Murong Qinglian's departure was an event of great consequence for the Luotian Association.
She had been there since the association's inception.
At one point, she had overseen finance, personnel, resources, merit, and various other administrative affairs on Luo Chen's behalf.
Even as more departments were established and responsibilities became increasingly specialized, her presence remained pivotal as the association's numbers swelled.
If she were to abruptly resign from her post as Hall Master of the Merit Hall, it would inevitably plunge the Luotian Association into severe disarray.
At the same time, however!
Her departure at this juncture was still within manageable bounds.
Since Qin Liangchen's passing, she had spent the past few years mired in grief.
Recognizing this, the Luotian Association had granted her an extended leave of absence.
In the Merit Hall, her deputy, Sima Wenjie, had been acting on her behalf.
Over the course of two years, Sima Wenjie had grown familiar with most of the hall's daily affairs.
Consequently, even if she left, the Luotian Association would keep functioning without major disruption.
Of course, handing over key matters would still take time.
Murong Qinglian was an exceptionally responsible person.
Before preparing to leave Tianlan for the Luoyun Sect, she intended to summon her spirits and personally instruct Sima Wenjie.
She was determined not to leave behind a mess and simply walk away.
Her son, Qin Yuanjiang, fully supported and approved of her decision.
As it happened, the disciples of the Luoyun Sect had also departed with assignments of their own, needing time to see them through.
They agreed upon a date when Qin Yuanjiang would personally return to escort his mother back to the Luoyun Sect.
During this period,
Luo Chen did not raise the slightest objection.
Not only that, but he also prepared a magnificent parting gift for her.
A brand-new, supreme-grade dharma robe.
A water-attribute magic treasure tailored for her.
And enough high-grade Jade Dew Pills to last her a century!
Especially the last of these!
Assuming an ordinary cultivator took one pill every three to five days, this single gift was worth an astonishing million spirit stones!
It could hardly be called anything less than priceless!
One had to realize that many rogue Foundation Establishment cultivators failed to earn even a few thousand spirit stones in an entire year.
This was the most generous gesture Luo Chen had ever made.
It was all to express his gratitude for Murong Qinglian's care over the years and her immense contributions to the Luotian Association.
Naturally, it also carried his enduring regard for Big Brother Qin.
***
Inside the immortal's cave.
Luo Chen had temporarily set aside the opening of blind boxes and the reading of ancient texts.
Each day, apart from cultivating and practicing spells, he devoted every waking moment to alchemy.
This included not only the Blood Augmenting Pills, Dust Descending Pills, and Nether-Passage Pills he needed for himself, but also Jade Dew Pills!
There was no alternative.
The quota promised to the Ice Fort could only exceed expectations, never fall short.
If he wanted to put together a century's supply of Jade Dew Pills for Murong Qinglian, he had to take matters into his own hands and refine even more.
Naturally, this consumed vast amounts of his time.
Still,
there was good news as well.
With so many concoction sessions under his belt, he had grown increasingly familiar with the flawed alchemy magic treasure, the Shangshu Cauldron.
It was truly a wonderful treasure: it could expand or shrink at will and was exceptionally easy to control.
Moreover, it could accommodate far more raw ingredients in each batch.
It even possessed the effect of elevating the grade of the resulting pills!
Combined with Luo Chen's Great Circle proficiency in refining Jade Dew Pills, his success rate had reached astonishing heights!
On several occasions, he had even shattered the fifty percent pill-formation limit.
Inside the alchemy chamber,
Luo Chen gazed upon another batch of harvested pills, a thoughtful look crossing his face.
The Jade Dew Pill was a Tier 2 pill, and an exceptionally difficult one to concoct.
A single portion of ingredients could yield at most ten pills.
Upon reaching the Grandmaster rank, the formation rate reached fifty percent, and their grade was elevated to high-grade.
And there it had stalled.
At most, reaching the Great Circle allowed one to refine supreme-grade Jade Dew Pills.
He had previously assumed that this was the absolute ceiling.
Yet over recent days, he had discovered that he was capable of breaking beyond that limit!
