"Come, let us drink this cup together!"
"This parting will put thousands upon thousands of li between us. May you have a smooth journey and stay safe and sound, Sister Xiuxiu!"
Beneath the moonlight, inside the small courtyard.
Five people sat gathered around the table, eating, drinking, and chatting in lively spirits.
Anyone unaware of the circumstances might have thought they were celebrating some joyous occasion.
In truth, this was a farewell feast held especially for Fu Xiuxiu.
Though not particularly old, this woman was gentle in manner, mild-tempered yet resilient, and had left a wonderful impression on everyone.
Her departure naturally filled the residents of the courtyard with reluctant parting sorrow.
Fu Xiuxiu set down her wine cup. Her gaze drifted across everyone, lingering on Gu Caiyi for an especially long time.
"Now that I'm leaving, there are things from my home I can't take with me, so I've left most of them to Feng Xia."
"Even so, I've prepared a few gifts for Xiao Ling and the rest of you."
"This is an Odor-Removing Talisman. Xiao Ling, you've spent so much time at Hundred Herbs Hall that over the days and months, the scent of various medicinal herbs always clings to you. I know you dislike those mixed, messy smells. With this talisman, activating it periodically will banish any unwanted odors."
Xiao Ling looked at the pristine white talisman, visibly flattered.
"Sister Xiuxiu, you're the one going on a long journey—shouldn't we be the ones giving you gifts? How could I accept this?"
Fu Xiuxiu shook her head gently and took two pots of spiritual plants from her storage bag.
"Moonlight grass. Little Luo, I know you've always been very fond of it. Since it isn't convenient for me to take it along, I'll give it to you!"
Luo Chen parted his lips, wanting to decline politely, yet found himself unable to say the words.
The moonlight grass truly offered immense benefits to him.
Normally, it calmed the heart and focused the mind; it had even once awakened him from a heart tribulation.
He had later pondered why he had encountered a heart tribulation at such a low realm.
Aside from overexertion and external shocks, the tangled and turbulent thoughts of a transmigration traveler were undoubtedly one of the causes.
The moonlight grass was indeed an exceptional aid to cultivation.
While he hesitated, Fu Xiuxiu had already handed the other small flowerpot to an astonished Gu Caiyi.
"A newly sprouted Purple Sun Flower. I had always wanted to grow one in the courtyard before, but I always failed."
A certain someone blushed slightly.
"This pot is one I successfully nurtured just two days ago."
"Caiyi, this flower is for you."
This time, there was no longer any displeasure toward Gu Caiyi in her eyes, only quiet appreciation.
"You are different from them. Now that you've broken free of Tianxiang Pavilion, your life ahead may be harder."
"Yet I believe that even if dust fills your eyes, your heart remains clear as a mirror, knowing exactly what it wants. You may find yourself standing in the mire again in the days to come, but I hope you will be just like this Purple Sun Flower, forever growing toward the sun."
Gu Caiyi covered her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes.
Women were always so sentimental.
Holding the pot of moonlight grass he had been caring for all this time—which now truly belonged to him—Luo Chen spoke with slight embarrassment: "We really ought to be giving you a gift, Sister Xiuxiu. After all, you're going to an unfamiliar place where you don't know anyone, and you have to start everything from scratch."
"Start from scratch?"
Fu Xiuxiu offered a faint smile. "Yes. Leaving this place of sorrow, it really is time to start everything anew."
Seeing how sentimental everyone had become, she suddenly dropped a piece of news.
"The Divine Talisman Sect has granted me an opportunity. As long as I successfully establish my foundation within five years, I can become an inner disciple."
Everyone was astonished.
She had failed once before, yet the Divine Talisman Sect was still willing to give her another chance?
Didn't that mean the Divine Talisman Sect would grant her a Foundation Establishment Pill?
Fu Xiuxiu didn't go into specific details.
However, no one worried for her anymore. Instead, they toasted to her success in establishing her foundation, jokingly telling her not to forget them once she struck it rich!
"You depart in five days?"
"I should be free then. I'll come see you off!" Luo Chen said, as if recalling something.
...
Inside his quiet room, Luo Chen took a Qi-Nourishing Pill. Amid the faint, refreshing fragrance drifting from the moonlight grass, he circulated the Eternal Spring Art.
After completing one full cycle, he glanced at his status panel. The realm progress bar had advanced by a point once more.
Finishing his cultivation left him a bit fatigued, but far more filled with joy.
This sensation—where every bit of effort yielded prompt, tangible feedback—was truly addictive.
Lying in bed, he took out that beast hide once again.
"The Blood Fiend Pill... I wonder if I can master the basics directly?"
He possessed as many as twenty-one achievement points, easily enough to master the basics of two Tier 1 pill formulas.
However, the Blood Fiend Pill was a Tier 2 pill.
