Cultivation of immortality begins with an eighty-year-old eunuch.

Chapter 632 Manager Wu! Continue nurturing!

Chen Fan nodded slightly.

The gold medal offering token was the best pass in the imperial city, saving him the trouble of introducing himself.

"My surname is Wu, and I am the manager of this branch." Manager Wu stepped aside and led Chen Fan to a private room on the second floor. He personally brewed a pot of spiritual tea before cautiously speaking, "Senior Chen, what would you like to visit my humble establishment? The Eighteenth Elder sent a message a few days ago, saying that you have arrived in the capital and instructing me to take good care of you."

Chen Fan took out a jade slip from his sleeve and handed it over.

The jade slip listed forty-nine spiritual herbs needed to cultivate the Spirit Devouring Gu. He had already gathered most of them, and was mainly missing the Illusionary Nether Grass, the Spirit Devouring Flower, and a few auxiliary herbs. He marked these missing herbs one by one, and added a few extra mineral powders and demon beast blood needed to cultivate the ant colony.

Shopkeeper Wu took the jade slip and scanned it with his divine sense. His brows furrowed slightly, then relaxed. "Some of the things Senior Chen requested are indeed rare. The Illusionary Ghost Grass only grows deep in the desert grasslands, and I don't have any in stock. However, Hundred Herbs Hall has a branch in Ten Thousand Gu City, so if you're going to the grasslands, you can go there to get it. As for the Spirit-Devouring Flower, it's a good coincidence. I happen to have one here. I acquired it last month from a rogue cultivator in the Boundless Sea, and it's in pretty good condition. As for these auxiliary herbs and mineral powder, the shop has them in stock."

He paused, then lowered his voice and said, "Senior is a Gold Medal Inheritor and a distinguished guest of the Eighteenth Elder, so the price will be very favorable. The Devouring Spirit Flower is priced at 80,000 mid-grade spirit stones, and the other auxiliary medicines and mineral powders total 30,000, for a total of 110,000."

Chen Fan nodded and took out 110,000 mid-grade spirit stones from his storage bag to count them in front of him.

After receiving the spirit stones, Manager Wu went to the storeroom to retrieve the medicine. He soon returned to the private room carrying a jade box and several storage bags.

Inside the jade box lay a spirit flower, entirely silver-white, with petals shaped like slender needles. At the stamen, a tiny vortex of spiritual energy was slowly rotating; it was the Spirit Devouring Flower.

Chen Fan used his divine sense to examine it and confirmed that the medicine was potent and in good condition. He then put it into his storage bag along with the other medicinal herbs.

He was about to get up to take his leave when he suddenly remembered something and sat back down. "Manager Wu, does Baicaotang have any information about the Gu cultivators in the Great Desert Grasslands? Anything is fine, as long as it's useful."

Shopkeeper Wu thought for a moment, then pulled out an old jade slip from deep inside the counter and handed it over: "This is a travelogue written by a wandering cultivator who traveled the grasslands decades ago. It records a lot about the local customs and practices of the grasslands, as well as the methods of Gu cultivation. It's nothing special, but if you don't mind, I'll give it to you."

Chen Fan accepted the jade slip, thanked the owner, and left the Hundred Herbs Hall.

When he returned to the mansion, it was already late at night. Chen Fan set up an isolation barrier in the main hall, and with a thought, he took the newly purchased medicinal herbs into the Golden Bowl Space.

The world within the bowl is at dawn.

Three hundred acres of spiritual fields surged with layers of green waves in the morning light, and the air was filled with the unique sweet aroma of spiritual rice as it sprouted.

Eunuch Wei was squatting on the edge of the field checking the growth of a radish when Chen Fan appeared out of nowhere. He merely raised his eyelids and said sarcastically, "Oh, Eunuch Chen is back to buy supplies again?"

"Have you archived all the magic crystals that we asked you to archive?" Chen Fan glanced at him.

"It's been filed away long ago." Eunuch Wei stood up, patted the dirt off his hands, and said, "The magic pills are divided into four grades according to their rank, and the magic crystals are classified into seven categories according to their attributes. The ledgers are on the stone table in the storeroom. As for those few Nascent Soul level magic artifacts, we haven't touched them. They're still sealed in the innermost box in the storeroom."

