Pill Treasure Pavilion, Zhu Yi’s cave dwelling.
“Can you perform alchemy?” Zhu Yi stared incredulously at Chen Mu.
Wasn’t he just a slacker who got in through the back door?
“Just a little, just a little,” Chen Mu said with a humble face, but his heart burst with joy.
Shocked, weren’t you?
I didn’t intend for this to happen.
It’s just that I’m so diligent and hardworking.
Before I knew it, my alchemy experience had skyrocketed, haha…
“I see,” Zhu Yi thought for a moment, his face lighting up with realization.
Then his brow furrowed with concern, “The status of an alchemist is not the same as that of an alchemist apprentice.”
“The other courtyards check strictly; it’s not easy to manage.”
What does that mean?
Chen Mu was a bit confused.
“Giving you this status is not impossible,” Zhu Yi hesitated for a moment then clenched his teeth, “You’ll need to add Daoist cultivation!”
“A lot of Daoist cultivation!”
“Don’t take it personally, this is mainly to smooth things over with Sun Duyuan.”
“After all, the Pill Treasure Pavilion in the other courtyard is part of the Administrative Affairs Institute.”
“To handle the alchemist status, you will definitely have to go through the Administrative Affairs Institute Duyuan.”
“Plus, it’s best if Uncle Master Liang steps in first to grease the wheels with our Sun Duyuan.”
“With the double threat of Daoist cultivation, you can hold the alchemist status with peace of mind,” Zhu Yi’s face was full of implied meaning.
Chen Mu: “…”
Are you still treating me like a slacker?!
He was laughed to the point of exasperation. What kind of thought process did this Pavilion Master Zhu even have?
I did indeed enter the Pill Treasure Pavilion through Liang Yi’s manipulation, but I am truly capable of alchemy!
Without saying another word, he reached over to the fanged tooth pendant hanging at his waist.
Bang!
A Primordial Furnace appeared out of thin air.
Open the lid, add ingredients, adjust the temperature, apply pressure, unify the primordial elements.
Buzz!
A quarter of an hour later.
An elixir pill the size of a longan pearl and milky white flew in front of Zhu Yi.
“You… you really know how to perform alchemy?!” Zhu Yi’s face fell in disappointment.
Chen Mu: “…”
What are you being disappointed for!
Were you just hoping I was fake so you could extort a fistful of Daoist cultivation from me?
“Cough! Junior brother can actually perform alchemy! With junior brother joining, the strength of our Pill Treasure Pavilion has greatly increased!” Zhu Yi pinched the smooth Fasting Pill, quickly putting on a face full of surprised joy, changing his demeanor completely from before.
Chen Mu was completely dumbfounded.
Pavilion Master Zhu, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, looked quite serious and staid, but who would have expected this?
“Do you only know how to make Fasting Pills?” Zhu Yi asked.
“Making just this Fasting Pill already takes up so much time and effort, I really don’t have the energy to be distracted by anything else,” Chen Mu couldn’t help sighing.
Just these five Talismans combined with the alchemy itself.
These experiences alone could fill the proficiency of a common Secret Technique and get another Secret Technique past half proficiency!
Besides, even if he wanted to make different pills, he didn’t have the Secret Techniques.
“That’s good,” Zhu Yi smiled and nodded, “I will get your identity settled as soon as possible.”
…
With Zhu Yi’s approval, Chen Mu quickly completed his identity change.
Two days later, he received his brand new Identity Jade.
Rectangle-shaped, the size of a palm, with cloud pattern decorations on the borders, one side engraved with landscapes, the other with text. The surface even had a bit of silver starry pattern.
Chen Mu was sitting cross-legged on the soft couch in the alchemist room.
With one hand, he absentmindedly fiddled with the Identity Jade, while silently calculating in his mind.
He was figuring out how many years and months it would take to accumulate enough Daoist cultivation and White Jade Coins.
“Twenty Fasting Pills can fetch one point of Daoist cultivation.”
“Making three hundred pills a day, that’s fifteen points of Daoist cultivation, and thus four hundred and fifty points a month.”
“Calculating with five hundred points of Daoist cultivation, it’s only six thousand a year.”
“To reach the bare minimum of a hundred thousand points of Daoist cultivation, it will take at least sixteen to seventeen years!”
To wait for sixteen to seventeen years to get the Condense Aperture Secret Method?!
