C7 Special Mission!

Alchemists were the people who could refine pills using various herbs and spiritual Qi.

Usually, cultivation meant gathering the spiritual Qi in your surroundings, fusing it with your body, and storing it in your Dantian. However, Qi wasn't in abundance in this world, so a majority of the cultivators chose spirit stones to supplement their cultivation.

Now, spirit stones had a dense amount of Qi, but it was limited. In other words, they could indeed assist in cultivation, but they only had limited use. If a cultivator wanted to quickly climb up the cultivation levels, they had to rely on something else.

Something like pills—they were the most common way of leveling up quickly.

More importantly, one's talent and potential were also a deciding factor in one's cultivation. If one had poor talent, spirit stones alone couldn't help them break through. This was especially true for breaking through to a higher realm. One needed some special pills to break through; consequently, alchemists became an extremely precious commodity.

Alchemists used different types of medicinal herbs and consolidated them into medicinal pills using a special method. So, alchemists were bound to be much familiar with medicinal herbs. Moreover, the Chu Family's alchemist had three direct disciples.

Although Chu Zhongtian's heart was filled with doubts, he tactfully suppressed the doubts. Nothing on his face could be evidence for the torrent of doubts in his heart.

No one knew exactly how big the Endless Forest was. At least not in the Qi Country and its surrounding kingdoms. However, the dangers associated with the Endless Forest were known to even the toddlers here.

In the Endless Forest, apart from the usual deathly natural traps, there were also strange beasts.

Just like humans, strange beasts were also creatures that could cultivate. Also, their strength went from Level-1 (strongest) to Level-10 (weakest).

A Level-10 strange beast was as strong as a Qi Refining cultivator. Stage. Level-9 beasts were about as strong as Body Refining cultivators. So, what about those above Level-9? Well, Chu Zhongtian had no idea about them. After all, the strongest person in the Chu Family was a peak Body Refiner—the patriarch, Chu Tianyun. As for whether or not the Chu Family had a stronger expert, with Chu Zhongtian's status and identity, he couldn't know.

Usually, Qi Country cultivators only gathered herbs from Level-10 and Level-9 strange beasts' territory. After all, they could only hangle those levels. If they went any deeper, they could never return.

Since strange beasts also used Qi to cultivate, their flesh was saturated with Qi. If a cultivator were to consume a strange beast's flesh and blood for a prolonged period, both their physique and cultivation level would improve.

In the Qi Country, besides the three great families, another family specialized in marketing strange beasts. This family had used the beasts they had captured from the Endless Forest to obtain vast amounts of wealth.

To Chu Zhongtian, the Endless Forest was a thing of his fantasies. For a mortal like him who couldn't cultivate, not to mention those strange beasts, even ordinary beasts were deadly. Therefore, even after living in this world for a year, he had never ventured into the Endless Forest.

The first impression that the Endless Forest gave Chu Zhongtian was that it was—like its name—boundless.

When he looked at the verdant trees, he found that the forest seemingly had no end or an edge. The verdurous leaves reflected patches of green, looking like the ocean from a distance.

"Three-year-old Golden Sun Flowers!"

"Five-year-old Sky Herbs!"

"Thirteen-year-old Sky Gate Fruits!"

"Fifty-year-old Elephantopus Scabs!"

The Endless Forest was indeed a treasure trove of herbs. Moments after stepping into the forest, Chu Zhontian was overwhelmed by the sheer number of precious herbs he saw.

Sadly, despite being precious, all those herbs were very young. So, right now, they were no different from ordinary herbs.

For example, the Golden Sun Flower he saw earlier. It was a medicinal herb that could heal injuries. However, it takes 50 years for it to mature. And if it were to be a 100-year-old one, its value would increase by at least a few dozens. What about a 1,000-year-old one? Well, then it would become a herb with a level.

"Don't stop; keep moving forward." Despite entering Level-10 beasts' territory, Chu Fann and the others not only did not stop; instead, they increased their speed.

The deeper they went—the higher the probability of them encountering a mighty strange beast went. From the very edge, it would start with low Level-10, then to middle Level-10, followed by peak Level-10, then low Level-9, and so on.

Fortunately, they were still in Level-10 beasts' territory. Considering the Chu Family's guards, they could easily suppress beasts of that level.

Chu Zhongtian looked at the corpse of a strange beast thrown to the side and felt that it was a pity. After a few days of experimentation, he found out that the "copy-paste" ability could also absorb flesh and blood apart from absorbing Qi from spirit stones. Moreover, it was actually more effective on it than spirit stones.

For example, the tiger carcass belonged to a middle Level-10 strange beast. If he were to absorb it, not to mention replicating the remaining 300 Meridian Herbs, even 500, 800, even 1000 Meridian Herbs wouldn't be a problem.

Perhaps it was because he saw the look of pity in Chu Zhongtian's eyes, but Chu Fann smiled knowingly and murmured, "The flesh and blood of these leveled beasts contains a vast amount of Qi. For a Level-10 beast, the amount of Qi is the same as three Level-10 spirit stones. With your current condition, you can't absorb them anyway. If you try to force it, the violent Qi will directly destroy your body."

Although he knew that Chu Fann had misunderstood his intention, Chu Zhongtian was still grateful for his kind reminder. After all, Chu Fann was an elder of the Chu Family; he was just an ordinary person.

As they moved further in, more and more strange beasts appeared with increasing strengths. However, they were no match for the Chu Family guards; they got rid of those strange beasts within a few moves. They were so efficient that Chu Fann and the purple-clothed trio's speed didn't change for a second.

About three hours later, Chu Fann suddenly waved his hand, signaling everyone to stop. Then, he said to the four guards of the Chu's Pharmacy, "The four of you stay here and wait for my return."

"Yes."

After that, he said, "Be careful from now on!" Chu Fann, who had been relaxed all this time, became a little tense. Chu Zhongtian could even hear a trace of excitement in his tone.

"Could it be that there is a special mission this time?" Seeing Chu Fann's action, Chu Zhongtian wondered, feeling puzzled. No matter how smart he was, he could not guess Chu Fann's intention.

After advancing a mere kilometer, a massive tiger, nearly seven meters long and four meters high, appeared in front of them.