Fengfu is initially completed

"Boom."

With a muffled sound, the Pill Furnace shook, and then it calmed down. Lifting the lid of the furnace, a full nine Medicinal Pills, each plump and round, came into view.

A rich fragrance of the Medicinal Pill rushed towards him, refreshing his heart and lungs. A smug smile appeared on Long Chen's face.

He reached out and took one of the Medicinal Pills into his hand. The pill was round, emitting a faint luster, and there was a faint pattern on its surface.

"Although the pill pattern is faint and the color is not vivid enough, and some of the pill's spirituality has been lost, it can barely be considered a Medium Grade Medicinal Pill."

This was the first Medium Grade Medicinal Pill Long Chen had ever refined. One must know that the improvement of a Medicinal Pill concerns many aspects such as the Pill Furnace, pill fire, and Soul Power; none can be missing.

Currently, Long Chen's Soul Power had no issues, but the Pill Furnace was too poor, and the pill fire… was even less worth mentioning.

To refine a Medium Grade Medicinal Pill using an ordinary first-grade Pill Furnace and the most trashy pill fire—looking across the entire Alchemy world, perhaps only a monster like Long Chen, who had undergone Fusion with the Soul of an Alchemy Emperor, could accomplish this.

In one go, he had refined over twenty batches of pills, and over one hundred Low Grade Fengfu Pills were now lying quietly in Long Chen's ring.

Long Chen had secretly inquired about the situation outside during the process. Since Li Hao had been killed, naturally, no one could pin it on Long Chen.

The Empire's capital had also posted reward notices to capture the murderer who killed Li Hao, but it was all thunder and no rain, and the noise soon died down.

Long Chen sneered in his heart. Even if you are putting on a show, you should at least perform the whole act. Are you treating me like a fool?

A young noble was killed for no apparent reason, and it was just left at that? This is too blatant!

Although he understood this in his heart, Long Chen still did not dare to act rashly. Before he had absolute strength, he must protect himself well.

Currently, his father was guarding the desolate wilderness, and he had no idea what the situation was like on his side. According to the customs of the Fengming Empire, the families of all generals stationed outside were not allowed to leave the Empire's capital. To put it bluntly, it was to keep them in check.

Long Chen knew nothing about his father's situation. He only knew that ever since he could remember, his father had not been by his side.

As he gradually grew up, the once bustling Marquis Mansion gradually became deserted. During holidays, fewer and fewer people came to visit.

Since a few years ago, the Long family had become increasingly declining, and its status in the Empire's capital had become lower and lower. Long Chen had even become a target for his peers among the young nobles.

Yet, the Marquis of Zhenyuan still had no word on this. Long Chen could not help but feel some dissatisfaction towards his father, but he was severely reprimanded by his mother.

After waking up this time, Long Chen finally realized that something was wrong. Previously, he had thought about things too simply.

His father's repeated refusal of the summons must have his own reasons; it was unlikely to be just because the war with the barbarian tribes was tight.

Once or twice would be fine, but over so many years, refusing the summons multiple times had already caused countless nobles in the Empire's capital to feel dissatisfied with Long Tianxiao.

In secret, there were even rumors saying that Long Tianxiao intended to rebel. But no matter how wildly these rumors spread, there was never any response from Long Tianxiao's side.

Until three years ago, the Imperial family no longer summoned Long Tianxiao, but the Long family's life became even worse.

First, the Long family's salary was withheld. Without any source of income, the Long family suddenly fell into a predicament, followed by various provocations from the young nobles towards Long Chen.

Especially this time when Long Chen was injured, that old man suddenly swindled so much money from the Long family, and Long Chen finally became alert.

This was slowly forcing the mother and son into a desperate situation, with the goal of making Long Tianxiao submit. But what secrets lay within this, Long Chen had no idea.

However, one thing was certain: there was someone behind this, wrestling with his father, and the opponent was very strong.

"Forget it for now. If it's a hungry wolf, it will bare its fangs sooner or later. What I need is to improve my strength."

Long Chen gave a few instructions to Bao'er and began his seclusion. Now that the embryonic form of the Fengfu Star had condensed, things would be simple; he only needed to continuously absorb the medicinal power.

The Fengfu Star under Long Chen's feet began to grow and expand rapidly as it continuously absorbed the power of the Fengfu Pills.

