“Rank-two demon core, Jade Dragon Ginseng, hundred-year Stone Milk…”
Fang Qing listened with full concentration to the Foundation Establishment Pill formula, calculating inwardly. “Aside from the rank-two demon core, the other supplementary materials aren’t especially rare. At most, their age requirements are a bit high. There’s still hope of gathering them all.”
His own aptitude was only middling. One Foundation Establishment Pill might not be enough for him to establish his foundation, so he had to be prepared for any eventuality.
“Foundation Establishment has three barriers—essence, qi, and spirit. The Foundation Establishment Pill targets the three treasures of the human body, making up for what Heaven left lacking… Thus, among the supplementary materials, the most important is one ingredient called the ‘Three Talents Flower.’ It has the effect of transforming the three treasures, making up for a cultivator’s deficiencies in order to aid Foundation Establishment…”
As Elder Tianding explained in detail, Fang Qing’s heart stirred greatly.
‘This Foundation Establishment Pill is specifically aimed at the Foundation Establishment process, so its refinement also involves part of the secrets of Foundation Establishment…’
‘Essence, qi, and spirit? For my “qi,” I have two sets of cultivation methods. If I cultivate both to completion, there should be no problem… Then it’s essence and spirit?’
‘Essence refers to bodily strength and qi-blood. Spirit refers to mental power, perhaps even divine sense…’
‘I can look for related body-tempering techniques, as well as divine sense techniques…’
Fang Qing immersed himself in it, listening as though intoxicated.
In truth, only water-method alchemy could offer such a benefit.
That was because these alchemists could all assist Elder Tianding in carrying out preliminary processing of certain materials.
Elder Tianding needed their labor, so he gave them the Foundation Establishment Pill formula and refinement techniques in advance.
If it were fire-method alchemy instead, the more people involved, the easier it would be for mistakes to occur. It was often one alchemist working from beginning to end, and there would be no such good fortune.
“Today’s lecture ends here. Half a month from now, the furnace will be opened on Cold Spring Peak.”
Several hours later, Elder Tianding swept his sleeve and transformed into a streak of flowing light, fleeing away, leaving behind a ground full of alchemists who still had not had their fill.
“To think refining Foundation Establishment Pills has so many requirements and intricacies. It really is difficult…”
Fang Qing sighed with some emotion.
According to the classifications of the qi-refining path, the Foundation Establishment Pill was a rank-two medicinal pill. In theory, only a rank-two alchemist with Foundation Establishment cultivation could generally attempt it.
But there were always prodigies in the world who exceeded imagination—for instance, alchemists who could refine rank-two pills while still in the Qi Refining stage!
“If I fail to establish my foundation in the future, I’m afraid I’ll have to take this path…”
“Wait, there also seems to be something to look forward to over in Ancient Shu… But for some reason, I feel that advancing to Dao Foundation through the Breath-Ingestion Dao may be even more difficult than successfully reaching Foundation Establishment.”
By now, Fang Qing could be considered an experienced hand at trading between the two worlds. He had a clear understanding of the differences between Ancient Shu and Jade Island.
The Daoist arts over in Ancient Shu were mysterious and wondrous, but cultivation resources were not abundant. Perhaps metal-attribute and fire-attribute materials were a little more common there?
On Jade Island’s side, the cultivation methods were still unclear, but cultivation resources were extremely abundant.
“Here, at least, there are Foundation Establishment Pills to hope for. Maybe over there, they don’t even have medicinal pills to assist with breaking through to Dao Foundation. How could the word ‘miserable’ possibly be enough? Wait… there is one material that seems relatively plentiful.”
Fang Qing thought of the blood pills he had seized from the robbing cultivators last time, then thought of the rebel soldiers massacring cities in Ba Commandery, and could not help falling silent…
…
Half a month later.
Cold Spring Peak had been completely sealed off. Those disciples who had not become ranked alchemists had all vanished from sight.
Fang Qing stood at the foot of the mountain, his expression solemn as he looked at the ranked alchemists around him.
Near him were all newly ranked alchemists. Farther up were rank-one middle-grade and high-grade alchemists.
