Once again, Luo Chen met with Li Jinhuang.
The meeting was not held at Huilong Bay, but inside an underwater abode.
Deep beneath the waters of the Qinhua River, a winding corridor stretched into the dim gloom, seemingly leading nowhere.
Two silhouettes walked forward in silence, one following the other.
Luo Chen trailed behind, eyeing the young man leading the way with a touch of surprise.
Li Yingzhang!
He was the Li family member of this generation most likely to achieve Foundation Establishment.
Endowed with dual spirit roots, he had not joined a grand sect despite his young age. Instead, Li Jinhuang had kept him close from childhood to instruct him personally.
Such situations were not unheard of.
When a clan faced a generational drought in talent, producing a lone prodigy, the best course of action was often not to send them away to a grand sect, but to keep them within the clan.
After all, entering a sect was like diving into an ocean deep and unfathomable.
There was no telling when such a disciple might forget their roots.
Raising them by one's side from youth strengthened their reliance on the family and deepened emotional bonds beyond mere blood ties.
In short, it bound the prodigy through the clan's vast and intricate web of interpersonal relationships.
It could hardly be called good or bad. In return, the youth had indeed received the full tilt of the clan's resources.
What truly surprised Luo Chen, however, was that Li Yingzhang's cultivation realm seemed to be slowly slipping downward.
He was clearly at Qi Refining Great Perfection.
Yet he was in no hurry to establish his foundation, simply letting his cultivation level steadily decline.
It was bizarre.
As if sensing Luo Chen's confusion, Li Yingzhang spoke without turning his head: “Is Senior curious about my declining cultivation realm?”
“Yes,” Luo Chen acknowledged with a grunt.
Li Yingzhang offered a brief explanation: “I possess a rare constitution known as the Nine-Curve Continuous Body. By good fortune, my ancestor procured a Foundation Establishment secret art for me, the *Ninefold Origin Restitution*. Cultivating this art within the dantian consolidates one tier of origin per year. After nine years, when the *Ninefold Origin Restitution* reaches great completion, it will increase my chances of successfully establishing my foundation by twenty percent.”
His casual explanation stirred ripples of astonishment across the calm surface of Luo Chen's mind.
A secret art that actually aided Foundation Establishment?
Forming a ninefold origin within the dantian—wasn't that simply simulating and shaping the nine heavens of the sea of qi in advance of Foundation Establishment?
When the time came to break through, once the dantian was shattered, there would be no need to painstakingly undergo the arduous process of turning the dantian into a sea.
Shattering the dantian, transforming it into a sea, gathering spiritual power, and liquefying spiritual power.
These were the four most critical steps of Foundation Establishment.
They corresponded respectively to the spiritual qi barrier and the divine soul barrier, while overall testing the physical body barrier.
After cultivating this secret art, the intermediate step of forming the sea became a foregone conclusion.
Judging by Li Yingzhang's words, the process of practicing *Ninefold Origin Restitution* would also grant him a far deeper mastery and refinement of his spiritual power.
That meant he would also become intimately familiar with the final two steps beforehand.
No wonder it could increase his chances by twenty percent!
Yet the young man had shared this secret art so openly and freely, without the slightest hesitation.
Did he truly have no fear of Luo Chen coveting it?
*Of course. This secret art was tailored specifically to his unique constitution; it would be useless to anyone else.*
Luo Chen had once read about the Nine-Curve Continuous Body in an idle compendium detailing the physiques of prodigies.
It fell under the category of an “innate defect constitution.”
Those born with it had thicker meridians than ordinary people, allowing them to hold far more spiritual power than their peers at the same cultivation level.
However, those thick meridians were tangled, convoluted, and intertwined like a maze.
They were just like the waterways of great rivers: muddy currents winding through nine continuous bends.
One could easily imagine the challenge.
Circulating one's core cultivation method through such an intricate network of meridians naturally consumed several times the effort required of an ordinary cultivator.
For a normal person with this constitution, reaching Qi Refining Great Perfection would take at least a century, leaving them with no hope whatsoever of attaining Foundation Establishment.
Yet Li Yingzhang had reached Great Perfection in his forties or fifties, an exceptionally young age for such a physique. It was obvious how much blood and sweat Li Jinhuang had poured into him.
