Chapter 29: Logistics Arrangements

Qiu Ci eventually decided to head to the Endless Sea. As she was now at the peak of the Deity Transformation stage and possessed the system as a "cheat," she could scan for nearby dangers in real-time, making it safe enough for her to enter and exit those waters.

Qi Hong tried to persuade her otherwise several times, but seeing that her mind was made up, he said no more. Though he wished for the senior to remain and preside over the sect, he knew it was unreasonable to force her to stay; she had already done much for them, and any further help was a favor rather than an obligation.

He insisted, however, that Qiu Ci take Jing Hong with her. After all, he was the only one with that peculiar intuition, and having him as a guide would make the journey far more efficient.

"Don't worry, I will finish what needs to be done before I leave." Qiu Ci understood Qi Hong’s greatest concern. If she left and the Immortal Alliance came to stir up trouble again, the Xuantian Sect might not be able to hold them off, so she had to make arrangements. "The medicinal herbs Elder Yu asked you to collect should be ready, right?"

"They have all been gathered and are currently in the storehouse." Qi Hong’s eyes brightened with excitement. "Does the senior intend to refine them now?"

Their foundational techniques opened too few acupoints, allowing them to cultivate at most to the Nascent Soul stage. Yu Xuan had informed them of this previously and relayed that Qiu Ci possessed a method of healing, which was why they had been so anxious to collect the herbs.

"Take me there." Qiu Ci didn't waste words, indicating she was ready to begin.

Qi Hong was overjoyed and led her to the storehouse immediately. Without further ado, Qiu Ci opened the alchemy furnace, cast a fire-control incantation, and began the refinement process. With the system monitoring the purity and success rate, she was able to instruct Qi Hong to call for more people while she worked.

"S-senior, do you mean... you wish to teach us the refinement method?" Qi Hong could hardly believe his ears.

"What else?" Qiu Ci countered, gesturing toward the mountain of herbs. It would take her until the end of time to refine them all by herself.

"I’ll go find them at once!" Realizing she wasn't joking, Qi Hong turned and dashed out of the room.

In less than a quarter of an hour, he returned with over a dozen people. Qiu Ci glanced over; they were all elderly—the elders and stewards of every peak had arrived, and even Yu Xuan was among them.

"Fellow Daoist Chu, I heard you are going to teach us the method for refining this spirit elixir." Yu Xuan was beaming with joy.

"Yes." Qiu Ci nodded. Seeing the system indicate that the refinement progress had reached 100%, she opened the furnace. A white light flared, and a golden substance flew out. She looked around, grabbed a nearby bowl, and caught the substance. "The medicine is ready."

"This... is this it?" Yu Xuan peered at the flowing liquid in the bowl, his expression turning strange. "Why is it in this form?" Where were the pills? Why was it a bowl of medicinal broth?

"Oh, I didn't add a sugar coating to set it. I simply synthesized and extracted the medicinal properties. Don't worry, this is the same as taking a pill, and the effect will be even better."

The principles of alchemy were not much different from pharmaceutical manufacturing on Blue Star. In most tablets, the active ingredients were minimal, while the bulk was composed of coatings for easy ingestion. Traditional alchemy was the same; although alchemy fires and techniques could extract the essence, they left behind many impurities, which were then bound together into a pill. This was why pills often contained medicinal toxins.

However, the technology Qiu Ci used was direct synthesis and purification from Blue Star, naturally free of impurities.

"Here, you try it first." Qiu Ci handed the bowl to Jing Hong, who had been staring at it blankly.

Jing Hong froze. The moment everyone turned to look at him, his social anxiety flared, and his body stiffened. He felt inexplicably that Senior Chu had done this on purpose. He just thought the bowl hadn't been washed and wanted to wipe it—how did she know?

Taking a deep breath, Jing Hong suppressed the urge to bolt and took the bowl. Under the envious and expectant gazes of the elders, he ignored the fact that the bowl hadn't been washed and gulped it down.

Instantly, a warm current surged through him, spreading to the meridians of his entire body. His spiritual power seemed to be activated, circulating rapidly—not just through the usual major and minor cycles, but surging into other meridians.

"Hong'er, quick! Meditate and regulate your breathing; use your full spiritual power to strike the other acupoints!" Qi Hong noticed the anomaly in his spiritual power and quickly warned him.

Jing Hong realized this was the perfect opportunity. He sat down and began to mobilize his power. Perhaps because Qiu Ci had repaired his meridians earlier, the blockage was not severe, and the acupoints opened with ease. Soon, a series of buzzing sounds echoed as one acupoint after another cleared.

With every sound, his body felt lighter, and the surrounding spiritual energy poured in wildly, forming a vortex above the storehouse. Jing Hong felt the spiritual energy in his dantian gathering; it transitioned from gas to liquid, and slowly, a physical form began to condense at an astonishing speed.

Once all seventy-two acupoints were connected and his meridians were filled with energy, he discovered a smooth, golden bead within his dantian.

"Hong'er, you have... formed a Core!" Qi Hong exclaimed, and the others were dumbstruck.

Just by opening the acupoints, he had managed to form a core so easily? In their day, forming a core was a life-or-death struggle, and the loss of vitality after such an ordeal often took over a decade to recover. Yet Jing Hong was not only uninjured, he seemed so invigorated he could have challenged even higher realms.

Jing Hong himself found it unbelievable. Though he was considered a genius, he had prepared for decades to advance from Foundation Establishment to Core Formation. He hadn't expected it to be this effortless.

"Thank you, Senior, for the medicine." He stood up and bowed, feeling a pang of guilt. So, she really had given him the medicine to help him improve.

"You're welcome. Your cultivation was already at the peak anyway." It was normal for someone at the peak of Foundation Establishment to break through, but... why was he hiding the bowl? Did he still want to go back and wipe it?

What a perfectionist.

Qiu Ci twitched her lips but didn't call out his social anxiety. After proving the effectiveness of the medicine, she began to explain the refining method to Yu Xuan and the elders.

They listened intently, some even taking out recording jades to take notes. Having cultivated for years with a foundation in alchemy, they understood seven or eight tenths of her entirely new method and began experimenting with their own furnaces on the spot.

Without the system’s real-time monitoring, their results were slightly inferior, mostly producing standard pills. A few managed to create a pale golden liquid, but none could match Qiu Ci’s purity.

Qiu Ci guided them until they could consistently produce medicine with over ninety percent efficacy before finally letting them take over. Yu Xuan, originally only concerned with his own bottleneck, realized that the restriction of twenty-four acupoints was a common ailment for all disciples. With the herbs gathered, they were eager to refine enough for the entire sect.

After the elders tested the medicine themselves, they found that it not only opened acupoints but also increased their cultivation. Though they didn't experience a massive leap like Jing Hong, it was clear that reaching the Nascent Soul stage was now only a matter of time.

The elders were already envisioning a future where Nascent Soul cultivators were common in the sect, and they worked even harder.

Qiu Ci didn't intervene further. She had the Sect Master take her around the Xuantian Sect, using the time to repair the protective formation destroyed by the Immortal Alliance. She upgraded it to a new version, making it several times stronger than the paper-thin barrier it had been.

With this formation in place, unless a Deity Transformation cultivator attacked with all their might, no one could enter once it was activated. Now, she could head to the Endless Sea with peace of mind.