“Can you do it?”
Noticing Ling Yunzi’s doubtful gaze, Qin Chu felt helpless. He didn’t know if he could perform Alchemy, but he had so many Medicinal Pill Materials, he couldn’t just not use them, could he? Furthermore, he still had a lot of Heavenly Fragrance Grass in his Storage Ring. If he couldn’t perform Alchemy himself, he would have to hand them over to the Sect, and the profit he could gain would be much smaller.
“It seems you don’t have much confidence either. It’s alright, go and see!” Ling Yunzi smiled. This was the first time he had seen a lack of self-confidence in Qin Chu’s eyes.
Qin Chu arrived at the Medicinal Pill Hall on the Main Peak.
Upon seeing Qin Chu arrive, some of the Disciples in the Medicinal Pill Hall nodded to him; they all knew Qin Chu.
“Why are you here?” Alchemist Tang, who had met Qin Chu once before, saw him.
“Elder Tang, Disciple wants to see if he can Cultivate Alchemy,” Qin Chu said, looking at Alchemist Tang.
Elder Tang smiled. “Being eager to learn and make progress is a good thing. If it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t work. I’m very happy that you chose this path.”
“Why?” Qin Chu asked, puzzled.
“Because you chose the correct path. What do Cultivators need most? Medicinal Pills. An Alchemist, even if he doesn’t use his Alchemy skills to gain many resources, can at least serve himself and provide assistance for his own rise,” Elder Tang said to Qin Chu.
Qin Chu bowed to Elder Tang. “Disciple will definitely study hard. If I truly have no talent, I won’t force it.”
“For now, you will stay by my side. This is the Hundred Herbs Scripture; you should first familiarize yourself with the medicinal herbs.” Alchemist Tang handed Qin Chu a classic text, then led Qin Chu forward.
“How many contribution points does this require to exchange?” Qin Chu, following behind Alchemist Tang, asked.
Qin Chu was not a newbie who had just arrived at the Azure Cloud Sect; he understood some things and some rules. Some of the unique skills of the Azure Cloud Sect’s Elders were all measured by contribution points. Unless it was passed on to their Personal Disciples, others who wanted to Cultivate them needed to exchange them with contribution points.
Qin Chu had no Master. To obtain classic texts and Legacies, he had to use contribution points.
“The Hundred Herbs Scripture is a relatively mainstream classic text; it’s not too rare. It doesn’t require contribution points; you can read it first.” After Elder Tang finished speaking to Qin Chu, he went to the Pill Room to select medicinal Materials.
Qin Chu stood in the Pill Room, opened the Hundred Herbs Scripture, and began to study it. He flipped through the pages, finishing it in less than a quarter of an hour. He recognized all the medicinal herbs in the Hundred Herbs Scripture.
After reading it, Qin Chu entered the Pill Room and handed the Hundred Herbs Scripture to Elder Tang.
“What’s wrong? Not interested in medicinal herbs? That won’t do. Identifying medicinal herbs is one of the fundamental skills of an Alchemist, and it’s essential,” Elder Tang said, looking at Qin Chu.
“Elder Tang misunderstood. It’s not that I’m not interested; it’s that Disciple recognizes all the medicinal Materials inside,” Qin Chu said to Elder Tang.
Elder Tang was a little disbelieving. Right there in the Pill Room, he took out various medicinal Materials and had Qin Chu identify them. Qin Chu not only recognized them but could also explain some of their medicinal properties.
“You… Identifying medicinal Materials is easy, but accurately stating their medicinal properties is not. Next is to distinguish the quality and Rank of the medicinal Materials…” Elder Tang was quite surprised by Qin Chu’s understanding of medicinal Materials, as this was considered a basic skill.
In the following days, Qin Chu spent his days in the Pill Room studying Medicinal Pill knowledge with Elder Tang, and his nights meditating and Cultivating Origin Qi.
After learning that Qin Chu was studying Alchemy, Mo Daozi cursed him twice for not focusing on proper work, but then said nothing more, because many excellent Cultivators also dabble in some auxiliary abilities, such as Artifact Refining, Alchemy, Dao of Formations, and so on.
Qin Chu’s days were very fulfilling. Elder Tang also gave Qin Chu a Materia Medica.
