I Am Not Yet Strong; Once I Am, Things Will Change

Luo Chen's confidence stemmed from the Four Elements Cauldron. Yet it was not solely from the Four Elements Cauldron! On his status panel, his proficiency with the Jade Marrow Pill had quietly reached the Perfect level without him even realizing it. If one thought about it carefully, this pace was not particularly swift. Several months had passed since he first began concocting the Jade Marrow Pill. Throughout that time, whether in terms of manpower or medicinal ingredients, the Mountain Breaker Gang had provided an all-out supply. Had he not been mindful of concealing his true alchemy attainments, his proficiency might well have already reached Grandmaster. At Perfect proficiency, the stable yield rate was forty percent, and all pills produced were of middle grade. With deliberate control, Luo Chen could also choose to display only half of that middle-grade yield rate. The extra middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills produced in excess were his to pocket, perfectly covering his daily expenditure of spiritual power. At midday, Mi Junping came in person to the Pill Hall, just as expected. She stared fixedly at Luo Chen, attempting to find some trace of facial resemblance between him and either herself or Mi Shuhua. In the end, she abandoned the notion that Luo Chen was Mi Shuhua's illegitimate son. Still, the monthly stipend of four bottles of Dust-Cleansing Pills plus a box of Spirit Calming Incense truly pained her! Even as the biological daughter of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, she had never enjoyed such treatment. Luo Chen could not have cared less about her petty, dark thoughts. After resting properly, he resumed his pill-refining routine in the afternoon. He still needed to familiarize himself with the Four Elements Cauldron, so he had not allowed anyone else to assist him that day. The success rate in the afternoon was not particularly high: from four batches of ingredients in that cauldron, only twenty Jade Marrow Pills emerged, while the rest were dregs. Luo Chen discreetly pocketed ten of them, letting the pill tenders pack away the remainder. If Mi Shuhua ever found out about Luo Chen lining his own pockets like this, he would probably unleash his Heavenly Moon Purple Gold Wheel to give him a brutal lesson. *** Late in the night, a figure made his way along the mine tunnels, descending into the depths of the earth. *Clang!* The low-grade Purple Cloud Bronze Furnace settled onto the floor of the spirit vein cavern. Luo Chen then produced a steady supply of high-grade firewood that he had filched from the Pill Hall. He lit the fire and began brewing Origin-Nourishing Spiritual Liquid. Gazing at the roaring flames, Luo Chen unconsciously patted his chest. A full month had passed since he broke through to the seventh level of Qi Refinement. With the aid of that bottle of Mending and Nourishing Meridian Liquid, the injuries in his meridians had fully healed. Not only that, but perhaps as a blessing in disguise, he found his meridians to be both tougher and broader than before. Even if he were to endure another massive torrent of spiritual energy like the one during his breakthrough, he felt he could take it without the slightest pressure. This was a great thing! The tougher his meridians were, the more pills he could refine and digest in daily practice. Even if he could not absorb it all immediately, the excess could be stored temporarily within his newly widened meridians. It was precisely because of this that he embezzled middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills by the fistful. *Perhaps I shouldn't pocket too many middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills?* Luo Chen thought about drug tolerance. *Eat fewer low-grade and middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills, hold out for a few more days, and then secretly brew top-grade Jade Marrow Pills for my own cultivation. Wouldn't that be better?* While he was lost in thought, the Origin-Nourishing Spiritual Liquid had finished brewing before he knew it. Undoing his robes, he stepped barefoot into the cauldron. Once again, he was stewing himself in an iron pot! Submerging himself, he took his medicinal bath. After absorbing enough medicinal potency and sensing the vigorous, surging vitality within his blood, Luo Chen took out an incense burner. *This must be the birthday gift that kid Tang Quan gave me!* *He knows how to show respect. Maybe down the road, I can consider letting him take over part of the concocting for the Myriad Wonders Pills?