Back in the stone house, Luo Chen looked at the golden pill pinched between his thumb and forefinger.
A faint yet distinct cloud pattern wrapped once around the pill.
Luo Chen's initial understanding of pills had stemmed from his predecessor's immortal encounter—the legacy of an old cultivator.
Strictly speaking, the old cultivator who had died in the mountain cave could not truly be considered a disciple of a major sect.
Originally a rogue cultivator from the Medicine King Domain, he had barely managed to gain admission into the Medicine King Sect's outer sect thanks to a decent hand at alchemy.
His circumstances were quite similar to Fu Xiuxiu's.
Except he had failed to establish his foundation, never receiving the Foundation Establishment chapter of the Medicine King Sect's Ageless Evergreen Scripture—the Yimu Medicine King Scripture.
As he aged, he had been reduced to handling miscellaneous chores for the sect as an outer disciple.
In the end, he had perished inside a mountain cave in Yuanzhao State.
That man had possessed considerable insights into alchemy, so aside from the Qi Refinement chapter of the Eternal Spring Art, he had left behind two pill recipes for Luo Chen's predecessor: Fasting Powder and the Myriad Wonders Pill.
As for why a proper outer disciple of the Medicine King Sect had possessed a strange recipe for an aphrodisiac pill, that was beyond Luo Chen's knowing.
Later, after Luo Chen transmigrated and sold pills in the Rogue Cultivator Market, occasionally chatting with fellow rogue cultivators, he gradually picked up more common knowledge regarding pills.
Well, those people didn't know how to refine pills, but they were always nitpicky when buying things.
Back and forth, he could always coax out a few tidbits of information.
Yet what had benefited him most was undoubtedly the *Qingyuan Alchemy Exposition* that Mi Shuhua had given him.
Its author had been a Foundation Establishment cultivator who had nonetheless achieved the status of an alchemy master capable of refining third-rank pills.
Even now, Luo Chen continued to study the *Qingyuan Alchemy Exposition* daily, finding fresh insights every time he read it.
The several alchemical techniques recorded within had proved immensely beneficial to him.
The Jade Breaking Hand was one technique he had learned recently, and it worked wonders for processing mineral materials.
That was straying off topic.
Through this alchemical knowledge, Luo Chen had gradually come to understand the entire alchemical framework.
For example, the grading of pill ranks.
Spiritual energy was abundant in this realm and resources plentiful, allowing the Great Dao's laws to manifest externally; whenever something came into being in harmony with the Great Dao, it would often bear corresponding Dao patterns.
Such were the bone patterns of demon beasts, the core patterns of inner cores, the growth rings of ancient trees, the mineral veining of exotic ores, and so forth.
Amazingly, pills refined by human hands could also bear corresponding Dao patterns.
People called them pill patterns, and because the lines drifted ethereally like clouds, they were also known as cloud patterns.
The number of cloud patterns determined a pill's rank.
If there were no cloud patterns, the pill was unranked.
Why had Luo Chen's Fasting Powder always been called unranked?
The reason was that once the medicinal potency stabilized, no cloud pattern appeared on the pill—even high-grade Fasting Powder remained unranked.
This time, however, Luo Chen had ground his proficiency in Fasting Powder to the Great Perfection level.
The pill he refined actually bore a wisp of a cloud pattern.
Though it was only a single wisp, it signified that it had entered the ranks.
"Let me try it and see how potent it is."
Without hesitation, Luo Chen swallowed it whole.
He had full confidence in something he had refined himself.
After swallowing it, a feeling of fullness slowly welled up.
It felt just like the lazy satiety one experienced right after finishing a satisfying meal.
"This potency?"
Luo Chen hesitated slightly and rubbed his belly, lost in thought.
"Compared to low-grade Fasting Powder, the potency contained within has increased tenfold. Compared to high-grade, it's roughly triple."
Low-grade Fasting Powder could keep a cultivator from starving for three days.
