Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

The next morning, Li Zhirui, having rested for the night and fully revived, summoned the Elders and announced a significant matter. Stay updated through My Virtual Library Empire

"Responding to the Yuanming Sect's call, besides the basic rewards, we have also unexpectedly gathered over twenty thousand Contribution Value."

Li Zhirui said, "I intend to add our family's existing fifty thousand Spirit Stones to join the auction that will be held in a few days, aiming to acquire a Foundation Establishment Pill."

"And this Foundation Establishment Pill will be given to Li Zhizhun for refinement, to aid him in achieving Foundation Establishment!"

Upon hearing this, Li Zhizhun's breathing paused for a moment, his fists clenched tightly, suppressing the excitement within his heart.

As for the other Elders, their reactions were not as significant, although no one had openly mentioned it, they had already guessed it.

Being the Clan Leader's protégé, Li Zhizhun could not possibly remain a Qi Cultivation cultivator, or else he would simply be unable to suppress the rest of the family.

"Elder Shilian and Li Zhizhun will participate in the auction a few days from now."

After pondering for a moment, Li Zhirui added another comment, "Given the zombie disturbance, it's likely that other forces have also obtained a considerable amount of Contribution Value, so the price of the Foundation Establishment Pill may be quite high this time."

"If we really can't secure it, it's alright to wait for the next auction."

After all, Contribution Value remains valid over the long term, and the family's stockpile of Spirit Stones will continue to grow. By the next auction, securing a Foundation Establishment Pill should certainly be achievable.

Moreover, Li Zhizhun hasn't reached Qi Cultivation Completion yet and is only forty years old, so waiting another year would not hurt.

"Understood!" Li Zhizhun knew this speech was primarily directed at him, hoping he would not feel resentful if Li Shilian was unwilling to compete due to high prices.

Having discussed the most important matter, the rest were trivial issues.

First, Li Zhirui entrusted the Spirit Earthworm to Elder Li Shiyu, who was in charge of nurturing Spirit Beasts, hoping he could cultivate more, as the seven they had were far from sufficient for the many Spirit Fields the family had now established.

Then he stored the rewards given by the Yuanming Sect, three bottles of Consolidating Yuan Pills and ten bottles of Jade Spirit Pills, in the storehouse for family members to exchange.

"During this trip, I also came across an opportunity," Li Zhirui mentioned the Pill Scripture, but did not disclose how he obtained it or mention its origin from Medicine King Valley.

To avoid any association between the Pill Scripture and Medicine King Valley, what Li Zhirui handed over to the family was a specially copied Jade Slip that contained only the Pill Recipe, and he did not record the unique Hundred Herbs Pill either.

All necessary matters having been discussed, Li Zhirui handed over the Jade Token that recorded the Contribution Value of the Yuanming Sect to Li Shilian, then stood up and left the main hall.

He planned to examine the other Jade Slips in the female cultivator's storage bag and then retreat to ponder the original Pill Scripture Jade Slip.

The contents of those Jade Slips were her insights and experiences in alchemy as well as some guidance from her seniors.

This systematic knowledge was what Li Zhirui lacked; it was not that he didn't want to learn, but there was simply no place to learn such teachings. Even though her records were scattered, they were greatly beneficial to Li Zhirui.

The only downside was that the information was all based on Fire Refinement Method, not the Water Method Alchemy that Li Zhirui practiced.

However, this was normal, as the Fire Refinement Method is the most widespread and common method of alchemy.

"If I don't want to purchase any more Pill Recipes, I'll have to deduce the Water Refinement Pill Recipes based on those in my possession," Li Zhirui knew it wouldn't be easy, but decided to try it anyway.

It wasn't about saving a few Spirit Stones, but rather, it was a form of training for Li Zhirui, a cultivation journey on the Tao of Alchemy, which would certainly benefit his future alchemy endeavors.

For instance, the Spirit Clearing Pill recorded in the Wanling Sutra is a Fire Method recipe, and now Li Zhirui was determined to contract a second Devil Beast. If he did not have the Spirit Clearing Pill to remove the devilish energy, how could he dare to make a contract?

Time ticked by, and soon, the day of the auction arrived. Li Shilian took Li Zhizhun to the Marketplace for the event, with Shiren also taking time to observe.

Perhaps due to the treasures found in the ruins, the auction was very lively with many precious Spiritual Objects up for bidding, though none were fated for the Li family.

"The next item to be auctioned, I'm sure everyone is aware of!" the auctioneer shouted excitedly, "That's right! It is the Foundation Establishment Pill that can increase the chances of Foundation Establishment!"

"To thank everyone here for their contributions recently, Yuanming Sect has taken out five Foundation Establishment Pills for this auction!"

Li Zhizhun's eyes lit up, this time there was a good number of Foundation Establishment Pills, and it was very possible for his family to get one!

The auctioneer walked to the back of the display table and took out five jade bottles from his storage bag, shouting, "The auction starts now!"

The emotions of the crowd were stirred up by him, the scene became very heated, and even a bit crazy.

"Sixty thousand Spirit Stones!"

"Seventy thousand Spirit Stones!"

No sooner had his voice fallen than two bids rang out in succession, and the price of the Foundation Establishment Pills was instantly raised to a high level.

Li Zhizhun, who was originally bright-eyed, suddenly grew dim, knowing that under these circumstances, his family would not be able to get a Foundation Establishment Pill in this auction.

"How could other families possibly accrue so much Contribution Value?" Li Shiren asked with a puzzled face.

They had received a reward from Jiang Tianming, which gave them twenty thousand Contribution Value, but could other families have had the same opportunity?

But if it wasn't for the Contribution Value, how could these families come up with so many Spirit Stones?

"Could it be that you've forgotten? Last year's auction didn't have Foundation Establishment Pills, so naturally, they saved up enough Spirit Stones," Li Shilian said helplessly.

It was just unfortunate that the family had bought a Foundation Establishment Pill two years ago; even though they now had quite a few extra Spirit Stones coming in, they still couldn't compete with these families that had accumulated over several years.

"Sigh!" Li Shiren let out a heavy sigh and comforted in a dry tone, "It's okay, Zhizhun, if worse comes to worst, we wait another year, you're still young and there's no need to rush."

"Right," Li Zhizhun said, nodding his head energetically in agreement.

"Seventy-five thousand!"

The Li family hadn't even entered the bidding yet, and the price was already at their limit.

In the end, a certain family won the Foundation Establishment Pill with seventy-eight thousand Spirit Stones.

And the prices for the other four Foundation Establishment Pills all exceeded seventy-five thousand. Li Shiren did bid at times, but he was quickly outmatched.

In the end, the three of them could only return empty-handed.

When Li Zhirui heard the news afterward, he just patted Li Zhizhun on the shoulder as a gesture of comfort.

However, Li Zhirui was still busy comprehending pill recipes and wasn't aware of what happened to Li Shilian and the others.

For modifying the pill recipes, Li Zhirui used a rather clumsy method, which was to compare two different pill recipes in the hope of finding some patterns between them.

The family had previously bought him quite a few first-grade Water Method Pill Recipes, and he now had enough Fire Method Pill Recipes. The number wasn't large, but it was barely enough to work with.

Through Li Zhirui's efforts, he actually managed to discern some patterns! For instance, in the Water Method Pill Recipes, the amounts of certain Spiritual Medicine used to neutralize medicinal properties would be less.

However, such comparisons were mere armchair strategizing. Without hands-on practice, one couldn't arrive at an accurate conclusion.

So, after making some progress, Li Zhirui began to modify the Nourishing Qi Pill Recipe.

But first, he needed to hasten the maturity of enough Spiritual Medicine.