In the Austin Palace, Austin was practicing in his specially curated cultivation room.
Sitting cross-legged, he practiced a cycle of the Golden Sun Scripture. After four hours of practice, his
strength and vital energy were back in top form.
After all, during the month he spent in the Mysterious Nether World, he was entirely focused on dueling
or to be alert of potential dangers that were more often than not lurking in the corners. He had not been
able to devote any time to have a good rest and practice the Golden Sun Scripture.
Now that he was finally out of the Mysterious Nether World, it was safe to have a good rest and
practice. He was feeling relieved. After all, he had succeeded in overcoming multiple difficulties and he
deserved this leisure.
After practicing the Golden Sun Scripture for four hours, he opened his eyes and took out his Space
Ring.
"It's time to check what I managed to obtain in the Mysterious Nether World. It was a fierce trial but I
survived and got a good harvest."
With this in mind, he took out all the medicinal herbs from his Space Ring. He had been able to acquire
almost a mountain of herbs from the Mysterious Nether World.
The medicinal herbs were his biggest harvest in the adventure. Most of them grew in the Medicine
Valley.
Austin began sorting them so that he could get an accurate measure. Close to seven hundred were at
the fourth or fifth grade;
more than two hundred were at the sixth grade; about sixty were at the seventh grade and only ten of
them were at the eighth grade.
These medicinal herbs were priceless. In the Violet Orchid Empire, only sheer luck could get a
cultivator a herb at a grade of six or higher. Many cultivators would never get a chance to even see a
grade seven or grade eight medicinal herb in their whole life.
Angus had said the Mysterious Nether World was an ideal place for medicinal herbs to grow. One
reason was that it was an isolated desolate world; the other being that it was rich with spiritual energy.
Even though there were countless cultivators coming in for a trial, only few medicinal herbs were
picked. Don't forget that these herbs were duly protected by many powerful diabolic beasts.
That was also another reason why there were so many medicinal herbs at higher grades.
Among the medicinal herbs that Austin had obtained, there were ten black and white fruits. Austin knew
these were soul-recovering fruits.
In fact, Austin had managed to collect thirteen soul-recovering fruits in total. But he gave three of them
to Reuben, the youngest prince.
The invaluable soul-recovering fruit which was a kind of spirit fruit, was at the eighth grade. In all
probability, one could only find it in a place like the Mysterious Nether World. In the outside world, it
was absent.
Austin was not a fool. He was definitely not going to give all the thirteen soul-recovering fruits to
Reuben. The ten fruits he was left with could help him make pills that could cure injuries or even save
his life.
The ample quantity of high grade medicinal herbs made him content. He had far outreached his
expectations.
Suddenly Austin smiled bitterly when the realization hit him.
Although he had high grade medicinal herbs, he couldn't refine them because he was merely a level
two pill refiner.
It would be a waste for a level two pill refiner to refine lots of grade six or grade seven medicinal herbs.
He would be unable to do it. Elixirs would fail to be refined successfully. If he forced himself to do it, the
high grade medical herbs would in all probability be ruined.
In general, the grade of the elixirs corresponded to the grade of the medicinal herbs.
For example, refining grade one medicinal herbs would produce grade one elixirs.
Refining grade two medicinal herbs, pill refiners would get grade two elixirs.
It was the same with the rest of the medicinal herbs.
Austin, a level two pill refiner could easily refine grade two elixirs if he was given some grade two
medicinal herbs.
But refining these grade six and grade seven medicinal herbs was a difficult task. He was simply
unable to refine them.
After a careful consideration, he came up with two ways to deal with the mountain of grade six, grade
seven and grade eight medicinal herbs.
Although he was eager to refine them, it was realistically impossible for him.
One possible way out was to auction them off.
Austin was sure that a handful of these high grade medicinal herbs would make him rich beyond
dreams. They could be easily sold on the auctions for a large sum of vital energy crystals.
The other way was to store them in the space ring. He could refine them when his skill of pill refining
had improved.
After a long time of contemplation and going back and forth with himself, Austin made up his mind. He
would sell some of the grade four and grade five medical herds.
He would save the medicinal herbs at sixth and higher grade because they were rare and giving them
away would be stupid. He would wait to improve his skills, and it was only a matter of time till he
became a grade six pill refiner and even a grade eight one.
Adhering to his decision, he picked out the grade four and grade five medical herds and sent them to
another space ring—to auction them off soon.
The rest was all put back to the space ring that he preferred to wear.
After sorting out the medicinal herbs, he concentrated his mind and took out the collection of colorful
jade slips.
He had gotten all of them from the Emperor Library. A martial skill was recorded on each of them.
On the first floor of the library itself, Austin and Violet had found more than forty colorful jade slips.
More than thirty of them recorded a grade six martial skill.
In essence that meant that Austin and Violet had gotten almost all the jade slips that recorded grade six
martial skills from the Emperor Library.
On the second floor, Austin got five jade slips, on which grade seven martial skills were recorded.
He gave about seven jade slips to Mike, Evan and Herbert. At the end, there were close to forty jade
slips left in front of Austin.
Among all of the jade slips, Austin was most interested in those that recorded grade seven martial
skills. It was natural for one to have an affinity for the highest grade skills.
Austin used to fight with enemies using the Grand Pagoda Summoning Skill, the Illusory
Swordsmanship as well as his strong physical body when he was at the Earth Realm. He employed the
same tactics at the Mysterious Realm.
The Grand Pagoda Summoning Skill was a grade four martial skill, which was oppressive enough for
the cultivators at the Earth Realm and those at the Mysterious Realm.
But as a grade four martial skill, it had its limitations. When Austin had achieved the Sky Realm, he
realized the Grand Pagoda Summoning Skill was useless if his enemy was at the Sky Realm.
Its power was limited by its grade.
If he used the Grand Pagoda Summoning Skill and threw a Grand Pagoda to a strong cultivator at the
Sky Realm, his rival would flick the Grand Pagoda away because he had an extremely powerful vital
energy force. Austin knew he had to make his offense better and more formidable.
The Illusory Swordsmanship was at the same grade with the Grand Pagoda Summoning Skill. As a
grade four swordsmanship, its power also was limited when he reached the Sky Realm.
In fact, Austin had reached the Sky Realm and had strong powerful vital energy force. Using the Grand
Pagoda Summoning Skill and the Illusory Swordsmanship wouldn't make his attack more powerful.
Instead, it would actually weaken his strong vital energy force.
These two martial skills were now like chicken ribs—things of little value or interest.
His strong physical body was not as useful as it used to be.
His body force was about 30, 000 pounds. For a rival who was at the Mysterious Realm, it would be
useful and effective. He could even bear the most powerful punch made by a cultivator at the
Mysterious Realm.
But it was not enough to fight with a cultivator at the Sky Realm.
Austin's martial skills and battle strategies were too weak to use at the Sky Realm. It was time for an
upgrade.
He had to now practice higher grade martial skills.
Austin stared at the five colorful jade slips in front of him and was eager to see the grade seven martial
skills recorded on them.
"I really hope the skills on these jade slips can help me practice," muttered Austin.
He took a short breath and put the grade five and grade six martial skills into his space ring.
Then, he took up a jade slip that recorded a grade seven martial skill and put it on his forehead. As he
was thinking of it, his spiritual sense entered into the jade slip.
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