As he pondered, the entry in the achievement point column on his status panel flickered faintly, soon giving rise to several new lines of text:
[Achievement Points: 21 (Can be used to master the basics of cultivation methods, spells, and skills corresponding to your realm)]
[The host is currently at Tier 1 in cultivation realm and a Tier 1 Alchemist; a tenfold expenditure of achievement points is required to master the basics.]
[For incomplete pill formulas of the same tier, additional achievement points may be expended to analyze and complete the full pill formula while mastering the basics.]
Looking at these three lines of notes, Luo Chen was momentarily stunned.
Then, immense joy flooded over him!
It wasn't that he couldn't master it; he simply lacked enough achievement points.
What was more, this system possessed the function of analyzing and completing incomplete pill formulas!
In that case, once he broke through to Foundation Establishment in the future, couldn't he complete the formula for the Jade Dew Pill?
The Jade Dew Pill was no obscure concoction.
It was a mainstream cultivation pill aimed at female cultivators as well as those with yin-soft constitutions, commanding a tremendous market!
Furthermore, selling this pill wouldn't draw trouble from the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect or the Medicine King Sect.
That was because the pill originated from outside the Far East Six Domains—it was a specialty pill belonging to a sect primarily composed of female cultivators within the Thirty-Six Domains of the Eastern Wasteland.
If he could advance to the Foundation Establishment stage in the future and complete the Jade Dew Pill formula, it would very likely become a vital source of income for him.
*Stay steady. Keep calm. Don't panic!*
Luo Chen set aside thoughts of the distant future and turned his mind back to the present.
"Mi Shuhua made it very clear that he has one complete pill formula and one incomplete pill formula."
"Perhaps I can put this to good use."
...
The next day, as soon as dawn broke.
Luo Chen and Gu Caiyi hurried out the door and made a beeline for Crescent Moon Valley.
Dahe Market was remote, yet it was vast!
Precisely because of its remoteness, most of the land surrounding the market had never been put to use.
The land utilized best was undoubtedly the shantytowns of the outer city built around the inner city, comprising tens of thousands of dwellings spread across the eastern, southern, western, and northern quarters.
Apart from the areas near the inner city, most of these dwellings were scattered far apart.
Take Luo Chen's former little courtyard, for example; there were practically no neighbors within a thousand meters.
Faced with such vast expanses of open land, cultivators were no fools either.
With the tacit consent of the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion, they put it to sensible use.
Cultivator clans such as the Li family, Duan family, and Nangong family—whom Luo Chen and Wang Yuan had mentioned in passing—were clans that had occupied lands with faint spirit veins.
As the largest rogue cultivator force in the region, the Mountain Breaker Gang naturally wouldn't let good places slip by.
Crescent Moon Valley was one such place.
Stepping into this area, Luo Chen felt spiritual energy that was thinner than the inner city's, yet somewhat denser than that of the outer city.
"There was once a star silver ore vein here. After the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion dispatched men to mine it hollow, it fell vacant."
"Later, Gang Leader Mi spent a sum of spirit stones, and Crescent Moon Valley came under our Mountain Breaker Gang."
Pointing at the bustling crowd in the valley, Sikong Shoujia smiled. "Don't look down on it just because it's an abandoned mining valley. Beneath it lies a branch of a spirit vein, which can be used to cultivate low-grade spiritual herbs."
Luo Chen and Gu Caiyi looked where his finger pointed and indeed saw vast patches of spirit herbs planted in spiritual fields or tucked into crevices along the cliff faces.
Gu Caiyi couldn't help but ask, "Can it be used for cultivation?"
"Barely, but the effects certainly can't compare to the main spirit vein in the inner city," Sikong Shoujia said.
Luo Chen smacked his lips. "It's already plenty good—countless times better than the outer city where I lived at first."
Gu Caiyi had also experienced renting a place in the outer city, and she sighed. "A place like this would probably turn any rogue cultivator green with envy if they found out!"
"Envious?"
Sikong Shoujia gave a cold sneer. "They'd need the strength to fight their way in first."
Luo Chen and Gu Caiyi both agreed with that.
Crescent Moon Valley was hardly some public outhouse that anyone could walk in and out of at will.
Two major halls of the Mountain Breaker Gang were stationed here.
Among them, there were four experts at the ninth layer of Qi Refinement alone: Sikong Shoujia, Murong Qinglian, Gu Caiyi, and a deacon from the Medicine Hall.
In addition, there were six cultivators at the seventh and eighth layers of Qi Refinement.
Such a lineup, combined with over a hundred early and mid-stage cultivators, alongside terrain that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, made it a veritable fortress.
Short of a Foundation Establishment cultivator stepping forth, who could conquer it?
"Our Pill Hall is built in the deepest, safest part of Crescent Moon Valley. Hall Master Little Luo, shall we go take a look at your refining chamber first?"
Chapter 80