Chapter 160: Trial Reward
The three Elders from Battle Peak were all here.
Many of the Spiritual Artifacts they used were crafted by Xiong Xingfeng.
Bai Qinying glanced down at Fang Yun.
Fang Yun gave her a helpless look.
These were all Elders; what could a mere Eighth-Layer Qi Refining disciple like him say?
Each Elder had their own small, separate table.
Below them were two large tables, one for the disciples and one for the stewards.
The stewards present had, to one degree or another, all helped Fang Yun in the past.
Among all the stewards, Steward Cai and Steward Zhou were the most familiar with each other.
With the Elders seated above, the stewards’ conversations became very formal, focusing on their duties within the sect.
They avoided any personal topics.
At most, they would talk about Fang Yun.
"Steward Song really has a good eye, recruiting Fang Yun into the sect."
"I can’t take the credit. Fang Yun’s own Planting Talent is just that good." When Fang Yun’s Planting Talent was mentioned, Steward Song felt no regret whatsoever.
In his opinion, Fang Yun should pursue whatever he was most talented in.
His ability to become the disciple of Artifact Casting Peak’s Management Elder was also due to his own innate talent.
"But it was you who seized the opportunity with him back then."
The stewards’ conversations here were exceptionally harmonious.
Even Steward Cai and Steward Zhou didn’t get into any arguments over Fang Yun’s talents, despite the fact that they still argued about it endlessly in private.
After coming down, Fang Yun sat at the farthest seat.
To his left and right were Song Qiaoqiao and Huang Mengzhu, respectively.
These were all disciples he was on good terms with. On this special day, besides getting to know one another, the conversation revolved entirely around Fang Yun.
The Celestial Cloud Sect was vast, with many disciples, and not all of them knew each other.
They were all engaged in different duties. If not for Fang Yun’s master-disciple ceremony today, people like Lu Zefeng and Tian Ruifeng might never have met in their entire lives.
The conversation among the Elders above also revolved around Fang Yun.
Besides today being a special occasion, there was another reason: most of the Elders present had their own particular points of interest regarding Fang Yun.
Among the Elders, only Bai Qinying remained silent.
"Fang Yun has Five Spirit Roots, correct?" an Elder brought up the issue of Fang Yun’s Spirit Root.
"Correct." Bai Heyan nodded, then looked at Xiong Xingfeng. "If Fang Yun didn’t have such great Alchemy Talent and couldn’t accumulate resources on his own, Elder Xiong, I can’t imagine how many resources you’d have to spend to get him to Foundation Establishment in the future."
His Alchemy Talent gave Fang Yun an extremely high resource conversion rate.
"Everyone says Fang Yun’s Alchemy Talent is good, but how good is it exactly? Elder Bai, please elaborate."
"Let me put it this way: with only about a hundred batches of practice, Fang Yun can perfectly refine Qi Enhancement Pills."
"No wonder my disciple told me that Dan Cloud Pavilion hasn’t been short on Upper-Grade Qi Enhancement Pills recently. So that’s why."
"Hahaha, with such Alchemy Talent, even though he’s Elder Xiong’s disciple, the sect will probably entrust him with refining Foundation Establishment Pills in the future."
Speaking of pills and Foundation Establishment, Xiong Xingfeng was already thinking about a Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill for Fang Yun.
If Fang Yun couldn’t reach Foundation Establishment, then no matter how incredible his talent was, he would be unable to do many things due to the limitations of his Realm. Only by successfully reaching Foundation Establishment could he bring greater value to the sect.
"Elder Feng." Xiong Xingfeng looked at Feng Tianrui. "Have the rewards for the Four Sects Trial been decided yet?"
The rewards for the Four Sects Trial were provided jointly by the four sects.
The rules stipulated that the value of the rewards contributed by each sect had to be roughly equal.
"Not yet." Feng Tianrui shook his head.
The specific rewards for the Four Sects Trial wouldn’t be decided until the latter half of the year, at the earliest.
"I have some news." As soon as Bai Heyan said this, everyone’s eyes focused on him. "Elder Tang of the Wind Ling Sect recently refined a Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill."
Bai Heyan was acquainted with some of the alchemy elders from the Wind Ling Sect.
A few days ago, he had received a message from one of them, bragging about it.
"We could try to get the Wind Ling Sect to offer that Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill as a reward for the Four Sects Trial," Xiong Xingfeng said immediately upon hearing this.
His gaze shifted from Bai Heyan to the three Elders from Battle Peak.
"Wind Ling Sect’s Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill... They would probably be more than happy to offer it as a reward for the Four Sects Trial," Feng Tianrui said.
"Why?" an Elder immediately asked.
"Among the disciples they’re sending this time, there is one who is incredibly powerful and possesses the special Snow Spirit Body. Not even Fang Yun would be her opponent."
"The Four Sects Trial isn’t just about combat. Fang Yun still has a chance to take first place," Bai Heyan immediately countered. He hadn’t been aware of the information Feng Tianrui just shared.
This was a chance to win a Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill for Fang Yun.
Even though Fang Yun was Xiong Xingfeng’s disciple, Bai Heyan was also quite invested in his success.
"Mm, we’ll discuss it with them later."
After gaining a better understanding of Fang Yun’s Alchemy and Artifact Refining talents, Feng Tianrui also hoped Fang Yun could successfully reach Foundation Establishment.
There was no sound barrier around the Elders’ conversation.
Any disciple or steward below who paid attention could hear them clearly.
’A Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill!’
When he heard those four words, Fang Yun was not as calm as he appeared on the surface.
He knew that for a stable Foundation Establishment, a Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill was an essential medicine. If he only used a Middle-Grade pill without the aid of any other Foundation Establishment Spiritual Objects, his success rate would be about 30 percent at most.
With a Lower-Grade pill, it would only be 10 percent.
But a Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill could raise his success rate to 70 percent!
This was already a very high success rate, especially for a Cultivator with Five Spirit Roots like him.
The disparity between grades of Foundation Establishment Pills also meant a huge difference in their value, far greater than the price difference between grades of ordinary pills.
Furthermore, only one Foundation Establishment Pill could be refined per batch, whereas most other pills yielded a maximum of three or more per batch.
If a Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill was among the rewards for the Four Sects Trial, Fang Yun was determined to win it!
With enough resources, breaking through the subsequent layers of the Qi Refining Stage wasn’t a problem for him. The first great hurdle before him was still Foundation Establishment.
Hearing the talk of the Four Sects Trial and the Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, all the disciples at Fang Yun’s table—except for Tian Ruifeng and Huang Mengzhu—couldn’t help but glance at him.
Tian Ruifeng was still unaware of Fang Yun’s strength, nor did he know that Fang Yun was now on the Inner Sect Ranking—and ranked third, at that.
As for Huang Mengzhu, the little girl was completely focused on eating.
The Spiritual Food on this table was far more lavish than what was served at the Smoke Cloud Pavilion.
"Junior Brother, when the time comes for the Four Sects Trial, I’ll lend you a hand," Wu Junxin said.
As someone with Dual Spirit Roots, using a Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill would be a waste for him. His goal was to obtain a Middle-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill for his own breakthrough.
If he couldn’t get one, the Lower-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill he had won in the Inner Sect Grand Competition would also suffice.
A Cultivator with Dual Spirit Roots could still achieve a decent success rate with the help of a Lower-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill.