Four days later.
Looking at the heap of items dumped out across the parlor floor, Luo Chen finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Fei Changqiu's storage bag had proved far more troublesome to crack than he had anticipated.
He had estimated that the final stretch would take two to three days, but it had ended up costing him an extra day.
Adding it all together, he had spent over six full months on it.
Still, with this experience under his belt, Luo Chen felt far more confident about cracking the remaining storage bags.
"Let's see what good things we have first!"
What caught his eye above all else was a vast mound of spirit stones.
With a broad sweep of his hand, Luo Chen pushed the spirit stones to the side.
"Xiao Ling, help me count these. While you're at it, separate out any higher-grade spirit stones."
Squatting nearby, Bai Meiling's eyes were wide as saucers.
She could hardly wait to begin counting the spirit stones.
Watching her, she seemed quite the little money-grubber.
Luo Chen smiled and beckoned with his hand, drawing a jade box into his grasp.
There was no divine sense restriction on it.
Opening it cautiously, Luo Chen nodded.
The prize was in his hands!
Inside lay the very item he had been anticipating: a Foundation Establishment Pill.
It seemed Fei Changqiu had not lied to Luo Feng after all; the Divine Craft Sect truly possessed a spare Foundation Establishment Pill.
After stowing away the item he desired most, Luo Chen took inventory of the rest.
Pills!
"There's actually a bottle of Middle-grade Qi Harmonizing Pills left. Just what I need right now."
From among the bottles and jars, Luo Chen picked out a small jade bottle identical to one he had owned before.
As for the other pills, he did not think much of them.
Once deposited into the Luotian Association later on, they would still count as fine treasures to others.
Next came a chaotic assortment of materials.
Most were ores and minerals for artifact crafting.
Many of them were entirely unfamiliar to Luo Chen.
When the time came, he would simply have to trouble Duan Feng with them.
A jade slip and a paper tome flew into his hands one after the other.
Recorded on the jade slip was a tier-two metal-attribute cultivation method called the Divine Axe Art.
This came as quite a surprise to Luo Chen.
During their battle back then, he had never seen Fei Changqiu use any axe-type weapon, had he?
Soon after, beneath the pile of materials, he uncovered a top-grade magical tool in the shape of an axe.
"So it was only a magical tool. No wonder he didn't use this toy when fighting for his life."
Top-grade magical tools consumed little spiritual power and were more nimble to wield.
Yet when staking one's life, it naturally could not match the immense might of that Zhengyang Furnace magic treasure.
Luo Chen put away the Divine Axe Art and the top-grade magical tool, intending to send them to the Heritage Hall along with the fire-attribute cultivation methods later.
In this way, the five-phase metal-attribute techniques that the Luotian Association so desperately lacked would be supplemented.
It even came with a matching magical tool.
All of this would become part of the Luotian Association's foundation!
As for the other text, it recorded artifact crafting techniques specifically tailored to flying boats.
From manufacturing and repairs to aftercare, everything was comprehensively detailed.
"This can be given to the Artifact Crafting Hall as well."
"It just so happens that the Divine Craft Sect's share at the Tianlan Boat Mooring Field has opened up. In the future, the cultivators of the Luotian Association will have another lucrative avenue to rake in spirit stones."
Smaller flying boats were manageable enough.
However, when it came to large flying boats, whether launching them or docking them, middle-grade spirit stones were consumed.
Moreover, Tianlan Immortal City was a commercial hub, with a steady stream of large flying boats traveling back and forth from north and south every single day.
Without their own station in the city, many merchant convoys' flying boats would choose to pay a fee in spirit stones to have the personnel at the Tianlan Boat Mooring Field watch over them, and perform maintenance and cleaning while they were at it.
These were all lucrative revenue streams!
Calculating carefully, the spoils the Luotian Association had reaped from that battle were truly immense.
Leaving aside the tangible resources, these texts alone were enough to support several industries.
The inheritances of the alchemy forces enriched the Pill Hall.
The legacies of Tianying Peak, the Yuzhen Daoist Temple, and several other factions provided the corresponding foundations for the Luotian Association's Spirit Beast Hall, Agricultural Cultivation Hall, and Spirit Herb Hall.
