"Request... Spiritual herbs?" The old black turtle had an awful look on his face. It looked around and looked at Ou Yangming with a flattering look. "Master Ou, you see, these spiritual herbs are already connected to my flesh and blood. They're a part of my flesh and blood. If you dig them up, wouldn't it be the same as using my flesh, blood, and medicine?"

Ou Yangming was startled for a moment, and his expression was a little strange.

Just as the old black turtle spoke, the spiritual herbs on his back underwent a fundamental change.

Although the spiritual herbs were still those spiritual herbs, under the old black turtle's miraculous methods, they became one with it. As Ou Yangming probed with his mental power, he knew that the turtle definitely played an important role in the vitality of these spiritual herbs.

If he threw a handful of spiritual flowers and spiritual herbs down and waited for the old black turtle to plant them painstakingly, then he harvested them at will, the turtle would feel unfair.

Therefore, even though he knew the spiritual herbs belonged to him, he still did not want to force the old black turtle to hand them over.

After pondering for a moment, Ou Yangming slowly said, "Brother Turtle, do you know about the Phoenix Fire Bamboo, the Interspatial Spiritual Tree, and the Golden Pearl Seeds?"

The old black turtle's big tearful eyes immediately emitted 2 rays of unusual light. It shrieked, "I know, of course I know. Those 3 things... Hmm, apart from the Golden Pearl Seeds, aren't the other 2 extinct?"

Ou Yangming chuckled and answered, "I don't know if they're extinct or not, but the Phoenix Fire Bamboo and the Interspatial Spiritual Tree could be found in a certain secret realm." He paused for a moment and continued, "I can't transplant them here, but I can take a section from each of them."

The old black turtle's mouth was wide open, and a large amount of saliva flowed out from the corner of its mouth.

Ou Yangming sighed and thought, 'This cunning old fellow has an obvious weakness.'

The old black turtle clenched its teeth and suddenly said, "Master Ou, these spiritual flowers, spiritual herbs, and spiritual trees on my body—no matter what you like, just take it. As long as you leave some seeds of each of the species for me, it'll be fine."

Ou Yangming responded pretentiously, "Ah, how can I do that? These spiritual items are connected to your flesh and blood. If I use them to refine pills, wouldn't that be the same as using your flesh and blood? No, no, I can't do such a bloody thing."

The old black turtle widened its huge eyes and said through gritted teeth, "Master Ou, it doesn't matter. I don't mind."

"Oh, you really don't mind?"

"I definitely don't mind..." The old black turtle gritted its teeth so hard that cracking sounds could be heard. If it was not because it knew Ou Yangming's identity and that he had become an Advanced Spiritualist, it would have pounced on him and bit him.

Ou Yangming chuckled and said, "Alright then. After I leave the Big Ruins, I'll send in the seeds of those 3 spiritual items."

The old black turtle had been waiting for this. Ou Yangming's reputation was great. As long as he promised something, he would never go back on his word, so it was very assured.

Once Ou Yangming settled the deal with the old black turtle, he would not be polite anymore. He inspected for a while and pondered before deciding on a plan. With a flash of thought, the spiritual herbs on the turtle's back swayed one after another and in the blink of an eye, more than 10 of them flew into the air.

The spiritual herbs swayed in the air and flew out of the space.

Even though the old black turtle looked reluctant, it did not have the slightest intention of stopping him because it knew greater rewards were waiting for it in the future.

After Ou Yangming took away the spiritual herbs, he was suddenly moved, and he thought of He Jian.

The reason the old man's cultivation could not advance further was that his foundation had been damaged. Since Ou Yangming wanted to open the furnace to refine pills, refining one or two pills would not make a difference.

As he thought about that, more spiritual herbs flew up. The old black turtle's eyes widened as it thought to itself, 'What kind of antidote requires so many spiritual herbs…' Nonetheless, at this moment, even if it had guessed that there was something fishy about what the young fellow was doing, it could not go back on its words.

Once Ou Yangming's mental conception disappeared from this world, the old black turtle looked at its shell with a pained expression.

Ou Yangming did not take many spiritual herbs but every one of them was the fruit of the old black turtle's hard work. It looked at them reluctantly for a long time before it finally let out a long sigh and shrunk its neck to sleep again.

※※※※

Ou Yangming withdrew his mental conception and took out a pill furnace with a slight shake of his wrist.

Pill refinement was no longer a difficult task for him. After all, with the Heavenly Phoenix Fire, every wisp of flame would carry a mysterious and wonderful life force. As long as he was not too stupid, he would have a natural advantage when refining pills.

Furthermore, Ou Yangming's control of the Heavenly Phoenix Fire had reached a near-perfect level. In addition, he was diligent and eager to learn, so he had a clear understanding of most of the medicinal theories.

