Xiao Fei thought about luring the little fox to a secluded spot, then secretly capturing it and interrogating it under torture to find out its true purpose.
However, after he deliberately led it to a very remote area, the fox seemed to sense his dangerous intentions and didn't follow.
This left Xiao Fei waiting foolishly alone in the wilderness for three days, without finding a single fox hair.
He had no choice but to return to the city and resume his original life.
His hope of enlisting the help of the Tian Yuan Realm humans for the Eastern Continent had completely vanished.
He could only find a way to save himself.
With the current strength of the human race on the Eastern Continent, they had almost no resistance against the powerful Demon Realm.
Even if he were to invest a large amount of resources to cultivate talents now, it would still be far from enough.
If a few Void Refining stage experts from the Demon Race were to lead a group of Soul Transformation cultivators, they could flatten the Eastern Continent directly.
There was no chance of victory in a head-on confrontation.
His only hope now was to find a solution from the Heaven Sealing Great Array.
This array incorporated many advanced technologies from the Tian Yuan Realm's peak period, far beyond what he could comprehend on his own.
However, after mastering the Law of Gathering and Scattering, he thought of another method.
He could completely ignore the array formations and break through the great array with the power of his laws.
There was also another method, which should be even more difficult than the Heaven Sealing Great Array: dealing with the inter-realm passage.
If it were that easy, humanity would have dealt with it long ago.
Therefore, Xiao Fei stopped rushing around. He rented a small shop in Guiyi City and opened an alchemy workshop.
This alchemy workshop was not large in scale. It undertook custom alchemy requests and also sold some of its own refined pills.
Before opening the shop, he had already surveyed the alchemy market in the city.
Generally, alchemists promised to produce three pills for every batch of materials.
This meant that if you gave a batch of materials to an alchemist, they would give you three pills in return, without any additional fees.
Furthermore, if the alchemist's skill was too poor and they produced fewer than three pills, they had to compensate the client with enough pills to make it three.
Therefore, the biggest risk in this business was having insufficient skill, which would lead to having to compensate clients with pills, a sure loss-making venture.
However, if the skill was good, it was a guaranteed profit.
For example, if a batch of medicinal materials could yield four, five, or even more pills, the alchemist could pocket the excess.
Especially for someone like Xiao Fei, with a high success rate and the ability to refine mid-grade and high-grade pills, the profits would be even greater.
However, Xiao Fei had no reputation in Guiyi City, and his newly opened shop attracted very few customers.
Everyone here had lived for hundreds or thousands of years and had their own habits, usually sticking with a familiar alchemist for a long time.
As for engaging in a price war, he did not want to do something that would ruin his livelihood.
During this period, his shop had little business. He would occasionally notice, while paying attention to his surroundings, a pair of eyes observing him from the shadows.
He suspected it was likely that little fox.
Ever since he had tried to capture the little fox last time, the fox had rarely appeared before him.
It would often flash by in the bustling crowds, making it impossible for Xiao Fei to get close.
Later, he tried several more times to set traps to lure the fox out, but all ended in failure.
He had no other recourse but to remain vigilant and let things take their course.
One day, Xiao Fei was idle in his shop, humming a tune and tapping his fingers on the table in rhythm.
Such leisurely days were quite rare.
Just then, a short and stout Soul Transformation cultivator walked into the shop.
"Excuse me, can you refine the Tai Xu Di Hun Dan here?"
Xiao Fei was taken aback because he had never heard of this pill before, let alone refined it.
However, he couldn't let anyone see his lack of experience. He maintained a calm and composed demeanor.
"I do not have the prescription for this pill. If you have the prescription and the medicinal ingredients, I can still refine it."
"Are you sure?"
"You should know the rules of this trade?"
The stout cultivator asked back sternly.
He had already inquired at several alchemy workshops, and none of the alchemists dared to take on his request.
If he couldn't refine it and wasted the medicinal ingredients, he wouldn't earn even a single spirit stone and would have to compensate with three pills.
