Ten days was not a long time, but it certainly was not short either.
During those ten days, Luo Chen set aside everything else aside from his daily cultivation of the Eternal Spring Art and taking two Qi-Nourishing Pills.
He did not practice spells, did not engage in sparring, and rarely stepped outside to visit anyone.
All Qin Liangchen and the others saw was Luo Chen holed up at home all day, tinkering with something.
Every now and then, an explosion or two would ring out.
They had no idea what Luo Chen was up to, but the restless excitement within the Mountain Breaker Gang was growing ever more palpable.
Founding a Pill Hall!
This was undeniably a monumental, earth-shaking event.
Since ancient times, among the four cultivation arts—alchemy, arrays, artifact crafting, and talismans—alchemy had always stood at the very fore.
Because the threshold for entry was high, the requirements for nurturing talent were harsh, and the investment needed was immense.
Even if an alchemist was successfully groomed, without a suitable signature pill, they often could only satisfy internal demand and fail to turn a profit externally.
Consequently, throughout history, only sects had possessed the means to train alchemists and establish institutions like a Pill Hall.
Some prominent cultivation clans, upon encountering kin gifted in the alchemical dao, would also do their best to nurture one or two.
Renowned alchemists almost never came from rogue cultivator backgrounds; without exception, they all hailed from major sects or prestigious clans.
Yet now, word had spread from the gang leader that the Mountain Breaker Gang was about to establish its own Pill Hall.
What did that signify?
It meant Mi Shuhua had somehow roped in an alchemist!
An alchemist!
If they had an in-house alchemist, wouldn't the concocted pills naturally be supplied first to their own members?
If the pills aided cultivation, so much the better.
Even if they didn't, as long as the pills could be sold outside, everyone could share in some of the benefits.
It was safe to say that once the Mountain Breaker Gang established a Pill Hall, its future prospects would only shine brighter.
When newcomers wavered over whether to join, merely knowing the gang possessed an alchemist would be enough to resolve their doubts.
Thus, during this period, anything related to establishing the Pill Hall was approved throughout the Mountain Breaker Gang virtually without friction.
A new hall was rapidly taking shape, equipped with its own grounds, personnel, dharma artifacts, and even channels for material supplies.
Ten days later, Luo Chen emerged from seclusion.
Caked in grime and dust, his eyes were bloodshot, and his handsome face now looked considerably haggard.
Even the hem of his Daoist robe bore scorch marks.
Seeing this, Murong Qinglian asked with concern, "Are you all right? How did you end up in such a state?"
"I'm fine. Just the usual setbacks and failures that come with concocting pills."
Luo Chen waved a dismissive hand. Looking at the three waiting outside, he checked the time in his head.
"It's today, isn't it?"
"Yes, today."
The corners of Luo Chen's mouth curved slightly. "Then let's go!"
...
The Mountain Breaker Gang's headquarters—this was Luo Chen's second time visiting.
Aside from that initial celebratory banquet, the few visits he had made afterward had mostly been to Crescent Moon Valley.
The Medicine Hall was located there, and rumor had it the Pill Hall had also been built inside Crescent Moon Valley.
As for why the Pill Hall wasn't built at headquarters, the explanation given by the gang was that Crescent Moon Valley was safer and better suited for alchemy.
Luo Chen offered no opinion on the matter.
In the early stages, he could let them call the shots.
However, the time had come to haggle over every penny.
When he entered Bright Moon Hall, nearly everyone had returned from outside.
This was also the first time Luo Chen stood face-to-face with all the core members of the Mountain Breaker Gang.
Four Great Elders: Wang Yuan, Qin Liangchen, Luo Wudi, and Sikong Shoujia.
Eight Hall Masters: the three combat halls led by Sick Tiger Zeng Wen, Coiled-Dragon Tiger Yang Wei, and Luo Wudi, who doubled as an elder; Medicine Hall's Murong Qinglian; Beast Hall's Ke Yuelin; Mining Hall's Zhang Shicong; Merit Hall's Mi Junping; and Wang Yuan, the newly appointed master of the Flood Dragon Hall.
If one counted the soon-to-be-founded Pill Hall and himself, its future master—
then these eleven people would constitute the highest-ranking, most powerful upper echelon of the Mountain Breaker Gang.
Naturally, presiding above these eleven was Mi Shuhua, the Foundation Establishment cultivator possessing both the highest cultivation base and supreme authority.
The somewhat noisy Bright Moon Hall quieted down instantly once Luo Chen and his party stepped inside.
"Haha! Let us welcome the Master of the Pill Hall, Alchemist Luo Chen!"
With a hearty laugh, Mi Shuhua was the first to stand.
