Chapter 620: The Heavenly Elixir Alliance

Before he had reached the Core Formation stage, Song Qingming had attended a few auctions held by the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance." However, because his cultivation base was too low at the time, he did not have a deep understanding of this organization.

He only knew that it was a large-scale commercial organization focused primarily on alchemy, spanning over a dozen countries around the Floating Yunshan Range, and that it had also opened a shop in the Yangshan Market of the Wei Kingdom to sell various first and second-grade elixirs.

Apart from attending a few auctions and visiting the Yangshan Market to purchase some needed elixirs, Song Qingming had not had much interaction with the cultivators of the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance."

It was not until six years ago, when Song Qingming was searching everywhere for Five Elements Core Formation spiritual items for Song Qingyu and Huang Siyuan, that he had a chance encounter. Through his connection with Chu Fengping, he met a Jin Dan Elder of the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance" named Gu Qing.

Because they were both third-grade alchemists and Gu Qing happened to be in charge of the business in the Wei Kingdom, Chu Fengping had known him for a long time. The two often discussed the Dao together and exchanged experiences and insights on alchemy, and their relationship was quite good.

It was only through this connection with Gu Qing that Song Qingming finally gained a more in-depth understanding of the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance" organization.

The headquarters of the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance" was not in the Floating Yunshan Range, but in the East Sea cultivation world, ten thousand miles away. The organization had three Nascent Soul Elders, all of whom were fourth-grade alchemists renowned throughout the East Sea cultivation world.

However, these three Nascent Soul Elders did not come from the same sect; one of them was even a rogue cultivator. They had only joined the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance" and come together because of their obsession with the Dao of alchemy.

Furthermore, the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance" did not have many restrictions or regulations for recruiting members. Whether you were a rogue cultivator, a family member, or a cultivator from another sect, you could join this organization.

As long as a cultivator joined the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance," they could view various elixir formulas and alchemy notes left behind by predecessors in the alliance and enjoy the various alchemy resources provided by the alliance.

In addition, the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance" would regularly organize alchemists of similar levels to discuss the Dao of alchemy and exchange experiences and insights. If one were lucky enough to be appreciated by the Nascent Soul Elders of the alliance, one could also receive guidance from these high-tier alchemists.

The "Heavenly Elixir Alliance" was also an alchemy organization that all alchemists in the East Sea cultivation world dreamed of joining. Even near the Floating Yunshan Range, many cultivators who loved alchemy chose to join the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance."

However, once you joined the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance," you could not withdraw at will without the approval of the Elders within the organization. Although you were not under any strict control in daily life, when the organization needed you, you were required to contribute your efforts to them.

Back then, Chu Fengping had also considered joining the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance" to improve his alchemy skills, but he eventually gave up on the idea because the sect did not agree.

After all, he was the only third-grade mid-tier alchemist in the Xiaoyao Sect. If Chu Fengping joined the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance," he would inevitably divert too much energy there. At that time, the sect might not even have anyone to refine some commonly used high-tier elixirs, which would have a very large impact on a Nascent Soul sect.

At that time, under Chu Fengping's introduction, Song Qingming met the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance" executive Elder, Gu Qing, at the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion.

Unfortunately, although the "Heavenly Elixir Alliance" would occasionally auction off Five Elements Core Formation spiritual items, they were very rare; at least one would only appear every ten or twenty years. At that time, Gu Qing did not have the Five Elements spiritual items that Song Qingming urgently needed.

A few days ago, because Song Qingyu had joined the Xiaoyao Sect, the sect had granted her a lot of merit points from the Merit Pavilion. Song Qingming planned to pool her merit points with his own and go to the sect's Merit Pavilion to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

As it turned out, on the way to Guyang Mountain, he happened to run into Gu Qing, who was heading to Yangshan Market. After the two met, exchanged greetings, and chatted for a few sentences, Song Qingming happened to learn the news that Gu Qing had recently refined a batch of Foundation Establishment Pills.

