In the conference hall on Dan Cloud Peak.

The six Elders appeared here once again.

After seeing the other five take their seats, Bai Heyan finally presented his proposal.

"From now on, Elder Fang will be assigned fifty percent of the tasks for refining Spirit Ascension Pills."

Among Second Tier pills, the Spirit Ascension Pill had the most refining tasks. Just counting the pills used by early-stage and mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators, Spirit Ascension Pill tasks accounted for over fifty percent of the total.

Fang Yun now had fifty percent of the Spirit Ascension Pill refining tasks... Although he wasn’t an Elder of Dan Cloud Peak, he was even more capable than Dan Cloud Peak’s Elders of Alchemy.

Wan Xuanye wanted to object the moment he heard Bai Heyan’s first sentence, but the results of his alchemy competition with Fang Yun were already out—and it had been a complete and utter loss.

For now, all he could do was remain silent. As long as Bai Heyan didn’t say anything too outrageous, he had no choice but to agree.

"For every task to refine a cauldron of Spirit Ascension Pills, if he successfully refines seven pills, Elder Fang will have the priority to take two of them. As for the five tiers of rewards for refining Spirit Ascension Pills, he can claim those as usual..."

The other Elders of Alchemy had a baseline of seven Spirit Ascension Pills, while Fang Yun’s was only five. In theory, it would be much harder for him to obtain the highest-tier reward than the other Elders.

In reality, however, with his astonishing talent, Fang Yun could still meet the standard for the highest reward after refining eighty cauldrons, even if he took two Upper Grade Spirit Ascension Pills for himself.

"...And finally, once Elder Fang can perfectly refine Spirit Ascension Pills, he will have the priority to take three of them."

This was something Bai Heyan had added on the spot after Fang Yun’s alchemy competition against Wan Xuanye.

Previously, he hadn’t thought it possible for Fang Yun to perfectly refine Spirit Ascension Pills in the future.

But now, things were different. He felt Fang Yun truly might be able to do it.

Perfectly refining a Second Tier pill was vastly more difficult than a Tier One pill.

Before becoming an Elder of Alchemy, Bai Heyan could already perfectly refine seven different types of Tier One pills.

Yet for Second Tier pills, even with the Spirit Ascension Pill he refined most often, his best result was three Upper Grade pills and two Lower Grade pills. The remaining two were Wasted Pills.

"That won’t do. We need to add a condition," Wan Xuanye spoke up.

Like Bai Heyan, he too inwardly admitted that Fang Yun truly had the potential to perfectly refine Spirit Ascension Pills in the future. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have spoken up.

"What condition? Please, speak, Elder Wan."

"Only if all seven pills are Upper Grade Spirit Ascension Pills can Elder Fang take three." Wan Xuanye placed a small restriction on Fang Yun.

Among Three-Core Spirit Flowers, a Second Tier, Lower Grade spirit medicine, inferior quality specimens made up about sixty percent of the stock.

In the art of plant cultivation, the difficulty spiked dramatically when it came to growing Second Tier spirit medicines. Within the Celestial Cloud Sect, superior quality Second Tier spirit medicines barely made up half a percent of the total supply.

Bai Heyan thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Very well."

After all, it was a clause he had added on the spot.

Regarding the matter of Fang Yun, Wan Xuanye said nothing more after speaking up that one time, remaining silent through all of Bai Heyan’s other arrangements.

This was because Bai Heyan’s subsequent arrangements for Fang Yun were also quite reasonable.

The meeting concluded.

Fang Yun left with Song Qiaoqiao, very satisfied with the outcome.

Both the tasks for refining Second Tier pills and the rewards for refining Spirit Ascension Pills were much better than he had expected.

After all, he wasn’t an Elder of Alchemy exclusive to Dan Cloud Peak.

Returning to Song Qiaoqiao’s cave residence, he continued the conversation they hadn’t finished earlier. This time, their chat also included the details of the meeting that had just ended.

