Xia Li first refined several batches of low-tier pills to warm up.
By the time he found his rhythm, Wei Hongyin arrived as well.
"Ninth Holy Son, the cauldron you requested has been brought. This is a top-grade Earth Mystic Armament, the Gilded Ding. Will it satisfy Your Highness's needs?"
Upon entering the earthfire chamber, Wei Hongyin immediately produced a massive ancient-looking ding. A ding was more valuable than an ordinary furnace, because a furnace could only be used for pill refining, whereas a ding could serve multiple purposes and could even be wielded as a weapon if necessary.
As for Earth Mystic Armament, that was the Xuan Realm's own terminology, roughly corresponding to a Soul Transformation-grade spiritual tool on Earth.
In the Xuan Realm, treasures were broadly divided into three stages: spirit artifacts, mystic armaments, and Dao treasures, with different prefixes marking the cultivation realms suited to them.
For example, a True Mystic Armament corresponded to Nascent Soul, an Earth Mystic Armament to Soul Transformation, and a Heaven Mystic Armament to Void Refining.
"Good enough."
Xia Li nodded and directly lifted the ding over the earthfire vent with telekinesis. He had just finished refining another batch.
Wei Hongyin's attention, however, had already been caught by the pills lying around the chamber. Xia Li had placed them down carelessly enough, not even bothering to store them in bottles. He had merely spread a few clean garments on the ground and set the pills on top.
"I never expected Ninth Holy Son to excel in alchemy as well. So many different types of pills, and not one of them is below supreme grade!"
Wei Hongyin could see that the room contained nothing but wasted medicinal dregs and supreme-grade pills. Mid-, high-, and low-grade had no place to exist here at all. No wonder the pill fragrance had already been so unbelievably rich before she even reached the door.
Even if Xia Li had possessed neither reputation nor combat strength, his alchemical skill alone would have been enough to secure him entry into the Holy Land.
"You say you never expected it, but your expression betrays your thoughts. You're not surprised at my alchemy at all."
While raising earthfire dyed with azure flame to refine pills, Xia Li still had leisure to glance back at Wei Hongyin and chat with her.
"As expected, nothing escapes Ninth Holy Son. Come to think of it, wasn't the first time you truly made your name through alchemy? Alchemist Xia of Fenghe City. The man who publicly released the supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pill formula."
Wei Hongyin knew Xia Li's past. Many disciples of the Holy Land knew it by now. Xia Li was one of their Holy Sons. How could they not understand the road he had walked to get here?
In fact...
Taiyi Holy Land was using that pill formula now.
Most likely all seven Holy Lands were using it.
The success rate was simply too high. It placed no unreasonable demands on the alchemist, and it tolerated ingredients even more flexibly than many of the Holy Land's own formulas. It was more than fair to call it the greatest Foundation Establishment Pill formula of the age: easy to refine, low in difficulty, detailed in process, and ideal for mass production.
And yet...
it still had not allowed the people who needed Foundation Establishment Pills most to actually eat them.
"So then, do the pills I refine taste good?"
The question left Wei Hongyin rather baffled. She did not understand the meaning behind it. By then she had already long since reached Golden Core and naturally had never needed Foundation Establishment Pills herself, so how could she know?
"That..."
"Take this one."
Another batch completed as he spoke. Xia Li took out one pill and tossed it to Wei Hongyin. It was an Imitation Golden Core Pill. It looked almost exactly like a cultivator's real golden core, and its effect was similar as well: it helped Golden Core cultivators speed up their breakthroughs through minor realms.
Taiyi Holy Land had an interesting feature to it. The proportion of disciples at the Nascent Soul stage was actually lower than in Lingxu Cave Heaven. Most disciples were still in Golden Core.
But the Holy Land's Golden Core true transmissions could absolutely crush Lingxu Cave Heaven's Nascent Souls.
The reason was simple. Holy Lands placed immense importance on the Golden Core stage, the realm just before a cultivator's first true transformation, and required disciples to refine their foundations there as far as possible.
Because of that, every Nascent Soul disciple of the Holy Land was required to possess at least a three-aperture Nascent Soul. Anything below three apertures was unworthy of remaining within the Holy Land and would result in expulsion.
And even three-aperture Nascent Souls only counted as the bottom tier among Taiyi Holy Land's Nascent Souls. Five apertures was the true mainstream.
Golden cores had nine grades. Nascent Souls had nine apertures. Every additional aperture meant a closer affinity to heaven and earth. How could such cultivators compare to the apertureless Nascent Souls of small sects?
As for the quick-grown Nascent Souls on Earth...
perhaps too much technology and too many questionable enhancements had been crammed into them. Most of them suffered from chronic malnourishment. Being apertureless was already the better outcome. If they did not produce malformed Nascent Souls, people ought to be thanking the heavens.
