Early the next morning, Luo Chen put on the white fox fur coat from the previous year. Hands tucked into his pockets, he set out at daybreak to inspect his territory.
Winter had set in completely, and heavy snow drifted down in thick flakes.
Crescent Moon Valley was blanketed in white.
From a distance, Luo Chen spotted a young boy building a snowman by the main gate.
Walking over to take a look, Luo Chen could not help but laugh.
"That's so ugly!"
Qu Lingjun tilted his head away, said not a word, and dashed straight into the building.
Luo Chen paused, surprised. *Come on, surely it wasn't that bad!*
*I gave you pills just yesterday, and today you can't even show a little courtesy?*
An instant later, however, he saw Qu Lingjun run back out carrying a small flowerpot.
"President! President, this is a birthday gift for you!"
Luo Chen looked at the plant in the pot, which had only just sprouted fresh green shoots.
His mouth dropped open slightly. *Is it my birthday?*
Qu Lingjun beamed with pride. "This is a Soul Nourishing Tree! You gave me the seed on a whim before. I used some demon beast blood the uncles didn't want and nurtured it for a while, and it finally sprouted! Amazing, aren't I?"
Luo Chen pinched the boy's chubby, baby-faced cheek and chided affectionately, "So after all that, you're just regifting something I gave you!"
"Hehe!"
Qu Lingjun gave a sheepish grin, then puffed out his chest. "Ordinary people can't nurse a Soul Nourishing Tree to life, you know."
Indeed, Soul Nourishing Trees were exceedingly difficult to raise.
Yet difficulty in raising did not mean difficulty in germinating. The true hardship lay in the fact that a Soul Nourishing Tree took a full thousand years from taking root and sprouting to reaching a usable maturity.
Speaking of the seed, Feng Xia had given it to him for his birthday the previous year.
It had sat in his storage bag ever since, neglected. When Luo Chen saw Qu Lingjun memorizing and reciting the *Illustrated Guide to a Hundred Herbs*, he had simply handed it over to let the boy practice his hands-on skills.
He had never expected the boy to actually cultivate a sprout.
"Alright, I see you've managed to grow it. Don't give it to me just yet. Look after it for me, and give it to me once it's grown!"
"Mm-hmm!"
Qu Lingjun nodded eagerly and carried the pot back inside with utmost care.
Luo Chen bent down, scooped up a large handful of snow, and began patching and reshaping the ugly little snowman.
A moment later, Qu Lingjun joined in again.
"Who's this snowman supposed to be? Why does it have a beard?"
"It's my dad! His beard is really stiff and prickly, so I glued pig bristles on to make it."
"Aren't you basically calling your dad a pig, then?"
"He really is clumsy, not nearly as smart as my mom... Wait, no, my dad isn't this handsome. I take after my mom more."
As they shaped the snow, Qu Lingjun's nose turned red from the cold.
He looked up at Luo Chen and sniffled.
"President, I miss my dad and mom."
Luo Chen pressed his lips together and gently ruffled the boy's hair.
One tall, one small, they stood amidst the falling snow, finishing an ugly snowman together.
***
"A ghost general?"
Inside Bright Moon Hall, cultivators sat gathered around the brazier for warmth.
Luo Chen listened in astonishment to the news Zeng Wen had gathered.
Zeng Wen clicked his tongue in wonder. "Indeed. Nobody expected a ghost-general-level entity to appear inside that ghost city. The Nangong family pushed the farthest in, and this time their losses were catastrophic!"
Yin ghosts took many forms.
Spirits condensed from yin qi, cultivators who strayed onto the ghostly path after their cultivation fell apart, vengeful spirits formed from dying in places of yin fiend, or even classic zombies—all could be considered part of the ghostly lineage.
Their hierarchy was not measured by conventional Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment.
Instead, they were divided into ghost soldiers, ghost generals, and ghost kings.
The reason for this classification lay in the natural suppression higher-ranking yin ghosts exerted over their subordinates.
A being as mighty as a ghost king could even transform an entire territory into a ghostly domain.
Every ghost cultivator within it would not only be augmented, but also fall under the ghost king's absolute control.
The battle for the inner city of Dahe Market had erupted at high noon, engulfing numerous cultivators—at least five thousand or more!
