Chapter 1818: Chapter 1818: Alchemist Hu Fan
Because Alchemy Immortal City is a massive city with a population of tens of millions, there is more than one martial artist trading market within it.
The five largest martial artist trading markets in Alchemy Immortal City are located in the east, west, south, north, and central regions. Among them, the central market is the largest and most bustling, with countless martial artists trading various cultivation resources daily.
The five major martial artist trading markets are all somewhat connected to the City Lord Mansion of Alchemy Immortal City.
The central region’s martial artist trading market is located in the city’s center, not far from the City Lord Mansion, bustling with business and challenging to find a spot.
Fang Bai intended to spend a high price to rent a stall in the central region’s martial artist trading market, but upon entering, he discovered that even the stalls in the corners had been rented out.
Out of options, Fang Bai had to pay double the price and negotiate extensively to have an alchemist transfer their stall in the northwest corner to him.
The owner of the stall adjacent to Fang Bai is a Thunder Tribulation Stage Four expert and an alchemist who has been at this stall for ten years, crafting spirit pills for thousands of cultivators.
The saying goes that peers are rivals, but in this martial artist trading market, due to the numerous cultivators coming for alchemy daily, each alchemist doesn’t worry about lacking business, so there’s no malicious competition or turning against each other.
Even some neighboring stall alchemists, when free, exchange tips and assist each other, thus becoming close friends.
Fang Bai chatted with the neighboring stall owner, sharing some understanding. He learned the person was named Hu Fan, over fifty years old, practicing Wood System Skill, possessing a superior royal grade alchemy furnace passed down from his ancestors.
A proper alchemist with infinite potential should possess dual attribute innate spiritual roots of fire and wood.
Even a wood system innate spiritual root alchemist can achieve notable accomplishments in alchemy with the aid of a fire-series alchemy furnace.
Someone like Hu Fan, who lacks innate spiritual roots, is destined to face difficulty in making breakthroughs in alchemy. Although he inherited his ancestor’s alchemy technique from a young age, he can only craft inferior spirit tools of royal grade, with a pill success rate of merely thirty percent.
Hu Fan’s level of alchemy places him among the lower middle ranks of the hundreds of alchemists within Alchemy Immortal City.
Even so, business still comes daily, keeping Hu Fan busy with little downtime.
"Brother Fang, you seem unfamiliar. Is it your first time here?"
Recently finishing crafting a batch of spirit pills with a moment of leisure, Hu Fan chatted briefly with Fang Bai. Seeing Fang Bai young yet already a Thunder Tribulation Stage Three expert and knowledgeable in alchemy, he was quite amazed.
"It is indeed my first visit to Alchemy Immortal City."
Fang Bai nodded smilingly, cupping his hands toward Hu Fan, saying, "I would appreciate your guidance in the future, Brother Hu."
Hu Fan heartily patted his chest, saying, "No problem! But being new here, you probably won’t have much business initially. Hmm, if I have more business than I can handle, I’ll pass some to you... but you need to have real skills too!"
Fang Bai smiled, saying, "Thank you, Brother Hu. Rest assured, I’m very confident in my alchemy technique."
Hu Fan laughed heartily, saying, "That’s good! That’s good! Might I ask, where do you come from, Brother Fang? Which sect are you a disciple of?"
Fang Bai replied, "I’m from the Nine Heavens Immortal Emperor Palace in the Heaven’s Net Realm of the Western Desolate Continent. Currently, I’m the Palace Master of that sect."
Hu Fan was momentarily stunned, then laughed, saying, "Unexpectedly, Brother Fang is young yet has already established a sect and become a Palace Master. Impressive! Impressive!"
Fang Bai also laughed, saying, "Ashamed! My Nine Heavens Immortal Emperor Palace has only a few dozen people, just purely for fun!"
Though he spoke thus, he felt quite proud within, thinking although the Nine Heavens Immortal Emperor Palace currently has only a few dozen people, more than half possess innate spiritual roots. Looking across the entire three thousand worlds, it’s rare for dozens of individuals with innate spiritual roots to gather in one sect.
Therefore, the Nine Heavens Immortal Emperor Palace has limitless potential, and Fang Bai is confident in crafting it into the top sect in the three thousand worlds within decades.
Hu Fan earnestly said, "Don’t feel ashamed, Brother Fang! In the three thousand worlds, which sect wasn’t built from scratch, from a weak sect to a strong one, from a small sect to a large one? I believe within a hundred years, Brother Fang’s sect could grow from dozens to thousands, possibly tens of thousands!"
Hu Fan was not speaking randomly. From his knowledge, the Western Desolate Continent’s nature’s spiritual energy is far worse than that of the Eastern Desolate Continent here. Thus, Thunder Tribulation experts are seldom seen, and someone like Fang Bai, a Thunder Tribulation Stage Three expert knowledgeable in alchemy, is undoubtedly a dominant force in a region.
It’s not impossible for this formidable figure’s sect founded in the Western Desolate Continent to have tens of thousands of disciples in the future.
Everyone loves to hear good words, and Fang Bai is no exception. Hearing Hu Fan’s words, Fang Bai grinned broadly, cupping his hands, saying, "Brother Hu, thanks for your kind words!"
Hu Fan and Fang Bai chatted briefly before cultivators arrived for alchemy, thus Hu Fan greeted Fang Bai and returned to his alchemy room to continue working.
Fang Bai wore a smile, sitting cross-legged behind his stall, patiently waiting for business to come.
Good wine is feared not even deep in alleys.
Fang Bai knew he only needed a small opportunity to become famous and draw public attention, so he wasn’t in a hurry to solicit business.
With nothing to do, Fang Bai’s divine sense entered Hu Fan’s alchemy room next door, observing his spirit pill crafting process.
An alchemist’s alchemy room typically has an isolation formation to prevent probing or disturbance. Hu Fan’s alchemy room indeed had one, but it was useless against Fang Bai.
Hu Fan was crafting a royal grade inferior Explosive Essence Pill, and Fang Bai just watched for a moment, knowing this furnace would likely fail.
Sure enough, half an hour later, a burnt smell emerged from the alchemy room, and Hu Fan sighed, shaking his head, cleared the ruined dregs, and immediately started crafting new spirit pills.
Typically, cultivators prepare at least three sets of alchemy materials for the alchemist, as long as one set crafts a spirit pill, it’s considered a good result.
Previously, Hu Fan’s spirit pill crafting succeeded roughly one furnace out of three sets of materials, but today, for some reason, luck was terrible, all three furnaces failed, becoming mere dregs.
Hu Fan smiled wryly, dejectedly exiting the alchemy room, addressing the waiting customers, "Is there any extra material? If not, kindly prepare more sets and come back tomorrow!"
There were three customers in total. Initially, their faces were full of expectation, but upon hearing his words, they immediately lost hope.
"You ruined all three sets of materials?"
One of the customers, upset and angry, kicked Hu Fan’s stall away and pointed at him, angrily shouting, "You useless alchemist, compensate us for the alchemy materials, we’ll switch to a different alchemist!"