"A supreme-grade Imitation Golden Core Pill? No..."
"No, something about the aura is off..."
"A new formula?"
Wei Hongyin stared at Xia Li in shock. Imitation Golden Core Pills not only sped progress through minor Golden Core realms, they also carried a certain chance of raising a golden core's grade if it was below sixth grade. They were one of the very few ways to improve the quality of a golden core after it had already been formed.
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Used together with other grade-raising methods, even some lowly cultivator with a low-grade or unranked golden core might be able to forge a ranked one. If they could somehow reach the middle three grades, that would count as ancestral graves smoking with good fortune.
"Try it first."
"Yes!"
Wei Hongyin immediately swallowed the Imitation Golden Core Pill Xia Li had given her. Before long...
she felt her golden core turn warm. Spiritual energy and medicinal power washed through her dantian like flowing water, giving her the feeling that some defect within it was being repaired.
Her golden core trembled faintly. Her aura became unstable, but not because it was weakening.
It was growing stronger.
"Thank you for the pill, Ninth Holy Son. May I ask how much this pill would sell for? I'm certain this kind of Imitation Golden Core Pill will become the signature product of our Ninth Holy Son Palace!"
"No. It will become the signature product of Taiyi Holy Land."
Wei Hongyin could already see the enormous market this new Imitation Golden Core Pill would command.
"So the effect is good enough, then?"
"Good enough? It's practically perfect!"
"No, it isn't perfect. There are still more than ten points in the refining process that need to be optimized. The medicinal power is still three-tenths short of the limit I calculated."
"Are you planning to refine an ultimate-grade spirit pill?"
Wei Hongyin was stunned.
Ultimate-grade.
A truly heaven-born spirit pill in the strictest sense.
Such pills could not be mass-produced. Most were obtained only when grandmaster alchemists happened upon a moment of inspiration while in a state of unity between heaven and man. Even if that same alchemist tried to refine it again, there was no guarantee the result could ever be replicated.
And even if they did produce another one, its effect would definitely differ from the original.
Because of that, ultimate-grade pills were always solitary treasures.
Unique.
One of a kind.
If preserved for a long enough time, there was even a chance they might develop spirituality of their own and become the fantastically rare phenomenon known as a pill spirit.
"Mm. I'm in the Golden Core stage myself. Naturally, I need an ultimate-grade Imitation Golden Core Pill. Since I can't find one elsewhere, I'll just refine it myself."
Xia Li's meaning could not have been simpler.
Then he handed Wei Hongyin a jade slip.
"Take this to the elders of Pill Peak and ask them how it can be optimized. The formula on my end may not necessarily be perfect."
"Yes!"
Wei Hongyin withdrew immediately to carry out the task, while Xia Li continued his experiments following the process laid out by the Heaven Chip.
Half a shichen later, she returned.
And she did not come back alone.
"Ninth Holy Son, this is the Fifth Elder of Pill Peak."
Wei Hongyin promptly introduced the elder's identity. Fifth Elder was a gaunt old man who looked as though he were already terminally ill and might collapse at any moment.
But one could never judge a cultivator by appearances alone.
"Greetings, Fifth Elder."
Xia Li respectfully cupped his hands in greeting. Strictly speaking, that form of courtesy did not actually conform to Holy Land rules, but Fifth Elder clearly could not care less at the moment.
"Continue your attempts. I will do my best to help you seize that line of heavenly inspiration."
"And one more thing. Xuan Dan Sect of Ling Province has recently killed disciples of our Holy Land. Punishment is due. As a Holy Son of the Holy Land, you are to ride the Heaven-Traveling Palace on behalf of the Holy Land and demand justice for our dead disciples."
Fifth Elder announced the Holy Land's arrangement in a flat, emotionless tone.
Justice for dead disciples?
This was plainly about helping Xia Li settle old debts.
This time, Xia Li had rendered a service to the Holy Land by presenting a pill formula. The Imitation Golden Core Pill was a pill the Holy Land consumed in great quantity. If it could guarantee a high chance of supreme-grade success, then far more of the Holy Land's Golden Core disciples would be able to forge high-grade golden cores.
Xuan Dan Sect, was it?
The Heaven Alliance, was it?
You stole the Foundation Establishment Pill formula and wanted to drag Xia Li away as a pill slave, did you?
All the grievances Xia Li had suffered on his road to this point, Taiyi Holy Land would now settle for him one by one.
No longer with the bloodied grief of a lone avenger.
But with feet planted upon a heavenly palace, riding golden clouds, with innumerable battle attendants in attendance.
Who would dare speak of injustice?
Who would dare speak of unrighteousness?
And if any dared utter even a single sentence of injustice, even half a sentence of unrighteousness...
then in the name of Taiyi,
all would be exterminated.
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