Inside the Pill Hall.
Luo Chen gave his first-day speech to the twenty-odd cultivators.
There was encouragement, there was criticism, and he told them there was still plenty of room for improvement.
After he finished speaking, he dismissed them for the time being.
“Even though they're all mid-stage cultivators, most are elderly, weak, sick, or disabled, and the majority are female cultivators.”
“They must have been transferred straight from the Medicine Hall. They all seemed to know Sister-in-law Murong.”
Luo Chen muttered under his breath as he entered the house built for him by the Pill Hall.
It hadn't been built out in the valley or halfway up the mountain, but right next to the alchemy chambers, beside that small mountain spring pool.
Entering the house, he found Mi Shuhua had already been waiting for a while, with the Pill Hall's two deacons, Sikong Shoujia and Gu Caiyi, also waiting by his side.
Without any wasted words, the two got straight to the point.
The topic of discussion was very simple: the Pill Hall's upcoming direction.
“We can refine Fasting Pills, but there's no need to make too many—at most about a thousand a month will do.”
“I’ve run the numbers; the profit margin is too low. Besides, with such high quality, giving them to low-ranking gang members is an outright waste.”
“That thousand-plus will be supplied at a low price to mid- and late-stage members as a reward.”
Mi Shuhua spoke with confidence.
When it came to running the Mountain Breaker Gang, he had his own insights.
Luo Chen had no objection. A thousand-plus Fasting Pills was merely a matter of two or three days' work.
“Our primary goal remains the Jade Marrow Pill!” Mi Shuhua looked grim, his gaze fixed on Luo Chen. “Give me a straight answer: how long will it take before you can refine it?”
Luo Chen pulled a wry face and spread his hands.
“I'm still in the stage of familiarizing myself with the pill recipe. How can I give you a straight answer?”
“Besides, you've definitely read the recipe. The hardest part of the refinement lies in extracting the jade marrow from the Huanyu jade. That is a Tier 1 spiritual material. If I want to do it without damaging the jade marrow, my realm is currently still too low.”
Mi Shuhua was already advanced in years, usually glowing with health like a wealthy patriarch.
At this moment, his face crumpled into folds like a rag.
“Indeed. Peeling back the layers to extract the jade marrow at the fifth layer of Qi Refining is rather difficult.”
Luo Chen sighed. “If you could give me one more bottle of Qi-Nourishing Pills each month, perhaps I could break through to the sixth layer of Qi Refining soon. When that time comes, I'll definitely be able to extract the jade marrow from the Huanyu jade with ease.”
Standing aside, Sikong Shoujia couldn't help chiming in, “The two bottles of Qi-Nourishing Pills promised to you each month before should already be enough, shouldn't they?”
Mi Shuhua also advised, “Three bottles a month means taking one Qi-Nourishing Pill every day. Ingesting pills so frequently is something your meridians can't withstand.”
Can't withstand it?
I'm a genius with all my meridians unobstructed and an Eternal Spring Art at the master level!
I can refine two pills a day—a mere three bottles is something I even consider barely enough.
Of course, Luo Chen knew that when it came to milking the cow, one had to take it step by step and not push the old man into a corner.
With an expression of deep sorrow and dedication, he said, “In order to overcome the Jade Marrow Pill recipe as soon as possible, what does a bit of meridian swelling and pain matter to me? Gang Leader, let me do my utmost for the development of our gang!”
Mi Shuhua hesitated.
Only after quite a while did he nod.
“Three bottles of Qi-Nourishing Pills a month it is. I am deeply gratified by your dedication.”
Luo Chen’s eyes lit up.
Awesome!
Foundation Establishment cultivators truly possess substantial wealth; the Mountain Breaker Gang treats me well!
Beside them, hearing about this remuneration, Gu Caiyi's eyes turned red with envy.
She had only managed to rake in a massive haul of spirit stones during her final month at Tianxiang Pavilion.
In the past, she only earned two to three hundred spirit stones a month.
Now, just Luo Chen’s fixed supply of Qi-Nourishing Pills alone amounted to three bottles—that was three hundred spirit stones!
“The Jade Marrow Pill is the primary focus, but now that the framework of the Pill Hall has been set up, you should also have a steady source of income.”
Mi Shuhua looked at Luo Chen. “Continue refining your Myriad Wonders Pills!”
“What about the main ingredients?” Luo Chen asked.
“I will arrange for people to purchase regular quantities from Hundred Herbs Hall on a set schedule,” Mi Shuhua said. “In addition, part of the supplementary ingredients will be provided by the Medicine Hall. On the books, the Pill Hall will also pay spirit stones for them.”
I understand this!
Luo Chen smiled slightly. Wasn’t this just like business transactions between subsidiaries under a corporate group, where accounts still had to be properly settled?
That way, the Medicine Hall could also earn a sum of spirit stones from it.
Once the Myriad Wonders Pills were refined later, the Pill Hall could make another profit.
“More and more outside cultivators are coming to Dahe Market now, so the prospects for Myriad Wonders Pills are tremendous.”
“Furthermore, our gang also operates a brothel in the outer city. When the time comes, a portion of these pills will be supplied to them as well.”
The Mountain Breaker Gang has that kind of business too?
Luo Chen was astonished; he had never heard of this before.
A brief moment of thought left a slight knot in his chest.
No wonder female cultivators were so scarce in the gang, with most concentrated in the Medicine Hall, Beast Hall, and now his Pill Hall.
Chances were, some had been sent to the brothel the Mountain Breaker Gang secretly ran!
