Chapter Twelve: The Perfect Elixir

The three-day deadline arrived in the blink of an eye.

Chen the Elder, almost by the exact hour, once again appeared outside the mountain range where the Returning Retreat was located. This time, his mood was completely different from before; no longer anxious or uneasy, but filled with anticipation and excitement.

He respectfully hovered outside the formation, waiting silently.

Before long, ripples appeared again in the space ahead, and a palm-sized box made entirely of jade quietly passed through the formation, hovering in front of him.

Chen the Elder’s heart tightened, and he quickly extended both hands to carefully cradle it.

The box felt smooth and warm to the touch, still faintly imbued with a subtle, pure spiritual energy. He dared not be careless, and immediately sent his divine sense to probe the box.

There were no seals or restrictions.

He slowly opened the jade box, and an invigorating fragrance of medicinal herbs immediately wafted out. The scent was unlike the harsh, pungent aroma of ordinary pills; instead, it resembled fresh grass after a morning rain—clean, natural, and uplifting.

Inside the box lay a layer of soft golden silk, upon which rested ten pills the size of longan fruits, each round and glossy, glowing with a jade-green hue.

Every pill’s surface was surrounded by a faint, visible green aura that seemed alive, slowly circulating. On the pill bodies, one could even see several naturally formed vein-like patterns, resembling leaf veins—mysterious and profound.

“This… these are Qi Recovery Pills?”

Chen the Elder could hardly believe his eyes.

As a Golden Core cultivator and the guardian of Qing Stone Town, he had seen no less than eight thousand to ten thousand Qi Recovery Pills. The ones circulating on the market were mostly dull in color, rough in texture, and invariably contained some degree of pill toxin impurities. The best ones only had a slightly brighter color and fewer toxins.

But these ten pills before him completely overturned his understanding of this basic medicinal pill.

This was no mere pill—it was a work of art!

“The pill bodies are round and smooth, imbued with precious light, the scent is fresh and gentle, with no trace of fiery energy… This is the legendary… perfect quality pill!” Chen the Elder’s voice trembled slightly with excitement.

Perfect quality meant that during the pill’s refinement, the medicinal power had been extracted to the utmost and blended flawlessly, with no wastage and absolutely no pill toxins. Pills of this caliber only appeared in ancient texts, said to be produced occasionally by legendary pillmasters under perfect conditions of time, place, and harmony.

And now, ten such perfect quality Qi Recovery Pills were casually packaged in a jade box and handed over to him.

Holding the box felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds. He could already imagine how greatly such a pill could aid a cultivator. Ordinary Qi Recovery Pills restored spiritual power violently, requiring careful focus to refine and causing damage to the meridians through pill toxins. But these perfect pills were pure and gentle, dissolving immediately upon entering the body, replenishing depleted spiritual power almost instantaneously, and were beneficial rather than harmful.

In critical moments—during battles, escapes, or breakthroughs—such a pill was a lifeline!

“This master… this Mr. Jiang, no, the Returning Hermit, his alchemical skill is terrifyingly profound!” A turbulent wave swelled in Chen the Elder’s heart.

He had assumed the other party was simply a reclusive expert skilled in formations and cunning as a demon, but it turned out his alchemical prowess was equally astonishing.

Just as he was overwhelmed by shock, the gentle voice sounded again within his mind.

“These are ‘Qi Recovery Pills,’ ten in total. Judge their quality for yourself. As for the price, that is up to you. I do not wish for them to cause too much disturbance in the market. Handle it as you see fit.”

“Junior… junior understands!” Chen the Elder hastily replied, his tone filled with unprecedented reverence.

Now he finally understood why the other party said they did not want to cause a great stir. If pills of this quality flooded the market, they could devastate the entire medicinal pill landscape in southern Yun Prefecture. The so-called alchemists of Hundred Herb Valley would be nothing but a joke compared to this.

“Return for the next batch at this time next month,” the voice said, then fell completely silent.

Chen the Elder bowed deeply in the direction of the valley, then carefully placed the jade box into his most secure storage pouch. He sealed it with several layers of restrictive formations before transforming into a streak of light and rushing back to Qing Stone Town.

He knew that what he held was not just ten pills, but a treasure capable of stirring the winds of change, and the most important foundation of trust between himself and the Returning Hermit.

Back at the town’s guardian office, Chen the Elder immediately activated all the seals on his quiet chamber and locked himself inside.