And with the artifact crafting inheritances of the Geng family and the Divine Craft Sect added into the mix, the Luotian Association's Artifact Crafting Hall would no longer rely on Duan Feng fighting a lone battle.
Given time, once these departments flourished, all the effort and resources Luo Chen had invested would be repaid a hundred- and a thousand-fold!
As he envisioned the future, Bai Meiling's delighted voice called out from the side.
"Master, I'm done counting!"
"One hundred and seventeen thousand five hundred low-grade spirit stones, and another one hundred middle-grade spirit stones! What's more, there's even one high-grade spirit stone!"
Hearing this, Luo Chen could not help but be overjoyed.
If for nothing else, then for that single high-grade spirit stone!
Now, he had two high-grade spirit stones in his possession.
The quantity of the other spirit stones, however, left him somewhat dissatisfied beneath his pleasant surprise.
So little?
It hardly seemed fitting for a faction of the Divine Craft Sect's scale!
Yet immediately afterward, he remembered how his Flame Dragon Nine Transformations Grand Array had consumed a full eighty thousand spirit stones during the assault on the Divine Craft Sect.
By the same token, as the defender, Fei Changqiu had surely expended a massive sum of spirit stones powering his grand formation.
Warfare always entailed attrition.
Only the victor could recoup their losses.
Taking what went in and what came out into account, not only had Luo Chen avoided a net loss, but he had actually recouped a vast hoard of spirit stones.
Sorting the materials and pills into a separate storage bag, Luo Chen stowed the items he needed into his own pouches.
With this, Luo Chen's current net worth, measured in spirit stones alone, climbed back up to around three hundred thousand.
"Over all these years, I really haven't managed to save much!"
Patting his pouches, Luo Chen sighed.
His daily expenditures were simply too staggering.
All sorts of supplementary cultivation resources and the rent on a high-grade immortal's cave cost a fortune day in and day out, year after year.
Even after fighting this major war, he had only barely managed to recover some blood.
"Hopefully, after the Foundation Establishment Grand Ceremony, the Luotian Association's growth will accelerate!"
Luo Chen murmured with emotion.
The next day, he stepped outside and headed straight across to Chu Kui's cave dwelling.
The protective formation was active.
It seemed the man had earned a fortune in spirit stones over recent years and was frequently in seclusion.
Sending out a voice transmission talisman and leaving behind an invitation, he turned and made for the cave dwelling where Tantai Jin resided.
...
"These are the Jade Dew Pills I've refined recently—ten bottles in total, some low-grade, some middle-grade."
"I couldn't help it. I did my best, but pill concoction is difficult, after all."
Tantai Jin took the jade bottles.
She opened them one by one to inspect their contents.
A fifty-fifty split!
Such a success rate in quality took her quite by surprise.
"I'd heard you were refining pills like mad recently, but I never expected such fruitful results!"
Evidently, she was well pleased with the returns Luo Chen had delivered.
Yet had she known that this was Luo Chen hiding his true ability, and merely surplus from an earlier batch at that, she likely would not have been so thrilled.
"According to our previous agreement, the low-grade pills are still five hundred spirit stones per bottle. As for the middle-grade ones..."
Meeting Luo Chen's expectant gaze, Tantai Jin produced a substantial sum of spirit stones.
"Middle-grade Jade Dew Pills go for one thousand two hundred spirit stones a bottle."
"Here is eight thousand five hundred spirit stones in total. Count them."
Luo Chen took the spirit stones casually without counting, sweeping them straight into his own storage bag.
"If I can't trust anyone else, could I ever doubt True Disciple Tantai?"
Tantai Jin nodded. "And the next delivery?"
"One year from now!"
Luo Chen said earnestly, "My alchemy has been advancing by leaps and bounds lately. Once I consolidate my gains, I will definitely give you results that satisfy you!"
Tantai Jin looked forward to it immensely.
A mere year.
She could afford to wait, and so could the Ice Fort.
If Luo Chen could stably produce middle-grade Jade Dew Pills a year from now, the cultivation speed that had stagnated for so long would soar to new heights.
Even the Jueqing lineage would develop rapidly.
Such was the profound impact an accomplished alchemist could have on a faction.