The others rose as well, according Luo Chen the utmost respect.
Smiling, Luo Chen cupped his hands to return the greetings one by one, his eyes cataloging every expression in the room.
A frowning Wang Yuan, the genial Qin Liangchen and his wife, and Zeng Wen, who was winking and making faces.
Coiled-Dragon Tiger Yang Wei, who sized him up from head to toe, alongside Zhang Shicong, master of the Mining Hall.
Luo Wudi, Sikong Shoujia, and Ke Yuelin of the Beast Hall, all wearing skeptical expressions.
Mi Junping of the Merit Hall showed no change in expression, standing quietly beside Mi Shuhua.
A variety of expressions, no two quite alike.
The only thing absent was hostility.
In truth, in the absence of a direct conflict of interest, anyone would maintain a cordial attitude toward an alchemist.
With just a single glance, Luo Chen felt steady and confident.
"Junior Luo's meager alchemical skills are truly nothing to brag about. For everyone to make such a fuss on my account today, this junior is truly overwhelmed with apprehension!"
Modest words tumbled from his mouth as though they cost nothing.
Yet Luo Chen's movements were completely uninhibited as he took a seat in the final chair.
Seeing this, Mi Shuhua gave a slight nod. It indicated Luo Chen had provisionally accepted his new status.
He gestured for everyone to sit, then introduced the theme of today's gathering.
"The Pill Hall must be built. There is no alternative."
"Just think about it: two thousand brothers in our Mountain Breaker Gang without enough to eat or warm clothes to wear, reduced to bitter meditation for their cultivation without even a single Qi-Nourishing Pill to take."
"Therefore, only a Mountain Breaker Gang with a Pill Hall is a complete Mountain Breaker Gang! Only a Mountain Breaker Gang with an alchemist is truly a good place to cultivate!"
"Without a Pill Hall, how are we any different from ordinary mortal gangs?"
"Though everything is waiting to be rebuilt, even a sparrow must have all its vital organs. Only then can we go further!"
Everyone listened with faint smiles to these rehearsed platitudes.
Over the years, they had all grown accustomed to Old Man Mi's way of speaking.
They knew the real meat always followed the pleasantries.
"Little Luo, entrusting the Pill Hall to you puts my mind at ease. After all, you are a genius capable of concocting mid-grade pills, bound to make a name for yourself across the Jade Cauldron Domain in the future!"
Even though everyone already knew this news, they were still filled with admiration.
That was a mid-grade pill! Not purchased, but concocted by his own hands.
Luo Chen waved his hands frantically. "Gang Leader, the mid-grade pills I refine are merely the result of practice. I hardly deserve the praise of an alchemy genius."
Mi Shuhua smiled benignly.
"Practice depends on circumstance. When you were on your own, mere practice allowed you to concoct mid-grade pills. In the future, backed by the entire Mountain Breaker Gang, top-grade pills will be well within your grasp."
Luo Chen put on a mournful expression. "But the pills I make don't offer much help to cultivation!"
Mi Shuhua's smile remained unbroken.
"How can you say they offer no help? Your Fasting Powder allows our brothers to hunt demon beasts and harvest heavenly treasures with peace of mind. And your Myriad Wonders Pill is simply wondrous beyond words—it can fetch a fortune in spirit stones, which our brothers can use to buy dharma artifacts and pills."
Luo Chen said with a bitter grimace, "Spirit stones are as hard to earn as excrement is to swallow! After toiling for so many years, I'm still stuck at the fifth layer of Qi Refinement, living in constant anxiety."
"Set your mind at ease on that front!" Mi Shuhua waved a hand magnanimously. "Once you become Master of the Pill Hall, the gang will issue you one bottle of Qi-Nourishing Pills each month to resolve your cultivation worries!"
One bottle of Qi-Nourishing Pills was worth a hundred low-grade spirit stones.
Such compensation was already vastly superior to that of the handmaids and servants working in the major sect shops within the city.
Perhaps the only ones comparable were the female cultivators of Tianxiang Pavilion who made their living by their talents.
Luo Chen sighed. "Regrettably, I possess only a useless five-element spiritual root. I fear one bottle of Qi-Nourishing Pills won't do much good."
*What a joke. I can refine two Qi-Nourishing Pills a day right now.*
*You offer me one bottle a month—a five-day supply? Who are you trying to fool?*
Mi Shuhua's expression froze slightly.
Elder Sikong Shoujia beside him chuckled. "One bottle is indeed a bit sparse. How about two? Stretched carefully, it ought to last a month."
Having spoken, he looked at Luo Chen with kindly eyes.
