The Motivation to Earn Spirit Stones

Upon hearing this, Lin Zixue pondered briefly. Just as she was about to reply via voice transmission, her gaze casually swept over a private room on the second floor whose beaded curtain had just been lifted. Her beautiful eyes instantly lit up. With surprise and reverence, she gently tugged at Li Chengjie's sleeve, a trace of excitement even entering her voice transmission:

"Ah! Alchemist Li, look! Over there on the second floor—the old man who just stepped out of the private room, wearing that golden Daoist robe embroidered with cloud patterns! That is one of Treasure Pavilion's chief alchemists, Daoist Luo Yang, Master Luo! He is a genuine second-tier mid-grade alchemist! The only second-tier mid-grade alchemist in all of Falling Cloud City, someone rarely seen under ordinary circumstances. I never expected that he would come today as well!"

Li Chengjie's heart jolted, and he immediately looked in the direction Lin Zixue had indicated.

Outside that second-floor private room with an excellent view stood an old man clad in a Daoist robe adorned with cloud-like patterns.

The old man's beard and hair were both white, yet his complexion was ruddy. A gleam of sharp light lurked within his eyes whenever they opened and closed, and he naturally carried an imposing air that commanded respect without anger.

He did not deliberately release any spirit pressure, yet merely standing there, he seemed to have merged with the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, giving off an unfathomable feeling.

His cultivation level was, astonishingly, at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage!

The special alchemist robe he wore, together with Lin Zixue's introduction, all proclaimed his noble status as a second-tier alchemist.

A second-tier mid-grade alchemist!

A Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivator!

Whether in Pill Dao Attainment or personal cultivation level, he was far beyond anything Li Chengjie could currently hope to reach!

Almost by instinct, Li Chengjie focused his mind and activated the detection function on that Golden Light Daoist.

Li Chengjie felt both anticipation and a trace of unease, wondering what exorbitant price in Replication Points such a figure would require.

[Replicable Target detected: 'Daoist Luo Yang' (Foundation Establishment Middle Stage). Replicable Items: all Experience and Insights of a second-tier mid-grade alchemist (main specialization: various Foundation Establishment Realm pills, stable Pill Formation rate, mastery of five exclusive pill formulas, fire-control technique 'Golden Flame Spirit Forging Technique'), cultivation method Golden Flame Treasure Codex (Foundation Establishment section), improved version of the low-tier spell Probing Spell... Estimated Replication Point cost: points. (An ordinary Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivator only requires points)]

One million points! (Exchanging vast resources for experience, cultivation methods, and time.)

That number was like a Nine Heavens Thunderclap striking viciously into Li Chengjie's mind, making his scalp go numb and his breath catch!

Li Chengjie had known that Golden Light Daoist's Replication Point cost would certainly be extremely high, but he had never imagined it would be this outrageously high!

One million points!

That meant one million Low-grade Spirit Stones!

It was simply an astronomical figure!

Li Chengjie had painstakingly saved up for eight months, taking risks to refine pills in secret, yet he had only managed to accumulate three thousand spirit stones.

Replicating Liu Wenxuan required ten thousand points, and replicating Fu Minghui required thirty thousand points. Those costs had already weighed on him like a mountain.

But one million points... was enough for him to replicate more than thirty Fu Minghuis!

"Th-this is the true value of a second-tier alchemist, a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivator?" Towering waves surged through Li Chengjie's heart, and an indescribable shock and sense of insignificance welled up within him.

"If I had a million spirit stones, why the hell would I need this broken system?"

At that moment, Li Chengjie understood with unparalleled clarity just how poor he truly was.

If he had one million spirit stones, he could instantly become a second-tier mid-grade alchemist.

Li Chengjie had once thought Fu Minghui's thirty thousand points was already an exorbitant price, but compared with Golden Light Daoist's one million points, it was like comparing a witch to a great wizard.

It clearly revealed the despair-inducing, enormous gulf between different realms.

The gap between Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment, the gap between a first-tier alchemist and a second-tier alchemist—was actually this vast!

Daoist Luo Yang apparently did not linger outside the private room for long. After quietly exchanging a few words with a Treasure Pavilion steward beside him, he turned and returned to the private room. The beaded curtain fell, cutting off prying gazes from outside.

Yet that fleeting figure, and the million Replication Points revealed in that brief glimpse by the detection, were deeply branded into Li Chengjie's mind, impossible to dispel.

"Alchemist Li? What's wrong?" Lin Zixue noticed Li Chengjie's momentary distraction and the subtle shift in his expression, and could not help asking with concern.

Li Chengjie swiftly composed himself, suppressing the raging turmoil in his heart. He barely forced out a smile and shook his head. "Nothing. I was simply shaken at the sudden sight of a figure like Master Luo and lost my composure for a moment. I've made a fool of myself before you, Senior Sister."

Lin Zixue nodded understandingly and smiled. "Indeed. To alchemists like us, someone like Master Luo is a towering mountain we can only look up to. I hear that whenever the Foundation Establishment Realm pills refined by him appear at auctions, they fetch sky-high prices. To receive even a single word of guidance from him would be a chance countless alchemists dream of."

Li Chengjie deeply agreed, secretly thinking, Guidance is one thing... but if I could replicate all of his experience, that would be practically ascending to the heavens in a single step...

But that thought only flashed through his mind before reality quickly crushed it.

One million Replication Points was simply too distant for his current self, so distant that it was nearly unrealistic.

Li Chengjie buried that goal deep in the innermost recesses of his heart, treating it as a distant, almost symbolic ultimate objective.

For now, he still needed to keep his feet on the ground and earn spirit stones.

After Daoist Luo Yang's appearance, Li Chengjie's thirst for strength had never been more intense.

Li Chengjie had to speed up and earn spirit stones like mad!

Liu Wenxuan's ten thousand points and Fu Minghui's thirty thousand points—those steep prices now seemed somewhat "friendly" before the million-point sky-high cost. At least they were goals he could see and reach for.

"The road must be walked one step at a time, and food must be eaten one bite at a time."

Li Chengjie took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the shock of that one million points in his mind. His eyes became firm and sharp once more. "Daoist Luo Yang's realm is too far beyond me, but Fu Minghui's and Liu Wenxuan's experience are goals I might be able to reach if I jump high enough!"

"I must earn spirit stones faster!" Never before had this thought occupied his mind with such intensity.

Privately refining first-tier mid-grade pills was stable enough, but for goals that cost tens of thousands of Replication Points at every turn, the rate of accumulation was still far too slow.

Li Chengjie needed a path with greater efficiency and richer profits.