Once it broke out, some died on the spot, while others were trapped inside by the formations activated by the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion.
Only a precious few lucky souls had managed to escape in the earliest moments.
When the battle concluded, the three ghost kings were obliterated by the Core Formation sword cultivator Pang Renxiong.
The concentrated ghost qi accumulated over hundreds of years immediately enveloped the inner city, completely transforming it into a ghostly domain.
If that had been the end of it, one would only need to wait for a major sect to arrive and cleanse the ghost qi to restore the righteous order of the world.
Yet three months had passed, and the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, a ghost-general-level presence had now emerged inside that ghost city!
While a ghost general could not manipulate an entire domain of yin ghosts the way a ghost king could, it possessed burgeoning sentience and retained some behavioral habits from when it was alive.
Furthermore, situated within a ghostly domain, its combat prowess received an immense boost.
How it measured up against a Foundation Establishment cultivator remained unknown.
Against Qi Refining cultivators, however, it was an absolute, insurmountable force.
"Where did it appear?" Luo Chen asked, intrigued.
Zeng Wen answered animatedly, "Supposedly around White Stone Square. The Nangong family had penetrated the deepest back then, hoping to get an early look into the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion.
"Yet the moment they reached White Stone Square, they ran right into the ghost general.
"Tsk, tsk, it was a bloodbath! Out of ten late-stage Qi Refining cultivators from the Nangong family, nine died right then and there."
Luo Chen raised an eyebrow. "Nine?"
"That's right, only Nangong Qin survived." As Zeng Wen spoke, he glanced at Qin Liangchen, who was sipping wine nearby. "The brat was lucky. He carried a set of treasures specifically meant to ward off yin ghosts, plus a dharma artifact bestowed by his Foundation Establishment father.
"Relying on the time bought by the other nine, he activated the artifact and fled the perimeter of White Stone Square in utter disarray."
Hearing this outcome, Murong Qinglian felt a twinge of regret.
The grudge from when Nangong Qin led men to ambush Qin Liangchen was something the Qin family had by no means forgotten.
Qin Liangchen, for his part, remained noncommittal, offering no comment.
"Here, take these."
A soft voice sounded beside him. Luo Chen smiled and took a handful of peeled hazelnut kernels from Caiyi.
Tossing them into his mouth all at once, he asked around the mouthful, "The Nangong family wouldn't broadcast something like that, would they?
"You're describing it so vividly—it sounds as though you were standing right there watching!"
Zeng Wen chuckled. "I wasn't there, but someone from the Li family was!"
"The Li family?"
"Yes. Li Ao was leading a team at the time, and they had just crept up to the outer edge of White Stone Square. Thanks to that Green Firefly Lantern artifact of theirs, they witnessed the whole thing with their own eyes."
*The Li family sent people to explore the ghost city too?*
Luo Chen sank into thought.
It seemed the various factions had focused their attention entirely on the ghost city lately.
It made sense. Immense resources were left behind inside; hauling out even a fraction was faster and far more lucrative than painstakingly running normal operations.
If nothing else, Luo Chen desperately wanted to scavenge Xianzhu Residence.
As an enterprise under Mount Ailao, the spiritual materials within Xianzhu Residence were all hard currency.
Especially the Earth Fire Fiend!
Beside him, Zeng Wen continued speaking eloquently about the latest happenings in the ghost city.
These were all pieces of intelligence he had gathered from other patrons while working at the Gold Hall.
Having witnessed the Nangong family's disastrous defeat, the Li family cultivators made sure to trumpet the news far and wide upon returning.
Their aim was simply to deal a blow to the Nangong family, an outside cultivation clan.
After all, when the two families had competed for the Mountain Breaker Gang's Beast Hall resources, no small amount of bad blood had been stirred up.
Through Zeng Wen's account, the group gradually gained a clearer picture of the ghost city's current state.
The greatest danger lay around White Stone Square.
With a ghost general patrolling the area, no one could venture inside safely.
However, once outside the bounds of White Stone Square, the ghost general would not pursue.
That was the only reason Nangong Qin and the Li family cultivators had escaped with their lives.
As for the shops belonging to the five great external sects, they were long since empty.
Whatever treasures could be carried away had been taken, and what could not had been destroyed.
