"We have them," Tang Liu said hesitatingly as he looked at the three herbs in Xue Wei's hand.
"But they are rarely used since they are mainly aimed at Qi cultivators. It is not something that I am carrying with me right now, nor are the other cultivators that specialize in spiritual energy."
"I have a couple of hundred of each," one of the Primordial Beasts suddenly said, stunning everyone present. Although they were listening in on the conversation, they had never expected that someone would jump into the conversation, but all of them were elated by his words.
"Let me buy a set!" someone exclaimed instantly, and when one began, another took over and soon everyone was gathering around the Primordial Beast to buy his herbs.
"How many pills can you make from these herbs?" the Primordial Beast ignored the many spiritual energy three-eyed and even four-eyed experts in front of him and asked Xue Wei.
Looking at the mountain of herbs that appeared in front of them, Xue Wei did a slight calculation.
"The quality of these herbs is rather high. If I distill them a few times, I should be able to make high purity pills, and I should have the ability to make around a hundred and seventy pills from your herbs."
"How long does it take you to make that many pills?" the Primordial Beast asked again. This time, Xue Wei was slightly hesitant.
He walked to the herbs and looked them over again. Although he had made a rough, averaged estimate of the quality, he had to respond differently to each herb to know how many times he had to distill them before he knew exactly how long it would take him.
"I think it will take me around a day and a night to create all those pills," Xue Wei said honestly. The Primordial Beast was now the one to descend into silence.
He looked around and did a headcount.
"We have a hundred and fifty-seven experts here who focus on spiritual energy. I would like to request you to make a pill for each of them," he said seriously.
"I will be shouldering the expense of the plants. I will not ask for money for these herbs, I just want us to increase our fighting strength before we go to the bandit lair."
The Primordial Beast was quite a straightforward man. He was very honest and selfless. He wanted to help everyone, but mostly because he looked at the greater picture.
He understood that if they wanted a chance to survive the raid on the bandit's lair, then they needed to be as prepared as possible.
Xue Wei understood this as well and did not ask for compensation for his labor.
Instead, he found a place in the grass and sat down. He took out his cauldron from the storage ring and lit it with his spiritual energy.
He then began working. Everyone looked at him with curiosity. Alchemists were in no way rare in Yan Dalu. In fact, alchemists and formation masters were rather common because it was only natural that spiritual energy professions in a continent where spiritual energy was the main method of cultivation was everywhere.
However, the alchemists only had pills that specialized for spiritual energy. They had nothing that helped the physical body or Qi enhancement.
Since this was the case, everyone was curious about how he created the pills.
Xue Wei grabbed a handful of all three herbs and tossed them into the cauldron. Seeing his actions, many's eyes widened in surprise and shock. This was not the way of creating pills they had learned.
They had been taught by someone who had learned the trade earlier and it was passed down through countless years, but Xue Wei was self-taught. He had learned that adding all herbs and distilling them at once was the easiest.
He continued to distill the herbs before he slowly merged them with one another. The process was painfully slow and it took him a full hour to finish the first batch of medicine, but as soon as the hour was over, a scent wafted out of the cauldron and Xue Wei reached out his hand and grabbed the nine pills of Spring Powder Pills he had just created.
"Here," he said and handed them to the Primordial Beast who was the owner of the herbs. He would not handle the distribution of the pills as he was already busy concocting them, so he left that job to the Primordial Beast, who quickly gave out the nine pills.
The nine people who were given the Spring Powder Pills were filled with excitement. Smiles were on their faces as they sat down and calmed themselves.
Amongst the nine who got the pills were five four-eyed experts. These were the only four-eyed experts in the entire group. No one questioned their right to be the first to get the pills. This was the hierarchy of Yan Dalu; the number of eyes one had truly mattered.
Xue Wei did not waste any time. As soon as he had finished the first batch of pills, he reached out and took another stack of herbs before he began refining once again.
This process repeated itself three times before he had used up all his spiritual energy. He then popped a pill into his mouth - it was a pill that increased spiritual energy. And then he sat down to meditate.
At the current point in time, the first 7 had already broken through to the Ordinary Knight rank, while another twenty were still cultivating, trying their best to absorb the energy and break through.
Like this, the day and the night passed. More and more sat down on the ground and cultivated, while the Primordial Beasts all kept watch of the surroundings and protecting them as they cultivated.
As the hours passed, more and more woke up from cultivation. Smiles were evident on all faces, and the glances that were sent to Xue Wei were filled with reverence and respect. Although he only had two eyes, he had done something that caused them all to respect him and acknowledge him.
