Luo Chen gave a faint smile as he lifted his own cup of wine. "A momentary setback means nothing. With your strength, if you were to join a major sect, you would still have a good chance for Core Formation."
Chu Kui responded with a cold sneer. "Forget it. I have always walked alone, fighting for every scrap of resource with my own hands. I am not suited to live under the chains of sect rules."
Luo Chen frowned slightly. The Great Dao lies just ahead, yet you’d give it up simply to avoid constraint? If that was truly the case, then why would you carry such heavy melancholy?
Seeing Luo Chen’s confusion, Chu Kui sighed. "Honestly, even if I joined a Golden Core sect, so what? Those so-called righteous sects would never hand Core Formation resources to someone like me. At the end of the day, I’m an outsider."
Chu Kui gestured toward the doorway with a twitch of his lips.
At that moment, Xuan Yu of Peach Mountain, who had won the Core Formation spirit medicine, strode into the hall. A retinue of Foundation Establishment Initiates followed behind him. His steps were steady and unhurried, his expression calm and composed. There was a youthful pride about him, a cultivated elegance that drew attention wherever he went.
"What about him?" Luo Chen asked, puzzled.
Chu Kui sent a voice transmission directly to his mind. "Xuan Yu was once a rogue cultivator as well. He is immensely talented, born with the Dragon Yang Physique, but all that earned him was the title of companion to Grand Elder Peach Blossom. Do not be fooled by his glamorous role as overseer of Peach Mountain or whatever. When it came to his Golden Core, the Grand Elder did not give him even a single pill. He had to come to this auction and struggle for it with his own strength."
As he spoke, Chu Kui’s gaze grew steely. "Do you think I would fare any better in a major sect simply because I can fight? You know better than that. In this world of cultivation, brute strength alone will never be enough."
These words rendered Luo Chen silent. In theory, rogue cultivators were not without options. Some built their own factions, while others became guest elders under minor powers. The most outstanding might even be recruited as honorary elders by major sects. Yet even after all these years, he had rarely heard of any notable high-tier rogue cultivators in the Jade Cauldron Domain. The only he one knew was Lu Jiushi.
Yet Lu Jiushi had coveted the Demon Locking Pagoda and the Forsaken Chess Piece, and in the end, though he was a Golden Core cultivator himself, he had become nothing more than a pawn to a Golden Core elder of the Falling Cloud Sect, and he died tragically beneath Pang Renxiong’s sword.
Now, hearing Chu Kui speak so plainly of these hidden truths, Luo Chen felt the weight that rogue cultivators bore even more deeply. Where sects rule, rogue cultivators may have paths going up, but none of those paths lead to the top. What future do I have in store for myself?
While Luo Chen sank into quiet thought, Chu Kui drained a few more cups of wine before rising to mingle with the crowd.
For him, this banquet was a true battlefield. He usually scraped by with the resources he earned from duels on the Debate Platform. Yet the real profits came from the connections made here, from the covert and often dangerous tasks taken on for wealthy cultivators in exchange for generous rewards. Of course, such dealings earned him many enemies. That was why he usually kept a low profile in Tianlan Immortal City, seldom stepping into the open.
This was another reason he refused to join a major sect. Once bound by rules and hierarchy, he’d lose the freedom to act and he would give his enemies a clear path to strike.
"Fellow Daoist Luo, what are you thinking about?"
A gentle voice drew Luo Chen back from his thoughts. He turned and saw the speaker: It was Xuan Yunzi.
"Just some trivial matters," Luo Chen replied with a shake of his head. "I should thank you for the invitation. I made quite the harvest during the auction."
Xuan Yunzi waved a hand with a smile. "With your resources, even without the invitation, you would have returned with full pockets. No need to thank me."
The auction had been jointly hosted by the Ice Fortress and Green Pill Valley, and no one knew the details of the transactions better than Xuan Yunzi. In only three days, Luo Chen and the Luo Tian Society had spent an astonishing one hundred and eighty thousand spirit stones. Such wealth was far beyond what a minor faction could ever manage.
"Fellow Daoist, are you an alchemist?" Xuan Yunzi suddenly asked.
Luo Chen gave a small nod. The fact that he was an alchemist was no great secret. It was just that his name no longer carried the weight it once had in Dahe Market. Back then, the name Dan Chenzi was widely known. Here in Tianlan Immortal City, it barely caused a ripple.
Even so, once Luo Chen confirmed it, Xuan Yunzi’s eyes brightened with visible interest. "Did you refine the Jade Essence pill?"
"Mm,"nodded Luo Chen.
"Are the Myriad Wonders pills your handiwork?"
Luo Chen was just about to nod again when something clicked in his mind. He tilted his head slightly. "Fellow Daoist, are you particularly interested in the Myriad Wonders pill?"
