Chapter 95: Refining the Jade Essence Pill (II)

Confronted with Sikong Shoujia's sudden excuse, Mi Shuhua remained skeptical.

To put it bluntly, he didn't believe a word of it!

However, noticing how Sikong Shoujia was now eagerly looking toward Luo Chen for support, Mi Shuhua followed suit, hoping to hear what progress the young alchemist had actually made.

With both old men staring at him expectantly, their gazes pitiful and almost childlike, Luo Chen sighed. He reached into his storage pouch, pulled out a jade bottle, and casually tossed it to Old Man Mi.

Mi Shuhua caught the bottle with a confused look. But the moment he uncorked it and caught sight of the contents, his eyes widened in astonishment. Then, a burst of laughter erupted from him.

"Hahaha! As expected—you truly are an alchemy genius!"

Luo Chen gave him a playful thumbs-up. "You truly have sharp eyes!"

Uh!

Mi Shuhua froze for a moment.

This kid was truly shameless!

But soon, he couldn't hide his joy as he poured out a faint white pill from the jade bottle.

"Come here, that kid from the Luo family."

Luo Chen instinctively took a step forward, then froze, his face twisting in mild annoyance.

Damn it. He meant Luo Erduo—not me. Once I achieve greatness, the name 'Luo' must be reserved for reverence, not confusion!

Luo Erduo, the nephew of Luo Wudi, stepped forward in confusion. "Gang Leader!"

"Take this pill," Mi Shuhua instructed. "Circulate your technique, refine it, and then tell me what you feel."

"Alright," Luo Erduo replied quickly.

Luo Erduo was usually careless, but in the presence of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he was as obedient as could be. He swallowed the Jade Essence pill and immediately began practicing his technique.

However, his posture was bizarre to the extreme, resembling a toad crouching or a tiger descending a mountain with fur bristling.

Seeing this, Luo Chen was dumbfounded.

Noticing his confusion, Gu Caiyi whispered, "Each technique has its unique use, so the methods of cultivation naturally differ. It's said that Luo Erduo practices his uncle Luo Wudi's Fierce Tiger Transversing Mountain. At each stage, the technique mimics some movements of a demonic tiger, allowing better absorption of spirit energy from heaven and earth."

Luo Chen nodded in sudden understanding. He wasn't well-versed in techniques—his only real experience was with the Long Spring Art.

A wood-element technique, it emphasized stillness. Practicing it meant assuming a posture akin to a rooted tree, calm and unmoving. Fierce Tiger Traversing the Mountain, by contrast, was clearly a technique of motion and aggression.

He wondered what characteristics other techniques might have.

His curiosity piqued, Luo Chen glanced at Gu Caiyi, noticing her expression shift slightly, as if she was trying to avoid his gaze.

A sly grin formed on his lips. "Fellow Daoist Gu, care to practice together sometime?"

"Get lost," she snapped, rolling her eyes with dramatic flair.

Watching the two of them whisper and joke, Mi Shuhua glared in disapproval and promptly erected a soundproof barrier around Luo Erduo to prevent distractions.

For low-tier cultivators, circulating techniques often took a long time.

Low-tier cultivators often took a long time to circulate their techniques. Luo Chen remembered that in his earlier days, it would take him nearly two hours to complete a session of the Long Spring Art. Only as his proficiency grew did that time shorten to about thirty minutes.

Luo Erduo was no exception. For two full hours, he performed a series of strange, tiger-like movements, each one lasting twenty minutes. Finally, drenched in sweat and panting heavily, he finished his session.

Mi Shuhua nodded in approval. "The Fierce Tiger Traversing the Mountain has nine movements. You can perform six of them, showing that your foundation in the mid-stage Qi-Refining Realm is quite solid."

Luo Erduo beamed with pride at the praise. After wiping away the sweat on his brow, he began to describe the effects of the pill.

"The medicinal properties are on the colder side—not as gentle as the qi-nourishing pill," he said thoughtfully.

"That's normal," Luo Chen responded. "The main ingredient is Washed Jade, which naturally carries a cold attribute. So it makes sense that the pill's effects lean that way."

Luo Erduo nodded and continued, "The potency is decent. It raised my overall spirit energy by about one to two per thousand."

One to two per thousand was roughly one to two tenths of a percent.

Luo Chen frowned slightly. "That's lower than I expected. It might be because my technique isn't refined enough yet."

However, Mi Shuhua was already quite pleased.

He smiled. "Luo Erduo is only at the fourth stage of Qi-Refining. Taking a qi-nourishing pill at best increases his energy by one to two percent. In other words, this low-grade Jade Essence pill already has ten percent of a qi-nourishing pills effect!"

