Chapter 24: The Foundation Establishment Quota!

She could not concern herself with anything else and hurried over to Liang Chuan.

"A perfect-grade Foundation Establishment Pill? Where did this come from?!"

Judging by the scent and the pill patterns that looked like wisps of blue smoke, she was certain this was a top-tier Foundation Establishment Pill. Furthermore, she knew full well that Xu Chengwei could not have made this and left it here. Xu Chengwei’s alchemy skills were nowhere near capable of producing a perfect-grade pill; he struggled even to refine low-grade ones, which was why he wasted so many materials just to produce two or three.

There was a vast difference between pills of varying quality. Take the Foundation Establishment Pill, for instance: a low-grade version only increased the success rate of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage by twenty percent, whereas a perfect-grade pill boosted those odds to eighty percent. Moreover, a single perfect-grade pill commanded a price of ten thousand spirit stones. In previous years, the White Sword Sect’s entire annual income barely reached eighty or ninety thousand, and that was before accounting for the costs of purchasing cultivation manuals and spiritual artifacts. This led to a severe shortage, where one had to exhaust every option just to acquire a single pill. Often, due to the limited supply, they could only prioritize disciples with the best innate talent to ensure the highest success rate.

"Senior Brother, where did this pill come from?" Although Liang Chuan had told her they would no longer lack pills, she could not fathom how he had accomplished this.

Liang Chuan grinned. "Old Luo and I made it, of course."

"How is that possible? Did you just start studying alchemy?" Liu Ruyan shook her head instinctively. Old Luo was a master of artifact forging and had nothing to do with alchemy. As for Liang Chuan, he had absolutely no prior experience in the field. The two of them had spent only a few hours together, and yet they had managed to produce a Foundation Establishment Pill. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t believe they possessed such ability.

"It really was the two of us. Why else would I say that our sect wouldn't lack pills anymore?" Liang Chuan shrugged, spreading his hands with a mysterious smile. "Besides, we only used five hundred spirit stones' worth of materials for this perfect-grade pill."

!!!

Liu Ruyan was stunned. "How much? Five hundred spirit stones?"

Most alchemists, even with an eighty percent success rate, required at least five thousand spirit stones worth of materials to refine a single Foundation Establishment Pill. Yet, he had slashed the cost to five hundred and produced a perfect-grade pill to boot.

"Senior Brother, could it be that you two are already alchemists?" Liu Ruyan took a deep breath, her voice trembling slightly.

If he had learned alchemy in just a few days, Liang Chuan was nothing short of a genius. Such talent would easily earn him the position of an elder in any major sect.

"Hardly. Besides, I never intended to become an alchemist." Liang Chuan scoffed at the idea; he had no interest in wasting his time on such things.

"Then how on earth did you do it?" Liu Ruyan simply could not comprehend how someone who wasn't an alchemist could refine such a pill.

"Junior Sister," Liang Chuan patted her shoulder and shook his head with profound meaning. "This is the power of science!"

"Science?" Hearing this strange term again only left Liu Ruyan more bewildered.

Though she didn't understand the process, she was certain that the sect would never suffer from a shortage of pills again.

"Junior Sister, there is one more important task for you to handle!" After placing the perfect-grade pill into a vial, Liang Chuan spoke, "Go and select the most reliable disciples in our sect; have them refine these Foundation Establishment Pills."

Since this method was proven effective, production had to begin immediately. Zhao Wu should have settled the matter of the market stalls by now; with a steady supply of pills, the sect's income could enter a positive cycle. Even if they recruited more disciples, they would no longer need to worry about lacking resources.

"Senior Brother, are you sure you aren't joking?" Liu Ruyan remained incredulous. "Surely not just anyone can refine these?" In her mind, even if Liang Chuan had found a simpler method, it would still require a certain level of talent to produce a perfect-grade pill. Sending disciples to do it now seemed like a waste of time and medicine.

"Very well, you won't believe it until you see it for yourself!" Liang Chuan rolled his neck and nodded at Old Luo. Old Luo, naturally eager, agreed immediately; having just succeeded once, he was itching to start mass production.

Because the materials were already prepared, the two of them worked with fluid, practiced movements. Since they had done it once before, they decided to refine three pills at once. The process remained largely the same—they simply separated the ingredients into small containers within the furnace, ensuring the temperature remained constant.

After just two hours, Liang Chuan opened the three small containers and poured them directly into ice water. As the medicinal liquid touched the cold water, it began to solidify and shrink rapidly, condensing into perfect-grade Foundation Establishment Pills right there in the ice.

"This... this..."

Liu Ruyan watched the scene, goosebumps rising on her skin. Her breathing grew shallow, and her chest heaved. Two hours! In two hours, they had produced three perfect-grade Foundation Establishment Pills. It was incredibly difficult for the White Sword Sect to scrape together thirty thousand spirit stones after years of penny-pinching, yet in Liang Chuan’s hands, it was done with a simple heat and a pour.

"Let me see!" Liu Ruyan reached out, trembling as she fished the pills from the ice water. Staring at them, she murmured, "It really is a perfect-grade Foundation Establishment Pill!"

She could never have imagined that the "science" Liang Chuan spoke of could be so powerful.

...

Inside the prison cell.

"Hey, you! Did you hear me? Bring me some food!" Xu Chengyun leaned against the iron-forged gate, shouting at the disciple on guard. The disciple merely glanced at him coldly and ignored him completely.

"Fine, fine! Blind to greatness! When I get out, don't you dare think about getting any pills from me!" Xu Chengyun was not worried that Liang Chuan would harm him; without him, the supply of Spirit-Gathering Pills for the entire sect would cease. He saw himself as a treasure vault—how could anyone turn their back on such a source of spirit stones?

However, at that very moment, shouts of joy erupted from outside.

"This is amazing! I got a spot for the Foundation Establishment Pill!"

"I can finally make my breakthrough!"

"And it's a perfect-grade pill! I've been waiting for three years for this!"

The disciples outside were ecstatic. After three long years, someone in the sect had finally secured a spot for Foundation Establishment!