The decline of Blue Sky Sword Sea represented that Chen Xia had the opportunity to escape.
Perhaps the opportunity was not obvious yet, but Chen Xia believed that as time went by, he would definitely be able to wait for the opportunity.
For now, he had to get prepared first. When it became chaotic, he would run away immediately, and no one could stop him.
Unless the emperor in Blue Sky Sword Sea had a sudden burst of vitality and came out to suppress him, then he would have to surrender obediently.
But that was unlikely to happen.
For now, Chen Xia was in seclusion in the cave, constantly operating the Turtle Breath Art, charging towards the second layer of the Sea Inverting Realm.
On the other hand, he was also collecting and refining top-grade True Dragon medicines and their ingredients. He had Zhang DaoMing help pay attention to them. Chen Xia was willing to buy them at a high price.
By now, he had collected most of the dragon bones, though they were not from a single dragon. He had pieced them together.
There were some protruding or short sections, but it was fine after some trimming.
The extra bone powder could be used to make tea, which was like drinking bone ash directly.
Hopefully dragon and snake monsters would never encounter Chen Xia in the future, otherwise it would cause great psychological damage.
Besides that, Chen Xia was also making money by refining medicinal pills according to the speed of refining them once every 20 years.
His alchemy speed could only be described as making money.
Even for alchemy masters with superb skills, refining a single medicinal pill would take two to three days, and the quality was not guaranteed. It only ensured that the pill could be formed.
But Chen Xia was completely different.
Firstly, his pill refining was extremely fast, completed within two hours without any delay. Other alchemy masters emphasized being careful and cautious, and treated every step very seriously.
As for Chen Xia?
It was as if he was in a hurry to reincarnate. He had even come up with terms like stir frying and flipping the pot that were completely irrelevant to alchemy.
Could this be considered alchemy?
Even cooking was not like this!
If it was just the bizarre alchemy method, it was not a big deal. After all, there were many alchemists with bizarre alchemy methods in this world.
The problem was that Chen Xia could really produce pills, and they were extremely precious medicinal pills.
This had left all alchemists at a complete loss. After watching Chen Xia concoct pills a few times, they could only come to one conclusion.
They themselves were simply too incompetent.
Fortunately, there was only one Chen Xia across the domains. Everyone else was still normal.
All the spirit stones Chen Xia earned from alchemy were used to purchase medicinal ingredients. This made Zhang DaoMing feel doubtful.
"Why do you want to refine this supreme rank pill? In ancient times, it was a pill that only the great abilities of the Flood Dragon lineage needed," he asked.
"Haven't you already given the answer?" Chen Xia replied plainly, while adding the newly ground bone ash to the teacup. There was not much taste, but Chen Xia thought it should supplement calcium.
"I've never heard you mention that you have the metaphysics of the Flood Dragon lineage," Zhang DaoMing said with a frown, still feeling puzzled.
"Not everything needs to be said, right?" Chen Xia shook his head. He lifted the teacup and took a light sip, feeling it was acceptable.
Sitting to the side, Zhang DaoMing was silent for a while with a troubled expression. "But the ingredients needed for this pill are really rare. Even in ancient times, few cultivators refined it. The Flood Dragon lineage also became scarce. It's even harder to find the ingredients now."
"Just the complete set of dragon bones you want costs 100,000 spirit stones, not to mention the later Thousand Year Dragon Heart, Thousand Dragon Scales, etc. Added together, the cost of these medicinal ingredients is at least 300,000 spirit stones. It doesn't seem very worthwhile."
Zhang DaoMing sharply pointed out the problem. It was indeed factual and impartial, not an exaggeration.
300,000 spirit stones could buy a life of Qiong Qi. Using it to buy these medicinal ingredients was a waste.
"Indeed," Chen Xia also frowned, pondering carefully. He felt there were some difficulties. Fortunately, his mind had always been quick to switch tracks. If one plan did not work, he would switch to another.
"Then I'll just go rob them, zero dollar purchase," he proposed brilliantly.
"Although I really want to support you, robbing the auction house is not good. You probably won't get so many alchemy commissions in the future then," Zhang DaoMing said with a frown and shook his head.
"Besides, robbing the auction house would not look good since we can be considered half a cooperative partner with them."