* With a faint smile, he lit a stick of Spirit Calming Incense. Basking in the soothing warmth, Luo Chen swallowed a Dust-Cleansing Pill, circulated the Eternal Spring Art, and drew his mind inward until it was still and deep as an abyss. In this state of single-minded cultivation, the night passed in the blink of an eye. Opening his eyes, Luo Chen fell into contemplation. Back at the sixth level of Qi Refinement, a day's cultivation consisted of two Qi-Nourishing Pills, one serving of Origin-Nourishing Spiritual Liquid, several low-grade Jade Marrow Pills, and finally seven cycles of the Eternal Spring Art bolstered by Spirit Calming Incense. In this spirit vein cavern, a single session would advance his progress bar by two points. Now, he was at the seventh level of Qi Refinement! The Qi-Nourishing Pills had been replaced with Dust-Cleansing Pills of double the potency, though the quantity remained at two. He still used one serving of Origin-Nourishing Spiritual Liquid, traded the low-grade Jade Marrow Pills for middle-grade ones, and continued to run seven cycles of the Eternal Spring Art. One could say that Luo Chen had done everything in his power to upgrade his cultivation resources. Yet, after an entire night, his progress bar had barely ticked up from [1/100] to [2/100]. *My resources have nearly doubled, but my efficiency has dropped by half.* *Is this what it means for higher cultivation realms to demand exponentially more time?* Luo Chen let out a sigh, but he was not disheartened in the slightest. In truth, he had anticipated this long ago, and he had even considered the reality that the eighth and ninth levels of Qi Refinement would only grow increasingly difficult. The logic was simple: if cultivation in the late stages of Qi Refinement were easy, out of the tens of thousands of rogue cultivators who once populated Dahe Market, there wouldn't have been merely a few hundred who reached it. Moreover, the majority of those few hundred were trapped at the seventh level. In ordinary times, though one could easily look up and see late-stage cultivators like Sikong Shoujia and Qin Liangchen at the ninth level, they could no longer be considered ordinary rogue cultivators. Every one of them held a title, a post, or even businesses within the Mountain Breaker Gang. By contrast, the cultivators of the Medicine Hall and the internal affairs cultivators of the Pill Hall were the true representatives of Dahe Market's average cultivation standard. Leaving the spirit vein cavern, Luo Chen piled stones to conceal his tracks as usual. When he reached the central point of the mine tunnels and was about to head up, a thought suddenly crossed his mind. *What if something happens and I get cornered down here?* Looking around, Luo Chen recalled that the few existing tunnel exits all led into the heart of Crescent Moon Valley. If something went wrong even in the Pill Hall, then Crescent Moon Valley would certainly be uninhabitable as well. His gaze settled upon three mine tunnels—the three longest routes he had initially explored. *Perhaps I should find time to dig through one or two of these tunnels and secure an alternate exit.* With this thought, Luo Chen returned to the stone hut. Deactivating the formation and replacing the spent spirit stones, he strolled out into Crescent Moon Valley. Perhaps aware that the outer city would be in utter chaos during this period, quite a few cultivators had chosen not to return home, staying overnight in the stone huts built along the cliffs of Crescent Moon Valley instead. Early in the morning, many were already up and bustling about. *Rustle...* "The snow really is thick!" Luo Chen did not cast the Wind Riding Technique; he simply stepped on the thick layer of snow, strolling through Crescent Moon Valley. After pushing himself hard in cultivation, a little relaxation was necessary. Breathing in some fresh air lifted his spirits. As he walked, Luo Chen leaned against a railing, staring thoughtfully downward as if pondering some profound truth of the Great Dao. "Xiao Luo, what are you daydreaming about?" A voice like the tinkling of a clear spring sounded from behind him. Without turning his head, Luo Chen said, "Nothing much. Sister-in-law, you're up early?" "I didn't head back yesterday. Someone still needs to keep an eye on things at the Medicine Hall." Murong Qinglian stepped up beside him and stretched lazily. Her voluptuous figure drew an unconscious glance from Luo Chen. "Aha! So you were peeping at the female cultivators of our Medicine Hall!" Standing from this angle, Murong Qinglian realized that Luo Chen had not been pondering anything profound at all. His roving eyes were clearly locked on the few female cultivators working below. *Ahem!