Four hours later, Fang Yun finally left Dan Cloud Peak and returned to Artifact Casting Peak.

He sat cross-legged on his rush mat.

Fang Yun took a deep red Jade Scroll from his Storage Pouch.

He still hadn’t absorbed the Foundation Establishment Fire Attribute Technique, the *Nine Fire Lotus Technique*.

He pressed the deep red Jade Scroll to the spot between his eyebrows. A massive amount of information flooded into his Sea of Consciousness, yet he didn’t feel the slightest discomfort.

Back in the Qi Refining Stage, before his Sea of Consciousness had been opened, such a massive influx of information would have caused dizziness at the very least. On top of that, he would have been unable to process the information quickly and would have needed a long time to digest and absorb it.

After reaching Foundation Establishment, one’s Spirit, Essence, and Qi underwent a complete qualitative transformation. During meditative cultivation, the Sea of Consciousness could generate and store a certain amount of Mental Power. This was why Foundation Establishment Cultivators could go for long periods without sleep.

Meditative cultivation could replace sleep and rest.

Of course, in terms of comfort, the latter was certainly far more pleasant than the former.

Compared to his time in the Qi Refining Stage, Fang Yun’s schedule was much more flexible now that he had broken through to the Foundation Establishment Stage. He barely had to consider when he needed to sleep to recover his energy.

It didn’t take long for Fang Yun to master the basic conversion part of the Foundation Establishment Technique, the *Nine Fire Lotus Technique*.

As long as he mastered this part, he could convert the Wood Attribute Liquid Spiritual Power from the *Cyan Wood Technique* in his Qi Sea into the Fire Attribute Liquid Spiritual Power of the *Nine Fire Lotus Technique*.

This would be a rather lengthy process.

Fortunately, the current Fang Yun could continue this process for extended periods. When he got hungry, he just needed to take an Upper Grade Grain Avoidance Pill.

After the qualitative change in their level of life, Foundation Establishment Cultivators gained the ability to absorb the surrounding Spiritual Qi and convert it into energy for their own activities. However, the conversion rate was relatively low, and actually doing so would be a waste of time—especially for someone like Fang Yun, who possessed Five Spirit Roots.

For long cultivation sessions, he would take Grain Avoidance Pills. For shorter sessions, he would eat Spiritual Food, which could also aid in raising his cultivation.

In this regard, Fang Yun had already planned everything out for himself perfectly.

...

「In the Disciple Marketplace.」

The disciples running the stalls were chatting among themselves.

As they chatted, the topic eventually turned to Fang Yun.

"Say, it’s been a long time since Senior Brother Fang showed up here, hasn’t it?"

"What ’Senior Brother Fang’? You should be calling him Elder Fang now." An Inner Sect Disciple who was passing by chimed in.

"Senior Brother Fang successfully reached Foundation Establishment? When did that happen? Junior Brother, how did you find out?"

"Just two days ago. I was at the Celestial Cloud Pavilion and saw Senior Brother Fang... uh, no, Elder Fang, getting his Identity Token replaced."

"Now that he’s an Elder, Senior Brother Fang probably won’t be coming here anymore."

"Even if he is an Elder, I still hope Senior Brother Fang can refine more Upper Grade Magical Artifacts for dealing with Demons. Besides him, no other Artifact Refiner in the sect can make them."

"It’s Elder Fang."

"I know, I know. It’s just hard to break the habit."

News spread like this, from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred.

For someone as famous in the sect as Fang Yun, this kind of news spread even faster.

From the Disciple Marketplace to Battle Peak, and then throughout the entire sect.

Within a few days, most of the Inner Sect Disciples in the sect had heard the news of Fang Yun’s Foundation Establishment.

Many Inner Sect Disciples understood that Fang Yun successfully reaching Foundation Establishment and becoming a Sect Elder was an incredibly beneficial event for the sect.

