24: Chapter 24 Cooperation

"Alchemy?" Yun Ming raised an eyebrow and asked doubtfully, "Anyone in the Alchemy Room can do that. Why are you looking for me?"

"This is no ordinary Pill Formula!" Elder Qian said excitedly, "This is a Body Refining Pill Recipe."

Hearing it was a Body Refining Pill Recipe, Yun Ming was rarely moved, but Elder Qian still hadn't explained why he had come to him.

Seeing Yun Ming staring at him without saying a word, Elder Qian could only explain further, "This is a First-Grade High Grade Pill Formula. Those useless fools in the Alchemy Room are mostly First-Grade Low Grade, with the best only being First-Grade Medium Grade. In the Sect, the only ones who can refine this pill are you and the Alchemy Peak Personal Disciple, Xiao Hao."

"Oh!" Yun Ming understood. "With your status and position, you can't get in touch with Senior Brother Xiao Hao, so you came to me."

Elder Qian's face darkened. Why did this person speak so harshly?

"What do you mean I can't get in touch because of my status? Do you know what a Personal Disciple is? Do you know what Realm an Alchemy Peak Elder is at? I am an Outer Sect Elder after all. You've probably only ever heard the name Xiao Hao."

Yun Ming narrowed his eyes and curled his lip. "Use your brain, will you? I'm a first-grade High Grade Alchemist. How could I have never met Senior Brother Xiao Hao?"

Hearing this, Elder Qian surprisingly felt that Yun Ming had a point. Then he was startled, thinking that this kid might have actually joined the Inner Sect. As a first-grade High Grade Alchemist, he might really have been granted exceptional entry.

Yun Ming noticed Elder Qian spacing out and shouting impatiently, "Hey, what are you thinking about? Bring out the Pill Formula and let me take a look."

Hearing Yun Ming call him, Elder Qian snapped back to his senses and carefully took out a piece of animal hide from his Storage Pouch. The Body Refining Pill Recipe was recorded on it.

While studying the Pill Formula, Yun Ming asked, "You're quite lucky. Where did you get this?"

Elder Qian gave a cold laugh. "It's all thanks to you."

"Me?" Yun Ming was somewhat puzzled.

"Back when you were assigned to clean the Pill Furnaces, you were so full of yourself and refused to cooperate with me. This caused the Spirit Stones I earned every month to drop by a full thirty percent. Do you know what that thirty percent means? I have to grease palms everywhere, and my subordinates need their cut. After all that, I wasn't making a profit; I was actually losing money. I had no choice but to find another way. I originally just wanted to collect a few low-quality Pill Formulas to make up the numbers, but who knew one of them had a hidden layer—when I opened it, it was this First-Grade High Grade Pill Formula."

Yun Ming opened his mouth but ultimately didn't bother to explain. Trouble had been found, and the person had been beaten; there was no point in explaining now.

After studying it carefully, Yun Ming found that this Pill Formula was indeed extraordinary.

If this Pill Formula was paired with a decent Body Refining Cultivation Technique, one could easily Breakthrough to the first grade of Body Refining.

"The Pill Formula is good. Let's talk about how to cooperate," Yun Ming said as he put down the formula.

"Seventy-thirty, my way. No negotiations," Elder Qian said with a firm tone.

"No way. Forty-sixty. You get forty, I get sixty."

"What! Are you crazy? Do you know how much effort I put into this Pill Formula, how much money I spent? You're only responsible for Alchemy, and giving you thirty percent is already a lot. I'm providing the manpower and resources. Don't push your luck, kid!" Elder Qian said excitedly.

"Fine, then forget it. Just find someone else," Yun Ming said with a shrug, acting indifferent.

Looking at Yun Ming's fearless attitude, Elder Qian nearly ground his teeth to dust. He hated that his subordinates were such a bunch of useless trash; why wasn't there a single first-grade High Grade Alchemist among them?

"Fine! Forty-sixty, but you get forty and I get sixty!" Elder Qian compromised. Without an Alchemist, it really had to be him.

"No, fifty-fifty."

"Yun Ming!" Elder Qian smashed the wooden table in front of him to pieces with a palm strike. "Forty-five percent, no more. You should learn to be content."

