Chapter 23: The Worthless High-Grade Cultivation Pill

  Ling Xiao and Feng Yi, Ma Ru bid farewell to Master Chen Ang, then bid farewell to other outer disciples in the front hall, before heading towards the back hall.

  At this time, more than half of the disciples were already in the back hall. As soon as they saw Ling Xiao and his group enter, they all stood up to greet Ling Xiao and politely offered him a seat. Ling Xiao hurriedly returned their greetings one by one, not daring to be rude. It wasn't until after a while that things calmed down, and he sat down with Fengyi.

  This scene was seen by Qizheng and his men, who couldn't help but feel both envy and resentment.

  Zi Ming, Wei Qiang and Li Zhi sat alone in the front row of the grand hall, surrounded by a circle of empty space. The desolation here was in stark contrast to the excitement when Ling Xiao entered.

  At first, Qi Ming was arrogant and bullying, often cheating the good and oppressing the weak, offending many people. Although others did not dare to offend him, they would also greet him with a smile when meeting face-to-face. However, except for those who were very close to him, others did not want to get too close to him either.

  They used to have a proud feeling of standing out from the crowd, but now compared to Ling Xiao's popularity, they feel like they've been slapped in the face.

  Zi Ming also sat there with a gloomy face.

  He was surrounded by Wei Qiang, who was the most reckless and couldn't help but burst out in a loud scolding, "A group of petty people! All of you go hug that rabbit's leg, waiting for Qi Ming Shixiong to regain power, let's see how I'll teach you!"

  Zi Ming didn't say a word, but he felt uneasy and had many doubts in his heart. Today's situation was too strange...

  He still didn't know that Huang Jian had broken through to the tenth layer of Qi Refining, nor did he know about Huang Jian's special instructions to Ling Xiao before he went into seclusion. He simply thought it was because Ling Xiao had once refined a high-quality Pei Yuan Dan and was valued by Fuling Elder, which was why the other outer sect disciples were trying to curry favor with him.

  Yes, Elder Fuling, the key to the problem must be Elder Fuling!

  Just thinking about this, Qi Ming regained his confidence. Ling Xiao was able to refine the top-grade Pei Yuan Dan, and he had also succeeded, and among the fellow disciples who entered at the same time, his cultivation was the highest. Elder Fu Ling had no reason not to value himself!

  As long as Patriarch Fuling attaches importance to himself, these outer sect disciples will have to mind their own manners.

  The more he thought about it, the more correct it seemed, and he couldn't help but raise his head, looking up to the sky with anticipation for Fuling Elder's arrival.

  Feng Ling didn't delay much either, and arrived at the hall just as the disciples were gathering. Still dressed in a white robe, with the top-grade artifact "Yan Ri Qing" tied around his waist, his face was calm and serene, his movements elegant and refined, like a rare orchid in a secluded valley, untainted by worldly dust.

  Feng Ling had just entered the main hall and hadn't even opened his mouth when a figure suddenly appeared before him.

  It's just in time.

  Zi Ming's face turned slightly red, and his voice trembled slightly. "Feng Ling elder, I, your disciple, have successfully refined a Pei Yuan Dan a few days ago. Please take a look."

  Feng Ling's eyebrows slightly furrowed, and in her eyes, Qi Ming's move seemed somewhat frivolous and reckless, already leaving a few points of bad impression. However, she still patiently said: "Refine a Pei Yuan Dan? Today should be Chen Yang responsible for verification, right? Hand it over to him."

  The sound of the bell did not come from one place, and when he saw Fuling about to pass by his side, he hurriedly said in a loud voice: "Elder, the disciple has refined a high-grade Peiyuan Dan!"

  This time his voice was extremely loud, and more than half of the disciples in the hall heard it clearly.

  After all, many people here had not seen the scene that had just occurred in the front hall, so when they heard this news, they couldn't help but take a deep breath. Another outer door disciple had refined a high-quality Pei Yuan Dan. It's worth knowing that this was something that many inner door disciples found difficult to refine.

