Chapter 511: The Numinous Sword Sect's Choice
Ding Mian returned to his residence after arriving back at the Numinous Sword Sect. He wasn’t worried about Meng Tingfeng or Ye Chen leaving alive because he could see the height of their powers compared to the monarchs from the three allied forces.
The sword monarchs only gave him some perfunctory words before rushing to report what happened. No doubt, they were perturbed by what had just happened.
A few days later, Meng Tingfeng visited him. It was a short visit, a sharp contrast to the usual length he stayed during the previous visits. It seemed that even he was feeling the pressure.
Ding Mian stayed in his abode without leaving, but he could feel the tense atmosphere, like a cloud of depression hanging over the Numinous Sword Sect. The first sign was the increase in commissions from the Numinous Sword Sect. They even relaxed the purchase condition of many resources just to motivate him. Most of the pills he concocted were healing pills or pills that could increase power in a pinch. Of course, he didn’t stop concocting the Monarch Sublimation Pills.
He was sure that he wasn’t the only one concocting pills constantly. Most of the other alchemists were likely given a carrot by the Numinous Sword Sect. Well, not that he was complaining.
The show he put on when refining the Monarch Sublimation Pill was just that: a show. As long as he had enough materials, he could refine it in less than a week instead of the months people thought it took. In addition to the month-long show he put on, he also implicitly hinted that it took months to prepare the materials before the final concoction.
Of course, Ding Mian didn’t successfully concoct all the pills that were commissioned to him. He purposely failed some in order to pocket the materials. Heavenly Law Lotus Seeds were a nonrenewable resource, and once used was a material that would never appear again. Still, Ding Mian was in the process of attempting to grow a Heavenly Law Lotus from a seed. The climate of the Three Thousand Immortal Laws System was not suitable, but it couldn’t stop him.
None of the people or other alchemists felt like he had embezzled or tricked them. His success rate was at least twice that of the average alchemists. If he didn’t fail once in a while, then they would feel suspicious. It would only reveal that his alchemy prowess was far greater than he showed. Unless he had something to hide, why would he hide his prowess so much?
While concocting pills, Ding Mian waited. However, the expected invasion of the Numinous Sword Sect never occurred. Instead, he heard about the loss of contact of Sword Embassies in the lower realms.