At the spring eye halfway up the mountain stood several Foundation Establishment cultivators. They were clearly rank-two alchemists. Fuyunzi was among them as well, a middle-aged man with a strong scholarly air.
At the summit, naturally, was Elder Tianding, overseeing everything.
“Refinement of the Foundation Establishment Pills… begin!”
Accompanied by a deep divine sense transmission, the great work of alchemy began in an orderly manner.
“Everyone… assist me in first sacrificially refining the ‘Mystic Frost Water’!”
Fang Qing looked toward his group leader, who happened to be Xu Wusu.
At this moment, Xu Wusu’s expression was grave, and his hands formed seals.
Streams of spirit spring water continuously gathered and were refined…
“Ha!”
Fang Qing likewise formed seals with both hands and began controlling the water.
The “Mystic Frost Water” their group was to refine was one of the three types of spirit water used to process the Jade Dragon Ginseng.
Because the medicinal potency of Jade Dragon Ginseng was too strong, ordinary rank-one spirit water simply could not dissolve it. Thus, specially made spirit water was required.
According to the Foundation Establishment Pill formula, three different kinds of spirit water had to be refined in order to perfectly separate and extract its medicinal effects.
And after these Qi Refining disciples busied themselves for half a month, they could only produce around one dou of “Mystic Frost Water.” It then had to be appraised by the rank-two alchemists halfway up the mountain, and only after its quality was confirmed to be without flaw could it be combined into rank-two spirit water. Only then would the extraction of the Jade Dragon Ginseng begin—and that, likewise, was the work of those rank-two alchemists halfway up the mountain.
With the work divided layer by layer like this, Elder Tianding only needed to handle the most troublesome rank-two demon cores, as well as the final fusion of the various medicinal properties. It could be said to greatly reduce his workload.
Moreover, several demon cores could be refined together!
Splash, splash!
Fang Qing saw streams of spirit spring water rising, twisting and turning in countless bends. A rich medicinal fragrance spread outward, as though a medicinal spring had soaked all of Cold Spring Peak.
They worked together with a division of labor, like an ancient assembly line, while he had become someone sent into the factory to tighten screws…
…
Several days later.
‘It felt interesting at first, but now it’s just boring.’
Fang Qing finished processing another batch of “Mystic Frost Water” and looked toward Xu Wusu beside him.
He saw the alchemist sitting cross-legged, having just finished recovering his magical power. Seeing Fang Qing look over, Xu Wusu revealed a kind smile. “Junior Brother, your water-control technique is truly exquisite. It actually faintly makes this senior brother feel as though I’m seeing the charm of a rank-two alchemist. Your future prospects will surely be limitless.”
“Not at all, not at all…”
In front of rank-two alchemists, Fang Qing had naturally long since converted all his magical power into Black Water magical power.
In terms of controlling springs, he was far inferior to when he still had his [Ji Water] magical power.
Of course, because he had immersed himself in it earlier, his water-control incantations had indeed improved greatly. This kind of experiential improvement would not vanish just because he had changed his magical power.
“By the way…”
Fang Qing asked the question he cared about most. “For this round of alchemy, I wonder how many pills can be produced?”
The matter of Foundation Establishment Pills was forever a hot topic among these Qi Refining disciples.
Although water-method alchemy took a long time, one could occasionally rest during the process.
Several nearby disciples gathered over. Though they were all low-level disciples, each had their own connections, and by piecing things together, they had more or less guessed the truth.
“I have an older female cousin from my clan serving at the Dragon Transformation Pool. It’s said that this time, the sect produced over a dozen rank-two qiu serpents! Unfortunately, a few of them had no demon cores… In the end, only eight were taken out.”
A Pill Island disciple spoke.
“Eight rank-two demon cores…”
Xu Wusu nodded. “The Foundation Establishment Pill is a rank-two pill. If an ordinary rank-two alchemist makes a move, being able to maintain the result of producing one genuine Foundation Establishment Pill from one rank-two demon core already counts as passing. A slightly better one can produce one inferior pill in addition to one genuine pill… Those very few who can produce two genuine Foundation Establishment Pills are rank-two alchemy masters!”
