Lu Qing felt that both the blessing-type options he got out of the 11 new options were relatively powerful.
The most powerful out of the options was the "Power of Initial Enlightenment." Two minutes was a long time. It was enough to last an entire fight.
How surprised would his opponent be if a cultivator that looked like he was at the Foundation Building Stage suddenly became one at the Initial Enlightenment Stage?
However, there was also a major restriction. The option could only be used on clan members who were at the seventh tier of the Foundation Building Stage or above. Also, it was very expensive at 350 Karma.
The two options, "Spiritual Strength Increase" and "Power Increase," complemented each other perfectly. The former doubled the user's spiritual strength, while the latter allowed the cultivator to spend double the spiritual strength to enhance the power of their techniques and magic equipment.
Of course, the two of them were not as powerful as the "Power of Initial Enlightenment."
If he got the "Power of Initial Enlightenment" when the clan was attacking the Water Ghost Lake, either Lu Chaoxi or Lu Mingchao alone would be able to defeat the entire horde of Water Ghosts easily.
After all, according to the information he obtained, the most powerful of the Water Ghosts was only Level Two high-grade. There were also only three to four other Water Ghosts who were above Level Two. They were a bunch of sitting ducks in front of an Initial Enlightenment cultivator.
However, relatively speaking, Lu Qing did not wish to take such an action.
In the system, defeating the Water Ghost Lake would only supply him with 425 Karma. He would have paid too high a price if he used the "Power of Initial Enlightenment." He would have a reduced profit.
Of course, he would still have made an enormous profit if he counted the Yin-essence Water Jade. However, more importantly, Lu Qing felt that they should have no problems defeating the Water Ghosts based on the preparations made by the clan alone. He should be able to guarantee victory if he used "Spiritual Strength Increase" and "Power Increase."
Lu Qing did not wish to waste a valuable option that he obtained with much difficulty.
Of course, for peace of mind, Lu Qing decided to hold back and stop spending Karma. He would analyze the situation after they finished attacking the Water Ghost Lake.
He did not have enough Karma to get all three of the options that provided a boost in battle at the same time. However, he did not have to be worried. Wasn't the total cost of all the three options only 500 Karma? He currently had 442 Karma. He would have more than 500 Karma after Lu Xueting reached the Foundation Building Stage in addition to the rewards for the achievement of a new Foundation Building cultivator, which would be credited to him. Wouldn't he have enough then?
******
The process of gathering ingredients for the recipe of the Moon Essence Pill was rather unsuccessful.
The recipe was a topic that was too sensitive. The situation regarding obtaining the main ingredient, the Moon Essence Herb, was not as bad for since many other elixirs also used it as an ingredient. However, if they were to follow the recipe and purchase the other herbs while they purchased the Moon Essence Herb, then it would look incredibly jarring to the people who were paying attention to them.
Not many people knew the recipe for the Moon Essence Herb and even fewer knew what the Lu Clan was doing just from the ingredients they purchased alone. However, it was best to avoid these kinds of risks, no matter how small they were.
Thus, the subordinates in the Lu Clan were all extremely careful when they were purchasing the herbs. They sent out several members of the clan and purchased the ingredients from different markets to prevent people from detecting that something was off should they have bought all the ingredients from the same market. They also purchased herbs that were not part of the recipe of the Moon Essence Pill to throw people off.
With this series of actions, there should not be too much of a problem.
The Lu Clan spent quite a bit of money that they did not need to for the Moon Essence Pill. It also took them a long time.
However, they managed to gather all of the ingredients in the end.
Then, it was time for them to open up the furnace and create the elixir.
Lu Mingchao was a little nervous before she entered the Alchemy Room.
Her talent in alchemy was not inferior. In fact, her skill could even be considered above average. She had gotten the grasp of the basics in a short time when she had just been exposed to alchemy techniques many years ago. She also quickly became a Level One mid-grade alchemist. It was just that she did not have many aspirations in the area and glossed through most of the alchemy techniques. She spent most of her focus on her cultivation.
Even so, she managed to become a Level One high-grade alchemist.
This time, through her father's magical abilities, she had instantly become a Level Two low-grade alchemist.
Back then, in that instant, she felt a significant amount of information regarding alchemy swarm into her brain. She had felt incredulous at the start, but after she tried to create a normal batch of Blood Stopping Pills, she found that the process was several times smoother than before. She had no choice but to believe her progress.
Even so, she still felt unconfident when it came to creating the Moon Essence Pills.
The Moon Essence Pills were a Level Two high-grade recipe. Even though she could create the pills as a Level Two low-grade alchemist, she could only produce one pill every batch compared to the four or five pills from a higher-level alchemist.
Of course, it was not too much of a loss if they looked at how much a Moon Essence Pill could fetch on the market. After all, the Qingfeng Sect would occasionally reveal the price of the Moon Essence Pills. A pill usually cost about 3,000 Spirit Stones. It was not a loss even if she only managed to produce one pill.
However, she could not sell the pill even after she created it. She could just think of it as buying a pill from the market and using it in the clan…
It felt more comfortable if she thought about it that way.
She smiled.
The ingredients in her hands were worth 3,000 Spirit Stones.
The clan had spent a lot of money to obtain the Foundation Building Elixir. They only managed to produce another 3,000 Spirit Stones to purchase the ingredients by tightening their coffers. They obtained the money from the sale of a few pieces of Level Two magic equipment, the balance of the loan they got, and the fine of 1,000 Spirit Stones that the Ma Clan and Zhang Clan had to pay the Lu Clan. All that combined was not enough. They still lacked 300 to 400 Spirit Stones.
However, Lu Xueting got a loan from the clan members and relatives she was close with to round out the sum.
If she failed, not only would they have wasted the 3,000 Spirit Stones, but Xueting would also suddenly have lost critical assurance for her advancement to the Foundation Building Stage.
However, Lu Mingchao quickly collected herself.
Alchemy required caution and for the Alchemist to not be nervous. Otherwise, it was easy for bad things to happen.
Her elder sister Xiachao was the most exceptional alchemist in the clan. She had once reached Level Three. The Level Three furnace in front of her was something she had left behind many years ago.
Unfortunately, Xiachao died when the Zhao Clan attacked them. Otherwise, with her elder sister's abilities, she might have long reached the Initial Enlightenment Stage.
Then, when the situation of the clan got worse and they became so poor that they had to sell their assets to continue to live, they had also thought of selling the Level Three furnace. A Level Three mid-grade furnace could fetch 3,000 to 4,000 Spirit Stones, at least. They would have been able to alleviate the situation for a decent amount of time if they sold it.
Back then, the clan did not even have a Level Two alchemist. The Level Three furnace was then wasted in the clan.
However, while Lu Mingchao agreed to sell everything else, she vehemently objected to selling the furnace. She had been the closest to her elder sister when she had been alive. The furnace was the only item that her elder sister left behind. She wanted to keep this memento.
She did not expect it to be useful now.
"I'll have to depend on you today," Lu Mingchao gently said as she stroked the furnace.
She then made the hand gesture for a spell mantra and injected her spiritual strength into the furnace. Flames rose in the furnace. She then followed the recipe and placed the supporting ingredients in one after the other. She blended them up with her spiritual strength.
Making the Moon Essence Pill required seven full days. Her spiritual strength might not last the entire duration. Thus, she had prepared a large number of Spiritual Stones by her side so that she could replenish her spiritual strength at any time.