148: Gathering Spirit Furnace

After Chen Heng left the meeting hall, Gou Longxun sighed with a hint of regret.

"How about that? I told you that kid would definitely not go."

Qi Longhu, with his nose in the air, gestured to the others with his chin.

"Perhaps Chen Heng has his own plans." Wu Tianba couldn't understand why he wouldn't seize such a good opportunity.

"Forget it, this is also a good thing for us." Although Gou Longxun was a bit regretful, he wasn't too surprised.

"My original intention in wanting Chen Heng to go to Divine Sword Valley was simply not to hinder the future of a Genius."

"I've said what I needed to say, and my conscience is clear."

"Let me put it this way, whether he goes or not is his business; whether we tell him or not is our problem."

Xu Lieying slapped the armrest of his chair.

"His not going is his own choice, but if we didn't tell Chen Heng about this opportunity, that would be our fault."

"Alright, let's end this topic here!"

The others didn't say anything more, nodding in tacit agreement to drop the matter.

After finishing up at the Headquarters, Chen Heng went to the Lou Clan Blacksmith Shop.

He selected high-quality bronze to forge a Pill Furnace for Bai Jun.

However, this Pill Furnace couldn't be picked up today; even at the fastest, it would take a day to forge.

At this point, Chen Heng finally had a period of relaxation, though not a long one.

Two days later, Chen Heng sat at his desk, opening a diary written in Chinese characters... October 29th, Sunny.

Having nothing to do today, I accompanied Bai Jun to once again attempt to challenge the chastity mark.

The challenge failed, and Bai Jun's little bird was electrocuted into a black bird.

In the afternoon, Bai Jun, after frantically consuming Medicinal Pills, finally managed to successfully rescue his little black bird.

That evening, he challenged the chastity mark again.

The challenge failed once more; this time even his eggs turned black.

October 30th, Sunny.

Bai Jun successfully gave up on challenging the chastity mark and instead challenged his own bad luck.

This challenge was very successful, as he successfully lost 3,756 taels of silver.

Bai Jun pawned the startling swan sword with me and borrowed five thousand taels of silver.

That evening, the five thousand taels of silver were completely lost by Bai Jun, setting a new record for turnover since the establishment of Prosperity Workshop.

However, that silver eventually returned to my pocket, along with an IOU for five thousand taels and a startling swan sword.

That night, Bai Jun attempted to hang himself, but after an hour, he failed to die, so he gave up... "It's November already..."

Closing the diary, Chen Heng looked at the peach tree outside, its leaves already gone, and sighed.

He closed his eyes and looked inward.

Two drops of crystal-clear Boiling Blood were re-condensed by Chen Heng; tomorrow he could Optimize both the Asura Bloodline and the Hanba Bloodline simultaneously.

He turned his head to look at the Pill Furnace in the room, and Chen Heng couldn't help but marvel at the excellent craftsmanship of the Lou Clan Blacksmith Shop.

It was a half-man-tall bronze Pill Furnace, intricately carved with various auspicious patterns.

These people probably thought Chen Heng bought a Pill Furnace merely as an ornament, which is why they made it so exquisite.

"Let's try Optimizing it first."

After all, it was for his own Medicinal Pills, so some minor expenditures were necessary.

He clicked Optimization, and the bronze Pill Furnace slowly transformed into specks of light, disappearing before Chen Heng's eyes.

[Optimization successful, Bronze Pill Furnace → spirit gathering furnace]

[spirit gathering furnace: Can condense scattered Spiritual Qi from heaven and earth, increasing the success rate of Pill formation by 50% and improving quality by one tier]

He took the spirit gathering furnace out of the system backpack, and a half-man-tall black Pill Furnace appeared before him.

Compared to the previous bronze Pill Furnace, the spirit gathering furnace before him was a full size smaller.

But the material was no longer bronze; it had become a material Chen Heng had never seen before.

It felt warm and smooth like jade to the touch, but when struck, it still produced a metallic sound.

"It doesn't seem that impressive..."

Chen Heng was completely clueless about these things and couldn't tell how much better the Optimized version was compared to the original.

"It should be much better, right..."

Chen Heng couldn't be sure and could only find someone knowledgeable in this area to take a look.

Picking up the Pill Furnace, Chen Heng walked towards the small courtyard where Bai Jun was currently living.

"Hey! Stop hanging around, come look at the Pill Furnace I prepared for you."

Chen Heng kicked open Bai Jun's door and shouted at Bai Jun, who was still hanging from the beam.

"Leave me alone, let me die..."

Two streams of clear tears ran down Bai Jun's face, and his right hand still clutched the IOU with his handprint on it.

"Stop talking nonsense, get down here."

Chen Heng placed the Pill Furnace aside, grabbed Bai Jun's ankle, and pulled him down.

"I want to die!"

Smack!

Seeing Bai Jun still acting crazy, Chen Heng directly gave him a big slap to see if he would continue his madness.

With a whoosh, Bai Jun flew out, crashing heavily onto the bed.

"Are you awake? If you're awake, come over and check the quality of this Pill Furnace."

Chen Heng didn't think this kid would be beaten to death by him; he grabbed him by the collar and threw him in front of the Pill Furnace.

"Hmph, how could a Pill Furnace from down the mountain be better than one from up the..."

Bai Jun rubbed his face, sat up, and touched the black Pill Furnace in front of him.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Bai Jun's eyes widened, and he pressed his face directly against the Pill Furnace.

"No, this is wrong! Such rich Spiritual Qi, exquisitely intricate Dao patterns, this, this is..."

At this moment, Bai Jun was like a pervert who hadn't seen a woman in decades, snorting roughly through his nose, his face flushed with a maniacal excitement.

"Big Brother Chen! Where did you get this top-tier Pill Furnace?"

Bai Jun instantly shot up, completely forgetting that he had just been hanging himself.

"The item's not bad, right?" Chen Heng didn't understand the intricacies of the Pill Furnace, but he could discern a thing or two from Bai Jun's expression.

It seemed that the Optimized spirit gathering furnace was quite impressive.

"More than just 'not bad,' this Pill Furnace is far better than my Master's!"

Bai Jun continuously caressed the Pill Furnace in front of him, drool even trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"What, no more hanging yourself?" Chen Heng raised an eyebrow, teasing him.

"No more, no more." Bai Jun quickly shook his head, fearing Chen Heng would take back the Pill Furnace.

"But Big Brother Chen, is it really appropriate to just give me such a Divine Artifact?"

Although Bai Jun particularly liked the Pill Furnace in front of him, he still maintained a degree of rationality.

"There's nothing appropriate or inappropriate about it." Chen Heng shook his head.

"Then I thank..." Just as Bai Jun was about to climb the pole, he was interrupted by Chen Heng's next words.

"I didn't say I was giving it to you; I'm just lending it to you to use."

Upon hearing this, Bai Jun immediately deflated, disappointment clearly evident on his face.

"However..."

"Big Brother Chen, can you stop taking such long pauses!" Bai Jun's eyes lit up again.

"How about this: you help me with Alchemy for twenty years, and your previous debts will be written off, and this Pill Furnace will also be yours!"

Chen Heng waved his hand grandly, acting very generous.

He had expected Bai Jun to haggle with him and was ready to put on a show.

His bottom line was that Bai Jun could have the Pill Furnace if he refined Medicinal Pills for him for five years; it wasn't worth much anyway.

But to his surprise, Bai Jun's reaction was beyond his expectations.