If the Hundred Herbs Scripture was Elementary, then the Materia Medica was Intermediate, as it included not only the identification of medicinal herbs but also the identification of Yao Beast body Materials, such as bear gallbladders, snake gallbladders, and so on.
Soon, Qin Chu also passed this stage. After he finished studying the Materia Medica, Elder Tang began to have Qin Chu watch him perform Alchemy.
Elder Tang first refined a Rank 1 Origin Gathering Pill, explaining everything from the preparation of Materials to the refining, purification, and Core Formation.
“Did you understand? If you understood, give it a try! If you can succeed with one out of three Pill Furnaces, then you can continue Alchemy; if not, then don’t waste your energy here. I really hope you can.” Patting Qin Chu’s shoulder, Alchemist Tang moved away from the Pill Furnace, giving his spot to Qin Chu.
To Elder Tang’s surprise, Qin Chu quickly refined a batch of Origin Gathering Pills.
After taking an Origin Gathering Pill refined by Qin Chu and sensing its effects, Elder Tang nodded in satisfaction. “Very good, Medium Grade Origin Gathering Pills. Continue refining.”
Qin Chu organized the Materials and continued refining. After three batches, Qin Chu actually refined High Grade Origin Gathering Pills.
“Haha! Our Azure Cloud Sect is about to produce a Great Master of the Dao of Pills!” After appraising the High Grade Origin Gathering Pills refined by Qin Chu, Elder Tang laughed excitedly.
“Elder Tang, can Disciple do it?” Qin Chu asked, looking at Elder Tang.
“You absolutely can! From now on, you will Cultivate at night and spend half of your day in the Pill Room to Cultivate Alchemy,” Elder Tang said to Qin Chu.
As an important part of the Azure Cloud Sect, the Pill Room had many Disciples, and Elder Tang also had several direct Disciples. However, after Qin Chu arrived, Elder Tang gave him his Alchemy spot. He would research ingredients on the side and then guide Qin Chu in Alchemy.
After half a month of Cultivating Alchemy, Qin Chu could refine Rank 2 Origin Condensing Pills, and after the proficiency period, the Medicinal Pills he refined were all High Grade. After one month of Cultivating Alchemy, Qin Chu could refine True Origin Pills. However, he did not touch Rank 4 Medicinal Pills because he couldn’t. He used his Origin Qi cultivation to activate the Pill Furnace, and his Rank 3 Origin Qi could only refine Rank 3 Medicinal Pills; he could not refine Rank 4 Medicinal Pills.
On this day, Qin Chu took out his Materials, selected some from them, and refined a large batch of Origin Gathering Pills.
“Qin Chu, why are you refining so many Origin Gathering Pills?” Elder Tang asked, looking at Qin Chu.
“To distribute some to the Utility Disciples, so they can smoothly enter the Cultivator Rank,” Qin Chu said.
Elder Tang nodded in satisfaction. People who were willing to contribute were broad-minded.
“You have quite a few Materials for Origin Condensing Pills here; you can also help them refine some more,” Elder Tang said, pointing to Qin Chu’s personal Materials.
“No! I will only give them Origin Gathering Pills; I will not bother with Origin Condensing Pills,” Qin Chu shook his head and refused.
“Qin Chu, Origin Condensing Pills are not very valuable, and they are useless to you,” Elder Tang was a little disappointed to see Qin Chu unwilling to refine Origin Condensing Pills for others.
“Disciple knows. That’s why all these Materials are given to the Sect. Elder Tang, please don’t think Qin Chu is stingy. Everyone has their own path. Utility Disciples have it hard, and what I can do is help them embark on the path of a Cultivator. As for how they walk it, that’s up to them. If everything is prepared for them, they won’t have any fighting spirit,” Qin Chu explained his reason for not refining Origin Condensing Pills.
“Well said! My thinking was wrong. You’ve refined so many Medicinal Pills, are you leaving the Pill Room?” Elder Tang asked, looking at Qin Chu.
Qin Chu nodded. He indeed planned to leave the Pill Room. Not just the Pill Room, he intended to go to Heavenly Fragrance Valley to see Zila. With the situation so chaotic now, he planned to persuade Zila to leave Heavenly Fragrance Valley.