Upon learning this news, Song Qingming took the initiative to take out two third-grade low-quality spiritual herbs plus five or six second-grade spiritual herbs and exchanged them with Gu Qing for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

These two third-grade spiritual herbs were both brought out by Song Qingming from the "Heaven-Reaching Tower." They were originally intended to be used to exchange for Five Elements Core Formation spiritual items for Song Qingyu and the others, but after going to the Wu Kingdom twice without success, they had been kept by Song Qingming.

As a third-grade alchemist, the things Gu Qing wanted most were naturally high-tier spiritual herbs, spiritual fruits, and other spiritual items that could be used to refine elixirs.

Seeing that Song Qingming had taken out two third-grade low-quality spiritual herbs in one go, Gu Qing immediately agreed and exchanged a Foundation Establishment Pill for Song Qingming on the spot.

Originally, Song Qingming had wanted to exchange for another one, but unfortunately, he no longer had any spiritual herbs above the third grade, and the other spiritual items he could take out were not highly regarded by the other party, so he had to give up and wait for the next opportunity.

With the rapid development over these years, the Song family now had more and more cultivators who could reach the ninth layer by the age of sixty and were capable of Foundation Establishment, and the demand for Foundation Establishment Pills had also become greater and greater.

Spiritual items like Foundation Establishment Pills, whether in the Wei Kingdom or in the surrounding countries, were, like Five Elements Core Formation spiritual items, precious spiritual items that were very difficult to obtain.

Over the years, the Song family had mostly relied on Song Qingming using his own merit points and other spiritual items to exchange them at the Xiaoyao Sect, and only occasionally had the opportunity to obtain them through some outside channels.

Song Qingming occasionally had to use the merit points accumulated in the Xiaoyao Sect to exchange for elixirs and spiritual items needed for his own cultivation, so he could not use them all to exchange for Foundation Establishment Pills. Therefore, the number of Foundation Establishment Pills he could exchange for the family was also very limited.

After explaining this to Song Qingyu, Song Qingming turned and said to Song Yuanfang:

"Yuanfang, you first tell me which candidates in the clan are currently suitable for Foundation Establishment. We don't need to consider those whose cultivation base is still relatively low. Only those who are certain to reach the ninth layer of Qi Condensation within five years can be included in this selection of candidates for Foundation Establishment."

"Secondly, I want to add two requirements: first, the age must be under eighty; second, the clan member must have had at least one thousand merit points in the clan's Golden Treasury Pavilion. There are no other requirements."

"You should carefully consider it and write down a list first. The three of us will have a preliminary discussion on this matter. Later, when Changze, Yuanxue, and the others return, we will convene a meeting of the clan elders to discuss and decide."

After hearing this, Song Yuanfang nodded, took out paper and pen, and soon wrote down all the clan members who could roughly meet the requirements mentioned by Song Qingming and handed them to the two Jin Dan elders.

The number of cultivators in the Song family now was almost ten times what it was when Song Qingming went down the mountain back then. Excluding the core clan elders at the Foundation Establishment and Jin Dan stages, there were now two hundred and forty-seven Qi Condensation cultivators remaining.

Among these clan member cultivators, there were a total of sixty-eight who had reached the late stage of Qi Condensation.

Then, according to Song Qingming's requirements, those who were older, those who had only broken through to the seventh layer of Qi Condensation in the past few years, and those whose merit points did not meet the requirements were screened out, leaving more than a dozen people.

Holding the list handed over by Song Yuanfang, Song Qingming carefully read it once, and a look of embarrassment could not help but appear on his face.

Unlike before, when he only needed to choose among a few people, now, even with two Foundation Establishment Pills, it was far from enough for these clan cultivators who had already reached the threshold of Foundation Establishment.

Song Qingyu, who was on the side, saw the look of embarrassment on Song Qingming's face just as she raised her head after reading the list, so she said softly:

"Since so many people meet the requirements, I think we should raise the requirements again this time. Otherwise, two Foundation Establishment Pills are too few, making it difficult for us to choose."

Song Qingming nodded slightly and said: "Then let's lower the age to under seventy and raise the merit points to one thousand five hundred. That way, there shouldn't be many people left."

A moment later, when Song Yuanfang placed the list of those who had been crossed out in front of Song Qingming and the other, only five people remained.

After scanning the revised list, Song Qingyu was the first to speak: "Although Yuanqian is a bit older, we have all witnessed her assisting Yuanfang in managing the clan's trivial matters over the years."