Xuan Yunzi spoke a little awkwardly. "A mere first-tier pill is beneath my notice, of course. It is just that I have been researching a formula to harmonize water and fire elements. I happened to acquire a Myriad Wonders pill and was struck by its balanced yin-yang properties. I thought I might exchange some insights with you."
And you also thought of lying to me.
With his sharp intuition, Luo Chen could easily sense that the man’s interest lay elsewhere. Back when they had first met, his Spirit Eyes had detected an unusual coexistence of vitality and death energies within Xuan Yunzi. He had not understood it at the time, but now, with the man suddenly raising the subject of the Myriad Wonders pill, the pieces clicked into place.
That alchemical formula didn’t originate from the Jade Cauldron Domain at all. Several of its ingredients came from distant regions. Especially the primary ingredient, Northern Sea Jade Conpoy, was sold exclusively by the Hall of Hundred Herbs under the Medicine King Sect. As Luo Chen recalled, the formula had originally been recovered by his predecessor from the remains of a Medicine King Sect disciple. His scattered suspicions fell neatly into place.
Luo Chen smiled. "Well, I was the one to sell the Myriad Wonders pill, but I'm not the maker. It was refined by a lady alchemist from the Luo Tian Society. She used my name for branding."
Xuan Yunzi paused briefly before nodding in understanding. Such arrangements were common in the cultivation world. Products endorsed by a recognized name always sold better. Back in Dahe Market, Luo Chen had seen countless enchanted artifacts claimed to be personally forged by the famed craftsman Huyan Zhuo of Skysail City. But how could a Golden Core Adept possibly forge so many items himself? It was all prestige and borrowed fame.
Just then, Luo Chen casually shifted the topic. "But now that you mention the alchemical formula, I’ve actually studied it for quite a while. The handling of the primary water element ingredient struck me as particularly odd. I’ve tried refining it several times, and it just never felt right. Yet when she did it, the results always came out unexpectedly well."
He leaned in slightly. "Fellow Daoist, do you happen to know why that would be the case?"
Xuan Yunzi nodded; he'd been listening with obvious curiosity. "Well, some medicinal materials have special properties. Some must be processed immediately, while others must be tempered with complementary herbs to dull their edge. What you’re describing sounds like a case of a herb that avoids yang but not yin."
He paused, tapping his chin. "But Jade Conpoy? That’s a basic first-tier material. It shouldn’t have any such traits under normal circumstances. Perhaps the flaw lies in your refining technique. When you get the chance, try using the Flowing Creek. It might make a difference."
Luo Chen looked like he'd been struck by a sudden realization. "Thank you for pointing that out, Fellow Daoist. If I succeed next time, I will be sure to pay you a proper visit and express my gratitude."
"Psh, it’s nothing. Don’t mention it." Xuan Yunzi waved his hand casually, and he was about to change the topic when his gaze froze on something from the corner of his eye.
He forced a smile. "Fellow Daoist, I see a few old acquaintances. I’ll head over, if you don't mind."
"Of course, go right ahead," Luo Chen replied with an easygoing nod.
As Xuan Yunzi turned to leave, he added, "By the way, I reside at Tianlan Peak, Cave Residence Yi Three. Come visit sometime if you are free, and we can share alchemical insights."
With those words, Xuan Yunzi turned and walked off.
Behind him, Luo Chen narrowed his eyes. I only mentioned a water-element ingredient. I never said anything about Jade Conpoy...
Luo Chen’s approach to alchemical formulas was always cautious. He believed that the core components of a pill, especially something as unique as the Myriad Wonders pill, should be kept as closely guarded secrets as possible. It was unlikely the average cultivator could identify the ingredients on sight.
Granted, due to the high volume, the Hall of Hundred Herbs might be aware. But the Hall of Hundred Herbs was under the Medicine King Sect, and Green Pill Valley had long been a rival in the trade of pills and herbs. Their relations were anything but friendly. There was no way Xuan Yunzi could have learned of it through those channels.
Could Xuan Yunzi have deduced it himself? That was unlikely. In the cultivation world, alchemy wasn’t about throwing herbs into a pot. It required extracting the essence of each ingredient through specific techniques, refining them, and then fusing the results with fire to shape a pill. To identify a pill’s components just from a single sample required nothing short of master-level alchemy. Even then, success was far from certain.
Xuan Yunzi was only a second-tier alchemist like Luo Chen. Moreover, with the advantage of his status panel, Luo Chen was far more advanced when it came to certain formulas. Yet even he could not easily identify unfamiliar ingredients. So what made Xuan Yunzi any different?
Nothing.
In other words, the fact that he knew Northern Sea Jade Conpoy was a main ingredient for the Myriad Wonders pill likely had only one explanation: Xuan Yunzi had seen the alchemical formula with his own eyes.
But aside from Luo Chen himself and the Medicine King Sect disciple who had perished in that remote cave, almost no one else should have had access to that formula. In the Luo Tian Society, only Tang Quan and Mi Li had been permitted to study it.