It was not cramped or damp like he had imagined.
In fact, Luo Chen was extremely pleased with this new pill room.
Covering nearly a thousand square meters, it sat right in the belly of the mountain within Crescent Moon Valley.
Supposedly, it had once served as the Sword Pavilion's primary platform for mining star silver ore. All the star silver ore extracted from underground had been inventoried here before being transported away.
A clear spring, channeled from the rock face, pooled in the inner southeastern corner of the chamber.
"Building the pill room here is truly wonderful!" Luo Chen praised before immediately adding, "However, the layout here will still need some redesigning."
"You are the master of the Pill Hall; everything will be done according to your wishes," Sikong Shoujia agreed with a beaming smile.
"First, partition it into five rooms—two large and three small."
"Of the large rooms, one will be my living quarters, and the other will be a pharmacy for processing medicinal herbs."
"The three small ones are straightforward: actual alchemy rooms. I already have a low-grade Tier 1 pill furnace. When will the two refining implements Gang Leader Mi promised be brought over?"
Sikong Shoujia patted his storage bag.
"They are already here: a mid-grade alchemy cauldron and a low-grade Purple Cloud Bronze Furnace."
Luo Chen blinked. An alchemy cauldron? Good stuff!
As for the Purple Cloud Bronze Furnace, it was likely identical to his own, both produced by Wanbao Pavilion.
"I have experience constructing pill rooms, but I worry it won't be enough to meet the needs of large-scale refining. Therefore..." Luo Chen chuckled. "Could we hire cultivators from Mount Ailao to help design it?"
Mount Ailao was the largest construction outfit in the Jade Cauldron Domain, boasting an abundance of architects, overseers, and all manner of spiritual dwelling building materials.
Sikong Shoujia froze. "Is that necessary?"
"Not necessary?"
Luo Chen's expression turned stern, and he spoke with righteous gravity. "If a pill room isn't designed properly, it can easily lead to poisoning, fire, explosions, and many other dangerous situations."
"Uh, Little Hall Master Luo, don't try to fool me. This old man is an educated man too," Sikong Shoujia replied, still half-skeptical.
Luo Chen sighed. "You don't believe me? Go ask Elder Qin, or Li Si and the others. Not long ago, I blew up my own pill room at home. Li Si and his brothers were the ones who helped repair my house."
Sikong Shoujia opened his mouth, momentarily at a loss for words.
Thinking of the hiring fees for Mount Ailao cultivators, his face flushed red.
"I'm afraid the gang leader will have to decide on this matter."
"Ah, it's actually not as expensive as you think. We can't afford Foundation Establishment ones, but we can hire one or two in the mid-to-late stages of Qi Refinement. They might not have much personal experience, but even if they haven't eaten pork, they've seen pigs run. A few pointers from them will yield twice the result with half the effort."
Put that way, Sikong Shoujia breathed a sigh of relief.
Mount Ailao cultivators in the mid-to-late Qi Refinement stage wouldn't cost many spirit stones.
"Next are the materials. For building the pill rooms, we absolutely cannot substitute inferior goods."
Luo Chen maintained a solemn expression, looking as though he were undertaking a sacred endeavor.
"Back then, I used the cheapest creek white stone as heat-insulating bricks. This time, we must buy creek jade! The kind that costs one spirit stone per piece! Paving it under the pill furnaces gathers heat remarkably well."
One spirit stone per piece of jade!
Sikong Shoujia's composure frayed again.
"Oh, as outsiders, you probably don't know, but the requirements for refining flames are very high as well."
"There is no earth fire here, nor do I possess Foundation Establishment True Fire. Refining pills can only rely on mortal fire."
"Yet even mortal fire has its rules. Flames burned from different kinds of wood yield completely different temperatures. Don't bother with peach wood or spruce wood to make up numbers; we must procure azure steel wood and sweet wax wood in bulk."
Sikong Shoujia was not an ignorant, bottom-dwelling rogue cultivator.
He was a ninth-layer Qi Refinement senior cultivator who had clawed his way through Dahe Market for decades and stood at the pinnacle of rogue cultivators.
Therefore, he knew very well the value of firewood like azure steel wood and sweet wax wood.
Those were bought by the hundred jin, and Spirit Source Studio's asking price was anything but cheap.
He swallowed hard. "With such a massive investment, are you certain the refined pills will turn a profit?"
"You call this massive?" Luo Chen asked in return, his eyes wide with bewilderment.
