Longzang

Chapter 1028 Dao Foundation Increase
At this time, Wei Yuan was unaware that his mission to study the descendants of the Xu family had unveiled the curtain on improving the physical constitution of the human race.

He traveled back and forth for several months, and the strength of the Qingming Kingdom gradually improved, encountering bottlenecks in many aspects. The biggest bottleneck was the shortage of Dao Foundation cultivators. Qingming currently has nearly 40,000 Dao Foundation cultivators, but they are needed in all aspects, so the number is far from enough, and the gap is getting bigger and bigger.

Yu Zhizhuo, Xu Henshui, Sun Yu, Chuhe, and even Feng Tingyu all came to Wei Yuan demanding people. Wei Yuan couldn't handle it and could only try to rob Peter to pay Paul, constantly dealing with the situation. But this wasn't a long-term solution, so Wei Yuan had already begun to consider corresponding countermeasures.

To increase the number of cultivators with a strong foundation in the Dao, a two-pronged approach is needed: continuing to lower the threshold for establishing a foundation and increasing the number of Body Forging cultivators. This is the righteous path. Besides this, Xu Henshui also invented a heretical path: Foundation Establishment Pills.

The so-called Foundation Building Pill is not a traditional elixir for breaking through the bottleneck of one's Dao foundation, but rather a formula developed by Xu Henshui according to a completely new approach. Many disciples of aristocratic families are addicted to consuming Five-Stone Powder, which can bring strong stimulation and produce numerous hallucinations. Many good-for-nothing scions of aristocratic families rely on this to realize their grand dreams of defying the heavens and slaying immortals and destroying Buddhas.

In the eyes of the scions of aristocratic families, the Five-Stone Powder was not strong enough, so they were constantly looking for similar but more potent drugs.

Based on these medicines and referencing the essence of Wei Yuan's "Instantaneous Beings" ability, Xu Henshui developed the Foundation Establishment Pill. This pill can overdraw on life potential, greatly stimulating the human body's functions, causing them to erupt in an instant. Combined with "Instantaneous Beings," it can significantly increase the probability of forming a Dao foundation.

Taking this pill will instantly shorten one's lifespan by five years, but it will forcibly increase the chance of forming a Dao Foundation by 20%. If one fails to form a Dao Foundation on the first attempt, taking another Foundation Establishment Pill will shorten one's lifespan by another five years, and so on. Taking several pills at once will have the effect of causing immediate suicide.

Just then, Wei Yuan was about to hold the Foundation Establishment Ceremony before the World's Number One Dharma Aspect Conference. At this time, the Foundation Establishment Pill appeared, so Wei Yuan naturally attached great importance to it. He came in person and spent several days with Xu Henshui deliberating on the pill formula, and finally finalized the formula.

Speaking of alchemy, Wei Yuan hadn't practiced it in a long time, so after finalizing the formula, he personally refined the first batch. Xu Henshui had never refined pills before, so he observed the whole process from the side, while also inviting over a hundred experienced alchemists from the Alchemy Hall to learn together.

With everyone watching, Wei Yuan's spirits soared. He administered the medicine, sealed the furnace, and started the fire, each step flawless, as if divinely aided.

As he secretly poured in handfuls of his own fortune, the surface of the alchemy furnace turned from black to gold, and countless spirit birds appeared, flying around the furnace! Such an extraordinary phenomenon immediately astonished the disciples of the alchemy hall, leaving them speechless. Wei Yuan's Dao heart was clear, while Xu Henshui's face remained as still as water.

When the furnace was opened, a beam of celestial light shot straight into the sky, and celestial music echoed for miles!

Staring at the three-colored pillar of immortal light, even Xu Henshui forgot his resentment and was dumbfounded. This shouldn't be happening. It's just a Foundation Establishment Pill, barely enough to reach a certain grade, how could it produce immortal light at the moment of opening the furnace?

The celestial light entered the clouds, instantly transforming into tribulation clouds, but the tribulation clouds failed to gather several times.

Each time they converged, a patch of purplish-black celestial demonic intent would appear, resulting in the two types of tribulation clouds clashing with each other, neither able to take shape, leaving Wei Yuan hanging on in a precarious state.

Finally, the heavenly tribulation condensed a bolt of tribulation lightning, which struck the alchemy furnace squarely. The furnace lid exploded, and a flock of celestial birds flew out of the furnace. As soon as they emerged, they flew around in all directions, trying to escape!

The disciples remained dumbfounded. Xu Henshui finally reacted and tried to pounce, but only managed to catch a small piece.

Wei Yuan slowly ascended into the air, one hand behind his back and the other outstretched, secretly channeling the power of the prosperous worlds of all realms to suppress the surrounding space indiscriminately! The hundred or so small spirit birds could not escape his clutches. Suppressed by the power of the world, they were all captured by Wei Yuan.

But in the eyes of the disciples, Wei Yuan simply stretched out his hand, and the spirit birds immediately flew into his grasp—it was practically a picture of a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix. In comparison, Xu Henshui's attempt to catch the birds with his sleeve was clearly inferior.

Wei Yuan, with his clear Dao heart, chuckled softly and landed slowly, over a hundred Foundation Establishment Pills floating in his hand, some with two or three patterns, and even some with four or five patterns. These many high-grade pills gathered together instantly created an aura of immortal energy.

