Chapter 554: Pill King, Pill Emperor

Jiang Chen didn’t raise any grand wishes, just thirty percent of the profits from the pill. This made Palace Head Dan Chi and Elder Yun Nie both sigh greatly with admiration. The profits brought by the Longevity Pill would be nothing less than spectacular. There wasn’t much difference between Jiang Chen’s actions and just giving away the pill for free.

“Jiang Chen, thirty percent of the profit is much too unfair for you.”

Jiang Chen smiled. “I can indeed harvest wealth if I keep the Longevity Pill to myself, but only I will grow rich from that. If I give it to the Regal Pill Palace, the profits brought about for the sect will be a meritorious achievement that will last for a thousand years. I may not be a saint, but I quite admired what I heard of Palace Head Dan Chi’s great ambitions that day. Although I may not be able to accompany the sect head in heralding in a new era, but at least I can do my own part in bringing it to fruition. Treat the Longevity Pill as my effort towards this endeavor.”

Palace Head Dan Chi’s heart harbored great ambitions to revive the past glories of the Myriad Empire, to re-establish a royal family and unite the Myriad Domain. Jiang Chen hadn’t felt much resonance with such thoughts at first, but after experiencing the Pill Battles and seeing the crazed level of scheming the various sects resorted to, he could finally identify that there was indeed a reason why a domain was strong or weak.

United they were strong, divided they were weak.

The various great sects in the current Myriad Domain were no different than a tray of loose sand. No one accepted anyone else, and everyone stayed guarded against everyone else’s sabotage. With such belligerent backbiting, how could the Myriad Domain ever hope to grow stronger? The sight of this sorry situation was what let Jiang Chen realize how precious Palace Head Dan Chi’s grand plans were, and how great his vision was.

Although the Longevity Pill was rare, this kind of pill recipe was merely a lower level recipe in Jiang Chen’s memories. But to a fourth rank sect of the Myriad Domain, this pill was undoubtedly worth cities!

When he saw Jiang Chen thus, Dan Chi sighed. “Yun Nie, I have to admit, it certainly seems that the waves that push from behind are the ones who provide the momentum in a river. I don’t think the Myriad Domain has ever seen such a youth as Jiang Chen, with such bearing at his age!”

Elder Yun Nie couldn’t help but admire the palace head by now. “The Palace Head’s vision in bringing Jiang Chen to the Regal Pill Palace was truly a stroke of genius.”

Palace Head Dan Chi nodded, then suddenly recalled something as an item appeared in the palm of his hand. “Jiang Chen, everything about you is good, but only that space ring of yours is a bit behind the times. This Meru Ring [1] is one that I received from a master refiner when I was traveling through the Upper Eight Realms. You can have it!”

Although a Meru Ring was precious, it obviously wasn’t on the same level as the Longevity Pill. This was just a token of Dan Chi’s sentiments.

Elder Yun Nie thought for a bit and took out a pill flask. “Jiang Chen, this pill is named the Origin Doubling Pill. I refined this from a jug of Firstwind Dew that I obtained when I was still traveling the world. I only have three left. Treat it as a token of my thoughts.”

Firstwind Dew!

Jiang Chen had never heard of the Origin Doubling Pill before, but he had definitely heard of Firstwind Dew. This was one of the purest sources of water in the world.

All of the five elements came from various sources. Just as there was a source of fire, there was naturally a source of water. Wood had its sources as well—the wood spirit spring was actually a wood source, and the Tayi Jade Vine that produced the spirit energy another more high quality one. Finally, the magnetic golden mountain was actually a source of metal.

When he saw how Jiang Chen looked a bit perplexed, Elder Yun Nie was actually slightly surprised. Jiang Chen, with his stunning potential, clearly had never actually heard of the Origin Doubling Pill before! Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had this blank reaction upon hearing the pill’s name.

Palace Head Dan Chi smiled. “Elder Yun Nie’s present is quite a generous gift. Jiang Chen, this Origin Doubling Pill will unequivocally help you ascend to the next level of the origin realm. If you enter the sixth level origin realm one day, you’ll be able to use this pill to break through to the seventh level in one go!”

Jiang Chen was slightly moved and hastily offered his thanks. “Many thanks to Elder Yun Nie’s gift!”

Elder Yun Nie was also gratified to witness Jiang Chen’s reaction. “Compared to the value of the Longevity Pill, this Origin Doubling Pill really isn’t anything.”

In truth, it actually wasn’t a difficult pill to refine. What made it difficult was that the ingredients required were just hard to find. For example, Firstwind Dew wasn’t something so easily run into. It was actually an earthly treasure that one could only hope for, and not plan on.

Jiang Chen was actually smiling ruefully in his heart. Elder Yun Nie is truly extravagant! He actually used Firstwind Dew in refining the Origin Doubling Pill. This was one of the most wasteful ways to use this material. One had to know that no matter how amazing the Origin Doubling Pill was, it was still just a saint rank pill at the end of the day. Although it sat at the peak of the saint rank, it would never be able to surmount that last barrier. However, the Firstwind Dew was an ingredient on a level far above the saint rank.

But of course, there was no way Jiang Chen would actually voice any of this. To him, the Origin Doubling Pill wasn’t a bad thing.

“Ah right, Jiang Chen, you can take only one of this pill. Taking it again would not result in any effect.” Elder Yun Nie reminded him at this point.

This was common pill dao knowledge. Any level advancing pill was usually a one-time use only. The effect wouldn’t trigger upon the second ingestion, unlike the Origin Fostering Pill which could be used over a long time to increase one’s energy.

Having accepted benefits from the two seniors, Jiang Chen knew that it was time for him to express some things as well. He immediately took out a brush and paper to write down the recipe for the Longevity Pill.

