Chapter 81 - 73: Gao Ziyue, Refining Spirit Storage Pill, The Mu City Upheaval, Yan Zhen: Return!

"Huh? Daoist Wei, you... weren’t you back then..."

Zhu Zhishan stared at Lin Chang’sheng, and suddenly remembered—Wei Wuji, or Daoist Wei, a year and a half ago, his flying boat was attacked by a demon cultivator and he went missing.

How’s he showing up here?

"I ran into a demon cultivator back then, got lucky and escaped, spent a year and a half traveling, and finally made it to the sect today. Uncle Qian just arranged for me to live here."

Lin Chang’sheng smiled faintly.

"What? A year and a half journey?"

"Everyone in the Outer Sect’s been talking about a disciple from Great Yu named Lin Chang’sheng, who trekked for a year and a half to find the sect... That person... is you?"

Zhu Zhishan’s eyes widened at his words, shock written all over his face.

"Daoist Zhu, not going to lie, that person is me. My real name’s Lin Chang’sheng. I didn’t know anything about cultivation back then, so I used a fake name to be careful. I hope you can understand!"

Lin Chang’sheng nodded as he spoke.

"No worries, it’s smart to be cautious."

Zhu Zhishan looked at Lin Chang’sheng and suddenly trembled. "Daoist Lin, your... your cultivation..."

Zhu Zhishan realized that the ’Daoist Wei’ in front of him had cultivation far stronger than before.

"I caught a small lucky break on the road this past year, so I reached the Qi Refining Sixth Layer."

Lin Chang’sheng gave a modest smile and didn’t dwell on cultivation, instead asking, "Daoist Zhu, you live here too? What a coincidence, I guess we’ll be neighbors!"

Hearing Lin Chang’sheng’s words, Zhu Zhishan said a bit forlornly, "Daoist Lin, I’m only at the peak of Qi Refining Third Layer, so I’m not qualified to live here. I’m just here to see Daoist Yu—to deliver him some herbs."

"Got it."

Lin Chang’sheng nodded. Zhu Zhishan was easy to chat with, and after a bit of small talk and asking Lin Chang’sheng to look out for him in the future, he took his leave.

.......

Piaomiao Peak.

In a small courtyard.

Dressed in purple, tall and graceful, Gao Ziyue sat quietly in her room cultivating, when suddenly footsteps echoed outside the door.

"Junior Sister Gao! Good news! Great news!"

Outside, Zhang Junyao’s voice rang out.

"Senior Sister Zhang, what’s the news?"

Gao Ziyue finished her cultivation, stood up, and opened the door to ask.

"Junior Sister, yesterday the sect got a disciple from Great Yu—name’s Lin Chang’sheng. He was on Uncle Lu Chen’s flying boat years ago, escaped with his life, and spent a year and a half tracking the sect down!"

"Do you think this Lin Chang’sheng is the person you were looking for?"

Zhang Junyao looked at Gao Ziyue, eyes full of anticipation.

All year, she’d been helping Junior Sister keep tabs on that demon cultivator attack, and she’d received plenty of perks in return.

If this Lin Chang’sheng was the guy her Junior Sister wanted to find, she’d get several more Qi Condensing Pills as a reward.

"Lin Chang’sheng?"

"Senior Sister Zhang, help me find out where Lin Chang’sheng is staying. This is for you."

Expectant, Gao Ziyue’s beautiful eyes gleamed as she handed Zhang Junyao a white porcelain bottle.

"Don’t worry, Junior Sister!"

Zhang Junyao beamed at the bottle, grinning from ear to ear, and turned to leave.

......

Celestial Secret Peak.

At the foot of the mountain.

In a small courtyard, a young man in white, handsome-faced and thin-lipped, stood at the doorway listening to the disciples gossiping. He frowned, stepped forward, grabbed a chubby fellow, and asked, "Jin Buhuan, is it true that Lin Chang’sheng from Great Yu found the sect?"

"That’s what I heard too, but I’m not sure it’s him. I remember Lin Chang’sheng tested his spirit root right after me!"

"If it’s really him, that’s awesome. Talk about good luck!"

Jin Buhuan smiled slightly.

"Probably not him, right?"

Yu Xiaochang quietly turned away, a hint of gloom flashing in his eyes.

Because Lin Chang’sheng had stopped his assassination attempt on Yu Wenjing and wrecked his big plans—he sure didn’t want that brat alive.

......

Great Yu.

Min Nan County.

Mu City.

Mu City’s glory days were long gone.

Buildings collapsed, looking like a storm had torn through—a ruined wasteland, while a massive rift, dozens of miles long and about a mile wide, split East City and West City, its insides pitch-black and unfathomably deep.

A middle-aged military officer led nearly a thousand Great Yu army soldiers through the city on patrol.

"General, most of the townsfolk have relocated to neighboring cities."

At that moment, a soldier approached and reported respectfully.

"Good, that’s great!"

"Let’s pull back, too!"

Li Daoji leaned forward to peer into the deep rift, his eyes full of terror. Then he waved for the thousand troops to leave.

Meanwhile.

A thousand feet below the rift.

Space itself shuddered—a deep, shadowy great hall, which looked more illusion than real within this world.

The hall’s four walls hung glowing white moonlight stones.

At the center stood a white jade crystal platform, shrouded by thick spiritual energy, swirling like mist!

A gorgeous woman with alluring curves lay atop the stone platform, eyes shut, like a sleeping beauty.

Right now.

If Lin Chang’sheng were here, he’d recognize instantly that this woman was Yan Zhen.