Therefore, these alchemists were quite cautious when taking on requests and dared not accept obscure pills they were unsure about.
As for Xiao Fei!
He could now refine even ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs with ease, and ordinary prescriptions were not a challenge for him.
Even if he did waste them, he could afford the compensation with his wealth and also obtain a prescription.
"Naturally, I know the rules. If the refinement fails, I will compensate you with three pills."
Xiao Fei replied with certainty, giving the stout cultivator confidence.
He immediately handed over a jade slip containing the prescription and a bag of medicinal ingredients to Xiao Fei for examination.
Xiao Fei's divine sense entered the slip to examine the prescription and, based on his understanding of alchemy, deduced the authenticity of the prescription.
There had been instances where people used fake prescriptions and fake spiritual herbs to defraud alchemy workshops.
This was also a method that tested an alchemist's skill. If they lacked the ability to distinguish the truth from falsehood, they would end up compensating with pills.
Xiao Fei's foundational theoretical knowledge of alchemy was likely unparalleled in the entire cultivation world, reaching a master level.
"The prescription and spiritual herbs are fine. Come back in ten days to collect the pills."
Xiao Fei said, issuing a collection receipt for the pills to the stout cultivator.
After the stout cultivator left, Xiao Fei took out a puppet and placed it by the counter, then entered his spatial realm.
Several of the rare spiritual herbs in the Tai Xu Di Hun Dan were varieties he did not have in his spatial realm.
Especially the Di Hun Grass, a species that had long been extinct on the Eastern Continent.
Xiao Fei held the Di Hun Grass in his hand. This spiritual herb had already been processed into a dried product and could not be planted.
However, a fruit had formed at the tip of the spiritual herb, containing a few seeds that still retained their vitality.
Xiao Fei took out the seeds and planted them in his spatial realm.
As for refining the pill, he had already reviewed the prescription and medicinal ingredients, and it posed no difficulty for him.
It would only take a few hours in his spatial realm to refine it, and with the sixty-fold time acceleration within the realm, it would take less than a quarter of an hour outside.
A moment later, Xiao Fei, who had been resting with his eyes closed behind the counter, opened them. A pill bottle had appeared in his hand.
Although this was his first time refining the Tai Xu Di Hun Dan, he had managed to produce seven pills, netting himself four.
He had also obtained a prescription and seeds of several rare spiritual herbs.
This transaction was very profitable.
Xiao Fei casually placed the remaining four Tai Xu Di Hun Dan pills on the shelves, and at the same time, he took out over a dozen other types of pills to display.
Ten days later, the stout cultivator returned to collect the medicine. After verifying it, he thanked Xiao Fei profusely and departed.
From then on, various cultivators frequently came to him with peculiar prescriptions to have pills refined.
Xiao Fei accepted all these opportunities without hesitation.
He could earn spirit stones, pills, and prescriptions, as well as seeds of rare spiritual herbs. Why wouldn't he?
The Eastern Continent was, after all, too small, and the spiritual energy was thin, causing many rare spiritual herbs to become extinct.
These peculiar pills and prescriptions had added many rare spiritual herb varieties to Xiao Fei's spatial realm.
Half a year later, the stout cultivator found Xiao Fei again, requesting him to refine another batch of the same Tai Xu Di Hun Dan.
This time, with the experience from the previous refinement, he produced eight pills from one batch of materials, including one mid-grade pill.
Xiao Fei kept the mid-grade pill for himself, and the remaining pills were placed on the counter for sale.
The stout cultivator, seeing the additional pills on the counter, became very excited and bought all of them at a high price.
This Tai Xu Di Hun Dan was an obscure pill with a limited range of use.
However, this stout cultivator seemed to have a great demand for this pill, and he would come to Xiao Fei for refinement every so often.
As a result, Xiao Fei had quietly accumulated several high-grade and mid-grade pills.