Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!
Never before had Luo Chen breathed so raggedly.
His heart pounded against his ribs.
His eyes abandoned everything else in the room, fixed entirely on the pure white pill floating in midair.
A Foundation Establishment Pill!
At such close range, Luo Chen was seeing what a genuine Foundation Establishment Pill looked like for the very first time.
Four pill patterns, drifting like clouds and mist, lent the pellet a truly sacred aura.
Only after a long while did he grit his teeth and force his gaze away.
His voice came out hoarse. "What is the Gang Leader's meaning in this?"
Mi Shuhua was pleased with his reaction, though somewhat surprised that Luo Chen managed to suppress his greed so quickly.
Instead of retrieving the pill, Mi Shuhua left it suspended in the air.
His expression turned solemn. "It is very simple. I want you to refine Jade Marrow Pills with everything you have, holding nothing back."
"I have already been doing my ut—"
"No, you have not!"
Mi Shuhua narrowed his eyes slightly, enunciating every word. "I had people investigate your past sales of Myriad Wonders Pills. Once you started producing mid-grade pills, you virtually never turned out another low-grade one again. And when high-grade pills followed, the pattern repeated!"
"In other words, your talent in the alchemical arts is vastly more terrifying and extreme than we ever imagined."
"At first, I could not be certain."
"Yet during your very first large-scale batch of Jade Marrow Pills, you let slip a few clues."
"Do you still remember what your success rate was back then?"
Luo Chen's breath nearly stopped.
All along, he had believed he had hidden his abilities flawlessly, leaving behind no seam or crack.
He had also been confident that even if Mi Shuhua realized he was pocketing a few Jade Marrow Pills, the man would not pursue it too deeply.
And indeed, from the beginning up until now, Mi Shuhua had never given him trouble over it.
Yet he had never anticipated that the alchemical mastery he had painstakingly concealed would be exposed so abruptly.
A thick ledger appeared in Mi Shuhua's hand.
With a casual flick of his sleeve, the ledger flipped back to its earliest entries.
"'Mountain and Sea Calendar, Year 3407, the first of December, at the onset of winter. The Pill Hall received ten low-grade Jade Marrow Pills and twenty mid-grade Jade Marrow Pills, consuming four sets of raw ingredients in total. A fifty percent success rate. The ratio of low to mid-grade was one to two!'"
Having read the line in a flat, emotionless voice, Mi Shuhua locked his eyes onto Luo Chen.
"Knowing you as I do, when you collected the pills in private, you must have skimmed off a portion for yourself—most likely the finest mid-grade ones!"
"Luo Chen, am I mistaken?"
Sweat beaded on Luo Chen's forehead. He remained silent.
Mi Shuhua did not seem to care for an answer and pressed on. "I know nothing of alchemy, but I know that craft comes with practice! A craft only grows sharper, and success rates only rise; there is no reason for them to deteriorate!"
"Yet after that first time, your reported success rate never rose above fifty percent again."
"Not only that, the ratio of low to mid-grade pills plunged as far as seven to three at one point. Even after you claimed your craft had improved, it barely scraped six to four."
"Luo Chen, how do you explain this?"
An explanation?
What explanation could he possibly give?
He could only stand trembling with fear, head lowered and back bowed, maintaining his dead silence.
Drop after drop of sweat fell to the floor.
Inside the stone chamber, the pitter-patter sounded like raindrops dripping from the eaves onto bluestone flags.
The air was still, heavy, and suffocating.
It was like a sovereign sitting on high, looking down upon a minister guilty of treason.
Seeing him reduced to this, Mi Shuhua let out a quiet breath of relief.
What a cunning little fox. He had almost managed to deceive him entirely.
Still, it was for the best; now that the truth was uncovered, it was not too late.
This display of intimidation had served its purpose.
Next came the part where he won the man's loyalty and extracted the maximum value from Luo Chen.
Right now, he desperately needed that value!
The oppressive silence was soon broken as Mi Shuhua's tone softened noticeably.