High-grade Fasting Powder could sustain about ten days of normal activity.
Now, this supreme Fasting Powder could keep Luo Chen from feeling hunger for an entire month.
"Earlier, I used the Xuanyun Cauldron to refine Fasting Powder. Two portions of raw materials should have yielded a hundred pills.
"Yet in the end, I only got about fifty portions of paste and this single ranked pill.
"In other words, it took an entire portion of raw materials to produce this single supreme Fasting Powder."
Arriving at this conclusion, Luo Chen felt somewhat dissatisfied.
Whether in terms of retail profit or intrinsic energy conversion, it was a net loss.
Looked at this way, even reaching Great Perfection in Fasting Powder wouldn't do much to help him earn cultivation resources.
Perhaps the only upside was that with this pill, during prolonged closed-door cultivation, he wouldn't need to take other Fasting Powder so frequently.
"Supreme Fasting Powder should be comparable to a genuine low-grade Fasting Pill."
Sighing, Luo Chen reined in some of the joy he had felt from maxing out a pill's proficiency to Great Perfection.
Such was reality.
Things in this world didn't always turn out completely satisfying.
Besides, he had been mentally prepared.
Fasting Powder, after all, was fundamentally an unranked recipe.
That the system could elevate it to first-rank low-grade was already extraordinary.
And hadn't it awarded an achievement point as well?
Glancing at the attribute panel, with Spiritual Eye Art advancing to Master, Mountain-Cleaving Monument-Breaking Palm advancing to Familiar, and Fasting Powder advancing to Great Perfection, his achievement points had accumulated to 16.
The more achievement points he had, the more grounded he felt.
Initiating other pill recipes later on would still require plenty of achievement points.
Looking at the achievement points, an idea suddenly struck him.
"If I refine large quantities of unranked pills and learn some secular martial arts, could I grind achievement points like crazy? Then I could initiate a second-rank recipe like the Blood Fiend Pill straightaway!"
The moment the idea emerged, Luo Chen couldn't help daydreaming.
A moment later, however, he gave himself a slap.
What was he thinking?
Did he have time to waste?
His everyday cultivation and alchemy already left him short on time; any spare hours were squeezed out to practice spells and study alchemical lore.
To spread himself thin over even more inconsequential secular martial arts would truly be courting unnecessary trouble.
Besides, the gains those things offered were far too meager.
Practicing one or two on occasion was fine, but getting obsessed with them was absolutely out of the question.
"In these matters, one must act according to one's means.
"And once my realm is higher, initiating recipes of the corresponding rank won't cost that many achievement points anyway."
Having thought this through, Luo Chen felt a wave of relief, his mind and body both easing up considerably.
At this sudden sensation of ease, Luo Chen grew thoughtful.
Could it be that just now, I almost fell into another mental demon?
Since antiquity, taking shortcuts seldom led to good ends.
If he truly got obsessed, it might very well hinder his path to the Great Dao.
...
"Today’s yield: fifty-two Fasting Pills, with low, mid, and high grades in a ratio of seven to two to one. Twenty Myriad Wonders Pills, with low, mid, and high grades in a ratio of four to five to one."
"Store them in the pill-curing chamber and enter them into the ledger."
Listening to the pill-curing attendant report the figures to Gu Caiyi, Luo Chen nodded beside them.
His methods for controlling the grade of the finished pills were becoming increasingly consummate.
There were failures and successes, and the grades varied between high and low; it wouldn't arouse suspicion, nor would it make the gang lose faith in him.
For now, he held this balance just right!
*Whoosh!*
A gust of wind blew past, and as the radiance of a dharma artifact dimmed, Sikong Shoujia’s figure appeared.
"Hall Master Luo, here is the *Flame Manipulation Incantation*."
Taking the thin booklet, Luo Chen flipped through it while saying, "Elder Sikong, thank you for your trouble. Did you run into any difficulties?"
