Chapter 106: Yellow Cicada Elixir

The vast grasslands, towering mountains, clear lakes, and endless rivers—to see grand mountains and great waters, one had to visit the Gaozang Plateau. This was Gaozang Province, and it was Jiang Xincheng’s destination this time.

Most of the lofty mountains were ruined by war, over ninety percent of the clear lakes were polluted, and the sprawling grasslands were pockmarked with bullet holes. The once picturesque Qingzang Plateau was now destroyed by conflict, renamed Gaozang Province. Though the scenery was not as beautiful as before, its area was now twice as large.

The Stone of Wisdom that Jiang Xincheng sought was in a small city in Gaozang Province. Looking at the shattered mountains in the distance, Jiang Xincheng couldn’t help but sigh. The war years ago had destroyed too much; many scenic places were now desolate.

Gaozang Province’s recovery was far slower than that of big cities like Tianhai City and Xiyang City. A few short years were not enough to restore Gaozang Province to its former glory. Along the way, Jiang Xincheng saw many ruined cities where people busily worked to rebuild their homes.

Jiang Xincheng took a plane, a train, a bus, and even rode a motorcycle, but he still hadn’t reached his destination. The next few hundred miles had to be traveled on foot.

This was because the world war years ago had destroyed seventy to eighty percent of the roads in Gaozang Province, and they still hadn’t been repaired. With potholes, bullet marks, and bomb craters everywhere, walking was the only option.

Decades ago, before the war, the road to Jiang Xincheng’s destination, Aji City, was very smooth. There was no need for cars or motorcycles, much less walking; a train ride would get you there in a few hours. But now, it took Jiang Xincheng several days to walk to Aji City.

Only by coming to Gaozang Province could one truly understand the damage that terrible war had done to the Shenxia Alliance. Without decades or even a century of peaceful time, the effects of that war on Gaozang Province could not be erased.

Facing the biting wind, Jiang Xincheng walked quickly on the road to Aji City. He wore thick leather boots to avoid being cut by the shrapnel littering the ground. Though most places were in ruins, some unbombed areas still retained their original natural beauty.

Mountains, great rivers, plains… and the spiritual herb Yellow Cicada Orchid, common in many parts of Gaozang Province.

Yellow Cicada Orchid was mainly found in Gaozang Province. It was everywhere now, not rare at all. But decades later, almost no wild Yellow Cicada Orchid could be found in the entire Gaozang Province.

Because all the wild Yellow Cicada Orchid had been dug up, and some cultivated ones were treated as treasures by major factions. They were guarded by many powerful Primordial Warriors and not easily used. Ordinary people couldn’t even hope to see one, let alone own it.

This was because Yellow Cicada Orchid was a key ingredient for a type of pill. It could be used to refine the extremely precious second-grade high-quality spiritual pill, the Yellow Cicada Elixir.

Taking the Yellow Cicada Elixir could enhance a Practitioner’s Spiritual Sense, and its effects were quite gentle. After the Yellow Cicada Elixir recipe was discovered, the entire Gaozang Province immediately became a controlled zone of the Shenxia Alliance. Large numbers of soldiers and Primordial Warriors entered Gaozang Province to dig up Yellow Cicada Orchid and refine the highly valuable Yellow Cicada Elixir.

In fact, to compete for Yellow Cicada Orchid, tens of thousands of Primordial Warriors from the Shenxia Alliance fought for three years in Gaozang Province against hundreds of thousands from the Mowei Empire and the Non-Aggression Pact Organization. Over fifty thousand Primordial Warriors died, including many powerful ones from the Cloud Condensation Realm and Rain Transformation Realm.

But now, these wild Yellow Cicada Orchids, which would be fiercely fought over by countless Primordial Warriors in the future, were scattered everywhere. Jiang Xincheng could easily pick a large handful, more than he could carry.

The valuable Yellow Cicada Orchid of the future was now worthless; no one paid any attention to it, let alone sparked competition among Earth’s Three Super Factions.

Looking at the abundance of Yellow Cicada Orchid, Jiang Xincheng’s face broke into a bright smile. Indeed, the early age of Primordial Force was better. These precious spiritual herbs, extremely rare in the future, were now tossed aside everywhere, ignored by everyone.

As the only one who knew the value of these spiritual herbs, Jiang Xincheng’s advantage was immense. It could be said that all the spiritual herbs and pills on Earth were his for the taking; he could have whatever he wanted, and the price wasn’t high at all.

Seeing the ground covered with Yellow Cicada Orchid, Jiang Xincheng felt restless. Calculating the time, he decided to refine a few batches of Yellow Cicada Elixir here to improve his Spiritual Sense realm.

Having made up his mind, Jiang Xincheng immediately took out the Qingming Cauldron, lit the Yuanli Flame, and began refining the Yellow Cicada Elixir.

Willow leaf water, Yellow Cicada Orchid fragrance!

These two ingredients were the main materials for the First Step in refining the Yellow Cicada Elixir. Before heading to Gaozang Province, Jiang Xincheng had already planned to refine the Yellow Cicada Elixir here, so his backpack contained plenty of willow leaves.

He boiled a cup of tea using the Yuanli Flame, then carefully soaked the willow leaves in it. After thirty minutes, when the tea turned green, Jiang Xincheng plucked 221 grams of Yellow Cicada flowers and placed them into the Qingming Cauldron. Under the influence of the Yuanli Flame, the fragrance of the Yellow Cicada flowers condensed into a yellow cloud.

When the yellow cloud expanded to a certain size, Jiang Xincheng poured in the willow leaf water, creating a larger green cloud through steaming. Once the green cloud reached a certain size, he began to control it, merging it gradually with the yellow cloud.

Bit by bit, strand by strand, he dared not be the least bit careless. The slightest mistake could cause the two clouds to explode. The pure medicinal energy inside was like explosives, capable of destroying everything within tens of meters and creating a Spiritual Sense storm.

The green cloud and the yellow cloud slowly merged together, each containing the other, their color gradually turning light green and radiating powerful Spiritual Sense fluctuations.

After an unknown amount of time, the two clouds fully merged. Beads of sweat had formed on Jiang Xincheng’s forehead. This kind of precise control was the most difficult; the slightest error could lead to failure or even an explosion. Most importantly, it had to be done in one go. Without the help of the Qingming Cauldron, Jiang Xincheng wouldn’t dare refine the Yellow Cicada Elixir at his current strength.

The first challenge was overcome. Next was the second difficulty: blending the willow leaf paste and Yellow Cicada Orchid paste to completely envelop the cloud without any gaps.

Jiang Xincheng started adding willow leaves and Yellow Cicada Orchid, using the Yuanli Flame to melt them into pill paste. During this process, the two had to be mixed together bit by bit in a ratio of 2.01:1.13, with not even a hundredth of a gram of difference. Otherwise, the pill paste wouldn’t form—another extremely precise process.

With a serious expression, Jiang Xincheng began to combine the pill paste.