Seven days later, Long Chen had been eating pills frantically as if he were eating food. The Fengfu Star under his feet, which was originally the size of a soybean, had grown to the size of a longan fruit, as if a whole new space had been opened up under Long Chen's feet.

After the Fengfu Star became the size of a longan fruit, its shape no longer changed. As he continued to absorb the medicinal power, countless tiny patterns appeared on the Fengfu Star, and it actually began to rotate slowly.

"Boom."

With an explosive sound, after the last Medium Grade Fengfu Pill was absorbed, the originally lifeless Fengfu Star under Long Chen's feet finally stirred, crazily absorbing the Spiritual Qi from the outside world.

"Yeah, finally succeeded!"

Long Chen let out a loud roar, and feeling the rotation of the Fengfu Star under his feet, his entire body was filled with power.

"However, it has only just condensed successfully. According to the memory of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, each star must undergo the Nine Transformations of the Stars to be considered Perfection."

"My Fengfu Star has just condensed. If we follow the definitions of the outside world, I don't know if it counts as the first heaven of Qi Gathering."

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh."

He threw three consecutive punches, the whistling wind deafening. The walls shook violently, almost collapsing.

Without using any Spiritual Qi, relying solely on the strength of his Physical Body, he possessed such power.

Long Chen could not help but be ecstatic. Although it was a bit hard and the progress was a bit slow, the power of this Nine Star Hegemon Body Art was simply too formidable.

It was only the first heaven, yet he was now incomparably stronger than the strength he used to punch the stone roller away that day.

"Hehe, if it continues like this, I will soon be able to go find my future wife." Long Chen chuckled, thinking of Meng Qi's face, his heart burning with passion.

However, thinking of that brother Qi, Long Chen snorted coldly in his heart. Next time I see you, if I don't beat the crap out of you, you won't know why the flowers are so red.

Suddenly, Long Chen slapped his forehead. He had been so focused on cultivation that he forgot today was the day to go to the Imperial Academy.

Seeing that the sky was just barely brightening, he hurriedly changed into a new set of clothes and headed straight for the Imperial Academy. Along the way, the look of ecstasy on Long Chen's face never faded.

He was pleasantly surprised to discover that the amount of Spiritual Qi his Fengfu Star could store was enormous. In the future, when refining pills, he would no longer have to worry about insufficient Spiritual Qi or having to constantly eat pills.

Last time when he dueled with Li Hao, Long Chen had activated the battle skill, Ox Strength. Its power was immense, and with one punch, he had crippled Li Hao.

But that punch had almost drained all his Spiritual Qi, and now he no longer had to worry about this problem.

Sensing the Spiritual Qi within the Fengfu Star, conservatively estimated, it was enough for him to activate the Ox Strength more than a dozen times. This was the difference of truly stepping into the Fengfu Star.

Most importantly, after his cultivation increased, the strength of his Physical Body also increased rapidly. Although he hadn't tested it, he knew it must be terrifyingly large.

While he was excited, the gate of the Imperial Academy was already right in front of him. Entering the gate, following the old rules, he headed straight for the Literature Hall.

Just as he entered the Literature Hall, the originally noisy hall suddenly became quiet because of Long Chen's arrival.

Li Hao's death made many people still unable to accept it. During that battle, basically all the young nobles were present and witnessed Long Chen's domineering punch with their own eyes. Those young nobles who used to mock Long Chen couldn't help but feel a lingering fear in their hearts.

"Haha, Brother Long!"

Fatty Yu and the others were overjoyed when they saw Long Chen arrive and hurriedly gathered around him.

"Brother Long, you are looking more and more spirited."

"Brother Long, please sit."

"Brother Long, please have some tea."

"Brother Long, let me massage your back."

Long Chen laughed and scolded, "Cut the crap. Get me something to eat; I haven't had breakfast yet."

Long Chen found a corner to sit down, and Fatty Yu had already brought over the snacks. Several people were looking at Long Chen with eager eyes.

Long Chen was indeed hungry. These past few days, he had basically been eating pills and was about to vomit. He grabbed the snacks and started eating voraciously.

After eating for a while, Shi Feng also arrived. Long Chen beckoned to Shi Feng.

Shi Feng walked in front of Long Chen, and Long Chen handed him a jade bottle, saying, "Take this. Before long, you will become a new generation of Blood Condensation Realm expert."

Long Chen's voice was not loud, but Fatty Yu and the others heard it clearly and were all shocked into speechlessness.

