Chapter 25: The Insatiable "Nine Abyssal Demon-Suppressing Seal"

"Lin Xiao, kid — take these pills. Consider them payment for that promissory note."

Elder Qiao handed four bottles of pills to Lin Xiao.

Two of the bottles contained a total of thirteen supreme-grade Ascending Origin Pills that Elder Qiao himself had refined.

The other two bottles held nine supreme-grade Ascending Origin Pills refined by Lin Xiao, plus a separate bottle containing the single Unified Qi Misty Ascending Origin Pill.

Lin Xiao accepted the pills in high spirits.

Today had been a success — not only had he completed his first round of Alchemy, but he'd walked away with this many pills to show for it.

The only question was how long these pills would sustain his cultivation.

"By the way, Elder Qiao, I have a question." Lin Xiao suddenly thought of something and spoke up.

"Go ahead," Elder Qiao replied.

"For that batch of materials we just used — what was the cost, and how many pills would we need to produce just to break even?" Lin Xiao asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, for supreme-grade Ascending Origin Pills, you'd need to produce at least three pills from a single batch to barely break even, and four to come out without a loss."

"The same logic applies to other pills — as long as you can produce four, you generally won't be in the red."

"As for that Unified Qi Misty Ascending Origin Pill you just refined — a single one of those is enough to break even."

Elder Qiao explained all this patiently.

Just thinking back to the scene a moment ago left his feelings in a tangled mess.

Decades of Alchemy, and it still couldn't hold a candle to someone else's raw talent.

You really couldn't compare yourself to a monster like this.

It was too demoralizing.

"Huh?! Alchemy is this profitable?!" Lin Xiao was stunned.

Didn't that mean the batch he'd just refined had netted him a clean profit of nine supreme-grade Ascending Origin Pills?

If he used three of them to buy more materials, he'd still have six left in reserve.

Round and round it goes, over and over again.

Tsk, tsk, tsk…

Lin Xiao smacked his lips, as if he could already picture Spirit Stones whooshing straight into his pockets.

Elder Qiao: "……"

Lu Mingyue: "……"

The two of them heard Lin Xiao's words and simultaneously rolled their eyes in unison.

"Kid, do you think everyone can pull off a hundred percent success rate like you?! For a typical Alchemist refining pills of the same grade, just breaking even is already considered excellent."

"If you asked me to refine a seventh-grade pill formula, I'd consider myself incredibly lucky to get two pills out of a single batch — breaking even isn't even something I'd dare dream about."

Elder Qiao glared at Lin Xiao and snapped irritably.

Alchemists at lower grades were nothing but money pits — it was only after breaking through to a higher Alchemist rank that things started to turn around.

It was a path of heavy investment upfront, with returns only trickling in much later.

Within Sword Demon Sect, he was the peak master of Azure Brush Peak and its sole seventh-grade Alchemist.

Azure Brush Peak had three thousand disciples.

Yet those with genuine talent for Alchemy were few and far between.

Among them, the sixth-grade Alchemists under his direct tutelage numbered fewer than thirty.

The rest were still-developing money pits, not worth mentioning.

That alone showed just how grueling the path of Alchemy truly was.

"Ahem, I see. So that's how it works." Lin Xiao laughed sheepishly.

Alchemy was considerably harder than he'd imagined.

"By the way, Elder Qiao — what grade is the Ascending Origin Pill formula?" Lin Xiao asked.

"Sixth grade. Why do you ask?" Elder Qiao replied.

Lin Xiao gave a slight nod.

"Then, Elder Qiao, when you refine a sixth-grade pill formula, what success rate can you generally guarantee?" Lin Xiao pressed with another question.

"Around thirty percent." Elder Qiao wasn't about to boast in front of Lin Xiao.

Knowing this kid, if he asked him to refine a batch on the spot and he fell short of thirty percent, he'd be utterly humiliated.

"Elder Qiao, I've thought of a way we could work together. You and your people provide the sixth-grade formulas and materials, and I'll handle the refining. After each batch, I'll guarantee you the break-even number of pills, and whatever's left over is mine to keep."

