Rise of the Alchemy God

Chapter 80: Peng Jun

.

At the Peng family manor.

In a large hall, several figures of varying ages sat in two rows on either side of the room, with a narrow corridor, no more than 2 meters wide, leading to a set of steps where the family head's seat was placed.

Currently, the various elders and important members of the Peng family were gathered here.

Anyone with even a bit of influence in the family was present today, including Da Shu's parents.

Sitting in the central seat, the family head silently observed the others speaking, showing no sign of intervening.

The issue of the level 1 pills, which were selling well in some of the family's stores, had drawn a lot of attention recently, so this meeting was necessary.

The family head, Peng Jun, also known as the "Mad Machine," had always been an ambitious man.

He grew up in a poor family, and seeing the harsh living conditions of his parents and siblings, he worked hard to change their fate.

Over the years, he took on various jobs and gradually built a reputation for himself.

His talent for cultivation was low, and without enough resources as a child, he missed what are considered the best years for cultivation.

But this alone didn't stop him.

Along with his excellent business management, he also dedicated himself to cultivation, and after establishing a stable position in the City of the Sun, he devoted himself fully to it, leaving the family reins in the hands of his sons.

He knew that if he continued to remain a low-level cultivator, he would die after the first hundred years.

For an ambitious man like him, resigning himself to his fate, knowing there was still a chance to live longer by becoming stronger, was impossible.

So he spent several years in closed-door cultivation, telling his family not to disturb him unless it was something very urgent.

He cultivated for several decades, and when he finally emerged, he had ascended to the 6th level of the Dantian Expansion realm.

Since then, his progress had been extremely slow, and upon reaching the 10th level, he encountered a bottleneck he still couldn't overcome.

With his current cultivation, he could afford to live for at least another 100 years.

He had tried various methods in recent years to break through, but without success.

From rare cultivation materials to breakthrough pills, nothing worked.

The materials were not too effective as they were still within a certain rarity threshold.

The rarer ones were hard to acquire, as every time they appeared, they were snatched up by those with deeper pockets, in other words, not him.

Although his family had some wealth, it was still inferior to that of more powerful figures.

The same went for breakthrough pills.

He needed at least a high-grade level 3 pill, or a level 4 one to break through.

But getting such pills was easier said than done.

Breakthrough pills were essential in the current cultivation world, as they significantly increased one's chances of advancing to the next stage.

The higher the stage to be reached, the higher the level of the pill needed.

For him, at the second stage, level 3 pills and above were necessary.

Unfortunately, these types of pills were difficult to create, so only a few could be found each year.

Needless to say, the ones that made it to the market were taken by the strongest.

Peng Jun managed to get his hands on some of these pills, but they were ineffective.

It was clear that he needed at least level 4 pills to have a chance of breaking through.

A difficult task, as these were even rarer than the level 3 ones.

In recent years, the family patriarch, although having lost some hope, hadn't yet given up on finding a way to break through to the next level.

And while doing so, he continued to monitor the progress of his family members.

He had to admit that, although his family had never had any great cultivators in the past, in recent decades, they had produced some good talents.

One of them was his grandson, the child of his third son.

The family head had noticed his great potential from a young age and made sure to personally train him to grow into the future pillar of the family.

Unfortunately for him, this boy turned out to be a strength maniac, and apart from training and cultivating, he didn't like doing anything else.

The patriarch had tried multiple times to teach him other disciplines, crucial for a future family head, but he never paid the necessary attention.

In the end, he let him join the Phoenix Sect so that he could properly develop his cultivation.

He thought that since he wanted to cultivate, he would let him do so.

He was certain that in the future, he would become stronger than him, so he wanted to let him cultivate in peace, so at least the family would have a strong figure to protect it.

There were other family members with good cultivation potential, but Da Shu surpassed them all, and unlike most of them who were more involved in business, he was more dedicated to cultivation.

Currently, the family had several members in the Body Refining and Qi Refining stages, with even one at the first level of Dantian Expansion, but compared to the more powerful families, they were still a bit weak.

Therefore, he had high expectations for him.

Currently, Da Shu was standing before everyone, in the corridor at the center of the hall.

He had a mostly relaxed expression, with a small hint of annoyance, due to his dislike for dealing with matters like this.

If it weren't for the fact that his business relationship with Ethan was important, he wouldn't have been too concerned with the issue, and would have dismissed it as he did with most things outside of cultivation.

'Haa, a man can't even cultivate in peace.'

He thought, shaking his head, while waiting for the family head to speak.

.

-------------------------------

FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:

Here's today's chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

As usual, if you have any comments, suggestions, or errors to report, you know where to do it.

See you tomorrow.