Chapter 614: Treated Equally

Little Wei Yuan sat calmly in the elixir chamber, not rushing to open the furnace, intending to make the external elixir masters wait their fill.

For this session, Little Wei Yuan had taken five batches of elixir ingredients; the last two batches he had purchased himself, exchanging one thousand merit points. He now possessed several hundred thousand merit points and no longer cared about the merit rankings—other Taichu Palace disciples no longer mentioned him when discussing whom to surpass.

Little Wei Yuan had devised a detailed plan: the first batch would use no fortune or immortal spiritual energy, relying solely on his own elixir-making technique. The second batch would incorporate fortune, followed by a one-hour rest, during which Renjian Renjian Yanhuo would conduct a comprehensive comparison of the data from both batches to study how fortune altered the outcome.

The third, fourth, and fifth batches would gradually increase the amount of fortune invested, to find the optimal balance between input and output.

After completing these five batches, Little Wei Yuan felt he could rightly call himself a Master of Xuanxi Elixir.

He then calmed his mind and arranged three Dharma Phase warriors to guard the four directions, with several Dao Foundation warriors above and below, ensuring that every breath brought multiple spiritual senses sweeping over the entire furnace to collect data.

Half a day later, the first batch was complete. When the furnace opened, golden light filled the mouth, and a wisp of fragrant aroma spread—Little Wei Yuan himself felt his bottleneck loosen slightly; the elixir masters waiting outside all silently nodded, each inhaling deeply.

If the furnace's elixirs were of exceptional quality, the first whiff of elixir aroma upon opening would aid cultivation and enhance elixir-making insight.

Although Little Wei Yuan had altered neither the formula nor added fortune, he applied some of his recent achievements in ingredient fusion and pre-processing—resulting in one hundred twenty elixirs per batch, over ten with one Wen, the entire batch valued at one hundred thousand, exactly twenty times the base.

From this, Little Wei Yuan concluded his pure elixir-making skill had reached parity with Xu Xu Henshui.

Little Wei Yuan collected the elixirs, sat quietly for a moment, then began the second batch. It took two full days to complete. Once fortune was introduced, the changes became exceedingly complex—the data recorded by Renjian Renjian Yanhuo was over fifty times greater than the first batch!

This unexpected complexity drastically increased the difficulty of comparative analysis.

When this batch was complete, a reddish-gold light appeared at the furnace mouth; the elixir aroma coalesced into faint mist, alive and sentient, drifting toward Little Wei Yuan, the Dharma Phase and Dao Foundation warriors present, and the elixir masters outside.

Little Wei Yuan's previously lifeless Dharma Phase and Dao Foundation warriors absorbed the elixir aroma—and suddenly emitted faint glimmers of spiritual vitality. This instantly gave Little Wei Yuan hope.

This batch yielded two hundred forty elixirs: forty with one Wen, ten with two Wen. The entire batch was worth two hundred fifty thousand—exactly fifty times the base.

This batch immediately stirred the elixir masters waiting outside. When Little Wei Yuan emerged from the chamber to rest, they surged forward, each presenting their long-unresolved problems, humbly seeking guidance. Their attitude was now entirely that of disciples toward their master.

This was Little Wei Yuan's first time answering questions from fellow disciples—he felt invigorated, honored, and patiently addressed each query for the entire afternoon, finally leaving satisfied, his Dao heart exceptionally clear.

Little Wei Yuan spent the entire night readjusting the plans for the final three batches, adding more Dao Foundation warriors to collect even more detailed data, then proceeded to open the third, fourth, and fifth furnaces.

The three batches yielded two hundred four, two hundred two, and one hundred two elixirs respectively. The final batch saw a sharp drop in quantity, yet produced twenty two Wen and five three Wen elixirs, with the rest mostly one Wen.

The preliminary conclusion: adding fortune was akin to increasing heavenly and earthly spiritual energy, enhancing the quality of the ingredients within the furnace, thereby increasing both the number and quality of the finished elixirs. But as more fortune was added, ingredient quality continued to rise, expelling impurities—ultimately causing a sharp decline in quantity while quality soared.

Three Wen Xuanxi Elixirs not only equaled one year of manual cultivation but also increased the chance of sudden enlightenment; Little Wei Yuan estimated each could sell for eight to nine thousand taels—nearly twenty times the price of ordinary elixirs.

Afterwards, Little Wei Yuan completed the necessary procedures at the Elixir Pavilion, handed over one hundred fifty ordinary elixirs, and departed on his own.

The next morning, notices appeared on bulletin boards outside the Yong'an City hall and all other city governors' offices: effective immediately, Qingming had established the Immortal Fate Vault, where merit could be exchanged for cultivation resources. The first batch available for exchange was Xuanxi Elixir, up to two Wen spiritual elixirs, totaling five hundred, first come, first served.