“Our sect’s Elder Tianding has extraordinary skill. One demon core can steadily produce two genuine pills, and occasionally one extra inferior pill… Sometimes, when he is in good condition, he can even produce three genuine pills!”
The other disciples nodded one after another. A female disciple smiled and said, “The true disciples are proud and arrogant. They definitely won’t accept inferior pills… I rather hope Elder Tianding steadily produces two genuine pills and one inferior pill. In that case, there would be eight inferior Foundation Establishment Pills for us to contend over…”
“Although inferior Foundation Establishment Pills can also protect one from dying after failing Foundation Establishment, the success rate is lower. It would still be better for us to strive to become true disciples.”
Xu Wusu shook his head, clearly not thinking highly of that.
‘In other words, this batch will produce between sixteen and twenty-four genuine pills? At most eight inferior pills?’
Fang Qing’s heart stirred. “How many true disciples does our sect have?”
“Twenty-five. For our sect’s true disciples, when one person enters, one person leaves. Only twenty-five seats are kept.”
Xu Wusu was very familiar with this. “Among these twenty-five true disciples, in the combat tournament held once every ten years, the top ten disciples may be listed among the true disciples. There are another ten spots given to disciples with astonishing cultivation skills. The final five seats are recommended by the Council of Elders…”
“If one seizes first place in combat and is listed among the true disciples, we have nothing to say. For a true disciple spot through the hundred arts of cultivation, one needs to cultivate a cultivation skill to at least quasi-rank two, or even rank two, before passing… Only the final five recommendation spots from the Council of Elders, sigh…”
A female disciple sighed.
Clearly, she had little hope in any of the three.
After Fang Qing listened, however, he seemed to fall into thought.
‘If a sect wants to develop, powerful combat cultivators are very important. At the same time, it also needs production-type talents… Giving each ten opportunities for Foundation Establishment is only natural.’
‘As for the final five recommendation spots from the Council of Elders, on the surface, it looks like they’re blatantly using the back door, but in reality, they’re winning over the majority…’
In this cultivation world, those Qi Refining disciples had never been the majority!
The cultivators above Foundation Establishment, who controlled the high-level power, were the majority!
People inevitably had selfish motives. Opening such a path, on the contrary, could unite most of the Foundation Establishment elders.
Moreover, for someone selected by such recommendations, if they successfully established their foundation, they would even be qualified to become a candidate for sect master of the Blue Sea Sect. As for governance methods, they would naturally have trusted aides and strategists. Just by being able to unite the majority of Foundation Establishment elders and obtain their votes, there would not be much problem in governing the sect.
‘In this Council of Elders, one Core Formation ancestor’s vote can probably equal quite a few Foundation Establishment votes, right?’
Fang Qing thought for a moment and felt that this true disciple system was actually quite reasonable.
Of course, it was quite unfavorable for him.
At the very least, there was no need to even think about the five spots decided by the Council of Elders’ votes.
“Combat and alchemy, is it?”
He pondered inwardly. If he did not use the methods of the Breath-Ingestion Dao, how strong could he be?
‘Mm. If my Breath-Ingestion realm and Qi Refining realm both reach the ninth layer, it may not be impossible for me to seize first place in combat?’
‘Aside from that, if I study alchemy deeply, there’s also hope.’
“Also… true disciples aspire to Foundation Establishment. Therefore, those over sixty, or those who have taken a Foundation Establishment Pill and failed, are generally not allowed to join the competition,” Xu Wusu added.
“Then at least twenty-five genuine Foundation Establishment Pills are needed?”
One disciple did the math. “Even if Elder Tianding performs perfectly, we’re still short one…”
“Indeed… Therefore, after this round of alchemy, the sect will most likely launch the ‘Great Catch’…”
Several Pill Island disciples laughed in schadenfreude. “Fortunately, assisting in the refinement of Foundation Establishment Pills counts as our sect’s mandatory mission. Otherwise, this time would truly be hard to get through…”