Chapter 271: Chapter 242: Beyond Expectations

If a sect wanted to have many Foundation Establishment Cultivators, strategic resources like the Foundation Establishment Pill were indispensable.

With Fang Yun’s Alchemy Talent, perhaps a hundred years from now, most of the Foundation Establishment Pills he refined would be upper-grade, with the rest being middle-grade.

A Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill could almost guarantee that a cultivator with Three Spirit Roots would break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, and the majority of cultivators within the Celestial Cloud Sect possessed Three Spirit Roots.

Among the disciples who had cultivated to the Peak of Qi Refining, those with Three Spirit Roots were also the most numerous.

...

「Battle Peak.」

Inside the conference hall.

The Elders filed in one after another, finding their seats.

The Battle Peak Elders sitting near Elder Cao soon noticed a change in his aura; he was no longer at the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment.

"Huh? Elder Cao, you’ve broken through to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment! Congratulations!"

"To succeed on your first try, your luck is really something, Elder Cao."

"It wasn’t luck." Elder Cao shook his head. "To break through to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment this time, I used three whole Middle-grade Purple Essence Pills."

Recalling the process of breaking through to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment, Elder Cao couldn’t help but feel his luck had been terrible.

With the help of three Middle-grade Purple Essence Pills and his talent, he should have had at least a ninety percent chance of a smooth breakthrough. In the end, the process was fraught with difficulty, and he had come dangerously close to failing.

’If I’d had even one less Middle-grade Purple Essence Pill,’ he thought, ’I don’t think I would have succeeded at all.’

"Three Middle-grade Purple Essence Pills? You can buy that many middle-grade ones now?" one of the Battle Peak Elders asked, puzzled.

"Hahaha, Elder Jin, you should keep up with the sect’s news. The restrictions on purchasing Purple Essence Pills have changed."

"How have they changed?" Elder Jin asked curiously.

"Now, if you want to buy Purple Essence Pills, you must first cultivate to the peak of the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment. Other than that, there are no other restrictions."

"So your cultivation has to meet the standard. That means you can’t reserve Purple Essence Pills in advance anymore. That’s truly a good thing."

Hearing this, several other Battle Peak Elders nodded. It was indeed a good thing.

The old reservation system was full of unspoken rules and loopholes.

An ordinary elder at the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment would have found it nearly impossible to reserve a Middle-grade Purple Essence Pill; they could usually only get lower-grade ones.

"After Elder Fang started refining Purple Essence Pills, word came from Dan Cloud Peak that there would be a guaranteed supply from now on. They said that Elders who haven’t reached the peak of the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment don’t need to worry or rush to reserve pills. As long as your cultivation reaches that level, you’ll definitely be able to purchase Purple Essence Pills."

"Elder Cao, three Middle-grade Purple Essence Pills... that must have cost a considerable amount of Spirit Stone Contribution Points. You really spared no expense," Elder Jin continued, looking at Elder Cao.

’With Elder Cao’s talent, two Middle-grade Purple Essence Pills should have been enough,’ he thought. ’Or he could have swapped the third one for a lower-grade pill.’

A seventy to eighty percent chance of success was already quite high. The resources needed to increase it by another ten percent were enough to have boosted it by forty or fifty percent from the start.

"As long as I could break through to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment, it was all worth it," Elder Cao replied.

After buying three Middle-grade Purple Essence Pills, he, who had originally possessed a great number of Sect Contribution Points, now had fewer than three hundred left.

"Elder Cao is right. Elder Jin, I know what you’re thinking. Do you feel that Elder Cao was being a bit wasteful?"

"Not at all. I was just speaking casually."

"Do you think I don’t know you, Elder Jin? ...Never mind, we’ll just say you were speaking casually. We never had the chance to buy three Middle-grade Purple Essence Pills before. Now that we do, why wouldn’t we use the Spirit Stones and Contribution Points we have?"

As the Elders chatted, Management Elder Miao Qinghong appeared once all the Battle Peak Elders had arrived in the conference hall.

"Elder Feng, tell us about the general situation," Miao Qinghong said, glancing at Feng Tianrui beside her.

"Yes."

Feng Tianrui nodded lightly, then rose and swept his gaze over the assembled Battle Peak Elders before speaking.

"There’s no movement from the Demon Spirit Sect for now. Among the Celestial Demon Sect’s affiliated Foundation Establishment influences, both Iron Tiger Manor and the Feng Family have each lost one Foundation Establishment Demon. On our side, our affiliated Foundation Establishment influence, Red Flame Valley, has lost one Foundation Establishment Cultivator..."