To exchange for cultivation elixirs, one needed at least Qingming civilian status, a Dao Foundation cultivator in one's family, and the elixirs must be used by the cultivator themselves—no resale permitted. An unstated rule, but one Little Wei Yuan had personally notified all Taichu Palace cultivators: any Taichu Palace cultivator who had resided in Qingming for over half a year could exchange merit for Xuanxi Elixir.

Upon this announcement, commoners remained calm, but Qingming cultivators were electrified. After studying every clause carefully, they realized one thing: there was no restriction on Dao Foundation tier—meaning cultivators with templated Dao Foundations could also exchange.

Templated Dao Foundations had long been regarded as second-rate; even human-grade cultivators looked down on them. They knew their foundations lacked combat power, watched and listened to stories of how Bao Jie Zhu, Bao Yun, Zhang Sheng, Ji Ji Liuli had achieved godlike feats at the Dao Foundation stage, and accepted their reality—never daring to compete, never daring to boast, never raising their heads as high-tier cultivators.

But now, with the Immortal Fate Vault established, there seemed to be no separate threshold for templated Dao Foundations—treated equally?

At the Weapon Forge, all cultivators received the news and began discussing the Immortal Fate Vault. Ren Ren Suxing sat alone in a small workshop, pulling out his merit jade tablet and was startled to find his merit could exchange for ten ordinary Xuanxi Elixirs—or three one Wen Xuanxi Elixirs!

Ren Ren Suxing further realized that with his monthly merit, he could exchange for one Xuanxi Elixir every three months. His expression turned surprised—if so, working in Qingming seemed even faster than occasionally leaving Benshan for trials? And here, he could also cultivate spiritual vitality and improve his innate quality.

Ren Ren Suxing had long since reached Dao Foundation completion and no longer needed cultivation elixirs—but he had nephews, nieces, and loved ones. Thinking of them, he immediately picked up his brush and wrote letters to several close fellow disciples still in Tianqing Palace, urging them to come to Qingming quickly.

He then wrote a letter to his family, instructing them to select fifty young descendants with some talent to settle in Qingming and establish the Ren family branch.

Thus, Qingming now had a path to advancement—even if only up to Dharma Phase breakthrough—yet it was a path, and it gave thousands of cultivators hope.

Little Wei Yuan thus gained five hundred more deep green fortunes.

The fortune contributed by Dao Foundation cultivators began as deep green; commoners started from pale green, then green, up to deep green, and stopped at green. Cultivators who achieved Yu Jing could contribute purple fortune—far stronger and more effective than green human fortune.

Little Wei Yuan had not expected that merely announcing a system—without even distributing a single elixir—had already drawn over five hundred cultivators to contribute fortune. Cultivators differed from commoners; nearly every Dao Foundation cultivator had fortune to give. And Little Wei Yuan saw no difference between Tianji and Renji fortune contributions.

!

Perhaps Xianji might yield different fortune, but those with Xianji talent were all arrogant and proud—none contributed fortune to Little Wei Yuan. Zhang Sheng had wanted to bestow one, but could not.

This elixir-making session gave Little Wei Yuan deeper insight into fortune, and revealed just how powerful its allure was to cultivators—he realized he must prioritize mass-producing Xuanxi Elixirs.

As he pondered, Little Wei Yuan suddenly trembled all over; his consciousness sea blazed with light—a purple elixir pearl descended from the heavens, appearing out of thin air within Renjian Renjian Yanhuo. Inside the pearl, a tiny dragon swam ceaselessly, profoundly mysterious.

Little Wei Yuan paused a moment before realizing this was purple fortune—likely from a cultivator. Previously, fortune from the great masters had been mist-like; this fortune had condensed into a pearl, with a dragon within—clearly, the contributor had not only given wholeheartedly but was also a towering figure renowned across the land.

The pearl descended slowly; before it touched the ground, the three-eyed bird head in the moon opened its mouth and sucked hard, swallowing the fortune in one gulp!

In the end, Little Wei Yuan only caught a distant glimpse before the purple fortune pearl vanished entirely.

Only then did Little Wei Yuan realize the moon's shadow also absorbed fortune—but only extremely high-grade fortune; ordinary purple qi was beneath its notice.

After swallowing the fortune, the three-eyed bird retreated, becoming a shadow once more, falling asleep. Only when it was fully asleep did a small head peek out from the cloud sea, glancing furtively around. Only then did Little Wei Yuan remember: within his mind realm still lurked a shadow dragon… this thing looked somewhat like a dragon.

The full moon gradually glowed brighter, pouring down cold lunar radiance. The radiance, like frost, congealed on the gate of Yushan. The ancient wooden door slowly opened; the night before it twisted, revealing a bottomless vortex—as if a passage to another world.

Little Wei Yuan instantly appeared before the gate, gazing inside—everywhere were broken walls and ruins, like a wasteland. Faint black shadows moved within, flickering in and out too swiftly to capture. All matter seemed twisted by some unknown force into bizarre shapes—what kind of world was this?

(End of Chapter)