Chapter 302 : Alliance Ascendancy and Essence Monopoly

In truth, the low-tier resources from Heavenly Ruins Lake held little practical value for the two of them. They were simply converted into Spirit Stone [a mineral that stores and radiates spiritual energy, used as currency and for cultivation] and Contribution Points, which were deposited into the Clan Treasury. When they needed Spirit Stone, they could simply draw from the Clan Treasury reserves.

For Exquisite Jiang and Eldrin Chen, the most useful resource remained the Five Elements Essence [a refined spiritual essence containing the power of the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth].

After this great battle, the Heavenly Ruins Alliance had become the undisputed Sovereign [the highest ruling power in a region] across the three prefectures. As the Alliance Leader and Deputy Leader, the two naturally enjoyed certain privileges.

Henceforth, whenever they required Five Elements Essence, every family under the Heavenly Ruins Alliance banner and all affiliated cultivators would be obligated to sell the Five Elements Essence they produced to the pair as a priority.

Furthermore, this proportion could not be less than fifty percent of their total output, and the price could not exceed the market floor price—which was eight thousand Spirit Stone for fifty thousand strands.

Back when Exquisite Jiang had just achieved Forming the Golden Core [the process of condensing one's cultivation base into a Golden Core, a major breakthrough], Five Elements Essence was scarce within Chu Nation. The two had even been forced to pay a premium of fourteen thousand Spirit Stone to acquire fifty thousand strands.

With this floor-price privilege secured, they would save a colossal sum—amounting to millions of Spirit Stone—throughout their Golden Core Stage [the cultivation realm centered around the Golden Core]. This was no small fortune.

Moreover, this arrangement would allow the Heavenly Ruins Alliance to monopolize the Five Elements Essence trade across the three prefectures. Whether stockpiling it for reserves or selling it for profit, the situation was exceedingly favorable.

In previous years, the price premium on Five Elements Essence was primarily due to layers of middlemen skimming profits along the supply chain.

For instance, when the Chen Clan previously transported Five Elements Essence to Heavenly Ruins Mountain, the actual purchase price for fifty thousand strands was only around seven or eight thousand Spirit Stone. Yet, by the time it was sold at Heavenly Ruins Mountain, the profit margin could reach as high as two thousand Spirit Stone. Official source: audio novel.com. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

In truth, the amount of Spirit Stone [a mineral that stores and radiates spiritual energy] obtained by rogue cultivators and individual clan members is not substantial, as over half of the profits are claimed by various intermediaries.

For instance, when a clan cultivator produces Five Elements Essence [a refined spiritual essence containing the power of the five elements], the clan purchases it for a price of five Spirit Stone. This same essence is then sold in the market for seven Spirit Stone.

After paying the market taxes, the purchasing clan's cost rises to eight Spirit Stone. Selling it across prefectures to Violet Sanctum Cultivator [cultivators who have opened their Violet Sanctum, a major cultivation stage] or to specialized merchants further inflates the price to ten Spirit Stone.

When merchants finally sell it to the high-level cultivators who need it, the price increases by another one or two Spirit Stone. If a high-level cultivator is in urgent need, the profit margin can surge by several additional tenths.

However, with the Heavenly Ruins Alliance [a powerful alliance of cultivators] now conducting direct internal procurement, all these middlemen are bypassed. Clan cultivators can sell their Five Elements Essence directly to the Heavenly Ruins Alliance, saving the two a vast sum of Spirit Stone.

Achieving this is an immensely difficult feat. It requires not only overwhelming power to subdue the various local powers but also an extraordinary degree of public trust and credibility.

These local powers refer to the major Foundation Establishment [the Foundation Establishment cultivation realm] Violet Sanctum Immortal Clan [immortal clans with Violet Sanctum cultivators]. In fact, the trade of Five Elements Essence across the various prefectures is largely controlled by these major Foundation Establishment and Violet Sanctum Immortal Clan.

While the annual profits may not seem staggering—for example, after over a century of development, Yu County [Yu County] now generates only about twenty thousand Spirit Stone per year from Five Elements Essence—over a span of one hundred years, this accumulates into an industry worth two million Spirit Stone.

The combined profits from all the intermediate links in this chain amount to at least several hundred thousand Spirit Stone. The major Violet Sanctum Immortal Clan of Yu County, such as the Chen, Pan, and Meng clans, all hold a share of these interests. Even the Foundation Establishment Immortal Clan [immortal clans with Foundation Establishment cultivators], though unable to claim a direct share, still benefit from a portion of the tax revenue.

And this is just for a single county. If we account for the three provinces and nine counties, the annual trade volume reaches the level of one hundred thousand Spirit Stone. Over one hundred years, this amounts to ten million Spirit Stone, with profits numbering in the millions.

This immense profit and market had, in years past, been controlled by over a dozen Violet Sanctum Immortal Clan and hundreds of Foundation Establishment Immortal Clan across the three prefectures. Within this web of intertwined interests, even the former Verdant Sun Sect lacked the necessary credibility to secure this trade.

Thus, these local powers were notoriously difficult to deal with; typically, even a Golden Core Immortal Clan would find it exceedingly hard to intervene.

