Chapter 74: Forty Thousand Spirit Stones, Black Whale City Is a Wonderful Place

A month and a half later.

Having spent enough time sequestered in the Black Whale Blessed Land, Shen Lian finally packed his belongings and left the cave dwelling. As soon as he reached the foot of the mountain, a familiar melody drifted to his ears.

He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a lavishly ornate hall standing at the bottom of the mountain. Above its entrance, a plaque shone brilliantly with three ancient characters: "Ascension Hall." The familiar music issued from within, and on the plaza outside, rows of paper effigies—attendants, celestial palaces—were set up. Inside the hall, a dozen figures puffed out their cheeks as they played the suona.

With a single glance, Shen Lian’s spiritual sense grasped the situation. While he was forming his foundation, another cultivator had been attempting the same within the Black Whale Blessed Land—and had not survived the ordeal.

The Sea Spirit Sect, taking advantage of Black Whale City’s prime location and expanding its services, now offered comprehensive rituals of celestial concern for those who failed at foundation establishment. As long as one could pay in spirit stones, even those who could not achieve foundation in life would be assisted on their journey to the beyond.

Judging by the scale of the ceremony, this unfortunate cultivator must have held some wealth and status in life; quite a few came to pay respects, several among them at the ninth level of Qi Refinement. Their faces were solemn, tinged with sorrow and confusion—as if, staring at the coffin in the hall, they glimpsed their own future.

Having just succeeded in his own foundation, only to be met straight away with the funeral of a fellow cultivator who perished in the attempt, Shen Lian sighed softly. What an omen—how was he to break it?

As he skirted past the hall, preparing to leave, a cultivator who had just finished paying respects inside suddenly paused, then, from dozens of yards away, bowed deeply in his direction.

Shen Lian quickly realized: he was now a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Even though he had stabilized his realm and suppressed his aura, he had not concealed it completely. For cultivators at the ninth level of Qi Refinement standing so close, his presence was still perceptible—he stood out.

It was his first time being revered in this way, and Shen Lian felt a little awkward.

Upon returning to the Serene Mind Pill Shop, he found the Luo siblings at work—one tending the shop, the other out on the street soliciting customers.

"Manager," Luo Fei stepped out from behind the counter to bow respectfully.

Over the years, the siblings had always been discreet in the shop. Even though Shen Lian had imparted some herbal knowledge to them, they addressed him only as "Manager." In the cultivation world, the master-disciple bond was sacred; neither dared overstep, lest they provoke his displeasure and be cast out.

"How has the shop been these days?"

"The stock you reserved—Yellow Sprout Pills, Returning Essence Pills—more than half are sold. Four Breakthrough Pills and one Ziyang Pill have been sold as well, and..." Luo Fei handed over a storage pouch, her cheeks turning slightly red. "And all the Joy Pills are gone."

Shen Lian swept the pouch with his spiritual sense. Aside from the remaining pills, there were two thousand four hundred and fifty spirit stones inside.

To make nearly twenty-five hundred spirit stones in just over a month, all from a shop tucked deep in an alley—this spoke volumes about Black Whale City’s prosperity.

Every time he went out, he would prepare a batch of common pills like Yellow Sprout, and a few of the more special or nourishing kind. As for the Joy Pill, it had the endorsement of the fairy sisters from the Rouge Pavilion—many upright cultivators would secretly come to buy it.

As the name implied, the Joy Pill brought much happiness when socializing with the fairy sisters. Cultivation was exhausting enough; one needed to know how to enjoy life in time.

The cost to make a Joy Pill was about the same as a Yellow Sprout Pill, but it sold for four times the price—twenty spirit stones apiece.

At first, Shen Lian hadn’t intended to sell such pills, but after realizing he could not drive down the price of pills for his friends and their families, he already felt he had let them down. If he could not even provide them with some happiness, then what meaning did being an alchemist hold?

Besides, those who frequently bought Joy Pills never expected to cultivate seriously; buying cultivation pills would only waste their spirit stones. Shen Lian felt no guilt making money off them.

He had even considered launching the Reversal Pill and the Dragon-Phoenix Ecstasy Pill, but after some thought, decided they were too conspicuous and costly—ill-suited for the average cultivator’s pursuit of pleasure.