  Even those who were quite familiar with the inside story couldn't help but look at Ling Xiao with some worry. The two had a deep-seated grudge, and Qi Ming's words were clearly aimed directly at Ling Xiao.

  Compared with arrogant and annoying people, they naturally prefer Ling Xiao who is humble in his behavior.

  Zi Ming felt the change in the expressions of the people behind him, and a sense of pride and satisfaction suddenly surged up from the bottom of his heart. This was the kind of reaction he should have gotten. He raised his head to look at Fuling Elder, with an unmistakable smugness on his face.

  "Oh?"

  Feng Ling's face finally moved slightly, revealing a look of surprise.

  Zi Ming hastily took out a jade box containing the top-grade Peiyuan Dan from his bosom, and with both hands, he presented it to Fowling, "Please, elder, verify it."

  But unexpectedly, Fuling didn't take it and instead nodded slightly and said: "Not bad. Being able to refine a high-quality Pei Yuan Dan is enough to show your talent. However, refining pills requires a calm mind and fewer distractions, only then can you go further. You may leave now, in the future, work even harder and strive for another breakthrough in pill refinement."

  Having spoken, he passed through him and walked into the hall.

  Hasn't even received a jade box yet?

  Zi Ming was stunned at that moment. He had originally thought that after taking out the top-grade Peiyuan Dan, Fowling would be both surprised and delighted, and would lavish praise on him.

  It's even possible that they might make an exception and take you in as a inner disciple. The sect has precedents for encouraging disciples with talent in alchemy, after all. There are even rumors that Fuling's father, the previous master of Qiyun Sect, Fuhuang, was also taken in as an inner disciple due to his exceptional skills in alchemy.

  But why was Fuling's reaction so calm? Even in those words, the tone of advice far exceeded praise.

  Zi Ming was both depressed and confused. Was it really that worthless to refine the top-grade Peiyuan Dan?

  Actually, all the others around, including Ling Xiao and others, were also full of doubts. After all, two months ago, when Ling Xiao refined the top-grade Pei Yuan Dan, Fú Líng's emphasis on him was seen by everyone.

  How could it be that after two months, facing Qī Míng who had also successfully refined the Top Grade Pei Yuan Dan, his reaction was so completely different?

  Although they watched Qiming eat the melon seeds with relish, they were all secretly delighted, but also extremely perplexed.

  Feng Ling walked past Qi Ming's side and glanced around the grand hall before fixing her gaze on Ling Xiao, then strode directly towards him.

  "Surpassing Xiao."

  Ling Xiao hastily stood up and respectfully said: "Feng Changlao." Although he didn't know what Feng Ling meant, he didn't dare to be lacking in etiquette.

  He was secretly quite nervous, but Fowling said with a smile: "No need to be tense. I see that your cultivation has improved significantly recently, and the second layer of Qi training is almost complete, right?"

  "Yes, thanks to the elder's gift of elixir, I was able to make such rapid progress in my cultivation."

  Feng Ling indeed gave him a few grains of elixir, but the two months' worth of one grain every three days was soon consumed. He said this, however, as an excuse, attributing his success to the elixir given by Feng Ling, in order to avoid drawing too much attention to himself.

  However, in his heart, he felt even more strange. Fowling seemed to have come specifically to care about his own cultivation progress. Why did it seem like he was taking himself more seriously than last time?

  Not just Ling Xiao, but everyone in the entire back hall was shocked and left speechless.

  Who is spreading rumors that Fuling has given up on Ling Xiao and no longer cares? Looking at the situation now, where is there even a hint of not caring? Even if it weren't for their vastly different cultivation levels, it's really hard to put them together, to the point where one might suspect they have some other kind of relationship...

  Zi Ming was even more shocked and jealous, staring at everything in front of him in disbelief, his mind full of question marks.

  Fuling nodded slightly and continued, "This is also due to your own diligence, which is good. I heard that you have been refining Dan several times recently? The results are not bad?"

  Ling Xiao hastily said: "The disciple is dull, the success rate of alchemy is still not high——"

  His outwardly displayed alchemy success rate is indeed average, with only one pellet successfully refined out of every three or four attempts. In fact, this is also his actual alchemy success rate, roughly refining successfully once every three or four times.