Luo Chen raised an eyebrow. Mi Shuhua seemed to have significant experience in this area.

Coincidentally, this was an area Luo Chen had been pondering as well. Perhaps, he could find some time to fleece Mi Shuhua a bit on this topic.

After all, a Foundation Establishment cultivator—if you're willing to fleece a little, you're bound to get some benefits.

After gathering user feedback, Mi Shuhua dismissed everyone else.

He looked at Luo Chen excitedly. "What's the success rate?"

Luo Chen replied calmly, "In the past ten days, I've only succeeded once. It was with my Purple Cloud Copper Furnace. One batch yielded eleven Jade Essence pills."

Hearing this, Mi Shuhua's excitement dimmed a little.

Jade Essence pills couldn't be sold the same way as Myriad Wonders pills.

The Myriad Wonders pill, as Kang Dongyue, the master of the Golden Stone Pavilion in Taishan Market, once said, was massively overpriced.

It was only because of its unique medicinal properties and its location in Dahe Market—a place frequently battling demonic beasts—that it could be sold per pill at five spirit stones each. Whereas, its real value, in more peaceful inland markets, was no more than one or two spirit stones per pill.

And now, the Jade Essence Pill was proving to be only about one-tenth as potent as a qi-nourishing pill. Naturally, its selling price per bottle couldn't be set much higher. Cultivators were notoriously sensitive when it came to the cost of cultivation resources.

"With a cost of five spirit stones per batch, if we price it at ten spirit stones per bottle, we won't see much profit," Mi Shuhua muttered under his breath.

Then he looked at Luo Chen hopefully. "Can you increase the yield?"

Luo Chen spread his hands. "At the moment, it's unlikely—unless I make significant progress in refining the Jade Essence pill.

"Besides, it can't be mass-produced like Myriad Wonders pills yet. I'm not fully proficient myself, and the techniques can't be taught to others."

At present, everything had to be handled by Luo Chen himself. If he dared to let apprentices or fire handlers assist with such a delicate process, the failure rate would skyrocket—possibly rendering only one successful batch in a hundred.

Hearing this, Mi Shuhua's already aged face furrowed deeper with worry. The wrinkles along his brow seemed to stretch even further, weighed down by responsibility.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Seeing this, Luo Chen felt a flicker of sympathy. When he first joined the Poshan Gang, he had viewed Mi Shuhua as nothing more than a genial old man with deep pockets and shallow worries. But over time, he came to see that even this cheerful elder bore burdens of his own.

Therefore, Luo Chen decided to solve his troubles.

"Gang leader, the real bottleneck in producing more Jade Essence pills lies in handling Washed Jade."

Mi Shuhua's spirit lifted. He had studied the recipe countless times and even had the Luo family's alchemy apprentices attempt it. He naturally understood the critical challenges involved.

"Every time I process the Washed Jade, whether extracting the Jade Essence or merging it with the supplementary materials, I have to concentrate fully."

Luo Chen massaged his temples. "As you know, we Qi-Refining Realm cultivators have inherently weak spirit souls, and our spirit consciousness can't leave our bodies. In such a state, it's tough for me to make progress."

"So?" Mi Shuhua probed cautiously.

He had a vague sense of foreboding.

Luo Chen widened his innocent eyes. "So if you can provide me with any spirit-soothing medicines, I could refine more and better Jade Essence pills for you.

"Well, calming incense would be perfect—cheap and effective. If I could get just one small box a month, I'd surely contribute even more to the sect!"

Calming incense was one of the best auxiliary tools for low-tier cultivators during training. One stick a day allowed cultivators to practice their core techniques five more times, reputedly restoring their fragile spirit souls.

Luo Chen had used this item before, having obtained it from a short-lived fool. That had been one of the rare times in his life where he was killed and robbed for treasures. That experience left him with terrible but also wonderful memories.

Calming incense was part of the wonderful memories.

A box of calming incense had allowed him to train relentlessly while even finding energy to develop new combat techniques.

It could be said that without that box of calming incense and the accompanying qi-nourishing pills, he wouldn't have survived his second battle.

Hearing this name, Mi Shuhua trembled.

It wasn't because it was expensive—a box of calming incense was just a drop in the ocean to him.

The reason he trembled was that this kid seemed to always push his luck a little further.

But for the Jade Essence pill!

Mi Shuhua took a deep breath. "Calming incense, right? I'll send someone to deliver it. But you better show results!"

"Definitely, absolutely! Little Luo here never makes empty promises. Just wait at home and count spirit stones until you can't close your hands!"

The word Little Luo was already grinning from ear to ear!