With such a monthly turnover, Joy Pills accounted for nearly a quarter of sales, and the number was still rising, thanks to the city’s lively entertainment industry.

Upstairs, Shen Lian poured the spirit stones from the pouch and watched the glittering heap pile up.

He sighed. Was there any shame in making money? He had taken up the path of alchemy precisely to earn spirit stones.

Who didn’t want to be a proper alchemist? But he couldn’t resist the demand for these alternative products.

If he didn’t sell Joy Pills, other alchemists certainly would. Ever since he’d begun offering them, monthly sales hovered around two thousand spirit stones. After subtracting costs and materials, he had already saved nearly forty thousand lower-grade spirit stones.

Stable and secure, with a loyal clientele of pleasure-seekers—Shen Lian was growing reluctant to leave Black Whale City.

He considered launching an upgraded version of the Dragon-Phoenix Ecstasy Pill, targeting ninth-level Qi Refinement cultivators. The cultivation world was full of such people who had lost the dream of foundation establishment and now only sought to idle their days away; they tended to be flush with spirit stones.

"I am a proper alchemist," Shen Lian muttered, rubbing his forehead as he gazed at the pile of spirit stones.

Which one of these was not honestly earned?

He stowed them away and sat down cross-legged.

[Shen Lian: Foundation Establishment, Level 1]
[Five Element Spiritual Roots: Fire 100, Earth 31, Metal 31, Wood 31, Water 31]
[Fire Technique: Heavenly Evolution Fire Domain]
[Spiritual Sense: 610 zhang]
[Alchemist: First Grade, High (1/10,000) Cannot Break Through]
[Talismanist: Second Grade, Low (1/20,000) Cannot Break Through]
[Beastmaster: First Grade, Middle (1/3,000) Cannot Break Through]
--Expand--
[Comprehension Points: 16,521]
[Divine Insight Points: 0]

For a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage, breaking through a level in five to ten years was considered swift; some managed it in three to five years, or even less. But most, in truth, might spend over a decade without progress.

Now that he’d reached Foundation Establishment, Shen Lian suddenly had ample time to hone his various skills.

He pondered how best to spend his comprehension points.

Upgrading his alchemy to the second tier would help him refine better pills for cultivation, and would fetch even more spirit stones. His beast mastery needed work too—now that he was at Foundation Establishment, Dahei and Sanqian were too weak to serve as proper guardians.

Yet, Shen Lian also wished to study both formations and puppetry.

In the cultivation world, puppet masters had two main paths. One was to use monster beast corpses as materials, imprinting them with puppet restrictions to create beast puppets—their grade dependent on the beast’s original power, and requiring great effort from the puppet master to avoid loss of quality. For instance, a late-stage second-rank beast might end up as a low-grade second-rank puppet, only capable of fighting at the first or second layer of Foundation Establishment.

The other path involved assembling puppets from various materials, which required some skill in artifact crafting. For example, with third-grade low materials as the base, combined with second- and first-grade components, one could craft a third-grade mid puppet, capable of rivaling a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator.

From the very beginning, Shen Lian had dreamed of making puppets, so he wouldn’t have to dirty his own hands with unsavory tasks.

Puppet masters were the stuff of legend—those who achieved mastery could control dozens, even hundreds of puppets, and annihilate a sect with ease.

Mastering formations was also essential; roaming the chaotic cultivation world, being a formation master would make it much easier to adapt to any terrain.

"Sigh, best to improve my alchemy first," Shen Lian concluded after much deliberation.

No matter if it was puppetry, formations, or talisman crafting—he would need to buy a great many materials. With only first-grade pills to sell, his rate of earning spirit stones simply wasn’t enough.

Besides, as an alchemist, wouldn’t it be shameful if he couldn’t even make use of second-grade pills himself?

Besides, life in Black Whale City was stable enough; if he hunkered down for a few years, he could amass enough comprehension points for puppetry and formations as well.

In the following days, Shen Lian refined another batch of pills—including Joy Pills—and handed them to Luo Fei for sale. He, meanwhile, left Black Whale City for Black Rock Island, intent on reforging the Five Elements Mountain.