"By the way, Sima Huiniang, director-general of our Luotian Association, successfully established her foundation six months ago. We will be holding a Foundation Establishment Grand Ceremony soon."
"If Fellow Daoist has some free time, you are welcome to come and have a cup of wine."
As he spoke, Luo Chen held an invitation with both hands and offered it to Tantai Jin.
The woman raised her brows.
A mere chore-manager in a tiny faction reaching Foundation Establishment warranted a grand Foundation Establishment ceremony with all that fanfare?
Catching the expectant look in Luo Chen's eyes, an inkling of understanding dawned on her.
She reached out a slender jade hand and accepted the gold-embossed invitation.
"Very well. The Ice Fort will certainly send someone to attend. Even if I do not come in person, a congratulatory gift will certainly not be lacking!"
Receiving this affirmative answer, the smile on Luo Chen's face grew even brighter.
"I shall await Fellow Daoist's gracious presence!"
With that, he turned to leave.
However, he had barely taken a step when Tantai Jin called out to him.
"As for Azure Pill Valley, I have already contacted them on your behalf. Before long, Tao Wan will send someone over."
Luo Chen's eyes lit up.
"Thank you for going through the trouble, Fellow Daoist!"
...
After dispensing with these various chores in one go, Luo Chen enjoyed a rare period of peace over the following month.
He organized each day methodically.
As in the past, he cultivated, read, practiced spells, and refined pills.
Alchemy, above all.
Ever since he had successfully concocted the Blood Fiend Pill on his own without relying on the system, he had grown increasingly composed and confident in refining all manner of pills.
Techniques came naturally at his fingertips.
He was beginning to integrate them into a seamless whole.
Furthermore, through years of accumulation, the Washing Brook Hand had finally advanced from the Grandmaster tier to Perfection.
Processing water-attribute medicinal herbs became ever more second nature.
The Fire Fusion Secret Technique was likewise deployed and polished repeatedly throughout his pill concoctions.
The tier-two subterranean earth fire in his hands now flared or waned entirely at his whim.
Under the influence of these breakthroughs, Luo Chen suddenly made a delightful discovery.
One that concerned supreme-grade pills!
Previously, he had always assumed that once a pill's proficiency reached the supreme rank, the yield rate dropped back to ten percent with no further room for improvement.
Yet recently, while concocting supreme-grade Nether-Passage Pills, one furnace batch had unexpectedly produced more than three pills.
It had yielded five!
From this, he drew a conclusion:
The lower limit of the system stemmed from the baseline of his own strength.
Yet the upper limit of the system was by no means the ceiling of his potential!
As long as he was strong enough, even if something had reached a point where it supposedly could advance no further, he could rely on his own strength to break through the system's ceiling!
After taking another supreme-grade Nether-Passage Pill to nourish and bolster his soul's foundation, Luo Chen looked back on the journey that had brought him here.
A sudden flash of insight struck him.
"I should have realized this long ago!"
"Back then, my Fireball Art had clearly reached Perfection. Yet after I studied it relentlessly, drew upon various strengths to offset weaknesses, and optimized it like mad, its might kept evolving continuously!"
"Even back then, it had already exceeded the system's limit!"
Such an obvious truth had eluded him all along.
A single leaf had truly blinded him to the forest!
This also made Luo Chen understand an important principle:
He could lean on the system, but he must never depend on it entirely.
There were things he could do himself, and he could even do them better.
The system was merely a proficiency system.
It simply provided real-time positive feedback on his everyday efforts in an intuitive manner.
"As expected, all success stems from my own hard work!"
Without Luo Chen even noticing, his self-confidence had surged fiercely, reaching heights he had never experienced before.
Some principles were genuinely simple.
Confidence was born of endeavoring to accomplish one task after another and tasting victory each time.
When a person achieved things they had previously never dared to dream of, that confidence would swell a hundred- and a thousand-fold.
Looking back at everything Luo Chen had accomplished along the way, which of them was not something ordinary rogue cultivators could only gaze at in despair?
Fighting above his realm!
Annihilating a Foundation Establishment clan as a mere Qi Refinement cultivator!
Facing multiple foes alone without the slightest fear!
Forging alliances and maneuvering between factions with consummate ease!
It was only that in the past, all of these feats had been overshadowed by the luster of the system.
