At the beginning of October, Fang Yun had learned how many basic Talent Points he could get from refining an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact with nine Spirit Patterns.

His conservative estimate had been over twenty-two thousand, but he had actually received a little over twenty-three thousand one hundred points.

Based on this, an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact with nine Spirit Patterns would provide him with at least 23,000 Talent Points.

The Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact he had refined for Feng Tianrui had barely managed to form nine Spirit Patterns, making it the absolute bottom of the barrel among top-tier Upper Grade Spiritual Artifacts.

Time passed, and soon it was the end of the year.

Fang Yun maintained his usual rhythm of cultivation and daily life.

For nearly four months, the Alchemy tasks he had accepted were all for refining Spirit Ascension Pills.

Since he could already perfectly refine Spirit Ascension Pills long ago, these tasks didn’t allow him to experience the effects of his upgraded Alchemy Talent.

Today, the refining task was different.

It wasn’t the Spirit Ascension Pill, but the Cyan Clarity Pill.

After accepting the Alchemy task, Fang Yun quickly returned to his immortal’s abode and entered the Alchemy Room.

He had two sets of Spirit Medicine for refining the Cyan Clarity Pill. In one set, the main ingredients—both the Second Tier Middle Grade Jade Patterned Profound Lotus and the Second Tier Lower Grade Moon Orchid—were of good quality.

In the other set of Spirit Medicine, the Jade Patterned Profound Lotus was of poor quality, while the Moon Orchid was still good quality.

The supplementary Tier One Spirit Medicines were mostly similar, with a higher number of excellent-quality ones among them.

’I’ll start by refining the better set of Spirit Medicine.’

Fang Yun had made his decision.

He laid out the better set of Spirit Medicine for the Cyan Clarity Pill, briefly recalled the refining process, and a moment later, a ball of flame ignited in his hand.

The refining of the Cyan Clarity Pill began.

It was worth mentioning that he had switched to a new Alchemy Furnace for his pill refining. It was a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact with five Spirit Patterns, perfectly suited for his use.

This was an Alchemy Furnace he had specifically refined for himself. Although he was only an early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator and the furnace was a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact, he could perfectly utilize its full capabilities.

He had gathered the Spiritual Materials for the Alchemy Furnace himself. With his skill in Artifact Refining, he could have easily crafted a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact with six Spirit Patterns. However, if he had done that, he wouldn’t have been able to wield its full power. Thus, he had to make some adjustments, refining it into a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact with only five Spirit Patterns.

He began refining the Cyan Clarity Pill.

Not long into the refining process, Fang Yun felt that it was going exceptionally smoothly, as if everything was flowing seamlessly.

This was a feeling he usually only experienced when he could perfectly refine a pill.

A guess forming in his mind, Fang Yun didn’t let himself get distracted and continued to focus wholeheartedly on the refining.

Just like that, a batch of Cyan Clarity Pills was refined.

Looking at the three Upper Grade Cyan Clarity Pills in his hand, Fang Yun couldn’t help but remark.

"Perfect refinement, just as I thought!"

If he still had a six-star Alchemy Talent, it would have taken at least seven or eight more batches to accumulate enough experience to perfectly refine the Cyan Clarity Pill.

This was the difference between a six-star and a seven-star Alchemy Talent.

The former was completely sufficient for the Core Formation Stage, while the latter was barely enough for the Nascent Soul Stage. The leaps in change—from two-star to three-star, four-star to five-star, and now six-star to seven-star—were becoming progressively larger.

’Time to continue!’

Next, he began refining the other batch of Cyan Clarity Pills.

Just like the previous batch, this one was also a perfect refinement.

He produced one pill each of Upper, Middle, and Lower Grade.

The quality of the main ingredient, the Second Tier Middle Grade Jade Patterned Profound Lotus, placed a great restriction on the Cyan Clarity Pill.

With a poor-quality Jade Patterned Profound Lotus, even a perfect refinement of the Cyan Clarity Pill could only achieve this result.

If the other main ingredient, the Second Tier Lower Grade Moon Orchid, had been of excellent quality, a perfect refinement would have likely turned that Lower Grade Cyan Clarity Pill into a Middle Grade one.

By the time he finished refining the second batch of Cyan Clarity Pills, it was already the beginning of January.

After a quick glance at the Talent Points settled from the previous month, Fang Yun immediately used them for one hundred and eighteen draws on his Combat Talent.

Afterwards, he went to turn in the Cyan Clarity Pill refining task. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

His task for refining Cyan Clarity Pills had long since reached the threshold for the maximum reward, so no matter how many more he refined, the reward would stay the same.

It made no difference to him anymore, but for the sect, it was a completely different story.

In the beginning, the sect’s reserves of Cyan Clarity Pills would run critically low every so often. However, not long after Fang Yun began refining them, this problem was alleviated.

In recent years, there had been no shortage of Cyan Clarity Pills, but there was still a lack of Upper Grade ones.

From now on, there would be no shortage of Upper Grade Cyan Clarity Pills either.

With a sufficient quantity and high enough quality of Cyan Clarity Pills, fewer and fewer Sect Elders would get stuck at the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage in the future.

...

「Demon Spirit Sect.」

Atop an ancient tree.

Jiang Yingtian, the Spirit Destruction Hall Master of the Celestial Demon Sect, had come to see the Demon Spirit Sect Leader again.

"Sect Leader Luo, I wonder if you’ve received the news yet?" Jiang Yingtian asked, looking at the Demon Spirit Sect Leader.

"News? What news?"

"Don’t tell me that you, the great Demon Spirit Sect Leader, are still unaware that Fang Yun of the Celestial Cloud Sect can now refine Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts that can be used against us."

"Oh, that news. I’ve known about it for some time."

After the Celestial Demon Sect got this information, they had deliberately spread it everywhere. It would have been difficult for him not to find out.

"Now that you know, Sect Leader Luo, what are your thoughts?"

Jiang Yingtian recalled his last visit to the Demon Spirit Sect, when he had discussed with the Sect Leader what would happen if Fang Yun of the Celestial Cloud Sect managed to refine such a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact.

The Demon Spirit Sect Leader had never answered that question directly.

"Our Demon Spirit Sect’s Artifact Refining Elder has already analyzed the situation. Fang Yun of the Celestial Cloud Sect can refine Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts to use against us because that was the very type of artifact he started out refining." At this point, the Demon Spirit Sect Leader finally answered Jiang Yingtian’s question. "You ask for my thoughts? It’s not like I can just go to the Celestial Cloud Sect, lure Fang Yun out, and kill him."