Chapter 269: Chapter 238: Marching to Seek Justice_1

Although the Foundation Establishment Pill is only a tier-four pill, due to its unique nature, not many people can refine it.

Among the fifty alchemists managed by Xu Mu, only three can refine the Foundation Establishment Pill. The best among them is at the level of Perfection, with a 30% probability of producing high-quality Foundation Establishment Pills.

The disciple who recorded it was obviously intentionally negligent, otherwise such an important pill wouldn’t have had errors in its records.

His decision to retreat into closed doors cultivation right now is clearly an attempt to avoid questioning.

The sect has rules that no matter what crime a person has committed, their closed-door cultivation cannot be disturbed.

Moreover, even if this matter is investigated thoroughly and the culprit turns out, Xu Mu, as the manager, cannot escape his responsibility.

The Foundation Establishment Pill is reserved for use in advancing to the Foundation Establishment Stage. Cultivators generally require a trigger to break through, unless they are top-tier geniuses who don’t care about such things.

Therefore, in order not to miss the trigger, cultivators often purchase Foundation Establishment Pills in advance, hoping to take them as soon as the trigger appears.

If they can’t deliver the pills on time now and the customer fails to break through, they would be heavily sanctioned when the time comes.

For a large powerhouse like the Fairy Moon Palace, sometimes face is more important than life itself.

If things go south, Xu Mu might be made an example of.

Furthermore, Xu Mu isn’t a formal inner-door elder, so the sect wouldn’t care much.

While other pill masters might escape responsibility, disciples like them under Xu Mu wouldn’t be able to, which is why Ye Bufan is so anxious and concerned.

However, seeing the expression on Xu Mu’s face, it didn’t seem to change much.

Could it be that the master doesn’t worry about it at all?

Or is it just a facade?

Ye Bufan couldn’t help guessing in his heart.

Xu Mu, unaware of what his cheap student was thinking, just said nonchalantly, “You go to the Pill Hall and have them prepare the ingredients. I’ll refine it myself.”

What’s considered an earth-shattering matter for other alchemists, to him, is nothing more than a simple task.

Possibly in their wildest dreams, Qin Xiao and Yun Zhan never imagined that Xu Mu, being a rogue cultivator, not only could refine the Foundation Establishment Pill, but also that his alchemy had reached a transcendent level.

Of course, if they knew, they would not go to all the effort of laying this plot.

Not only did Yun Zhan and Qin Xiao never expect this, but Ye Bufan was also taken by surprise.

When he heard Xu Mu say that he was going to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill himself, he thought he had misheard.

Although there are no sect prohibitions against anyone refining Foundation Establishment Pills in the Central Continent, due to the peculiarity of the Foundation Establishment Pill, rogue cultivator alchemists likely struggle to master this type of pill.

Because many powerhouse sects monopolize the herbs, pills, magical artifacts, formations and so on in their own regions, they are able to earn high returns.

Otherwise, how could the Fairy Moon Palace afford to support thousands of alchemists?

“Master, you know how to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill?” Ye Bufan asked incredulously.

“Just go and prepare, no need for so much nonsense!”

“Yes! But…”

But there are only three days left, even if you know how to refine it, it’s too late. At best, even with excellent refining techniques, you could only make one batch.

Ye Bufan was too frightened by Xu Mu’s look to voice his doubts.

In order to save trouble, Xu Mu has always been decisive in his actions.

He doesn’t have the patience to have a heart-to-heart with his subordinates talking about equality and respect. In his eyes, there is only obedience or scram.

Ye Bufan left in a hurry to alert the Pill Hall to prepare in advance.

Xu Mu tidied up his residence a bit before rushing over.

The process of refining the pill doesn’t need to be mentioned. As soon as Xu Mu’s large pill furnace started, he refined over a hundred high-quality Foundation Establishment Pills at once, even unexpectedly producing a few top-tier Foundation Establishment Pills.

If he wasn’t worried about drawing too much attention, he could have made all of them top-tier.

“I’m a bit rusty, otherwise there wouldn’t be any top-tier ones!” Xu Mu said to himself.

If other alchemists had heard him, they would have been so angry they’d spit blood.

Others would give anything to produce a top-tier Foundation Establishment Pill, as its value far exceeded that of a high-quality one, but Xu Mu seemed somewhat dissatisfied.

It really was true – comparing oneself to others could make one feel frustrated.

“Master! Master! The hall master is coming with others!”

As soon as Xu Mu emerged from the alchemy room, Ye Bufan and Xiao Feng, nervous as ants on a hot pot, rushed over and spoke hastily.

“Oh?”

Xu Mu was somewhat surprised. They actually had the audacity to show up at his door.

“Well, let’s go then!”

“Master, the pills…”

“Are you still doubting your master?” Xu Mu said indifferently.

“No way! Absolutely not!”

Seeing Xu Mu’s confident demeanor, the two of them finally felt reassured. They had just managed to have such a great master and did not want any mishaps.

The two of them followed a step behind Xu Mu and left the area where the alchemy room is located.

The place, which was originally used for meetings by Xu Mu’s alchemists, was now crowded. There were seven additional administrators, a large number of ordinary Pill Masters, over a dozen inner-door elders all present, not to mention the three main and deputy masters of the Pill Hall.

As Xu Mu and his two disciples appeared, all eyes converged on them. Different faces showed different expressions.

Some feeling regretful, some were worried, some curious, some taking delight in others’ misfortune.

Du Yu, who was in the lead, looked coldly at them with an icy stare, appearing as though he was ready to reprimand them.

“Elder Xu, what the hell have you done? I had to fight hard just to get you this opportunity, but you ended up making such a huge error!

Do you realize that these pills were destined for our sect’s disciples? If the pill supply fails to meet the demand, causing a disciple’s breakthrough to fail, the entire Pill Hall would be implicated!”

Hearing Du Yu’s words, Xu Mu finally realized why the good fortune of refining the Foundation Establishment Pill would fall into his lap.

However, he was more inclined to believe that this was something Qin Xiao and Yun Zhan intentionally left him to deal with, otherwise how could there be a traitor amongst his team just by coincidence.

Those two had probably been plotting for a long time, and now they were poised to reveal their sharp blades.

The mocking and disdain in Qin Xiao and Yun Zhan’s eyes were almost undisguised.

Both were as if they had been certain that Xu Mu could not avoid his fate.

If it was the Foundation Establishment Pill for outsiders, it would still be fine, at most he would be punished and compensate some spirit stones.

But now, it’s for the sect’s own disciples. If anything goes wrong, not only will he lose face, but he will also be severely punished.

Not even being able to serve as an inner-door elder any longer, let alone a sector supervisor.

If Xu Mu had been a disciple of the Fairy Moon Palace from the start, there might still be some hope. But for a rogue cultivator like Xu Mu who joined mid­way, he could forget about it.

“Hall master, please calm down!” Xu Mu continued with a smile, “I just had an epiphany while refining the pill and lost track of time, causing my delay in submitting the pills!”

“Hmm?”

Du Yu was taken aback, “You mean you forgot the submission time? So you’ve already finished refining?”

“Of course!”

Xu Mu took out the freshly made Foundation Establishment Pills and handed them to Du Yu.

Du Yu checked them one by one, and when he saw one of the bottles, he couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

“Top-tier Foundation Establishment Pills?!!!”