I Can Upgrade My Talent Infinitely

Chapter 347 - 280: Future Sect Leader (2)

"Elder Li, if you have something to say, just say it." The green-robed old man spoke up when he saw Li Mingyi hesitating.

Li Mingyi looked as if he had something difficult to bring up.

"It’s like this, Elder Tang. I have to inform you of something. In the future, some of the sect’s Spirit Medicines for refining Foundation Establishment Pills will be given to someone else to refine."

"What?!" Tang Huobing glared at Li Mingyi.

Li Mingyi couldn’t help but swallow. He knew Tang Huobing would react this way.

As the Wind Ling Sect’s best Elder of Alchemy, Tang Huobing’s temper... wasn’t the greatest, especially when it came to matters of Alchemy.

"Is there any other Elder in the entire Wind Ling Sect more suited to refining Foundation Establishment Pills than me?"

"It’s not an Elder from our sect. They’ll be given to an Elder from another sect to refine."

"I want to know who it is." As he asked this, Tang Huobing’s expression changed completely.

It wasn’t even another Elder of Alchemy from within the sect, but an Alchemy Master from another sect. This was even harder for him to accept.

"Fang Yun of the Celestial Cloud Sect."

As Li Mingyi said Fang Yun’s name, he thought to himself, ’If only Elder Tang’s temper were as good as Fang Yun’s.’

They say that talented Alchemy Masters generally have difficult tempers, more or less, but in his eyes, Fang Yun seemed perfectly normal.

Most importantly, Fang Yun’s talent in Alchemy was truly exceptional. Give him four sets of ordinary Spirit Medicines for a Foundation Establishment Pill, and he could reliably refine one Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill.

"Fang Yun..." Tang Huobing thought for a moment. "I know him. He’s the disciple who won the Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill I refined at the Four-Sect Trial. Just thinking about it infuriates me! I still haven’t settled the score with you for that. Who was it that swore up and down we’d definitely take first place in the trial, and that the Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill we put up as a prize would end up right back in our own pockets?"

Li Mingyi remained silent.

There was truly nothing he could say about the matter.

He had wholeheartedly accepted their loss to Fang Yun for first place in the Four-Sect Trial. Lin Caixuan had also worked very hard. If the Celestial Cloud Sect hadn’t had Fang Yun participating, they would have been the ones to take first.

"I will never agree to this!" Tang Huobing declared, making his stance clear.

Li Mingyi slowly stated a fact. "Elder Tang... the sect has already made its decision."

This was something they had decided long ago.

Tang Huobing’s bad temper could be indulged to an extent, but he couldn’t effectively stop a matter the sect had already decided on.

Because he was the one who had agreed to the deal with Fang Yun during the Four-Sect Trial, the job of placating Elder Tang fell to him.

The other Elders had simply pushed the matter onto him. Naturally, he had argued his case, trying to get the other Elders to do the placating instead.

But for the sake of the rather large amount of Sect Contribution Points the sect was offering, he had compromised.

He had been a bit short on Contribution Points recently.

"Since the sect has already decided, what’s the point of telling me? You might as well just pretend you don’t have me as an Elder of Alchemy."

"Elder Tang, don’t be angry. Please hear me out. The sect made this decision because we need several Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills. By giving Fang Yun just four sets of ordinary Spirit Medicines, he can reliably refine one Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill for us."

"Has that little fellow’s Alchemy skill already reached such a level?" Tang Huobing couldn’t help but take a deep breath. "That old man Bai never mentioned this to me."

’Wasn’t he afraid of agitating an old man like you?’ Li Mingyi thought.

There was something else he hadn’t said, nor did he dare to say it directly.

It was about how Fang Yun would give the Wind Ling Sect a discount of two sets of Spirit Medicines for the first Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill he refined for them.

He was afraid that if he mentioned this, Tang Huobing would overthink it, wondering if Li Mingyi was implicitly telling him his temper was bad and that he should change his ways.

’Just look at Fang Yun, for example.’

"In the last thirty-odd years, the title of Celestial Cloud Sect’s best Alchemy Master has changed hands."

"For the Celestial Cloud Sect, this is a good thing," Li Mingyi added.