Was it not massive? Sikong Shoujia stared blankly.
Luo Chen let out a forlorn sigh. "True enough. How could you bandit cultivators, who only know fighting and killing, understand an art as refined as alchemy?"
*Who only knows fighting and killing? I teach disciples too!*
*And who are you calling a bandit cultivator? I belong to an established gang! I never stoop to such filthy, underhanded deeds!*
Sikong Shoujia's face flushed crimson.
Yet he could not refute that final point.
He truly knew nothing about alchemy!
Or rather, ninety-nine percent of rogue cultivators knew nothing about it.
All they knew was what effect a certain pill had and how many spirit stones it cost to buy.
As for how it was refined?
What main ingredients were used?
What kind of environment and tools were required? They were utterly clueless.
"Oh, I forgot another thing. Buy a few more Pale Smoke and Sparse Rain Pavilions! That dharma artifact is extremely useful!"
"Here, here—don't let this mountain spring water go to waste! Who knows, this water quality might even raise the quality of the pills!"
"There—build me a scripture pavilion when the time comes! Alchemy requires constant learning; how can one rest on one's laurels?"
"And..."
Sikong Shoujia had gone completely numb.
Beside them, Gu Caiyi also looked visibly stunned.
After a long while, seeing Luo Chen still droning on with demands that were not outrageous but entirely reasonable, Sikong Shoujia could finally bear it no longer.
"Hall Master Luo, this matter is of great consequence, and the details are vast. I cannot make such decisions on the spot. Why don't you come with me to see the gang leader?"
*Heh, why aren't you calling me Little Hall Master Luo anymore?*
Luo Chen smirked inwardly, then feigned a look of suspicion.
"Elder Sikong, weren't you supposed to oversee all logistics?"
Sikong Shoujia wiped the sweat from his brow. "I'm getting old, and my mind can't keep up. Just come with me for now!"
Luo Chen shrugged, shot a glance at Gu Caiyi, and followed him out of the Pill Hall.
As they left, the Mountain Breaker Gang cultivators along the way all bowed respectfully to Sikong Shoujia.
As for Luo Chen, they did not recognize him yet and simply assumed he was a junior under Sikong Shoujia's wing.
Once they had departed, Gu Caiyi stood in the cavernous, empty hall, filled with emotion.
"I never imagined Luo Chen understood the pill dao so deeply. He feels even more skilled than Xiangxiang."
Recalling Luo Chen's eloquent, commanding demeanor earlier, Gu Caiyi found it rather surreal.
That confident air was a world apart from the penny-pinching, stingy man he usually was.
"Oh, I can't just space out here. I need to find Sister Murong to ask about the Pill Hall's specific situation and see who will be stuffed into it."
This was a task Luo Chen had entrusted to her, and she had to carry it out properly!
Only by understanding the internal dynamics thoroughly could Luo Chen take precise action later on—knowing whom he could order around at will, and whom he had to treat with care.
***
Above the small woods, two figures flew through the sky.
One piloted a dharma artifact, enveloped in a dense escape light.
The other rode the wind, free and easy.
Sikong Shoujia was secretly astounded. He had pushed his speed to the maximum, yet he never expected the young man to keep pace with him.
Revealing nothing on his face, he chuckled as he flew. "Hall Master Luo, your mastery of this Wind Riding Technique is truly consummate!"
Luo Chen waved his hand. "I'm merely basking in the borrowed brilliance of the Cloud Treading Boots gifted by Gang Leader Mi. I hardly deserve such praise."
The old man's gaze fell upon the pair of teal-and-white boots, and sudden realization dawned on him.
A high-grade dharma artifact inscribed solely with the Wind Riding Technique—no wonder it was so swift.
Yet if he knew this was only half of Luo Chen's true speed, he would have been unable to maintain his composure.
In truth, this was also the first time Luo Chen had activated the Cloud Treading Boots.
Their speed was so fast that it was not in the least inferior to a ninth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator flying on a dharma artifact.
What was more, this was without him actively casting the Wind Riding Technique or Carefree Wandering.
If all three were stacked together, his speed would at least double!
Luo Chen even wondered: this speed had already surpassed ordinary ninth-layer Qi Refinement cultivators. How would it measure up against a Foundation Establishment cultivator?
By the time they touched down at the Mountain Breaker Gang's headquarters, Mi Shuhua had already brewed tea in Bright Moon Hall.
A broad smile adorned his face, as though he had just recalled something delightful.
Chapter 81