When Luo Chen arrived, Mi Shuhua's smile had come straight from the heart.
When Luo Chen left, his smile had grown rather forced.
In Bright Moon Hall, Sikong Shoujia and Luo Chen were already gone, leaving only Mi Junping, who had arrived later, seated beside him.
"Father, does building a pill room really require such a massive investment?" Mi Junping could not help but ask.
She was the hall master of the Merit Hall, which handled certain accounting matters in addition to personnel management.
From a rough estimate, the things Luo Chen had just requested would require an investment of over a thousand spirit stones.
And that was solely for constructing the pill room.
Their Mi family had already put in a Xuanyun Cauldron worth nine hundred spirit stones and a Purple Cloud Bronze Furnace worth four hundred.
On top of that, once the pill room was finished and actual pill crafting began, the Mountain Breaker Gang would have to supply countless raw materials.
Even though hundreds or thousands of spirit stones passed through Mi Junping's hands daily, spirit stones were not meant to be spent like this!
Mi Shuhua sighed, a trace of bitterness showing on his face.
Before his family, he saw no need to keep up a front every waking moment.
"Ping'er, you don't understand. Our investment barely scratches the surface."
Mi Junping was astonished. "It's already quite a lot!"
Mi Shuhua shook his head. "Why do you think ordinary alchemists are found almost exclusively in major sects? Even clan alchemists are usually possessed only by Golden Core clans or established Foundation Establishment clans.
"This kind of investment—the kind outsiders never see—is precisely the reason!
"Our Mi family is merely a newly risen Foundation Establishment clan. We can't support the reckless spending of a true alchemist on our own. Establishing the Pill Hall now is, in fact, borrowing the Mountain Breaker Gang's strength."
Mi Junping naturally knew her own clan's situation inside out.
Thinking about supporting a cultivator in pill crafting for decades or centuries, she too found the prospect somewhat terrifying.
That was simply beyond the means of a newly risen Foundation Establishment clan.
"What Luo Chen is doing is still small-scale tinkering," Mi Shuhua said.
"Second-order alchemists are even more esteemed. Their pill-crafting utensils are superior-grade magical artifacts at the very least. They disdain mortal fire entirely; if they use fire, it must be earth fire. Do you know how much a pill room with an earth fire vent costs to construct?"
Mi Junping asked in a small voice, "How much?"
"From securing an earth fire springhead to channeling the earth fire out, setting up formations, sealing the interior from the exterior, and forging the chamber itself... Mount Ailao cultivators once quoted a public price: eight thousand spirit stones!"
"Hiss... Why don't they just go rob someone!" Mi Junping drew in a sharp breath.
Mi Shuhua sighed. "And that's just the labor fee, without the building materials. The materials also have to be purchased from Xianzhu Residence on Mount Ailao, so they turn another profit on that.
"So, although Luo Chen seemed to make so many demands just now, it only comes to one or two thousand spirit stones. I can bear it, and the Mountain Breaker Gang can bear it as well."
Mi Junping asked, "Then will we be able to earn it back later?"
"We'll certainly make it back, but whether we can make even more depends on whether that boy can refine the pill recipe I gave him," Mi Shuhua said mildly. His voice carried a touch of anticipation, yet also considerable hesitation.
***
"Elder Sikong, I'll be troubling you with the Pill Hall's affairs."
"Don't mention it. Since the Gang Leader promised you his full support, I certainly won't drag my feet."
"Then see you tomorrow?"
"See you tomorrow!"
At the inner city crossroads, watching Sikong Shoujia hurry away, Luo Chen smiled faintly.
Afterward, he could hardly wait to rush home.
Before long, he was back in the quadrangle courtyard.
Closing the door behind him, he found there was no need to light a lamp.
The renovated reverse-facing room had two glass skylights installed, making the lighting far better than before.
Sitting before his desk, Luo Chen fetched a pile of items from his storage bag.
Two bottles of Qi-Nourishing Pills—his fixed salary for the coming month, just received.
The five bottles he had previously bought with his savings were mostly consumed, so this came just in time to bridge the gap.
Aside from the Qi-Nourishing Pills, there were a yellowed book and two bamboo scrolls.
He cast the Spiritual Eye Art first, examining them carefully to make sure there were no hidden tricks on them.
Only then did Luo Chen pick up the book with peace of mind.
*Qing Yuanzi's Detailed Explanation of the Alchemy Dao*.
This was the alchemy text Mi Shuhua had promised him earlier.
The pages were yellowed, and there were quite a few annotations written on them.
Evidently, Luo Chen was far from the first person to read this book aside from the author himself.
The members of the Mi clan must have read through it many times as well.
"The Dao of Alchemy is vast and profound, standing foremost among the hundred arts of cultivation. Though it possesses no outward might like artifacts, talismans, formations, or puppets, it can aid our fellow cultivators on the path to the Great Dao.
"Untalented as I am, my cultivation reaches only the late Foundation Establishment stage, yet I am numbered among third-order alchemists, worthy of being called a master of my generation.
