"Second-Order Demon Core, Azure Dragon Ginseng, Century-Old Stone Milk..."
Fang Qing listened intently as the Foundation Establishment Pill formula was explained, calculating inwardly, "Other than the Second-Order Demon Core, the supplementary materials aren't particularly rare. At most, they have higher age requirements. There's still hope of gathering them all."
His aptitude was only average. One Foundation Establishment Pill might not be enough for him to achieve Foundation Establishment, so he had to prepare for every contingency.
"Foundation Establishment has three trials—essence, qi, and spirit. The Foundation Establishment Pill targets the three treasures of the human body, making up for Heaven's deficiencies... Thus, among the supplementary ingredients, the most important is the Three Talents Flower. It can transform the three treasures and compensate for a cultivator's shortcomings, aiding Foundation Establishment..."
As Elder Tianding gave his detailed explanation, Fang Qing's heart stirred greatly.
"This Foundation Establishment Pill specifically targets the Foundation Establishment process, so its refinement also involves some of Foundation Establishment's secrets..."
"Essence, qi, and spirit? My 'qi' has two cultivation methods. If I fully cultivate both, that should be no problem... Then it's essence and spirit?"
"Essence is physical strength and vital blood, while spirit is mental power, even Spiritual Sense..."
"I can look for Body Refinement techniques, as well as techniques for Spiritual Sense..."
Fang Qing was utterly immersed, listening as though intoxicated.
In truth, only Water-Method Alchemy offered such a benefit.
That was because alchemists like them could assist Elder Tianding with preliminary processing of certain materials.
Elder Tianding needed their labor, so he provided the Foundation Establishment Pill formula and refinement methods in advance.
If it were Fire-Method Alchemy, the more participants there were, the more likely mistakes became. Usually, one alchemist would work from beginning to end, and there would be no such benefit.
"Today's lecture is concluded. In half a month, Cold Spring Peak will open its furnace."
Several hours later, Elder Tianding flicked his sleeve and transformed into a streak of light, fleeing away. He left behind only a ground full of alchemists still wanting more.
"So refining a Foundation Establishment Pill requires so many conditions and tricks. It truly is difficult..."
Fang Qing sighed with feeling.
According to the Qi Refinement Way's classification, the Foundation Establishment Pill was a Second-Order pill. In theory, only a Second-Order alchemist with Foundation Establishment cultivation could attempt it.
Yet there were always prodigies beyond imagination in this world—for example, alchemists capable of refining Second-Order pills while still in the Qi Refinement Realm!
"If I fail to achieve Foundation Establishment in the future, I may have to take this path..."
"Wait, Ancient Shu may still offer something to hope for... But for some reason, I feel that advancing from the Breath-Nourishing Dao to the Dao Foundation may be even more difficult than successful Foundation Establishment."
Fang Qing was now an old hand at trading between the two worlds. He understood the differences between Ancient Shu and Jade Island like the back of his hand.
Ancient Shu's Dao arts were mysterious and wondrous, but its cultivation resources were not abundant. Perhaps metal-attribute and fire-attribute materials were more plentiful there?
As for Jade Island, he still did not know much about its cultivation methods, but its cultivation resources were immensely abundant.
"There are still Foundation Establishment Pills to hope for here. Over there, they might not even have pills that aid breakthroughs into the Dao Foundation. What a miserable state... Wait... there seems to be one material that is rather abundant."
Fang Qing thought of the Cultivator Bandit Blood Pill he had seized last time, then of the chaotic soldiers slaughtering Ba Commandery's city. He could not help but fall silent...
Half a month later.
Cold Spring Peak had been completely sealed off. Those disciples who had not become ranked alchemists had all vanished.
Fang Qing stood at the foot of the mountain, his expression solemn as he looked at the ranked alchemists around him.
Those near him were all newly ranked alchemists. Higher up were First-Order mid-grade and high-grade alchemists.
