White clouds shifted like galloping hounds, and time flew like a weaver's shuttle.
Over half a year had passed in the blink of an eye since Luo Chen had become a guest at the Dao Child Palace on Qingyun Peak.
Even though cultivators paid little heed to winter cold and summer heat, the seasonal shift from spring to summer remained plain to see.
In all that time, the promised tour of the spectacular sights across Azure Pill Valley's fifty peaks had barely even begun.
Tao Wan was simply too busy!
Ever since becoming the Dao Child, cultivation was no longer her top priority.
Rallying disciples under her banner, expanding her network of connections, and bolstering her prestige were all duties she had to attend to.
Beyond that, she frequently had to shadow Sect Master Qingyunzi to learn how to manage sect affairs.
Azure Pill Valley had not provided such immense support and vast resources to help her reach Golden Core out of pure charity.
Once she attained the Golden Core, she would have to take over Qingyunzi's position as sect master.
After that, she would toil for Azure Pill Valley for a century until the next Dao Child arose.
Only then would she become an elder, choosing one of the other four peaks for secluded cultivation.
Outsiders might view it as a cumbersome burden, but to Foundation Establishment cultivators, it was an enviable fortune that could rarely be sought, let alone found.
Even if she had to undergo the Dao Seed contest all over again, Tao Wan would still give it her all.
With her so occupied, Luo Chen barely stepped outside either.
He spent day after day holed up in the Dao Child side hall, cultivating.
Nor was he merely absorbing world spiritual energy.
He had also asked Tao Wan to find him an open space where he could constantly practice his spells.
With the spiritual energy concentration so exceptionally dense, even when he cast spells relentlessly and drained his spiritual power, he could quickly replenish it.
He naturally did not need to pinch and scrape over every drop of spiritual power as he usually did, which previously slowed his proficiency growth.
Both were so occupied that days would often pass without them catching a glimpse of each other.
Yet the reason it was said he "barely stepped outside" meant that Luo Chen did, on occasion, venture out.
The place he visited was hardly a secret.
It was a destination that countless young alchemists in Azure Pill Valley dreamed of visiting.
Danyang Peak, the Grand Pill Academy!
After all, he was the prodigy who had seized first place three times in a row during the second round of the Dao Seed contest!
With Tao Wan having retained him as a guest, the Grand Pill Academy naturally would not let such an opportunity slip by.
From time to time, senior Tier 2 alchemists would invite him over as a guest to discuss the Dao of Alchemy.
Luo Chen had even made the acquaintance of Azure Pill Valley's other Tier 3 alchemist besides Master Chiding—Master Xingyun.
She was a spirited old woman with white hair and the ruddy complexion of youth.
Her attainment in alchemy was extraordinarily profound.
Luo Chen had once watched her refine a pill, and he had been genuinely awestruck.
Yet as time went on, such discussions grew fewer and farther between.
***
Atop Danyang Peak.
Master Chiding and Master Xingyun stood respectfully behind a handsome youth who possessed the majestic bearing of a dragon and phoenix and a countenance radiant as a spring morning.
The trio gazed into the distance, watching a figure slowly recede.
After a long silence, the youth spoke in a measured tone. "He won't do?"
Master Xingyun replied immediately, "I have tested him. Luo Chen's foundation in alchemy is indeed exceptionally solid. He commands various alchemical techniques with effortless mastery, barely inferior to my own. Even the Star-Plucking Hand that I deliberately demonstrated before him seems to have been picked up by him. However..."
The trouble lay precisely with that "however"!
Master Chiding sighed. "However, Luo Chen's talent in alchemy, while present, is only middling at best. We were all misled by his performance during the grand alchemy competition."
Master Xingyun shook her head. "It cannot truly be called deceit. The prompts given in the grand competition were not particularly difficult. While the two pill recipes were new, their refinement difficulty was quite low. With Luo Chen's terrifyingly solid foundation, he naturally crushed the Seven Sons of Azure Pill. In the end, it was simply that we suppressed Danyangzi too harshly."
Hearing this, the youth frowned slightly.
"In other words, Luo Chen cannot be groomed as a reserve Tier 3 alchemist?"
Chiding smiled bitterly. "Indeed. Without sufficient innate talent, even with a solid foundation, one can only show off among peers of the same tier. He is simply unqualified to refine the Nascent Soul Pill across tiers. Senior Brother, I fear we must still turn to that Miss Mu of the Luoyun Sect."
The youth he addressed as Senior Brother was none other than Qingdanzi—the only person in Azure Pill Valley to inherit the founding patriarch's Daoist title.
Though youthful in appearance, he was nearly five hundred years old!
Even among the few late Golden Core great cultivators in the vast Jade Cauldron Domain, he ranked among the most elderly.
Qingdanzi shook his head. "Han Zhan using the Nascent Soul Pill recipe as a bargaining chip to ally our Azure Pill Valley with his Luoyun Sect against the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect was already pushing his limits.
"If we must beg Mu Yuxian to step in, we will have to pay an even steeper price."
Chiding sighed. "Then what should we do? To refine a Tier 4 Nascent Soul Pill across tiers, even with the Azure Sky Glazed Cauldron to aid us, we must gather at least six Tier 3 alchemists!