"Moreover, she is also a first-grade top-quality alchemist with good skills, and she will have the opportunity to improve her alchemy level to the second grade in the future. I support reserving a Foundation Establishment Pill for her."

"Among the remaining few, Changwen and Changrui both have decent cultivation talents. I think Changyi would be better. This child acts steadily and has a better temperament than Changwen."

"I also support Yuanqian. Her cultivation foundation is more solid than the others, and she has taken longevity-extending spiritual items in previous years. Her state for Foundation Establishment should actually not be worse than the others."

"As for Changwen and Changrui, I think their conditions are about the same, and the difference in their chances of Foundation Establishment is not very large." After hearing Song Qingyu's analysis, Song Yuanli, who was on the side, also expressed his opinion.

Song Qingming nodded to the two and said: "Then let's confirm Yuanqian as one candidate. As for the other four, we will discuss them together at the next clan meeting. Whether we choose Changwen or Changrui, as long as everyone agrees, it will be fine."

"The clan currently lacks sources for Foundation Establishment Pills. Relying solely on Qingyu and me to exchange them at the sect is limited after all. We still have to find ways to obtain more Foundation Establishment Pills."

Song Yuanfang nodded slightly and said:

"Seventh Uncle is right. The Jade Marrow Golden Ganoderma that was transplanted from Mount Tuoyun to the clan's spiritual herb garden a few years ago is almost mature. After so many years of careful cultivation by Yuanxue, it can be harvested for medicine in another ten years or so. We can exchange it directly at the sect for a Foundation Establishment Pill at that time."

"However, the other two Five Elements spiritual fruit trees and the other few Jade Marrow Golden Ganodermas planted in the spiritual herb garden only have a medicinal age of about five hundred years at most. According to the current progress, it will take at least another hundred years to cultivate them to maturity. For now, we can only think of ways outside."

The "Jade Marrow Golden Ganoderma" and "Five Elements Spiritual Fruit" mentioned by Song Yuanfang were both main ingredients commonly used in the cultivation world to refine "Foundation Establishment Pills."

However, to refine Foundation Establishment Pills, one must use spiritual herbs that are already mature.

The cultivation method for "Jade Marrow Golden Ganoderma" is slightly faster; it only needs a medicinal age of about eight hundred years to mature and can be used directly to refine "Foundation Establishment Pills."

"Five Elements Spiritual Fruit" is slightly more troublesome; the spiritual tree must reach a medicinal age of one thousand years before it can bear spiritual fruit, and the fruits on it need another hundred years or so to mature one by one.

The so-called medicinal age is not the actual growth period of the spiritual herb, but a unified term created by spiritual planters in the cultivation world to distinguish the detailed quality of spiritual herbs.

For example, a second-grade spiritual herb in the wild in a place with poor spiritual energy needs at least two hundred years to mature, but if it is placed in a high-tier spiritual land with abundant spiritual energy, plus careful cultivation by a high-tier spiritual planter who invests spiritual stones or spiritual water every day, it can shorten the time by one hundred years and allow it to mature early.

Although the spiritual herb cultivated in this way only took one hundred years, its quality is the same as a spiritual herb that has grown in the wild for two hundred years, so the medicinal age is still calculated as two hundred years.

The time required for a cultivator to cultivate a spiritual herb to maturity is closely related to the grade of the spiritual land, the amount of resources invested, and the personal ability of the spiritual planter. This is also the biggest reason why major families and even large sects like the Xiaoyao Sect will spend resources to cultivate spiritual planters.

When the Song family was still a Qi Condensation family, the spiritual herbs planted in the clan's spiritual herb garden were only first-grade spiritual herbs, and the highest medicinal age was only a little over one hundred years. There had never been a second-grade or higher spiritual planter in the clan.

It was not until more than one hundred years ago, after Song Qingming successfully achieved Foundation Establishment, that they slowly began to plant some second-grade spiritual herbs. But because the clan had not yet cultivated its own second-grade spiritual planter, these spiritual herbs matured very slowly.

Some of the second-grade spiritual herbs planted when Song Changfeng was the clan leader had not yet fully matured even now. Therefore, Song Qingming did not put too much energy into managing his own spiritual herb garden; most of the spiritual herbs and spiritual fruits he had were basically obtained by himself from outside.

