And the largest chamber in the center… was a treasure vault of elixirs. Shelves upon shelves of bottles, jade boxes, and crystal jars lined the walls from floor to ceiling.

  Lauren’s eyes widened. “She was an alchemist.”

  Nash gawked. “Holy shit, we just hit the motherlode!”

  A Mahayana cultivator’s personal stash—this was the kind of fortune cultivators dreamed about for lifetimes.

  Westin looked at Dante, awe still on his face. “Dante… do you think this is her gift to us? For returning her remains?”

  Dante smiled faintly and nodded. “Yes. If we’d disturbed her body, the formation might’ve killed us on the spot. But since we sealed her properly, she’s granted us this reward. Take everything—we’ve earned it.”

  Outdoor expedition spoils like these were fair game. Unlike sect-allocated secret realms, nothing here had to be turned in. Everything was theirs to keep.

  The four of them worked quickly, moving the items out and laying them in organized piles on the floor before sorting through the loot.

  They started with the elixirs—and immediately froze in disbelief.

  There were no basic Qi Condensation Pills or Spirit Gathering Pills here. Not even Foundation-Building Pills—the kind that lesser disciples would fight over.

  These were high-grade elixirs. The real deal.

  Dante knelt beside a tray of jade bottles. “Don’t get distracted. We’ll sort and divide them evenly. Nash, start with the Dust-Reducing Pills. Count how many are in that bottle.”

  “Got it.”

  Dust-Reducing Pills—rare treasures that dramatically increased a cultivator’s chance of successfully forming a core—were normally sold one at a time, each packed in its own ornate box.

  But here? The Mahayana cultivator had bottled them.

  When Nash poured the contents into his palm, dozens of pills rolled out. He kept pouring. The count kept going.

  “Holy hell,” he said breathlessly. “There are… at least a hundred in here.”

  “Good,” Dante said. “Divide them into four portions. If there’s one left over, we’ll offer it to the Thunder Sect when we return.”

  That had been their rule from the start—fair and simple.

  Lauren nodded. “It’s only right. The Sect’s resources made this expedition possible.”

  Next came the Spirit Enhancement Pills—cultivation boosters specifically designed for Core Formation cultivators. While Qi Condensation Pills strengthened the body’s foundation, Spirit Enhancement Pills sharpened spiritual energy itself. And these… were priceless.

  “Westin,” Dante said, “check the Refining Cloud Pills.”

  Westin picked up the bottle, his hands trembling slightly. “They’re all here,” he said, voice filled with awe. “And they’re fifth-grade.”

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  Fifth-grade elixirs—alchemy of that level was almost unheard of now. Across the entire Thunder Sect, there were maybe ten fifth-grade alchemists.

  Lauren exhaled slowly. “When we reach the Nascent Soul stage, we’ll need those more than anything.”

  Nash grinned, running a hand through his hair. “Dante, remind me to pray to every senior cultivator’s corpse we find from now on.”

  Elite disciples were the pride of the righteous sects. They were trained with care, trusted with resources, and given freedom.

  The Thunder Sect never required its disciples to hand over anything after returning from a training expedition. But almost everyone did anyway. A few elixirs here, a rare spirit ore there—offered freely as tribute.

  It didn’t earn them merit points, but it earned something just as valuable: honor.

  The sect’s Honor Roll hung in the main hall, engraved on jade slabs for all to see. Contributions to the sect, acts that upheld its reputation, and gifts of rare items all earned “Honor Points.”

  Each cultivation level had its own ranking. Those who made the list every month received spirit stones as rewards—small fortunes in themselves.

  Dante had once topped the list during his Foundation Establishment days. Now that he’d stepped into Core Formation, he hadn’t appeared yet… but no one doubted he soon would.

  “I’ve got a hundred pills per bottle too,” Lauren said after finishing her count.

  “Same here,” Westin added.

  “Seems like every large bottle holds a hundred,” Dante said.

  After a quick check, they confirmed all the main elixirs were full. The three most common—Dust-Reducing, Spirit Enhancement, and Refining Cloud Pills—were divided evenly among the four of them.

  There were just over a hundred Dust-Reducing Pills in total, so each got twenty-five.

  Each of them received a dozen bottles of Spirit Enhancement Pills.

  But the Refining Cloud Pills… those were unbelievable. Over twenty bottles each—more than two thousand pills altogether.

  A fifth-grade alchemist couldn’t refine that many in an entire year.

  “Nash,” Dante said, handing him a brown jade bottle, “the Earth Essence Pills are yours.”

  Nash’s grin could’ve split his face. “Thank you, Dante. Thank you, Ms. Lauren. Thank you, Westin!”

  Dante then passed a green bottle to Westin. “Water Spirit Pills. These are for you.”

  “Much appreciated.”

  Finally, he turned to Lauren and handed her a frost-glazed bottle. “And this one’s for you—Snow Ghost Pills.”

  Lauren’s eyes lit up. Snow Ghost Pills enhanced ice spiritual roots, making them the perfect match for her cultivation. Like the Earth Essence and Water Spirit Pills, they were attribute-based elixirs—rare and powerful.

  Once those were distributed, they began sorting through the remaining pills.

  Among them was a bottle of Sky King Pills, with effects similar to the Dust-Reducing Pills but aimed at helping cultivators break into the Nascent Soul stage. They shared those evenly too.

  Then came something that made everyone pause.

  “Two Blood Qi Pills,” Dante said quietly, setting the small red pills on the table.

  Even the faint energy they emitted made the air feel heavier.

  “This…” he frowned. “If these were ever put up for auction, the bids would be astronomical.”

  Nash leaned closer, squinting. “Blood Qi Pills? Never heard of them. What do they do?”

  Lauren’s expression changed slightly. Though she hadn’t yet had time to formally train in alchemy, she’d inherited knowledge from the Alchemy Sect.

  “This pill,” she said slowly, “extends the lifespan of Spirit Transformation cultivators.”

  The room went dead silent.

  Then Nash let out a low whistle. Westin’s eyes widened.

  In the cultivation world, most Spirit Transformation cultivators spent the final decades of their lives trying—and failing—to break through to the next realm before their lifespan ran out.

  A pill that could extend that lifespan was as good as an extra life.

  Something like this would cause bloodshed in any auction house.

  “What do we do with them?” Dante asked, looking around.

  All three of them turned toward Lauren.

  She blinked, speechless. “Why are you all looking at me?”

  “Because you’re the Ms. Lauren,” Nash said simply.

  Lauren sighed. She was technically of higher seniority, but she was still the youngest among them—and despite having lived through more than one life, she was nowhere near as old or experienced as they were.

  “There are only two pills,” she said after a pause. “We can’t split them four ways. And none of us can use them anytime soon. If we keep them, they’ll just attract trouble.”