Sikong Shoujia chuckled. "No trouble at all. I thought I’d have to waste plenty of breath on Mi Junping, but unexpectedly, she was far more generous this time. Likely because this *Flame Manipulation Incantation* isn't any kind of profound spell!"
The *Flame Manipulation Incantation* indeed could not be considered a profound spell; it possessed neither offensive power nor defensive capability.
It merely enhanced a cultivator's technique in controlling flames.
That it was ranked as a first-rank spell was only because it was quite helpful to alchemists.
Yet she didn't know that for Luo Chen, this spell was not quite so simple.
*With this thing, perhaps I can remedy some flaws in my Great Perfection Fireball Art.*
Thinking back to the awkward predicament of Great Perfection Fireball Art—capable of unleashing fire but unable to recall or control it—Luo Chen now felt confident.
As long as he mastered the Flame Manipulation Incantation, he might be able to take the might of his Great Perfection Fireball Art to a whole new level!
...
Once the initial novelty wore off, life in the Pill Hall settled into a calm, ordinary rhythm like flowing water.
Under Gu Caiyi's leadership, the cultivators within familiarized themselves with the *Illustrated Compendium of a Hundred Herbs* and the Flame Manipulation Incantation.
Their assistance to Luo Chen's alchemy grew greater and greater.
So much so that he had more time to pursue his own affairs.
A month later, in the primeval forest ten li behind Crescent Moon Valley.
*Rustle, rustle.*
The underbrush shook as a red-eyed rabbit fled frantically, as though fleeing its natural predator.
Behind it, the massive thickets looked as if crushed by a tank. A gray wolf, standing as tall as a man and measuring roughly three meters long, leaped forth violently.
Its speed was so great that in the blink of an eye, it was already directly above the rabbit.
Descending from the air, it caught the rabbit with a single claw and stuffed it straight into its maw.
Flesh and juices dripped from between its ferocious teeth as its jaws snapped shut.
Having finished the rabbit, the gray wolf still seemed unsatisfied, prowling through the forest to search for more prey.
Suddenly, its footsteps halted.
Its nose twitched; there seemed to be a scent in the air.
Its gaze darted about, yet discovered nothing.
Yet right ahead of it, upon the bough of an enormous tree, a man in a moon-white Daoist robe watched it warily.
A first-rank demon beast, the gray-leaf wolf.
A powerhouse among low-rank demon wolves, its strength rivaled a human cultivator in late-stage Qi Refinement, and its regenerative ability was extraordinarily potent. Hunting it down usually required a coordinated team.
"Strangely, gray-leaf wolves usually hunt in packs. This one is actually hunting alone."
This man was none other than Luo Chen.
During this time, whenever he had a bit of leisure, he would come to the forest behind Crescent Moon Valley to practice spells.
He occasionally encountered low-rank demon beasts, but under his various methods, he could dispatch them with ease.
Whenever he came across wolf packs, he simply steered clear.
This stretch of forest could already be considered the outer fringe of the Howling Moon Mountain Range.
Although the Howling Moon Mountain Range bordered Dahe Market, it wasn't a primary hunting ground for cultivators.
The main reason was that demon wolves were generally fast and possessed a keen sense of smell, making them ill-suited for hunting.
The few times Luo Chen had run into wolf packs, he had avoided them relying on his Adept-level Breath Concealment Spiritual Art and his swift footwork.
This time, however, his interest was piqued.
"A solitary gray-leaf wolf is an excellent opponent!"
Mindlessly seeking out weak demon beasts to practice on didn't produce great results.
By contrast, a gray-leaf wolf carried substantial weight.
With a thought, Luo Chen flicked his hand.
Seven streaks of emerald light suddenly shot forth.
Almost the moment he acted, the Breath Concealment Spiritual Art lost its concealing effect, and the active fluctuations of spiritual power immediately caught the demon wolf's attention.
*Whimper—growl!*
With a low snarl, the gray-leaf wolf surged forward instead of retreating!