It was still the very beginning of the war, so not many Foundation Establishment Level battles had occurred. Most of them resulted in injuries; so far, there had only been three confirmed kills.

Many Qi Refining Level battles had taken place, and Feng Tianrui briefly summarized the situations where Sect Disciples had killed Qi Refining Demons.

Overall, the results were fairly decent.

As he finished, Feng Tianrui’s gaze fell upon his disciple, Bai Qinying.

"Qinying, tell us how you killed the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Demon from the Feng Family."

"Yes, Master."

After Feng Tianrui sat down, Bai Qinying rose to her feet.

At that moment, all the Battle Peak Elders turned their attention to Bai Qinying.

Before long, Bai Qinying had recounted the entire battle with the Feng Family’s Foundation Establishment Demon and even shared some of the experience she had gained from killing it.

"Elder Bai is incredible! And the Lower-grade Spiritual Artifact refined by Elder Fang is so effective. It’s a shame I don’t have one yet."

"The Spiritual Materials Elder Fang requires are hard to gather. I still haven’t collected half of them, but obtaining such a Lower-grade Spiritual Artifact is well worth it."

"Speaking of which, the Demons in the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory don’t know we have Lower-grade Spiritual Artifacts specifically designed to counter them, do they?"

"That’s right." Bai Qinying nodded. "The Feng Family’s Foundation Establishment Demon tried to send a message, but I stopped him. I suspect the message he was trying to send was about the Lower-grade Spiritual Artifact I was using."

At this point, Feng Tianrui spoke up again.

"The longer it takes for the Demons to find out that Elder Fang can refine Lower-grade Spiritual Artifacts to counter them, the better. Once they’re on guard, it will become much harder for us to kill them. According to feedback from our disciples, the Qi Refining Stage Demons they fight are already focusing on defending against the Magical Artifacts our disciples use."

"A few days ago, I received the Lower-grade Spiritual Artifact Elder Fang refined for me to deal with Demons. I wonder when I’ll have the good fortune to run into an Early-stage Foundation Establishment Demon."

"Elder Zhou, want to try your luck in the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory?"

"Stop with your terrible ideas, Elder Gao. We have a much greater advantage fighting within our own sect’s territory."

The Battle Peak Elders chimed in one after another.

The vast majority of their discussion revolved around the current situation.

They discussed their own advantages as well as the advantages held by the Demons.

...

...

「Demon Spirit Sect Territory.」

The Demon Spirit Sect was located atop a gigantic, ancient tree, with grand halls built upon its three thickest branches.

In one of these halls sat the Demon Spirit Sect Leader.

"Sect Leader, the Spirit Destruction Hall Master of the Celestial Demon Sect requests an audience."

"Bring him in."

"Yes."

Unlike the Celestial Cloud Sect, the Demon Spirit Sect Leader’s position was beneath that of the Supreme Elders.

The Demon Spirit Sect Leader was also not a Core Formation Demon; the role was usually held by a Demon at the Late-stage Foundation Establishment or the Peak of Foundation Establishment.

In terms of status within the sect, the Demon Spirit Sect Leader was second only to the Supreme Elders. This was similar to the status of the Spirit Destruction Hall Master within the Celestial Demon Sect. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Sect Leader Luo, my respects," said Jiang Yingtian, the Spirit Destruction Hall Master of the Celestial Demon Sect, as he entered.

"Fellow Daoist Jiang, what brings you all the way over here today?" the Demon Spirit Sect Leader asked, feigning ignorance.

"Sect Leader Luo, surely you know why I’ve come?"

"How would I know if you don’t tell me?" the Demon Spirit Sect Leader asked with a smile.

"The only reason I would come in person is for matters concerning the Celestial Cloud Sect." Seeing the other party’s pretense, Jiang Yingtian decided to be direct. "It’s time for your Demon Spirit Sect to take decisive action against the Celestial Cloud Sect."

"Unlike in the past, the Celestial Cloud Sect now has an Elder who can refine artifacts that counter ours. Not only that, but his alchemy skill is also exceptional. We absolutely cannot allow an Elder like that from the Celestial Cloud Sect to continue developing."

Facing the Demon Spirit Sect Leader, Jiang Yingtian made sure to emphasize the gravity of the situation.

"He’s skilled in both artifact refining and alchemy... A Spirit Refiner like that in the Celestial Cloud Sect is surely holed up inside his sect year-round. Fellow Daoist Jiang, if you want to eliminate him, you’ll need to cripple more than half of the Celestial Cloud Sect just to get a chance."