99: Refining begins

Ten minutes or so later.

Train Hero stopped in what looked like a somewhat desolate suburb.

"We have arrived, get off."

Huang Shi, inside the carriage, saw the environment outside and spoke.

Bai Ye was the first to push the door open and get off. Once his master had disembarked, Train Hero directly shoved the dawdling Huang Shi out of the carriage, and its body shrank in size.

Huang Shi let out a cry of pain, rubbed his butt, and then pointed at the vast expanse of land before him, introducing it with some pride:

"How about it? My place isn't bad, right?"

Bai Ye looked up and had to admit that he was indeed slightly surprised by the sight before him.

Huang Shi had always been crying poor, so Bai Ye had assumed his dwelling would be a dilapidated little workshop or simply a cave.

But before him was a manor-style building covering a huge area.

It was less a home and more a small ecological park.

The manor was enclosed by high walls, filled with lush trees, and even had a small, artificially dug river winding through it.

Behind the manor, there was a grassland that couldn't be called small.

About a few dozen Demonic Beasts were leisurely walking around the grassland, a peaceful scene.

The Rank of these Demonic Beasts was not high, mostly at the Extraordinary Level.

But the mental state of every Demonic Beast looked very good, better than some wild Demonic Beasts.

"You call this poor?"

Bai Ye turned his head and looked at Huang Shi with a "are you kidding me" expression.

Just the value of this land was probably not a small sum.

Not to mention raising so many Demonic Beasts; the expenses must be an astronomical figure.

"Hehe, it's just a polished exterior, just a polished exterior."

Huang Shi scratched his head in embarrassment.

"This place was passed down from my ancestors, the land didn't cost money, as for these little guys..."

He pointed at the Demonic Beasts on the grassland and sighed:

"Some of them I 'picked up' over the years, and some are temporarily boarded here by their owners."

"You also take on boarding business?"

"Yeah."

Huang Shi said matter-of-factly: "Don't look at them as lively and active on the surface, actually every single one of them has more or less some gray talents."

"Their owners, in order to cure them, sent them to me, hoping I could perform refining."

"But refining opportunities are limited, how could I handle them all? I can only keep them for now, and when I'm in a good mood or they offer a reward that moves me, I'll consider taking action."

Bai Ye understood and his mouth twitched:

"So, you're using a special way to take out a loan, and the kind that only goes in and never comes out."

"There's no other way, even a landlord has no surplus grain!"

Huang Shi spread his hands, his face full of helplessness.

"Doesn't raising them cost money? I'm almost bankrupt just preparing food for them every day."

"Besides, the entrance to the Secret Realm passed down by my Family is right under this grassland, building such a large feeding ground is mainly to cover it up."

Bai Ye couldn't be bothered to expose his little schemes; this guy definitely extorted quite a bit of "upkeep fees" from those owners.

"Alright, stop playing the victim, let's get down to business."

"Alright!"

Huang Shi led Bai Ye through the manor and arrived in front of a building that looked like a warehouse.

He pushed open the heavy iron door, and a scent mixed with medicinal herbs and metal rushed to meet them.

Xiao Lan used dozens of Vine Whips to spin crazily, and the breeze it stirred up blew the smell inside the warehouse to the outside.

Huang Shi looked at Xiao Lan, which resembled a tentacle monster, and suppressed his strong desire to retort.

Isn't it normal for monsters to be surrounded by monsters?

The space inside the warehouse was extremely large, unusually spacious and bright, with a dome made of special light-transmitting Materials, so one could feel the soft daylight even indoors.

In the center of the room, a huge and complex circular array was drawn on the ground with various unknown colored pigments.

Bai Ye took a closer look and discovered that the structure of this array was actually 70-80% similar to the array for contracting Demonic Beasts, but the details were much more complex.

"This is the refining array."

Huang Shi used a broom to sweep the dust off the array and introduced it.

"Basically every Refiner has their own array, mine is mainly because it's simple, I just copied the general version, it saves trouble."

Bai Ye: "..."

He really carried the word "lazy" to the end.

Huang Shi carefully took out the three white jade bowls filled with Lord-level essence blood from his bosom and placed them into the grooves at the three corners of the array respectively.

He turned back and said to Bai Ye: "Let your little kitty go to the center of the array."

Bai Ye took Xiao Hei down from his shoulder and gently placed it in the center of the array.

Xiao Hei also knew what was about to happen, curiously touched the colorful lines on the ground with its little paw, and then sat down obediently.

"Rest assured, the refining process is not dangerous, nor will there be any pain; for it, it might just be like taking a nap."

Huang Shi comforted him and casually rubbed Xiao Hei's fluffy head.

He took a deep breath, walked to the other end of the array, and sat cross-legged.

"It's about to begin."

As Huang Shi's voice fell, his hands formed a strange seal, and he muttered something in his mouth.

The entire refining array lit up instantly, the colorful pigments seemed to come alive, emitting a soft light that illuminated the entire room like a KTV.

In the white jade bowls placed at the three corners, the three masses of essence blood boiled violently.

The Obsidian Dragon's blood turned into a dense earthy-yellow mist, the Thunder Eagle's blood vaporized into blinding silver-white electric light, and the Lightning Lion King's blood burned with golden flames.

Half of it spilled onto the array.

The other half of the essence blood, under the guidance of the array, slowly rose into the air, fused in mid-air, and finally condensed into three "pills" the size of pigeon eggs, emitting a precious light.

Seeing this scene, Bai Ye's pupils contracted slightly.

A Refiner can actually perform Alchemy!

Or is this a special technique passed down from Huang Shi's Family ancestors?

In short, he wanted it.

Huang Shi's face suddenly turned pale and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

The blood did not hit the ground; it turned into a mist of blood in the air and was evenly sprinkled over the entire array.

Hum!

After absorbing Huang Shi's blood, the light of the entire array flared up, and its operating speed suddenly accelerated.

Huang Shi's own aura withered at a speed visible to the naked eye, his cheeks became as pale as paper, and his white hair lost its luster.

"Are you risking your life?"

Bai Ye couldn't help but be shocked by his operation; how did it turn out like a sacrifice?

Huang Shi did not answer; he weakly raised his hand and beckoned towards the three energy pills floating in the air.

The three pills immediately turned into three streams of light and flew into his mouth.

He swallowed them with difficulty, and his pale complexion regained a bit of rosiness.

"Phew... standard operation."

Huang Shi gasped for breath, grinned, and revealed a mouthful of teeth stained red with blood.