Chapter 29

"Humph!" Lu Dan grunted heavily, after all, Little Ding had learned everything from her, so if it wasn't her fault, whose could it be? It was really wrong to let her take Little Ding everywhere, turning a good person into such a troublemaker.

Although his face was unappealingly stern, he still flipped his hand and took out a jade box from his sleeve, tossing it to Lu Xiaoding. He spoke to Lu Yaoyang in a stiff tone, "This is the Purple Four-Leaf I got, here's your Foundation Establishment Pill."

"Who wants your spirit herbs? Little Ding, give it back!" Lu Yaoyang really disliked his attitude and said irritably.

Lu Xiaoding was already used to their constant bickering and didn't listen to her at all. Instead, she opened the jade box slightly, glanced inside, and then snapped it shut. She then said to the two of them, "You two can keep arguing, I'm going to refine the pills." With that, she turned and walked away, leaving the two of them in the courtyard.

According to their usual habit, they would argue for at least half an hour, unless there was something to do, she wouldn't stay here to accompany them.

The Purple Four-Leaf was such an important and special spirit herb that everyone would be very cautious when refining it, fearing that the pills might be reduced in number. But Lu Xiaoding had never been this careful. She opened the jade box on her way and took out the light purple Purple Four-Leaf, sniffed its fragrance, and then put it in her mouth and chewed it.

She ate it all the way back to the small building where she lived. After putting the tripod down, she opened the lid and took out seven or eight small jade boxes. Each jade box contained a spirit herb, and she ate them all in the order of refinement, finally sipping some water and smacking her lips.

"Eating is so comfortable. Once the herbs are processed, I'll start refining. For a Fourth Rank Foundation Establishment Pill, I need to add fire, and this will finally come in handy." Lu Xiaoding patted her stomach, took out a small bag from her bosom, and poured its contents onto the table.

It was a fingernail-sized red demon crystal, which looked very beautiful. She and Lu Yaoyang had bought it from Luxing City with spirit fruits. Despite its small size, it cost twelve spirit fruits, and the shop owner wouldn't even sell it to them.

This was the demon crystal of a Jumping Fire Rat, which could be activated by spirit energy to produce flames, commonly used in the refinement of fire-based magical artifacts.

But for Lu Xiaoding, it had another use: it could replace the earth fire in pill refinement. The method was particularly simple—just swallow it. In her stomach, she already stored many pills, all wrapped in a layer of bubble-like spirit energy to isolate them from other things.

Although she didn't have spirit veins, as the tripod was gradually strengthened, her body began to be filled with spirit energy. As Lu Xiaoding often said, her whole body was full of spirit energy, and she didn't need spirit veins.

Cultivators absorb spirit energy into their bodies, which then converts into spirit power. But since she didn't practice cultivation, the spirit energy in her body wouldn't turn into spirit power. Sometimes she would also doubt that if this continued, she would become a walking spirit herb, full of spirit energy.

This thought only came to her mind when she had nothing to do; she didn't think anyone would wash and eat her.

Lu Xiaoding felt that the spirit herbs had all turned into medicinal paste, so she swallowed the Jumping Fire Rat's demon crystal. The demon crystal was immediately detonated by the spirit energy in her stomach, and flames shot out, almost spewing from her mouth.

She swallowed hard, grimacing. It was a good thing that the opportunity to refine high-grade pills was rare; otherwise, she would almost become a fire-spewing tripod.

To ensure the efficacy of the Foundation Establishment Pill, it should be refined slowly. Ordinary alchemists usually refine it for three days. But Lu Xiaoding thought twelve days was better, as it would allow all the spirit energy in the spirit herbs to be converted into medicinal efficacy, unlike her master's refinement, where too much spirit energy was lost, affecting the efficacy.

Just as she and Lu Yaoyang were waiting for the Foundation Establishment Pill to be refined so they could prepare to冲击筑基 (冲击筑基 means "impact the Foundation Establishment," but in this context, it's better translated as "prepare to advance to the Foundation Establishment stage"), a group of uninvited guests arrived at the Heavenly Pill Peak.

The visitors were envoys from various sects in the Nine Provinces, and Yun Dan Province was one of them. Nine neighboring provinces formed an alliance, engaging in commerce and trade during peaceful times and uniting against external threats when necessary. They would also compete for superiority, occasionally having minor conflicts, but their relationship was generally harmonious.

Yun Dan Province had the lowest status among the Nine Provinces because it lacked first-rate sects, mostly consisting of second-rate and third-rate small sects. The two largest sects were the Cloud Sword Sect and the Wu Xu Sect, both of which aspired to become first-rate sects.

There were three things that represented a first-rate sect: the Ten Thousand Treasury Pavilion, the Medicine King Hall, and the Condensed Void Realm.

As the name suggests, the Ten Thousand Treasury Pavilion was where the sect stored cultivation techniques, which were divided into four ranks: Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow. The basic cultivation techniques for beginners didn't even qualify for these four ranks and were called Human Rank, meaning anyone could learn them.

To hang the plaque of the Ten Thousand Treasury Pavilion, the collection must exceed ten thousand types, with at least three Heaven Rank cultivation techniques.

The Condensed Void Realm, on the other hand, sounded impressive but was essentially a display of wealth with little practical use.