Shi Feng was also greatly surprised. He hurriedly opened the jade bottle, and an extremely rich fragrance of the Medicinal Pill rushed to his nose. Inside lay a round Medicinal Pill.

"What is this?"

Long Chen smiled slightly and spat out three words indifferently: "Concentrated Brilliance Pill."

Others might not know what a Concentrated Brilliance Pill was, but Shi Feng, who was at the eighth heaven of Qi Gathering, knew that for an expert at the ninth heaven of Qi Gathering, it was a supreme treasure dreamed of.

The Concentrated Brilliance Pill was a Medicinal Pill aimed at the Qi Gathering stage for advancing to the Blood Condensation Realm. It contained a large amount of energy that could help people quickly achieve a Breakthrough.

Most importantly, the Concentrated Brilliance Pill was only targeted at Qi Gathering and had no effect on future cultivation.

However, the Concentrated Brilliance Pill was very difficult to refine, and the failure rate was too high. Especially at the final moment of forming the pill, that failure rate was simply a nightmare for Alchemists.

An ordinary Concentrated Brilliance Pill was priced at over a million gold coins, and even then, there was no market for it.

One million gold coins, for Shi Feng who was not well-off, was simply unreachable; he had never dared to think about it.

"Long Chen, this…"

"What this or that? If I give it to you, take it. When I took your things, I never hesitated. Don't act like a woman," Long Chen waved his hand and interrupted.

Shi Feng nodded. At this time, saying anything would be pretentious. He forcibly suppressed the excitement in his heart and said, "Okay, once I advance to the ninth heaven of Qi Gathering, I will take it immediately."

"No need. Didn't you see the pattern on it? After you go back, take it immediately, and you will definitely be able to advance to the Blood Condensation Realm very quickly," Long Chen said with a smile.

Shi Feng only then discovered that there was a faint pattern on the Medicinal Pill. He was almost scared into shouting. This was actually a Medium Grade Medicinal Pill, and the price would be many times higher.

"Hurry up and put it away. Between us brothers, let's not say useless things," Long Chen said.

Shi Feng's eyes reddened, and he kept the Medicinal Pill close to his body. Compared to the Medicinal Pill, this brotherhood from Long Chen moved him even more.

"Brother Long."

"Grandpa Long."

"Great-Grandpa Long."

"…"

Fatty Yu and the others, although they didn't know what a Concentrated Brilliance Pill was, knew about Medicinal Pills; those were treasures. For a moment, they stared at Long Chen like hungry wolves, their eyes turning blue.

Long Chen got goosebumps from being called by those people and hurriedly told them to stop: "Don't worry. I said I would take care of your matters, so leave it to me."

Actually, the reason why they couldn't cultivate was that their Spiritual Roots were too poor to sense True Qi.

Others might not have a way, but who was Long Chen? He had undergone Fusion with the memories of an Alchemy Emperor. If he couldn't even do this, how could he be called an Alchemy Emperor?

"Here, one bottle for each of you. Three drops daily. Abstain from meat, alcohol, and lust. It will take effect in seven days, and within half a month, you will be able to enter the Qi Sensing stage. As for how long it will take to enter the Qi Gathering stage, it depends on individual effort."

Long Chen threw each of them a bottle filled with liquid medicine, which he had formulated himself.

The liquid medicine was not precious, but for these people with garbage Spiritual Roots, it could barely improve their Spiritual Roots. However, Long Chen was not a god, and the degree of improvement was limited.

It was no problem to let them enter the Qi Gathering Realm. If they were lucky, maybe they could enter the Blood Condensation Realm, but anything higher was absolutely impossible.

However, for Fatty Yu and the others, this was already an unimaginable treasure. They looked at the bottles nervously, wishing they could drink a drop right now.

"Brother Long, what if we can cultivate and it becomes detrimental to you?" Although Fatty Yu was fat and had a big head, his brain capacity was not small, and he was the first to think of the problem.

If Long Chen really had a way to improve these useless people, it might bring negative effects to Long Chen. If he were targeted by people with ulterior motives, it would be troublesome.

Fatty Yu meant to ask if they should help Long Chen keep it a secret. To his surprise, Long Chen laughed and said, "No worries. These medicines all came from the hands of Great Master Yun Qi. Whoever wants them can go and curry favor with Great Master Yun Qi."

"Great Master Yun Qi?"

Several people were shocked and were about to ask Long Chen if he was joking when a sound of footsteps came. Turning their heads to look, their faces showed a flash of panic.