But his gaze did not linger too long overall. In the end, with precise focus, it stopped on several specific immortal herbs.
Chen Yi stretched out his finger and lightly pointed in all directions. His clear, steady voice echoed through the quiet valley:
"Great Elder, Third Elder, there are many kinds of immortal herbs here, of differing attributes. Not all are perfectly suited to the fundamental inheritance of our Body Sect.
After my preliminary observation and consideration, the ones most suitable for the core members of our sect can't compare to these four stalks."
The tip of Chen Yi's finger first pointed at that stalk of golden radiance, whose petals were like velvet threads, exuding a heavy aura like the Indestructible Vajra — a chrysanthemum:
"First is this Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum.
This is a neutral-type immortal herb. After consuming it, the energy will flow through the four limbs and clear the eight meridians, ultimately refining an Indestructible Vajra Body.
Within the sect, any experts who walk the path of direct, fierce offense — if they can obtain the aid of this herb, their physical toughness and strength will definitely rise another level and break through long-standing bottlenecks."
Hearing this, the Great Elder and Third Elder's gazes immediately locked onto that golden chrysanthemum and they nodded slightly. They could clearly sense the vast and pure physical power contained within it, perfectly aligned with the path of the Body Sect.
Chen Yi's finger shifted, pointing at another place: there stood a seemingly unimpressive little stalk of grass. Its blade was a dim-blue color, and at its center condensed a single, crystal-clear droplet like autumn water:
"Second, Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew.
Its effect lies in tempering eyesight: seeing through illusion and falsehood, directly piercing to the origin.
I believe this is especially suitable for you, Great Elder, as well as other experts in the sect who excel in spiritual power, such as Uncle-Master Zhang and Senior Brothers Gao Jian and Gao Wen."
An almost imperceptible ripple finally appeared on the Great Elder's normally indifferent face. His martial soul was the brain; his spiritual power cultivation was unfathomably deep. The attraction of this Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew to him went without saying.
Next, Chen Yi pointed to a strangely shaped herb, its vine-like body coiled like a dragon, exuding a robust earth aura, a golden gourd-like plant:
"Third, Land Dragon Golden Melon.
This herb contains a wisp of pure and powerful Earth-attributed dragon-type soul beast bloodline origin. It is the purest Earth-attribute immortal herb and is exceptionally effective in enhancing blood and qi, solidifying the foundation, and strengthening resonance with the power of the earth."
"Within the sect, most strength-type or defense-type disciples — if they can consume this, their foundation will become incomparably solid, their blood and qi like dragons, their potential greatly boosted."
Finally, his gaze landed on a stalk of herb with a chaotic aura, as if it could harmonize all the surrounding fluctuations of energy:
"Fourth, Origin Energy Immortal Grass.
This one has no other special functions; it purely increases soul power and may even assist in condensing Soul Cores."
"I think it can be used by those Elders whose cultivation is still slightly lacking, to help them shorten the time needed to condense their Soul Cores."
Chen Yi's analysis was orderly and clear. He perfectly matched the properties of the immortal herbs with the needs of the Body Sect's members. As they listened, the Great Elder and Third Elder nodded repeatedly. It truly befit someone who had practically grown up soaking in the Archive Pavilion.
However, Chen Yi's tone then shifted, and his expression did not relax; instead, a heavy seriousness appeared:
"However, both of you also know that Body Sect's inheritance is ancient, our experts are as numerous as clouds, and the number of disciples and Elders is not small. Relying on only these four immortal herbs, we have far from enough to distribute."
"Moreover, for widely applicable immortal herbs like the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, the demand will be extremely high."
Chen Yi paused, his gaze sweeping across all the immortal herbs in the valley. Determination surfaced in his voice:
"Therefore, I have a bold idea. We should not be satisfied with simply picking and directly consuming these immortal herbs.
Doing that would merely squander heaven's gifts — unable to bring out their greatest effect, and unable to benefit more people."
"My thought is this—"
In Chen Yi's eyes, a light of intelligence and ambition flashed.
"Gather the essences of the many immortal herbs here, add various rare supplementary ingredients, then invite the foremost medicinal grandmasters of this era, and together… refine a batch of heaven-defying pills!"
"Alchemy?"
The Third Elder's brows instantly furrowed. His personality was more straightforward and sharp; he immediately raised the key issue.
"Xiao Yi, your idea is good. Pill refining can indeed maximize the utilization of medicinal power, and the number of pills produced would be far greater.
But do you know how terrifyingly difficult it is to use so many immortal herbs, each with different attributes and violently potent medicinal power, to refine pills?
With the slightest mistake, the cauldron will explode, the pills will be ruined, and all the immortal herbs will turn into ashes!"
"It's not that this old man looks down on us, but I fear that in our Body Sect, our strength is simply insufficient — there is no one who can guarantee success."
The Great Elder also nodded gravely and added:
"Third is absolutely right. Pill refining is not child's play, especially with immortal herbs. It places extremely harsh demands on the alchemist's cultivation, spiritual power, flame control technique, understanding of medicinal properties, and even the quality of the cauldron and environment."
"If we fail even once, we cannot bear such a loss. You must think very carefully whether this risk is worth taking."
The concerns of the two Elders were reasonable. Wagering a single furnace of pills on many immortal herbs from the Ice and Fire Yin–Yang Well — the stakes were far too high.
Faced with their questioning, Chen Yi did not show surprise or discouragement. Instead, the corner of his mouth lifted in a faint, confident smile. He had long anticipated such doubts.
"I fully understand your worries. This indeed carries immense risk. Without absolute preparation, we must never act rashly."
His tone was calm as his gaze swept over the two Elders. Then he slowly revealed his plan.
"We do not need to rely solely on our own strength. We can borrow external power."
"Oh? What power?"
The Great Elder's eyes flashed as he asked.
"From the Breaking Clan," Chen Yi continued, with a hint of respect in his voice.
"Though they are famous for their fierce offensive power, their clan's medicinal-crafting arts form a unique banner of their own. They are especially skilled at extracting essences and have extremely deep research into handling conflicts in medicinal properties and awakening latent power in medicinal materials."
"The clan head, Yang Wudi, and the clan elder, Yang Wushuang, are both alchemy masters who have reached the pinnacle. If we can obtain their full assistance, the success rate of this furnace of pills will certainly increase tremendously."
"Most importantly, our sect has longstanding ties with the Ye Clan, and our relations have been good for many years. Inviting the Ye Clan Head, Ye Cien, to act will not be difficult."
"As for the Breaking Clan, in those years, the Sect Master once secretly aided them. Even though it was a fair transaction, there is still a favor there. At that time, as long as we pay a suitable price, requesting Yang Wudi to help should also not be hard."
The Breaking Clan was, after all, one of the four major subordinate clans of the Clear Sky Sect. Even though they had publicly announced their separation from Clear Sky, they still bore the Clear Sky mark, and the Spirit Hall had, intentionally or unintentionally, suppressed them...