, Xiao Qing, who had just entered the boss-level entity realm, was equivalent to a human cultivator at the initial Condensing Elixir stage.
And once she successfully transformed and stepped into the Demon King realm, it would be equivalent to reaching the Primordial Spirit Realm of humans!
This required crossing the two realms of Condensing Elixir and Summoning God, so the difficulty was imaginable.
Under normal circumstances, even a demon with good talent would need a hundred years to break through from the initial boss-level entity realm to the Demon King realm.
Even with Xiao Qing's exceptional talent, it would likely take no less than fifty years!
***
The next evening, Meng Fan arrived at Ye Qingyu's courtyard in the Alchemy Hall as promised.
During this period, he had become quite familiar with the Alchemy Hall, coming and going freely.
"Senior Sister Ye, I'm here!" Meng Fan greeted Ye Qingyu.
Ye Qingyu was not in the middle of alchemy, indicating that the pills had already been successfully refined.
"Senior Brother Ye, I've been waiting for you," Ye Qingyu said.
Normally, if someone calls you Senior Sister, you would call them Junior Brother. Or if you call someone Senior Brother, they would call you Junior Sister.
Meng Fan and Ye Qingyu calling each other Senior Brother and Senior Sister was somewhat confusing in terms of identity.
But since Meng Fan first called Ye Qingyu Senior Sister, Ye Qingyu felt embarrassed to call Meng Fan Junior Brother.
After all, Meng Fan was superior to her in every aspect, and she couldn't comfortably accept the title of Senior Sister.
However, while Ye Qingyu cared about face, Meng Fan did not.
Just as Ye Qingyu finished speaking, Meng Fan continued, "Senior Sister Ye, didn't you call me Master yesterday?"
Ye Qingyu immediately gave Meng Fan a cold look.
After a moment, she said coldly, "I did say that if you could defeat me, calling you Master would be no big deal.
But that "Master" was already called yesterday, so don't push your luck!"
Meng Fan chuckled, "Alright, logically speaking, there's no problem."
Ye Qingyu had indeed said, "Calling you Master would be no big deal."
That "calling" could have several meanings, but if Ye Qingyu insisted on this interpretation, then it had to be this one.
Meng Fan didn't continue to tease Ye Qingyu and directly asked, "Senior Sister Ye, have the pills been refined?"
Ye Qingyu replied expressionlessly, "I naturally wouldn't go back on my word!"
With that, she tossed a jade bottle to Meng Fan.
Meng Fan carefully caught it. If it fell and shattered, it would be too much of a pity!
However, with his strength, there was no way he wouldn't catch the jade bottle.
After receiving the bottle, Meng Fan scanned it with his Divine Sense and found forty-one pills inside.
Without a doubt, these were lower-grade Earth-level Body Refining Pills, Vajra Pills.
Forty-one pills, exceeding Meng Fan's expectations.
Recently, Meng Fan had learned some basic alchemy knowledge in the Alchemy Hall.
Under normal circumstances, a furnace could produce a maximum of forty-nine pills.
This was only achievable under perfect conditions, which were extremely rare, almost one in ten thousand!
Ye Qingyu must have been refining Vajra Pills for the first time, and producing forty-one pills on her first try was truly astonishing.
"Thank you, Senior Sister Ye!" Meng Fan cupped his hands in sincere gratitude.
"How much are these pills worth in Spirit Stones?"
Meng Fan understood the rule of exchanging goods for money.
Since Ye Qingyu had given him the pills, he naturally couldn't be stingy with the Spirit Stones.
Ye Qingyu replied, "If you insist on paying in Spirit Stones, just cover the cost of the materials, which is two hundred Spirit Stones in total."
Two hundred Spirit Stones were actually quite a lot.
For an Outer Sect Disciple or an ordinary Inner Sect Disciple of the Shu Mountain Sword Sect, it was an astronomical figure.
But Earth-level pills were that precious, and this was just the cost of the materials.
If these pills were sold, they could fetch four to five hundred Spirit Stones.
Selling a single Vajra Pill for a dozen Spirit Stones was not an exaggeration.
In fact, it would be considered cheap!
Just as Meng Fan was about to take out the Spirit Stones to pay, Ye Qingyu continued, "Senior Brother Meng, could you do me a favor? If you agree, consider the Spirit Stones as your reward. Besides that, I can guarantee you'll gain even more from this!"
Yesterday, Ye Qingyu had been hesitant about whether to ask Meng Fan for this favor.
Because this matter was extremely important to her!
After thinking it over for a night, she decided to ask Meng Fan for help.
Because apart from Meng Fan, she couldn't find anyone else suitable.
In the entire Shu Mountain Sword Sect, only Meng Fan was suitable; others simply didn't have the qualifications.
Of course, it wasn't that Elders or the Sect Master lacked qualifications, but rather that she couldn't possibly ask them!
"What kind of favor?" Meng Fan asked.
If it wasn't something extremely difficult, Meng Fan would help out.
After all, two hundred Spirit Stones were not a small amount for him, and saving them would be beneficial.
Of course, the main reason was that Meng Fan liked to help others.
Money and wealth were secondary!
Meng Fan thought this to himself but didn't say it out loud, as he didn't even believe it himself.
"Senior Brother Meng, have you ever heard of the Sword Immortal of Alchemy?" Ye Qingyu asked, her tone carrying a hint of excitement and anticipation.
In fact, although her question was phrased as a query, she expected Meng Fan's answer to be affirmative.
As she waited for Meng Fan to say "I've heard," Meng Fan shook his head in confusion, "I haven't heard of it."
Sword Immortal of Alchemy?
What a strange title; he truly hadn't heard of it.
Before joining the Shu Mountain Sword Sect, Meng Fan was just an ordinary villager with little knowledge.
After coming to the Shu Mountain Sword Sect, all his "knowledge" came from the swords in the Sword Pavilion.
Unfortunately, none of the Sword Wraith Memories in those swords contained information about the Sword Immortal of Alchemy.
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan