189 Inspiration (1/2)
Ju Shoufen and Ma Ping jumped up from their seats. They read the recipe with enthusiasm.
But after finding out about the required ingredients, their face darkened. Each ingredient was extremely rare to the point that none of them could ever dream of having one of them.
Ju Shoufen passed the recipe back to Cao Mao, ”Even if we have the recipe, we can't concoct the pill without the right ingredients. Where are we going to find the hearts of 4 heavenly beasts? They're divine creatures, you know. And look at the two catalyst ingredients. A 1,000-year-old dantian core of a virgin man and woman? All undying 1,000-year-old cultivators are mostly immortals or dao gods. We can't get those ingredients no matter how hard we try.”
The recipe required 6 core ingredients and 108 rare herbs. The core ingredients were the hearts of 4 heavenly beasts – the vermillion bird, the white tiger, the black tortoise, and the azure dragon. These divine creatures were born as gods, so cultivators in the mortal realms were no match for them.
As for the dantian cores, it sounded easy, but the virgin yin and virgin yang energy in those dantian cores were irreplaceable. Without these cores as the catalyst for the pill, the four hearts of the divine beasts could not be tamed.
Ma Ping also gave up his hope. He bitterly laughed, ”Thanks for the goodwill, kid. It's fine. Even without a dantian, I can still live for a few decades or so.”
Looking at their reaction, Cao Mao snickered. He slowly summoned several boxes of herbs on the ground. Then, six items, which should have never existed in this mortal world, were placed on the table in front of Ma Ping.
A silver marble with the size of a human's head was covered in white flame. The vermillion bird's heart was still beating even without a body. Fortunately, it was sealed inside a special glass container, so the heat and the divine essence stayed inside the glass box.
A bloody heart at the same size as the silver heart was also inside another glass container. It pulsed and emitted black and white gas, forming a yin yang pentagram around the thumping heart. This thing belonged to the divine white tiger.
A blue crystal, the heart of the black tortoise, was in a crystal box. It did not move or beat like the others, but it circulated blue water to keep itself afloat. The water was also considered a deadly poison since it could potentially mutate anything it touched into a crystalized life form.
A hexagon rainbow jewel was as big as the silver heart. Even if it was contained in a sealed box, the domineering aura of the azure dragon intimidated all elders. They felt as if the dragon was glaring at them by just looking at the heart.
As for the two balls, it was also sealed in a red box and a blue box. The red box leaked virgin yang aura while the blue one leaked out virgin yin.
”H-H-How!?”
”T-This… Really!? I'm not dreaming, right!?”
Ju Shoufen and Ma Ping staggered as if they were about to faint. Their vision blackened for a moment before they regained their sight. Their hands and legs were shaking in excitement, nervousness, and disbelief.
Ma Ping slapped his face over and over again to the point that his cheeks reddened.
Ju Shoufen picked a handful of stones and threw them at Cao Mao with her Qi.
”OW, OW, OW!! GRANDMA JU, WHY!!!?”
”… Just testing if I'm dreaming.”
”DO IT WITH YOUR OWN BODY, PLEASE!!”
”… Well, if you can retort, I'm not dreaming then.”
”DID I JUST ACCEPT ALL PUNISHMENT IN YOUR DREAM OR WHAT!!??”
”Actually, no. I haven't slept for 30 years.”
”…”
Despite being shocked, Ju Shoufen still had the mood to troll Cao Mao.
A minute later, everyone regained their senses. All elders admired the hearts and the cores from a distance, but none of them dared to touch the sealed boxes.
These sealed containers were like the Pandora box. Once opened, all hell would break loose.
Ju Shoufen mustered her courage to reach out for the azure dragon's heart, but she retracted her hands. Then, she shook her head.
”These ingredients are beyond my abilities. I can't do it.”
Cao Mao frowned, ”But you were once a garden master.”
”At best, I can spend months to concoct a perfect heaven-grade pill. You know, I never successfully created any immortal-grade pill in my life. How am I going to create a divine pill?”
Grades of items are generally categorized into 9 tiers.
Low-grade
Medium-grade
High-grade
Earth-grade
Sky-grade
Heaven-grade
Immortal-grade
Divine-grade
And Primal-grade
The first three grades were common items in the mortal world. The Earth-grade to Heaven-grade items were rare, and the last three were non-existence. Only dao gods or mythical creatures possessed the highest quality items.
However, all six items on the table were all divine-grade ingredients. They were out of Ju Shoufen's league.
”I can't. I don't think I can do it in one try. I'll definitely waste all these precious materials.”
Ma Ping's eyes were wet. They had the recipe, and they had the ingredients. However, they didn't have a capable alchemist to finish the job.
The recovery dream was so close. Yet, it was so far.
Ma Shoucheng, Ma Ping, and Pang Lingming sighed in regret. They also wished they practiced alchemy.
No one noticed the fiery fire in Ju Shoufen's eyes. She had an inspiration about how she could increase her alchemy skills within a short period, but she required Cao Mao's help.
She glanced at Cao Mao and sent a voice transmission to his mind in secret.
'Brat, I heard that you can distort time in your dream space. Is that true?'
Cao Mao frowned and glanced at Ju Shoufen in disapproval. It was not the time to talk about his secrets.
Still, Ju Shoufen had an inspiration that she wanted to try. She insisted on questioning Cao Mao.
'Just nod or shake your head. I won't tell the Ma Clan about your secrets. I just want to confirm something. Well, can you distort time in your dream?'
Cao Mao nodded.
'Good. Then, only you and your yin slaves can share your dream. Correct?'
Cao Mao nodded again.
'The only way to become your yin slave is to copulate with you. Correct?'
Cao Mao furrowed his brows and paused for a moment. He nodded again nonetheless.
'I see. Do you yin slaves lose their memory and their freewill?'
Cao Mao shook his head. He texted back to Ju Shoufen.