Chapter 90

Inside the Alchemy Hall.

Luo Chen delivered his first-day-of-work speech to over twenty cultivators.

There was encouragement and criticism, saying they still had a lot of room for improvement.

After finishing, he let these people disperse first.

"Although they are all mid-stage cultivators, most are old, weak, sick, or disabled, and female cultivators make up the majority."

"They must have been transferred directly from the Medicine Hall; they all seem to know Sister-in-law Murong."

Luo Chen muttered as he entered the house built for him by the Alchemy Hall.

It wasn't built outside in the valley or on the mountainside.

Instead, it was right next to the alchemy room, near that small spring pool.

Entering the house, Mi Shuhua had been waiting for a long time, and the two major stewards of the Alchemy Hall, Sikong Shoujia and Gu Caiyi, were also waiting on the side.

Without wasting words, the two went straight to the point.

The content of the chat was very simple: the future direction of the Alchemy Hall.

"Grain-Bigu Pills can be refined, but there's no need to refine too many; about a thousand or so a month is enough."

"I've calculated it; the profit is too low. And with such good quality, it's simply a waste for low-level gang members."

"Just supply these thousand-plus pills to mid-to-late-stage gang members at a low price as a reward."

Mi Shuhua spoke eloquently.

He had his own insights into how to manage the Poshan Gang.

Luo Chen naturally had no objections; a thousand-plus Grain-Bigu Pills were just a matter of two or three days.

"Our main goal is still the Jade Marrow Pill!" Mi Shuhua's expression was solemn as he stared at Luo Chen. "Give me a definite answer: how long will it take to refine it?"

Luo Chen's little face turned bitter, and he spread his hands.

"I'm still in the stage of familiarizing myself with the pill formula; how can I give you a definite answer!"

"Besides, you must have seen that pill formula; the difficulty in refining it lies in extracting the jade marrow from the Raccoon Jade. That is a first-tier spiritual material; if I want to avoid damaging the jade marrow, my current cultivation base is still too low."

Mi Shuhua was already old, and usually, his face was ruddy like a wealthy man.

At this moment, his face was wrinkled into a ball, like a rag.

"Indeed, extracting the jade marrow with the meticulous care of a fifth-layer Qi Refining cultivator is somewhat difficult."

Luo Chen sighed, "If you could give me one more bottle of Qi-Nurturing Pills every month, perhaps I could quickly break through to the sixth layer of Qi Refining. At that time, I would definitely be able to easily extract the jade marrow from the Raccoon Jade."

Sikong Shoujia couldn't help but say on the side: "The two bottles of Qi-Nurturing Pills promised to you before should be enough, right?"

Mi Shuhua also advised: "Three bottles a month means you take one Qi-Nurturing Pill every day. Taking pills so frequently, your meridians won't be able to bear it."

Won't be able to bear it?

I am a genius whose meridians are all open and whose Changchun Art has reached the master level!

I can refine two a day; a mere three bottles, I even feel it's not enough.

Of course, Luo Chen knew that wool-shearing was something that had to be done bit by bit; he couldn't push the old man too hard.

He said with a pained expression: "For the sake of conquering the Jade Marrow Pill formula as soon as possible, how could I care about mere meridian pain? Gang Master, just let me do my utmost for the development of our gang!"

Mi Shuhua hesitated.

After a long while, he nodded.

"Three bottles of Qi-Nurturing Pills a month it is; I am very gratified that you have this heart."

Luo Chen's eyes lit up.

Yay!

A Foundation Establishment cultivator is indeed wealthy; the Poshan Gang treats me well!

Gu Caiyi, listening to this treatment on the side, was so envious that her eyes were turning red.

She had only earned a lot of spirit stones in her last month at Tianxiang Pavilion.

Before that, she only earned two or three hundred spirit stones a month.

Luo Chen now had a fixed supply of three bottles of Qi-Nurturing Pills, which was three hundred spirit stones!

"The Jade Marrow Pill is the main direction, but now that the framework of the Alchemy Hall has been set up, you should also have a fixed source of income."

Mi Shuhua looked at Luo Chen, "Just continue refining your Myriad Wonder Pills!"

"What about the main materials?" Luo Chen brought it up.

"I will send people to purchase them from the Hundred Herbs Hall at fixed times and quantities," Mi Shuhua said. "Additionally, part of the auxiliary materials will be provided by the Medicine Hall; on the books, the Alchemy Hall also has to pay spirit stones."

I understand this!

Luo Chen smiled slightly; this was equivalent to business dealings between subsidiaries under a group company—the accounts still had to be settled.

In this way, the Medicine Hall could also earn a sum of spirit stone income from it.

Once the Myriad Wonder Pills were refined later, the Alchemy Hall could earn another sum.

"Now there are more and more foreign cultivators in Dajiang Market, and the prospects for Myriad Wonder Pills are great."

"Additionally, our gang also has a brothel in the outer city; when the time comes, we will also supply a portion of these pills to them."

The Poshan Gang still had this kind of business?

Luo Chen was very surprised; he had never heard of this before.

After a moment of thought, he felt a bit blocked in his heart.

No wonder there were few female cultivators in the gang, and most were gathered in the Medicine Hall, Beast Hall, and his current Alchemy Hall.

