Chapter 269: Chapter 241: Actual Effect (2)

If he had come across a late-stage Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiner, their patriarch wouldn’t have been foolish enough to attack.

"The Patriarch must have misjudged his opponent’s strength, leading to this outcome."

"But just how badly would he have to misjudge their strength to be unable to even send a message back?" Mo Yuanhai spoke up at that moment, immediately posing a question.

For Foundation Establishment Level Demon Cultivators like them, sending a message was far easier than escaping.

Even if he couldn’t escape the Spirit Refiner’s grasp, he should have at least been able to send word, right?

Having asked the question, Mo Yuanhai immediately recalled something: the time when the Stone Demon Sect’s Sect Leader and Vice Sect Leader were completely wiped out.

Back then, not a single scrap of information had made it back either, which was why he was still running around like a headless chicken now, without a single clue.

If they had been able to send messages back, the current situation would be much, much better.

"Perhaps the difference in strength was simply too great."

The male Foundation Establishment Demon from the Feng Family shifted to analyzing another possibility.

If the power gap was too large, it was perfectly normal for a message not to get through.

Without enough information to go on, the three of them talked in circles, only able to speculate on the possibilities behind Patriarch Feng’s death.

They couldn’t determine who, exactly, had killed Patriarch Feng.

In the end, Mo Yuanhai told the two remaining Foundation Establishment members of the Feng Family to quickly choose a new patriarch.

With the patriarch dead, the Feng Family couldn’t be without a new leader.

The result was that the male Foundation Establishment Demon from the Feng Family became the new patriarch.

"From now on, cut back on acting on your own. Don’t go getting yourselves killed in Celestial Cloud Sect territory again," Mo Yuanhai said, looking at the two of them.

He couldn’t afford to lose any more of the forces at his disposal.

If his numbers dwindled further, he would be left relying on a few Qi Refining Stage Demons, and the information he could gather would be even more limited.

Hearing this, the two Foundation Establishment Demons from the Feng Family both indicated they understood.

Their former patriarch was a middle-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, after all, while they were only at the early stage.

An early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator lying in wait in Celestial Cloud Sect territory could only hope to ambush Qi Refining Stage Spirit Refiners. As for killing an early-stage Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiner, whether they could even pull it off was another question entirely.

Only by reaching the middle stage, like their former patriarch, would they have a chance of successfully ambushing an early-stage Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiner in Celestial Cloud Sect territory.

...

「Celestial Cloud Sect Territory.」

On Artifact Casting Peak of the Celestial Cloud Sect, inside Fang Yun’s cave residence.

Upon returning to the sect, Bai Qinying immediately came here to see if Fang Yun was in seclusion for Artifact Refining or Alchemy.

"Senior Sister Bai, weren’t you the Guardian at the Xiao Family’s ancestral land?" Fang Yun asked the moment he saw Bai Qinying enter.

"It’s been over a year and nothing happened, so I came back." Bai Qinying walked over quickly and sat down next to Fang Yun. "From now on, I’m going to be like you and just take reinforcement missions. Unless it’s a special situation, I’m done with Guardian missions."

Fang Yun nodded. ’So that’s how it is.’

Given Bai Qinying’s personality, he wasn’t surprised she had made such a decision.

"But I had some gains on my way back this time."

Fang Yun could tell from Bai Qinying’s expression that she wanted him to ask about it.

"Oh? What kind of gains? Senior Sister, tell me the details."

"Mhm." Bai Qinying nodded and began to explain. "It was like this..."

Bai Qinying recounted how she had been ambushed by a middle-stage Foundation Establishment Demon on her way back, and how she had dealt with him.

At the end of her story, she began to praise the Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact that Fang Yun had refined for her.

"...Junior Brother, this Demon-Binding Rope you refined is amazing. It completely immobilized even a middle-stage Foundation Establishment Demon."

As Fang Yun listened to her account, he focused on the part where the middle-stage Foundation Establishment Demon tried to send a message, only to be easily stopped by Bai Qinying.

This meant the middle-stage Foundation Establishment Demon hadn’t managed to get a message out.

This was good news.

Fang Yun knew that the Celestial Demon Sect would find out sooner or later that he could refine Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts with special properties against Demons.

It was naturally better for them to find out later rather than sooner.

If they found out later, they wouldn’t be on guard against the Elders of the Celestial Cloud Sect. This would give the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Elders the opportunity to use the Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts in their possession to kill Demons, just like Bai Qinying did.