"I know you come from an independent background. Just as I once did, you are wary of everything and trust no one. You refuse to let go of even the slightest bit of profit."
"Yet I consider myself to have treated you well!"
"When you wanted pills, I gave them to you. When you wanted auxiliary cultivation resources, I provided them. When you wanted insights on Qi Refinement, I handed them over."
"I even took the initiative to grant you treasures like Mending and Nourishing Meridian Liquid and a Minor Spirit Gathering Formation."
"Any one of those things would cause independent cultivators to tear each other to pieces outside. Yet you enjoyed them without ever stepping past your threshold. When the cultivators of my Mi family voiced their bitter dissatisfaction, I suppressed them by force."
"Under such circumstances, should you not return the favor and serve me with all your heart?"
A raspy voice emerged from Luo Chen's throat.
"I deserve death. I was shortsighted and blinded by greed."
He stood there in deep deference, listing his transgressions one by one.
He went so far as to confess to many of the mid-grade Jade Marrow Pills he had embezzled.
Hearing these candid admissions, Mi Shuhua could not help but show a satisfied smile.
"And what of the future?"
Luo Chen declared with fervent resolve, "I shall do everything in my power to serve you!"
Not enough. It was still not enough!
"I know you also feared that such terrifying alchemical talent might draw unwanted greed from others," Mi Shuhua said magnanimously, offering an excuse on his behalf. "However, you have my protection now, and the reputation of the alchemist Danchenzi has already been established. Displaying a bit of your true brilliance is only natural."
"The Gang Leader speaks the truth. In the past, I was indeed too shortsighted!"
Luo Chen sounded deeply remorseful, looking as though he were on the verge of slapping his own face.
"I once promised that when you reached the point of establishing your foundation, I would procure a Foundation Establishment Pill for you. Do you recall?"
Luo Chen looked up, his gaze falling once more upon the floating pellet.
Mi Shuhua nodded. "I am not a man of empty words. This Foundation Establishment Pill belongs to you now."
Luo Chen froze. *It really belongs to me?*
The next instant, he watched the Foundation Establishment Pill sink into a jade box.
The box then drifted gently over to float before Luo Chen.
"When your Qi Refinement reaches Great Perfection, come find me, and I will undo the restriction upon it."
"Well? Now that the Foundation Establishment Pill is in your hands, does your heart feel at ease?"
Luo Chen looked dazed. Cradling the jade box, he appeared thoroughly stunned.
A Foundation Establishment Pill had landed in his hands just like that?
From the corner of his eye, he caught the expectant look on Mi Shuhua's face.
Suddenly!
His expression turned solemn.
Raising his hand toward the heavens, he swore an oath.
"As long as Luo Chen remains in the Mountain Breaker Gang, I will refine as many mid-grade Jade Marrow Pills as possible and never conceal my craft again! If there is any deceit, may lightning strike me down!"
Hearing this pledge, Mi Shuhua finally beamed with satisfaction.
While some took a cultivator's oath lightly, it still carried undeniable weight.
Especially for someone like Luo Chen, whose heart was set firmly on the Great Dao.
Mi Shuhua could not be more pleased!
In this contest of confessions, it was he, Mi Shuhua, who had the last laugh.
How could a little fox ever outplay an old fox?
Accompanied by Mi Junping, Luo Chen departed from the Mi family manor, looking moved to tears.
Watching his dramatic shift in demeanor, Mi Junping sneered inwardly.
*This brat hid his cards deep enough, but did he really think a Foundation Establishment cultivator would be so easily fooled?*
*From now on, you'll work like an ox and a horse for our Mi family!*
Only after Luo Chen made it safely back to the inner city and shut himself inside his residence did the tearful gratitude vanish completely from his face.
Taking out the jade box, his expression darkened.
A Foundation Establishment Pill!
What kind of sick joke was this Foundation Establishment Pill!
It was nothing more than an empty promise dangled on a hook!
And how many had been fooled by that very promise?