At the spring eye halfway up the mountain stood several Foundation Establishment cultivators. They were clearly Second-Order alchemists, and Clouddrift Adept was among them, a middle-aged man with a strong scholarly air.
At the very summit stood Elder Tianding, naturally overseeing everything.
"Foundation Establishment Pill refinement... begin!"
With a deep Spiritual Sense transmission, the great undertaking of pill refinement began in an orderly fashion.
"Everyone... assist me in first refining the Profound Frost Water!"
Fang Qing looked toward his team leader. It was Xu Wusu.
At this moment, Xu Wusu's expression was grave, his hands forming seals.
Streams of Spirit Spring water continuously gathered and were refined...
"Hah!"
He formed seals with both hands as well and began controlling the water.
The Profound Frost Water their group was refining was one of the three spiritual waters used to process Azure Dragon Ginseng.
Azure Dragon Ginseng's medicinal potency was too strong. Ordinary First-Order spiritual water could not dissolve it at all, so specially made spiritual water was required.
According to the Foundation Establishment Pill formula, three different spiritual waters had to be refined to perfectly separate and extract its medicinal potency.
These Qi Refinement disciples had to toil for half a month just to refine around one dou of Profound Frost Water. It then had to be inspected by the Second-Order alchemists halfway up the mountain. Only after its quality was confirmed flawless could it be combined into Second-Order spiritual water and used to begin extracting the Azure Dragon Ginseng. That was likewise the work of those Second-Order alchemists halfway up the mountain.
With layer upon layer of division, Elder Tianding only needed to handle the most troublesome Second-Order Demon Cores and the final fusion of the various medicinal properties, greatly reducing his workload.
Moreover, several Demon Cores could be refined at once!
Splash, splash!
Fang Qing saw streams of Spirit Spring water rise, twisting through nine bends and eighteen turns. Dense medicinal fragrance spread through the air, as though a medicinal spring were soaking the entire Cold Spring Peak.
They worked together in division of labor, like an ancient assembly line, while he had become someone tightening screws in a factory...
Several days later.
"At first, I thought this was interesting. Now it's just boring."
Fang Qing finished processing another batch of Profound Frost Water and looked toward Xu Wusu beside him.
This alchemist was sitting cross-legged, having just restored his dharma power. Seeing Fang Qing look over, he revealed a kindly smile. "Junior Brother, your water-control method is truly exquisite. You faintly give this senior brother the feeling of seeing the charm of a Second-Order alchemist. Your future prospects will surely be limitless."
"Not at all, not at all..."
In front of the Second-Order alchemists, Fang Qing had naturally long since converted all his dharma power into Black Water Dharma Power.
In terms of controlling spring water, it was far inferior to when he still possessed Winnowing Basket Water dharma power.
Of course, because he had previously been so immersed in the process, his water-control hand seals had indeed improved greatly. This advancement in experience itself would not disappear just because he had changed dharma power.
"Oh, right..."
Fang Qing asked the question he cared about most. "For this pill refinement, how many pills might be produced?"
The matter of Foundation Establishment Pills was always a hot topic among these Qi Refinement disciples.
Though Water-Method Alchemy took a long time, they could occasionally rest during the process.
Several nearby disciples gathered over. Though they were all low-level disciples, each had their own connections. By pooling their information, they had guessed most of the truth.
"I have an elder female cousin from my clan serving at the Dragon Transformation Pool. I heard that the sect produced more than ten Second-Order Horned Serpents this time! Unfortunately, several had no Demon Cores... In the end, only eight were extracted."
A Pill Island disciple spoke.
"Eight Second-Order Demon Cores..."
Xu Wusu nodded. "The Foundation Establishment Pill is a Second-Order pill. When an ordinary Second-Order alchemist makes a move, maintaining a result of one Prime Quality Foundation Establishment Pill from one Second-Order Demon Core already counts as passing. Those slightly better can produce an additional Inferior Quality pill besides the Prime Quality one... The rare few capable of producing two Prime Quality Foundation Establishment Pills are Second-Order alchemy masters!"
