In the underground Alchemy Hall beneath Danxia Peak, the usual bustling atmosphere had come to a halt. Only a single alchemy room was still in operation.
Inside, the one tending the cauldron was not a Luo Tian Society alchemist but a newcomer named Qi Yi, a first-tier alchemist from the recently defeated Danyuan Sect. A small crowd had gathered to watch him work.
At the front stood Luo Chen, his expression calm yet tinged with curiosity. Behind him, Qu Lingjun, Mi Li, Ma Shoupu, and Qiu Ying observed in silence, their gazes fixed on the cauldron. Standing respectfully at Luo Chen’s side was a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator in white robes, carefully explaining the scene.
“Among our generation, Senior Brother Qi and I are considered the most skilled in alchemy,” the cultivator said. “Especially Senior Brother Qi, he was deeply favored by our mast... Dan Yuanzi.”
“It’s fine,” Luo Chen replied with a casual wave. “The dead deserve respect. What matters is that he passed on his skills to you.”
The cultivator, Xu Jie, relaxed slightly before continuing. “Senior Brother Qi excels in two first-tier pills: the fasting pill and our sect’s best-seller, the essence nourishing pill.”
“The fasting pill?” Luo Chen’s eyes glimmered with interest. “A proper first-tier one?”
“Yes,” Xu Jie confirmed with a nod. “Not the fasting concoction, but the genuine fasting pill.”
Luo Chen stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Go on.”
“Senior Brother has a ten percent success rate with fasting pills, but his rate for essence nourishing pills reaches forty percent,” Xu Jie explained carefully. “He focused mainly on that pill and received direct instruction from Master Dan. At times, he even managed to produce mid-grade ones.”
A ten percent rate for fasting pills wasn’t particularly remarkable, but a forty percent success rate on essence nourishing pills caught Luo Chen off guard. By the standards of his system, that level of consistency meant Qi Yi had already reached the Perfection level. The only flaw lay in grade stability, as he still couldn’t reliably produce mid-grade pills.
“And you?” Luo Chen asked.
Xu Jie answered immediately, “I also specialize in essence nourishing pills. But I joined too late, and my talent is limited, so I can only produce low-grade ones, with about a thirty percent success rate.”
Thirty percent? Luo Chen nodded inwardly. That's quite decent. It meant Xu Jie has already achieved a solid level of mastery, and he's just lacking experience in refining mid-grade pills.
Then Luo Chen asked, “Have you ever calculated how much revenue you two generated annually for the Danyuan Sect?”
“We have,” Xu Jie answered promptly. “I earned about one thousand five hundred spirit stones per month, roughly eighteen thousand a year. My Senior Brother made around thirty thousand. Of course, that’s only gross profit after deducting material costs. We were never told the actual overhead and other expenses.”
Luo Chen frowned slightly. Together, they had only generated forty-eight thousand. It sounded impressive, but after deducting staff and miscellaneous costs, how much remained?
“Can you tell me what you and your Senior Brother’s annual salaries were?” he asked.
At this, Xu Jie puffed out his chest with pride. “As alchemists, our salary matched that of ninth stage Qi Refinement elders! My annual salary was two thousand four hundred, and my Senior Brother’s was as high as three thousand!”
Before Luo Chen could even respond, the four behind him burst into laughter. Xu Jie stared at them in confusion.
Luo Chen chuckled and shook his head. “Seems that Fellow Daoist Dan Yuanzi was exploiting you all quite thoroughly.”
Xu Jie froze. He had spent nearly all his time refining within the sect, seldom venturing outside. He had no idea what a skilled first-tier alchemist was truly worth in the wider world.
“Lingjun, why don’t you tell him about your salary?” Luo Chen said mildly.
Qu Lingjun stepped forward, his chest swelling with pride. “In the Luo Tian Society, a first-tier alchemist starts at three hundred spirit stones a month, that’s three thousand six hundred a year! As for me, I earn five hundred a month, six thousand a year.
“But that’s not all. Our pay includes more than just spirit stones. We receive free spell manuals, access to pills that strengthen the divine soul, and sometimes even direct guidance from my master. Not to mention, we don’t refine pills alone like you do. We’ve got assistants, like medicinal apprentices and fire handlers to help.”
