58: Under maintenance

Mo Xuan pondered for a moment, then, realizing something was amiss, spoke indifferently.

“You, Stinky Kid, have been reading books for the past ten-plus days. How did you have time to practice refining second-grade medicinal pills?”

“How did you suddenly jump from a single pill pattern to a double pill pattern?”

Elder Mo Xuan narrowed his eyes, staring at Jiang Donghua for a long while, his gaze seemingly trying to pierce through his soul to see what secrets this Stinky Kid was hiding.

Jiang Donghua hadn't spent all those days reading for nothing; he immediately began to fabricate an excuse.

“Master, you wouldn’t know, but I have an extraordinary talent. Just by smelling the pill, touching the medicinal ingredients, meditating a lot, and choosing a good day, I can succeed directly.”

“You can refine pills just by smelling them?”

He stroked his beard and snorted coldly.

“This Old Fox has lived for so many years and has never heard of such a talent!”

After some thought, Mo Xuan couldn't help but slap the Stinky Kid on the head.

Jiang Donghua rubbed his aching scalp and grinned.

“Master, you are well-traveled and knowledgeable, but there are always strange things in this world, aren’t there?”

“Strange things?”

Elder Mo Xuan glared.

“You, Stinky Kid, are strange from head to toe! Others need to refine pills through countless trials, but you? You just flip through books, smell things, and it’s done?”

Jiang Donghua spread his hands, feigning helplessness.

“Well, why don’t you test me again?”

“Test?”

Elder Mo Xuan raised an eyebrow, suddenly revealing a sly smile.

“Good! Since you’re so confident, this Old Fox will give you a ‘simple’ task!”

He waved his sleeve, took out an old, yellowed Pill Formula from his storage ring, and slapped it on the table.

“A third-grade pill—the ‘mysterious spirit pill.’ The Pill Formula is incomplete; even this Old Fox has only managed to complete seventy percent of it.”

“Aren’t you capable of ‘refining pills by smell’? Come on, give it a try!”

Jiang Donghua lowered his head and glanced at it, noticing that the Pill Formula indeed lacked several crucial medicinal ingredients, and even parts of the heat control were vague.

The corner of his mouth twitched imperceptibly.

This Old Fox was clearly testing him!

But who was Jiang Donghua?

He was a prodigy who could spend half a month in the library, painstakingly deducing complete Pill Formulas from ancient texts!

So, he pretended to be deep in thought, tapping his fingertips lightly on the table. A moment later, he looked up, revealing a confident smile.

Jiang Donghua said confidently.

“Give me ten days or so, and it’s just deduction, isn’t it? Powerful Alchemists can even create their own Pill Formulas!”

He paused, then suddenly grinned, revealing a cunning expression.

“It’s just, what’s in it for me after I finish this task?”

Upon hearing this, Elder Mo Xuan’s beard bristled with anger, and he raised his hand, about to give him another slap.

“Stinky Kid! Do you know how precious this ‘mysterious spirit pill’ is?!”

“A Great Dou Master can take one to advance one star, and can take a maximum of two in their lifetime. If taken when at Peak Great Dou Master, it can even increase the chance of breaking through to Dou Spirit by twenty to thirty percent!”

“A Pill Formula of this caliber, if placed outside, countless factions would fight tooth and nail for it! And you dare to haggle with this Old Fox?!”

Jiang Donghua rubbed the back of his head and chuckled.

“Master, don’t get so excited!”

“Look, if I can really complete this Pill Formula, wouldn’t that be a great contribution to the Alchemy Department? There should be some reward, right?”

Mo Xuan glared at him, then, after a moment, suddenly sneered.

“Alright! So, you, Stinky Kid, want benefits? Fine!”

Elder Mo Xuan glared at him, stroked his beard, and pondered for a moment, then suddenly snorted coldly.

“You, Stinky Kid, according to Yan Feng, should only have Yellow-rank Combat Skills, right?”

Jiang Donghua blinked, saying nothing.

Mo Xuan narrowed his eyes, revealing a sly smile.

