Alchemy Art Advancement, Letter from Azure Sun

After obtaining the Pill Canon, Chen Nianzhi could not wait to improve his Alchemy Art. Nor did he wish to linger in Yuyang Market any longer. Early the next morning, he left Yuyang Market.

After returning to Spirit Isle Lake, he spent two months studying the Pill Canon in detail several times before beginning to refine pills.

He was naturally gifted and already had some confidence in refining Qi-Replenishing Pills. Now that he had obtained a senior's Pill Canon, he felt even more assured.

This refinement of Qi-Replenishing Pills lasted three days. The first two days, during which he simmered the medicinal liquid, went quite smoothly. Using gentle heat to refine the ingredients, he produced a full six portions of pill liquid.

By the third day, Chen Nianzhi, seated before the pill furnace, wore a grave expression. The essence of the pill liquid had been refined, and they had reached the critical moment of condensing liquid into pills.

"Whether I succeed or fail depends on this moment."

Chen Nianzhi murmured, activating his pill-refining techniques to condense the pills. As the pill furnace trembled, three of the six masses of pill liquid turned into smoke.

He had no time to regret the loss and focused on condensing the liquid into pills. In the end, three pills were successfully formed.

Chen Nianzhi hurriedly activated his true qi and lifted the furnace lid, whereupon he saw three crystal-clear pills fly out.

"Success!"

He snatched the three pills from the air, his face overflowing with delight.

On his first attempt at refining Tier 1 High-grade pills, he had actually produced three pills. The result exceeded Chen Nianzhi's expectations.

When ordinary people first refined Tier 1 High-grade pills, their success rate was usually only ten or twenty percent. He had thought producing two would already be a pleasant surprise, yet he had refined three in a single furnace.

"Producing three pills in one furnace may have had something to do with luck, but it also means my foundation is already quite deep."

"With my Alchemy Art, after refining a few more batches of high-grade pills, I should far surpass Uncle Qing Meng."

Chen Nianzhi muttered calmly. He had read Chen Qingmeng's notes and could roughly gauge his level; it was more or less on par with his own.

After refining the Qi-Replenishing Pills, his cultivation returned to its tranquil rhythm.

In the days that followed, after absorbing the Hongmeng Purple Qi each day, he would temper his own meridians while improving his Alchemy Art.

Sometimes he played the qin, fed the Spirit Fish and Purple-Patterned Geese, planted spirit flowers, and tended spirit herbs. His days passed in peace and quiet.

Two months later, Chen Nianzhi was feeding the second brood of little Purple-Patterned Geese that had just hatched when he saw a black eagle fly over from the sky.

"A Message-Sending Eagle."

When the Message-Sending Eagle landed before him, he plucked the letter from its talon. After reading it, he put it away with a solemn expression.

"Did something happen over at Qingyuan Mountain?"

Chen Changyan grabbed a handful of Spirit Rice to feed the eagle. Seeing the unusual look on Chen Nianzhi's face, he could not help asking.

Chen Nianzhi nodded, teased the little Purple-Patterned Geese before him, then said,

"A message came from the Azure Sun Sect."

"Uncle Qingyuan sent back a letter. The Lineage wants me to return and discuss the matter."

"Qingyuan." Chen Changyan's expression stirred slightly, and several traces of joy appeared on his face. "Could it be that he obtained a Foundation Establishment Pill?"

"The letter did not give the specifics. We will only know after returning to Qingyuan Mountain."

Chen Nianzhi clapped his hands, feeling that this matter was not so simple. Otherwise, the Third Elder would not have summoned him back to discuss it.

"It seems I still need to make a trip back to Qingyuan Mountain. During this time, I will have to trouble you with watching over Spirit Isle Lake for me."

Old Granduncle nodded. "With me here, you can rest easy about this place."

When Chen Nianzhi returned to Qingyuan Mountain, he found that aside from the Great Elder stationed at Peaceful Sun Town, the Lineage's upper ranks had all arrived.

Within the Clan Affairs Hall, the Second Elder Chen Qinghe, Third Elder Chen Qinghao, Fourth Elder Chen Qingyuan, Fifth Elder Chen Qingwan, and Chen Nianzhi himself—the five elders at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining—were all present.