So much so that while Luo Chen possessed confidence, an undercurrent of anxiety had always lingered.
If the system were to suddenly vanish, could he still advance without impediment?
Yet once he refined the Blood Fiend Pill entirely on his own, that anxiety vanished like smoke in the wind.
What I can achieve, the system helps me enter more easily.
And where the system reaches its limit, I can rely on myself to go even further!
Thus, his confidence found its true bedrock.
It no longer rested upon the system, but was anchored firmly within himself.
One day, even a tiny speck of dust could summon clouds with a turn of the hand and rain with another, rising to become a truly momentous figure in the cultivation world!
...
While Luo Chen lived his disciplined, orderly life, invitations had long since landed on the desks of the various invited factions.
The Lianyun Mountain Range!
The headquarters of the Lianyun Merchant Alliance.
Grand Elder Lian Yun tossed a gold-embossed invitation onto Zhou Qing, who was already in the mid Foundation Establishment stage.
"Pay them a visit."
Zhou Qing opened the invitation, astonishment written across his face.
"Merely a female cultivator establishing her foundation, yet they stage such an extravagant affair for her? This Luo Chen is truly a frog in a well, completely ignorant of the vastness of the cultivation world."
What he said was not wrong.
Tianlan Immortal City was no rustic little market town.
Achieving Foundation Establishment was merely that; celebrating internally was more than enough.
Making such an ostentatious display was laughable to speak of.
It was not as though dragons and tigers had convened to form a Golden Core amidst gathering storms.
Yet the weathered Grand Elder Lian Yun spoke faintly, "The frog in a well of yesteryear has now leaped onto the main stage, carving out the illustrious fame of the Fire Spirit Lord. You and he are old acquaintances—why look down on him so?"
Zhou Qing was rendered speechless.
In Grand Elder Lian Yun's words, there was distinct admiration for Luo Chen.
Toward him, however, there was a subtle note of reprimand.
Zhou Qing bit his lip, his expression turning somewhat awkward.
Truth be told, his current standing was indeed the product of sheer fortune.
In the preceding war, the Lianyun Merchant Alliance had suffered heavy losses.
The Lianyun Merchant Alliance, which had once held sway over Tianlan and boasted over a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators along with three late Foundation Establishment experts, now had only seven Foundation Establishment True Cultivators remaining.
Two of them were even Li Yixian and Nangong Jin, who had joined only afterward.
Zhou Qing had personally introduced the two of them into the alliance precisely to cement his new position as the Fourth Elder.
Though the Lianyun Merchant Alliance was weakened now, his authority as Fourth Elder had eclipsed both the Second and Third Elders in one fell swoop, placing him subordinate only to the Grand Elder.
This state of affairs had made him exceedingly self-satisfied of late.
Having his complacency punctured by the Grand Elder left him thoroughly embarrassed and irritated.
Grand Elder Lian Yun paid no mind to Zhou Qing's thoughts and simply continued:
"Our alliance is no longer what it once was; in fact, its fortunes are in steady decline."
"In contrast, backed staunchly by the Ice Fort, the Luotian Association is thriving day by day."
"Our alliance's businesses intersect with theirs in several areas. In the future, friction may very well arise between us."
"For this visit, conveying congratulations is secondary. The main objective is to establish an intent for peace with the Luotian Association's director-general."
"If disputes arise down the line, shelve them for now and prioritize cooperation whenever possible!"
Zhou Qing's expression darkened.
Still, he forced a smile.
"I understand, Grand Elder."
Grand Elder Lian Yun glanced at him and said coolly, "Since it is a celebration, a gift is naturally indispensable. I will provide a spirit herb of great benefit to female cultivators. As for your part, do as you see fit."
"Elder Zhou, our current situation is precarious as stacked eggs."
"You must not act willfully on your personal whims!"
That final warning carried considerable weight.
Zhou Qing shuddered, any remaining arrogance or disdain instantly crushed.
His rise to his present status owed largely to the Grand Elder's elevation.
If the Grand Elder was displeased with him, this seat as Lianyun's Fourth Elder would be anything but secure.
He bowed his head and answered heavily:
"Your subordinate shall heed the Grand Elder's orders!"
Chapter 309