Luo Ye's imposing presence was indeed formidable. As soon as she spoke, two figures flew down from above.
One was a refined-looking middle-aged man, none other than Gu Tanghai, whom Meng Zhang had dealt with before. The other was a tall elderly man exuding a faint fragrance, likely the person in charge of the Shi Family, Shi Changqing.
Luo Ye was not just an ordinary cultivator at the Foundation Building late stage; she was an elite cultivator preparing to break through to the Gold Core stage. At this moment, she didn't bother hiding her strength and released her unique aura of a strong cultivator.
Gu Tanghai and Shi Changqing looked at the unfamiliar woman before them with wariness. Gu Tanghai also noticed Meng Zhang standing beside Luo Ye.
"Sect Master Meng, since when did you achieve Foundation Building? And who is this senior?" Gu Tanghai asked, surprised.
Seeing Gu Tanghai's astonishment, Meng Zhang smirked maliciously. "Brother Gu, did you think that just because you swallowed my Foundation Building Pill, I couldn't succeed in my Foundation Building?"
"Apologies, but I have successfully achieved Foundation Building. Are you all surprised and taken aback?" Luo Ye said impatiently. "Sect Master Meng and his companions, stop the unnecessary chatter. Once I defeat them, they will naturally spit out everything they swallowed."
"Hold on, senior, is there some misunderstanding here?" Gu Tanghai hurriedly intervened.
Gu Tanghai's cultivation base was only at the mid-stage of Foundation Building, making him no match for a late-stage Foundation Building cultivator like Luo Ye. As for Shi Changqing, he was at the early stage of Foundation Building and not particularly skilled in combat, being an alchemist instead.
The defensive formation set up by the Shi Family below was mainly for concealing their base, with only average defensive capabilities.
Not to mention Meng Zhang, who had just successfully achieved Foundation Building. Even this mysterious woman alone could sweep aside all of them.
"Enough with the nonsense and stop finding lame excuses to dodge responsibility. Quickly return the Foundation Building Pill of Sect Master Meng," Luo Ye ordered, interrupting Shi Changqing before he could speak further.
"If you dare to say another word of nonsense, I'll kill you on the spot."
Gu Tanghai stopped Shi Changqing's actions and bowed his head obediently. "Senior and Sect Master Meng, please wait a moment. I'll immediately retrieve the Foundation Building Pill."
After saying that, Gu Tanghai quickly pulled Shi Changqing and flew back down to the valley below.
"Hurry up, my patience is limited. If this takes too long, I'm afraid I won't be able to control my temper and destroy this place," Luo Ye arrogantly demanded.
Perhaps truly intimidated by Luo Ye, Gu Tanghai swiftly returned, carrying a jade bottle.
Meng Zhang took the jade bottle from Gu Tanghai and poured out two pill-sized pills. He activated the Deception Breaking Eye technique to carefully examine them.
According to Meng Zhang's knowledge of pills, these two Foundation Building Pills were indeed genuine.
To be extra sure, Luo Ye inspected them a few more times.
Once confirmed, Luo Ye snorted coldly, taking Meng Zhang with her as they flew away. Throughout the encounter, she didn't even spare a glance at Gu Tanghai. Meng Zhang, too, refrained from saying much and didn't bother introducing Luo Ye's identity.
Today, Luo Ye gave Meng Zhang a profound lesson. It turned out that with a strong enough cultivation base, one could indeed act however they pleased, being overbearing and domineering.
Watching the two figures depart, Gu Tanghai's feelings were complicated.
Originally, they had no intention of swallowing Meng Zhang's Foundation Building Pill. Shi Weiming, who was in charge of external affairs, strongly opposed such an act. But both Gu Tanghai and Shi Changqing were helpless.
As a small faction, it was extremely challenging for them to secretly collect the spirit herbs needed to refine Foundation Building Pills. They spent a great deal of effort and paid a high price to gather all the required ingredients.
The process of refining a batch of Foundation Building Pills almost depleted Shi Family's accumulated resources.
Although Shi Changqing was a talented alchemist with great skills, it was his first time refining Foundation Building Pills. Fortunately, he succeeded, but he only produced three intact Foundation Building Pills.
If they considered only the economic aspect, Shi Family suffered significant losses in refining this batch of Foundation Building Pills. Not to mention the additional expenditure of spiritual stones, just the consumption of those rare materials alone could have exchanged for five Foundation Building Pills if they were sold to the Flying Swan Sect.
Of course, refining such critical strategic resources as Foundation Building Pills couldn't be solely evaluated based on economics. Moreover, Shi Changqing's alchemy techniques were further refined through this process. It's worth noting that Foundation Building Pills were one of the most difficult Second Rank pills to refine.
However, after all the hard work and effort, and only having three Foundation Building Pills in hand, it was really frustrating to give two to Meng Zhang as promised. Both Shi Changqing and Gu Tanghai were deeply unwilling.
Certainly, Taiyi Sect was just a small faction, and they could delay and procrastinate indefinitely. But to Meng Zhang, the Foundation Building Pill was genuinely precious. Compared to the fate of the entire sect, Gu Tanghai had a clear understanding of which mattered more.
Gu Tanghai handed over the Foundation Building Pills, and Meng Zhang didn't pursue the matter further, which could be considered a win-win situation.
After this incident, although Meng Zhang didn't immediately sever the cooperation with Shi Weiming, he was already prepared to explore other avenues.
In the Cultivation World, sects with vision invested heavily in cultivating their own alchemists. Even if these alchemists were not highly skilled, and their alchemy endeavors resulted in severe losses, sects would still support them financially.
With a wide variety of pill types and enormous benefits, besides pills that increase cultivation base, there were those used for healing, detoxification, and restoring mana, which were equally indispensable. If a sect lacked the ability to produce these vital pills themselves, they might find themselves unable to acquire them even with vast amounts of spiritual stones.
Before, Taiyi Sect lacked the resources to do so, but now their financial situation had improved, and it was time to prioritize training alchemists.
Meng Zhang had obtained the contents related to alchemy techniques from the inheritance in the Trial Ground, ranging from alchemy apprenticeship to becoming an alchemist.
Once back at the sect, they could select and nurture disciples who showed even the slightest aptitude for alchemy.
Returning to Luo Ye's place of seclusion, Jue Ying brought back some news. Twin Success Valley had stopped buying white hidden earth minerals mined by Taiyi Sect and demanded that Taiyi Sect completely destroy any evidence of their dealings.
Without Twin Success Valley purchasing white hidden earth minerals, Taiyi Sect lost its primary source of large-scale spiritual stones. They could support themselves for a short time with their reserves, but if this situation persisted, they would face difficult times.
Meng Zhang originally planned to return to Taiyi Sect immediately. However, he realized that even if he returned now, there wouldn't be a good solution to this problem. It might be better to stay here, take advantage of the Second Rank spirit vein to save a significant amount of spiritual stones, and explore potential new sources of wealth.
Meng Zhang handed the Foundation Building Pill he had just retrieved back to Jue Ying, as promised.
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