Nurture Him! At Any Cost!

Pill Workshop.

"Junior Brother, this is the finest pill furnace we have here."

Zhang Qing spoke to him with a beaming smile. Anyone unaware of the truth might have thought the two of them were the closest of friends.

No one had expected Lin Chang'an, a hog tricked into coming here, to reach this point in only a few short months.

"Thank you, Senior Brother."

The moment the two pushed open the Pill Room door amid laughter and conversation, the smile vanished from Zhang Qing's face. He hurriedly composed himself, cupped his hands, and said solemnly, "Greetings, Elder Lu."

"Elder Lu." Lin Chang'an also bowed, though he was far more relaxed than Zhang Qing.

Elder Lu merely nodded as he looked at the two of them. "The pill furnace has been prepared for you."

His voice suddenly paused. Elder Lu gave Lin Chang'an a deep look, then could not help but smile.

"You truly are a clever one. You know how to use your talent to secure benefits for yourself, making this old man willingly nurture you out of an appreciation for talent."

Lin Chang'an smiled. He had never hidden his intentions. Since he had come here, there was no chance of returning. As the old saying went, if you cannot resist, then join them.

"But none of that matters." Elder Lu smiled approvingly. No matter how many thoughts the other party harbored, this was still his territory.

Lin Chang'an smiled as well, completely treating himself as one of them. He respectfully cupped his hands. "Elder Lu, please go rest for now. By dawn tomorrow, you will see these pills."

Elder Lu burst into laughter at that. He liked clever people. Though clever people loved scheming, with their lives in his grasp, he had nothing to fear.

"This old man will await your good news tomorrow."

As Elder Lu laughed and prepared to leave with Zhang Qing, his footsteps paused. He looked back at Lin Chang'an, an appreciative smile appearing on his face.

"Oh, right. The sect has quite a few precious pill formulas."

With that, Elder Lu turned and departed with Zhang Qing. This time, he did not look back. Behind them, Lin Chang'an's expression changed upon hearing those words, his gaze deep as he watched their retreating backs.

Only after the two vanished from sight did the corners of his lips slowly curl upward, a meaningful smile appearing on Lin Chang'an's face.

"Elder Lu, I will not disappoint you."

After coming here and being nurtured, was he supposed to spend the rest of his life as a high-grade hog?

How could that be possible? For now, though, he needed to rely on the Great Sword Sect's resources and first become the chief pill master here.

"This pill furnace is no worse than the sect's!"

Once Lin Chang'an was alone in the Pill Room, he examined the pill furnace. Seeing the Spirit Stones embedded in the formation nodes along its walls, he could not help but reveal an excited smile.

Mine, mine—it was all mine!

Specks of spiritual light flashed from the storage pouch at his waist. One after another, white jade boxes floated into the air. As they slowly opened, they revealed black pellets within.

Looking at the ten jade boxes before him, Lin Chang'an sighed. "Sure enough, this place's true nature is just like this. I had barely broken through when the amount of pill refining increased by so much."

Though he sighed, Lin Chang'an felt no resentment. Instead, his face was full of smiles. Only those with value would receive more.

Reflected in the red jade bottle, his deep black eyes gleamed. The Blood Spirit Pills inside had long since dissolved, leaving a transparent crimson liquid in the bottle. When he opened it, the liquid slowly floated out as though it had lost all gravity under the control of the Object Manipulation Technique, then transformed into specks of spiritual light that nourished the pellets.

"Open furnace, ignite!"

After finishing this, Lin Chang'an shouted. Having broken through to mid Qi Refining, he held his left palm toward the pill furnace's formation and transmitted spiritual power through the air. In an instant, a blazing flame rose within the furnace. With a wave of his right hand, the black pellets from one jade box floated up and streamed into the pill furnace one after another.

His spiritual power was like fine threads. Through the formation controlled by his palm, the flames within the pill furnace shifted continuously, while Lin Chang'an held his breath and focused every ounce of attention on the furnace.

These pills differed from those he had refined before. The demands on his control were much higher. At the same time, a thread of spiritual power emanated from his right palm and entered the pills.

