Cultivation: From Mortal to Immortal Venerable

Red Leaf Square, Lin Family's residence.

"Ying'er, how is it going with the Fire Barrier Pills?" a middle-aged man with a commanding presence, over forty years old, asked the young girl before him.

This man was the head of the Lin Family, Lin Anshuo.

"Daddy, don't worry, I've already found three alchemists I can trust!" The young girl tugged at the middle-aged man's arm, swaying it back and forth.

"Right, since the Fire Barrier Pills are so important, wouldn't it be better to find alchemists within the family?" the young girl asked her father, looking at him with confusion.

"The family's alchemists have other tasks, and the Fire Barrier Pills are only low-grade first-tier pills. If you few refine them, it won't attract anyone's attention!" The middle-aged man looked at his daughter with doting affection as he explained.

"With this Fire Essence Stone mine, our Lin Family will surely prosper!" The young girl's eyes shone brightly.

Fire Essence Stone is a very commonly used fire-attribute refining material.

Ordinary fire-attribute magic artifacts will incorporate this item.

A Fire Essence Stone the size of a fist often sells for over ten spirit stones.

From this, one can see the value of an entire Fire Essence Stone mine.

It might even be possible to cultivate a True Core cultivator for the Lin Family in the future.

However, the location of the Fire Essence Stone ore vein is rich in Fire Essence power, making it impossible for ordinary cultivators to stay there for long.

Let alone digging rocks and mining spirit ores.

Fortunately, the cultivation world has miraculous pills like the Fire Barrier Pill. After consumption, it provides a layer of protection around the cultivator's body, effectively isolating the invasion of Fire Essence power.

This protection lasts for three days.

Therefore, refining these Fire Barrier Pills is meant to protect the cultivators mining the Fire Essence Stone, allowing them to focus entirely on extracting it.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

In these five days, Zhou Xun had completely mastered the refinement of the Fire Barrier Pill.

The five sets of materials were also refined into Fire Barrier Pills by Zhou Xun.

Except for the first furnace, which produced a few inferior pills, the remaining four furnaces all yielded more than ten pills each, and all of them were of standard quality.

"The Fire Barrier Pill's function is to isolate Fire Essence power. Why is the Lin Family procuring so many of them?"

"Could they have found some fire-attribute spirit ore?" Zhou Xun immediately guessed the truth.

However, he didn't voice it. After all, he was only responsible for alchemy. As for what the refined pills would be used for or where they would be used, he didn't need to concern himself with it.

Thus, more than two months passed.

Zhou Xun had also become familiar with the Lin Family's eldest young lady.

In this refining session, Zhou Xun displayed fifty percent of his alchemy skill. Combined with his past life experiences, he had some unique ideas about alchemy.

All of this made the Lin Family's eldest young lady look at Zhou Xun with newfound respect.

Two thousand li north of Red Leaf Square, at the foot of a tall mountain, a large number of low-level cultivators were diligently swinging their spirit picks.

Occasionally, someone would dig out a fist-sized Fire Essence Stone, and cheers would erupt.

What they didn't know was that in a corner they couldn't see, a gray rat was staring intently.

More than ten li away, a young man in red was anxiously waiting. Soon, a rat returned to his hand, chattering something.

Afterward, the man quickly left, heading towards Red Leaf Square.

If anyone saw him, they would recognize that the robes he wore belonged to the Wu Family of Red Leaf Square.

Jackpot!

Red Leaf Square, Wu Family's residence.

In a secret chamber, several people dressed in red ceremonial robes were discussing something.

"Seventh Brother, tell the elders about your discovery," a middle-aged man in red robes instructed the young man to his left.

This man was specifically responsible for tracking and investigating within the Wu Family. He cultivated the Spirit Concealment Art, which was best suited for stealth and tracking.

"Yes, Patriarch!" The man cupped his fists in acknowledgment.

He then began to recount his findings:

"I was ordered by the Patriarch to follow the Lin Family's Fifth Elder and discovered that he was mingling with a manager from the Hundred Refinements Pavilion. They were laughing and dining together."

"The Lin Family primarily deals with cultivating spiritual herbs and refining pills, while the Hundred Refinements Pavilion focuses on refining artifacts. How could these two be so close?"

"After that, I continued to track this Fifth Elder. After leaving White Cloud Immortal City, he headed west, flying for a full month."

"He eventually arrived at a mountain 2000 li northwest of Red Leaf Square."

"Later, I sent a tracking rat to investigate, and it turned out there was a Fire Essence Stone ore vein there!"

"This must be the reason for the Lin Family's close ties with the Hundred Refinements Pavilion!"

As he spoke, the man took out an egg-sized, fiery red stone from his embrace.

Several elders took it and examined it carefully.

