Autumn arrived, and the season for planting mulberry trees was drawing near. Around the time of autumn's first snowfall was when saplings were transplanted into the earth. If one hired cultivator lords to cast spells before the snow to seal in their vitality, then when spring came and flowers bloomed the following year, most of the saplings would survive.
At this moment, Perfected Chuhe sat in the seat of honor cradling a lazy cat. To his left and right sat the heads of the Yao and Xu brocade guilds, respectively, while the Mi family was represented by the patriarch's son, who sat near the outer edge.
Originally, the Xu Family Brocade Guild could barely squeeze into the top five, but by latching tightly onto Perfected Chuhe's coattails, its patriarch had already made it to his right-hand side.
Old Daoist Chuhe's banquet seating had its own rules: whoever took more orders sat closer to him. As for whose clan had more extensive estates, the old daoist couldn't care less. That was why the Mi family ended up seated eight or nine places out, an insult that had even infuriated the Mi family head to the point of falling ill. Yet the Mi family couldn't afford not to show up; even eighth or ninth place meant an order for ten thousand bolts of silk and brocade. They had no choice but to come.
The atmosphere at the table was lively. The patriarchs of Yao and Xu flushed red with excitement, practically leaning right against Old Daoist Chuhe.
Perfected Chuhe gave a dry cough, and the table fell silent. Then he said, "My coming this time naturally brings new orders."
Everyone's gaze turned burning hot as they waited attentively for what followed.
"This batch, I want fifty thousand bolts of brocade, and silk... two million jin!"
Hisses rose as the clan heads gasped in unison. Brocade was one thing, but that amount of silk was downright terrifying. At this rate, it would clean out the inventories of every house!
While many were still calculating, the Xu family head called out loudly, "I can take five thousand bolts of brocade and three hundred thousand jin of silk!"
The clan heads were shocked. Taking on such numbers practically emptied the Xu family's entire stockpile; what would he have left to weave brocade? Some patriarchs immediately recalled the Xu family's recent moves: they had already converted tens of thousands of mu of their grain fields into mulberry groves! Though it was too late for this year, they would start producing silk by next year.
Right then, a minor clan head shouted, "I am willing to take fifty thousand jin of silk!"
Old Daoist Chuhe broke into a broad smile and waved him over. "Come, come, come sit closer!"
Both excited and nervous, the minor clan head swapped seats with the son of the Mi family patriarch. With someone taking the lead, many followed suit. Moments later, the orders for this batch were fully allocated, and Perfected Chuhe departed satisfied.
After Perfected Chuhe left, the price of raw silk in Shanyang Commandery skyrocketed immediately, rising from one qian of immortal silver to three qian. A bolt of Ning brocade sold for five liang of immortal silver. Each bolt required five jin of silk and the relay efforts of about a dozen artisans weaving for three months. Artisans' labor accounted for two liang, while workshops, firewood, charcoal, and tax silver accounted for another liang.
Once raw silk prices soared, weaving brocade instantly ceased to be profitable, causing brocade prices to rise as well. Although the influx of goods from other commanderies would gradually bring prices down later, everyone knew that with such a massive buyer suddenly appearing, prices would never return to what they had been.
Meanwhile, an endless stream of grain shipped in from Qingming had pushed Shanyang Commandery's grain prices back down to normal levels.
This time, the massive order from Perfected Chuhe called for a great deal of raw silk and comparatively little brocade, instantly rewarding those who had stockpiled silk, while those with more brocade than silk found little reason to smile.
Many realized from this that with raw silk, every jin sold brought profit, whereas brocade was another story—its earnings depended entirely on the price of silk.
Autumn was meant to be the harvest season, but with the influx of Qingming grain, countless tenant grain farmers wore frowns of despair. Most of their land was leased from aristocratic clans, with rent set early in the year when grain prices were sky-high. Now, grain prices were less than half of what they were at the start of the year; even if they sold all their grain, it wouldn't cover their rent.
The saying "cheap grain harms the farmer" came true this autumn.
In contrast, the mulberry farmers of Shanyang Commandery were all beaming with joy, every household festooned with lanterns and streamers.
The Yao and Xu residences bustled like busy marketplaces, while the Mi family manor sat rather desolate. Inside the main hall of the Mi ancestral estate, over a dozen clan elders gathered together. The Mi family patriarch sat in the center, still projecting unquestioned authority.
"My stance remains unchanged: those hundred thousand mu of grain fields are our clan's lifeblood—we cannot touch a single mu! Hmph, Qingming is buying silk this year, but what if they stop next year? If Qingming refuses to sell us grain then, won't we starve to death?"
