3: Chapter 3 Introduction to Alchemy

Yun Ming took a sharp breath, but the Senior Brother still had some good news for him: "Because there are many Disciples in the Alchemy Room, you aren't the only Utility Disciple cleaning the Pill Furnaces. Including you, there are four people in total. You'll get four days off a month, and the Spirit Stones remain the same at thirty per month."

Was this good news? Barely.

Then the Senior Brother took Yun Ming to clean a few Pill Furnaces, and Yun Ming began to get the hang of it. Seeing Yun Ming gradually becoming proficient, the Senior Brother left.

Time flew by like an arrow, and it was soon time for the shift change.

However, when it was time for someone to replace him, no one came. Yet, the Alchemy Room kept sending Pill Furnaces that needed cleaning. Helpless, Yun Ming could only keep working by himself.

Until dark, still no one came to take over his shift, and Yun Ming started to feel a bit annoyed.

Taking advantage of a moment when no Pill Furnaces needed cleaning, he pushed open the door of the Quiet Room to find that Senior Brother from before, but he discovered three people squatting at the entrance of the Quiet Room, never having gone inside.

Yun Ming knew what was going on without even thinking. These three people had clearly reached the shift change time but intentionally didn't go in, wanting Yun Ming to work a bit longer for them.

One of them even came up with a grin and patted Yun Ming's shoulder: "Kid, you did a good job. We're here to replace you. Don't forget, same time tomorrow."

After saying that, he entered the Quiet Room without looking back, clearly bullying Yun Ming for being a newcomer.

The other two followed him into the Quiet Room as well.

Yun Ming couldn't swallow this insult, so he directly turned back into the Quiet Room.

He asked, "I don't know what you three are called. I'm new here, so it's better to be clear about the cleaning schedule, lest some shameless people try to play tricks and slack off, affecting others' Cultivate."

Yun Ming's words didn't leave them any Face. He didn't intend to speak politely either; he just wanted to see their reaction.

As expected, the person who had just patted his shoulder was the first to stand up. Pointing at his nose, he cursed, "Brat, who do you think you're talking to? Where are your manners? We're doing this to train you. Don't you know that if the Pill Furnaces aren't cleaned properly and those Alchemists come looking for trouble, they could beat you to death and you'd have no say in the matter."

Yun Ming sneered, "To train me? Is that your excuse for being late on purpose and making me do your work? Then I simply won't come tomorrow, to give you some good training too."

"Oh! Brat, it seems I have to teach you a lesson today!" With that, the man prepared to make a move.

Yun Ming saw at a glance that the opponent had a Qi Refining Level 3 cultivation, but his Realm was very unstable. Either he had neglected his Cultivate, or he had just had a Breakthrough not long ago.

"It's not certain who will be teaching whom a lesson." Yun Ming was fearless, his Aura overbearing.

Just as both sides were at each other's throats, an Alchemist walked in.

"You guys, are you planning to fight? Who's going to pay if the Pill Furnaces get broken?" The Alchemist looked at them. "If you want to fight, get out and do it, but don't delay the cleaning of the Pill Furnaces. If there are no Pill Furnaces to use, I'll hold you accountable."

"Yes," the group replied.

The Alchemist asked again, "Who cleaned the Pill Furnaces today?"

Hearing this, that man thought the Alchemist was here to assign blame. His eyes rolled, and he immediately betrayed Yun Ming. Pointing excitedly, he said, "Senior Brother, it was him! He cleaned everything today! He's a newcomer, and you can tell he didn't clean them well. We just said a few words to him, and he wanted to start a fight!"

Yun Ming didn't expect someone could be so shameless. Just as he was about to explain, the Alchemist threw a bottle of qi gathering pills directly at him.

"Good job cleaning. This is your reward. I refined a batch of qi gathering pills today and didn't expect them to succeed. Keep cleaning well; if the next batch also results in successful Pill Formation, I'll reward you again."

After saying that, the Alchemist left without looking back, as if he had done something trivial.

Yun Ming looked at the qi gathering pills in his hand. Upon opening it, he could smell a fresh fragrance. There were five pills in the bottle, each worth about two Spirit Stones. This one bottle was worth ten Spirit Stones.