Luo Chen only wondered what tier of the *Ninefold Origin Restitution* he was currently practicing.
How many years remained until he was ready to attempt Foundation Establishment?
While Luo Chen was lost in thought, the young man ahead suddenly came to a halt before a curtain of cascading water.
“Senior, my ancestor is waiting inside for you.” Li Yingzhang extended an arm in an inviting gesture.
Luo Chen gave him a thoughtful look, then stepped through the water curtain.
The moment he crossed it, dense spiritual qi enveloped him as though he had stepped into another realm entirely.
It was a top-tier Tier 1 cave abode, through and through.
Before Luo Chen could marvel at it, his gaze fell upon Li Jinhuang, and his brow furrowed immediately.
“Fellow Daoist, you’re injured?”
Beside a subterranean spirit spring, Li Jinhuang sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, his aura fluctuating erratically.
A faint metallic scent of blood clung to him.
Seeing Luo Chen enter, Li Jinhuang offered a bitter smile. “I never expected the Quicksand Wasteland to be so chaotic. The looting cultivators there are simply brazen!”
“The Quicksand Wasteland? You went all the way out toward Mount Thunder Accumulation's Nine Peaks?” Luo Chen was astonished.
Li Jinhuang sighed. “Only out there are things turbulent enough that no one questions where goods come from. Everything comes down solely to the quality of the merchandise.”
Luo Chen pressed his lips together, momentarily at a loss for words.
Naturally, he knew it was easy to move goods around Mount Thunder Accumulation.
Currently, the war between the grand Nascent Soul sects remained somewhat restrained, with few direct clashes between their senior masters.
After a brief initial skirmish, the conflict had devolved into clashes among their allied sects and vassal forces.
Mount Thunder Accumulation was the very epicenter of the fighting.
The Ten-Thousand-Li Quicksand Wasteland extending out from it served as the largest battleground.
It was a chaotic melting pot where countless rogue cultivators from throughout the Jade Cauldron Domain mingled, hoping to reap windfalls from the war.
Li Jinhuang’s boldness had truly bordered on reckless.
“I changed the name of your Nether-Passage Pills to Phantom Dream Spirit Pills and sold them in bulk on the black market,” Li Jinhuang explained.
“Things were slow at first, but soon demand far outstripped supply.”
“It took me only three months to sell out completely.”
“I never expected to be targeted... After a grueling battle, I barely managed to escape with my life.”
As he spoke, Li Jinhuang retrieved a storage pouch stained with dark, dried blood.
“All the earnings are inside. You may count them.”
Luo Chen took the storage pouch.
Sweeping his spiritual sense across the contents, his eyebrows rose in surprise.
It was quite a sum!
Carefully putting the pouch away, he asked curiously, “With your fifth-layer Foundation Establishment strength, who could have pushed you into such dire straits short of a senior cultivator stepping in?”
“I don’t know. The attacker concealed their identity very thoroughly,” Li Jinhuang said with a grim chuckle. “All I know is that they used an alms-bowl-type magic treasure, and it nearly trapped me beneath it.”
An alms bowl?
Luo Chen paused in surprise.
Cultivators rarely used such unorthodox magic treasures.
Only Buddhist powerhouses from the Central Plains or the Southern Border, beyond the Eastern Desolation, commonly employed them.
Who would have thought such a cultivator existed in the Jade Cauldron Domain?
Li Jinhuang seemed disinclined to dwell on the matter and changed the subject.
“You met Yingzhang, didn't you?”
Luo Chen nodded. After all, the young man had led him in.
He seemed completely normal.
“My grandson excels in every way, save for one: once he begins cultivating, he casts everything else aside.”
“Leaving the Li family in his hands leaves me somewhat uneasy.”
“Therefore, I ask that you look after our family's younger generation in the days ahead.”
Observing Li Jinhuang's increasingly feeble aura, Luo Chen nodded solemnly. “Naturally, that is only right.”
It felt almost like a man delivering his final arrangements.
Li Jinhuang had expended immense effort to dispose of the Nether-Passage Pills on his behalf; Luo Chen naturally would not dampen his spirits.
However, he had another purpose in coming here.
“Fellow Daoist Li, do you know of any channels to acquire middle-grade, or even high-grade, Tier 2 cultivation pills?”
Hearing the question, Li Jinhuang stared at him in utter disbelief.