The shops belonging to local smaller sects were more or less protected by formations.
For the time being, the various factions were racking their brains trying to breach them.
At the mention of formations, Luo Chen was reminded of Min Longyu.
That man appeared to belong to the Great River Gang, but in reality, he was likely a cultivator from the Lianyun Merchant Alliance.
He was exceptionally skilled in formations.
Even in combat, he relied mostly on formations to face his foes.
If the Lianyun Merchant Alliance also intended to explore the inner city, dispatching Min Longyu would ensure their harvest far surpassed everyone else's.
*If only our Luotian Association had someone skilled in formations like that,* Luo Chen thought with some regret.
The Luotian Association still lacked talent, consisting mostly of production cultivators and combatants.
Not that the production cultivators were idle—each was pulling their weight.
Under Yuan Dongsheng's supervision, the spiritual rice planted earlier was thriving.
Come next year, they might even reap a modest harvest.
The other medicinal herbs were also doing well, benefiting from the spiritual energy scattered when the inner city's spirit vein erupted.
The only drawback was that with winter here, maintaining the formation that kept the climate perpetual spring was quite costly.
Yet what the production cultivators produced also required protection.
Otherwise, what if someone came and snatched it away?
Combat cultivators might hold their own in a fight, but if a clash truly erupted and swept across the fields, all their crops would come to naught like drawing water with a sieve.
By contrast, a formation cultivator like Min Longyu was of immense utility.
With someone like that presiding over the Lesser Five Elements Formation, the crops grown in Crescent Moon Valley would remain safe and sound so long as a Foundation Establishment cultivator did not intervene.
Regrettably, the Luotian Association had no such person.
The only one with any grasp of formations was Duan Feng.
Yet the formations he knew were mostly related to artifact forging, and all were small-scale.
Lately, aside from cultivating, he was busy guiding apprentices.
He intended to follow Luo Chen's earlier plan to train a batch of forging apprentices and establish an Artifact Hall.
*There is still a long way to go to build up and expand the Luotian Association!* Luo Chen shook his head, then resumed chatting idly with the others.
The topic gradually shifted from Dahe Market gossip to cultivation.
Most of those present in the hall were cultivators of the ninth layer of Qi Refining.
Apart from those like Zeng Wen and Granny Yuan who had long since made peace with their limits, most still harbored a sliver of hope for Foundation Establishment.
With Luo Chen moderating, everyone discussed the difficulties they encountered in their cultivation, creating a harmonious and pleasant atmosphere.
Luo Chen also benefited greatly from listening to others' cultivation insights.
A single insight or two could spare him countless detours on the path of cultivation.
The tea gathering lasted until dusk before the crowd slowly dispersed.
Only after everyone had returned to their respective quarters did Luo Chen head back to the pill room.
The Pill Hall had not concocted any pills today, giving everyone a day off.
Luo Chen had rested for a full day, and the minor meridian damage he suffered earlier had healed completely under the nourishment of the Mending and Nourishing Meridian Liquid.
Combined with a day of lighthearted conversation, his condition had reached its peak.
*Let's start with a batch of Blood Burning Pills to warm up!*
The string of failures yesterday had been rather disheartening.
Luo Chen planned to refine some Blood Burning Pills first, both to bolster his confidence and to prepare some inventory for his next meeting with Tianxingzi.
Before getting started, Luo Chen glanced at his attribute panel.
[Blood Burning Pill: Entry 97/100]
Just one more successful batch would advance it to the Skilled level.
At that point, the success rate would rise from ten percent to twenty percent.
It would be a modest breakthrough in its own right.
*I've accumulated several failures already. Concocting four portions of ingredients at once this time, at least one of them ought to succeed!*
By now, Luo Chen had figured out the workings of the system thoroughly.
The so-called probability was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
Take the Entry stage, for instance. It seemed as though one attempt out of ten was guaranteed to succeed.
In truth, that was not the case!
If one did not concentrate and pour their utmost effort into every concoction, it was entirely possible to fail all ten times.
Conversely, if preparation was thorough and one's mastery over the recipe, pill arts, and various techniques was sufficiently practiced, it was also possible to succeed on the very first try.
His very first attempt at concocting the Blood Burning Pill back then was an excellent example.