Xu Jie was stunned by what he heard. He had personally watched the four refine pills earlier, and to him, only Qu Lingjun showed any real potential. The others struck him as unimpressive. If first-tier alchemists were ranked the way pills or enchanted artifacts were, into top, middle, and low grades, then his Senior Brother would surely be top-grade, while he himself was at least a solid mid-grade. But among the Luo Tian Society’s four alchemists, three were little more than low-grade beginners. Only Qu Lingjun might be considered mid-grade.
Of course, that kind of classification was overly simplistic. The true measure of an alchemist lay in the pills they could consistently produce, and whether those pills were useful and profitable.
Even so, the truth shocked Xu Jie to the core. These youngsters with only a handful of years of experience were already earning far more than he and his Senior Brother, who had spent decades at the furnace.
This doesn’t make sense! Why?
Then he remembered what people had once said about Luo Chen. Not the recent stories of his ruthlessness and vengeance, but the earlier impressions of him being generous and kind-hearted. Clearly, the man truly was generous.
If I were to refine pills for the Luo Tian Society from now on, with my skill level, how much could I earn monthly? thought Xu Jie.
The thought alone made him tremble. He had been stuck at the seventh stage of Qi Refinement for far too long, held back by a lack of resources. If he could earn even a hundred or two more each month, there might finally be hope of reaching Perfected Mastery.
And if he did reach Perfected Mastery... he had heard the rumors. President Luo Chen never held back, and often gave generous support to those ready to attempt Foundation Establishment.
Clang!
Just as Xu Jie’s spirit was surging with excitement, a faint sound came from the center of the alchemy room.
The refinement was complete.
Luo Chen casually lifted the Sound Isolation Barrier with a flick of his hand. Throughout their earlier discussion, the Grandmaster-level barrier had ensured no disturbance reached Qi Yi’s delicate process.
Now that the session had ended, Qi Yi silently gathered the pills from the cauldron under everyone's watchful eyes.
Xu Jie stepped forward in delight and said, “Not bad at all! Thirteen essence nourishing pills this time! Senior Brother, your alchemy skills have improved again!”
Qi Yi offered only a faint, strained smile. With the pills in hand, he approached Luo Chen somewhat nervously.
Luo Chen didn’t hesitate. He accepted the pills and examined them carefully on the spot.
Low-grade essence nourishing pills!
He had encountered them before; their medicinal potency was far stronger than mid-grade Jade Essence pills, slightly lower than top-grade ones. Their price had remained steady at 90-100 spirit stones. The reason for the price band was that they always stayed slightly cheaper than the Spirit Herb Pavilion’s qi-nourishing pills. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be competitive. However, even that slight edge had disappeared once Luo Tian Society’s Jade Essence pill entered the market.
After a moment’s inspection, Luo Chen nodded. “The fusion of ingredients was sound, but your heat control faltered, and you didn’t purge the impurities thoroughly. Still, your handling of the primary material showed a clever touch. Were you using the Essence Restoration?”
Upon hearing that evaluation, the normally quiet Qi Yi’s eyes widened. Those strengths and weaknesses were exactly what his master, Dan Yuanzi, had pointed out just last year. And Dan Yuanzi was no ordinary cultivator. He was a true master of essence nourishing pills, capable of consistently producing mid-grade ones and even occasionally top-grade pills. Yet Luo Chen had only watched him refine a single batch, glanced briefly at the pills, and still delivered such a precise analysis!
Qi Yi couldn’t help but ask, “Senior, have you refined essence nourishing pills before?”
“Never,” Luo Chen replied.
“Then how... how do you know all this?”
Luo Chen smiled faintly. “If you master one method, the rest come naturally. It’s only a first-tier pill. I’ve never made this one in particular, but I’ve refined plenty of other first-tier pills.”
Qi Yi suddenly understood. If Luo Chen had refined many different first-tier pills, then such insight was only natural. What he didn’t realize was just how terrifying Luo Chen’s skill truly was. With other first-tier pills, he could effortlessly produce supreme-grade results and had even improved the inherently flawed formula of the Jade Essence pill.