* Luo Chen straightened his face. "Not at all! I've just grown quite interested in the spells used by spiritual farmers lately." "Oh, really?" Murong Qinglian could never stand his sanctimonious act, and she chuckled so hard she swayed like a blossoming branch. "Then how about I gather a few spiritual farming techniques for you?" "That works too!" Luo Chen said with complete seriousness. In all honesty, the spells he currently practiced had mostly reached Perfect or Grandmaster proficiency. Picking up a few spiritual farming spells would give him a way to keep farming achievement points. Moreover, an alchemist cultivating spirit plants was practically a standard part of career development. What respectable alchemist didn't have their own little medicinal garden? Murong Qinglian tapped his forehead, laughing and chiding him. "You sure know how to put on an act!" After a moment's thought, Murong Qinglian's expression turned somewhat serious. "Xiao Luo, I know the female cultivators in the Medicine Hall inside and out. Their cultivation might not be high, but most have clean backgrounds and kind hearts. They'd rather earn hard-earned money here than sell themselves for spirit stones in filthy places like Tianxiang Pavilion or Spring Tide Pavilion." "Sister-in-law, what are you getting at?" Luo Chen asked, somewhat bewildered. "You aren't getting any younger, and your spiritual root aptitude isn't great. While you're still young and full of vigor, why don't you settle down and start a family?" Having brought up the topic, Murong Qinglian was clearly invested. Counting on her fingers, she said, "Looking at the short term, you're so busy every day that you rarely get to go home. Having a Dao companion could take a lot of chores off your hands—and at the very least, she could warm your bed during the freezing winter. "And in the long run? That's even more significant! "Find a Dao companion, have a child with spiritual roots, raise them for a decade or so, and send them to a sect. If luck is on your side, they might establish their foundation in twenty or thirty years, and you'll still have enough lifespan left to await their filial returns." Luo Chen finally understood. She had come to urge him to marry, and she probably wanted to play matchmaker herself. He smiled and said, "Well, now that you mention it, that actually sounds pretty reasonable." "Right?" Murong Qinglian beamed like a blooming flower. "Tell me, what kind of woman do you like? I'll help you look around." "Well, I like someone whose eyes curve into crescents when she smiles. She can't be too slender—she needs to be voluptuous, with some meat on her bones." Murong Qinglian nodded slightly. *So he likes the plumper type!* "In speech and action, she should be generous and composed, not petty or narrow-minded." This requirement was also quite natural. Xiao Luo was now the head of the Pill Hall, and the people he dealt with were wealthy or influential; someone too timid and petty truly wouldn't do. "She must treat me well, know how to brew soup and cook, and offer me good advice from time to time so I don't stray off course." Before Murong Qinglian could even analyze whether the Medicine Hall had any female cultivators matching those criteria, she heard the final requirement: "And her realm can't be weak—at least the ninth level of Qi Refinement, just like you, Sister-in-law!" Murong Qinglian froze, then covered her mouth and laughed. "You little rascal, you've got some nerve! Aren't you afraid your Brother Qin will beat you up?" "Hmph, beat me?" Luo Chen threw out his chest and raised his head high. "I am not yet strong; once I am, things will change!" "Change, my ass!" A furious shout boomed, followed by a torrent of snow crashing down. Luo Chen's face changed drastically, and he turned tail and fled on the spot. Behind him, Murong Qinglian was doubled over with laughter, while Qin Liangchen glared in righteous fury. *** After a fierce snowball fight, the farce concluded with Luo Chen voluntarily admitting defeat and offering his apologies. Qin Liangchen didn't take it to heart either; he knew Luo Chen well and understood he was merely joking. Even so, after this incident, Murong Qinglian never brought up finding a Dao companion for Luo Chen again. She was well aware that Luo Chen had used teasing humor to decline settling down in a manner that was both tactful and resolute. "In the end, Xiao Luo's heart is set on the Great Dao!" Those were the words Murong Qinglian shared privately with Qin Liangchen. In truth, that was indeed the case. In the days that followed, aside from concocting pills, Luo Chen devoted nearly all his time to cultivation. Even if his progress was comparatively slow, it depended on whom he was being compared to! If set against those rogue cultivators starved for resources, Luo Chen's cultivation speed was as swift as a Golden Core sword cultivator streaking across the sky in a rainbow streak! After all, counting day by day, gaining one point of progress each day meant he could break through to the eighth level of Qi Refinement in three or four months. Even a supreme genius from a sect could hardly surpass that. As for pill refinement, once Luo Chen grew thoroughly familiar with the Four Elements Cauldron, he began gradually letting others assist him. With that, the operation truly expanded. The Four Elements Cauldron could handle four batches of ingredients at once. The Xuanyun Cauldron could handle two batches at once. The Purple Cloud Bronze Furnace handled one batch! In a single morning, he could simultaneously refine seven batches of Jade Marrow Pills. If he