He knew the Foundation Pill would be expensive, but not this expensive.

Jiang Chen did the mental math. A Jade Green Gourd—a complex, high-quality Spirit Tool—sold for just over three hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

A single consumable pill cost the same as a permanent, high-utility artifact. It was absurd.

Tie Zhu slumped back into his chair, the wood creaking under his bulk. “That settles it. Looks like I’ll be digging in the mines for a few years.”

Jiang Chen frowned and turned back to the communication talisman. “Bai, don’t you have any channels to get a cheaper Earth Spirit Root Foundation Pill?”

“First,” Bai Zhu’er’s voice crackled, sharp with indignation, “don’t call me ‘Old’ Bai. I’m not old. Second, even if I had secret channels, the price wouldn’t drop below three hundred. That’s just how the market works.”

It was a rigged game. Just as the Harvest Alliance artificially inflated crop prices and the Rain Pavilion price-gouged talismans, the Alchemy Hall maintained a stranglehold on Foundation Pills.

In normal times, a pill might cost one to two hundred stones. But with the [Formal Disciple Competition] looming, every faction was desperate to liquidate stock for maximum profit. It was simple supply and demand, weaponized.

“What if I provide the Earth Lotus?” Jiang Chen asked. “Can you lower the price?”

“If you can actually source one,” Lin Yanreplied instantly, “I’ll charge you a flat processing fee of one hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones. But here’s the catch: you get one pill. The rest of the batch belongs to me.”

Jiang Chen stared at the talisman, dumbfounded. “Are all alchemists this greedy?”

“Without sufficient benefit, why should I help you?” she countered, her tone matter-of-fact.

Tie Zhu raised his head, his voice raspy. “Senior Brother, forget it. I can’t force a breakthrough right now anyway. It’s fine.”

Jiang Chen sighed and cut the connection.

He hadn’t expected the barrier to entry for Metal and Earth cultivators to be this high. Three hundred Mid-grade stones felt less like commerce and more like highway robbery.

The rest of the meal passed in silence. Tie Zhu didn’t mention the Foundation Establishment again. Instead, he channeled his frustration into labor.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The ground shook as Tie Zhu returned to excavating the basement. The vibrations sent Da Huang and the pearl chickens scrambling for the hills again.

Jiang Chen watched him work but offered no promises. To the world, he was just a Spirit Farmer. He didn’t know alchemy, he didn’t have the recipes, and he certainly didn’t have a stash of rare Earth Lotuses. Some problems couldn’t be solved with a simple wave of a hand.

By 3 PM (Shen hour), the basement was finished.

Tie Zhu emerged, dusty and grim. Jiang Chen paid him twenty catties of Top-quality Spirit Rice and five catties of Top-quality Spirit Wine—nominally as payment for the labor, but really as a gift to cheer him up.

Once Tie Zhu was gone, Jiang Chen went straight to the kitchen.

He opened the Jade Green Gourd and transferred three massive barrels into the new cold cellar: Premium Spirit Wine, Top-quality Spirit Wine, and the experimental Golden Wine.

The kitchen instantly felt spacious again.

Satisfied, Jiang Chen returned to the fields. He summoned the Green Lotus Domain. No matter what happened with Tie Zhu, his own cultivation rhythm could not be disrupted.

Seven days passed in a blur of quiet cultivation. No visitors came.

In the second acre of the Grade-2 Spirit Farm, the Moonlight Grass had finally reached seven inches.

Night had fallen. Jiang Chen stood on the ridge, sickle in hand.

The field was a sea of silver. Thousands of Moonlight Grass stalks bent under their own weight, curved like crescent moons. They no longer absorbed the moonlight; instead, they radiated their own soft, lunar glow, turning the dark earth into a mirror of the night sky.

Jiang Chen extended his spiritual sense, blanketing the field.

The crop was perfect. The yield was exactly as predicted—neither too many nor too few.

He didn’t hesitate. The sickle flashed.

Swish. Swish.

He worked steadily until midnight.

Despite the hour, he wasn’t tired. Jiang Chen moved to the first acre, summoned his companion Green Lotus again, and poured his energy into accelerating the Spirit Rice.

He didn’t stop until dawn, when the Wood Spirit Qi in his dantian was completely drained. Exhausted but satisfied, he stumbled back to the hut and collapsed into bed.

He slept until noon.

When he finally woke, he found Da Huang and the pearl chickens staring at him from the bedside. Four eyes burned with hunger and accusation. They hadn’t been fed breakfast or lunch.

“Sorry, sorry,” Jiang Chen chuckled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He got up and started preparing their meal.

Although the Moonlight Grass was harvested, he had no intention of delivering it to Yu Caiqing yet. They had agreed on a one-month deadline. Delivering it in two weeks would raise too many questions. A genius Spirit Farmer was one thing; a monster who could halve growth times while maintaining top-quality output was another. That kind of attention got people killed.

As he ate his own lunch, the Jade Green Gourd projected an image into his mind.

Another Communication Talisman was vibrating.

Recognizing the frequency, Jiang Chen smiled. It was Tie Xin.

He connected the call, and a familiar, slightly slurred hiccup greeted him.

“Sister Han, did you capture the Yellow Earth Essence?”

“Managed to snag a wisp,” she replied, sounding pleased. “Took me a few days to digest it. That’s why I’ve been quiet.”

“So, what can I do for you now?”

“Little Xu, that pitiful amount of wine you gave me isn’t enough to repay a favor like this!” She got straight to the point. “I need at least fifty catties of Top-quality Spirit Wine. And twenty catties of that new Golden Wine!”

Jiang Chen scoffed. “Top-quality Spirit Rice Wine is fine. But the Golden Wine? Two catties, max.”

“What?! Come on, Big Sister needs her fix!”

“Sister Han, the yield is pitifully low. I don’t even have enough for myself!”

Eventually, she compromised. She had no choice—she had already drunk every drop Jiang Chen had given her. The swill other brewers sold just didn’t hit the same spot, especially for someone trying to stabilize a cultivation breakthrough.

They agreed to meet that afternoon. She would come directly from the Earth Vein to collect her payment.

Jiang Chen tapped the smooth surface of the jade gourd hanging at his waist, a thoughtful smile playing on his lips.

“Perfect timing,” he murmured. “Since she’s coming anyway, I can have her check what kind of formation I can inlay on this thing.”