Sss! Leo felt a sharp stabbing pain in his brain and hurriedly withdrew the spiritual sense he had applied to the storage pouch.

  Leo stared at the black storage pouch with shock and doubt. Logically, since the black-robed old man's soul had been destroyed by him now, opening this pouch shouldn't be a problem. Yet, when he tried to open it with his spiritual sense, he still encountered that cold, snake-like mental attack attached to the pouch.

  Perhaps there were still unresolved secrets about the black-robed old man. But now that the other party's soul had scattered, this secret was probably destined to remain buried forever.

  What a pity about that golden flying sword. Leo clicked his tongue, but overall, he was satisfied with today's battle.

  Now that the black-robed old man was eliminated, he could reasonably utilize the mysterious space within him. Apart from keeping an empty storage pouch on his person for show, he moved the remaining spiritual materials into the boundary.

  After finishing this, Leo rested his chin on his hand. Previously, at only the second layer of Qi Refining, even with sufficient pill supply, it would have taken years to reach the fifth layer.

  But now he was already at the fifth layer of Qi Refining. The Primordial Chaos Scripture in his possession only covered up to the middle stage of Qi Refining. Therefore, obtaining a late-stage Qi Refining technique had become an urgent priority.

  However, a late-stage technique in the shops generally cost around forty low-grade spirit stones. An ordinary Qi Refining cultivator, relying on their usual earnings, could barely afford one. People like Sasha had even gone into debt. Currently, Leo only had eight low-grade spirit stones on hand. Items he could sell amounted to just over a dozen Essence Energy Pills. Although a windfall, it would easily attract the attention of some late-stage or even Great Perfection Qi Refining cultivators. This would be extremely unfavorable for his later plans to venture into the Moonwatch Mountain Range to collect the spiritual materials needed to join a sect. Moreover, he later needed to gather pill recipes for the middle and late stages of Qi Refining, requiring even more spirit stones.

  Going out to find work, the spirit stones earned per month after deducting various expenses and cultivation needs, would likely take a considerable time to accumulate, undoubtedly affecting his cultivation.

  However, Leo thought about Moonwatch Immortal City. Various workshops and shops offered decent rates for people skilled in artifact forging, spirit beast rearing, pill refining, low-grade herb cultivation, or talisman making.

  Coincidentally, there were still over a dozen Purple Spirit Grass plants within the boundary, and they could regenerate, usable for refining Qi Gathering Pills. After much thought, Leo decided to start with pill refining.

  A cultivator's expenditure on pills was a significant cost. It could also meet his own needs. Even if the effect of Qi Gathering Pills was somewhat poor for him now, it was still better than nothing. Moreover, with his identity as a middle-stage Qi Refining cultivator and a novice alchemist, selling Qi Gathering Pills wouldn't draw excessive attention from others.

  Having figured this out, Leo went out again to purchase all the other auxiliary herbs needed for refining Qi Gathering Pills, along with a batch of charcoal. Apart from the Purple Spirit Grass, the prices of these auxiliary materials weren't high. Altogether, it only cost two low-grade spirit stones.

  The charcoal was made from burning low-grade spirit wood. Refining pills could also use the primal yang fire directly condensed from a cultivator's internal energy. However, that consumed too much energy. Once the energy in the elixir field was exhausted and the fire couldn't be maintained, the pills would likely become useless.

  After preparing the materials, Leo hesitated as he looked at the room's environment. The room was too small and not really suitable for pill refining. But apart from this room, he had no other place to use.

  Forget it, he'd refine them first and deal with the rest later. With this thought, Leo steeled himself.

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  He took out the alchemy furnace he had bought from Morana earlier. The furnace had purple and yellow interwoven stripes, the distinctive pattern from being crafted from Purple Profound Copper. Touching it with both hands gave a cool, metallic feel. Three curved small feet supported the small cauldron above the ground.

  Leo had already memorized the Qi Gathering Pill recipe. Following the steps, he lit the fire. The spirit wood charcoal burned at a very high temperature, quickly heating the small cauldron until it glowed red. Following the steps, Leo successively put in several auxiliary ingredients, then reduced the amount of charcoal. When a faint, subtle fragrance wafted from the small holes in the cauldron's lid, Leo took out a Purple Spirit Grass plant and threw it in.

  Moments later, an unusual aroma rose from the cauldron. Leo's spirits lifted—it perfectly matched the scent of Qi Gathering Pills. However, according to the recipe, this was just the moment when the Purple Spirit Grass inside the furnace turned into liquid. The timing for opening the furnace had to be precise. Opening too early, before the pill formed, the medicinal properties would dissipate, resulting in pills with greatly reduced efficacy. Opening too late, over-refining would, more often than not, produce useless pills.

  Hiss—

  Suddenly, the medicinal fragrance from the small cauldron abruptly stopped, replaced by a choking, scorched odor.