“If this old man had such connections, would I have remained trapped at the mid-Foundation Establishment level all my life?”
Luo Chen was caught off guard.
Fair enough.
He had truly asked the blind for directions.
Even so, Li Jinhuang pointed out a few possible avenues where high-grade pills might surface.
First were legitimate, large-scale auctions—that went without saying.
Second were various black markets.
Goods there rarely saw the light of day, and looting cultivators might well have slain a disciple of a grand sect and claimed high-grade pills from their storage pouches.
However, the probability of high-grade pills appearing on the black market was not particularly high.
After all, any cultivator would prefer to keep superior pills for their own use.
Luo Chen’s entrustment of nine hundred middle- and high-grade pills to Li Jinhuang had been a massive undertaking.
Even though they were only Tier 1 pills, they had drawn a great deal of attention to Li Jinhuang, ultimately bringing the peril of a highway ambush upon him.
Lastly, Li Jinhuang suggested one more path.
“Since high-grade pills circulate primarily within the grand sects, why not buy them directly from their disciples?”
***
On the journey back to the city, Luo Chen pondered the final suggestion Li Jinhuang had offered.
It was clearly a path tailored specifically to his circumstances.
He maintained good relations with Ice Fort.
Perhaps there was a chance he could obtain high-grade pills through them.
*Then again, it is merely a perhaps. If Ice Fort had a surplus of pills, they wouldn’t crave my Jade Dew Pills so desperately.*
Luo Chen did not harbor overly high hopes.
Aboard the flying boat, he carefully tallied the spirit stones Li Jinhuang had brought back.
The pricing for the Nether-Passage Pills had been settled between them before Li Jinhuang departed.
Considering it was an unorthodox pill that notably bolstered the divine soul's foundation, the price had been set outrageously high.
A bottle of ten middle-grade pills was priced at four hundred spirit stones.
A bottle of ten high-grade pills was priced at nine hundred spirit stones!
It was a staggering figure.
For mere Tier 1 pills, the middle-grade ones were priced nearly as high as Tier 2 Qi Harmonizing Pills.
The high-grade ones even exceeded the market price of low-grade Qi Harmonizing Pills and Soaring Dragon Pills.
On paper, it sounded as though they were treating their buyers like fools.
Yet, while those who managed to reach Foundation Establishment might occasionally be dull-witted, not a single person surviving in the Quicksand Wasteland was a fool willing to be fleeced for nothing.
Though met with complete indifference at first, within a mere fortnight the Nether-Passage Pills triggered a frantic buying frenzy.
Toward the end, Li Jinhuang had deliberately throttled the supply, placing them into black market auctions.
Nine hundred spirit stones for a bottle of high-grade Nether-Passage Pills?
No!
That had only been the opening bid!
The highest winning bid had soared to two thousand spirit stones, far surpassing the hammer price of middle-grade Qi Harmonizing Pills at the Tianlan auction.
Why were Foundation Establishment True Cultivators scrambling so desperately for high-grade Nether-Passage Pills?
Luo Chen had already considered the question.
*It likely ties into what Chu Kui mentioned: divine soul foundation is of paramount importance when forming a core.*
*Foundation Establishment True Cultivators who dare to roam the battlefields of the Nascent Soul sects are almost all ambitious seekers of the Great Dao. When confronted with a pill that directly bolsters the soul's foundation, anyone would bid for a few bottles at all costs.*
*Even if it only enhances it by ten or twenty percent, it might yield a sliver of an advantage toward future Core Formation.*
*To form a golden core, everyone is putting everything on the line!*
Sighing with emotion, Luo Chen put the storage pouch away, thoroughly satisfied.
This excursion had netted him a full one hundred and ten thousand low-grade spirit stones.
It went a small way toward making up for his previous investments.
As for the future, he had no intention of concocting middle- or high-grade Nether-Passage Pills again.
While they appeared to boast soaring prices and hefty profit margins, that was only an illusion.
The cost was three times that of the Jade Marrow Pill, and each batch of raw ingredients yielded only three pills even upon success.
It could not be produced at scale, the concoction difficulty was high, and the target market was limited to a relatively small pool of Foundation Establishment True Cultivators.
Moreover, the efficacy of the pill diminished with repeated consumption.