He had not undergone repeated failures; instead, he succeeded on his first try.
*Young man, you must give every concoction your all!*
*Only then will the baseline guarantee hold!*
Luo Chen offered himself a silent word of encouragement, then tossed a stalk of Qinghe demon into the fire pit.
Using this demon beast corpse as pill fire could increase the pill yield.
There was no reason not to use it.
Before officially beginning the concoction, his expression grew solemn as he mobilized his spiritual power, stimulating eighteen acupoints throughout his body in sequence.
"Mm..."
A muffled groan escaped his lips. Luo Chen took a deep breath, suppressing the pain brought on by circulating Clear Mind and Disperse Fiends.
He needed this pain!
Not for concocting the Blood Burning Pill, but to familiarize himself with the sensation.
Because later, when concocting the Nether-Passage Pill, Clear Mind and Disperse Fiends might help him combat the hallucinogenic power of the snow fox demon blood.
This was an inspiration he had gained today while conversing with his friends.
Pain could potentially shock a person out of an illusion and bring clarity.
And maintaining constant pain offered a strong chance of keeping oneself from sinking into that dazed hallucinatory state.
Having completed his preliminary preparations, Luo Chen added the medicinal herbs in sequence.
Then, the concoction process for the Blood Burning Pill commenced.
Luo Chen was already thoroughly versed in the entire procedure.
Roughly two hours later, Luo Chen contentedly gathered fourteen Blood Burning Pills.
All were low-grade, yet he had succeeded on two portions out of four.
The proficiency of the Blood Burning Pill reached the Skilled tier.
Not only that, but the achievement point lost when initiating the Nether-Passage Pill had also been replenished by one.
Presently, his achievement point tally stood higher.
Following the Grand Perfection of Spirit Eye Art, the advancement of Earth Mountain Technique and Billowing Waves Art to the Perfect tier, and now the advancement of Blood Burning Pill to the Skilled tier, he had gained four more.
Twenty-eight achievement points!
During his break, Luo Chen looked at these achievement points and felt an impulse stir within him.
If he poured all these points into those two complete second-tier pill recipes, could he bring them to Entry level?
The reason he felt this itch was primarily that he had no more first-tier pill recipes on hand.
Only three second-tier pill recipes remained: Jade Dew Pill, Blood Fiend Pill, and Emperor Flowing Fluid.
Among them, he had the greatest confidence in the Blood Fiend Pill.
Unfortunately, he lacked the primary ingredient.
Even if he mastered it to Entry level, he could not concoct it for the time being.
The Jade Dew Pill was of the greatest value!
Yet it was incomplete. The achievement points required to deduce and complete it might be an unimaginably vast figure.
"Emperor Flowing Fluid..."
Luo Chen shook his head. He had not reached that stage yet.
Once he advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage, whether for initiation or deduction, it would no longer demand so many achievement points.
At that time, his cultivation would match the tier of the recipe, and the points required to initiate it would be no different from initiating a first-tier recipe now.
After a brief rest, Luo Chen stood up and entered another pill room.
Looking at the large bronze cauldron, Luo Chen smiled faintly.
"Though the Divine Wood Cauldron is only first-tier mid-grade, it provides an extra boost when concocting plant- and herb-based pills.
"One of the two primary ingredients of the Nether-Passage Pill is Phantom Nether Grass.
"It should offer some benefit."
This time, he set aside the Four Symbols Cauldron, choosing instead the lower-grade Divine Wood Cauldron with its specialized bonus.
May it bring success!
Circulating Clear Mind and Disperse Fiends, the sharp pain flared anew.
Luo Chen's expression remained unchanged, as though he felt nothing at all, as he added the raw ingredients one after another.
Much later.
Luo Chen walked out of the pill room with a calm expression.
Failure!
It was within expectations.
He was not angry. The recipe for the Nether-Passage Pill had also been incomplete, completed by his own deduction and forcibly initiated through the system.
Any failure was entirely forgivable.
Furthermore, this failure confirmed that Clear Mind and Disperse Fiends possessed a notable resistance against the hallucinogenic effect of the snow fox demon blood.
That, in fact, was the greatest gain.
"Next time, it will surely succeed!"
***
The next attempt did not succeed either.
