"What? That's the Spirit Cleansing Lily?"
"No way. That is the flower that gives you spiritual sea and sense?"
The crowd of elders went mad as soon as they heard the name. Anyone who knew anything in an alchemy-focused sect surely knew about this flower. They might not know what it looks like, but they absolutely had heard about it.
Ma Rong looked at the elders' incoherent noises and waited for them to quiet down. Once the voices stopped talking, she spoke,
"Yes, this is the Spirit Cleansing Lily, and the one who got this is my disciple." She continued, " What do you think is the contribution to finding one of these for the sect?"
The crowd was stumped on that question. No one had ever been able to pick out a Spirit Cleansing Lily without harming it as far as they knew. There were only the occasional lucky people who did pick them, but that was more luck than technique.
"Did your disciple get lucky, sect leader?" one of the elders asked.
"No, this was the third lily he picked from what he has told me. He has already used one for himself, and found another for someone he met during one of his hunts."
The Great Elder himself was curious, "Is this about what he said back in that forest, sect leader? About him being able to find any ingredients?" The Great Elder had also seen the bag full of ingredients that Alex had gathered in the forest.
The sect leader simply nodded.
"Then the contribution to the sect is beyond imagination. An alchemist with a spiritual sense is dozens of times better than an alchemist without one. If sect leader were to gain one now, it would increase your ability by a lot. You might actually be able to make heaven-grade True pills." The Great Elder said in shock.
The first elder spoke, "how about this, sect leader. Since your disciple's contribution is unimaginable, we can give him free access to everything in the sect, but he must still go through the normal procedure to become a core disciple. How long will it take him to make the 20 different high-tier mortal grade pills?"
The sect leader chuckled a little when she heard this. The Great Elder and the other 2 elders smiled wryly too.
The sect leader looked at the others and asked, "What do you guys think about the first elder's suggestion?"
The elders felt that was the correct choice. While his contribution was unimaginable, one didn't become a core disciple on contribution alone. If the sect leader's disciple was made one, based on it, then it would be unfair to the other disciple who was learning alchemy day and night.
So, all the elders started voicing their agreement to the first elder's words. Ma Rong thought for a bit and realized they were right.
'I got hasty in my excitement,' she thought. "Very well, then. We will do what you guys say. From now on, my disciple, Yu Ming will have unobstructed access to everything in the sect, aside from the sect treasure of course."
"Now, there is another thing I wanted to talk to you guys about. It's regarding the alchemy gardens." She said. "I am thinking of changing how we work in the alchemy garden for 2 weeks."
"Tell all the elders working in the garden itself to stop. Only keep elders for guarding the garden and maintaining it, and not picking the ingredients."
The elders were confused. "Huh, then who will pick up the ingredients, sect leader?" they asked.
"My disciple will. He has an unearthly ability to recognize alchemy ingredients, and now that he has spiritual sense, it would be much faster for him to do the searching, than the other elders and disciples." She said.
"Have you thought of how we will go about it, sect leader?" the Great elder asked.
"Yes," Ma Rong replied, "Every day, we will ask the disciples to request what they need, and put it in a list. And that night, my disciple will go around the garden looking for the ingredients. This is only for 2 weeks because I want to see how good my disciple's ability really is."
The elders stopped for a second and then accepted it. If a disciple could find a Spirit Enhancing lily, then it would be better to let that disciple do all the alchemy picking. Besides, he had a spiritual sense.
He would already be better than most elders at locating ingredients just based on that.
"Alright then. The meeting is over. You can all go now." Ma Rong said. All the elders slowly started to bid farewells to her and left the room.
"I will take my leave as well, sect leader." The first elder left as well. Only the sect leader and great elder were left in the room.
The great elder took a big sigh and spoke, "What are you doing Ma Rong? You will antagonize the elders if you decide to randomly make decisions like that. They will view it as you giving priority over your disciple compared to others. They already think you made Lang Shun an elder just because he is your junior disciple brother but doesn't dare to voice it."
Ma Rong was silent for a bit and then spoke, "But master, Wen Cheng wasn't lying when he said Yu Ming is a genius. He has already made a 16% harmony pill on the first day he tried alchemy. That was 7 days after he joined the sect."
The great elder's eyes widened, "are you sure he isn't just lying?" he asked.
"No, he isn't. I checked his sales records, and he really did sell 7 Spirit Enhancing pills ranging from 12% to 16% harmony the day after he bought the ingredients. He is a genius in alchemy that comes once in a thousand years. Now that he has unlocked spiritual sense this morning, he should be much better."
"I will properly teach him starting tomorrow, and I am sure he will rise very fast." Ma Rong said.
"Ho... If my grand disciple really is that talented, then I can't wait to see what he can do in the future."