Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 354 - 217: The Unattainable True Essence Pill!
At the close of the year, the White Cloud Pavilion held a banquet, and Lu Chang’sheng also received an invitation.
Fan Shou and his two companions were smoldering with resentment, planning to have a proper word with Lu Chang’sheng during the banquet.
To their surprise, it wasn’t Lu Chang’sheng who attended the banquet, but Lu Ziyou.
A few months ago, Lu Ziyou had joined the White Cloud Pavilion as well, only he kept a very low profile—if he weren’t Lu Chang’sheng’s son, hardly anyone would even know he existed.
As the banquet began, Lu Ziyou came over holding his father’s invitation, his face etched with misery. Someone recognized him and asked why Lu Chang’sheng hadn’t shown up, leaving Lu Ziyou no choice but to answer honestly.
"Is Alchemist Lu spending the year-end banquet refining pills as usual?"
On hearing Lu Ziyou’s reply, the cultivator who’d asked was genuinely astonished.
The moment Fan Shou and the other two heard the news, they felt as if they were sitting on pins and needles. After hurrying through their meal, they quickly excused themselves, claiming they needed to get back to pill refining.
After this episode, Lu Chang’sheng’s name spread throughout the White Cloud Pavilion, along with his ever-growing reputation for diligence.
Some pranksters even started calling him the "Red Bull Alchemist."
"Red Bull Alchemist?" Before long, the story got back to Lu Chang’sheng from Huo Zun and the others, and his face inevitably took on a strange expression.
There were indeed exotic beasts known as Red Bulls, a type of fiery-red cattle common enough in this world. Because they were mild-mannered, mortals often kept them for plowing, enduring hardship without complaint—they were, in fact, the model workers of the Exotic Beast Realm.
He hadn’t expected a nickname like that to stick to him of all people.
"Still, at least I’ve finally scraped together ten thousand contribution points."
Lu Chang’sheng quit dwelling on the rest.
Over the past half-year, he’d practically abandoned sleep and meals for alchemy, managing to finish much quicker than he’d originally planned.
Afterward, he headed into the White Cloud Pavilion and exchanged his Jade Scroll of the Alchemy Dao.
Of the three inheritances from Master Baiyun, for now, only the Alchemy Dao Jade Scroll was of real use to him.
The Foundation Establishment Chapter of the Cyan Essence Immortal Technique required him to reach Foundation Establishment Realm before he could start practicing.
The Spirit Array True Understanding was much like the Jade Scroll, but focused on spirit arrays. Since Lu Chang’sheng didn’t intend to split his focus among multiple disciplines anytime soon, he shelved that one for now.
"A second-grade Alchemy Dao Jade Scroll—I wonder what kind of changes this will bring me."
Lu Chang’sheng returned to his courtyard with the Jade Scroll in hand, and began poring over it.
The Jade Scroll was a duplicate, but for Lu Chang’sheng, there was little difference.
He read it diligently, occasionally opening up his panel for another look.
Several days later, a faint furrow appeared on his brow.
The Jade Scroll mostly contained Master Baiyun’s insights into second-grade pill refinement.
There were some peerless pills too, but not many.
What interested Lu Chang’sheng most—how to advance to second-grade—wasn’t touched on at all.
Without delay, he sought out Huo Zun to ask about it.
"I don’t really know how to advance to second grade either, since I’m still a ways off from that step myself," Huo Zun said with a wry smile.
"But you could ask Elder Xiao Feng. He’s been working at the peerless pill level for decades now, and probably picked up some news from the True Man himself."
Taking Huo Zun’s advice, Lu Chang’sheng hurried off to visit Xiao Feng.
"The True Man spoke with me about this once. Actually, advancing to second-grade Alchemist isn’t that complicated—you just have to refine a second-grade pill."
"I have a second-grade pill formula here. Take it and give it a try. But the materials needed aren’t provided by the sect; you’ll have to gather them yourself."
As he spoke, Xiao Feng took out a pill formula from his Treasure Vault Immortal Insect.
This was the True Essence Pill, a pill used by Foundation Establishment cultivators in their cultivation.
"Many thanks, fellow Daoist."
"Think nothing of it! By the way, has your cultivation seen any progress lately?" Xiao Feng smiled and asked.
At this, Lu Chang’sheng could only sigh. Even though he’d devoted most of the past half year to alchemy, he’d still set aside a significant chunk of time each day for practice.
And with the help of Guiyuan Pills, things were still the same as ever.
"Still at fifty-nine units of Ku’s Magical Power."