He didn't know how many pills a single batch could produce, but if one could be casually rewarded to a Utility Disciple, there must be around a hundred. Alchemy really makes money.

At this moment, the others on the side were extremely envious, and the leader especially regretted it so much his intestines turned green.

"Kid! Share half with us. If I hadn't said you did it, these qi gathering pills wouldn't have reached your hands. We won't bully you; one for each of us three, and you keep two for yourself. Fair enough, right?" The leader's eyes were practically bulging out, and his hand reached greedily toward the qi gathering pills in Yun Ming's hand.

Yun Ming quickly tucked the qi gathering pills into his robes and slapped his hand away. "Give them to you? You must be dreaming. You're not worthy. If you're so capable, go earn them yourself."

"Kid, I'm warning you, don't refuse a polite offer only to be forced!" the leader threatened, pointing at Yun Ming's nose.

"Fine, fine, you only have this much ability to intimidate. What else can you do besides shout?" Yun Ming rolled his eyes, clearly not taking the words to heart.

"You just wait!" It was another meaningless threat.

Yun Ming didn't bother with him and left the Alchemy Room.

"Big brother, we can't just let this go. That's a bottle of qi gathering pills! We can't even afford to buy one bottle after a whole month," one of them said, clearly also coveting the qi gathering pills in Yun Ming's possession.

"Of course we can't let it go. This kid... if he doesn't know to show us respect, and doesn't show respect to Elder Qian, he's in for a rough time." The leader stroked his chin, looking at Yun Ming's retreating back with ill intent.

On the other side,

When Yun Ming returned to his small cabin, he closed the door and took out a qi gathering pill.

The medicinal effect of the qi gathering pill is to improve the efficiency of absorbing Spiritual Qi, and it also contains a large amount of Spiritual Qi itself, roughly equivalent to the Spiritual Qi of half a Low-Grade Spirit Stone.

Keeping it to sell would only be ten Spirit Stones, while he got nine from his daily card draws anyway. It was more cost-effective to convert it into Realm.

So Yun Ming directly swallowed a qi gathering pill. After taking it, he indeed felt his speed of absorbing Spiritual Qi increase slightly. Then, he took out that Mid-Grade Spirit Stone and began to Cultivate.

Relying on the Supreme Profound Pure Qi Art and the qi gathering pill, Yun Ming took less than a night to have a Breakthrough to Qi Refining Level 3.

Even the Spiritual Qi of the Mid-Grade Spirit Stone wasn't completely used up, though he had finished the qi gathering pills.

By the time he had completely absorbed all the Spiritual Qi from the Mid-Grade Spirit Stone, he had already reached the Middle Stage of Qi Refining Level 3.

Yun Ming felt the power of Qi Refining Level 3; he felt that he could now fight three of his former Qi Refining Level 2 selves.

However, Yun Ming also thought that when he first entered the Sect, he was tested to have a Five Elements Mixed Spiritual Root, which is widely recognized in the Immortal Realm as the trashiest of trash Spiritual Roots. But now that he was practicing, he didn't feel the sense of obstruction they talked about at all; instead, it felt very smooth.

Yun Ming suspected this was the System's credit.

Looking at the dawning sky, Yun Ming suddenly remembered that he hadn't done yesterday's Ten-pull yet.

Coincidentally, today's Ten-pull had also arrived.

"Ding! Today is auspicious for Alchemy; the success rate of Alchemy is increased. The Ten-pull has been distributed."

Name: [Yun Ming]

Realm: [Qi Refining Level 3]

Cultivation Technique: [Hunyuan Art] (White) [Supreme Profound Pure Qi Art] (Purple)

Draws: [20]

Wealth: 0

"Twenty draws. With my luck, I should be able to get some good stuff."

"Ding! Congratulations, you have obtained the following items:

Low-Grade Spirit Stone × 1 (White)

...

Low-Grade Spirit Stone × 1 (White)

Introduction to Alchemy Scripture (Blue)

Qi Gathering Pill Formula (Blue)

"Holy crap! I actually got something good!"