Therefore, refining ordinary pills was easy for him.

However, the 2 kinds of pills that he wanted to refine now were incomparable.

Lil' Man's Detoxification Pill was one thing. As long as Ou Yangming had enough precious spiritual herbs and spiritual flowers, on top of the life force of his Heavenly Phoenix Fire, it would not be too much of a problem to refine it.

On the other hand, it would be a huge problem to refine a pill that could make up for He Jian's foundation. Ou Yangming did not lack spiritual herbs at the moment, but he did not have much confidence, so he could only try his best.

After making up his mind, Ou Yangming sorted the herbs into different categories. Then, he took out a lot of precious spare items from his interspatial bag.

These were also herbs that he had replenished before he left Danzhou or entered the Big Ruins.

Ling Yue had once said that these herbs were the most popular things in the Big Ruins. Sometimes, exchanging these herbs would bring unexpected effects.

Nevertheless, Ou Yangming did not have the opportunity to exchange the herbs at the moment because he himself was an alchemist, and this was a rare profession in the Big Ruins. The young fellow had just been involved and was just making up the numbers, but he already had a place in this aspect.

Ou Yangming curbed his thoughts and gently waved his wrist. A faint light shot out, landing on the pill furnace.

Next, a large amount of spiritual power was poured inside, and the flame seemed to have been added with a lot of fuel. Following a "woosh", it began to burn intensely and released a scorching aura.

Even so, this kind of heat was insignificant to Ou Yangming.

How could the temperature of the flame that an alchemist could control be compared to that of a blacksmith? Ou Yangming simply treated this bit of temperature lightly.

When the temperature in the pill furnace reached a certain level, Ou Yangming did not hesitate to put the classified medicinal materials into it one by one. When he did this, he did not hesitate at all as if he had done it 1,00 times and was very familiar with it.

In actuality, this was the first time he tried this kind of Detoxification Pill.

He had refined similar pills before, but their medicinal effects and rarity could not be compared to this one.

Even if a local alchemist in the Big Ruins had alchemy skills twice as good as that of Ou Yangming, one would be sweating profusely. One would be terrified and cautious as though one was facing a great enemy.

This was because the spiritual herbs in the pill furnace were precious in the Big Ruins. Perhaps the spiritual herbs could be considered legendary, and these were the only ones available. If this pill were to be ruined, the loss would be unimaginable.

Therefore, any alchemist who knew the severity of this matter would feel tremendous pressure.

Despite that, to Ou Yangming, these spiritual herbs were nothing more than this.

He had made preparations beforehand. When he took the spiritual herbs from the turtle's back, he had taken several times the amount. In other words, he had at least 5 attempts.

Besides, even if he failed all 5 times, there were still more materials on the old black turtle's back. He would not be worried about this at all.

Maintaining a decent mentality also allowed him to move with ease without the slightest hesitation.

"Woosh..."

As the fire in the pill furnace suddenly rose and extinguished in an instant, a bright smile appeared on Ou Yangming's face.

When he was refining Lil' Man's Detoxification Pill, he did it in one go and succeeded without expending much energy.

He had great confidence in himself that he would eventually succeed if he tried a few times. Who knew, he succeeded during the first refinement. It surprised him a little.

When he opened the furnace, he realized that he had refined as many as 12 Detoxification Pills. This kind of pill was greatly popular in the Big Ruins, so he was satisfied.

Ou Yangming took a deep breath. He kept up his efforts and struck while the iron was hot, wanting to refine the pill that could make up for He Jian's foundation.

Having said that, the difficulty of refining this pill was indeed much higher than the previous one. Ou Yangming had made careful preparations and simulated the process several times in his sea of consciousness, but when he really opened the furnace to refine it, he still found that there were many problems.

He had continuously refined 3 batches of pills and wasted numerous rare spiritual items.

If such a waste was seen by the local alchemists of the Big Ruins, they would want to eat him alive.

After all, every herb that he wasted was the rarest item that could only be discovered but not sought after in the Big Ruins.

If an ordinary alchemist of the Big Ruins reached this stage, one would look utterly pale and lose one's confidence.

However, Ou Yangming still acted as if nothing had happened and did not hesitate to open the furnace for the fourth time to refine pills.

Perhaps it was due to his tireless efforts, or perhaps even the heavens could not bear to see wasting more materials, he finally succeeded

The fourth batch of medicinal pills seemed to have gone smoothly from the moment the medicinal herbs were put in. Whether it was the fusion of the medicinal properties, the change in the temperature, or even the fusion when the pills were formed, everything was smooth sailing without the slightest bit of twists and turns.

With a muffled sound from within the pill furnace, the pill that Ou Yangming had spent countless precious materials on was finally completed.