He took out the jade box again, examining the ten pills carefully, his expression shifting between excitement and solemnity.

How to sell these became a huge dilemma.

Selling them openly in the market? Impossible. That would cause an uproar and possibly attract the attention of late-stage Golden Core or even Nascent Soul cultivators, violating the Returning Hermit’s wish for discretion.

Then what to do?

Pacing back and forth in the quiet chamber, Chen the Elder pondered deeply until finally, a plan took shape.

He decided not to sell publicly.

Instead, these pills would be special supplies of the guardian office—call them “privileged goods” or “welfare items”—available only to those closely connected with the office, with good reputations and sufficient resources, specifically late Foundation Establishment cultivators. They would be sold in small quantities and at high prices through an almost “internal subscription” system.

This had several benefits.

First, it allowed precise control over the pills’ distribution, avoiding widespread uproar.

Second, it greatly enhanced the guardian office’s prestige and cohesion within the high-level cultivator circles.

Third, the high price reflected the pill’s value, securing enough spirit stones for the Returning Hermit and filtering out most buyers, maintaining rarity and mystery.

Having made up his mind, Chen the Elder immediately took action.

He personally selected five of the most senior late Foundation Establishment cultivators in Qing Stone Town. Some were long-term scattered cultivators living there, others guest members of nearby immortal families, all on the cusp of breaking into Golden Core and most urgently needing high-quality pills.

He sent invitations to these five in the name of the guardian office.

Three days later, in a secret chamber of the guardian office, five cultivators with dense auras gathered.

“Chen Daoist, may I ask the reason for this mysterious summons?” asked a white-haired elder stroking his beard. He had lived in Qing Stone Town for nearly a century and was highly respected.

Chen the Elder smiled faintly and without further words placed the jade box in the center of the table.

“Please take a look.”

Their divine senses swept over the pills. Upon seeing the contents, the air in the chamber instantly froze.

“Gasp—”

Sounds of intake of breath echoed one after another.

“Th-this is… perfect quality Qi Recovery Pills?!”

“My heavens! I have lived two hundred years and this is the first time I’ve seen the real thing!”

“Natural pill aura, self-emitted precious light… no mistake, these are the legendary perfect pills!”

The five well-experienced late Foundation Establishment cultivators all lost their composure, their eyes filled with shock, desire, and greed.

Chen the Elder was pleased with their reactions. Clearing his throat, he said, “Gentlemen, these pills were refined by a reclusive master of this town, the Returning Hermit. He is indifferent to worldly affairs and entrusted me to handle some of his pills. The effects need no explanation. One pill can instantly replenish the entire spiritual power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator with no pill toxins, and even has a nourishing effect on the spirit and meridians.”

“Chen Daoist, how will these pills be sold?” asked a burly cultivator urgently, his breath growing heavy.

Chen the Elder raised five fingers: “Five thousand inferior spirit stones each.”

“What?!”

The price stunned everyone. The best Qi Recovery Pills on the market sold for at most fifty inferior spirit stones. This was a hundredfold increase!

Yet after the brief shock, no one objected.

They were connoisseurs. Five thousand spirit stones was a fortune for a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but could it buy a life? Could it provide the purest energy support at the crucial moment of breaking through to Golden Core?

Yes, it could!

“I… I want one!” The white-haired elder was the first to speak, almost gritting his teeth.

“I want one too!”

“Count me in, Chen Daoist!”

Within moments, five pills were sold out. Chen the Elder announced the remaining five would be held back as strategic reserves for the guardian office.

The transaction complete, the five cultivators left, clutching their treasures.

They tacitly kept the matter quiet, but news of the perfect Qi Recovery Pills spread swiftly through the highest circles of Qing Stone Town cultivators, like wings carrying the news.

“Have you heard? The guardian office has acquired a batch of divine pills!”

“Not just divine pills—they’re perfect quality Qi Recovery Pills, each one can save a life!”

“Too bad, no open market; only those favored by Chen the Elder can get them.”

For a time, countless cultivators sought to curry favor with Chen the Elder, hoping to obtain a divine pill. His status in Qing Stone Town soared to unprecedented heights.

And the originator of it all, the Returning Hermit’s name, along with the legend of the perfect pills, for the first time cast a mysterious and powerful aura over the upper echelons of Qing Stone Town.

His alchemical talent, revealed at the outset, had already stunned all.