It was a space opened by cultivators at the Transformation of the Spirit stage or higher within the sect, similar to the Sleeve of the Universe technique, but large enough to accommodate a mountain. When the space in the Sleeve of the Universe technique reached a certain size, it was renamed the Condensed Void Realm.

Inside, it was vast, capable of holding mountains and lakes, and even throwing in powerful demon beasts, creating a place like another world. Disciples of sects with a Condensed Void Realm would be relatively proud, and various dangerous trials would be held inside annually to increase their combat experience.

However, behind this pride lay the pain of the sect's leadership. The Condensed Void Realm, once opened, could not be closed, similar to the Sleeve of the Universe technique. Each time something was taken out of the Sleeve of the Universe, spirit energy was consumed. But because the Sleeve of the Universe was small, the spirit energy could be replenished by basking in the sun.

However, the spirit energy consumed by opening the Condensed Void Realm was terrifying. Opening and closing it at will would exhaust high-stage cultivators. Moreover, it required a massive array, consuming not just spirit fruits but even higher-grade spirit clusters.

Furthermore, even if one wanted to save spirit clusters by keeping it closed, it would be laughed at by other sects. If a sect couldn't afford to use the Condensed Void Realm, it might as well not have it, as it would be embarrassing to have it and keep it closed.

Therefore, each sect had to use an array to keep the entrance to the Condensed Void Realm open at all times. Every thirty days, a basket of spirit clusters would be spent on the array, and that was not all. The powerful demon beasts inside couldn't be left hungry, so small demon beasts had to be regularly sent in to feed them.

To gain experience, one could just go to the basin. The existence of the Condensed Void Realm was mainly for show. But if a sect didn't have one, it indicated a lack of strength, and its seat at sect gatherings would be at the back.

Among the three things representing a first-rate sect, the most valuable was the Medicine King Hall.

Just having a high-cultivation alchemist didn't qualify a sect to build a Medicine King Hall, and there was no title of Medicine King among cultivators. If one dared to call oneself a Medicine King, someone would challenge them, as alchemists didn't respect each other.

If a cultivator in the sect could refine a pill of the Tenth Rank or higher and take on external alchemy jobs, they could build a Medicine King Hall. The hall would not be inhabited but would house the pill to prove the sect's strength.

Displaying such a pill to stabilize the sect was excellent, but protecting it required significant effort, and thefts from Medicine King Halls were common. Each theft would cause chaos and numerous casualties within the sect, causing much distress.

But as long as these three conditions were met, the sect would be recognized as a first-rate sect. At that point, talented young men and women would line up to join, vying to become disciples. Whether this was worthwhile could only be calculated by the sect's leadership.

Every year, the Nine Provinces would hold a meeting, with almost all sects sending representatives. Some very small sects might not attend, but no one would care. To reduce the hosting pressure, the meetings would rotate among second-rate and higher sects for three days.

Originally, this year it wasn't the Cloud Sword Sect's turn, but after news spread that a Golden Core alchemist had emerged here, everyone decided to hold the meeting here. The reason was unspoken; everyone wanted to see the strength of the Cloud Sword Sect's Golden Core alchemist to gauge the sect's future potential.

The size of a sect's strength influenced the size of its jurisdiction, and the larger the area, the more spirit gathering places and taxes it would have. This was a matter of great concern and could not be taken lightly.

Spirit gathering places were excellent, where spirit energy was so dense that even cultivators couldn't practice, but crystal cores could grow. Near the crystal cores, transparent crystal clusters resembling coral would form, and around the clusters, crystal fruits of various sizes would grow, from the size of longans to the size of fists. Smaller ones, like beans, were the low-grade crystal beans commonly used by low-stage cultivators.

Most of the sect's consumption came from spirit gathering places. Although crystal cores could regenerate even if harvested, no one dared to do so. It took over a hundred years to produce one drop of crystal core, and it was unknown how many years it would take to reach the stage of producing crystal clusters.

Crystal fruits and crystal beans solidified the fastest, which was the main reason they could be used as currency. Crystal clusters were almost never traded on the market, only used for buying very precious items or in transactions between sects.

This year, fearing that the Cloud Sword Sect might truly grow and their spirit gathering places might be taken away, all the sects came to the meeting, causing the Cloud Sword Sect to be in a flurry. But they also understood why the meeting location was suddenly changed, and they couldn't help but feel a bit smug.

"Since our Cloud Sword Sect has just produced a Golden Core alchemist, you are all scared like this. When he reaches the Nascent Soul stage, you will have to hand over some of your spirit gathering places to us!"

Lu Xiaoding, who was about to complete the pill, curiously watched a large group of cultivators arrive at the Heavenly Pill Peak. They casually looked around and then entered the Heavenly Pill Hall with various intentions. Lu Dan, the senior disciple, took on the task of reception, while Lu Yaoyang busily arranged the medicine boys and disciples to prepare tea for these guests.

"Hmm?" Suddenly, Lu Xiaoding noticed a Foundation Establishment cultivator outside the Heavenly Pill Hall. The guy was limping, clearly not walking well. She couldn't help but admire his resolve; even at the Foundation Establishment stage, he refused to straighten his legs, truly facing his own shortcomings. He would surely become a great person in the future.