As for earning resources?
The first thing Li Qi could think of was his old profession: selling elixirs.
After all, his business of selling imitation elixirs in the Silver Traverse Domain had been quite good back then.
Thinking of this, Li Qi's eyes slightly lifted, and then his gaze involuntarily focused.
"It's a bit troublesome."
Because from the information gathered over a hundred years by the third life-bound spirit puppet.
Li Qi knew that the elixirs he used to sell well, while not exactly bad here, were not among the very best.
And the situation regarding elixir sales in the Azure Ripple Domain was also a bit strange.
Compared to the past, where Li Qi was suppressed by the Cangyan Medicine Pavilion after slightly imitating their elixirs.
The situation was different with the various elixir selling merchant guilds in the Azure Ripple Domain.
Except for a small number of elixirs developed exclusively by them.
The formulas for most elixirs, or even those for sky-high priced elixirs, were publicly available externally. One could easily obtain them by paying a certain price.
But the problem was.
The refining difficulty of those sky-high priced elixirs was too great!
This time, it wasn't the lack of formulas, but rather the scarcity of alchemists.
Furthermore, even for the same elixir, there were slight differences among the elixirs sold by different merchant guilds.
They would be improved by their guild's alchemists to either reduce costs or increase efficacy, with each having their own unique modifications.
Of course, elixirs that were perfectly refined according to the original formula still existed. However, under normal circumstances and for the same price, compared to elixirs perfectly refined according to the formula, those improved by the numerous alchemists of large elixir merchant guilds were naturally more appealing.
After all, if the original elixir's efficacy was 1, then the improved elixir might have an efficacy of 1.1.
Or, some elixirs originally had side effects, but after improvement, those side effects were reduced or completely eliminated.
Alternatively, with the same efficacy, the improved elixirs had lower production costs and could be sold more cheaply.
In this light, any cultivator who came to buy elixirs would naturally prefer the latter over the former.
Of course, it's worth mentioning here that while the original elixir formulas were public, the new formulas improved by their own alchemists were naturally kept secret and served as their exclusive trump cards, never to be shared with outsiders.
"So, it all comes down to skill in refining elixirs then?"
Li Qi showed a hint of interest.
Thinking back, the methods he used against the Cangyan Medicine Pavilion seemed to be similar improvements.
Reducing costs and selling prices, while the efficacy didn't differ much.
"This is rather interesting."
With that thought, Li Qi's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
He had spent a long time refining elixirs back then, and he also had attribute points related to elixirs.
Li Qi was not afraid of being at a disadvantage in such competition.
"In that case, I'll first get all the publicly available sky-high priced elixir formulas on the market and try to improve them."
Li Qi muttered to himself, and with a thought, a message was sent to the third life-bound spirit puppet, who had already gone to search for the Heavenly Dao of the Tribulation Period for him, with this minor task.
While searching for the Heavenly Dao of the Tribulation Period, he was also asked to bring back some publicly available sky-high priced elixir formulas.
As for those exclusive elixirs mentioned earlier, Li Qi had no intention of dabbling in them for now.
After all, he was a newcomer, and his true combat power couldn't even defeat a cultivator in the Mahayana stage. Attracting an enemy prematurely by deciphering their exclusive elixirs was not what Li Qi wanted.
The third life-bound spirit puppet quickly responded to Li Qi.
As expected, a little over a month later, the third life-bound spirit puppet arrived, albeit somewhat late.
And this time, he brought Li Qi a considerable number of formulas.
These were all formulas for sky-high priced elixirs that were publicly available in the Azure Ripple Domain.
The method by which the third life-bound spirit puppet obtained these formulas was also very straightforward.
He entered a decent merchant guild, found the manager, stated his intention to purchase sky-high priced elixir formulas, and then it was a simple transaction of money for goods.
As for why it still took over a month, one could only say that the Azure Ripple Domain was simply too vast.
After handing over the formulas to Li Qi, the third life-bound spirit puppet departed again, following Li Qi's orders to continue searching for the Heavenly Dao of the Tribulation Period.
Li Qi, meanwhile, held the spatial ring that the third life-bound spirit puppet had given him.
With a sweep of his divine sense, more than a dozen scrolls of elixir formulas lay quietly within the spatial ring.
He casually picked one out and glanced at it. Several large characters appeared before Li Qi.
Jade Dew Conjoined Heart Pill.
The effect of this elixir was to help cultivators in the Tribulation Period cleanse their minds and eliminate most potential inner demons, thereby making their breakthrough to the next realm easier and reducing the risk of qi deviation.
"A good effect."
Li Qi nodded slightly. Inner demons were indeed something most cultivators feared, and the higher the cultivation realm, the more they feared them.
For cultivators as profound as those in the Tribulation Period, the emergence of inner demons could be terrifying. Countless individuals had fallen into demonic paths or died on the spot.
The Jade Dew Conjoined Heart Pill's effect of eliminating most potential inner demons was of great help to cultivators.
As for why it couldn't completely eliminate them.
That could only be attributed to the fact that elixirs were external aids; the ultimate outcome still depended on the cultivator themselves.
It treated the symptoms, not the root cause. The effect of the Jade Dew Conjoined Heart Pill was to treat the symptoms.
Because of this, many cultivators in the Tribulation Period would purchase more than just one Jade Dew Conjoined Heart Pill.
If their resources permitted, they might even buy five or ten.
However, those who could afford to buy so many were either facing a life-or-death situation, about to break through, and on the verge of qi deviation, or they were truly wealthy cultivators.
Subsequently, Li Qi's gaze continued downward on the scroll.
His eyes gradually became serious.
Although the Jade Dew Conjoined Heart Pill was the first sky-high priced elixir formula he had casually taken out.
Its refining difficulty could be considered among the most challenging Li Qi had ever encountered.
However, Li Qi was unfazed by this.
After all, if the refining method for such an elixir wasn't difficult, cultivators could simply refine it themselves and wouldn't need to spend money at apothecaries and merchant guilds to purchase it.
"This is only the first one. I wonder if there will be even more difficult ones later."
Li Qi murmured to himself.
He quickly finished observing the refining method for the Jade Dew Conjoined Heart Pill.
Li Qi then closed his eyes slightly and began to ponder.