"Are you selling or buying items?"
Dong Yue raised her eyes to glance at Wang Jianqiang, her flawless face showing indifference.
"I wish to purchase the formulas for the Body Nourishing Pill and the Qing Ling Pill."
Wang Jianqiang did not mind the cold tone of the Outer Sect Elder.
It was just Dong Yue's personality; she wasn't targeting him specifically. She treated everyone the same way.
Upon hearing Wang Jianqiang's request, Dong Yue's expression shifted slightly.
The Outer Sect's Affairs Hall was the only place where items were bought and sold within the He Huan Sect, and ever since Wang Jianqiang began studying alchemy, he had frequented the hall often.
Moreover, his reputation in the Outer Sect was significant.
Even though Dong Yue had a cold personality and never paid particular attention to any Outer Sect disciple, she had an impression of him.
If she remembered correctly, Wang Jianqiang should only be a First-tier Low-level Alchemist, right?
The Body Nourishing Pill and Qing Ling Pill were both First-tier Mid-level pills, and they were top-quality pills of their rank.
For ordinary First-tier Mid-level Alchemists, making them was extremely difficult.
What would a First-tier Low-level Alchemist need these formulas for?
Had his alchemy skills improved so much?
Dong Yue shook her head inwardly.
Unfortunately, a First-tier Mid-level Alchemist wasn't impressive.
Even in the Outer Sect, there were nearly eighty to one hundred First-tier High-level Alchemists.
Some of them were highly talented and hadn't even reached forty years of age yet.
She knew Wang Jianqiang was very hardworking in cultivation, but sometimes, effort alone wouldn't yield results.
In the way of cultivation, talent was especially important.
Whether in alchemy or in cultivating immortality, Wang Jianqiang's talent was lacking.
Often, he would spend ten years of hard work, and even then, it wouldn't compare to the cultivation progress of someone with innate talent who only practiced for a month.
She even foresaw Wang Jianqiang's fate—his life would end in a few years, leaving only a pile of ashes.
Cultivation was like walking on a single-plank bridge. Some would fall off at the start, while others could hold on a bit longer, but if they couldn't cross it completely, they would ultimately fail.
Thinking of this, her expression darkened for a moment before returning to normal.
She took out two jade slips from her storage ring and casually tossed them toward Wang Jianqiang. "Two hundred spirit stones."
"Thank you, Elder."
Wang Jianqiang took the two jade slips, bought some other medicinal ingredients, and then bowed to Dong Yue as he left.
As he turned, his gaze subtly swept over Dong Yue's chest before he quickly departed.
Status Check
Name: Dong Yue
Gender: Female
Age: 175/200
Root: Golden Spiritual Root
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment Perfection
Current Good and Evil Points: 0
After leaving the Affairs Hall, Wang Jianqiang recalled the data that had appeared in his mind when he looked at Dong Yue. He was surprised.
Dong Yue had a rare Golden Spiritual Root!
Normally, people with a Golden Spiritual Root could easily break through to the Core Formation stage.
But Dong Yue was stuck at the Perfection stage of Foundation Establishment, close to the end of her life, and hadn't been able to break through.
This didn't make sense.
After thinking for a moment, Wang Jianqiang shook his head and stopped dwelling on it.
For him right now, nothing was more important than improving his cultivation.
After returning to his residence, Wang Jianqiang took out the Body Nourishing Pill formula.
After noticing some issues with his body, he had been uneasy and couldn't shake the feeling.
After doing some research, he discovered the Body Nourishing Pill, which could improve health, and it was exactly what he needed.
Especially for his body's problems, this pill had miraculous effects.
If he wanted to get rid of his hidden afflictions, this pill was indispensable.
He pressed the jade slip containing the formula to his forehead.
In the next moment, a flood of information filled his mind.
This was the method to refine the Body Nourishing Pill.
Just as Wang Jianqiang was about to study it carefully, the system's voice suddenly sounded.
"Ding! Detected a subpar pill formula. Upgrading the formula to an optimized version will consume 10 cultivation points. Do you wish to optimize the formula?"
Wang Jianqiang was stunned for a moment before making his decision without hesitation.
"Yes."
"Ding! The Body Nourishing Pill formula has been successfully upgraded to a Perfect Body Nourishing Pill formula."
A new piece of information appeared in his mind.
Wang Jianqiang immediately focused and read it.
After comparing, he found that the effects of the Perfect Body Nourishing Pill were several times stronger than the ordinary version, but the difficulty of refining it hadn't increased.
The required medicinal ingredients were even more streamlined, reducing the cost of refining.
Even more astonishing was that the Perfect Body Nourishing Pill had no pill poison!
Every pill contained pill poison.
Higher-quality pills just contained less poison, but they still had it.
If a cultivator consumed a large number of pills in a short time, the poison would accumulate in their body.
The accumulated pill poison was very stubborn and difficult to remove.
If not dealt with quickly, it could stagnate the cultivator's progress, or in severe cases, even corrode their cultivation, causing it to degrade.
Normally, cultivators would quickly eliminate pill poison after refining a certain amount of pills to prevent it from accumulating.
The time spent on purging the poison often took longer than the time spent refining the pills, slowing down the cultivation process.
But the upgraded version of the pill not only had a stronger effect and lower cost, it also had no pill poison at all, allowing cultivators to refine it without any worries, significantly improving cultivation efficiency.
If this got out, it would probably drive every cultivator mad!
"Truly amazing, as expected from a system product!"
Wang Jianqiang praised, taking out the alchemy furnace and beginning to refine.
Half a day later.
The pill was refined, and Wang Jianqiang waved his hand. Three perfectly round pills shot out from the furnace.
He grabbed the three pills.
Before he could examine them, a mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
"Ding! Pill refinement successful. Gained 1 cultivation point."
Wang Jianqiang froze, then a smile of delight spread across his face.
So alchemy counts as hard cultivation too?
He had been struggling to find a way to earn cultivation points, and this sudden discovery solved his biggest problem.
Coming to his senses, he took one of the Perfect Body Nourishing Pills and swallowed it.
After refining it, he could clearly feel his body being nourished.
His abdomen felt warm, and even his vision seemed a little clearer.
"The effects are so strong!"
Wang Jianqiang's eyes lit up as he continued to consume the pills.
Half a day later, the remaining two Perfect Body Nourishing Pills were completely refined.
He felt his body was in much better condition.
If Chen Jiao Jiao were here, he would definitely show her what it meant to be strong and not to underestimate the elderly and poor.
But there would be plenty of time to teach Chen Jiao Jiao a lesson.
For him, the most important thing was to establish his foundation.
Popping pills would only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.
As long as he could establish his foundation and transform his physique, any hidden ailments would naturally disappear.
And once he established his foundation, his lifespan would increase to two hundred years.
Thinking of this, Wang Jianqiang was filled with renewed motivation.
He took out another jade slip.
After reading the information inside, the system's voice sounded as expected.
"Ding! Detected a subpar pill formula. It can be upgraded for 10 cultivation points. Do you wish to upgrade it?"
"Yes."
"Ding! Upgrade successful. The Qing Ling Pill formula has been optimized to the Perfect Qing Ling Pill formula."