In the standard cultivation market, dicinal pills were graded strictly by their Purity.
The market was divided into four distinct tiers:
• Low-Grade (30% Purity): The mass-market standard. They were cloudy, ugly, and eating too many would clog a cultivator’s ridians with toxic sludge.
• Mid-Grade (60% Purity): Smooth and brightly colored. The premium retail standard for Inner Sect disciples.
• High-Grade (80% Purity): They glowed faintly and emitted a beautiful, sweet fragrance. These were luxury assets reserved for elites.
• Perfect Grade (99% Purity): The absolute peak of orthodox alchemy. These pills naturally ford "Pill Veins." They shone like tiny suns.
And absolutely none of those descriptions matched the object on Su Bai’s palm.
His creation was too beautiful and crystalline to be Low or Mid-grade. It didn’t emit a single trace of scent to be High-grade. And instead of golden Pill Veins, it had silver, jagged "Frost Veins" trapped deep inside the translucent core.
"Can you let try that one, Junior Brother Su?" Ji Ruyue asked again.
Su Bai imdiately pulled his hand back.
"I apologize, Senior Sister Ji, but I must respectfully decline," Su Bai said. "This pill was forged using a completely untested and highly unorthodox fla technique. I cannot allow a fellow disciple to consu it until its stability has been properly appraised by the Elders. If an unknown pill damages your foundation, the Law Enforcent Hall will hold strictly liable."
Ji Ruyue didn’t press the issue. She simply nodded.
The three of them stood in silence, staring at the freezing sphere.
"Could it be... a Perfect Grade?" Liu ng muttered.
She quickly shook her head. "No. Whenever a Perfect Grade pill is born, it triggers a Heavenly Phenonon. The Heavens get jealous of sothing so perfect, so they summon a massive, booming Lightning Tribulation to try and destroy the pill. At the very least, a glowing ’Pill Cloud’ should have ford over Verdant Peak. But the sky is completely clear."
If the Heavens didn’t care about it, it couldn’t be a Perfect Grade.
"Senior Brother," Liu ng pointed to a glowing stone pedestal nearby. "Why don’t we use the Qi-Testing Array."
"A logical step," Su Bai agreed.
He walked over to the pedestal and carefully placed the semi-translucent pill onto the center of the array. The array lit up, scanning the internal structure of the pill.
A mont later, the results flashed above the stone in glowing spiritual text:
[0% Efficacy. Dead Matter.]
Liu ng’s face instantly paled. "That... that shouldn’t be possible!" she stamred. "I saw the entire process! You perfectly preserved the dicinal essence! It can’t be zero!"
Su Bai let out a disappointed sigh. ’So, the freeze-drying process completely killed the payload. Just another failed batch.’
It was then that Ji Ruyue, who had been staring intently at the array, spoke up.
"The Qi-Testing Array asures the emission of Yang life-force," Ji Ruyue stated flatly. "Junior Brother Su’s pill is flash-frozen with Extre Yin energy. Because the energy is entirely sealed and perfectly static, the array reads it as ’Dead.’ The reading is a false negative."
Liu ng gasped. A sudden dawn of understanding rushed over her. The logic made perfect sense.
"The only accurate way to verify its true grade," Ji Ruyue continued, turning her emotionless gaze back to Su Bai, "is to test its efficacy personally. May I try it now?"
Su Bai scratched his head. He was still hesitant about the liability, but Ji Ruyue has a strong cultivation base. Surely a botched Lesser Qi-Gathering Pill couldn’t do any permanent damage to her foundation.
"Very well," Su Bai sighed. He handed over the freezing pill.
Ji Ruyue nodded. Without a mont’s hesitation, she popped the freezing pill into her mouth and swallowed.
Instantly, her stoic eyes widened by a microscopic fraction.
A wave of frost erupted from her body. It instantly coated the floorboards around her in a thin layer of ice. She imdiately dropped into a cross-legged ditative stance on the floor. Her hands ford rapid hand seals as she tried to frantically digest the sudden wave of Qi.