Dan Chi and Elder Yun Nie both sighed with admiration after they took a look at the recipe. This Longevity Pill was actually quite ingenious! It was such a high level pill, but didn’t impose stringent requirements on ingredients. None of its ingredients were difficult to collect. This way, at least they could be certain that the Longevity Pill wouldn’t be in short supply because of ingredients.

Of course, the difficulty of the pill lay not in the ingredients, but the refining process. It was a type where it tested a pill master’s skills to the extreme.

This precisely illustrated the saying that outsiders watch for the show, and professionals watched for the process.

Elder Yun Nie and Dan Chi gazed in thought for a while, then looked at each other. It seemed they’d just reached some sort of understanding of this Longevity Pill.

Dan Chi suddenly looked at Jiang Chen, a complicated look in his eyes. He couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright you, Jiang Chen! You certainly were well prepared in bringing out the Longevity Pill. If I remember right, you threw in more than 20 ingredients when you were refining the pill, but there are less than half that in here in the real recipe. Speak candidly, did you already anticipate that this pill would be furiously copied once it was revealed, and so did all those deceptive actions beforehand?”

Jiang Chen smiled, not denying anything. After all, he had done that on purpose. Otherwise, he’d have suffered a great loss if someone had gone and just copied his actions to recreate the pill!

Although the refinement method wasn’t something that could be learned with a single glance, he was still incredibly careful. He didn’t want to leave the slightest gap for anyone to slip into. This conscientious move delighted Palace Head Dan Chi and Elder Yun Nie. They’d been slightly concerned that the other heavyweights had memorized all of the proper steps during Jiang Chen’s refining process. Now, it looked like they’d worried too much. That problem had already been foreseen and avoided.

“Elder Yun Nie, do you think you can manage to refine this pill?” Palace Head Dan Chi asked.

Elder Yun Nie took a moment to contemplate the recipe. “With such a detailed pill recipe, I have a roughly sixty to seventy percent assurance in refining it. It’s just a matter of expending more resources. Setting aside Jiang Chen masking his true actions, the others still might not have learned his process even if they had the benefit of close observation.”

Apart from reconstructing the original ingredients, there were all sorts of knacks and hidden hand seals hidden in this refining process, not to mention sophisticated requirements imposed on the control of fire for this pill. A mistake in any of the details might result in completely wasted effort, yet Jiang Chen’s recipe clearly delineated all of the smallest details. This was basically handholding a great pill master like Elder Yun Nie through the process.

The more Elder Yun Nie read this recipe, the more agitated he became. He itched to instantly fire up his cauldron to try his hand at refining the pill. When he’d read the entire recipe eight times over, Elder Yun Nie finally sighed. “Jiang Chen, with your pill dao skills, honestly, apart from resources, we can offer you no other help, particularly in terms of technique. You would certainly be feted even if you were in the Upper Eight Realms. At this rate, you will certainly become a pill king in the future, even...”

Even Elder Yun Nie didn’t dare go on beyond that point. Palace Head Dan Chi laughed heartily. “Elder Yun Nie, there are no outsiders here; don’t be so cautious. We’re behind closed doors complimenting ourselves. What are you being embarrassed for?

“Then let me continue on. Jiang Chen, Elder Yun Nie has high hopes for you. However, there’s no uncertainty of you becoming a pill king. It’s rather that legendary level of pill emperor that should be your goal.”

Pill king, pill emperor?

Jiang Chen was rather unfamiliar with these titles. Although he was widely read in his past life, every plane of existence had different denotations for pill master titles. He guessed that these two were the strongest titles in the Divine Abyss Continent.

When he saw that Jiang Chen was having trouble understanding, Elder Yun Nie explained, “Pill king and pill emperor are both titles in the world of pill dao. A pill master is divided into nine levels, and only when one is above the ninth level does one have the right to receive the title of great pill master. Great pill masters are also divided into nine levels, and only when one is greater than the ninth level does one have the right to join in the pill king tests. Only when one passes those tests does one have the right to be hailed as a pill king.”

“Pill king tests!” Jiang Chen had never heard their like in the Myriad Domain before.

Elder Yun Nie felt a bit awkward. “It’s normal that you haven’t heard of them, because none of the sects or organizations in the Myriad Domain have the right to participate in those tests.”

“There are qualifications?” Jiang Chen was baffled.

“Only a publicly acclaimed third rank sect founded for pill dao has the right to participate in the pill king tests. In addition, a third rank sect can only participate in the tests up to the third level pill king. A second rank can go up to sixth rank pill king, and only a first rank sect can go beyond that.”

“Eh, then doesn’t that mean only a few sects have the right to participate in the seventh rank pill king tests?” Isn’t it easy to have a shortage of talent then?

“The Upper Eight Realms aren’t just comprised of first rank sects. There are also some pill dao organizations and other agencies. Although their power isn’t as grand as a first rank sect, they are not to be underestimated either. They also have the right to participate in the tests above seventh rank pill king.”

“Then what about pill emperor?”

Elder Yun Nie sighed. “A pill emperor is a legendary existence. No sect or organization is able to sit for its test.A pill emperor must be at the peak of ninth level pill king or be able to suppress all other pinnacle pill kings when they meet. One can also become a pill emperor if one has made a grand contribution in a certain area, or have successfully created their own pill dao school of thought...”

There were many avenues to being hailed pill emperor, but they all had one thing in common—public recognition!

Mt. Meru is a sacred mountain with five peaks in Buddhist cosmology and is considered the center of all physical, metaphysical, and spiritual universes. There is also a Buddhist story that mentions storing Mt. Meru into a mustard seed, referencing that even something as small and limited as a mustard seed can store an existence as infinitely large as Mt. Meru.