"Presently, our Azure Pill Valley has only the three of us as Tier 3 alchemists. Junior Brother Qingyun is quite gifted, and once he passes his duties as sect master to Tao Wan, he may rapidly elevate his alchemy and reach Tier 3. Yet even then, that makes only four."
Qingdanzi remained impassive, remarking casually, "Tomorrow, I will make a personal trip to Dragon Head Peak to demand Danyangzi back. His talent far surpasses Luo Chen's. Once he advances to the Golden Core stage, he will become an asset to us!"
"Will that work?" Chiding asked uneasily.
"It must work, whether it seems likely or not!" Qingdanzi huffed coldly. "He is a disciple of our Azure Pill Valley. How could he defy the command of his elders? Besides, I can grant him the same Dao Seed resources. He will agree."
Grant him the same Dao Seed resources? Wouldn't that undermine the advantage of the current Dao Child, Tao Wan?
Chiding parted his lips, but said nothing.
He knew well that his senior brother was getting up in years. While in a slightly better state than Junior Brother Fu, who was fast approaching his time of passing, it was only marginally better!
Even with longevity-extending pills and secret techniques, he could last another century at most.
If a Nascent Soul Pill could not be refined within a hundred years, his senior brother's lifespan would run out, ending in death.
The urgent priority was to assemble six Tier 3 alchemists within a century and rely on the power of the high-grade alchemical magic treasure, the Azure Sky Glazed Cauldron, to cross tiers and refine the Nascent Soul Pill! They even had to find a Tier 4 spirit ground.
Time was of the essence!
Otherwise, that junior Xuan Yunzi possessed decent alchemical talent as well, and after a century or more, he might have been of assistance.
No, even a century or more might not suffice. Xuan Yunzi's cultivation aptitude was simply too poor; he was currently stuck at the third layer of Foundation Establishment, unable to advance an inch. In this lifetime, he had no hope of forming a Golden Core.
"Senior Brother, but even then, there will be at most five people. Won't we still have to seek out Mu Yunyan?" asked Master Xingyun.
Qingdanzi fell silent.
Across the vast Jade Cauldron Domain, Tier 3 alchemists were exceedingly few.
Outside the domain, he did know a few. But every one of them was the chief alchemist of a major sect! Entreating figures of that stature to act would cost a fortune, which was manageable, but more importantly, the Nascent Soul Pill recipe could not be leaked. Otherwise, it would easily invite catastrophic disaster!
One could only wonder where that old monster Han Zhan had obtained the Nascent Soul Pill recipe, and in what Tier 4 spirit ground he had ascended to the Nascent Soul stage.
After a long while, he murmured faintly, "First make preparations to nurture Danyangzi! If all else fails when the time comes, we will have no choice but to invite Mu Yunyan."
But in that case, Azure Pill Valley would likely have to pay a massive price once more.
Han Zhan was no benefactor; he was a man who never rose early unless there was profit to be made.
Though Mu Yunyan was also a Golden Core cultivator, she was Han Zhan's disciple and had always taken her cues from that old monster.
Asking Mu Yunyan to step in was no different from begging Han Zhan directly.
Moreover, in a matter like this, one could not simply ask whenever the need arose; cooperation had to be agreed upon in advance. Gaining familiarity with and understanding a Tier 4 pill recipe required a great deal of time as well.
'If only Fellow Daoist Shang Hu were still alive!' Inexplicably, Qingdanzi thought of that former rogue cultivator friend of his.
To form a Golden Core as a mere rogue cultivator was already a feat that defied the heavens, yet Shang Hu had insisted on joining Ice Fort, only to meet a tragic end at the hands of his Dao companion—which in turn cemented the woman's reputation as Fairy Jueqing!
***
High above Azure Pill Valley, a figure rode a cloud through the air.
Though he did not wear the sect robes of Azure Pill Valley, whenever disciples crossed his path, they would respectfully address him as Senior Brother Danchenzi.
The cultivation world was just like that. Lineage and seniority carried less weight than the principle that the accomplished took precedence!
Though Luo Chen's cultivation realm was not particularly high, his mastery of alchemy had genuinely won over many Azure Pill Valley disciples.
Perhaps in the beginning, some felt resentment and indignation that he had stolen the limelight from Danyangzi and the others during the grand alchemy competition. But as time passed, and with him visiting the Grand Pill Academy from time to time, these low-tier disciples had begun to accept him.
Luo Chen paid little mind to the opinions of others. His status was earned through his own efforts. What he cared about was tangible gain.
'The Grand Pill Academy truly is a fine place!'
'Just a few visits as a guest yielded a bumper harvest.'
'An alchemical technique, the Star-Plucking Hand, and even three fragmentary ancient pill recipes!'
Recalling these gains, Luo Chen could not help but beam with delight.
He could sense that the Grand Pill Academy's attitude toward him was steadily cooling. Those senior Tier 2 alchemists were no longer as intensely warm as they had been at first. It was likely tied to his lackluster performance when attempting to deduce the fragmentary pill recipes.