While they waited for the clinical trial to finish, Su Bai leaned over to Liu ng.
"By the way," Su Bai whispered, "why is Senior Sister Ji here?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Senior Brother!" Liu ng whispered back. "Many elites from the other peaks co to Verdant Peak to learn basic alchemy. Senior Sister Ji always cos on the first day of the week."
Liu ng gestured around the relatively empty front section of the hall. "Actually, this entire front area is just the training floor. The real production line is deeper. That is where my senior brothers and sisters are currently manufacturing the sect’s monthly quotas."
"Wait," Su Bai frowned. "If they are back there working, why are you out here to teach ? Shouldn’t you be helping them et the quota?"
"I have already completed my sect contributions," Liu ng smiled brightly. "I refined my entire monthly allocation of pills on the first day, so I am exempt from hall duties for the rest of the month! Master will only summon if there is an urgent requisition."
Su Bai stared at the sweet, smiling girl in absolute awe.
She had automated her entire workflow, crushed her monthly KPIs in a single afternoon, and now spent the rest of her paid ti chilling in the training area. This girl wasn’t just a prodigy alchemist, she was a corporate god.
’I completely approve of your work ethic, Junior Sister ng,’ Su Bai thought. His respect for her skyrocketed.
Just then, the freezing aura in the room slowly receded.
Ji Ruyue opened her eyes and stood up.
Su Bai and Liu ng instantly turned their attention to her, holding their breath. Ji Ruyue’s face was a mask of absolute, terrifyingly blank emotion. It was completely unreadable.
Su Bai started to grow nervous under her silent stare. ’Did I poison her?’
Finally, Ji Ruyue spoke.
"The pill contains zero impurities," Ji Ruyue said. Her voice was completely flat, though a slight tremor of profound shock betrayed her calm exterior. "There is absolutely no pill poison. I absorbed the Qi perfectly and cleanly. It is a flawless execution."
Liu ng’s jaw dropped in sheer disbelief. "Zero impurities?! Even a Perfect Grade pill has 1% residual ash! Senior Brother Su... you just broke the alchemy ceiling!"
Su Bai, who was internally celebrating the massive success of his new manufacturing process, was suddenly brought back to reality by Liu ng’s next question.
"But wait," Liu ng frowned, deeply confused. "If it is utterly flawless... why didn’t a Heavenly Phenonon occur? Why didn’t the lightning strike?"
That was a very valid point. If the Heavens were supposed to get jealous of perfection, why hadn’t they set off the alarm system?
Ji Ruyue was silent for a long ti. Her sharp analytical mind worked through the logic.
"I can only deduce one reason," Ji Ruyue finally said. "The Heavens only strike objects that radiate explosive, world-defying Life energy. Because Junior Brother Su utilized extre Yin to flash-freeze the essence, the pill emits absolutely zero radiation. The Heavens didn’t strike the pill..."
Ji Ruyue looked at Su Bai with her usual emotionless expression. "...because the Heavens didn’t even notice it was forged."
Su Bai’s eyes lit up. He was absolutely thrilled by this explanation.
’It’s a Stealth Pill!’ he cheered internally.
If the Heavens threw a noisy, booming lightning tantrum every ti he successfully manufactured a product, it would be incredibly irritating, terrible for his concentration, and absolutely ruin his desire to keep a low profile.
But Cold-Forging acted as a perfect, undetectable stealth technology! He could mass-produce flawless pills without ever triggering the sect’s (or the Heavens’) security alarms!
anwhile, Liu ng’s eyes widened as she rembered a highly obscure, theoretical teaching from her Master.
There was supposedly a tier higher than the Perfect Grade. A mythical, impossible state of alchemy where a pill was so utterly flawless it transcended the laws of the mortal world entirely. All records of it had been lost to ti.
It was called the legendary "Transcendent Grade." And her Senior Brother Su, a man who didn’t even possess a Fire Root, had just casually manufactured one.
Liu ng looked at Su Bai. Her face bead with an unconcealed, utterly radiant smile.
’Senior Brother Su really is a Saint!’
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