Chapter 426: The Ancient Immortal Formula

As autumn set in, the time for planting mulberry trees was fast approaching. The period around the first snowfall of the season was the ideal time to plant the saplings. Before the snow began, the cultivators were asked to cast spells to seal in the saplings’ vitality. This way, most of the mulberry saplings would survive until the following spring, when the weather warmed and the flowers bloomed.

At the moment, Trueman Chu He, holding a lazy cat in his arms, was seated at the head of the table. To his left and right sat the patriarchs of the Yao and the Hsu Brocade Houses, while the Mi Clan was represented by the patriarch’s son, seated at the outer end of the table.

Originally, the Hsu Brocade House was barely able to squeeze into the top five. However, they made the wise decision of clinging tightly to Trueman Chu He’s thighs. As a result, they were able to secure a seat to his right.

Trueman Chu He’s banquet followed a specific protocol: whoever secured the most orders from him would be allowed to sit closer to him. As for everything else, be it power or influence or wealth, he couldn’t care less about it. This was why the Mi Clan was seated a whopping nine positions away from the old Daoist. Because of this, the Mi patriarch grew so enraged that he fell ill. Despite the insult, the Mi Clan still sent someone to attend because even the ninth position came with an order for 10,000 bolts of silk and brocade. They had to be there.

The atmosphere at the banquet was lively. The Yao and Hsu patriarchs were flushed with excitement and practically leaning against Trueman Chu He.

Trueman Chu He cleared his throat, and the room fell silent. He then said, “It probably doesn’t need to be said, but I have come here today with new orders.”

Everyone’s eyes burned with anticipation as they waited for him to continue.

“For this batch, I’ll be taking fifty thousand bolts of brocade—and two million catties of silk!”

A collective gasp filled the rooms as the family patriarchs sucked in their breath. The brocade was one thing, but that amount of silk was simply staggering—it was enough to wipe out not one, but multiple brocade houses’ worth of silk!

While many were still calculating, the Hsu patriarch spoke up loudly, “I’ll take five thousand bolts of brocade and three hundred thousand catties of silk!”

The patriarchs were all taken aback. The quantity of silk the Hsu family was offering to take would literally empty their entire stockpiles—what would they use to weave brocade then?

It was then some of the patriarchs recalled the Hsu Clan’s strategy: they had already converted all tens of thousands of mu of their grain fields into mulberry groves! Although it was already too late for this year, they could begin producing massive amounts of silk as early as next year!

Right then, a young family head called out, “I’m willing to take fifty thousand catties of silk!”

Trueman Chu He, beaming with joy, beckoned to him and said, “Come, come, come—sit a little closer!”

The young family head, feeling both excited and a bit anxious, swapped seats with the son of the Mi Clan’s patriarch. With someone taking the lead, many others followed suit, and within moments, the orders for this batch were completely filled. Thus, Trueman Chu He returned home satisfied.

After Trueman Chu He left, the price of silk in Shanyang Commandery immediately skyrocketed, rising from one qian[1] of immortal silver to three qian. A single bolt of Ning Brocade was sold for five taels of immortal silver, and each bolt required five catties of silk, the collaborative effort of about ten artisans, and three months to weave. The artisans’ labor was valued at two taels, and additional costs for housing, firewood, charcoal, taxes and more amounted to another tael.

With silk prices skyrocketing, weaving brocade suddenly became unprofitable, so the price of brocade also rose accordingly. Although the influx of other goods from other commanderies would eventually cause prices to gradually decline, everyone knew that the sudden appearance of such a major buyer meant that the prices would never return to what they had been before.

Meanwhile, a steady stream of grain continued to flow in from the Realm of Qingming. It had already pushed grain prices in Shanyang Commandery back down to the levels of a normal year.

This large order placed by Trueman Chu He—an order that contained more silk than brocade—had instantly given those who had stockpiled silk a taste of profit. On the other hand, those with more brocade than silk were not smiling quite as broadly.

Many people realized from this incident that with silk, every catty sold meant every catty earned. On the other hand, the profit they made from selling brocade was entirely based on the price of silk.

Autumn was traditionally the harvest season, but with the influx of grain from the Realm of Qingming, countless grain farmers were wearing gloomy expressions. Most of their fields were leased from noble clans, with rent set at the beginning of the year when grain prices were high. However, the grain prices had fallen to less than half of what they had been at the start of the year. Even selling their entire harvest wouldn’t be enough to cover the rent.

The saying “low grain prices harm farmers” came true this very autumn.

In contrast, the mulberry farmers of Shanyang Commandery were all beaming with joy, and every household was decked out in festive decorations.

The Yao family and the Hsu family[2] were bustling with visitors, but the Mi Clan’s estate was rather quiet. In the main hall of the Mi Clan’s ancestral home, more than a dozen clan elders had gathered. The head of the Mi Clan sat in the center, still exuding an unquestionable air of authority.

“My position remains the same: those one hundred thousand mu of grain fields are the lifeblood of our clan, and not a single mu can be touched! Hmph, what if Qingming purchases silk this year but stops next year? If Qingming stops selling grain then, won’t we all starve to death?”

The Mi patriarch’s word rang out with authority. In the past, this would have set the tone of the meeting, and the matter would have been settled without further discussion.