"If we're lucky enough to produce two Unified Qi Misty-grade pills, we split them one each."

Lin Xiao laid out his little scheme.

Lu Mingyue blinked rapidly, inwardly astonished that Junior Brother Lin Xiao truly had no filter whatsoever.

Just as she was about to jump in with a word of caution, her master had already spoken.

"Deal!! It's settled then — wait right here, I'm going to go prepare right now!"

The moment Elder Qiao finished speaking, he bolted out the door in a frenzied rush.

He gave the two of them absolutely no chance to get another word in.

Elder Qiao was in an excellent mood right now. This kid was clearly getting a little too full of himself.

To think he'd dare make a promise like that.

He was still a novice, after all.

He had no idea how much harder sixth-grade pills were to refine compared to lower-grade ones.

Once this little brat failed a few times and racked up a massive debt in materials and pills, it would be too late to back out.

And even if Old Mu came to collect him, that pauper didn't have the funds to buy Lin Xiao out of the debt.

Heh heh!

He really was too clever for his own good.

After Elder Qiao left, Lu Mingyue spoke up with a worried look. "Junior Brother Lin Xiao, I think you just walked right into my master's trap. You should probably leave while you still can."

After all, Lin Xiao was her lifesaver.

She had a nagging feeling that the way her master had been looking at Lin Xiao wasn't quite right.

"It's fine — I know what I'm doing. Oh, Senior Sister, is there a private chamber here? I'd like to do some cultivation." Lin Xiao asked.

"This… alright then. There is one — I'll take you there." Seeing that Junior Brother Lin Xiao had no intention of leaving, Lu Mingyue gave up trying to persuade him.

Before long, Lu Mingyue had led Lin Xiao to a private chamber on the floor below.

He shut the door, then took out a bottle of high-grade Origin Restoration Pills.

These were the rewards from the Outer Sect Trial.

Now that he had plenty of pills on hand, he would first cultivate the Nine Abyssal Demon-Suppressing Seal before anything else.

Lin Xiao took out one high-grade Origin Restoration Pill and swallowed it.

In a fleeting moment, the pill dissolved into a stream of pure energy that, under his direction, gathered in the region of his chest.

The Nine Abyssal Demon-Suppressing Seal technique began to circulate.

This pure energy traveled along a specific pathway, nourishing the meridians throughout his body.

But after just one cycle of circulation — only a few minutes had passed.

Lin Xiao stopped.

His expression was utterly bizarre.

Gone?!

The pill's effect was already gone?

Holy shit!!

What the—

That was a high-grade Origin Restoration Pill.

And it was only enough to power the Nine Abyssal Demon-Suppressing Seal through a single cycle of circulation???

Lin Xiao was dumbfounded.

He finally understood what Elder Mu had meant when he said this technique was difficult to cultivate — the more you practiced it, the poorer you'd become.

No matter.

He'd cultivate it first and worry about the rest later.

Lin Xiao tilted his head back and poured the remaining nine high-grade Origin Restoration Pills straight into his mouth.

Crunch, crunch…

Nine pills dissolved into an overwhelmingly pure surge of energy that crashed through Lin Xiao's body.

He felt a dull, throbbing ache spreading through his meridians.

On an ordinary cultivator, this kind of force would have punched several holes clean through them.

Fortunately, he had already cultivated the Mountain Embrace Seal to the sixth layer, laying an exceptionally solid foundation.

No matter how violently this tremendous energy rampaged through him, the most it could do was cause some pain.

Lin Xiao gritted his teeth and pressed on with his cultivation of the Nine Abyssal Demon-Suppressing Seal.

When the Origin Restoration Pills ran out, he moved on to the supreme-grade Ascending Origin Pills.

He had no intention of emerging until every last pill was spent.

And so it went.

Three full days passed.

Outside the private chamber, Elder Qiao was barely containing his impatience.

He had already gathered every sixth-grade pill formula and set of materials available within Sword Demon Sect.

If they were going to do this, they were going to do it big.

After this, he was determined to make that little brat beg to take him as a master — and force that Old Mu to swallow his pride and admit to every mistake he'd made over the years.