It’s working!” he thought, his eyes flickering. However, his heart then began to twinge with pain. Duplicating that single bottle of Spirit Elixir had removed a distressing amount of spirit stones from his bag of holding.
He clenched his jaw.
“It’s just a bit of money, right…?” he said through gritted teeth, and then duplicated another bottle. Time passed. Five days.
“Dammit! Do you absorb Spirit Elixir or spirit stones!?!?
“Y-y-you’re… you’re still absorbing the Spirit Elixir!?!?
“It-it… it’s like I’ve fallen into a bottomless pit!!
“Argh, my spirit stones!!”
Meng Hao’s eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the Nirvana Fruit. During these five days, he had depleted the number of spirit stones in his bag of holding by half. He had duplicated an ocean of Spirit Elixir, all of which had been absorbed by the Nirvana Fruit. The life force inside of it was growing stronger, but there seemed to be no end in sight. Meng Hao could clearly sense that it was thirsty to absorb more Spirit Elixir.
If you calculated exactly how much Spirit Elixir the Nirvana Fruit had absorbed, anyone in the Fang Clan would have been shocked. Furthermore, that Spirit Elixir was of the finest quality. A few bottles might not have been a big deal, but for most people, it wouldn’t just be a problem of spirit stones; they simply would never be able to gather that many medicinal plants. Especially not the Sun Blossoms and Reincarnation Leaves.
“Only when it reaches the point that it can’t absorb any more Spirit Elixir, will I know that it’s fully restored!” Meng Hao’s heart dripped with blood, and he ceased duplicating the Spirit Elixir. He quickly packed the Nirvana Fruit up and then closed his eyes.
After a moment, he opened his eyes again and then frowned.
“This isn’t the right method. I need to increase the Spirit Elixir’s power. To do that, I need to replace all of the current medicinal plant ingredients. If I can create an even more powerful Spirit Elixir, that would be the best thing. Although it might cost more spirit stones to duplicate on an individual basis, overall, I’ll be able to save a lot of resources.”
Meng Hao took a deep breath and then rose to his feet, ending the current madness of duplication and concoction. He was now preparing to make another trip to the Dao of Alchemy Division, and figure out a way to get the medicinal plants he needed.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have the clan merit points I need…. However, that problem is solved easily enough.” Eyes shining brightly, he turned into a beam of light that shot toward the Dao of Alchemy Division.
People recognized him almost as soon as he arrived. That was especially true when he reached Alchemy Lodge Peak #7191. The apprentice alchemists there, including the old alchemist Fang Qun, immediately rose to their feet excitedly, clasped hands, and invited him onto the platform.
Meng Hao didn’t decline, but instead took his place and began to lecture about the Dao of alchemy, and even asked the apprentice alchemists to go invite others to come listen.
“All of this is for the clan,” Meng Hao announced in a profound voice. “I hope that, even with my meager skills, I can help to advance our clan’s Dao of alchemy.” His voice seemed to be full of loyalty and righteousness toward the clan.
The apprentice alchemists were getting excited, and immediately took out jade slips to inform their friends, who quickly hurried over, and also spread the word.
Over the course of the following four hours, the mountain peak came to be surrounded by tens of thousands of onlookers, who packed together to listen to Meng Hao lecture about plants and vegetation. Many among the audience were people who had heard of the events that had previously occurred, and were skeptically listening to Meng Hao for the first time. However, after listening for only a short time, their eyes went wide, and they were quickly absorbed in the information, seemingly entranced.
Meng Hao lectured for an entire day, after which he started to look a bit tired.
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the clan, it’s not that I don’t wish to continue, but I really don’t have enough time. I have to go do some tasks for the clan. Next time I’m free, I’ll be sure to come back.”
No matter what the crowd said to try to get him to stay, Meng Hao refused, and immediately left the Dao of Alchemy Division.
Later, for no apparent reason, Fang Xi suddenly became interested in the Dao of alchemy. He pulled some strings to get a chance to become an apprentice alchemist, and went directly to Peak #7191, quickly becoming familiar with some of the apprentice alchemists there.
In the following days, whenever Meng Hao returned, Fang Xi was in the crowd. Every time Meng Hao showed up, it was evening, and he would only talk for four hours before leaving.