Chapter 182: Pure Stream Faction and Chaos Faction

"This is the form script; there's also the intent script. I can't show you the intent script now, but if I let you hear it you'll understand: 'advance', 'retreat', 'attack', 'defend', 'move', and some others—I won't go on further!" Xuan Miaozi stopped after saying this.

Wei Yuning fully grasped Xuan Miaozi's meaning, and his admiration for Xuan Miaozi's Daoist technique was profound, beyond his own comprehension of Daoist arts, reaching a state of effortless mastery.

"Then thank you, senior!" Wei Yuning could find no other words.

Although Xuan Miaozi appeared calm, his cultivation and realm were so high that the intangible pressure on him was overwhelming, leaving him feeling short of breath.

"No need to thank me; what you do is good, helping you also helps the sect! Once your workshop is finished, I'll come back! I'm leaving now," Xuan Miaozi said.

Before Wei Yuning could react, a huge golden character "Dun" appeared before him; Xuan Miaozi had already vanished, and after a few seconds the "Dun" faded into nothing.

It wasn't until midnight that the laborers gradually left, returning to their quarters to rest.

Wei Yuning returned to Fenghe Garden and first inspected the "Thick Earth Realm"; to his surprise, the protective formation showed no sign of collapse—in fact, its area had expanded, enveloping the entire courtyard, including the house.

He immediately limited the formation's protective range to prevent further expansion. If it reached another cultivator's home, that would be troublesome.

Mei Xuan had already been resting in the room.

Wei Yuning felt no sleepiness. The new site was built, but greater challenges lay ahead; constructing the mechanical puppet workshop, the planting base, and the alchemy area required not only time but meticulous planning and suitable talent.

The planting base was the simplest; everyone was a laborer in the pill house, with some knowledge of spirit herb cultivation, and there was no shortage of experts in that field.

As for the mechanical puppet workshop, Wei Yuning had already chosen a manager: Qing Chou. The technical advisor would, of course, be Senior Xu Yan. Although forging is also a sect secret, the crude, simple mechanical puppets are not classified as confidential.

Alchemical work was a bit troublesome; regardless of ability, seniority, or cultivation, Xing Shuang was unfit for a leadership role. Alchemy is a sect secret that cannot be passed outside, and Wei Yuning could not ask sect members for guidance, so he would have to temporarily assume the head position himself.

With nothing else to attend to, he took out a book borrowed from the library and began studying alchemical knowledge.

A night slipped by unnoticed; Wei Yuning rubbed his swollen head and turned his gaze to the pine tree in the courtyard.

The pine was a vivid emerald, its size unchanged but its quality richer; the Thick Earth Realm remained stable. Moonlight stone, the pine, and the lake mud beneath the pine, wrapped by tubular aquatic plants, seemed to form a single whole, showing no sign of imbalance.

"Why is this happening? Uncle Hong Le was supposed to collapse," Wei Yuning thought, unable to find an explanation.

As usual, he first went to catch insects.

If nothing went wrong, this would be the last trip to Danyao Peak to catch Moon Beast insects, because Xu Chen had already ordered Hong Le to begin formally eradicating the Moon Beasts today.

Today's harvest was better; Wei Yuning caught a total of 253 insects.

Before leaving Danyao Peak, he intended to see Hong Le to ask about the Thick Earth Realm's anomaly, but found no one at home or in the office. Since the matter wasn't urgent nor a disaster, he didn't send a messenger bird.

Returning to Fenghe Garden, Mei Xuan had already stepped out.

The defensive formation remained solid.

With nothing else to attend to, Wei Yuning picked up the book again.

Currently the laborers' main tasks are leveling the land, dividing zones, and building roads; these tasks will take at least seven Ao of time.

For Wei Yuning, addressing the issue of the female cultivators from Qingluan Sect is the priority, and the key to solving this problem is learning some alchemy. Whether Xing Shuang can teach it or not, he now mainly wants to prove himself.

After an all‑night reading session yesterday, Wei Yuning finally gained a rough understanding of alchemy.

Alchemical practice is divided into two schools: the Pure Stream faction and the Chaos faction.

The Pure Stream faction belongs to the orthodox alchemy academy, emphasizing precise control; a single‑minded focus is the hallmark of its alchemists. Its hallmark is stability: the yield rate is steady, the quality of pills is consistent, and as skill improves, both indices continuously rise.

The Chaos faction, also called the "Useless Faction," earned that name because its alchemists are generally unable to maintain single‑mind focus, making them alchemical deadweights. They cannot control the process as precisely as the Pure Stream; instead they rely on estimation, experience, or outright guesswork. This method is essentially uncontrollable, and whether a pill forms depends on the master's mood, resulting in a frighteningly low yield.

Nevertheless, they are not clueless; they know exactly how to prepare, arrange ingredients, when to mix, when to seal the furnace, how to control the fire, how to refine, when to stop the fire and collect the pill, and so on.

Thus, not all Chaos alchemists are gamblers relying on luck; a few Chaos alchemy masters are no worse than their Pure Stream counterparts, and occasionally their pills reach a "perfect" grade—something Pure Stream masters cannot match.

Of course, Chaos alchemy masters have succeeded only after countless failures, consuming innumerable alchemical ingredients, a path unattainable for ordinary people.

Xu Chen and his disciples are typical representatives of the academy school.

Wei Yuning extended the index fingers of both hands, squatted, and pointed at the ground; with one finger he traced a square, with the other a circle, completing it effortlessly.

One finger drew a square, the other a circle, and his right toe traced a "cross"—he likewise completed it with ease.

Wei Yuning frowned and thought, "Should I, like the old Xu Chen, become a Pure Stream practitioner? No, I prefer the Chaos faction!"

The reason Wei Yuning feels this way is that in the Chaos method, scent is an extremely important gauge; the key steps of preparation, mixing, arranging, sealing the furnace, and collecting the pill all rely on aroma, and Wei Yuning possesses an unrivaled advantage in this regard.

After reading the book "The Manufacture of Rejuvenation Pills" three times carefully, Wei Yuning felt alchemy wasn't that difficult. The book details the processes of both schools for making Rejuvenation Pills, and he found no clumsy steps in either method.

"Once the furnace on Feilai Peak is built, I think I can brew a batch of Rejuvenation Pills!" he said to himself with unusual confidence.