Currently, his formation rate for high-grade Jade Dew Pills was steadily stabilizing at sixty percent.
Furthermore, he had a hunch that with continuous large-scale refining, it could climb even higher!
"Have I surpassed the system's limit, or have I broken through my own?"
"Why is this happening? Why didn't I notice it before? Or is this the doing of the Shangshu Cauldron, a true alchemical magic treasure?"
Question after question welled up in his mind.
Were it anything else, he would not trouble himself with idle worries.
Yet when it concerned the system, he was determined to uncover the underlying cause.
Only by establishing the underlying pattern could he conduct targeted experiments with other pills, spells, and cultivation methods in the future.
Mere speculation could never resolve the question.
Luo Chen decided to run a controlled experiment.
From within the Thunder-Accumulating Treasure Ring, he produced another alchemy furnace.
It was a high-grade furnace acquired from his spoils of war, which had even included two supreme-grade furnaces.
However, supreme-grade furnaces were often troublesome to handle, requiring elaborate steps to master.
A high-grade furnace was ideal for his current experiment.
He mounted the furnace and stoked the flame, introducing the ingredients in proper sequence—five portions in total, the maximum capacity of a high-grade furnace.
With practiced familiarity, Luo Chen began refining the Jade Dew Pills.
Scarcely two hours later, a refreshing medicinal fragrance wafted forth.
Luo Chen beckoned with an outstretched hand, and snow-white pills tumbled one after another onto a massive ice platter before him.
One, two, three... twenty-eight pills in total!
Upon obtaining this number, Luo Chen's heart gave a stir.
With five portions of ingredients yielding ten pills each, a fifty percent formation rate should have yielded twenty-five pills.
If it were the sixty percent rate that had recently stabilized, the count should have been thirty.
Instead, there were twenty-eight.
"A superior alchemical vessel truly does influence the formation rate and the final grade."
"Yet those three extra pills have nothing to do with the furnace's grade. They are purely the manifestation of my own growing mastery in the alchemical dao."
"In other words, I truly can surpass the system's limits!"
"So how did this come about?"
Luo Chen looked back on his past.
Gradually, an idea began to take shape.
It was likely tied to his accumulated foundation in the alchemical dao.
It was not just the result of refining vast quantities of a single pill.
It also stemmed from dabbling in a wider variety of other pills.
Thanks to such accumulation, he had previously been able to gain entry into Tier 2 pills like the Colored Chrysanthemum Pill and the Blood Augmenting Pill on his own, without relying on the system's achievement points.
This was the consummate mark of an Alchemy Master's attainments!
Effortlessly entering new pills of the same tier, maintaining exceptionally high formation rates and finished quality.
At this stage, he was no longer merely an Alchemy Master.
To call him a Grandmaster was not an overstatement in the least!
Furthermore, this was not the narrow, specialized "Grandmaster" of old who only mastered the refinement of a single recipe.
This was a Grandmaster across the entirety of that tier!
Put simply, Luo Chen's alchemy currently held Grandmaster-level dominance over the entire realm of Tier 2 pills.
Even without the system's aid, he could achieve entry with ease.
"Reading extensively through alchemical texts, practicing far more, and mastering increasingly potent techniques—it is the compounding of all these that has brought about this Grandmaster-level alchemical realm."
"Given enough time, I feel I could even complete missing recipes or improve existing Tier 1 and Tier 2 formulas on my own."
"Only then can one truly be called a generation's Grandmaster, capable of founding a school of his own!"
Having reached this conclusion,
Luo Chen felt a faint stir of anticipation.
If he devoted his full efforts to refining a specific pill, could he achieve a one hundred percent success rate?
A pill with every single attempt!
Rather than having to calculate failure rates and prepare surplus raw materials.
Expanding from the part to the whole,
if the alchemical dao worked this way, then other fields should follow the same principle.
The system possessed no inherent limits!
The only true limit lay within himself.
If his own accumulation was vast enough and strong enough, he could perform better, reaching closer to perfection.
If this held true for alchemy, it should apply equally to spells, cultivation methods, medical arts, and more.