Upon seeing Chen Nianzhi, the Third Elder smiled and nodded, then said,

"Since everyone is here, I will explain."

"Not long ago, Qingyuan sent word through someone from the Azure Sun Sect. The Azure Sun Sect refined three batches of Foundation Establishment Pills not long ago."

Upon hearing this, everyone revealed looks of delight.

Every ten years, the Azure Sun Sect refined a batch of Foundation Establishment Pills, usually three to five furnaces each time. This was the greatest opportunity for the Azure Sun Sect's Qi Refining Cultivators.

The Second Elder Chen Qinghe stroked his long beard and laughed. "Among our Qing Generation, Qingyuan's immortal fortune is still the best."

Chen Nianzhi listened quietly. As a Lineage elder, he knew full well why everyone was delighted.

It was because the great sect of the Chu Kingdom, the Azure Sun Sect, owed the Chen Clan a Foundation Establishment Pill.

This matter had to be traced back sixty years. More than sixty years ago, the Beast Turmoil erupted. To resist the demonic beasts, the Azure Sun Sect, the great sect of the Chu Kingdom, conscripted cultivators from the three prefectures within the Chu Kingdom to join the war.

At the time, in order to make Human Race cultivators cast aside old grudges and fight the demonic beasts with one heart, the Azure Sun Sect made a pact with the major immortal clans and Rogue Cultivators at Azure Sun Mountain.

According to the pact, all gains from that battle, including demonic beast materials and inner cores, would be distributed uniformly by the Azure Sun Sect.

After the battle ended, the Azure Sun Sect would refine those materials into artifacts and Foundation Establishment Pills, then distribute them to the participating cultivators according to their military merits.

During this distribution, the Azure Sun Sect received the lion's share of the benefits, so naturally it also had to bear the losses of the battle.

Thus, the pact specifically stipulated that if a Foundation Establishment Cultivator died in the jaws of demonic beasts during the battle, the Azure Sun Sect had to compensate the cultivator's Lineage with a Foundation Establishment Pill.

This clause was also meant to prevent Foundation Establishment Cultivators from being greedy for life and fearful of death, showing up for work without putting in any effort.

This written pact later came to be known in the Chu Kingdom Cultivation World as the Azure Sun Alliance.

The Azure Sun Alliance was fundamentally a good thing, but when profit was at stake, some people would always start harboring petty schemes.

In that battle, the Chen Immortal Clan's elite had been wiped out overnight. Not only had both Foundation Establishment Cultivators fallen, but even the Violet Sun Jade had vanished without a trace.

Such a tremendous loss was simply unbearable, yet the Azure Sun Sect used the excuse that no one had personally witnessed them being killed by demonic beasts to evade the terms of the Azure Sun Alliance and refuse to pay the Foundation Establishment Pill.

At the time, seven or eight immortal clans, including the Chen Immortal Clan, suffered this stifling loss and never recovered from the blow.

The matter caused a huge uproar back then. More than a dozen Foundation Establishment Immortal Clans, fearing that when the lips were gone the teeth would grow cold, jointly raised objections.

It was only after Patriarch Jiang of Heavenly Ruins Mountain intervened that the Azure Sun Sect relented, stating that it was willing to compensate half the losses.

It was worth mentioning that from then on, Patriarch Jiang's status in the Chu Kingdom rose in a straight line. Many immortal clans and Rogue Cultivators respected him even more than they did the Azure Sun Sect.

Returning to the matter at hand, the Azure Sun Sect had agreed to provide the Chen Clan with a Foundation Establishment Pill, but required that the person using it must have entered the Azure Sun Sect from childhood.

For the sake of this Foundation Establishment Pill, the Lineage could only painfully send Chen Qingyuan, the most talented of the Qing Generation, into the Azure Sun Sect from a young age.

Chen Qingyuan possessed a Fire-Earth Twin Spirit Root. His cultivation speed was second only to those with Heavenly Spirit Roots and Variant Spirit Roots. He was exceptionally gifted, and had already broken through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining at the age of twenty-nine.