My Cultivation Starting from Archery

The barbarian tribes lived in the Great Desert.

Either they had no cities and all dwelled within various types of tents,

or the majority of their cities were akin to small towns, primarily serving as gathering and trading places with virtually no defensive power.

As for the few major cities of the barbarian tribes,

they were a full ten thousand miles away from the Liangzhou border.

Chen Sansi silently calculated this account in his heart.

The Beiliang Army Fourteen Camps, with more than two hundred thousand troops, would need about five hundred thousand civilians for logistical support if the entire army were to strike.

Five hundred thousand troops!

This number might not seem significant for the vast and populous Northern Territory, but the consumption of resources was immensely huge, especially the unpredictable consumption of food and fodder for a campaign.

This battle,

even if it ended in a grand victory,

would likely take the Great Desert twenty years to recover, and even the Northern Territory would need over a decade to recuperate and rejuvenate.

Indeed, some things cannot be delayed.

But it still gave off an impression of urgency among everyone.

Hastily expanding camps, hurriedly going to war.

His master simply wanted to quickly secure peaceful days for the north, otherwise, every few days, barbarian cavalry would come to the city outskirts looting and slaughtering, then swiftly fleeing, truly preventing peace.

And the Capital City's court agreed.

Fearing they harbored intentions to quickly stabilize the chaos and thereafter reclaim the military power of the Northern Territory.

There was another most important point.

Yunzhou in ten days.

What had the barbarians gained, and how much had their overall strength increased?

All these were still unknown.

It looked like, a chance had to be found to lead a small force into the Great Desert for exploration.

"General!"

"All the transition of defensive duties has been properly arranged."

Xia Cong came to report.

"Hmm."

Chen Sansi patted his shoulder, "Do not slack off."

After giving instructions, he rode away on Qian Xun.

As the Main General, it was naturally impossible for him to personally scout, his main duty was to patrol and inspect, and after finishing, he would leave on his own.

About two thousand people were responsible for observation in the Hongze Camp.

The main function of the Great Wall was still surveillance, no need to leave too many people.

[Cultivation Technique: National Guardian Dragon Spear, Mysterious Phenomenon (small achievement)]

[Progress: 988/2000]

Another day of cultivation ended, Chen Sansi exhaled a long breath and then took out an Alchemy Furnace from his storage bag, setting up his stall within the woodshed, preparing to start his first official alchemy endeavor.

"General, are you going to perform alchemy?"

Ning Xiang finally understood what all those Spirit Stones in the workshop market had been used for.

"Thank you both for protecting me."

Chen Sansi said flatly.

For the time being, he couldn't find a better place, so he decided to start alchemy at home first.

Cultivation has a hundred arts,

but among the foremost four, they are Alchemy, Artifact, Talisman, and Formation.

The rest, such as Spirit Plant cultivation, Beast Taming, Puppetry, are all regarded as inferior to these four major arts.

And among these four arts, Alchemy holds the highest place.

Alchemy, Artifact, Talisman, Formation, the other three are merely external enhancements.

Only Alchemy is something ingested, a tangible enhancement to the cultivator's own body.

The Dao of Alchemy can lead to eternal life!

Throughout history, countless emperors have sought the secrets to immortality through alchemy, some wise emperors even became obsessed with alchemy in their later years, causing their rule to fall into disarray.

Indeed, within the Cultivation World, there genuinely are elixirs that can extend life, and many others that can improve cultivation; however, without exception, all are extremely precious. Even cultivators would fight over them, let alone ordinary mortals, who could not possibly gather the necessary ingredients.

Speaking of ingredients,

Spiritual Grain.

It is the universal material for a hundred cultivation arts!

No matter the elixir, Spiritual Grain is the most basic ingredient.

It's included in talisman paper for making talismans, and even in Artifact Refining and Formation, not to mention in Beast Taming.

To cultivators,

Spiritual Grain is as important as food is to ordinary people.

The most terrifying aspect is that Spiritual Grain doesn't rely on Spiritual Energy and can grow normally in mortal soils under certain conditions, which is why it's massively cultivated in the mortal world.

However...

To ordinary people, Spiritual Grain is a deadly poison grass; it not only occupies arable land, but prolonged cultivation also drains the soil's nutrients, turning fertile fields barren.

Moreover, the consumption of Spiritual Grain for alchemy is extremely horrifying.

Take the "Fasting Pill" that is about to be prepared, for instance; one single pill requires compressing one measure of Spiritual Grain.

It's the same with Spiritual Rice Medicine Ointment.

Each batch requires a significant amount of Spiritual Grain.

Thus, it can be imagined how massively Spiritual Grain is consumed daily in the Cultivation World.

Having set up the Alchemy Furnace,

Chen Sansi first added water.

Low-grade elixirs can use ordinary water, but high-grade elixirs also have specific requirements for the water used.

Next,

he took out some Golden Smoke Wood, smeared it with Immortal Treasure Lamp Oil, and finally used a Fire Stick to ignite it.

A crimson flame soared.

But unlike previous times, the Abnormal Fire did not wildly rampage. Shortly after burning, the Alchemy Furnace seemed responsive as its azure glyphs lit up one by one on its surface, and the bottom appeared like a vortex, absorbing all the Abnormal Fire into it, and then began a humming sound, starting to refine the contents within the furnace.

The price of this Pill Furnace alone equals the years, if not decades, of efforts of an ordinary cultivator.

The Golden Smoke Wood below neither vanished into ash instantly like regular firewood but consumed at a faster rate than expected.

"This Abnormal Fire is truly formidable."

Luckily, Chen Sansi had prepared enough beforehand and could also add a moderate amount of ordinary firewood to save some trouble.