included the afternoon, that meant fourteen batches in a day! Factor in a forty percent success rate, and he could produce at least a hundred Jade Marrow Pills a day. As for why it wasn't well over a hundred? The extra pills were, of course, quietly embezzled by Luo Chen. Even though Luo Chen deliberately held back the yield rate of middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills, after five days, his proficiency still crossed over into Grandmaster. Grandmaster proficiency not only brought a success rate as high as fifty percent, but it even allowed him to produce top-grade Jade Marrow Pills whose potency was on par with ordinary low-grade Qi-Nourishing Pills! Naturally, Luo Chen kept the emergence of top-grade Jade Marrow Pills strictly under control. Through his meticulous handling, every single top-grade Jade Marrow Pill went straight into his storage bag the moment it was retrieved from the furnace. The benefits of Grandmaster proficiency did not stop there! Having accumulated vast amounts of additional experience, Luo Chen was far more adept at controlling pill quality, reaching the same level of mastery he held over the Myriad Wonders Pill. Furthermore, by passing down some basic techniques to the pill apprentices and stokers, his own burden was significantly lightened, leaving him far less exhausted. One month later! Inside the Pill Hall's pill-curing chamber, Sikong Shoujia and Gu Caiyi were tensely tallying the count of Jade Marrow Pills. Every batch of Jade Marrow Pills, once refined, was taken into the pill-curing chamber by dedicated pill tenders, bottled according to grade and batch time, and sorted for storage. Consequently, the inventory check was exceptionally smooth. In less than two minutes, Sikong Shoujia's excited voice rang out: "Two hundred and eighty bottles of low-grade Jade Marrow Pills!" "One hundred and twenty bottles of middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills!" What did this mean? Low-grade Jade Marrow Pills were priced by the Mountain Breaker Gang at ten spirit stones per bottle. Middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills were priced at fifty spirit stones per bottle and could be sold individually. Anyone with half a brain could calculate how much this batch of pills in the curing chamber would fetch. Eight thousand eight hundred spirit stones! Once they arrived at this figure, the way Sikong Shoujia looked at Luo Chen, who was leaning against the wall behind them, completely changed. Gu Caiyi swallowed hard, her world view once again upended by Luo Chen. Could an alchemist truly rake in spirit stones like this? "What are you staring at me for?" "Have the Pill Protection Squad escort the pills to the shops!" Luo Chen curled his lips, turned on his heel, and walked away, acting as though he had no interest whatsoever in the immense sum. After his departure, Sikong Shoujia and Gu Caiyi exchanged dumbfounded glances. Since when was Luo Chen so indifferent to spirit stones? Was Luo Chen truly indifferent? Of course not. Once this batch was sold, he was entitled to a twenty-percent cut of the profits. What truly dampened his spirits was regret. He regretted that if he didn't have so many constraints, if he had a far stronger background and could refine pills with total abandon, what sat in the pill-curing chamber today would not merely be four-hundred-odd bottles of low- and middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills. He could have turned the vast majority into top-grade Jade Marrow Pills! While Mi Shuhua had not publicly announced a price for top-grade Jade Marrow Pills, it would certainly approach the cost of the Spirit Herb Pavilion's Qi-Nourishing Pills. And what did that represent? It represented tens of thousands of spirit stones! *What a pity. I have to keep a low profile, or else Mi Shuhua alone won't be able to protect me.* Regrets aside, Luo Chen still felt a twinge of excitement. Even though he couldn't openly refine top-grade Jade Marrow Pills for sale, he could secretly keep some for his own use! The potency of a top-grade Jade Marrow Pill was comparable to a low-grade Qi-Nourishing Pill. He could no longer take Qi-Nourishing Pills due to drug tolerance, but he had developed no tolerance to Jade Marrow Pills! Furthermore, through taking them over the past half month, Luo Chen had discovered that once Jade Marrow Pills reached top grade, they no longer produced the side effect of calcifying the dantian! This meant he could pop pills for cultivation with total abandon once more. The eighth level of Qi Refinement was well within reach! Before calling it a day, Luo Chen gathered all the internal affairs cultivators together. Facing dozens of watching eyes, Luo Chen did not panic in the slightest. With his hands clasped behind his back, he paced leisurely before them. "I trust everyone has heard a thing or two about our alchemy output this past month. "This is not my credit alone; it is the result of everyone's hard work. "I