Luo Chen was unbothered. It would have been truly bizarre had he performed brilliantly!
He knew his own strengths and limits. He did have some talent in alchemy, but it was by no means extraordinary. Otherwise, back then, deriving the incomplete recipes for the Nether-Passage Pill and the Jade Dew Pill would not have taken him so many years.
Those had merely been Tier 1 and Tier 2 recipes, yet they had cost Luo Chen years of effort.
What the Grand Pill Academy had brought out for him to study were fragmentary Tier 3 recipes! Furthermore, they were not even from this era, but reportedly ancient recipes dating back thousands of years. The refinement process was inherently difficult, and some of the clearly recorded primary ingredients were even extinct. Without decades of time, deducing a complete version was utterly impossible.
Luo Chen felt no dissatisfaction with his performance at the time. However, the slight condescension that others gradually revealed had not escaped his notice.
'No matter!'
'In any case, I cannot stay in Azure Pill Valley for long. If they look down on me, let them!'
'It won't be long until I break through to the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment.'
'I'd better come here less often in the future. I always feel like someone's watching me, giving me chills down the back of my neck!'
Luo Chen unconsciously touched the back of his head and sped up his cloud a bit more.
***
Upon reaching Qingyun Peak, Luo Chen returned directly to the Dao Child Palace without stopping.
As expected, Tao Wan was not there. She had likely gone out with the sect master again.
"Being the Dao Child isn't an easy job either!" Luo Chen muttered with a touch of sour grapes, then happily made his way back to the side hall.
First, he glanced at his status panel.
[Cultivation: Foundation Establishment Layer 5 (55/100), Blood River Realm (50/100)]
The surging progress bar was a testament to his diligent cultivation over the past six-plus months!
It had already been a year since he arrived at Azure Pill Valley. During the first few months, occupied with the Dao Seed contest and having access only to a mid-grade Tier 2 spirit ground, his progress had been pitifully small—barely a few points.
But as Luo Chen cultivated in the Dao Child side hall, his cultivation speed surged at a terrifying pace!
Tao Wan's estimate of seven to eight times was an understatement!
She had overlooked the fact that people possessed fundamentally different physical constitutions, and one could not generalize!
Luo Chen was no ordinary mid Foundation Establishment cultivator! His physique was exceptionally robust, and having reached great mastery in Channel Unblocking, his body could naturally accommodate a vastly greater intake of spiritual energy. Aided further by the core Foundation Establishment chapter of the Medicine King Sect's cultivation method, his efficiency in seizing ambient spiritual energy far exceeded that of ordinary true disciples from great sects.
His sole shortcoming was perhaps the strength of his divine soul. Yet Luo Chen's soul foundation was by no means weak either. At the third layer of Foundation Establishment, his soul foundation was already comparable to that of a late Foundation Establishment cultivator. Over subsequent years, as his realm consecutively broke through the fourth and fifth layers, his soul strength had steadily climbed. Coupled with the supreme-grade Nether-Passage Pills he had forcibly refined and consumed from time to time, his soul foundation was now no weaker than that of an eighth-layer Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Thus, Luo Chen possessed virtually no shortcomings!
He might not yet dare cultivate in a true Tier 3 spirit ground, but what Azure Pill Valley had prepared for Tao Wan was a pseudo-Tier-3 spirit ground. In other words, an environment whose spiritual density had been deliberately tempered, making it perfectly suited for Luo Chen to cultivate within.
In such circumstances, where internal and external conditions aligned in flawless harmony, Luo Chen's cultivation speed experienced a massive surge for the first time in his life!
It was nearly ten times faster than before, even with all his prior enhancements!
With such an advantage, Luo Chen naturally threw caution to the wind and threw himself wholeheartedly into daily cultivation.
"A great sect is truly something else!"
"If ordinary Foundation Establishment disciples could enjoy such treatment, who knows how many times over the number of late Foundation Establishment cultivators would multiply!"
"No, that's not quite right. Ordinary early or mid Foundation Establishment disciples don't possess such a profound foundation as mine to endure this intensity of cultivation."
"Furthermore, constructing an environment precisely tuned for a late Foundation Establishment disciple must be extraordinarily demanding."
"In the entirety of Azure Pill Valley, only the Dao Child enjoys such a privilege."
"I've certainly hitched a great ride!"
Luo Chen smiled knowingly. Estimating the time until his next breakthrough, he closed his eyes and entered a state of cultivation.
Azure Pill Valley was certainly no place to linger indefinitely!
The Grand Pill Academy's enthusiasm toward him had faded. Once Tao Wan grew familiar with sect affairs, she would inevitably return frequently to cultivate. Sharing a roof where they would cross paths constantly, without being an official Dao companion couple, made it improper for him to stay indefinitely.
Over on Fairy Jueqing's side, the supply of Jade Dew Pills he had left behind was likely running out as well.
What was more, back in Tianlan Immortal City, there was the Luotian Association he had poured so much heart and effort into building, along with his Dao companion and friends awaiting him.
Returning was inevitable.
Half a year! At most half a year!
When that time came, whether he had broken through to the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment or not, Luo Chen would depart.
Chapter 347