It was not until the Song family was promoted to a Jin Dan immortal clan that the clan gave birth to its first second-grade spiritual planter, Song Yuanxue. Over these years, the Song family began to increase its investment in this area, and the scale of the spiritual herb garden behind the mountain had now expanded several times.

Under the careful care of Song Yuanxue, a second-grade spiritual planter, in just over twenty years, the annual output of spiritual herbs in the Song family's spiritual herb garden had increased several times compared to before, and on average, one or two second-grade spiritual herbs could mature almost every year.

Now, after the careful investment of several generations of Song family cultivators, the clan's spiritual herb garden had finally seen some results and could bring a good fixed income to the clan every year.

In order to facilitate the sect's rule over the Wei Kingdom's cultivation world, the Xiaoyao Sect strictly forbade the Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation families under its command from secretly cultivating the two main ingredients that could refine Foundation Establishment Pills, only allowing them to plant some auxiliary spiritual herbs.

Before this, in the entire Wei Kingdom, apart from the Xiaoyao Sect's spiritual herb garden, only Mount Tuoyun and Iron Immortal Castle before the incident, and another Wu family in Donglin County in the south of the Wei Kingdom that possessed a False Core cultivator, would plant some of these main ingredients for refining Foundation Establishment Pills.

Before the Song family was promoted to a Jin Dan immortal clan, they had also never cultivated or planted the main ingredients for refining Foundation Establishment Pills. Now, the two "Five Elements Spiritual Fruit Trees" and five or six Jade Marrow Golden Ganodermas in the clan's spiritual herb garden were all immature spiritual herbs collected by the Song family from various places in recent decades.

One of the "Jade Marrow Golden Ganodermas" that was about to mature was found by a Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator when Song Qingming was guarding Mount Tuoyun and was sold to the Song family at a high price.

When the Song family obtained these immature main ingredients for Foundation Establishment Pills, most of them only had a medicinal age of two or three hundred years. Even if they were transplanted to the Song family's back mountain spiritual herb garden, which had richer spiritual energy, it would take at least one or two hundred years to cultivate them to maturity.

Moreover, cultivating such high-tier spiritual herbs is not just about time. Without the care of a professional spiritual planter and sufficient resource investment, the spiritual herbs could also mature early or suffer damage to their spirituality, which would also lead to a significant discount in the medicinal efficacy and value of the entire spiritual herb.

For an emerging Jin Dan family force like the Song family, wanting to rely on self-cultivated spiritual herbs to achieve self-sufficiency in "Foundation Establishment Pills" in a short period of time is basically impossible.

Even the Ma family before the incident, after more than five hundred years of accumulation by two generations of Jin Dan cultivators, could only barely manage to have enough for their own daily use.

Once they encountered the chaos of demonic beasts and suffered heavy losses of Foundation Establishment cultivators under their command, the Ma family would also have to exchange for some Foundation Establishment Pills from the sect to fill the gap in the family's combat power.

After hearing Song Yuanfang talk about the situation of the few main ingredients for refining Foundation Establishment Pills in the clan's spiritual herb garden, Song Qingming smiled and nodded slightly:

"Things in the spiritual herb garden cannot be rushed. The clan can appropriately increase investment in this area, but don't put too much pressure on Yuanxue and the others."

"I chatted with Fellow Daoist Gu this time. According to him, the East Sea cultivation world has much richer spiritual resources, and it is much easier to purchase spiritual items like Foundation Establishment Pills there than around our Wei Kingdom."

"I already have a plan. After Qingyu finishes her seclusion and refines her natal magic treasure, I will go to the East Sea to see if I can find a way to purchase some Foundation Establishment Pills."

"Yuanfang, you should also make some preparations in advance. Exchange the low-tier spiritual items accumulated in the clan's treasury into spiritual stones or other high-tier spiritual items so that it will be more convenient for me to take them out."

Song Qingyu heard this and said with a happy face: "Seventh Brother, if you really go to the East Sea cultivation world, you must take me with you. I have traveled there once before and have some understanding of the general situation in the East Sea."