"This book consists of miscellaneous notes penned in my spare moments between refining pills, recording everything from basic alchemy to..."
Just reading the opening lines, Luo Chen could sense the pride radiating from between the words of the alchemist named Qing Yuanzi.
And he truly had the right to be proud.
To refine third-order pills while only at the Foundation Establishment stage.
Furthermore, the contents of the book were written in meticulous detail.
It covered nearly all the entry-level techniques of alchemy, including specialized terminology that gave even Luo Chen a slight headache.
*It's a fine book, but it's not something I can master in a short time. I should read through it often whenever I'm free.*
Carefully putting *Qing Yuanzi's Detailed Explanation of the Alchemy Dao* away, Luo Chen turned his attention to the two bamboo scrolls.
One scroll was intact, while the other bore scorch marks from fire.
Mi Shuhua had actually given him two pill recipes, but one was incomplete, so the old man had held no expectations for Luo Chen on that one.
What the old man truly cared about was the complete scroll.
"Jade Marrow Pill!"
Luo Chen studied the recipe with utmost care, from the main ingredients and proportions to its effects and taboos.
By the time he finished reviewing it, night had already fallen without him noticing.
He rubbed his throbbing temples, filled with emotion.
*No wonder Mi Shuhua went through so much trouble to rope me in and insisted on establishing the Pill Hall at all costs.*
*If I can really refine this Jade Marrow Pill, the Mountain Breaker Gang will strike it rich!*
*No, that's not right—Mi Shuhua will strike it rich.*
Luo Chen had discreetly asked Qin Liangchen how the profits generated by the Pill Hall would be divided among the others, setting aside Luo Chen's own share.
Though there were no fixed percentages, Gang Leader Mi Shuhua would definitely take the lion's share.
Aside from the hall masters and ninth-layer Qi Refinement cultivators, the other halls barely received any spirit stones at all.
In other words, most of the Pill Hall's profits would flow straight into Mi Shuhua's pocket.
And this Jade Marrow Pill was precisely an item capable of generating massive profits.
*It's actually an orthodox cultivation pill!*
That single label alone explained the Jade Marrow Pill's immense value.
According to the description on the recipe, consuming a Jade Marrow Pill could increase a cultivator's spiritual power.
A very common effect, was it not?
Yet the more common an effect, the more mainstream it was.
And it was precisely these mainstream pills whose recipes and distribution channels were tightly controlled by the major sects.
Ordinary forces had no such pills to sell. Even if they did, a sect would inevitably have a hand in it.
*Still, this pill has quite a few drawbacks, too!*
Recalling the contraindications and taboos noted on the recipe, Luo Chen felt a bit of regret.
Although the Jade Marrow Pill was indeed a mainstream pill, the spiritual power it contained was fairly modest—only a tenth of a Qi-Nourishing Pill's.
Not only that, taking too many would build up drug tolerance.
Tolerance was manageable enough; most pills suffered from that flaw.
The Jade Marrow Pill's greatest drawback was that excessive consumption would cause jadeification of the dantian!
For a cultivator, that was utterly unacceptable.
The dantian was a low-level cultivator's most vital point.
Once damaged, it would at best cut off one's path of cultivation, and at worst trigger a violent rampage of spiritual energy leading to death.
Jadeification was hardly a good thing.
Once jadeified, breaking through cultivation realms would become excruciatingly difficult.
In alchemy terminology, that was known as a "pill barrier"—an impediment caused by pill consumption.
Many unorthodox pills easily led to pill barriers.
Only pills thoroughly researched countless times, such as the Qi-Nourishing Pill, Dust-Cleansing Pill, and Jade Dew Pill, had had their pill barrier issues resolved.
At worst, consuming too many simply rendered them ineffective.
*Even with its many flaws, it's still a miracle elixir for low-level cultivators!*
Luo Chen had climbed his way up step by step from the first and second layers of Qi Refinement, and he had suffered deeply from the lack of pills!
The Qi-Nourishing Pills sold at the Spirit Herb Pavilion were never sold individually, only by the bottle.
And a single bottle cost a hundred spirit stones!
A hundred spirit stones meant nothing to a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators could produce that much with ease. Mid-stage cultivators could grit their teeth and purchase a bottle now and then.
But for early-stage cultivators, that was a fortune!
Even bankrupting themselves might not be enough to buy a single bottle.
The Jade Marrow Pill was different.
From its main ingredients and effects to its shortcomings, it was destined not to command a high price.
In other words, low-level cultivators could afford it!
*Poor bastards might be poor, but that doesn't mean they have no spirit stones at all.*
*Back then, if I had known about this pill, I could have gritted my teeth and bought a few over the course of a year.*
*Once this pill is crafted, it will exist specifically to scour spirit stones from the hands of the destitute!*
Luo Chen set down the bamboo scroll, his doubts resolved.
As for Mi Shuhua's worry about whether he could actually refine it?
What a joke—he was a man with a system!
Of course, he could not refine it too easily.
Luo Chen already had a plan in mind. He then shifted his gaze toward the fire-damaged scroll.
"Nether-Passage Pill?"
Chapter 82