Longzang

Chapter 1202 Come at me first
As the heavenly tribulation subsided, the once lively pills quieted down, and the spirituality born from the tribulation transformed into medicinal power, returning to the pills.

After collecting all the pills, Wei Yuan understood why this batch of pills had encountered a heavenly tribulation. As was his usual practice, he would add human fortune to each pill before it was made, usually several times, the exact number depending on the mysterious circumstances at the time.

In this batch of pills, Wei Yuan invested a total of three million human resources, ultimately producing 500,000 pills. Regardless of the quality of the pills, the sheer number and the amount of human resources invested certainly warranted a heavenly tribulation.

Wei Yuan discovered that using one's luck seemed particularly likely to attract heavenly tribulations. He kept this in mind, intending to study the issue more thoroughly after some time.

Of the total 500,000 Strengthening Pills, about 10,000 had pill patterns on them. Now that Wei Yuan was proficient in alchemy and had acquired systematic scientific knowledge from the outer world, he understood that although pill patterns sound mysterious, they were actually patterns that appeared on the surface of the pill when the medicinal effect was brought to its maximum. Pills with the same medicinal properties might have two patterns or three patterns; it was not fixed.

Among the more than 10,000 graded pills, there were several hundred with a second-level or higher rank. Wei Yuan took one and swallowed it, and felt a surge of thunderous power enter his stomach, which then gently removed the dead skin from his body along the way.

It can scrape away some dead skin from Wei Yuan's flesh. If this medicine were applied to a template Dao Foundation, it would be enough to completely melt their physical body. Let alone eat it, they wouldn't even be able to smell it.

Wei Yuan then took two other types of pills and understood their medicinal effects. Each additional rune in the pill would elevate the corresponding Dao foundation to a higher level. A two-rune pill corresponded to a Earth-rank Dao foundation cultivator, with a chance to allow their Dao foundation to leap to the Heaven-rank.

This kind of pill can hardly be called a Foundation Strengthening Pill anymore. So Wei Yuan packed the three kinds of pills separately, named the one with the first pattern "Lingxi Foundation Strengthening Pill" and the one with the second pattern "Yuxu Foundation Strengthening Pill", and then ordered someone to send them to Xu Henshui.

He refined 500,000 pills in one batch, the value of which was beyond measure. This is what mass production is all about! If Wei Yuan didn't show this feat to Xu Henshui, he would feel that his Dao heart was not clear enough.

Furthermore, the result of blessing with fortune is not actually fixed. The fortune of this batch is basically in the direction of increasing the amount of pills, which is why one batch yielded 500,000 pills. If the next batch is unlucky, it may only yield 50,000 pills.

Therefore, Wei Yuan knew he couldn't wait for the next batch, so he simply had all the pills sent to Xu Henshui, ostensibly to let him oversee the distribution.

……

Xu Henshui held a Foundation Strengthening Pill and stared at it for the entire time it takes for an incense stick to burn. There were more than ten disciples and assistants in the room. Some were staring blankly at the several large boxes of Foundation Strengthening Pills in the center of the room, while others, like Xu Henshui, were fixated on the Foundation Strengthening Pill in their hands.

A piece of jade paper floated in front of Xu Henshui, containing the recipe for the Foundation Strengthening Pill. The recipe for this pill was so ordinary that anyone at the Foundation Establishment stage could refine it; it wasn't even worth keeping the true essence of it. A piece of jade paper was enough to record it.

At this moment, a handsome young man suddenly said, "This is indeed a Foundation Strengthening Pill! How could refining a Foundation Strengthening Pill cause a heavenly tribulation? Have we already entered the Dharma-ending Age?"

Xu Henshui glared at him fiercely, and the boy was stunned, not understanding what he had done wrong.

Each of these pills was like crystal, some translucent, some even completely transparent—clearly tribulation-testing pills. Xu Henshui meant that the aura of the heavenly tribulation was so obvious; anyone with eyes could see it, so what was the need to say more?!

Xu Henshui glanced at the young man again and felt that this guy was deliberately trying to inflate Wei Yuan's prestige, and was probably a spy that Wei Yuan had planted by his side! This young man was flashy but not substantial, weak and frail, with only a pretty face but no talent, and was very unsuitable to stay by his side.

Xu Henshui immediately decided to send the boy back to his nominal disciple status the next day, completely forgetting that he had thought of taking him in as a personal disciple just yesterday.