"It is indeed Fire Essence Stone!"

"Hmph, this Lin Family actually broke the rules and secretly hoarded a mineral vein!"

When the four great families of Red Leaf Square were founded five hundred years ago, they established a covenant to aid and protect each other, considering the four surnames as one family. If any spiritual minerals were discovered, they were to be shared among the four families.

"No wonder their development has been so rapid in recent years; in just a few decades, their strength has nearly caught up to our Wu Family!" an elder with white hair and beard exclaimed angrily.

"We must inform the Sun and Li families of this matter and demand that the Lin Family hand over this mineral vein!" the elder said, filled with indignation.

In truth, even they, if they had obtained such a spiritual mineral vein, would not have shared it with the other three families.

It was simply that when they were the ones being kept in the dark, they naturally couldn't stand it.

"I think we can use this opportunity to expel the Lin Family!" a middle-aged man said calmly.

"Expel them?" everyone was shocked.

"Patriarch, since the founding of Red Leaf Square, the Wu, Lin, Sun, and Li families have been united for five hundred years. Are we going to destroy that unity starting today?" the oldest elder present shook his head and retorted.

"Perhaps the elders are unaware, but my elder brother has now advanced to the peak of Foundation Establishment. And in the Lin Family's secret medicinal field, there happens to be a Essence Nectar Grass being cultivated."

"This is the main ingredient for the Essence Crystallization Pill, which can increase the success rate of forming a True Core by thirty percent. If we obtain this, with my elder brother's Earth Spiritual Root aptitude, the probability of him achieving a low-grade True Core is as high as eighty percent."

"Even for a mid-grade True Core, it's sixty percent, and for a high-grade True Core, it's forty percent."

"With this, our Wu Family can also break through the shackles of five hundred years and become a True Core family!"

"Peak Foundation Establishment? Truly? Zongdao has reached such a realm?" Several elders of the Wu Family rejoiced.

"If that's the case, expelling the Lin Family is not impossible!" the oldest elder showed a hint of ruthlessness.

Wu Zongdao, the elder brother of the Wu Family Patriarch Wu Zongheng, was exceptionally talented with a gold-element Earth Spiritual Root.

After this person was tested to have an Earth Spiritual Root, he was hidden by the Wu Family, with the public announcement that he had perished.

In reality, he was being secretly cultivated outside. After all, an Earth Spiritual Root was a natural seed for forming a True Core, which could incite jealousy.

This information was known only to the Wu Family Patriarch and the Foundation Establishment elders.

Unexpectedly, in just a century, this individual had cultivated to the Grand Perfection stage of Foundation Establishment.

"May I ask how the Patriarch plans to persuade the Sun and Li families?"

"The Sun Family's main business is beast taming and acquiring monster materials. Currently, a Rank 3 Great Demon has appeared in Hundred Savages Mountain, and its influence is spreading outwards, causing many monster hunters to return."

"The Sun Family's business has also been greatly affected. From my observations, in the past few years, it has not even reached thirty percent of previous years."

"If we don't find a way to change this, I'm afraid they will soon fall to the bottom of the four great families. If we agree to destroy the Lin Family and then hand over all of the Lin Family's medicinal business to the Sun Family to manage, they will surely be tempted."

"As for the Li Family, they were already ranked last among our four great families, and now they are in decline. Only Li Shanjiao, who is at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, is struggling to hold on. You all know Li Shanjiao; he is already over a hundred and fifty years old and doesn't have much lifespan left. If we offer him a Rank 2 Longevity Pill and a Foundation Establishment Pill as rewards, they will definitely agree!"

"Is it worth such a considerable expense?" the oldest elder expressed some dissatisfaction.

A Rank 2 Longevity Pill could extend a cultivator's lifespan by 30 years and was incredibly valuable, with every appearance causing a scramble among Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The family's Rank 2 Longevity Pill was precisely what was prepared for him.

Given the Li Family's current situation, they naturally could not refuse these two pills.

"If my elder brother breaks through to the True Core stage, what are mere Longevity Pills?" the Wu Family Patriarch scoffed.

"Very well, then we shall proceed as planned!" the Wu elder also came to understand, and the other two Wu elders also agreed.

Danbao Pavilion, Alchemy Room.

Zhou Xun was refining Fire Barrier Pills.

During this period, Zhou Xun's refining of Fire Barrier Pills had reached a state of perfection.

For every batch of Fire Barrier Pills, the number of pills successfully formed was consistently around eleven.

However, he still claimed to produce ten pills externally.

Even so, his output rate for Fire Barrier Pills was the highest, second only to the Lin Family's eldest daughter.

Every five days, he had to deliver the refined Fire Barrier Pills to Miss Lin, Lin Xueying.