Not until five days later, when Luo Chen halted the concoction of Jade Marrow Pills and spent an entire day refining the Nether-Passage Pill in isolation, did he finally manage a single success.
"A full nine attempts before finally seeing a harvest!"
Luo Chen looked at the three pills in his hand, white as pure snow, filled with deep emotion.
Three. Only three!
Even though Luo Chen had prepared himself mentally, it was still hard to swallow.
He knew that although both primary ingredients of the Nether-Passage Pill were present, fully half of the auxiliary ingredients had been missing, requiring a great deal of his time to deduce and complete.
He also knew that without the reverse deduction of a second-tier recipe like the Blood Fiend Pill, a self-completed recipe might suffer from innate shortcomings.
Yet he had never anticipated the yield would be so meager.
"The cost of a single portion of raw ingredients is as high as fifteen spirit stones, far exceeding the eleven for a Blood Burning Pill and five for a Jade Marrow Pill.
"And in the end, only three pills.
"If not spread out, but calculated by actual total expenditure, wouldn't ten attempts require a hundred and fifty spirit stones just to obtain three first-tier low-grade Nether-Passage Pills?"
These figures made Luo Chen wince all over again.
He had never been such a spendthrift in his life.
"I'd like to see just what heaven-defying effect you possess!"
Clutching the three snow-white pills in his palm, Luo Chen stepped into the spirit vein cavern.
***
His spirit was full, his qi abundant, and his body entirely free of injury.
Luo Chen took a deep breath and resolutely swallowed one of the snow-white pills.
When he had concocted the violently potent Blood Burning Pill, he had not dared to consume it lightly.
Because he knew the volatile nature of its medicinal properties, testing had been necessary.
However, the medicinal trajectory of the Nether-Passage Pill was to augment the foundation of the divine soul.
Given the exorbitant cost, he could not bear to waste one testing it on small beasts.
Under such circumstances, it was better to experience it himself!
The pill entered his mouth and dissolved upon contact.
An icy chill surged straight into the crown of his head.
Luo Chen could not help but shiver violently from the cold.
And in that single shiver, his consciousness drifted.
...
Inside a kitchen thick with the smell of grease and soot, a young man leaned over the hearth, clutching a large handful of blackened medicinal dregs, his demeanor border-line crazed.
"Failure?"
"Failure!"
"Why? Why another failure!"
"I staked my entire fortune to gather these ten sets of ingredients, yet I still can't succeed!"
"Could it be... I have no talent for pill concoction?"
"No, I don't believe it. There are still three sets of ingredients left. I will definitely succeed!"
The young man gathered the medicinal dregs and went to the brook to scour the iron wok.
He practiced spells and circulated his cultivation art, constantly adjusting his state of mind.
The next day, he continued refining Myriad Wonders Pills.
Failure!
The third day, another failure!
And on the fourth day, with the final portion of ingredients remaining...
Bearing all his hopes, with the utmost focus and an almost fanatical determination, he staked everything on a single throw.
In the end...
"Failed again."
The young man's lips parted, his muttering voice choked with a sob.
Fifty spirit stones—that was his entire life savings.
To concoct Myriad Wonders Pills, he had poured every last bit into the pot.
Yet not a single pill had formed. That meant the accumulation of years of effort was completely wiped out.
In the end, it was all like drawing water with a sieve—an empty endeavor!
Where was he supposed to go from here?
Luo Chen looked around. Four bare walls. Even the rice jar had less than half a jin of spiritual rice left.
"Perhaps I was never suited for pill concoction in the first place."
"Should I never have dreamed of becoming a pill master and never having to worry about spirit stones again?"
He sank into profound self-doubt.
He sat lifelessly in the kitchen, letting the scorched smell of failed medicinal dregs envelop him, as though he himself were nothing more than a failure.
Who knew how much time slipped by.
When dawn arrived, he slowly pushed himself to his feet.
Luo Chen surveyed the state of his home, then dumped the medicinal dregs and tidied the kitchen.
After washing up simply, he walked out the door and headed for the outer city.
He arrived before a cluster of buildings set amidst scenic waters and lush greenery, sheltered behind bamboo pavilions.
"Halt! Who goes there?"
"Rogue cultivator Luo Chen. I wish to join the Mountain Breaker Gang."
Chapter 168