"If we can't find news about Foundation Establishment Pills, we can also go to Sister He and the others for help. With me there, it will definitely be more convenient for you."

"Hmm! Then let's talk about it after you come out of seclusion. There is no rush for this matter, and we still need some time to prepare!"

After the three of them had a preliminary discussion, a few days later, they sent out news to summon the many clan elders who were outside to Mount Funiu to discuss the ownership of the clan's two Foundation Establishment Pills.

Except for Song Yuanli, who could not be present because he was going to the front line of the Lu Kingdom, the remaining dozen or so elders of the clan basically all arrived, including Huang Siyuan, who also stopped her seclusion for healing and participated in this meeting, which was very important to the clan.

In the meeting hall, Song Qingming, Song Qingyu, and Huang Siyuan, the three ancestors with the highest seniority in the clan, sat at the head.

The dozen or so clan elders sitting below were all Foundation Establishment cultivators of the clan, or people who held important positions in the clan and managed important family industries.

After Song Yuanfang, who was in charge of clan affairs, stated the several backup candidates for the Foundation Establishment Pills that had already been drafted, and after a discussion by everyone, the final ownership of the two Foundation Establishment Pills was soon decided.

They were Song Yuanqian, who had managed the clan's Golden Treasury Pavilion for many years, and Song Changwen, who had decent talent among the "Chang" generation.

Song Yuanqian ranked low among the "Yuan" generation cultivators of the Song family. Although she belonged to the same generation as Song Yuanfang and the others, she was much younger than them.

At sixty-eight years old, because she had taken some longevity-extending and beauty-retaining elixirs, her appearance did not show a trace of aging.

Because Song Yuanqian's spiritual root talent was relatively poor, she was a four-spiritual-root cultivator, so her cultivation speed was not very fast. It was only a few years ago that she had just cultivated to the ninth layer of Qi Condensation.

The reason why she was able to successfully cultivate to the ninth layer of Qi Condensation and reach the step of Foundation Establishment was, on the one hand, because she had a flexible mind and was deeply trusted by her elder brother Song Yuanfang. After becoming a clan elder, she could receive much more clan salary every year than other clan members.

On the other hand, Song Yuanqian spent a lot of resources and energy on alchemy. She had long since improved her alchemy level to the first-grade top-quality, and now she was the person with the highest alchemy level in the clan besides Huang Siyuan, the second-grade alchemist.

Relying on these two points over the years, Song Yuanqian's speed of earning spiritual stones and clan merit points far exceeded other ordinary clan members. Among the many cultivators of the Song family, besides Jin Dan and Foundation Establishment cultivators like Song Qingming and Song Yuanfang, she could be considered the wealthiest one at present.

The other one, Song Changwen, who ranked twenty-first among the "Chang" generation, was one of the few people among this generation of cultivators whose talent was second only to Song Changzheng.

Compared to the "Yuan" generation, which had produced two geniuses with extraordinary talents, Song Yuanli and Song Yuanhao, although the number of cultivators in the "Chang" generation of the Song family was not small, their overall talent was obviously much worse than that of the "Yuan" generation.

Among the dozens of cultivators of this generation, not a single dual-spiritual-root cultivator appeared. Song Changzheng, who had the best talent and had successfully achieved Foundation Establishment, was also only a three-spiritual-root cultivator.

Among the remaining few three-spiritual-root cultivators, Song Changwen could already be considered to have relatively good cultivation talent. However, he was already nearly fifty years old when he cultivated to the ninth layer of Qi Condensation, and his foundation was not as stable as Song Yuanqian's.

The situation of the others who were not selected was not much different from that of Song Changwen. Although they were all cultivators who had cultivated to the ninth layer of Qi Condensation and reached the step of Foundation Establishment, their foundation and talent had some obvious gaps compared to Song Changzheng, Song Yuanhao, and others who had achieved Foundation Establishment before.

After obtaining the Foundation Establishment Pill supported by the clan, Song Yuanqian, the elder who had participated in the clan meeting but did not speak because of Song Yuanfang's special instructions, also shed tears of excitement on the spot.

After obtaining the Foundation Establishment Pill, Song Yuanqian and Song Changwen soon started their seclusion on Mount Funiu one after another to impact the Foundation Establishment realm. (End of chapter)