The Mi family head spoke with resounding conviction. In the past, this would have set the tone, closing the matter to further debate.
This time, however, a clan elder spoke up: "Qingming trades grain for silk. The more silk we sell, the more grain we stockpile! If they don't buy silk next year, at worst we can just convert the fields back to grain. In the meantime, the stockpiled grain will feed us for years—there's no way we'd starve."
The Mi patriarch's expression instantly darkened. In recent years, rarely had anyone dared to contradict him to his face.
Another elder added, "Right now, grain fields bring in less than twenty percent of what mulberry groves earn. Leaving so much money on the table requires an explanation to the clansmen! You cannot suppress everyone below with just a single word."
The Mi patriarch's face turned livid. Yet as he looked at the strange glints in the elders' eyes, it suddenly dawned on him: they had not come to negotiate; they had come to replace the clan head.
...
In Qingming, Wei Yuan brought out a batch of blood yingluo of various grades and handed them to Xu Henshui. For some time now, Xu Henshui had been inspecting various medicinal herbs native to the Western Regions.
After inspecting them for a long while, Xu Henshui picked up the highest-grade sample—one that could already be called a soul yingluo—and said excitedly, "This is it! This can completely substitute for one of the primary herbs in the immortal recipe!"
"An immortal recipe?"
"Oh, an ancient immortal recipe. You wouldn't understand it just yet. Once your skill in alchemy is sufficient, I will naturally impart it to you," Xu Henshui said.
Wei Yuan looked at the soul yingluo doubtfully. Such a small piece, weighing barely over a jin, was worth hundreds of thousands of liang of immortal silver, yet its longevity-extending effect was only a dozen or so years more than common blood yingluo. An equal weight of ordinary blood yingluo was worth just over a thousand liang of immortal silver.
Wei Yuan naturally knew what immortal recipe Xu Henshui was referring to. What was more, the source of the true meaning heritage was right here with Wei Yuan; what Xu Henshui had seen was merely a rubbing within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World dharma idol.
Wei Yuan had handled a few soul yingluo pieces himself, yet no matter how he looked, he couldn't see any connection between this thing and any herb in the immortal recipe. This went to show just how vast the gap was between their mastery of alchemy.
Xu Henshui explained in detail to Wei Yuan why the soul yingluo could substitute for that ancient immortal ingredient, but one look told him that Wei Yuan hadn't understood. Even so, true to his creed of never giving up on any fool, Xu Henshui spent a full shichen lecturing anyway.
Everything he explained was memorized by Wei Yuan and simultaneously rendered within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. Thus, all this knowledge was stored away, compared and analyzed against his existing knowledge, and cataloged into its proper place. This made Wei Yuan's alchemical knowledge richer and more clearly structured.
Once the full principle was laid out, Wei Yuan finally understood why the Minor Longevity Pill commanded the price of a normal longevity pill, whereas blood yingluo cost several times to hundreds of times more.
The alchemist who developed the Minor Longevity Pill was, in Xu Henshui's view, of mediocre accomplishment; the recipe used several primary herbs that extended longevity. If someone had already taken other longevity pills containing those primary herbs, taking the Minor Longevity Pill would have drastically diminished effects.
By the same token, if one had never taken other longevity pills and took the Minor Longevity Pill first, it would also weaken the efficacy of other longevity pills of the same kind.
Soul yingluo was different. In the past, humans ingested it raw, and very few ever possessed the standing to consume it. When taken in larger quantities, its longevity-extending effect diminished very slowly, though its negative side effects were unbearable.
With soul yingluo capable of replacing a primary herb in the immortal recipe, research into the ancient immortal recipe took a major stride forward.
Over the next few days, Xu Henshui modified the recipe of the Minor Longevity Pill, adding low-grade blood yingluo as a primary ingredient to devise a new pill formula. Using this new recipe as a base, Xu Henshui and Wei Yuan shared an alchemy chamber and fired up their furnaces simultaneously. Through this method, Xu Henshui guided Wei Yuan in the alchemical dao, correcting some of the bad habits novices commonly made during pill refinement.
For this joint refinement, aside from Wei Yuan and Xu Henshui, all other disciples of the Monastery of Creation were present as well, along with several others gifted in alchemy who came to observe. Xu Henshui was now a renowned master of alchemy, more than capable of guiding them.
Such a rare opportunity was not something Wei Yuan wanted to waste, so in one go he selected several hundred domain cultivators to learn pill refinement on-site.
When the auspicious hour arrived and bells chimed, Wei Yuan and Xu Henshui cast their first batch of herbs into the pill furnaces and began refining pills.
Chapter 425