Xiao Feng’s eyebrow twitched, but he didn’t dwell on it too much—half a year wasn’t much to a cultivator.
With their kinds of talent, raising Ku’s Magical Power by one unit in a year or two was already decent progress.
"Oh, right, there’s a banquet this evening. If you’ve nothing urgent, come by and take a look."
Lu Chang’sheng admitted he’d been pushing himself a little too hard lately, so it wouldn’t hurt to relax for an evening.
"What kind of banquet?"
"Fan Shou just raised his Spirit Recovery Pill formula to the peerless level," Xiao Feng said with a broad grin.
Seeing how honestly pleased Xiao Feng looked, Lu Chang’sheng just smiled to himself and didn’t comment.
Xiao Feng and the rest knew he could already make peerless-tier pills, but Fan Shou achieving the same obviously made them much happier.
After all, Fan Shou was much younger, and also had a respectable Immortal Dao Root Bone—rumor had it he even had D-Grade elite potential.
That night, he and a few Daoist friends attended the peerless banquet.
Center stage, Fan Shou seemed pretty pleased with himself as he chatted with Xiao Feng and several elders.
After the elders finished congratulating him, it was Lu Chang’sheng and the others’ turn.
"Fellow Daoist Fan Shou managed to get ahead of us in the end."
"Yeah, that’s right!"
Luo Ji and Mo Ran stood at the front of the crowd, staring at Fan Shou with blazing eyes.
Clearly, they’d been provoked.
The two spotted Lu Chang’sheng, gave him a distant wave, and then drifted off.
"Those two are still young," Huo Zun muttered, unable to hide the faint annoyance in his voice, though he quickly composed himself.
He couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional, too.
He had to admit, those three really did have even more advantages than Lu Chang’sheng.
It was a pity their circle was already full to overflowing.
After the banquet, Lu Chang’sheng returned to his courtyard and took out the True Essence Pill formula.
"Alchemy: True Essence Pill (Second-grade, lower-tier):
Time required for entry: 150 years.
Time required for minor achievement: 350 years.
Time required for great success: 680 years.
Time required for perfection: 1000 years.
Looking at the numbers displayed above, Lu Chang’sheng’s face immediately turned ashen, as if smeared with wax.
Even if this was just the baseline with no variables applied, the numbers far surpassed his expectations.
"One hundred fifty years just to get started? That’s basically an impossible hurdle."
He began tweaking the variables over the following days.
Luckily, he had Master Baiyun’s Jade Scroll of the Alchemy Dao on hand, so he started reviewing it daily—sure enough, the time needed to get started on the True Essence Pill gradually shrank.
Still, Lu Chang’sheng wasn’t feeling all that optimistic. Even with a pretty big reduction, it barely made a dent in the chasm of a hundred and fifty years.
Half a month later, Lu Chang’sheng sat in his alchemy room looking helplessly at the light curtain panel.
He’d already finished nearly all of Master Baiyun’s Jade Scroll. While plenty was over his head, overall it was clear that the baseline time for getting into True Essence Pill was pretty much set in stone.
Alchemy: True Essence Pill (Second-grade, lower-tier):
Time required for entry: 120 years.
Time required for minor achievement: 310 years.
Time required for great success: 660 years.
Time required for perfection: 888 years.
"Logically speaking, with my alchemy talent and Master Baiyun’s Jade Scroll, these time frames shouldn’t be so long. The real issue must be my Immortal Dao Root Bone."
Lu Chang’sheng understood immediately.
"Looks like I’ll have to find a way to enhance my Immortal Dao Root Bone."
His current Immortal Dao Root Bone was limiting him everywhere he turned.
To even attempt a second-grade pill, a minimum of Qi Cultivation Level Seven was required. That likely explained why, for him, the time to get started with the True Essence Pill was so ridiculous.
He had maybe seventy or eighty years left to live. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
Provided nothing unexpected happened.
In other words, becoming a second-grade alchemist was all but out of reach in this lifetime.
"Then again, that’s not quite right. Once I hit my first fifty-year mark, my Immortal Dao Root Bone should progress to the next level—that ought to be a turning point."
Still, Lu Chang’sheng didn’t plan on putting all his hopes on that. Even if it did improve by one rank, it’d still just be D-grade, frankly nothing special, and who knew if that would make a real difference?
So if possible, it would be best to change his Immortal Dao Root Bone sooner than later.
"From what I know, the only ways to improve one’s Immortal Dao Root Bone are through rare treasures or by acquiring a Spiritual Body."
Lu Chang’sheng thought to himself in secret.