"Little Luo, back when you were a rogue cultivator, you probably couldn't afford more than a few Qi-Nourishing Pills a month. Two bottles is no small amount!"
*That must be their bottom line!*
*No matter. This isn't where my real focus lies.*
Luo Chen cupped his hands to him. "Elder Sikong is generous. Junior Luo has no objection!"
With those words, Sikong Shoujia, Mi Shuhua, and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief.
Two bottles of Qi-Nourishing Pills a month was truly nothing consequential to these ninth-layer Qi Refinement experts.
"Little Luo, if you have any other concerns, speak freely," Mi Shuhua said. "Concocting pills for the gang certainly won't leave you shortchanged."
"Shortchanged?"
"I'm not shortchanged at all!"
"I only worry about shortchanging everyone else!" Luo Chen cried with agonizing sorrow.
Everyone froze. Even Qin Liangchen, who was well aware of Luo Chen's plan for today, was completely dumbfounded.
Why would everyone else be shortchanged?
With the addition of a Pill Hall, the gang would secure a stable stream of revenue.
It was far safer than venturing into the mountains to hunt for a living.
They couldn't be happier—how could anyone feel shortchanged?
Before the assembly, Luo Chen clutched his chest, his face etched with grief. "Junior Luo possesses wretched aptitude and will likely never break through to Foundation Establishment in this lifetime, leaving me with a lifespan of no more than a hundred and twenty years. To make matters worse, an expert once passed by my village entrance and said I suffer from congenital deficiencies, doomed to live to sixty or seventy at most."
"Alas, I shudder to think how the gang will bear the blow once everyone grows accustomed to me concocting pills, only for me to die an early death."
"Ah!"
"This..."
"Surely not!"
"Little Luo, you look quite hale and hearty—er, actually, not all that hearty. Did you not sleep well last night?"
With his bloodshot eyes and haggard complexion, Luo Chen could hardly be called hale and hearty.
Claiming he had the look of an early death actually carried a shred of plausibility.
"So, Luo Chen, do you want to draw up a will first?"
The speaker was Ke Yuelin, master of the Beast Hall and Qin Liangchen's sworn brother.
Luo Chen's face stiffened. *You're the one who needs to write a will! Your whole family needs to write a will!*
Reining in his exaggerated emotions, he spoke earnestly: "I require items that extend lifespan, whether heavenly treasures, medicinal pills, or even secret techniques."
The moment those words were spoken, an obvious silence fell over the room.
Never one to release his falcon until he saw the hare, Luo Chen pressed on: "The Million Mountains of the Eastern Wilderness are boundlessly rich in resources. There are bound to be lifespan-extending items within. As far as I know, three years ago, our gang harvested a Six-Leaf Sovereign Lotus."
A Six-Leaf Sovereign Lotus: each leaf granted ten years, and six leaves intact could extend one's lifespan by a full sixty-year cycle.
Mi Shuhua blinked. "That was merely an exaggerated rumor. In truth, it was only a two-leaf lotus. Furthermore, right after it was obtained, two Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Spirit Herb Pavilion and Hundred Herbs Hall bought it for a steep price."
"I don't care about the past, but if we encounter any in the future, it must be offered to me first."
Luo Chen clapped his hands and rose abruptly.
Looking upon his tall, upright figure, everyone remained silent.
Such a condition could not be casually agreed to.
How precious were items that extended longevity?
To high-level cultivators in dire need of them, their worth could not be measured in spirit stones at all.
It was said that the extra Foundation Establishment Pill in Mi Shuhua's possession had been traded for precisely using that two-leaf sovereign lotus.
A mere fifth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator dare open his mouth for this?
Dare make such an outrageous demand?
Gradually, the expressions of several people took on an unkind edge.
To put it plainly, without having seen the profits of the Pill Hall yet, it was impossible for them to make promises of such gravity.
After a long pause, Mi Shuhua said softly, "We shall discuss this matter at a later date. Little Luo, you are in the prime of your youth. Who is to say you cannot attempt Foundation Establishment in the future and extend your life by two hundred years?"
Having spoken, he added:
"Young man, you must be ambitious. Do not lose faith in the Great Dao."
*Old bastard, wicked to the bone!*
*Only a ghost would believe you.*
With a sorrowful expression, Luo Chen stepped out from behind his chair, presenting his figure fully before everyone's gaze.
"Very well. It was my fanciful thinking that put everyone in a difficult position."
"In that case, Junior Luo will raise another presumptuous request, and I hope everyone will give it some consideration."
Under the watchful eyes of all present, he declared with firm emphasis: "Of all the profits earned from the pills, I want half!"
Chapter 76