Some Inner Sect Disciples were already starting to think that if they could successfully reach Foundation Establishment in the future, they would have a reliable source for both refined Spiritual Artifacts and Foundation Establishment Stage pills.

Fang Yun’s talents in Artifact Refining and Alchemy had enriched these resources.

...

「Mid-February.」

In Fang Yun’s cave residence on Artifact Casting Peak.

"It’s finally done."

Fang Yun looked inward at his Qi Sea. After more than half a month, the cyan pool had completely transformed into a red one.

All of his Liquid Spiritual Power now belonged to the Foundation Establishment Technique, the *Nine Fire Lotus Technique*. After a cultivation technique is converted, even switching to a technique of the same attribute requires a spiritual power conversion process, though that process would be much more efficient than what Fang Yun just went through.

If he had been cultivating a Wood Attribute Foundation Establishment Technique, he would have completed the spiritual power conversion last month.

During his closed-door seclusion to convert his spiritual power, he had muted the notifications from the light screen.

Now, opening the light screen, he could see information about his increased Sect Influence, as well as the previous month’s Talent Point settlement.

——

Refined 3 Upper Grade Spirit Ascension Pills, Talent Points +1134.

...

Sect Level: 3

Sect Position: Elder (60%)

Sect Influence: 49%

Regional Influence: [Not Unlocked]

Talent Point Bonus: 327%

Settlement: Talent Points +6815.

——

He had only refined one cauldron of Spirit Ascension Pills last month and hadn’t earned any Talent Points from other sources.

The bonus for being a Sect Elder was 20% higher than for an Inner Sect Disciple. His actual Sect Influence had already reached 51%, with the last two percentage points added this month.

’Excellent. The extra Talent Point bonus has reached 3.27 times.’

Fang Yun nodded in satisfaction. Refining one cauldron of Spirit Ascension Pills gave him a base of 1596 Talent Points, so the final settlement was more than four times that.

It was worth mentioning that, unlike with Tier One pills, the Talent Points provided by an Upper Grade Second Tier pill were double that of a Middle Grade one. For Tier One pills, an Upper Grade was double a Lower Grade.

He had sixty-eight chances to draw for Life Talents. Fang Yun didn’t hesitate, immediately starting the draws and converting all of them into fragments for his three Life Talents.

As he closed the light screen, he took one last look at the notification about his Sect Influence.

’The vast majority of Elders and disciples in the sect should know about my successful Foundation Establishment by now. Until I break through to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, it won’t be so easy to increase my influence further.’

From the increase in his Sect Influence, it wasn’t difficult for Fang Yun to deduce how many Elders and disciples in the sect now knew about his Foundation Establishment.

His Sect Influence was already at 51%. There probably wouldn’t be any new increases for the next several years.

The Sect Level was still 3. To become a Level 4 sect, the upper echelons of the sect would have to work much harder. This was something that might not be achieved for decades, or even a century.

Fang Yun opened his palm, and a ball of red flame rose from its center.

"So this is the Foundation Establishment True Flame."

For ordinary use, the Foundation Establishment True Flame didn’t consume much Spiritual Power. But if used against an enemy, the consumption was on a completely different level.

Unless a Fire Attribute Foundation Establishment Technique contained a specific method for enhancing the power of the Foundation Establishment True Flame, no Foundation Establishment Cultivator would use it against an enemy of the same level. They might use it to scorch a Qi Refining Stage opponent, though.

For Fang Yun, the Foundation Establishment True Flame would only be used for Alchemy and Artifact Refining from now on.

In his current view, its power was too weak. It couldn’t even compare to the Upper Grade Magical Artifact, the Yellow Iron Sword, when enhanced by his four-star Combat Talent.

Fang Yun clenched his fist, and the Foundation Establishment True Flame in his hand vanished without a trace.

’It’s been a long time since I’ve rested or slept... It seems I’ve already gotten used to it.’