This old bastard really didn't do decent human things!
“Draw up a list of how many medicinal herbs you'll need for a month, and when the time comes, Elder Sikong will lead people to make the purchases.”
“Understood, I'll take care of it,” Luo Chen replied in a subdued tone.
Seeing how sensible and cooperative Luo Chen was, Mi Shuhua breathed a sigh of relief.
Everything was finally on track.
This gang had cost him immense effort, but it had also earned plenty of spirit stones for him and his family.
As long as the Jade Marrow Pill could be successfully refined in the future, he wouldn't need to worry too much about resource supplies for advancing to late Foundation Establishment.
A rogue cultivator's path was simply too difficult.
Having a faction to lean on was indeed beneficial after all.
“All right, I'll take my leave first. Going forward, Elder Sikong will oversee the Pill Hall's external affairs, while internal affairs will be left to Deacon Gu Caiyi.”
“Luo Chen, just focus on refining pills!”
...
Focusing on refining pills was impossible—impossible in this lifetime.
Refining pills was to earn spirit stones, and earning spirit stones was to buy suitable pills for cultivation.
Now that you're directly paying me a salary (Qi-Nourishing Pills), why wouldn't I cultivate straight away?
Cut out the middleman and floor the accelerator!
With one bottle of Qi-Nourishing Pills received today, the two bottles obtained after the Bright Moon Hall meeting at the beginning of the month, plus the two bottles left over from what he had bought previously, Luo Chen once again had five full bottles of Qi-Nourishing Pills on hand.
At a rate of two pills a day, it was enough for roughly twenty-five days.
Paired with the master-level Eternal Spring Art, the Tier 1 spirit vein of the inner city, and the pot of moonlight grass Fu Xiuxiu had given him, Luo Chen now spent almost every morning and evening cultivating diligently.
When another circulation of the Eternal Spring Art came to an end, Luo Chen pulled up his attribute panel.
[Lifespan: 27/75]
[Spiritual Roots: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth]
[Realm: Qi Refining Layer 5: 38/100]
[Cultivation Method: Eternal Spring Art (Master): 600/1000]
[Spells: Great Perfection Fireball Art, Carefree Wandering (Master 800/1000), Wind Riding Technique (Master 570/1000), Attraction Art (Master 600/1000), Entangling Art (Perfect 380/500), Spiritual Eye Art (Perfect 380/500), Cleansing Art (Perfect 300/500), Healing Art (Entry 5/100), Breath Concealment Spiritual Art (Entry 1/100)]
[Skills: Tier 1 Alchemist: Fasting Powder (Master 910/1000), Myriad Wonders Pill (Perfect 311/500)]
[Achievement Points: 22]
After scanning through it, he shook his head.
These past two weeks had seemed leisurely on the surface, but in reality, there were far too many miscellaneous matters.
In terms of spells, Carefree Wandering and Wind Riding Technique had grown the most from daily use, but neither had undergone a qualitative transformation.
The only skill that advanced a tier in proficiency was the Cleansing Art, which had reached the Perfect level.
And that was only because he had cast Cleansing Art repeatedly during those ten days when practicing how to control "normal pill formation."
The extra Achievement Point had also come from this.
Aside from that, there was little change.
He had only reached Entry level in the Breath Concealment Spiritual Art and Healing Art, neither of which was of much use for now.
What he cared about was his progress in realm.
[Qi Refining Layer 5: 38/100]
A reasonable increase: currently, two Qi-Nourishing Pills yielded one point of progress.
Through his own cultivation alone, he could gain about fifteen points of progress a month, which was the limit of the master-level Eternal Spring Art.
“Not bad. As long as the pill supply keeps up, coupled with my persistent cultivation, advancing to the sixth layer of Qi Refining will take about a month and a half.”
Arriving at this figure, Luo Chen let out a long sigh of relief.
This speed was very, very fast!
Only with completely unobstructed meridians and abundant resources could someone achieve such speed.
Yet at the thought that the higher the realm, the less progress pills would provide, a sense of urgency welled up in Luo Chen’s heart.
His savings right now amounted to only seven hundred-odd spirit stones.
In the past, that would have been a massive fortune, but with a slight calculation, it fell far short of supporting cultivation in the late stages.
With far-reaching foresight, Luo Chen had already begun planning for the sixth layer of Qi Refining and even late-stage cultivation.
“The Jade Marrow Pill!”
“Mi Shuhua is anxious, but am I not anxious as well?”
“Still, anxious or not, the initiative remains in my hands. By making use of this matter, I can fleece even more wool from that old bastard!”
As he closed the attribute panel, Luo Chen glanced at the skills column.
He remembered that his Fasting Powder proficiency had already exceeded eight hundred previously, yet refining over two hundred pills today had only raised it by a few dozen points.
Luo Chen frowned, thinking of a possibility.
“Could it be that each tier of proficiency requires refining pills of the corresponding quality to gain the equivalent progress?”
Of the batch of Fasting Pills refined today, most were inferior or medium grade, with only sixty of superior grade.
And the increase happened to be exactly sixty.
“If that's the case, I'll have to carefully weigh the quality of the pills I produce in the future.”
...
The next day, Luo Chen arrived at Crescent Moon Valley with his two bodyguards.
After leaving them in the valley, he gathered everyone from the Pill Hall.
Leaving aside the transport and sales teams that weren't under his command, the thirty elderly, weak, women, and children before him were his direct subordinates.
“Today, we divide up the duties!”
Chapter 89