After examining it for a while, Xu Henshui finally put down the pill in his hand, then picked up a "Spirit Rhinoceros Strengthening Pill" with one pattern. He was already inwardly grumbling: It's clearly just a Strengthening Pill, only with a pattern added, yet they've given it a new name—are they trying to make a name for themselves in the history of alchemy? That's too much of a gimmick…

As he examined it, he asked, "How many of these 'Lingxi Gubendan' are there?"

One of the disciples said, "Eleven thousand."

"How much?" Xu Henshui's hand trembled.

He picked up the two-patterned one again and asked, "How many of these 'Jade Void Strengthening Pills' are there?"

"Five hundred and twenty-one."

Xu Henshui fell silent on the spot, then silently calculated the value of the pill in his mind, but stopped halfway through. Pills that could improve the aptitude of a low-level Dao Foundation cultivator were quite precious in the Tai Chu Palace, and at the current market price, each one would probably cost tens of thousands of Qing Yuan.

Earth-rank Dao Foundations are in an extremely awkward position; they have the potential to advance to the Dharma Aspect stage, but the chances are slim. Furthermore, they are numerous, representing the largest proportion of Dao Foundations within the Primordial Palace.

After all, the Taichu Palace has extremely strict selection criteria for disciples. The vast majority of its disciples start at the Earth Rank Foundation stage, with less than 10% reaching the Human Rank.

Of course, that was in the past. Ever since someone's Water Moon Palace broke new ground by shouting the slogan "education for all" and recruiting hundreds of people in one year, directly expanding the scale of Tai Chu Palace's disciple recruitment by thirty times, the overall evaluation of Tai Chu Palace disciples has changed from "the best among men" to "a mixed bag".

However, Xu Henshui's knowledge of alchemy was far more extensive and profound than Wei Yuanyuan's. He suddenly frowned and said, "Bring me the information on this batch of pills!"

According to the rules of the Creation Temple, when an alchemist produces an elixir, he must record in detail the formula and the quality and quantity of the medicinal materials used, for future reference. This way, if there is a problem with the elixir, it is easy to find out where the problem lies.

Wei Yuan also attached a document as is tradition, the first sentence of which read: This pill was formed after undergoing the Great Flame Heaven's Glazed True Fire Tribulation...

Xu Henshui skipped over the name of the Heavenly Tribulation he'd never heard of before and checked the ingredients for the pill. When he saw "Jade Pearl Rice," his eyelids twitched. Then, when he saw "Frosty Dew Chive Leaves," his eyelids twitched again…

Xu Henshui read this document over ten times, pausing occasionally to calculate. He had already forgotten about Wei Yuan's use of spirit rice and spirit vegetables in the medicine. After a long while, Xu Henshui suddenly opened his eyes and said, "There can't be that many! Go ask the Realm Lord how many batches of medicine he refined? Is the document only showing the ingredients from one batch?"

This message was transmitted much faster, and a reply came in less than an hour: "The Realm Lord said that he only used one batch, and that is all the materials."

This time, Xu Henshui wasn't angry. Instead, he was filled with deep doubt and even some fear: "Just one batch? Impossible! With this recipe and these ingredients, this batch should only have a little over 30,000 pieces at most, and it wouldn't attract a heavenly tribulation!"

Xu Henshui's mind raced, also carrying a hint of fear: "Although Wei Yuan is ambitious, obsessed with showing off in front of others, foul-mouthed, black-hearted, and has poor taste... he wouldn't lie to me. The ingredient list for the pill formula should be genuine."

In other words, he infused something unseen into his alchemy! Just like the second abbot…”

Without further hesitation, Xu Henshui immediately wrote a letter, carefully sealed it, and then ordered two Dharma Immortals from the Zaohua Temple to travel north in the fastest flying boat to personally deliver the letter to Wei Yuan.

Seeing that Xu Henshui was taking this matter so seriously, the two Dharma Aspect cultivators dared not be negligent. They took the letter, kept it close to their bodies, and then went to board the flying boat.

Xu Henshui looked again at the mountain of pills and suddenly felt that some of them were oozing blood! He patted his head and calmed himself down. For someone with his current cultivation level to be able to have hallucinations was clearly due to a wavering of his Dao heart.