  "Hmm, it's not bad, but there's still room for improvement." Fuling patiently pointed out to him, "Your problem with alchemy is that you're too impatient and your foundation isn't solid enough! However, your innate talent for alchemy is quite good, which is why you can always refine high-quality elixirs, but your success rate in alchemy is only average."

  Feng Ling naturally couldn't guess the strange flame in his body and obviously misunderstood.

  Ling Xiao naturally wouldn't make excuses and hastily agreed.

  Seeing him so humble and accepting, Fuling nodded slightly in relief, then turned to the main topic, "This is your first time going to the Earth Fire Room to refine the elixir, how's the refined medicine?"

  She stretched out her hand, and in the palm of her white jade-like hand, she held four inferior and one medium-grade Pei Yuan Dan, a total of five.

  It must have been the five elixirs that Ling Xiao had refined for the first time, which were taken away by Huang Jian and handed over to Fuling Elder. So Ling Xiao nodded and said: "That time when I was refining the elixir, I indeed refined four low-grade and one medium-grade Pei Yuan Dan."

  Feng Ling smiled and said, "No - it's not four inferior pellets, but three inferior pellets, plus one... with medicinal power reaching 87%, close to the level of a top-grade pellet, the Pei Yuan Pellet!"

  The whole hall was in an uproar at once.

  Top-grade elixirs, due to their ability to help people break through bottlenecks, are valued highly, even several times more than high-grade elixirs of the same type.

  That's nothing, the key is that the difficulty of refining it is more than ten times harder than a top-grade elixir!

  There are even rumors that the vast Qiyun Sect, the top-grade elixir, not to mention the lowest grade of top-grade Pei Yuan Dan, is not a single grain. It's not just the Qiyun Sect, but the entire Qiyun mountain range, with an area of over a thousand miles, has never heard of any force hiding a single grain of top-grade Pei Yuan Dan.

  Everyone finally understood why Fowling's behavior was so strange today, and why he seemed to care about Ling Xiao extremely, but didn't seem to care much about Qi Ming.

  There is a Ling Xiao's one grain, close to the extreme pill elixir standard of Pei Yuan Dan, and Qi Ming's one ordinary high-quality Pei Yuan Dan, what does it count for?

  For a moment, everyone's gaze at Ling Xiao was both admiring and envious.

  Everyone understands that Ling Xiao's position has been as stable as Mount Tai. After all, the top-grade elixir can help break through bottlenecks and is of great significance to the sect. Although the medicine refined by Ling Xiao is not perfect, its medicinal power is already quite pure and may also be helpful in breaking through bottlenecks.

  In this way, Ling Xiao's value can be imagined...

  It's no longer just about talent, but also related to the interests of the entire Qiyun Sect.

  Zi Ming has talent again, what can he do? Can one person still resist the interests of the entire sect? Moreover, Ling Xiao's talent is not necessarily inferior.

  There is a conflict between the two of them. It's obvious which side the sect will take and which side Fuling Elder will take.

  ……

  The next major lecture of the sect is nothing more than a formality.

  Under the gaze of jealousy and admiration from other outer disciples, the curtain was drawn. However, at the end, Fú Líng proposed that every 3rd, 6th, and 9th day, Líng Xiāo would go to his cave to listen to her lectures on alchemy, shocking everyone once again. Fú Líng's emphasis on Líng Xiāo's alchemy skills had reached such an extent.

  But actually, thinking carefully, it can also be understood.

  After all, that nearly top-grade Pellet of Cultivation would be of great help in breaking through bottlenecks, and its value to the entire sect was extremely high. The fact that Ling Xiao could refine it showed his potential for alchemy. Fu Ling had always placed great importance on Ling Xiao, so now he would personally guide him in alchemy, although unexpected, it was also reasonable.

  In fact, they didn't know that Fuling valued Ling Xiao's alchemy talent, but also thought that Ling Xiao was too impulsive and wanted to personally polish him before speaking like this.

  However, since Fu Ling brought it up, Ling Xiao could only nod in agreement.