“Alright, if you can really complete this Pill Formula, this Old Fox will give you a Xuan-rank Combat Skill!”

“Xuan-rank?!”

Jiang Donghua’s eyes lit up.

“That’s right!”

Mo Xuan said proudly.

“A Xuan-rank Combat Skill can’t be acquired without hundreds of thousands of gold coins! How about it, pretty generous, right?”

Jiang Donghua was ecstatic.

Getting a third-grade pill formula for free, and also a Xuan-rank Combat Skill for free?

How could a single word like “awesome” describe it?

Moreover, the two Yellow-rank Combat Skills he originally cultivated had long since reached the pinnacle of perfection, to the point where there was nothing left to afk, and he was just worrying about not having new things to practice!

“Alright! It’s a deal!”

He agreed without hesitation.

Mo Xuan snorted coldly.

“Don’t get too happy too soon! If you can’t complete this Pill Formula within ten days, this Old Fox will make you shovel manure in the medicinal field for a year!”

“Don’t look at this Old Fox with that kind of gaze. All these students in the Alchemy Department heard you say ‘ten days or so’ just now. This Old Fox is giving you ten days, which is already benevolent and righteous!”

Jiang Donghua.

“…”

Forget it, Jiang Donghua didn’t want to argue with this Old Fox who seemed to have him cornered.

He quickly ran into the alchemy room, and outside, it immediately showed that someone was inside.

Host: Jiang Donghua

Realm: Four-Star Dou Shi (800/4000)

Main Cultivation Technique: Heaven Burning Art (profound rank mid-level)

afk Income:

Clone 1: 0.5 points/hour

Clone 2: 0.5 points/hour

Clone 3: 0.5 points/hour

Current Total Income: 1.5 points/hour

Dou Techniques: yellow rank high grade movement technique Roaming Cloud Steps (perfected) no further improvements possible, yellow rank high grade palm technique Blazing Flame Palm (perfected) no further improvements possible

Pill Formulas: bone-mending pill, perfected, no further improvements possible; qi burst pill, perfected, no further improvements possible; incomplete Pill Formula mysterious spirit pill (repairing) (70/100) currently afk

“Tsk, still 30 points short.”

He pouted, casually pulling out half a piece of dry ration from his storage ring and started gnawing on it.

“Let’s afk.”

Jiang Donghua stretched lazily and lay directly on the ground.

Anyway, with the system doing the work, he was happy to relax.

He would get a good sleep first; refining pill after pill recently had been somewhat tiring.

Outside the alchemy room, several Alchemy Department students paced back and forth, occasionally glancing at the tightly shut door, their eyes full of envy.

“Senior Brother Jiang is refining pills inside again? It’s been over a dozen hours, hasn’t it?”

“Tsk, I’m so envious. We have to queue up to use the alchemy room, but he, on the other hand, monopolizes one, refining for as long as he wants.”

“Nonsense, he’s Elder Mo Xuan’s direct disciple, a second-grade Alchemist! Would you get that treatment if it were you?”

The few people whispered, completely unaware that Senior Brother Jiang, who they believed was diligently studying alchemy, was currently sound asleep in the alchemy room.

Jiang Donghua turned over, smacked his lips, and slept soundly.

“Ding! mysterious spirit pill Pill Formula completion! (100/100)”

The system notification sounded in his mind.

Ah! This twenty hours of deep sleep was truly refreshing; he completely used this afk system as an alarm clock.

Host: Jiang Donghua

Realm: Four-Star Dou Shi (800/4000)

Main Cultivation Technique: Heaven Burning Art (profound rank mid-level)

afk Income:

Clone 1: 1 point/hour

Clone 2: 1 point/hour

Clone 3: 1 point/hour

Current Total Income: 3 points/hour

Dou Techniques: yellow rank high grade movement technique Roaming Cloud Steps (perfected) no further improvements possible, yellow rank high grade palm technique Blazing Flame Palm (perfected) no further improvements possible

Pill Formulas: bone-mending pill, perfected, no further improvements possible; qi burst pill, perfected, no further improvements possible; mysterious spirit pill (0/200) not yet mastered, currently afk