"Our sect's Elder Tianding possesses extraordinary skill. He can reliably produce two Prime Quality pills from one Demon Core, occasionally with one additional Inferior Quality pill... Sometimes, when he is in particularly good form, he can produce three Prime Quality pills!"
The other disciples nodded in succession. A female disciple smiled. "True Disciples are proud and arrogant. They would never accept Inferior Quality pills... I only hope Elder Tianding consistently produces two prime and one inferior. That way, there will be eight Inferior Quality Foundation Establishment Pills for people like us to compete over..."
"Although Inferior Quality Foundation Establishment Pills can also protect one from dying after failure, their chance of successful Foundation Establishment is lower. We should still strive to become True Disciples."
Xu Wusu shook his head, clearly not optimistic about that possibility.
"So that means there will be between sixteen and twenty-four Prime Quality pills this time? At most eight Inferior Quality pills?"
Fang Qing's thoughts stirred. "How many True Disciples does our sect have?"
"Twenty-five. The sect's True Disciples rise one at a time and leave one at a time, with only twenty-five seats retained."
Xu Wusu knew much about this. "Among these twenty-five True Disciples, the top ten disciples in the Combat Tournament held once every ten years may be ranked as True Disciples. Another ten seats are given to disciples with astonishing cultivation arts. The final five seats are recommended by the Council of Elders..."
"Those who seize the championship through combat and become True Disciples leave us with nothing to say. As for True Disciples of the Hundred Arts of Immortality, one must cultivate a cultivation art to at least Quasi-Second-Order, or even Second-Order, to be approved... Only those final five seats recommended by the Council of Elders, sigh..."
A female disciple sighed.
Clearly, she had little hope for any of those three paths.
Yet Fang Qing fell into thought after hearing this.
"For a sect to develop, powerful fighters are important, but productive talents are needed at the same time... Giving each side ten Foundation Establishment opportunities is only natural."
"The final five Council of Elders recommendation seats seem like blatant backdoor deals, but in truth, they are meant to win over the majority..."
In this cultivation world, Qi Refinement disciples were never the majority!
Foundation Establishment cultivators and above, who held the upper-level power, were the true majority!
People inevitably had selfish motives! Opening such a channel could instead unite most Foundation Establishment elders.
Moreover, if the talents selected this way could successfully achieve Foundation Establishment, they would be qualified even as candidates for Azure Sea Sect Leader. They would naturally have trusted aides and advisers to handle governance. If they could unite most Foundation Establishment elders and obtain their votes, governing the sect would not pose much of a problem.
"Within this Council of Elders, a single Core Formation patriarch can probably outweigh quite a few Foundation Establishment votes, right?"
Fang Qing thought it over and found this True Disciple system fairly reasonable.
Of course, it was extremely disadvantageous for him.
At the very least, there was no need to even think about the five seats decided by the Council of Elders' vote.
"Combat and alchemy?"
He secretly considered how strong he could become if he did not use the methods of the Breath-Nourishing Dao.
"Mm, if both my Breath-Nourishing Realm and Qi Refinement Realm reach the ninth layer, winning the Combat Tournament may not be impossible?"
"Besides that, if I study alchemy deeply, there is hope there as well."
"Also... True Disciples aim for Foundation Establishment, so those over sixty years old, or those who have taken a Foundation Establishment Pill and failed, are generally not permitted to enter the competition." Xu Wusu added.
"Then at least twenty-five Prime Quality Foundation Establishment Pills are needed?"
One disciple calculated. "Even if Elder Tianding performs perfectly, he'll still be short by one..."
"Indeed... Therefore, after this pill refinement, the sect will most likely launch a Great Hunt..."
Several Pill Island disciples laughed in schadenfreude. "Fortunately, assisting in refining Foundation Establishment Pills counts as a compulsory sect assignment. Otherwise, this time would truly have been hard to endure..."
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