Heart-Devouring Tiger Han Dang, who died on the Dao Discussion Platform; Qin Liangchen, who lost an arm; and even the Mountain Breaker Gang's Zeng Wen and Wang Yuan.
Now, that same empty promise had been handed to Luo Chen.
Yet he could only look at it, never consume it.
Under Luo Chen's Spiritual Eye Art, the restrictions woven across the jade box were packed so densely that they offered no possible point of entry.
It could hardly even be called a mere restriction anymore; it was a miniature sealing array!
A Qi Refinement cultivator could not dream of unraveling it.
Even an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator would be powerless unless it was Mi Shuhua himself.
That was because Mi Shuhua's spiritual sense imprint was embedded inside it; any unauthorized touch would instantly destroy whatever lay within.
Perhaps only a Golden Core cultivator, standing a full major realm higher, could unravel it with ease.
Yet how could a mere Foundation Establishment Pill ever convince a Golden Core master to intervene?
*What a brilliant scheme. He was probably waiting for me to swear a Dao oath the entire time!* Luo Chen clenched his fists, rage churning in his chest.
Mi Shuhua might have treated him well, but Luo Chen had never let him take a loss either.
From the Jade Marrow Pills he had refined before, had Mi Shuhua not taken the lion's share of the profits?
And yet today, the man had sprung this deliberate trap on him!
Taking several deep breaths, Luo Chen forced himself to calm down.
He began retracing every single event from the moment he entered that stone chamber.
Whether it was the chamber's pseudo-Tier 2 spirit vein environment created by a Tier 2 Spirit Gathering Formation, the permission to cultivate there once a month, or the Foundation Establishment Pill unveiled at the end—
each had been an enormous temptation aimed squarely at shattering Luo Chen's psychological defenses.
With that groundwork laid, Mi Shuhua had suddenly sprung the accusations of concealed skill and embezzlement.
Under such immense pressure, almost anyone would have crumbled.
Yet Luo Chen was a transmigrator who had seen more than his share of corporate manipulation and gaslighting from bosses in his past life.
The moment Mi Shuhua placed that sealed Foundation Establishment Pill into his hands, Luo Chen knew what it was.
It was the most textbook application of the carrot and the stick.
*The old man certainly knows how to manage his subordinates.*
Fingering the jade box, Luo Chen could easily deduce that the pill inside was the very one that had ostensibly belonged to Qin Liangchen.
By handing it to him now, wasn't Mi Shuhua driving a wedge between Luo Chen and Qin Liangchen as well?
Within the Mountain Breaker Gang, setting aside Wang Yuan, Qin Liangchen and his wife were the closest to him and the ones he could rely on for mutual support.
Now that he had taken what belonged to someone else, an instinctive rift would form between him and Qin Liangchen no matter what.
And worst of all, he could see the prize, but couldn't touch it!
It was meant entirely to torment him!
Using a single pill to eliminate two warriors?
No, counting all those who had perished over this Foundation Establishment Pill, it was far more than two!
When all was said and done, he had been careless.
Back when his proficiency with the Jade Marrow Pill reached the Perfect level, he had started large-scale production so Mi Shuhua wouldn't wait too long.
Lacking Master-level proficiency at the time, he hadn't been able to precisely control the ratio of pill grades.
Mi Shuhua had been sharp enough to look into his past sales of Myriad Wonders Pills, allowing him to guess that Luo Chen was deliberately holding back.
*What an old fox... Wait, that's not right!*
Luo Chen frowned. *He deduced it from the Pill Hall's ledger. But if he knew back then, why didn't he bring it up sooner?*
The grade ratio of pills had a colossal impact on profits.
The difference wasn't just a spirit stone or two; it amounted to hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of spirit stones!
*He wouldn't mind me embezzling a bit on the side. But where profits of that scale are concerned, he should have confronted me long ago.*
*Which means he only noticed it recently!*
Once he realized this, Luo Chen could only curse the man as an old scoundrel.
Fortunately, he had still kept an ace up his sleeve.
When swept along by the atmosphere earlier to make a Dao oath, Luo Chen had played a trick with his wording.