I'm afraid some of them had gone to the brothels secretly opened by the Poshan Gang!

This old bastard, he doesn't do human things!

"Make a list and see how many medicinal materials you need a month; when the time comes, Elder Sikong will lead people to purchase them."

"Mm, I know this," Luo Chen said gloomily.

Mi Shuhua looked at the sensible Luo Chen, and his heart relaxed.

Everything was already on the right track.

This gang had taken a lot of his effort and had also earned a lot of spirit stones for him and his family.

As long as the Jade Marrow Pill could be refined in the future, he wouldn't need to worry too much about the supply of resources for his advancement to the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

Being a loose cultivator was simply too difficult.

Having a force to leverage was, after all, a good thing.

"Alright, I'm leaving first. In the future, Elder Sikong will be responsible for the external affairs of the Alchemy Hall. As for internal affairs, leave them to Steward Gu Caiyi."

"Luo Chen, you just focus on refining pills!"

Focusing on refining pills is impossible; it's impossible in this lifetime.

Refining pills is to earn spirit stones, and earning spirit stones is to buy suitable pills for cultivation.

Now that you've already given me my salary (Qi-Nurturing Pills), why don't I just cultivate directly?

Skip the middleman and start sprinting directly!

Today I got a bottle of Qi-Nurturing Pills, and after the Haoyue Hall meeting at the beginning of the month, I got two bottles, plus the two bottles I bought before.

Luo Chen had stored up five bottles of Qi-Nurturing Pills again.

According to the amount of two pills a day, it was enough for about twenty-five days.

Combined with the master-level Changchun Art, the first-tier spiritual vein in the inner city, and that pot of Moonlight Grass sent by Fu Xiuxiu.

Luo Chen now cultivated diligently almost every morning and evening.

When another round of the Changchun Art was finished, Luo Chen clicked on the attribute panel.

【Lifespan: 27/75】

【Spiritual Root: Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth】

【Realm: Fifth Layer of Qi Refining: 38/100】

【Cultivation Method: Changchun Art Master: 600/1000】

【Spells: Great Perfection Fireball Art, Xiaoyaoyou Master 800/1000, Wind-Riding Art Master 570/1000, Attraction Art Master 600/1000, Entanglement Art Perfect 380/500, Spirit Eye Art Perfect 380/500, Cleaning Art Perfect 300/500, Healing Art Beginner 5/100, Breath-Restraining Spirit Art Beginner 1/100】

【Skills: First-tier Alchemist: Grain-Bigu Powder Master 910/1000, Myriad Wonder Pill Perfect 311/500】

【Achievement Points: 22 points】

After reading it through once, he shook his head.

This half-month seemed leisurely, but in reality, there were truly too many various things.

In terms of spells, only Xiaoyaoyou and the Wind-Riding Art were used every day and increased the most, but there was no qualitative change.

The only one whose proficiency leveled up was the Cleaning Art, which reached the Perfect level.

This was because he had practiced how to control "normal pill formation" during those ten days and had used the Cleaning Art many times, which led to the level up.

The extra achievement point also came from this.

Apart from this, there were no other changes.

He had only just begun the Breath-Restraining Spirit Art and the Healing Art, which were currently of no use.

What he cared about was the progress of his realm.

【Fifth Layer of Qi Refining: 38/100】

A reasonable increase; currently, two Qi-Nurturing Pills increased the progress bar by one.

Through his own cultivation, he could increase the progress by about fifteen points a month; this was the limit of the master-level Changchun Art.

"Not bad; as long as the pill supply is kept up, plus my persistent cultivation, it will take about another month and a half to promote to the sixth layer of Qi Refining."

After obtaining this data, Luo Chen let out a long sigh of relief.

This speed was very, very fast!

Only by having all meridians open and abundant resources could one have this speed.

But thinking that the higher the realm, the less progress pills could provide, a sense of urgency arose in Luo Chen's heart.

Currently, his savings only amounted to seven hundred-plus spirit stones.

It was a huge sum in the past, but after a slight calculation, it was simply insufficient to support late-stage cultivation.

Luo Chen had a long-term vision and had already begun to consider the sixth layer of Qi Refining and even late-stage cultivation.

"The Jade Marrow Pill!"

"Mi Shuhua is anxious, and how could I not be?"

"But anxious is anxious; the initiative is still in my hands. By utilizing this matter, I can still shear other wool from that old bastard!"

When closing the attribute panel, Luo Chen glanced at the skill bar.

He remembered that the proficiency of Grain-Bigu Powder was already over eight hundred before; today he refined over two hundred pills, but it only increased by a few dozen points.

Luo Chen frowned, thinking of a possibility.

"Could it be that for every level of proficiency, one must refine pills of the corresponding grade to achieve the corresponding increase?"

The batch of Grain-Bigu Pills refined today was mostly low-grade and mid-grade, with only sixty being superior-grade.

The magnitude of this increase was exactly sixty.

"If that's the case, then I'll have to carefully consider the pill formation grade in the future."

The next day, Luo Chen rushed to Xieyue Valley with two bodyguards.

After dumping them in the valley, he summoned everyone in the Alchemy Hall.

Not counting the transport teams and sales teams that were not under his control, these thirty old, weak, women, and children in front of him were his direct subordinates.

"Today, we are going to divide the work!"