can't promise the moon, but as long as you all continue to cooperate with me in refining pills, once the Pill Hall's revenue increases, I will definitely petition the gang leader to raise everyone's pay! "All right, that's all I have to say. Dismissed!" With that, he waved his hand and slipped away, leaving without taking so much as a wisp of a cloud with him. Behind him erupted thunderous cheers. Among them, the old cultivator Qu Hancheng cheered the loudest. Leading a group of stokers, he chanted things like "Long live the Hall Master!" Swept up in the fervor, the others joined in, singing Luo Chen's praises. Was such a reaction normal for a group of cultivators? In fact, it was entirely normal! Whether working in a sect's shop or in a gang, the stipends for most internal affairs cultivators were fixed. To earn a raise, one either had to possess extraordinary skills or undertake perilous combat missions. The elderly, weak, sick, and disabled in the Pill Hall might not see a single raise in their entire lifetimes before dying of old age. Yet Luo Chen was a generous figure. Not only was he pleasant to work with on ordinary days, but he also frequently looked out for their welfare. He had already bestowed small favors upon several cultivators before. Now, he had even proclaimed that everyone would receive a raise. Even if the increase was modest—perhaps only one or two spirit stones and a few jin of spirit rice each month—it added up to something substantial over time. Following a Hall Master like this, their days ahead were bound to grow sweeter and sweeter! *** Luo Chen did not care what they thought; after all, he wasn't the one paying for the raises—it was the Mountain Breaker Gang's money! Besides, treating these old cultivators and women better would encourage them to put in more effort during pill refinement. That, in turn, would make his own life much easier. He could not stay in the Pill Hall to cultivate today; lingering too long would arouse suspicion. After all, the inner city was the proper place for cultivation. Moreover, he had errands to run back in the city. His Spirit Calming Incense was running low and needed replenishing. It was also time for the monthly settlement with Yuan Xiaoyue, and he needed to supply her with the goods for the coming month. Flying through the air with the Wind Riding Technique, Luo Chen chatted and laughed with his two bodyguards. "I heard that five days ago, some rogue cultivators fought in the outer city and burned down a whole block of houses?" "Aye, nobody died, but with houses burned down, things got serious." Liu Qiang loved gossip and frequently shared news with Luo Chen. In his view, a few deaths were no great matter, but setting fire to houses crossed the bottom line of the Jade Cauldron sword cultivators. Gloating, he said, "It drew out the inner city's law enforcement squad. After searching for a whole day, they dragged out the two culprits. Their fate was miserable—first, compensating the damages, then rebuilding the houses. On top of that, they have to spend half a month at the Red Pillar. "And in the end, they have to take a turn on the Dao Discussion Platform. In front of a massive crowd, they must duel face-to-face. The winner gets released from prison, while the loser stays another half month!" Luo Chen found this amusing, and by the end, he was clapping in approval. Criminals who went around killing and committing arson deserved to be locked up and put through harsh reform through labor! And fighting on stage after their labor served to entertain the public and contribute to society! "What about that Xuanyi Society? Didn't people say they clashed with Luo Wudi's men again?" Liu Qiang curled his lip. "A trivial matter. They ran into a first-rank demon beast in the mountains and insisted on contesting it with Luo Wudi." "And then? How was it resolved?" "Both sides put forward three fighters for a contest. The Xuanyi Society won two bouts, earning the hunting rights. Once they killed that demon beast, Luo Wudi stepped in personally..." Luo Chen's eyes gleamed. "And wiped them out?" "No, he stepped in and bought the demon beast's carcass, then handed it over to the Medicine Hall and Beast Hall to process before selling it off at a high price." "Tch!" Everyone spoke of Luo Wudi, the Crouching Tiger Descending the Mountain, as some fiercely valiant figure. In the end, he was just playing mind games. Luo Chen curled his lip, but then his brows knitted, his gaze dropping to the somewhat shadowy woods below. Liu Qiang and Zhou Yuanli froze, their expressions changing abruptly. Without the slightest hesitation, both men took action together. A massive light barrier expanded outward with wild speed. Out of nowhere, a streak of pitch-black light pierced the air. In the small grove below, a black-robed cultivator stood with hands behind his back, looking up toward the sky. "To think they actually have a top-grade defensive dharma artifact. This might be a bit troublesome."