But this time, one of the clan elders spoke up: “Qingming is exchanging grain for silk, so the more silk we sell, the more grain we will stockpile! If they stop buying silk next year, we can simply convert those fields back to grain fields—and the grain we’ve stockpiled will be enough to feed us for years. No matter how you look at it, we can’t go hungry.”

The Mi patriarch’s face expression immediately darkened. In recent years, few had dared to contradict him to his face.

Another clan elder added, “The profit we’re currently getting from the grain fields are less than one-fifth of what we’re getting from the mulberry groves. We can’t just pass up such a profit! And how will we justify this to our clansmen? You can’t just silence those below you with a single word.”

The Mi patriarch’s face turned ashen, but when he looked at the elders, each exuding a peculiar glint in their eyes, he suddenly realized that these people hadn’t come to discuss business. No, they had come to replace him.

......

In the Realm of Qingming, Wei Yuan took out a batch of Blood Yingluos of various grades and handed them to Hsu Henshui. Over the past few days, Hsu Henshui had been examining various medicinal herbs from the western regions.

After inspecting them for quite some time, Hsu Henshui picked up a sample of the highest grade—high enough to be called a Soul Yingluo—and exclaimed excitedly, “This is it! This item can completely replace one of the main ingredients in the immortal formula!”

“Immortal formula?”

“Oh, I’m talking about an ancient immortal formula. You wouldn’t understand it yet; when your pill-making skills are sufficient, I’ll pass it on to you myself,” Hsu Henshui said.

Wei Yuan looked at the piece of Soul Yingluo with puzzlement. Such a small piece—it barely weighed over one catty—was worth hundreds of thousands of immortal silver, yet its life-extending effects were only a dozen or so years longer than that of ordinary Blood Yingluo. An equal weight of ordinary Blood Yingluo, on the other hand, was only worth a little over 1,000 taels of immortal silver.

Wei Yuan naturally knew exactly what Hsu Henshui was referring to when he mentioned the immortal formula. After all, he was the one who had received the inheritance of true intent. In fact, the light orb Hsu Henshui had been studying was merely a copy of it.

Wei Yuan had handled several pieces of Soul Yingluo already. However, he simply couldn’t discern any connection between this object and any of the ingredients listed in the immortal formula. This clearly demonstrated just how vast the gap in their mastery of the Dao of pill-making was.

Hsu Henshui proceeded to explain in detail why the Soul Yingluo could substitute that particular ancient immortal ingredient, but it was obvious at first glance that Wei Yuan hadn’t understood a word. That said, Hsu Henshui was a man who would not give up on even the dumbest student. He still lectured Wei Yuan for two hours straight.

Everything Hsu Henshui said was recorded by Wei Yuan and simultaneously displayed within the Fire of Humanity. Consequently, this knowledge was stored, compared and analyzed against existing knowledge, and then categorized and filed in the appropriate locations, enriching Wei Yuan’s knowledge in a systematic and organized manner.

After Hsu Henshui had explained the entire principle, Wei Yuan finally understood why the Jia Wood Little New Year Pill was priced like a standard longevity pill, but the Blood Yingluo cost several times—or even hundreds of times— as much.

In Hsu Henshui’s view, the pill master who had developed the Jia Wood Little New Year Pill was only of average skill. The formula utilized several primary ingredients with life-prolonging properties. However, if one had previously taken other longevity elixirs containing the same primary ingredients, then the effectiveness of the Jia Wood Little New Year Pill would be significantly diminished.

By the same token, if one had never taken other longevity elixirs and took the Jia Wood Little New Year Pill first, it would also reduce the efficacy of other similar longevity elixirs.

The Soul Yingluo was different. In the past, the human race had consumed it raw, and very few were qualified to use it. The Soul Yingluo could be consumed repeatedly with very little diminishing effects, but its adverse side effects were almost unbearable.

The fact that the Soul Yingluo could replace one of the primary ingredients in the immortal formula marked a major step forward in its study.

Over the next few days, Hsu Henshui refined the formula for the Jia Wood Little New Year Pill, incorporating low-grade Blood Yingluo as the primary ingredient to develop a new elixir formula. Using this new formula as the foundation, Hsu Henshui and Wei Yuan shared a pill chamber and fired their furnaces simultaneously. During this process, Hsu Henshui guided Wei Yuan in the Dao of pill-making, occasionally correcting some of the common mistakes beginners often made during the refinement process.

Besides Wei Yuan and Hsu Henshui, all the other disciples from Mother Nature Monastery, along with several individuals with a natural gift for pill-making, were present for this joint session as well. Hsu Henshui was a renowned pill-maker himself, so he was more than capable of guiding them all.

This was a rare opportunity, and Wei Yuan did not want to miss it. So, he summoned several hundred Qingming cultivators to the scene so that Hsu Henshui could teach them on the spot.

When the auspicious hour arrived and the bell rang, Wei Yuan and Hsu Henshui placed the first batch of ingredients into the pill furnace and began the refinement process.

1. One qian is one-tenth of a tael. ☜

2. You know, this was the chapter where I suddenly realized I need to make a distinction between clan and family because if I just blind translated every word to “clan” it would seem like the entire bloody clan itself is making this decision—which IS true for the Mi Clan, but not necessarily true for everyone else. UGH. ☜