He paced back and forth in the room, his expression shifting between light and dark: "When refining elixirs, something arises from nothing; this should be called the 'Illusory World of Departing Fire,' a calamity for alchemists. My ancestor died because of this; otherwise, my Xu family would be a family of two immortals."

But this calamity is unique to unparalleled alchemists, drawn by alchemical fire and immortal energy. Wei Yuan is merely a mediocre alchemist; how could he encounter such a thing? Ah, that's it! The Lü family must have buried something beneath their ancestral grounds that attracted this disaster… No, I have to find him. That idiot has no idea how to deal with it; he might just laugh it off!

With the plan settled, Xu Henshui immediately instructed his men, "Seal this batch of pills with a grand formation, and no one is allowed to use them!"

However, he quickly changed his mind, saying, "No, put the pills in the reward vault and distribute them according to merit. Also, move this batch of pills to the front, prioritize them for any foundation-building pills!"

The disciples and assistants were all confused, but seeing Xu Henshui's expression, they knew that this was an extremely important matter. So they dared not delay and immediately sent out several people to carry the pills to the storeroom.

The pills were undoubtedly effective, but something had been added to them, causing the yield to increase tenfold. The karma associated with this was clearly extremely heavy, and Xu Henshui distributed these pills so that the cultivators who took them could share the burden of karma and alleviate the pressure on Wei Yuan.

Although Xu Henshui couldn't be certain yet, he speculated that it was mostly related to Wei Yuan's excavation of the Lü family's ancestral land. How could a family of immortals not have hidden contingency plans? And Wei Yuan, with his carefree nature, was likely to fall into their trap unwittingly.

Xu Henshui grew increasingly worried and headed straight for the Lü family's ancestral home. However, halfway there, he changed course and went to find Ji Liuli. Only when the two of them went together did he feel relieved. Otherwise, Xu Henshui worried that he wouldn't even make it to Ganzhou on his own.

As for the Dao Foundation cultivators who take the pills… Xu Henshui's heart flashed with coldness. Some would certainly die violently, but others would absorb the fortune of the dead, greatly advancing their cultivation, and even encountering numerous fortuitous events. Overall, it should be a win-win situation.

For Xu Henshui, this was the best possible outcome. Even if half the people died, let alone break even, he would still consider it acceptable as long as it helped Wei Yuan share the burden of the consequences.

So the small boat sped northward.

……

"Hahahaha!" Wei Yuan first burst into a long laugh, laughing wildly and unrestrainedly, and then said, "You said something ran into my alchemy furnace? Hehe, in the Refining World Array, it can still hide from my divine sense. What kind of demon is so powerful?"

Furthermore, my alchemy furnace is set out to benefit all living beings in the Azure Netherworld. This thing, having crashed into my furnace, is it not destined to suffer this calamity? In other words, this demon is destined to belong to me!

Xu Henshui looked helpless, while Ji Liuli turned his head to look elsewhere, as if he didn't recognize the guy.

Wei Yuan waved his hand and said, "No matter what, it's a good thing that we've refined a demon beast. Distribute this batch of pills to everyone quickly and let them take them while they're still hot!"

Although Xu Henshui did so, he was still taken aback upon hearing this and couldn't help but ask, "This batch of pills might be involved with extraterrestrial demons, with extremely heavy karmic consequences. Are you just going to give them to everyone like this?"

Wei Yuan said, "It is precisely because the karma is so heavy that we must take it quickly. While I can still free up my hands in these few years, let what is coming come quickly! Anyway, as long as they don't leave Qingming, whatever karma comes will come to me first."

Xu Henshui's expression immediately turned sour; this was something he hadn't expected at all. Ji Liuli glared at him fiercely, giving him a look that said, "I'll deal with you later."

However, Wei Yuan also became serious and said, "For something like this to happen, the secrets hidden beneath the Lü family's ancestral tombs are probably much bigger than I expected. I need to dig them up quickly, lest things get complicated. Let's bring over all the 100,000 new templates from this year. Anyway, they need to consolidate their foundations, and there's no better way to hone their skills than digging up the ancestral tombs of immortals."

Even after the matter was settled, Xu Henshui remained worried, but he had no choice but to return to Qingming first.

……

In a deep and boundless space, countless subtle sounds emanated, eventually coalescing into a strange and elusive voice: "Our ancestor ascended to the upper realm, the passage seemed to be an endless sea of ​​fire, this journey is likely fraught with peril..."

(End of this chapter)