Chapter 333: The Price

333. Chapter 333: The Price

Late at night.

Jiang Cheng spread a scroll on the table.

On the scroll, a man sat cross‑legged with his eyes tightly shut, and around him hovered a golden‑colored large bell Virtual Shadow.

On the bell's body, there seemed to be all sorts of inscriptions.

After only two glances, Jiang Cheng felt his Spiritual Power draining rapidly and hurriedly shifted his gaze elsewhere.

After a day of alchemy, his Spiritual Power was already low, yet he still needed it to refine Force.

And this Gold Bell Visualization Diagram, when viewed with the naked eye, seemed to consume Spiritual Power heavily; staring at it continuously would likely drain even a full Spiritual Power within a minute.

"Truly worthy of a Level Ten Spiritual Visualization Method."

Jiang Cheng couldn't help but laugh.

This time was indeed risky, and even now it left him with lingering fear, but obtaining a Visualization Diagram made it worthwhile.

It would be even better if he could advance more pills ahead…

After a short rest, he sat cross‑legged on a mat and visualized the Golden Bell in his mind.

A moment later, he opened his eyes.

On the Panel, a line of small text had appeared: Gold Bell Visualization Method.

Jiang Cheng fixed his gaze.

Although it is only the Introductory Chapter, once the Experience Bar is filled, one can become a Level Six Spiritual Thought Master.

That also means the difficulty is high and the required Experience Value is large.

He had learned from Ye Ying that a Level 3 Spiritual Thought Master needs to expend Spiritual Power four to five hundred times to advance to Level Four.

If calculated at two uses per day, it would take one to two hundred days.

There is also a premise: one must be exceptionally talented; if one's talent is average or poor, the time required must be measured in years—one year, two years, or even more than three.

Of course, if pills accelerate the process during that period, it would be much faster; in theory, with enough pills, breakthrough could occur within a few days.

If advancing from Level Four to Level Five, using Level Four Spiritual Power twice daily, it would still take nearly a year.

From Level Five to Level Six, the time at least doubles; Level Six to Level Seven is even more so, and the higher one climbs, the greater the insight required of a Spiritual Thought Master.

Ye Ying rose from Level One to Level Six in about four to five years, which is already fast among Spiritual Thought Masters; of course, her resources were limited, and with sufficient resources she could have been faster.

Jiang Cheng calculated that a Level 3 Spiritual Thought Master's Spiritual Power is 500–1000 times that of an ordinary person; a Primary Spirit Nourishing Pill can restore an ordinary person's Spiritual Power three times, meaning that to fully restore a Level 3 Spiritual Thought Master's Spiritual Power would require just over a hundred, nearly two hundred pills.

Restoring four to five hundred uses of Spiritual Power would cost pills worth about one hundred million, just a bit more than twice the cost from Level Two to Level Three.

From Level Four to Level Five might cost over two hundred million.

Level Five to Level Six, four to five hundred million.

If it were higher? Jiang Cheng dared not even imagine.

Of course, this is the price he pays to quickly boost his Spiritual Power.

If he, like others, relied solely on sleep and meditation to recover Spiritual Power, he wouldn't need so much money; correspondingly, the time consumed would be much longer. Only because the Panel assists, he need not worry about hitting a bottleneck, even if he stalls for days or months.

But money is meant to be spent.

Using it to quickly raise combat power puts it on the cutting edge, which is immensely worthwhile.

Jiang Cheng folded the scroll, set it aside, and silently refined Force.

……

The next day.

What Jiang Cheng did not expect was that

today, Gu Zhangkong himself arrived to escort him to the Lian Dan Shi, rather than the Ninth-level Force Warrior from a few days ago.

Clad in casual attire, he was a far cry from his usual idle laziness.

As the two walked, Gu Zhangkong laughed and said, "I heard from Lao Yang about yesterday's incident; it was an unintentional mistake, and I hope you don't take it to heart."

"Chief Gu, you're being modest," Jiang Cheng shook his head. "On the contrary, I should apologize; if it weren't for me, no one would have died at that person's hands yesterday."

He had been inside at the time and didn't know what had happened outside.

After stepping out, he saw the two headless corpses.

His heart was shocked and also filled with guilt.

"It's fine."

Gu Zhangkong patted his shoulder and said, "They were responsible for your safety; death is their rightful end, and the Black Market will support their families, so don't worry."

"As for you…"

"I've already called the Dawn Society, warned their leader, and I believe from today they won't bother you anymore. Still, you'd better stay within the compound and not go out."

"Thanks for the trouble, Chief Gu."

Jiang Cheng quickly replied.

"You're welcome; it's my duty. After all, you're one of my Black Market people. If I can't even guarantee your safety, I'd have no face to serve as the supervisor here, right?"

Gu Zhangkong smiled.

Then he asked about the alchemy progress.

"It's already at the Entry stage; I believe in three or four more days it will reach a Proficient level."

Jiang Cheng pondered briefly, then said, "Crafting Calming Pills is indeed far harder than Spirit Nourishing Pills; the latter would likely take longer."

"Fine, as long as there's progress. I look forward to you elevating this Alchemy Technique to Great Completion, perhaps even to a perfect day."

Gu Zhangkong smiled again.

"I will."

Jiang Cheng nodded gravely.

The two chatted a while longer, and after reaching their destination, they finally went their separate ways.

Three days slipped by in an instant.

With the successful refining of the pill, a flood of information surged again in Jiang Cheng's mind.

Alchemy Technique has reached Proficient level.

Jiang Cheng's gaze fell on the Panel.

The Experience Value, compared with before, increased by about threefold.

In Entry state, a Basic Tranquil Pill can raise experience by 0.5%.

Now it is less than 0.17%.

Fortunately, with the refining alchemy at Proficient, the medicinal potency of ten portions of ingredients yields pills that are essentially Intermediate Calming Spirit Pills, and with good luck, even High Grade An Shen Pills.

Even counting only Intermediate Calming Spirit Pills, one batch can raise the Experience Bar by roughly 3.4%; refining thirty batches would reach Mastery Level.

Of course, the loss remains severe.

Ten portions of ingredients cost 500,000 yuan; ten Intermediate Calming Spirit Pills fetch only 200,000 yuan on the market, so producing one batch internally incurs a loss of 300,000 yuan.

"Thirty batches aren't too many."

Jiang Cheng thought.

With the improvement of refining alchemy, not only does the pill quality rise, the Spiritual Power and time consumed per batch also decrease.

Previously it took two hours to refine a batch; now, perhaps an hour and a half suffices.

If we push a bit, thirty batches of pills can be finished in four days.

"Hope that during this period, no more trouble occurs."

Jiang Cheng muttered. (End of chapter)