Chapter 40: Revolution in Alchemy: Assembly Line Production!

On the high platform, another figure appeared.

Leng Yanran.

In an instant, all the noise below the stage vanished eerily, leaving only a silence so heavy that a pin drop could be heard.

Especially among those newly accepted Inner Sect disciples—Wang Teng’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

The expressions of the people beside him were even more brilliant, each more exaggerated than the last.

“Junior Sister Leng from the Pill Pavilion?”

“She… she actually went up there? Isn’t this woman always aloof and detached, never getting involved in any of this mess?”

“I heard she’s now that Ascension Group’s… what was it… Chief Product Officer?”

Whispers rippled through the crowd, buzzing like a swarm of bees.

In the Qingyun Sect, Leng Yanran was a figure of legend.

Not just for that cold, ethereal face, but also for her peerless mastery of alchemy—and her temperament that kept others a thousand miles away.

To many, she was the unattainable flower on the highest peak, a sacred snow lotus that could only be admired from afar.

And now, that very snow lotus stood boldly on the Ascension Group’s morning meeting platform.

The sight alone struck harder than Wang Teng and his group’s collective “job change.”

Leng Yanran, seemingly deaf to the surrounding stares, carried a wooden chest half her height straight to the center of the stage.

She did not glance at the crowd, her gaze pausing only briefly on Chu Feng.

Chu Feng nodded slightly to her.

Leng Yanran’s cool, clear voice echoed across the square through an amplification conch.

“Following President Chu’s principles of ‘product standardization’ and ‘modularized production processes,’ I have deconstructed and optimized the traditional Qi Nourishing Pill refinement procedure.”

Her opening sentence instantly left ninety-nine percent of the audience dumbfounded.

“Product… standardization?”

“Production process… modularization?”

What sort of wild jargon was that? Since when could alchemy be discussed in such terms?

Only Chu Feng smiled, the corner of his lips lifting.

Success.

Ignoring the murmuring below, Leng Yanran lifted the lid of the wooden chest.

Inside was not the radiant glow of finished pills as everyone had expected, but rows of neatly partitioned compartments.

Each compartment contained either powder, liquid, or fragments of pre-processed medicinal herbs.

“Traditional alchemy is heavily dependent on the individual alchemist. It demands extraordinary spiritual sense, precision with fire control, and immense mental focus. The success rate is low, and the quality inconsistent. To put it bluntly—it is a backward ‘handicraft workshop’ model.”

Using the terminology she had learned from Chu Feng, Leng Yanran calmly criticized the very Dao of Alchemy she had once prided herself upon.

“And now—”

She took out several prepared ingredients from the box.

“The two most difficult steps in pill refining—‘medicinal fusion’ and ‘spiritual refinement’—I have already completed ninety percent of them in advance.”

“What remains is merely repetitive operation.”

She placed the processed ingredients in fixed order upon a specially made stone slab engraved with simple formation lines.

“This is the Ascension Group’s first-generation Standardized Pill Production Kit—Qi Nourishing Pill (Youth Edition)!”

“Youth Edition?”

Someone below couldn’t hold back a snort.

“Yes, the Youth Edition.”

Leng Yanran’s tone was as calm as ever, yet her words struck the crowd like a boulder into water.

“Because with this, no alchemical foundation is required.”

“As long as one is a cultivator capable of channeling spiritual power—they can refine pills!”

The square erupted like a boiling cauldron.

“Impossible! Nonsense!”

A disciple from the former Aotian Alliance shouted hoarsely.

“Alchemy is a profound and delicate art! How can everyone just ‘do it’? You’re insulting the Dao of Alchemy!”

That outcry echoed the disbelief in nearly everyone’s hearts.

Leng Yanran didn’t even lift her eyelids.

“Facts speak louder than words.”

“Twenty volunteers.”

“Qi Refining Third to Fifth Level—those who have never touched a pill furnace, come up.”

From the formation of chores disciples and outer sect disciples, over a hundred hands shot up in unison.

“Me, me, me! Senior Sister Leng, pick me!”

“I’m at Qi Refining Fourth Level—healthy as a bull! I don’t even know what a pill furnace looks like!”

Soon, twenty obviously clumsy disciples were chosen, faces tense yet brimming with excitement.

Leng Yanran distributed to each a complete production kit, along with a sheet of paper—the Operation Manual.

“Step one, mix Powder No.1 and Liquid No.2 at a ratio of three to one.”

“Step two, envelop with spiritual power, rotating clockwise thirty-six times.”

“Step three, place it into the stone slab groove, infuse spiritual power until the formation glows…”

Her voice carried no emotion—steady, cool, instructive.

Onstage, the twenty participants fumbled about, making a mess of things.

Powder spilled, spiritual energy flared erratically—too strong one moment, too weak the next.

The whole scene looked like a farce.

Many in the crowd folded their arms, waiting to see them make fools of themselves.

A stick of incense’s time passed—agonizingly slow.

Then suddenly, the formation lines on all twenty slabs dimmed at once.

A rich medicinal fragrance burst forth, laced faintly with a burnt tang, spreading through the square.

Inside each groove lay a round object.

Their appearances were… hard to praise.

Crooked shapes, uneven colors—some as black as coal.

But the fluctuation of medicinal power—they could not be faked.

They were Qi Nourishing Pills!

The crowd fell silent.

Not quiet—dead silent.

As if every throat had been gripped tight, and no one remembered how to breathe.

One stick of incense’s time. Twenty amateurs. Twenty Qi Nourishing Pills.

What… what kind of concept was this?!

A proper alchemist would be lucky to refine five or six pills from one furnace in an entire day.

And now, the Ascension Group, using this near childlike method, had multiplied efficiency by dozens of times!

“I… I really made a pill!”

A chores disciple held his pitch-black creation in trembling hands, tears welling up.

“Heavens… the Dao of Alchemy—it’s about to change forever!”

Someone whispered, almost in awe.

Chu Feng laughed.

He stepped to the front of the stage, took one “Youth Edition” Qi Nourishing Pill from a disciple’s hand, and raised it high.

“Family members! Do you see this?”

“This is the power of our Ascension Group! This is the power of the Scientific Cultivation Perspective!”

“From today onward, alchemy will no longer be a privilege of the few!”

“It will become a production skill every member of our Group can master!”

“I hereby announce! The Qi Nourishing Pill Production Kit will be open to all members who pass assessment! The Group will repurchase the pills you refine at eighty percent of market price!”

“You are no longer merely cultivators!”

“You are producers! Every bit of your labor creates value—for the Group, and for yourselves!”

“Tell me, family members!”

“Do you want to make money?”

“Do you want to rise above others?”

“YES——!”

Boom!

The answering roar surged like a tidal wave, almost overturning the entire square.

The long-suppressed fervor was completely ignited in that instant.