Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 352 - 216: Even Better Than Them (Part 2)

After understanding the situation, Lu Chang’sheng made a careful judgment.

Due to the influence of Master Baiyun’s lineage, most of the original residents of White Cloud Cave Mansion chose the Alchemy Dao among the Four Cultivation Arts.

Because the most complete and powerful inheritance on Master Baiyun’s body is focused on Alchemy Dao.

Of course, there are some who study the Spirit Array path, though those are quite rare.

So, White Cloud Pavilion is also centered on Alchemy Dao, and its overall mode of operation is quite similar to the previous White Cloud Pharmacy.

The difference is, because there aren’t enough alchemists, tasks aren’t distributed in a unified manner, but rather selected voluntarily.

At the same time, in terms of resource allocation, with every completed task, one receives a certain amount of contribution to White Cloud Pavilion.

Contributions can be exchanged for all sorts of things from White Cloud Pavilion.

Compared to how White Cloud Pharmacy allocated resources by rank, this model offers much more flexibility; naturally, the welfare is not as generous.

However, Lu Chang’sheng didn’t mind this—in fact, he was very satisfied.

In his current state, he didn’t need to spend too much time on cultivation; just maintaining a daily balance with a few arts of cultivation was enough.

For the days to come, Lu Chang’sheng’s goal was very clear: take on alchemy tasks to accumulate contributions.

As a former Grade B alchemist, his status was naturally different from ordinary alchemists. He had the steward of White Cloud Pavilion bring the task list, then picked several tasks for refining top-grade pills.

In less than a month, he handed in the refined pills.

By choosing alchemy tasks himself, he could focus on the pill formulas he wanted to improve.

For instance, Guiyuan Pill, as well as Soul Gathering Pill and Vajra Pill.

Of these, Guiyuan Pill was the most important—whenever there was a task for it, he would certainly take it.

Aside from completing alchemy tasks for White Cloud Pavilion, he would occasionally help out families like the Fang Family by refining pills for them.

And he gained significant profits from this.

Whenever Lu Chang’sheng helped with alchemy, he always took a share—as payment, he’d keep a portion of the resulting pills, or if the refinement failed, he’d keep the remaining materials.

This was an unwritten rule accepted by most alchemists.

Compared to talisman making, once alchemists reach a certain level, their speed of earning spirit stones is second to none.

Sadly, the requirements for alchemy are just too high.

With his planned improvements, the few pill formulas Lu Chang’sheng cared about were all improving rapidly. After half a year, Guiyuan Pill officially reached the Minor Achievement realm. When refining this pill, Lu Chang’sheng was no longer subject to possible losses.

With entry-level pill formulas, loss is quite probable when refining. That’s why so many alchemists shy away from tackling new formulas.

Luckily, Lu Chang’sheng’s foundation in the Alchemy Dao was solid—the Turtle Shell Map of Profound Turtle Alchemist, and the many collected Alchemy Jade Scrolls, allowed him to approach the pinnacle of Grade One Alchemy Dao.

Thus, when learning new pill formulas, he was faster than the average Grade B alchemist.

Of course, the deeper reason was his natural talent in Alchemy Dao. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Lu Chang’sheng’s alchemy talent was not low to begin with. Now, over twenty years later, his talent had increased by several points; he could faintly sense a breakthrough was coming.

"Every time my Immortal Dao Root Bone increases, my other talents rise accordingly. Give it another twenty years, and my overall aptitude will rise by another level."

"By then, my talent in Alchemy Dao will be even scarier."

Lu Chang’sheng looked forward with anticipation in his heart.

Another matter was the Elixir Ascension Technique—it also had some effect on improving pill formation rates. But compared to improving pill quality, the benefit here was less obvious.

With the Guiyuan Pill Formula improved, Lu Chang’sheng was like a fish in water; his monthly contributions soared rapidly.

In just half a year, he was on track to catch up with alchemists who had accumulated for years.

Soon, this performance began to catch the attention of some people.