As the sun rose in the sky the next day, Xue Wei finally stood up and stretched his body. He was sore in every inch of his body as he handed the final pills over to the Primordial Beast. Afterwards, he found a few spiritual fruits that had been stored in snow jade boxes.
Although they were months old, they were all fresh and juicy. He picked a few and started eating them before sitting down and cultivating.
These spiritual fruits had the ability to restore spiritual energy and physical strength. That was the reason he had picked especially these fruits.
As the time neared lunchtime, everyone had awakened from their cultivation. All of them were now Ordinary Knights in terms of Qi cultivation level, which was something that made Xue Wei gape in astonishment. These multi-eyed experts were truly god's favorite children.
All the experts present were in high spirits. Their bodies were bursting with a strength they had never felt before, and on the way towards the bandit lair, they all tried to get used to their newfound strength.
Although they now had much more physical strength than in the past, they also understood that they could only use this physical strength defensively.
They had no martial arts that could make them use their physical strength in battle, but now that their bodies were stronger, they would be able to sustain more damage before drawing blood.
"On behalf of our group, I would like to thank you for your assistance," one of the four-eyed experts went next to Xue Wei and nodded his head.
"We were originally expecting at least half of us to leave our lives behind in this assault on the bandit lair, but with your assistance and our newfound strength, we might be able to leave less than one third behind."
"Are the bandits truly that much of a challenge?" Xue Wei could not help but ask. He knew nothing about the actual strength of the bandit leader and his top people.
"There are seven four-eyed cultivators beneath the bandit leader. The bandit leader is a Primordial Beast. He is a ninth layered Earth Warrior, and his original shape is an Ivory Blight Boar and it's not to be slighted. His bloodline is incredibly pure and he has some outstanding physical strength."
"Although he does not focus on spiritual energy, he is considered a very dangerous foe. He has a movement technique that allows him to teleport, and as soon as he gets close to your body, you are likely to die."
"He has innate abilities, something that is able to make him even stronger. I know you have quite some strong experts on your side, but do you think you can hold him down?"
Xue Wei pondered for some time and then nodded his head. "If all four of us go together, we can take him down," he agreed. "But if we do that, we will lose out on merits, and merits are very much what we need right now."
"The merits from taking down the leader of the bandit group surpasses the sum of taking down the rest of the bandits," the four-eyed expert assured Xue Wei, who then nodded his head. "Since that is the case, just leave the boar to us. You guys can focus on taking care of the small fries then. Try to not let anyone die."
While they spoke, they had been marching at a fast pace deeper into the grassland. However, even though they had encountered corpses on the way, they had not seen anyone alive.
The tension in the atmosphere intensified as they came closer and closer to the bandit lair. It was clear that every bandit had been called back to their lair.
"What is the lair like?" Xue Wei could not help but ask. The four-eyed expert by his side answered honestly.
"It is an old castle. At the very end of the grassy expanse is a mountain, and the castle is carved out from the mountainside. It is indeed a fortress and breaking in will be difficult. That is also why I expect we will lose quite a few men in the process."
Xue Wei nodded his head. It made sense that they would have some strong foothold.
They marched a full two days and two nights before they finally reached the end of the grasslands. Being this deep in, everyone was tense and worried, but the long travel had also allowed them to become much more familiar with their newfound strengths.
The sun was rising on the horizon, casting its rays upon the grassland and the mountain wall in the distance.
A large fortress had been carved into the mountain wall itself. It looked dominating and overwhelming, its sheer size so magnificent that it could take the breath away from anyone who saw it.
This was the bandit's lair. This was where Xue Wei’s and his friends’ first real battle in Yan Dalu would be held.
Looking at the magnificent sight, Xue Wei felt his blood boil. Thinking about having to fight against an expert a whole realm and one layer above himself made his blood run cold, but at the same time it also made him excited.
He could not wait to see what the Qi levels of this world were like. Was that Primordial Beast really as dangerous as they said? He wanted to find out, but he also knew that he was likely to be seriously injured, if not dead, if he underestimated his enemy.
When the many experts looked at Xue Wei, they saw a bloodcurdling smile on his face, a smile that made them shiver.
This bloodthirst that suddenly seeped out from Xue Wei was quickly spreading amongst the many experts that were traveling with him. At first, they were slightly frightened, but soon it affected them into releasing their own killing intent.
The battle was beginning!