Fortunately, Eldrin Chen and Exquisite Jiang now possessed formidable strength. Moreover, their prestige and reputation within the Heavenly Ruins Alliance were impeccable, having led the alliance's various Immortal Clan and rogue cultivators to reap substantial profits.

Allies within the alliance, such as Xavier Xu and Green Plum Fang—both Pseudo-Core RealmElder—still harbored hopes for the duo's Golden Core Formation Pill.

Setting aside their lack of strength and thus limited say, even if they were to break through to the Golden Core Realm, they would still owe Exquisite Jiang and Eldrin Chen a significant debt of gratitude. After all, if a Golden Core Formation Pill were put up for public auction, it could easily fetch a premium of several hundred thousand Spirit Stone [a mineral that stores and radiates spiritual energy, used as currency and for cultivation].

The reason for selling it to them at the preferential price of two million Spirit Stone was precisely because they were internal members of the Heavenly Ruins Alliance. Countless cultivators from outside the alliance coveted this opportunity, wishing they could take their place.

After Eldrin Chen led the Chen Clan cultivators in thoroughly cleansing Heavenly Ruins Lake of its Foundation Establishment and Violet Sanctum Demonic Beast [demonic beasts of Violet Sanctum level], he delegated the remaining mundane affairs to the clan's Caleb and the family's Foundation Establishment Cultivator for handling.

He simultaneously issued orders to procure Five Elements Essence [a refined spiritual essence containing the power of the five elements] and began concocting various elixirs [spiritual pills used for cultivation] with Exquisite Jiang.

Exquisite Jiang focused on refining mid-to-high tier third-rank pills like the Dharma Origin Pill, while Eldrin Chen concentrated on producing Foundation Establishment Pill [a pill that aids in breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm] and mid-to-low tier third-rank elixirs.

With his quasi-fourth-rank alchemy skills, his success rate for mid-to-high tier third-rank pills, while not abysmally low, certainly could not match that of Exquisite Jiang.

Over these years, he had assisted Exquisite Jiang in refining a considerable number of high-grade elixirs [spiritual pills used for cultivation]. He no longer needed to hone his techniques using these Third Rank Middle and Upper Grade pills. To truly advance his alchemy skills, refining Fourth Rank elixirs would be best.

Currently, there was no opportunity to refine Fourth Rank elixirs. Instead, it was better to refine Foundation Establishment Pill [a pill that aids in breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm] and Third Rank Lower Grade elixirs to help share some of Exquisite Jiang's burden.

During this Beast Tide [a massive assault by demonic beasts], the Heavenly Ruins Alliance had obtained a total of sixteen Inner Pill [the condensed energy core of a powerful demonic beast] from slain Violet Sanctum Great Monster [demonic beasts equivalent to the Violet Sanctum cultivation realm]. Furthermore, they had scavenged five stalks of Purple Marrow Fruit [a rare spiritual fruit] from various Spirit Mountain [mountains rich in spiritual energy].

To begin the furnace and refine these elixirs, Exquisite Jiang recalled her External Incarnation [a technique to project a separate, autonomous avatar] to stand guard at Heavenly Ruins Lake. The two of them specifically returned to Green Sun Mountain to utilize the power of the Fourth-Rank Underground Fire Vein [a subterranean vein of potent fire energy] for alchemy.

For this batch of Foundation Establishment Pill, Eldrin Chen took the lead. Aunt Verdant Grace and Silas Chen, both Third Rank Lower Grade alchemists, assisted him as aides in processing the supplementary ingredients.

As Eldrin Chen refined the Foundation Establishment Pill, he simultaneously explained the intricacies of the Alchemy Scripture [a profound text on pill refinement] to the two of them. Original English translation available at www . audio-novel.com.

"This Demon Core comes from a Crimson Flame Python. It contains a scorching, fiery spiritual nature that is highly detrimental to a cultivator's Foundation Establishment [the foundational stage of cultivation]."

"With my cultivation level, I can naturally use my spiritual power to forcibly separate the fiery spiritual nature. However, your cultivation is not sufficient. If you wish to use this Inner Pill to refine a Foundation Establishment Pill, you would need to neutralize its spiritual nature using either Positive Water Quintessence [a pure essence of yang-aligned water] or Essence of Final Water [a potent yin-aligned water essence]."

Eldrin Chen's words paused briefly, and he couldn't help but let out a soft, amused laugh. He suddenly remembered that Exquisite Jiang had spoken these very same words to him many years ago.

Shaking his head, he continued with the work of refining the elixirs.

Over the course of twenty-one batches of Foundation Establishment Pill [a pill that aids in solidifying the foundation for the next major cultivation stage], with the assistance of the two others, Eldrin Chen had managed to refine one batch every three days. Yet, this endeavor still consumed a full two months of his time to complete.

Upon successfully refining the Foundation Establishment Pill, Eldrin Chen finally allowed himself a sigh of relief. A careful count revealed a total of one hundred and twenty-seven successfully forged Foundation Establishment Pill pills. This content originates from audio‑novel.com. Please respect copyright.