Chapter 397: I Have a Question

397. Chapter 397 I Have a Question

A few days passed.

Jiang Cheng refines alchemy on one hand, and on the other continuously meditates to restore Spiritual Power.

To raise his proficiency quickly, he even skips sleep altogether.

However, for a Spiritual Thought Master, there is no need to recover Spiritual Power through sleep; meditation restores it just as well.

Finally, that night, the proficiency of the Moonlight Pendant reached Entry, and the speed of meditation recovery became five times what it was before.

In other words, what used to take six hours to fully restore Spiritual Power now only needs one point two hours—72 minutes—to be fully restored.

In the Lian Dan Shi.

Jiang Cheng opened his eyes, and the Spiritual Power in his mind was fully restored again.

"This speed, really fast,"

He sighed inwardly.

This is truly Entry level.

What if it's Proficient?

Perhaps the speed would increase tenfold? What used to take six hours to restore Spiritual Power once could then be done in a little over half an hour?

If all twenty‑four hours of a day were spent on this, it could restore Spiritual Power more than forty times.

He is now a Fifth-level Spirit Mind Master; a single Top-grade Awakening Pill can fully restore him.

Restoring more than forty times is equivalent to gaining more than forty Top‑grade Awakening Pills per day! The number of Top‑grade Awakening Pills needed to advance from Fifth to Sixth level is only 400, so at this rate, in about ten days the Spiritual Power can breakthrough again.

"At this point, alchemy doesn't seem to have a high cost‑performance ratio for me,"

Jiang Cheng's gaze fell on the refining furnace before him.

This is still the proficiency level of the Moonlight Pendant; if it were higher, the Spiritual Power recovery speed would be twentyfold, thirtyfold, even fortyfold! At fortyfold, every nine minutes Spiritual Power would fully recover once, equivalent to earning a Top‑grade Awakening Pill every nine minutes.

And alchemy?

Even if his Alchemy Technique reaches perfection, producing a furnace of Top‑grade Awakening Pills in two hours means each pill still averages twenty minutes to make, not to mention those ten pills certainly aren't all his, because the ingredients can't be saved; even if he buys them himself, he needs proper channels.

But restoring Spiritual Power through meditation has none of those worries; anytime, anywhere, a single person can do it.

However, if he were to say he no longer wants to refine alchemy, Gu Zhanglin would be the first to disagree, since that is his value here.

Even Qin Lao of the Rebel Army places special importance on his alchemy skill.

"If I could find a place to live in seclusion, that would seem nice,"

Thinking of this, the idea sprang in his mind.

But he immediately let out a bitter laugh.

At this point, wanting to find a place to hide is already an unrealistic notion for him.

Not to mention other things, the Gu Family alone would never give up searching for him.

But if he becomes a Spiritual Grandmaster and the Moonlight Pendant's potential is essentially exhausted, then he will have to find ways to purchase even higher‑grade treasures.

He shook his head, pushing those thoughts away; after all, the Moonlight Pendant's proficiency has only just reached Entry, and producing two more furnaces of Top‑grade Awakening Pills each day is still not to be underestimated. In another ten to twenty days, his Alchemy Technique will be perfect, allowing four additional furnaces of Top‑grade Awakening Pills daily.

If possible, he wants to buy some items for Grandmasters, such as weapons, Talismans, defensive treasures, and so on.

But the saying still holds: if you don't want others to know, don't do it yourself. If he tries to buy these from others, it would probably reach Gu Zhanglin's ears within a few days.

Time passed, and a few more days went by.

That day, in the Gu Family courtyard, a room with a strong antiquated charm was filled with people.

There were elderly men with white hair, youths of eighteen or nineteen, and more commonly people appearing in their thirties, forties, and fifties. If Jiang Cheng were here, he would certainly recognize Gu Zhanglin sitting among them, as well as Gu Zhangjun, who had tried to kill him many times.

Today is the day the Gu Family holds its monthly meeting; important members of the clan gather.

Seated at the head, a solemn‑looking middle‑aged man, was the current Family Head of the Gu Family, Gu Tianyuan, Gu Zhanglin's father.

From time to time, someone stood up to report the situation.

Gu Tianyuan listened quietly; if he sensed an issue, he would ask aloud, and if there was no problem, he would nod and let the person sit down.

The scene resembled a board meeting of a large corporation in movies and TV dramas.

Soon it was Gu Zhanglin's turn.

He stood, saluted Gu Tianyuan, then scanned the room before beginning to report his work status.

Although his father is the Family Head of the Gu Family and the next Family Head will come from their branch, in such a large clan the Family Head cannot do whatever he wishes; various interest groups exist.

He actually despises these meetings, especially when elders argue over interests, turning red‑faced and displaying all sorts of ugly behavior.

Gu Tianyuan listened silently, occasionally raising one or two questions, to which Gu Zhanglin answered fluently.

He nodded, then looked at the others present and, as before, asked, "Does anyone among you have any questions?"

A few people looked restless.

"Brother, I have a question."

Gu Zhangjun stood up.

"Fifth brother, what is your question?"

Gu Zhanglin asked with a smile.

"I heard, brother, that you recently recruited an alchemist who can produce five or six furnaces of Top‑grade Awakening Pills daily, yielding a pure profit of twenty to thirty million. Why didn't you mention this in the monthly report?"

When this was said, many people present were shocked.

"What, five or six furnaces of Top‑grade Awakening Pills a day?"

"Top‑grade Awakening Pills? I didn't mishear?"

"Zhangjun said it seems to be Top‑grade Awakening Pills, and mentioned a pure profit of twenty to thirty million a day?"

"What, twenty to thirty million a day? That would be five to six hundred million a month!"

Many members of the Gu Family turned green with envy.

Many of them work hard for a month and only earn a few million; even tens of millions are not much, let alone hundreds of millions.

Gu Zhanglin making over a hundred million a month they can understand, but to earn several hundred million from just one alchemist?

Is that possible?

If it's true, they'll really be jealous.

Gu Zhanglin sensed something off in the air, feigning ignorance: "Fifth brother, what are you saying? I don't understand."

"Big brother doesn't understand? No problem, I'll be more specific."

Gu Zhangjun said with a fake smile: "That person is Jiang Cheng, originally just someone from the Poor District, later discovered by the third brother and trained into an alchemist..."

He laid out everything about Jiang Cheng.

Everyone present nodded, feeling that Gu Zhangjun's account sounded detailed and plausible; maybe it's really true.

(End of chapter)