Coupled with the miraculous effect of bolstering the soul's foundation, it was all too likely to invite unwanted scrutiny from the grand sects.
All these factors dictated that the Nether-Passage Pill could never serve as a sustainable, large-scale source of profit.
Luo Chen intended to refine only peak-grade Nether-Passage Pills for his personal use, concocting a few low-grade pills on occasion to distribute as internal perks within the Luotian Association.
The flying boat sped along smoothly.
Before long, it re-entered Tianlan Immortal City.
Without hesitation, Luo Chen made straight for Azure Pill Valley’s shop.
He began by asking whether Xuan Yunzi was present.
He had intended to inquire about middle-grade Soaring Dragon Pills from him.
Compared to Ice Fort, which occupied a harsh and frigid land, Azure Pill Valley was renowned across the Jade Cauldron Domain for its alchemy and was far more likely to leak middle-grade Soaring Dragon Pills into circulation.
Furthermore, his relationship with Xuan Yunzi was on fairly good terms.
Unfortunately, the inquiry yielded disappointing news: the man had already returned to his sect.
“Martial Uncle He was never a True Cultivator stationed permanently at the Azure Pill Pavilion,” the attendant explained. “His alchemy attainments are exceptionally high, and he is held in great esteem within the valley. He only traveled personally to Tianlan Immortal City this time for several medicinal ingredients slated to appear at the auction. Having successfully acquired what he needed, he didn't linger long and departed half a year ago.”
Resigned, Luo Chen abandoned any notion of trying to befriend the current Foundation Establishment cultivator on duty.
Producing his discount card, he bought nearly a full year's supply of low-grade Soaring Dragon Pills in one go.
Even with the discount, it cost him a staggering nineteen thousand spirit stones.
The rate at which his wealth evaporated made his heart ache slightly.
Previously, his liquid assets had consisted only of that immovable sum of sixty thousand spirit stones.
Over the past year, he had added another hundred thousand.
Adding today's intake of one hundred and ten thousand, the total should have been around two hundred and seventy thousand.
Yet that was only a rough estimate.
Normally, though he rarely left his abode, his everyday expenses were by no means small.
Whether it was premium spirit rice, butcher-cut Tier 2 demon beast meat, a daily stick of Fierce Spirit Incense, or the occasional supplemental pill, his spirit stones drained away at a terrifying pace.
Two hundred and seventy thousand?
No, before today, he had possessed only two hundred and forty thousand.
And just now, nineteen thousand had vanished.
Stepping out into the street, Luo Chen chose not to board the Langqi flying boat, strolling instead down the wide avenue.
He still had a few purchases to make.
Refining pills was a massive drain not just on his energy, but visibly on the durability of his equipment as well.
Moreover, since the Jade Dew Pill was involved, he needed to purchase Hundred Blossoms Dew, as well as the coming year's supply of Fierce Spirit Incense.
That errand alone would consume over ten thousand spirit stones.
*Thankfully, Sima Huiniang revamped the merit policy of the Luotian Association. Otherwise, at the previous rate, my hundred-thousand-stone annual surplus would have vanished completely.*
*Even so, with an annual surplus of a hundred thousand, after accounting for all my expenditures, I can barely save a few tens of thousands.*
*How will I ever compete for Core Formation spiritual medicines in the future?*
*I’ve heard that after forming a core, one must forge a custom-tailored lifebound magic treasure. That will be another colossal expense.*
If Luo Chen were to forge a lifebound treasure, he certainly wouldn't settle for the ordinary magic treasures sold on the open market.
The functions and special traits of such treasures were widely known by everyone.
More importantly, they fundamentally lacked potential for growth, making it nearly impossible for them to advance in grade alongside his cultivation realm.
*I’m thinking too far ahead. That is all business for after Core Formation.*
Emerging from Shixiang Pavilion, Luo Chen visited Tianyi Tower.
He spent seven thousand spirit stones on a brand-new peak-grade robe.
It came imbued with four functions: self-cleaning, defense, dust-repulsion, and wind-riding.
Just like that, another twenty-odd thousand spirit stones were gone.
*Looking at the near term, advancing to mid-Foundation Establishment will take only about a year.*
*What about after that?*
*Each subsequent layer requires even more spiritual power, and cultivation progress will only slow down. I must obtain a steady supply of high-grade pills.*
*That means a colossal sum of wealth!*
*Right now, I only have around two hundred thousand spirit stones left.*
*Not enough. Far from enough!*
One who had no distant worries was sure to encounter sorrow close at hand.