"By the way, Junior Brother, when will you be able to refine Middle Grade Spiritual Artifacts that are effective against Demons?" As she asked this, Bai Qinying was already filled with anticipation.

Hearing this, Fang Yun glanced at his current Life Talent interface.

’Let’s see, it’s been nearly four years since I upgraded all my Combat Talents to five stars.’

During that period, he had acquired around 4.5 million Talent Points.

On average, that came out to over ninety thousand Talent Points per month.

Currently, his Alchemy, Artifact Refining, and Planting Talents each needed a little over 2.2 million more fragments to be upgraded again.

In total, that was over 6.6 million Talent Points. At his average acquisition rate of over ninety thousand Talent Points per month, it would take roughly another six years to upgrade all his Life Talents to seven stars.

"A few years at the shortest, more than ten at the longest." After some thought, Fang Yun gave her a rough time frame.

Based on the patterns he’d figured out so far, he would only be able to refine Middle Grade Spiritual Artifacts effective against Demons after upgrading his Artifact Refining Talent to seven stars.

"If it’s fast, it could be just a few years!" Bai Qinying said joyfully.

For a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, a few years really wasn’t a long time.

Bai Qinying calculated that it would probably take her about five or six years to cultivate to the peak of the early-stage Foundation Establishment Realm and break through to the middle stage. By then, she would be able to advance to the next stage.

If she was lucky, she might be able to start gathering the corresponding Spiritual Materials Fang Yun needed not long after she broke through to the middle stage.

"Junior Brother, let me tell you the specifics of how the Demon-Binding Rope performed in practice. Maybe it can help you refine a Middle Grade version of it."

"Okay, Senior Sister. Go ahead."

As Fang Yun nodded, Bai Qinying began to elaborate in detail.

Fang Yun listened carefully to her description. For the most part, it matched his own understanding of the Demon-Binding Rope from when he had refined it. In fact, accounting for a few minor differences, the rope had actually performed even better in real combat.

Listening to this wouldn’t help him one bit in refining a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact effective against Demons. Without his Artifact Refining Talent at the seven-star level, he wouldn’t be able to refine one even if he were given a hundred or two hundred years. However, her feedback was useful in one regard: it could help him improve his process for refining this type of Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact.

「After Bai Qinying left.」

After reflecting on their conversation, Fang Yun resumed refining and absorbing the Upper Grade Spirit Ascension Pills.

His cultivation progress was decent.

If there were no surprises, by next year, the Liquid Spiritual Power in his Qi Sea would reach fifteen percent of its capacity. This represented a fifty percent increase over the amount he had when he first entered the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Once his Liquid Spiritual Power accumulated to twenty-five percent, he would reach the peak of the early-stage Foundation Establishment Realm.

This was a very good rate of progress, considering it had only been a little over six years since he had broken through to Foundation Establishment.

「Less than half a month later.」

Fang Yun’s figure appeared in the Dan Cloud Pavilion on Dan Cloud Peak.

"Elder Fang, this is your refining task for this time."

Fang Yun took the mission slip and glanced at it.

"Purple Essence Pill."

The Purple Essence Pill was a Second Tier pill. Its effects were similar to the Cyan Clarity Pill, except the Cyan Clarity Pill was suitable for aiding the breakthrough from the peak of early-stage Foundation Establishment to the middle stage, while the Purple Essence Pill was for breaking through from the peak of the middle stage to the late stage.

Judging by their effects, the Purple Essence Pill was undoubtedly more valuable.

With two sets of Spirit Medicines for refining the Purple Essence Pill in hand, Fang Yun began to inspect them.

Like the Cyan Clarity Pill, the Purple Essence Pill also required two main Spirit Medicines for its refinement: one was the Second Tier Upper Grade Spirit Medicine, the Purple Ji Flower, and the other was the Second Tier Middle Grade Spirit Medicine, the Star Water Ganoderma.

The Second Tier Upper Grade Purple Ji Flower among them had an age of fifty-four years.

For a Second Tier Upper Grade Spirit Medicine, this was considered quite old.

Both sets of the main Spirit Medicines were of ’Good’ quality, and many of the auxiliary Spirit Medicines were of ’Excellent’ quality.

After finishing his inspection, Fang Yun returned to prepare for the refining of the Purple Essence Pill.

Three years ago, he had already studied the Pill Formula for the Purple Essence Pill.

At that time, Bai Heyan had told him that in about three years, he would be given a task to refine the Purple Essence Pill, and that he should prepare in advance.