By the stone platform hovered a translucent figure, identical to Yan Zhen, who looked down at Yan Zhen and murmured, "You are my reincarnation, sinking into dreams for what? You don’t wish to return?"

"Come back! Let our Dao become perfect!"

The echo of the phantom’s voice lingered through the hall.

........

Celestial Secret Peak.

Mid-mountain.

Lin Chang’sheng sat in his room, staring at the panel.

[Cultivation: Qi Refining Stage (Sixth Layer 926/32,000)]

"For now, first thing is to head to the Task Hall for my monthly assignment, then go to Cloud Pill Peak’s Pill Hall to buy the ingredients for Spirit Storage Pills, and refine them myself!"

Lin Chang’sheng looked at his cultivation experience points and started plotting his next move.

Currently.

He was at the early stage of Qi Refining Sixth Layer, experience only at 926 points. Qi Condensing Pills hardly did anything—one pill barely raised his bar. Only Spirit Storage Pills worked; he’d tested it—one Spirit Storage Pill shot up his experience by over 800 points!

To max out Sixth Layer’s 32,000 experience to perfection, he’d need 40 Spirit Storage Pills.

But...

Spirit Storage Pills were for mid-tier Qi Refiners, and cost four times as much as Qi Condensing Pills!

One Qi Condensing Pill sold for 2 spirit stones.

But a Spirit Storage Pill from the sect was 8 spirit stones apiece!

Yeah, you could use sect contribution points to trade, but Lin Chang’sheng was new, no contribution points to speak of.

Mid-tier Qi Refiners got one Energy Storage Pill per month, but that’s a drop in the bucket—he needed experience, so to rapidly boost his cultivation, he had to refine his own Energy Storage Pills.

Lin Chang’sheng checked around—Cloud Pill Peak sells Energy Storage Pill ingredients.

Liuyun Immortal Sect was huge and varied.

Pills, artifact refining, alchemy, arrays, and talismans—a bit of everything.

Cloud Pill Peak specialized in pill refining.

Disciples needing extra pills could head to Cloud Pill Peak, spending contribution points or spirit stones to buy.

If you liked alchemy, you could also pay spirit stones to rent an Earth Fire Furnace in the Pill Hall and get started refining pills.

........

Cloud Pill Peak.

One of Liuyun Immortal Sect’s twelve peaks.

The peak housed an earth fire, ideal for alchemy.

Lin Chang’sheng took a sect quest—leave the sect and hunt a Golden Line Python for its gall. He now came to the Pill Hall, ready to buy batches of Spirit Storage Pill ingredients and rent an Earth Fire Furnace to refine them.

He had a pill furnace of his own but of too low a level.

The Pill Hall rented furnished Earth Fire Furnaces, after all, a good furnace dramatically boosted the pill success rate.

"Looks like plenty of disciples want to refine their own pills!"

Lin Chang’sheng lined up at the Alchemy Room rental desk and saw lots of disciples waiting to rent Earth Fire Furnaces.

Soon enough.

Lin Chang’sheng spent 1 spirit stone to rent Alchemy Room #88 for a day. After booking the room, he headed off to buy Spirit Storage Pill ingredients.

The Pill Hall’s Spirit Medicine Room had all sorts of pill ingredients. If one ran out, they’d post a mission to find more—a chance for sect disciples to earn contribution points.

You could also use contribution points to trade for pills or needed ingredients.

"What ingredients are you looking for, Junior Brother?"

In the Spirit Medicine Room, a twenty-something Junior Brother at Qi Refining Eighth Layer looked at Lin Chang’sheng and asked.

"Senior Brother, how much for a batch of Spirit Storage Pill materials?"

Lin Chang’sheng asked the Senior Brother.

"Twelve spirit stones a batch. How many you want?"

The Senior Brother looked at Lin Chang’sheng and followed up, "You refining yourself?"

"Yep, self-refining. I’ll take five batches!"

Lin Chang’sheng took out 60 spirit stones and handed them over.

He’d done the math: each batch of Spirit Storage Pill materials could theoretically yield up to ten pills.

Most alchemists had a success rate of four to six pills per batch. Sometimes you got lucky and managed seven or eight.

As for nine or ten, that was rare—unless Peak Master Situ Cheng got involved personally.

Lin’s Spirit Storage Pill recipe was already at perfection—his success rate wouldn’t be bad.

"Junior Brother, it’d be cheaper just to buy ready-made Spirit Storage Pills! Sixty spirit stones buys you seven pills with extra left! Why kill yourself over alchemy?"

"Want me to hook you up with someone to help you refine?"

Hearing that Lin Chang’sheng wanted five batches, Li Yunyu tried to talk him out of it.

If he connected Lin to an alchemist, he’d get a small cut.

To him, Lin certainly didn’t look the part of a skilled alchemist.

"Thanks, Senior Brother, but I want to try making them myself."

Lin Chang’sheng cupped his fist gratefully.

He’d already mastered the Spirit Storage Pill—definitely didn’t need anyone’s help.

"Alright, give me a minute."

Li Yunyu looked Lin Chang’sheng over, sympathy in his eyes.

Disciples like him would never listen—always insisting on self-refining, burning up all their materials until their spirit stones just go down the drain. With those spirit stones, they could just buy the ready-made pills, so much easier.

Soon.

Senior Brother Li Yunyu got five batches of Spirit Storage Pill ingredients ready and handed them over to Lin Chang’sheng.

Lin Chang’sheng took the herbs and headed for Alchemy Room #88.

At that moment.

A tall, purple-robed girl appeared at the door of the Spirit Medicine Room. As soon as she walked in, she drew plenty of glances from the young male disciples.