Luo Chen had already begun calculating and scheming for his cultivation beyond mid-Foundation Establishment.
First and foremost, everything rested upon his own financial strength.
Otherwise, even if someone managed to open a channel for high-grade pills, he wouldn't be able to afford them.
Nor should he forget the terrifying cost of renting a high-grade cave abode.
Moreover, Ice Fort's ten-year rotation overseeing Tianlan Immortal City was drawing near its end.
Once their rotation ended, would the new Golden Core sect extend the privilege of paying rent on an annual basis?
If not, he would have to pay four hundred and eighty thousand spirit stones all at once!
*The profits from the Jade Marrow Pill are already completely visible.*
*Should I put the matter of generating revenue from the Jade Dew Pill onto my agenda?*
Arriving outside the Tianyi Water Defensive Array, Luo Chen gave a casual greeting to the guarding cultivator and walked inside.
His mind continued to churn.
As a Tier 2 pill, the Jade Dew Pill commanded a high price and was extremely scarce, but its raw costs were likewise exorbitant.
A single set of ingredients cost a hundred spirit stones, subject to market fluctuations that periodically drove the price upward.
The most detestable part was that once the prices went up, they never came down.
Disgusting!
Previously, Luo Chen had required ten sets of ingredients to produce a single bottle.
To establish a connection with Ice Fort, he had deliberately surrendered the premium commanded by scarce pills, selling them for a mere five hundred spirit stones per bottle.
In other words, he had taken ingredients costing a thousand spirit stones and sold the product for five hundred.
Losing money to maintain a connection!
Such was the way of the world.
Yet as Tantai Jin demanded more and more Jade Dew Pills, his losses would only multiply.
Losing five hundred a bottle meant losing two thousand five hundred a year.
Once the ten-year period concluded and he had to provide a hundred bottles a year, he would be taking a pure loss of twenty-five thousand spirit stones annually!
And that did not even account for the waste of his time and energy.
*If I want to maintain a close relationship while simultaneously profiting from them, the only way is to elevate the grade of the pills I sell.*
Luo Chen was capable of doing so.
His proficiency with the Jade Dew Pill had already reached the Adept tier, enabling him to concoct middle-grade Jade Dew Pills.
*No!*
*I cannot rush this!*
*Advancing to middle-grade in just a few short years might be explained away as genius, but it is still far too risky.*
Suppressing his restless thoughts, Luo Chen forced himself to stay calm.
It was only a financial loss!
His current revenue was sufficient to sustain his cultivation.
Future matters could be planned in advance, but he could not afford to become impatient.
Everything had to be taken one step at a time.
“Master, you’re back!”
“Yes.”
“What would you like to eat tonight?”
“Skip dinner tonight. Stew this brocade-feathered chicken for me; I'll drink the broth tomorrow morning. By the way, here is a high-grade Hundred Yin Robe I just bought at Tianyi Tower. Try it on and see if it fits.”
Bai Meiling took the lively, fluttering chicken, then eagerly carried the Hundred Yin Robe into her room.
As a yin soul, her attire was normally manifested from yin soul qi.
This Hundred Yin Robe was woven from hundreds of strands of yin qi combined with special materials, making it perfectly suited for her.
In the future, she would no longer need to expend her own yin soul qi to manifest clothing.
After she retired to her quarters, Luo Chen entered his quiet cultivation room.
Looking at the low-grade Soaring Dragon Pill in his palm, he let out a wry chuckle.
“Very well. I will endure the slowed pace of cultivation for now and focus on reaching mid-Foundation Establishment first!”
With a flick of his finger, he tossed the Soaring Dragon Pill into his mouth.
The Fierce Spirit Incense slowly drifted upward.
Amidst the curling smoke, Luo Chen sat cross-legged, having changed into a red-cloud robe.
With a clear mind, he drew boundless spiritual qi into his sea of qi.
Within that third heaven, the cloud bank formed of spiritual qi gradually condensed as his cultivation method circulated.
After a long while, a drop of spiritual liquid fell with a soft *drip*, landing into the half-filled pool of spiritual liquid below.
Chapter 273