Chen Fan nodded, said nothing more, and walked straight towards the Beast Taming Garden.

The spiritual energy in the Beast Taming Garden is several times denser than that in the outside world.

The cicada was perched on a mid-grade spirit stone in the center of the insect cage, absorbing spiritual energy. After a short while, the golden patterns on its carapace had spread further, and the light in its dark red compound eyes had become even more lively.

Sensing Chen Fan's presence, it immediately flapped its wings and flew up, circling Chen Fan's fingertip twice before landing back in its original position, emitting a clear buzzing sound.

The changes in the ant colony were even more pronounced.

Ten thousand flying ants densely covered most of the Beast Taming Garden, appearing from afar like a silver tide. Their carapaces had changed from a dark silver color to a texture almost like pure silver, the serrations on the edges were sharper and finer, and the veins on their membranous wings were more clearly visible.

The queen ant is hidden deep within the insect cage, her body encased in a translucent silver cocoon, absorbing the dual nourishment of the armor-tempering liquid and spiritual energy, and continuously laying new eggs.

Chen Fan set up the Qiankun Furnace in the Beast Taming Garden and put the newly purchased medicinal herbs and mineral powders into the furnace one by one, refining them with infant fire.

This time, he was going to refine the Soul Devouring Liquid and the upgraded recipe for Armor Tempering Technique.

The first batch was Soul-Devouring Liquid.

According to the records in the notes of the Insect Master, the cultivation of the Soul-Devouring Gu is divided into three stages.

The entry level involves using Blood Yin bait to stimulate ferocity, the advancement level involves using Soul Devouring Liquid to condense the instinct to devour, and the ultimate level requires using the life core of a Nascent Soul level demon beast as a guide, supplemented by the two main ingredients, Illusionary Nether Grass and Soul Devouring Flower, to refine "Soul Devouring True Liquid" for complete transformation.

Although Chen Fan was missing two main ingredients, he had all the other auxiliary ingredients ready, which was more than enough to refine the advanced version of the Soul Devouring Liquid.

He made a hand seal, and the infant fire in the Qiankun Furnace transformed into seven thin threads of fire under the guidance of his divine sense. At the same time, these threads enveloped the seven main medicinal ingredients, slowly forcing out their medicinal power with a gentle flame.

This technique of "Seven Flames Dividing the Medicine" is extremely demanding on the precision of one's spiritual sense. Fortunately, Chen Fan had the support of the Fixed Word Technique, which allowed the seven flame threads to operate freely without interfering with each other. The medicinal power was precisely controlled within the optimal temperature range, preventing any leakage.

The process of the medicinal effects combining lasted for a full three hours.

As the last stream of medicinal power perfectly merged with the other six, a clear and melodious hum emanated from the Qiankun Furnace, the lid flew off, and a fist-sized ball of dark green medicinal liquid flew out of the furnace.

This time, the liquid was thicker than the last time, with three faint golden lines flowing on the surface, and its spicy aroma carried a strange sweetness.

The second batch contains an upgraded recipe for armor tempering.

According to the notes of the True Man of Insects, the Armor Tempering Technique has three levels.

The first layer is iron armor quenching liquid, the second layer is silver armor quenching liquid, and the third layer is gold armor quenching liquid.

Chen Fan had previously refined the second layer of silver armor quenching liquid, and today he was going to try the third layer of gold armor quenching liquid.

This liquid is made primarily of refined gold marrow, celestial star sand, and ancient black tortoise shell, supplemented with dozens of mineral powders, and requires three days of simmering in earth fire to be ready.

Chen Fan directly replaced the earth fire with infant fire and used the golden bowl to accelerate the purification of impurities. In less than half a day, he refined a small jar of armor-tempering liquid with a dark golden luster.

He diluted the armor-tempering liquid and sprinkled it into the insect cage, and the ant swarm immediately began to stir.

Ten thousand flying ants swarmed forward, frantically sucking up the dark golden liquid, their carapaces visibly glowing with a faint golden sheen.