"If that Bai comes looking for me in the future, I just won’t see him. If an Alchemy Master from the Celestial Cloud Sect wants to see me, it had better be their best one."

"You’re right, Elder Tang," Li Mingyi agreed.

Now that the matter was explained, his next task was to say things to make Tang Huobing happy. If Tang Huobing needed someone to agree with him, he would immediately chime in.

For now, Tang Huobing’s mood was relatively stable.

Perhaps it was because he had learned that Fang Yun was still a young Alchemy Master.

At Fang Yun’s current age, he was indeed considered very young among Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

"When preparing the Spirit Medicines for the Celestial Cloud Sect, you absolutely must not give them superior-grade ones. Just give them good-grade ones," Tang Huobing stressed.

If the Spirit Medicines for refining Foundation Establishment Pills were all superior-grade, even he had a twenty percent chance of producing a Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill.

But if they were all merely good-grade, it would be exceptionally difficult.

"Elder Tang, we understand this point."

"Also, next time something like this comes up, you must discuss it with me first. What’s the meaning of you all deciding on your own?"

"Yes, yes," Li Mingyi continued to agree.

’For now, whatever Elder Tang says is right. As for what to do later, we’ll still do what we planned to do.’

...

「Celestial Cloud Sect.」

「Artifact Casting Peak.」

Almost half a month had passed since the conclusion of the Four-Sect Trial.

At this moment, Bai Heyan appeared in Fang Yun’s dwelling.

"Fang Yun, I heard from Qin Ying that you sold a Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill to the Vast Sea Sect for the price of four sets of ordinary Spirit Medicines."

Fang Yun nodded. ’That was the refining fee, not the selling price.’

’Then again... Bai Heyan’s way of putting it wasn’t exactly wrong, either.’

He had originally planned to go to Dan Cloud Peak later to talk to Bai Heyan about this, but it just so happened that Bai Qinying had already told him.

Bai Heyan showing up here saved him the effort.

"Elder Bai, is there a problem?" Fang Yun asked.

"I think your selling price is too low. This is a Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill. I believe that whether it’s the Vast Sea Sect, the Wind Ling Sect, or the Star Moon Valley, they would all be willing to trade more Spirit Medicines for one."

"Helping them out a little isn’t a bad thing for us."

"I know that."

Bai Heyan naturally understood the benefits the Celestial Cloud Sect could gain if the other Three Sects grew stronger, but he still felt that Fang Yun had set his refining fee a bit too low.

This was a guaranteed way to obtain a Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill.

A single Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, if used well on a disciple with Mixed Spirit Roots but high talent in the Hundred Skills of Cultivation, could help them successfully reach Foundation Establishment. The subsequent benefit to the sect would be immense—just like with their own Fang Yun.

Considering this, the value of a Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill was even higher.

Furthermore, some Core Formation Cultivators within the sect were very willing to spend a great deal to help their descendants, just like their Supreme Elder Zheng Wuji.

"Elder Bai, I believe a lower refining fee will help us receive more Spirit Medicines for refining." Fang Yun’s words had a certain logic to them.

If someone originally only wanted two Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, a reasonable price might make them decide to get three instead.

"Alright, I’ll leave it at that. I just wanted to give you a reminder."

Fang Yun had already made his decision regarding the refining of Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills.

It wasn’t as if he, Bai Heyan, could go back on the deal for Fang Yun. Besides, reneging on something like this would not only cause Fang Yun to lose face but would also affect the friendship between the Celestial Cloud Sect and the other Three Sects.

They could only do as Fang Yun said.

"You have four sets of Spirit Medicines for refining Foundation Establishment Pills on hand right now, correct?"

"Yes."

"What do you plan to do with the Foundation Establishment Pills you refine?"

Fang Yun gave Bai Heyan a surprised look. He had assumed Bai Qinying told him everything.

"I’ll just trade these Foundation Establishment Pills for some Sect Contribution Points, as usual."

"That’s good." Bai Heyan nodded in satisfaction before adding encouragingly, "Refine a few more batches of Foundation Establishment Pills. I hope you can achieve perfect refinement soon."

Once Fang Yun reached that level, his impact on the Celestial Cloud Sect would be even greater.