It was a minute adjustment in control, but that wisp of spiritual power carried a trace of milky-white spiritual light. The pills within the furnace began to change.

The black pills were refined, their impurities extracted, gradually revealing a bewitching vermilion hue as their medicinal properties fused perfectly...

With a creak, the door opened. As the formation slowly dissipated, Lin Chang'an's exhausted figure was revealed.

A ray of sunlight shone in. Lin Chang'an raised a hand, and then two figures appeared in his field of vision.

"How are the pills?"

Seeing the expectant looks in Elder Lu's and Zhang Qing's eyes, Lin Chang'an revealed a smile on his weary face. Cupping his hands, he said, "I did not disgrace my mission. I barely managed to complete it."

The three then entered the Pill Room. Zhang Qing already knew part of the inside story, and when he saw the pills in the jade boxes, he could not help but smile.

However, Elder Lu, who understood the difficulty of refining these pills, lost his composure for the first time. Even his breathing grew several degrees heavier as he stared in shock at the vermilion pills in the jade boxes.

"This is!"

Behind the two of them, Lin Chang'an rubbed his brow tiredly and said weakly, "Not bad. Five out of ten succeeded. A fifty percent success rate."

Lin Chang'an's casual, matter-of-fact tone made Elder Lu's eye twitch. If not for the sake of the boy's potential, he truly wanted to slap this fellow to death.

"Not bad."

Suppressing the joy in his heart, Elder Lu spoke indifferently. At the side, Lin Chang'an's lips curled upward, and he shook his head. "What a shame. This batch of spirit herbs was a little lacking. If you gave me better spirit herbs, I could raise the pill success rate to sixty percent."

That showy manner left Elder Lu utterly speechless. With pills like these, what better spirit herbs did he want? Besides, the brat was definitely doing this on purpose.

Those at late Qi Condensation could already project their divine sense. Elder Lu had instantly known how many pills had succeeded. This so-called fifty percent was absolutely deliberate on the brat's part.

Fifty-six out of a hundred could succeed. Elder Lu was even more astonished. This was definitely a pill master with extraordinary talent.

"Zhang Qing, from today onward, Chang'an will be your assistant."

Elder Lu's words left Zhang Qing dumbfounded. But he immediately came to his senses, turned around, and offered congratulations with a broad smile. "Junior Brother Lin, from now on, we martial brothers will be working together."

Though he felt Elder Lu valued Lin Chang'an a little too highly, he was a clever man. He asked what should be asked and pretended not to know what should not be asked.

"You are too courteous, Senior Brother." Lin Chang'an also understood that this time, he had truly stepped into this circle. In just a few months, he had completed a three-step leap in status.

At first, he had been a hog. Then, relying on his talent in the hundred arts of cultivation, he had become half a sect member. Finally, after understanding this place inside and out, he had used his absolute talent to leap directly into the position of a managerial deacon within the sect in order to secure a higher status in the Market.

"Chang'an, the sect will spare no effort in nurturing your talent. I hope you will not disappoint this old man."

Forcing down the excitement in his heart, Elder Lu turned to look at Lin Chang'an. Beneath the smile in his eyes lay a trace of warning.

How could Lin Chang'an fail to understand? He had already obtained what he wanted. "Elder Lu, rest assured. From now on, the sect will be Chang'an's home."

The Great Sword Sect also possessed the foundation, courage, and accumulated resources to nurture an advanced pill master like him. Otherwise, he would not have taken this risk.

Seeing how tactful Lin Chang'an was, Elder Lu could not help but smile. His heart was even more stirred. A high-grade pill master with the potential to refine Foundation Establishment Pills, once nurtured, would allow the sect to grow rapidly in the shortest possible time.

Nurture him! At any cost!

Thinking of the sect's foundation, Elder Lu secretly let out a breath of relief. Although nurturing such a pill master would strain their resources to the bone, the prospects for the future were all the more worthwhile.

The cultivation world really was cutthroat. The trial recommendation did not make it through; I will keep working hard next week.