Chen Xia rubbed his face and sighed in distress, "So difficult."
He did not expect that he would feel distressed by lacking money.
Zhang DaoMing also spread his hands helplessly. "The pill you want to refine is too rare and valuable. Otherwise, it definitely wouldn't require so many spirit stones."
"Why don't you go borrow some spirit stones for me?" Chen Xia had a brainwave.
"Why do I have to be the one borrowing?" Zhang DaoMing frowned, very puzzled.
Chen Xia chuckled lightly and patted Zhang DaoMing's shoulder, starting to reason with him. "You're already old now. Going to borrow a few tens of thousands of spirit stones and not hurrying to repay them, just waiting until your death, then you won't have to repay at all."
His reasoning had always been sound.
Zhang DaoMing was stunned for a moment. He looked deeply at Chen Xia and said, "But I still have inheritance. I'd have to compensate others after death."
"Simple," Chen Xia said even more cheerfully. "Just give all your inheritance to me. You can pass away peacefully then."
He had taken all the benefits for himself.
Zhang DaoMing was silent for a while, then waved his hand. "Borrow it yourself. I don't have the nerve."
He hurriedly left, without any intention of staying.
Chen Xia did not get any money. He sat there, propping his head with one hand, still feeling distressed.
The 30,000 spirit stones he borrowed previously were not that he didn't want to repay, but most of the probationary disciples had left, taking Chen Xia's flying swords with them.
It could be considered as collateral.
The elders did not dare to accept Chen Xia's repayments either. They were too frightened of the ring on Chen Xia's arm, afraid that if they accepted the money, they would share Qiong Qi's fate.
That would be too unjustified.
Since Chen Xia did not need to repay the previous 30,000 spirit stones, he was naturally delighted. But now he lacked money again, so it was not good to borrow more.
His fame was widespread. The cultivators of Blue Sky Sword Sea all knew of his "glorious" deeds, so no one would lend him money.
In the eyes of other cultivators, lending Chen Xia money was like giving meat buns to dogs.
Chen Xia switched which hand he leaned his head on, pondering carefully. He felt he should still fleece the Old Fisherman.
After all, old sheep had a lot of thick wool.
He stood up and patted his sleeves, intending to first go visit the Old Fisherman to see if he could make his master "generously open his coffers" again.
But Chen Xia had just approached the Supreme Great Hall when he was refused an audience. No matter how he knocked, he got no response.
"Master, are you there?"
There was no response from the great hall.
Chen Xia frowned, feeling somewhat frustrated. This was an inauspicious start.
"Isn't this the Fourth Law Elder?" A cry of surprise came with a figure approaching. It was a formal elder.
Chen Xia's expression instantly changed. He was full of grief as he lowered his head towards the Supreme Great Hall and lamented sorrowfully.
"Master, your disciple lacks spirit stones and cannot refine the supreme rank pill. I have really let you down!"
The formal elder frowned anxiously and hurriedly asked, "Elder Chen, what's the matter?"
"Lack of money," Chen Xia said with his head lowered, his voice muffled and concise. His bad mood could be heard.
"How much do you lack? I can lend you some. The Sect Protector Taishang Elder will also understand," the formal elder quickly advised.
"You can judge how much to lend. I don't feel good asking directly. If I can't refine this supreme rank pill, it would truly be letting Master down," Chen Xia continued with his head lowered.
"Would 10,000 spirit stones be enough?" The formal elder frowned and asked. Since it involved the Old Fisherman, he really did not dare to say too little.
"Mm," Chen Xia nodded. His tone contained some delight. "I'm really grateful to you. My master will surely be very happy when he finds out."
Hearing this, the formal elder could no longer restrain himself. He hurriedly took out his storage treasure and after checking his balance, handed it to Chen Xia with a smile.
"Being able to help you and the Sect Protector Taishang Elder is also doing my part for the sect."
"Very good, very good," Chen Xia said excitedly as he accepted the storage treasure. His steps were extremely quick as he left. Right before his figure disappeared, he left a sentence behind.
"Remember this on my master's tab."
The formal elder stood in front of the Supreme Great Hall with knitted brows, feeling somewhat uneasy.
But he could not say what exactly was wrong.