He’s currently twenty-seven, and in sixteen to seventeen years, he would be over forty!
Over forty years old before getting the Condense Aperture Secret Method?!
That’s…
Well, it’s not impossible, haha.
Chen Mu suddenly felt happy.
The Shell Soul allows for an extra lifespan of two zodiac cycles. With Perceptive Illusion Breaking and protecting the body with mana, one could at least live for three zodiac cycles.
In comparison to a total lifespan of a nearly two hundred years, around one hundred eighty.
Just over forty years old is only one-fifth of a person’s life, merely the beginning.”
If we calculated based on an average lifespan of eighty years, one-fifth was only sixteen years.
That’s pretty young!
Let’s do some Alchemy!
The Pill Treasure Pavilion is stable, wasn’t it just staying in and practicing alchemy? He never liked being in the limelight anyway.
“Now there’s something to look forward to. Haha…”
“Of course, it would be even better if I could obtain the Condense Aperture Secret Method sooner.” After basking in joy for a while, Chen Mu began to ponder.
The newly established courtyard offers not just one way to gain Daoist cultivation achievements.
Jilong Road currently only controls the area surrounding Jade Spring Mountain, and the five Low Mountains in the distance are not yet under control.
It’s said that Exotic Beasts lurk there and that the Evil Path hides in their shadows.
The courtyard’s martial faction is already warming up, preparing to sweep and flatten the Low Mountains one by one.
If they could take down a mountain and develop it into a production site like the Lower Courtyard, the Daoist cultivation achievements obtained would be unimaginable.
“Good as it may be, it’s dangerous.” Chen Mu envied them but couldn’t help shaking his head.
“High rewards come with high risks.”
Facing great monsters and heretical paths, just the thought lets one know the process of clearing them will inevitably involve lots of killing and death.
“Fight and fight; you guys can do the fighting in the front while I prepare elixirs for you in the back.” Chen Mu thought cheerfully.
…
“If I want to gain more Daoist cultivation achievements, I still need to think through alchemy.”
He hadn’t been idle these past two days, constantly collecting data.
“Refining ten pills at a time, it takes a quarter of an hour, and this method is most efficient.”
“Even so, the most I can refine in a day is up to three hundred pills.”
“And there’s also about a 20% loss of raw materials in the process.”
Chen Mu looked towards the grey wall.
Alchemy (Fasting Pill): 6625/10000;
Chen Mu laughed cheerfully.
“Now it’s getting to the part I’m familiar with.”
“Let’s get to work.”
He wasn’t in a hurry to exchange the alchemy for Daoist cultivation.
Just like before, refining pill by pill, saving materials, saving time, to gain experience faster.
With Shang Huan regularly delivering living supplies to him.
Chen Mu truly closed his door to all visitors and focused on alchemy.
…
Twenty days later.
Chen Mu arrived in the small storeroom.
After contributing his monthly share of the Essence of the Five Grains.
He purchased eight thousand jin of Yellow Bud Rice in one go, calling Shang Huan and others to help carry it into the Alchemist Room.
He closed his door to visitors once more.
In the Alchemist Room, Chen Mu focused on the grey wall where the Fasting Pill experience had reached its limit.
His mind was flooded with corresponding alchemy techniques.
“It turns out that the Qi Forbidden is not set in stone.”
“In fact, by adjusting its value, one can indirectly speed up the alchemy process, saving materials and hastening alchemy.”
But this wasn’t even the biggest gain.
“By adjusting the frequency of the Exotic Force, in the same quarter of an hour, I can actually refine eighty-one Fasting Pills at once!” Chen Mu was overjoyed.
“If I were to refine nonstop all day long, I could make over two thousand Fasting Pills a day!”
This…
If I bury myself in practice for four or five years, could I accumulate enough Daoist cultivation and White Jade Coins?
Ha!
Just running the numbers briefly made him uncontrollably eager to start practicing.
It took some effort to suppress this impulse and return to his senses.
“It’s still a bit idealistic.”
Even if he wanted to do so, his mana wouldn’t keep up.
Even so, he could generally save about half the time.
Chen Mu spread his hands out and lay back, thumping down onto the soft cushion behind him.
“More than ten years is still pretty long.”
“Seven or eight years would be much better.”
“If I learn to make other kinds of pills along the way, like the Heavenly Demon Rebirth Pill.”
“Maybe I really could achieve my wish in four or five years!”