In this region, the demon wolf pack stood indisputably at the apex of the food chain; they had never feared anyone.
Especially when the foe before it didn't appear strong.
As it leaped into the air, surging demonic power radiated outward.
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
The seven emerald streaks struck as if against steel, rebounding limply into the air.
Luo Chen's eyes flashed, and unleashing the Attraction Art once more, he abruptly rallied the deflected Jasper Sabers to converge.
The Jasper Saber Formation formed in an instant!
"Master-level Attraction Art combined with my spiritual sense foundation—twice that of ordinary cultivators—has brought my control over this set of medium-grade dharma artifacts to consummate mastery.
"Still, relying on just this method probably won't be enough to deal with this demon wolf."
Sure enough, the formed saber formation merely left a few bloody slashes on the gray-leaf wolf before being swatted away by a single claw.
One of the wooden sabers even dimmed in its emerald radiance, clearly sustaining severe damage.
"However, my methods aren't limited to this!
"Rise!"
Luo Chen's gaze sharpened, his hand seals shifting instantly.
From the overgrown forest floor where brush and shrubs ran wild, green vines abruptly surged into the air.
Like flailing claws and bared teeth, they lashed out toward the demon wolf.
Faced with this assault, disdain flashed across the wolf's beastly pupils, and its demonic body charged toward Luo Chen without a pause.
Whenever the vines caught hold of it, they caused only a momentary delay before snapping under its brute force.
What was more, as its wolf claws swung, it slashed out arcs of yellowish-green blades toward Luo Chen.
Those were attacks condensed from demonic power.
Unflustered, Luo Chen let his robe billow as he pulled back.
Carefree Wandering combined with the Wind Riding Technique granted him extraordinary agility in midair.
The abundance of towering trees nearby helped block the vast majority of the attacks as well.
As he retreated, he unleashed fireball after fireball, interspersing dozens of colorful beads among them using a specialized technique.
The appearance of the Fireball Art made the gray-leaf wolf wary.
This was the technique of a human cultivator!
Yet it was only that.
They were too slow to hit it.
However, as the beads struck its body and detonated, they tore into its flesh, leaving it bloody and battered.
The gray-leaf wolf was an earth-and-wood-attribute demon beast; its speed wasn't considered fast among its kin, but its body was rugged and its regenerative capacity extraordinarily strong.
Excelling at prolonged battles, its combat power was formidable.
These superficial wounds only served to enrage it further.
That damned human was too fast and refused to clash with it head-on.
After several dozen breaths of this, the gray-leaf wolf halted in its tracks.
Beastly instinct made it loathe this battle rhythm of being led around by the nose.
It prepared to slip away.
Yet the instant it moved to turn back, its pupils widened and its tail tucked between its legs by instinct.
As far as its eyes could see, the fireballs that had seemingly missed earlier had now quietly encircled it.
"Being kited by me all this time must not feel great, eh?"
Without anyone noticing, Luo Chen had already arrived atop a nearby giant tree.
"Then let me grant you a dignified death!
"Converge!"
With a thought, his ten fingers danced and intertwined like blooming flowers.
Following his movements, threads of spiritual power guided the fireballs scattered around, causing them to crisscross along specific trajectories and converge on the demon wolf.
*Awooo—!*
The demon wolf roared, erupting with every ounce of its demonic power.
Streaks of earthy yellow radiance enveloped its entire body.
Yet even with this defense, beneath the relentless barrage of over twenty fireballs, it was powerless to turn the tide.
Five breaths later.
Luo Chen dropped down from above.
Looking at the blazing crater, he shook his head with a sigh.
"What a waste of this fine pelt. If intact, it would've been worth at least ten spirit stones.
"And this demon beast meat—there had to be one or two thousand jin of it, worth dozens of spirit stones.
"And the bones too... Sigh, why did my hands have to be so reckless!"
Luo Chen was full of vexation. Those sparkling spirit stones—gone!