*Refining as many mid-grade Jade Marrow Pills as possible doesn't say a thing about high-grade ones!*
Although Mi Shuhua had overestimated Luo Chen's talent in alchemy, he still hadn't dreamed that Luo Chen could already produce high-grade Jade Marrow Pills.
The profit margin on those was far more staggering!
Moreover, the oath came with a condition:
*"As long as Luo Chen remains in the Mountain Breaker Gang."*
In other words, if Luo Chen fled, the oath would dissolve naturally.
Mi Shuhua had probably gathered as much, but he was confident in whatever means he had planted on Luo Chen and chose not to call it out.
Particularly after Luo Chen's best efforts to hide his cultivation realm had still been seen through by Mi Shuhua, the old man grew all the more secure in his control.
Both sides had their schemes, but in the end, Luo Chen had been outmaneuvered.
The reason was simple: his strength was inferior.
*If only I had the power of Foundation Establishment, why would I ever need to bow and scrape, playing the part of a groveling coward?!*
*Foundation Establishment... Foundation Establishment...*
Luo Chen murmured the words. Never before had his longing to reach Foundation Establishment burned so fiercely!
For now, however, he was utterly powerless.
Carefully stowing the jade box away, Luo Chen let out a sigh.
Moving forward, he could no longer hold back; he would truly have to refine mid-grade Jade Marrow Pills on a grand scale.
Whether the reputation of the alchemist Master Danchenzi would truly shield him remained uncertain.
Could Mi Shuhua's mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation truly provide adequate protection?
All of it was an unknown.
Luo Chen despised the feeling of having his life held in someone else's hands. The thought of running away had already taken root in his mind.
The best escape route was Mount Changyin.
He had explored that area thoroughly by now, and with his Master-level Breath Concealment Spiritual Art, he could hide there relatively safely.
However, Mount Changyin was still too close to Dahe Market.
Only Mount Huiye separated the two.
What if he ventured deeper into the Howling Moon Mountain Range, using it as a passage to reach other market towns?
According to the maps, reaching the nearest market town through the Howling Moon Mountain Range required crossing the Great Snow Mountain at the very least.
The deeper one went into the Million Mountains of the Eastern Wilderness, the higher the rank of the demon beasts, with no shortage of Tier 3 and Tier 4 monsters.
A Master-level Breath Concealment Spiritual Art would hardly be enough!
Still, he was very close to Great Perfection. He could make time to practice it intensively in the coming days.
Another glaring problem with running away was his future cultivation.
How would he cultivate in the wilderness?
The deep mountains offered no stable or secure environment for practice.
Furthermore, given his mediocre innate talent, relying solely on his cultivation technique yielded a speed comparable to a dual spirit root at best—and that was only achievable within an environment like a spirit vein cave.
He needed pills, and in vast quantities—preferably standard cultivation pills produced by the Spirit Herb Pavilion.
The wilderness could never provide that.
As for other auxiliary resources, Luo Chen hadn't even dared to think that far ahead yet.
*Independent cultivators may look carefree, but when it comes to cultivation, they have nothing to fall back on!*
Luo Chen shook his head. If he was truly going to flee, he had to secure enough cultivation resources first.
And all of that required a mountain of spirit stones.
*Fine. I'll work like mad for a few months and make a massive fortune first!*
*When I go all out with Master-level proficiency in the Jade Marrow Pill, the yield will probably leave the cultivators in the Pill Hall gaping in disbelief!*
Luo Chen consoled himself with the thought.
Yet the moment he realized that going all out would make Mi Shuhua even richer, a wave of stifled frustration washed over him.
*Come to think of it, Mi Shuhua suddenly pulled out all these stops against me—temptations, pressure, and finally dangling the priceless Foundation Establishment Pill. Such urgent, rapid-fire tactics don't match his usual measured way of managing people at all.*
Suddenly, Luo Chen recalled the sickly, pale face he had seen upon first entering the stone chamber.
*Is he gravely wounded?*
Chapter 133