  Damn it! Just now, he was only focused on the timing for opening the furnace and forgot to control the fire intensity. The heat was too high, the temperature inside the cauldron soared, directly burning the unformed pill liquid into waste.

  Bang, bang!

  The door was pounded heavily. "Open up! Open up! What are you doing in there?"

  "This smell... it's like someone failed at pill refining."

  "How ignorant. Refining pills in such a cramped space, it'd be a miracle if it didn't fail."

  Several early-stage Qi Refining cultivators staying at the same inn sneered and commented.

  "Cough, cough..."

  Leo opened the door. A wave of scorched stench and the high temperature from the burning spirit wood charcoal choked the inn attendant, leaving him in a sorry state. He coughed violently for a while before catching his breath. Without even taking a clear look at Leo, he loudly accused, "The inn is for staying, not for reckless messing around. What were you doing in there? If you had burned down the entire inn, could you afford to compensate?"

  "Go! Our inn doesn't welcome you. Don't ever come to this inn again!"

  The commotion inside the inn quickly alarmed the manager. Given the adverse effects Leo caused and almost setting the inn on fire, the manager, both shocked and furious, evicted Leo. It was only because Leo was already a middle-stage Qi Refining cultivator that he didn't outright say "get out," but the meaning was essentially the same.

  Leo packed up his alchemy furnace and left the inn in a fluster. He glared at the inn with annoyance. What's the big deal? He didn't actually burn the inn down. He thought resentfully.

  "Just an ordinary loose cultivator, wanting to become an alchemist? Aiming too high." Some other cultivators on the street, who had stopped to watch the smoke coming from the inn, shook their heads and left after learning what happened.

  "Eh? Isn't that Brother Leo?"

  A familiar voice came from the crowd. Leo looked over and saw the Sasha siblings walking towards him.

  "Brother Leo, what happened? The shopkeeper is so rude. Let me go reason with him." Sasha said righteously. But then he quickly reacted, exclaiming in surprise, "Brother Leo, your cultivation level... how?"

  "It was my fault first." Leo pulled Sasha back, looking embarrassed. Seeing his shocked expression, he explained, "I used a little trick before. This is my real cultivation level now."

  Then Leo briefly explained the incident at the inn.

  "So that's what happened. In that case, Brother Leo has no place to stay now. Why not move to our place and stay with us?" Morana said warmly after hearing the story.

  "Stay with you?" Leo was momentarily stunned.

  "Yes," Morana continued.

  It turned out that finding a place for loose cultivators to rent in Moonwatch Immortal City was quite troublesome, and renting a room alone in an inn was a bad deal. So, she and a few other close friends rented a small compound together—four rooms in total for only ten spirit stones a month. The space was larger than an inn room, with a small courtyard. Coincidentally, one friend who entered the Moonwatch Mountain Range last time unfortunately perished, so a room became vacant. Although the price was slightly higher than staying at an inn, it was more comfortable and less crowded and prying than an inn.

  Leo was somewhat tempted, but upon second thought, he still felt it inappropriate. He had some secrets he didn't want outsiders to know, including raising the Shadow Ants, to use as an unexpected weapon at critical moments. After pondering for a moment, he realized he still had many spirit talismans on hand; selling some could solve his immediate spirit stone crisis. So he declined, "No, thank you. I still have some spirit stones left. I'd like to rent a small courtyard alone."

  "Renting a small courtyard alone? Brother Leo, you're really well-off." Morana said with a playful click of her tongue, then added, "I actually know of a courtyard not far from ours. If you're interested, Brother Leo, you can go take a look."

  In Moonwatch Immortal City, usually only those with high incomes like skilled alchemists, artifact forgers, or those at the late or Great Perfection stages of Qi Refining rented courtyards alone. Even many late-stage Qi Refining cultivators shared rentals.

  "Then thank you very much." Leo didn't decline further. Relying on himself to find one would have been more troublesome.

  Several hours later, Leo moved into a new courtyard. It had three fewer rooms than the Sasha siblings' place, but it only cost seven spirit stones per month. The size was more than enough for him.

  It had been a while since he fed the Shadow Ants. Leo took out the jade pool and sprinkled dozens of Beast Spirit Pills. He released the Shadow Ants from the jade gourd. The ants had been in a dormant state inside the gourd, but they hadn't eaten for a long time.

  The awakened ants fed anxiously. A few even fought over the same Beast Spirit Pill while eating, clearly famished. Leo hurriedly separated the fighting ants.

  After feeding the Shadow Ants, Leo also released the leopard from the spirit beast pouch.

  Awoo! The leopard, having been cooped up in the spirit beast pouch for too long, let out a complaining cry after coming out, then obediently rubbed its head against Leo's pant leg.

  "Alright, go play over there. Don't leave the courtyard." Leo patted the leopard's head, letting it move freely. The leopard wasn't very useful to him now, but back when he was weak, if not for the leopard, he'd probably be a pile of bones by now. So even if he had to keep it idle, he wouldn't sell off a useless spirit beast like some other cultivators did