"I'd better slip away first. That howl before it died was probably calling its pack. I can't linger here!"
Without hesitation, Luo Chen leaped into the air and vanished like a great bird beyond the towering primeval forest.
On the way back, Luo Chen reviewed the battle, searching for any flaws or shortcomings.
After looking over every detail, he found none!
"I truly am a combat genius!"
In this battle, he had only employed his routine arsenal:
the Jasper Sabers, Entangling Art, Fireball Art, Hunyuan Jade Marrow Beads, Carefree Wandering, and Wind Riding Technique.
He hadn't touched his trump cards at all, like the Soul Breaking Nail or Fireball Fusion Art.
Yet even with regular methods, using this kiting style against a gray-leaf wolf comparable to a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator, he had handled it with absolute ease.
From start to finish, the rhythm of battle had remained firmly in Luo Chen's grasp.
The final encircling move with the Fireball Art, in particular, left Luo Chen immensely pleased.
"The Flame Manipulation Incantation truly augments the Fireball Art. What was once Dancing Fireflies has now become even more nimble, even unpredictable.
"Even if it were Big Brother Qin, an unguarded moment would likely leave him severely injured!
"And this Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers hidden-weapon technique—using the Hunyuan Bead method to hurl discarded Jade Marrow Pills and detonate them as single-use consumables. Under a concentrated barrage, it's not inferior to a normal dharma artifact at all. The true brilliance lies in not requiring sustained spiritual power manipulation.
"If used against a cultivator, the effect would probably be even better!"
Discarded Jade Marrow Pills had no medicinal value whatsoever, but because they contained the essence of the first-rank spiritual material Huanyu jade, they were quite hard.
When detonated, the power of a single bead wasn't huge.
Yet hurled with the Hunyuan Bead technique to detonate dozens or hundreds at once, the power was truly formidable.
Reflecting on all this, Luo Chen felt that this past month had yielded tremendous gains!
The Entangling Art he had learned earliest was finally at Master level. Although its direct offensive and defensive capabilities were poor, it was exceptional for obstructing and trapping enemies.
His Breath Concealment Spiritual Art had also reached Adept level, far surpassing Chen Xiuping's Minor Accomplishment back then; even with the demon wolf's keen sense of smell, it hadn't detected him initially.
As for Healing Art reaching Familiar level and Mountain-Cleaving Monument-Breaking Palm reaching Adept level, he merely skimmed past them.
And because the proficiencies of these spells continued to climb, his achievement points had jumped to 19.
Armed with these spells that were frequently at Master or Perfect level, combined with his increasingly refined kiting combat style, Luo Chen felt confident in his ability to take on the vast majority of late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators.
Once his cultivation broke through to the seventh layer of Qi Refinement, he would have nothing to fear even against ninth-layer Qi Refinement cultivators who lacked high-grade dharma artifacts.
"Perhaps only those few experts on the Dao Discussion Platform back then, who possessed supreme-grade dharma artifacts, could pose a threat to me!"
Luo Chen recalled the death match among the eighteen cultivators: the eerie formation flags, magic treasure fragments, sword pellets, blood path methods, Qin Liangchen's self-destructive combat style, Wang Yuan's formidable physique, and so forth.
He could only shake his head with a sigh.
Those weren't things ordinary ninth-layer Qi Refinement cultivators could possess.
One could only say that the battle had fundamentally been a contest between the wealth and reserves of two major gangs and two Foundation Establishment cultivators!
Where would ordinary Qi Refinement cultivators get supreme-grade defensive Daoist robes or supreme-grade flying swords?
Musing over these stray thoughts, Luo Chen had already flown back into Crescent Moon Valley.
The moment he entered the Pill Hall, Sikong Shoujia hurried over.
"Hall Master Luo, headquarters sent word of a gang meeting. Do you think we should head over?"
"A gang meeting?"
Luo Chen's eyes lit up, and he waved his hand with gusto!
"Let's go!"
Chapter 98