Looking at the shattered table, Yun Ming wondered if he should just kill Elder Qian. After all, his true Realm was Qi Refining Level 8. With his Serious Punch, killing him within three breaths shouldn't be a problem.

Elder Qian, seeing Yun Ming in deep thought, assumed he had intimidated him, unaware that he had just been on the brink of life and death.

Ultimately, Yun Ming gave up on the idea. Killing Elder Qian was simple enough, but the subsequent cleanup would be too much trouble.

"Fine, forty-five it is. But you have to provide the Materials," Yun Ming agreed.

Then the two discussed more details, determining how many batches needed to be refined each month, how often to split the profits, and so on.

After seeing Elder Qian off, Yun Ming felt he needed a handy Pill Furnace. Otherwise, having to run to the Alchemy Room every time he wanted to perform Alchemy was too troublesome.

But before that, Yun Ming prepared to do today's ten-pull draw.

Over the past six months, Yun Ming hadn't saved up. As soon as the daily ten-pull arrived, he would use it immediately, showing no restraint at all.

Perhaps as punishment for his lack of restraint, out of nearly two thousand draws over the half-year, he had only pulled three gold items.

Name: [Yun Ming]

Realm: [Qi Refining Level 8]

Entries: [Serious Punch] (Gold), [Accidentally Entering the Heavenly Family] (Gold), [Youre So Flamboyant] (Purple), [Budget Warrior] (Blue)...

Profession: first-grade High Grade Alchemist

Cultivation Technique: [Cold Spring Jade Quenching Record] (Gold), [Supreme Profound Pure Qi Art] (Purple), [Introduction to Alchemy Scripture] (Blue)...

Spells: [Fuli Heaven-Concealing Record] (Prismatic), [Purple Cloud Divine Thunder Curse] (Purple), [Five Elements Escape Technique Essence] (Blue), [Green Wood Art] (White)...

Draw Count: [20]

Wealth: 0.17

Items: nine-turn jade infant pill Formula (Gold), enlightenment card x5 (Purple), black flood dragon scale armor Set (Blue), chaos spirit bell (White), Luoxia Sword (White), kui water spirit light shield (White)...

The three gold items were: the gold entry [Accidentally Entering the Heavenly Family], which triggers the 'Accidentally Entering the Heavenly Family' BGM when coming into contact with or seeing Heaven And Earth Treasures far beyond one's own grade—simply put, a treasure-hunting entry.

[Cold Spring Jade Quenching Record], a Fourth-Grade High Grade Body Refining Cultivation Technique that can be cultivated up to the fourth grade of Body Refining, corresponding to a Cultivator's Nascent Soul Stage. Since Body Refining inherently requires a massive amount of Spirit Stone resources, and the requirements for the Cold Spring Jade Quenching Record were even more stringent, this was the main reason Yun Ming collaborated with Elder Qian. He could get many Materials for free and earn Spirit Stones; why not?

Finally, there was the [nine-turn jade infant pill] Formula.

Yun Ming hadn't expected that while he still had no lead on a foundation establishment pill, he would first draw the nine-turn jade infant pill Formula.

But that was fine; he could treat it as collecting Materials in advance.

Additionally, there were several interesting entries and Spells.

For example, the purple entry [Youre So Flamboyant] allowed him to smell the scents of races other than the Human Race.

There was also the blue entry [Budget Warrior], which doubled the special effects of Spell attacks without changing the damage—it was mainly for intimidating people.

The two Spells were [Purple Cloud Divine Thunder Curse], which made up for Yun Ming's lack of offensive means, and [Five Elements Escape Technique Essence], which compensated for his lack of escape methods.

What surprised Yun Ming was the black flood dragon scale armor. Originally, he only had the gauntlet and bracer parts, but he unexpectedly pulled the complete set later. This set of scale armor had also reached Second-Grade High Grade.

There were other miscellaneous items, but they were all things Yun Ming had no use for.

Finishing today's ten-pull, he ended up with one Mid-Grade Spirit Stone and nine Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Yun Ming knew today's draw was a waste again.

After a quick tidying up, Yun Ming headed to the Luoxia Market with a few bottles of Rejuvenation Pills.