Having arrived at this deduction,
Luo Chen let out a long breath of relief.
As expected, his decision to carve out time to read widely through various classical texts had been the right one.
He would need to maintain this practice in the future.
Even if he could not become a grandmaster across all disciplines, building a sufficiently broad foundation would allow stones from other hills to polish his own jade, carrying him even further along any individual path.
Of course!
Now was not the time for that.
Luo Chen put away the high-grade furnace.
For what came next, he still needed to use the Shangshu Cauldron.
A mere high-grade furnace could only handle five portions at a time.
Even a supreme-grade one handled only ten.
Yet this treasure-grade cauldron could accommodate twenty portions at once, and Luo Chen had not even touched its upper limit!
"First, I must finish refining all the required Jade Dew Pills!"
***
Time flowed steadily by.
Three months flashed past in the blink of an eye.
Even though Luo Chen had not refined enough Jade Dew Pills, he could delay no longer; at worst, he would simply divert a portion of the high-grade Jade Dew Pills originally earmarked for the Ice Fort.
The reason for his haste was simple.
The appointed time had arrived, and Murong Qinglian was about to depart.
Atop Danxia Peak,
Luo Chen and Sima Huiniang stood toward the rear, watching the gathered cultivators step forward one by one to bid Murong Qinglian farewell.
Gu Caiyi, Feng Xia, Yuan Xiaoyue, Sima Wenjie... even Bai Meiling had shown herself, having come specifically to see Murong Qinglian off.
Among these people were old companions who had walked alongside her since the days of the Dahe Market, sharing deep bonds of friendship.
Others were her subordinates from the Merit Hall over the years, or friends made within the Luotian Association.
In particular, the former neighbors from that inner-city courtyard in the Dahe Market found parting exceptionally difficult.
Even Duan Feng, who was habitually taciturn, presented a farewell gift.
He too had briefly resided in that courtyard for a time and had received Murong Qinglian's care.
Finally, it was Luo Chen's turn.
"Association Leader..."
Luo Chen shook his head. "At a time like this, Sister-in-law, I would much rather hear you call me Xiao Luo."
Murong Qinglian was momentarily taken aback. Having addressed him differently for so many years, switching back to that old form of address felt somewhat foreign on her tongue.
"This is a small token of my regard. Sister-in-law, please take good care of yourself in the days ahead."
Luo Chen handed her a storage bag.
While the others had presented individual gifts, only Luo Chen offered a storage bag directly.
This piqued Murong Qinglian's curiosity.
Sweeping her divine sense inside, her expression changed drastically within a single breath.
"Xiao Luo, isn't this far too valuable?"
Luo Chen smiled gently. "Sister-in-law, just accept it!"
Though his voice carried a smile, his words brooked no refusal.
She had earned every bit of it.
Whether it was that bowl of tiger bone soup that had helped him break through to the fifth level of Qi Refinement, or her standing against formidable foes to buy him a chance to flee during the battle of Crescent Moon Valley,
Luo Chen remembered all of it with utter clarity.
Not to mention that over all these years, she had worked diligently and tirelessly, giving so much to the Luotian Association and performing countless meritorious deeds.
Luo Chen was not a cold-hearted person.
Even if outsiders felt he had repaid every debt by helping her reach Foundation Establishment,
in Luo Chen's eyes, a drop of received kindness deserved an outpouring of a whole spring in return.
Within the scope of his abilities, these few items were nothing.
His sole regret was that Big Brother Qin had not succeeded in his Foundation Establishment and had not lived to see their son, Qin Yuanjiang, once more.
Seeing the genuine sincerity in Luo Chen's expression, Murong Qinglian's gaze softened.
Clutching the featherlight storage bag, she nodded.
"Then... thank you."
Luo Chen acknowledged her with a soft hum, then sent a voice transmission warning her not to reveal the true quantity of the Jade Dew Pills.
Murong Qinglian naturally understood the gravity of the matter.
It was not that she feared bringing trouble upon Luo Chen.