"This Alchemist Lu is accumulating contributions at a frankly staggering rate." In the steward’s office, an old cultivator organized a thick stack of registration Jade Scrolls in front of him.

This was their monthly routine—eventually, all these records would be sent up to the White Cloud Pavilion towers for Elder Li and others to review.

Next to him, a middle-aged female cultivator nodded in strong agreement.

"The first two months were relatively normal, but these past two months, his rate of task completion skyrocketed."

Behind the two, a record-keeping cultivator exclaimed in awe.

Registration, analysis, then submitting to the pavilion elders for approval—none of these steps could be skipped.

And as the one analyzing records, he understood better than the stewards how each alchemist was progressing.

In the record book cradled in his hands, the current two pages were all about Lu Chang’sheng.

Clear records showed every task completed by Lu Chang’sheng over the past few months.

"How does he compare to those three?"

The middle-aged female cultivator suddenly asked.

The older cultivator looked intrigued as well.

He knew exactly who she meant: the three geniuses acknowledged by Elder Li and Elder Guo, the only three alchemists beyond the rules of White Cloud Pavilion—each on par with Zhong Ming from the old White Cloud Pharmacy.

"Even better!" The record keeper hesitated briefly, then spoke in a low voice.

Those three were, after all, the officially recognized ones; it wasn’t his place to say much. Still, Lu Chang’sheng’s performance these past two months was utterly impressive, and he couldn’t help commenting.

The two stewards raised their eyebrows.

"Could Alchemist Lu also become one of the chosen three?"

"Hard to tell. There’s not much comparability—after all, Alchemist Lu is said to be over seventy this year, while the oldest of those three is just thirty-nine."

"If you gave those three another thirty or forty years and then compared them to Alchemist Lu as he is now, maybe there’d be a comparison. But with that much time, who knows where they’ll end up?"

"I don’t think that’s quite right. Remember, talent can be predicted. Take this Guiyuan Pill task: Alchemist Lu’s submission time the first two months was still within expectations, but in the following two months his efficiency nearly doubled. That shows a clear improvement in mastering the formula. To increase so much in so short a time—his talent clearly surpasses those three."

"Enough, someone’s coming. You two shouldn’t speak further—let the elders decide." The record keeper closed the Jade Scroll and quietly advised.

Everyone was shrewd; who knew if Lu Chang’sheng’s performance would provoke the other three?

Having said that, he took the Jade Scroll and soon presented it to the upper pavilion of White Cloud Pavilion.

At dawn the next day, Elder Li awoke from cultivation, sword-controlled down to land atop the White Cloud Pavilion tower. Looking at the Jade Scrolls on the table, he showed a trace of frustration.

As a cultivator, he was naturally not fond of such trivia. But with White Cloud Pavilion rebuilding from ruins, every elder now had no small number of duties, so there was nothing to do but endure it a while longer.

He sat down and immediately found the page recording Fan Shou, reading it carefully.

Fan Shou was his chosen candidate. Back then, he’d brought Fan Shou in as soon as possible; ideally, he would’ve favored Zhong Ming, but Zhong Ming was focused solely on cultivation and refused.

In the end, he chose Fan Shou.

"Contribution increased by 800 points. Not bad, he’s working hard."

Seeing Fan Shou’s numbers, Elder Li nodded. Over half a year, such an increase was about the limit for Fan Shou.

He checked the other two’s records, looking even more satisfied.

Luo Ji, Elder Guo’s favored, and Mo Ran, Elder He’s candidate, both raised their contributions, though each lagged a bit behind Fan Shou.

Of course, the gap was small; Fan Shou was a few years older than the other two, so counting age, the others actually had an edge.

"We’ll see who can reach Supreme-grade pills first."

The three of them, Fan Shou included, had only raised one or two pill formulas to Great Success so far; Supreme-grade pills remained beyond their skills.

Thinking of Supreme-grade pills, Elder Li’s heart suddenly stirred. He found Lu Chang’sheng’s page.

One glance, and his eyes widened; a complex look flickered across his face.