Xu Henshui snorted and carefully examined the medicinal properties of the pill. But upon seeing it, his expression changed drastically, and he burst into three loud laughs as his Dao heart instantly became clear!
When Wei Yuan refined this batch of pills, he experienced a mutated heavenly tribulation. As a result, the pills were also interfered with by the demonic intent from beyond the heavens, causing them to mutate. Their medicinal power was greatly enhanced, and they were given the name "Ascension Foundation Building Pill" by the Heavenly Dao! This pill is domineering and can increase the chance of establishing one's Dao foundation by 99%, but at the same time, it will shorten one's lifespan by a hundred years.

Wei Yuan's expression shifted, a sudden urge to kill him to silence him. With his original alchemy skills, adding a few more people to transport the pills would enhance their efficacy, increasing the chance of improving one's Dao foundation by 30%, while only shortening one's lifespan by ten years. It would be a divine medicine, easily crushing Xu Henshui.

However, Wei Yuan was ruthless and added too much luck, resulting in the creation of a celestial pill that almost guaranteed the formation of a Dao Foundation, but it also completely depleted the lifespan gained from advancing to the Dao Foundation.

Mortals inevitably suffer from some hidden injuries and wear and tear, so the true effect of taking this pill is to forge a foundation for one's cultivation, but at the cost of halving or even more lifespan. Furthermore, this is a celestial pill; apart from Wei Yuan, even Xu Henshui couldn't refine it. Therefore, it's unsuitable as a life-saving elixir for mortals in dire straits, as it cannot be mass-produced.

Fortunately, the disciples in the alchemy hall were still confused and couldn't understand the properties of the elixir. They thought Xu Henshui's laughter was due to his joy at seeing the elixir. Wei Yuan glared at Xu Henshui and transmitted his voice, "If you laugh again, be careful I'll betray my master and destroy your lineage, oh no, I'll capture your Dharma form!"

Xu Henshui was threatened and had no choice but to stop laughing, but he was having a very hard time suppressing it.

Fortunately, although this batch of Foundation Establishment Pills was rather useless, it proved that the unorthodox path was feasible. Wei Yuan immediately approved the pill materials, and the first batch consisted of refining 50,000 Foundation Establishment Pills. Xu Henshui immediately assigned the work, and all the disciples of the Pill Refining Hall were mobilized.

Now that the Creation Pill Temple has been in Qingming for a long time, its practices have gradually diverged from the original temple's. Here, how can you refine pills in just one or two batches? Less than ten thousand pills isn't even considered pill refining.

With the large number of pills to be refined, the limited number of disciples at the Pill Refining Temple couldn't keep up. Xu Henshui had to find ways to optimize the pill refining process, recruiting hundreds of beautiful model cultivators to be specifically responsible for processing the medicinal materials. The medicinal materials moved along the assembly line, undergoing processing steps, and were then selected and kneaded by delicate hands until they became the most suitable materials for specific pill formulas. Finally, they were packaged and stored for later use.

To fundamentally increase the number of template Dao foundations, the base number of Body Forging cultivators must be increased. The best way to improve Body Forging is to eat more and eat well. To this end, Wei Yuan began to implement the "Azure Nether Comprehensive Nutrition Enhancement Plan".

This plan includes dozens of smaller projects, which were undertaken by the Institute of Engineering and Technology. The data processing was based on everyday life, and the final version of the plan was formed after more than a year of in-depth research.

After more than a year of comparative research, the researchers discovered that eating only meat was not enough for ordinary people; they also needed to supplement their diet with a variety of other foods. As for what substances these other foods contained, Qingming Biochemistry was far from perfect at that time, so they could not determine it.

But this world possesses its own immense power, and such a small matter doesn't require chemistry. So, after several researchers applied for a boost from the heavens, they sat in meditation under the starry sky, and then someone had a flash of inspiration and thought of the key to 'food diversity'.

So Qingming began to adjust the farming plan, producing more vegetables and fruits, and also started raising other livestock and poultry, no longer limited to guinea pigs.

According to the plan, the physical condition of mortals in the Azure Netherworld will improve after one year, their average physical condition will significantly improve after three years, the number of Body Forging cultivators will increase by half, and the number will double after ten years. For the first time in human history, a single province will possess tens of millions of Body Forging cultivators!

This is the right path, which means steady and slow. Where there is a right path, there are also cults. Wei Yuan, having once been a cult leader, naturally cannot forget his duty. To develop the evil path, he naturally needs Xu Henshui and Sun Yu. So, not long after setting up the Foundation Establishment Pills, Wei Yuan, carrying the latest information, approached Sun Yu and Xu Henshui.

Sun Yu himself is an academician and is no stranger to this project. He has long pointed out that all the nutrients needed by mortals can be supplemented by elixirs. As long as the elixirs are good enough, it doesn't matter what the human body is lacking; the spiritual energy within the elixir can provide it all. The main point is that it is mysterious and profound.

Xu Henshui found a health-preserving pill from the pill formulas passed down in the Dan Guan sect, which could fully meet his needs.

As for whether taking elixirs to forge one's body was feasible, Wei Yuan specifically consulted the legendary Chuhe Zhenjun, who was blessed with great fortune and many benefactors. Chuhe Zhenjun pointed out that just as crops need fertilizer to achieve high yields, people need medicine to grow strong and healthy.

(End of this chapter)