The news that Danchenzi could refine Jade Dew Pills had already leaked out, as the Ice Fort had too many loose tongues.
The main issue was the staggering value of the gift.
If she went to the Luoyun Sect and someone caught wind of this hoard of pills, it would inevitably invite trouble.
While Qin Yuanjiang possessed the status of a true disciple on the surface,
he was, in the end, someone who had only recently stepped into Foundation Establishment, with far too shallow a foundation.
If real difficulty arose, he might not be able to protect his mother.
After exchanging parting wishes, Luo Chen stepped back into the crowd.
"Aren't you going to go up and bid her farewell?"
"I'm the one who had the most contact with her all these years, and we've spoken no fewer than ten times these past few months. What need is there for one more?" Sima Huiniang said indifferently.
Yet despite her words, Luo Chen caught the trace of reluctance and regret in her eyes.
From this day forward, of the Three Golden Flowers of the Luotian Association that outsiders loved to talk about—Sima Huiniang, Murong Qinglian, and Gu Caiyi—only two remained.
And those two happened to be rivals who mixed like fire and water.
Without Murong Qinglian to mediate between them, who knew what friction might arise in their daily affairs.
Even as they waited,
beyond Danxia, an enormous flying vessel parted the clouds and swept through the mist as it approached!
The instant they laid eyes on it, cries of astonishment broke out across the Luotian Association.
A magic treasure-grade flying vessel!
Amidst the crowd, Luo Chen's expression underwent a violent shock!
It was not out of awe at the vessel's colossal size, which seemed to blot out the sky.
Rather, in that very instant, at least ten strands of divine sense that struck terror into his very soul swept across Danxia, ultimately converging upon him in unison.
Though it was but a fleeting brush!
Though it was concealed with exquisite care!
The crushing pressure applied by ten mighty divine senses in that single breath still forced him to stagger backward several paces.
"Association Leader, what happened to you?"
Sima Huiniang stood closest to him and turned her head in confusion.
With just a single glance, her face paled.
Before her eyes, large beads of cold sweat were rolling down Luo Chen's cheeks.
Each of the seven steps he had taken in retreat had sunk three inches deep into the stone.
One had to know that this landing platform was paved with premium materials, built to withstand the takeoffs and landings of massive vessels.
What on earth could have caused the Association Leader to lose his composure to such an extent?
Luo Chen struggled to lift his head, forcing a smile.
"It's nothing."
Just two words, yet they felt as heavy as a mountain.
Suddenly, Luo Chen let out a long breath, and his spine straightened once more.
Was he truly all right?
Sima Huiniang's expression remained fraught with suspicion and unease.
Just then, a young man flew down from the colossal vessel.
"Mother, Mother!"
"I'm here!"
Qin Yuanjiang landed on the platform with exuberant joy, instinctively taking his mother's hand.
Murong Qinglian chuckled and shook her head. "Are you really that happy?"
"The thought of being able to stay by Mother's side from now on naturally makes Xiaohu happy," Qin Yuanjiang replied, revealing a rare glimpse of youthful innocence. "Mother, are your belongings packed?"
"Yes, almost everything is in order."
"Then let's go!"
Qin Yuanjiang took Murong Qinglian's hand, ready to depart.
Yet the moment he took a step, he froze.
Releasing her hand, he cupped his fists and bowed with the utmost solemnity toward the members of the Luotian Association.
"Over the years, I am deeply indebted to all of you for taking care of my mother."
"Uncle Luo, thank you!"
From within the crowd, Luo Chen managed a strained smile.
"Go on. Safe travels."
Qin Yuanjiang nodded repeatedly, then eagerly led Murong Qinglian as they flew toward that colossal spiritual vessel.
Along the way, Murong Qinglian looked back again and again.
Finally, her eyes reddened, and she called out at the top of her voice, "Everyone, Murong takes her leave! I will never forget you, nor will I ever forget the Luotian Association!"
Atop Danxia Peak, countless cultivators voiced their replies in kind.
"Hall Master Murong, safe travels!"
"Take care!"
"Until we meet again!"
Chapter 418