Chapter 0052 – You Want To Learn Alchemy
“I am not a Crafting Master.” The white haired old woman slowly turned, although her tone sounded old, but it was neither fast nor slow.
Ning Cheng saw that the eyes of the old woman were a little pale, while there were a few wrinkles on her face.
Ning Cheng did not carefully look at the appearance of this old woman, and hurriedly cupped his fist in front of her and said, “This junior had heard it from Ge Chang that senior was a Crafting Master, after this junior saw the furnace fire of senior, he firmly believes that Ge Chang did not lie to me. I still ask the senior to extend a helping hand, as long as the Artefact of this junior was refined successfully, whatever senior requests, this junior will try his best to accomplish it.”
“You just said that you would do your best to do whatever that I ask, but are you really willing to do it?” The old woman still spoke in an unhurried tone.
Ning Cheng was stunned for a moment, was it that obvious, it implied that if she helped him in refining the needle, then would he have to work himself to death for her?
Fortunately, this old woman did not continue to ask, and just slowly said, “I only took one thing from Ge Chang, but I did help him in refining a low level Artefact, so he thought that I was a Crafting Master. But the fact is, I am not a Crafting Master……”
Ning Cheng was despising her in his heart, you are not a Crafting Master, and yet you helped Ge Chang refine an Artefact? But he did not dare refute this old woman, and continued speaking respectfully, “Senior can already refine Artefacts, to this junior you are already a Crafting Master. This junior’s request is very simple, as long as senior could help me refine just a common Artefact.”
This old woman seemed to be embarrassed to refuse Ning Cheng, she just sighed and said, “Since you have already come here to find me, I will help you refine an Artefact, which should be alright. But I have three conditions, first you cannot be like Ge Chang, going everywhere and publicizing me as a Crafting Master.”
“This junior will heed it; this junior is just passing through Nan Yuan City. I would never publicize the name of the senior, and also would not let anyone disturb senior because of me.” Ning Cheng hastily promised.
The old woman nodded and continued, “The second condition is that you must not take out something that is not pleasing to my eyes, otherwise I will not help you refine the Artefact. Although I am not a Crafting Master, I will not use lousy things to refine the Artefacts. The third condition is that the remuneration for helping you refine the Artefact should be of my satisfaction, otherwise I will not help you refine the Artefact.”
“Naturally, what kind of remuneration does senior need?” Ning Cheng asked with confidence, as long as the opposite party wanted payment, it meant that it would work well with him. He also had hundreds of Spirit Stones, parting with a bit of them would be worth the help in refining the Artefact he needed.
“First you have to tell me something about the Artefact you want to refine, then take out the materials.” The old woman did not directly ask Ning Cheng to pay, apparently she wanted to have a look at what Ning Cheng wanted to refine, and then set the price.
Ning Cheng took out two teeth from a Class 2 Demon Wolf Monstrous Beast and said, “I would like to refine a …….”
She did not even wait for Ning Cheng to finish, when her expression turned sour and roared, “You want me to refine an Artefact from this trashy material? You think that since I am not a Crafting Master, you can insult me? Get the hell out of here.”
Ning Cheng was surprised for a moment, he did not think that the old woman would get so angry. The teeth from a Class 2 Demon Wolf Monstrous Beast was trash? This was something that he did not even dare take out in the Magical Weapons Store to exchange it for refining services, why would this old woman say that it was thrash?
Fortunately, Ning Cheng reaction was very quick, he immediately put away the sharp teeth from the Demon Wolf, and hurriedly took out a horn and said, “Because the thing that I want to refine is needle, so I thought that the sharp tooth from the Demon Wolf would be better. Since the senior does not like it, I also have a horn……”
“What……” Seeing the horn of a Flood Dragon in the hands of Ning Cheng, the old woman gave out an alarmed cry, she lifted her hands and grabbed the horn of the Flood Dragon, her speed was very fast.
Ning Cheng who was at one side was staring at the old woman with some nervousness, he estimated that he might have to fight, but he was afraid the he would not be a match against this old woman. If this old woman wanted the horn of the Flood Dragon for herself, he really had no means to take it back.
“Isn’t this the horn from a Flood Dragon who had just advanced to Class 4? How did you, who is a mere Qi Gathering 8th Level cultivator, be able to get such a good stuff?” The old woman said while staring at Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng’s heart sank, he even refused to answer to the matter regarding the Flood Dragon’s Horn, as he stood up in shock, “Senior, you are able to see my actual cultivation level?”
The old woman sneered, “With your broken Concealment Technique, you dare to hide your cultivation level in front of me? Bah.”
With that, she took out a Jade Piece and threw it at Ning Cheng and said, “Let me show you just what a real Concealment Technique is.”
Ning Cheng grabbed the Jade Piece, and used his Spiritual Sense to sweep through it, immediately he broke out in cold sweat. After he looked at this Jade Piece, he realized that the Concealment Technique that he learned previously was truly thrash. This Concealment Technique that he had been using, had already been revised countless times, if he had not revised it, it was just simply appalling and could not be called a Concealing Technique. But even when he had revised the Concealing Technique to its perfected form in his mind, his Concealment Technique was truly very weak.
With his cultivation level, there was no way for him to use the Mysterious Yellow Bead’s Origin, as he had not yet reached the ‘Formless Level.
Just like a black iron, even if it was repeatedly forged, there was simply no way for it to turn into a piece of gold. Perhaps he could only wait for the time till he could reach the ‘Formless Level to freely use the Mysterious Yellow Bead, so that even if it was just a random technique, he could then use the Mysterious Yellow Bead’s Origin to modify and rectify it into the most amazing top class technique. But that time certainly wasn’t now.
Ning Cheng with his fastest speed, scanned through the Concealment Technique once again. The Techniques and Methods were inherently different, Techniques were far less complex than a Method and even the lengths of the mnemonics were shorter. With Ning Cheng’s astonishing memory capabilities, by just casually scanning through it once again, he was almost entirely able to learn it and imprint it in his mind.
Others may only be able to remember some things, and while cultivating it they may end up making many mistakes, but this was not the case with Ning Cheng, who could even modify even a Method at his own will.
“You can keep the Jade Piece containing the Concealment Technique that I gave you, but first you need to answer two of my questions.” The old woman saw Ning Cheng hold the Jade Piece in such a manner, she immediately knew that Ning Cheng was already shocked by this Concealment Technique. She already knew that Ning Cheng was a cultivator at the Qi Gathering 8th Level and thus had the ability to view the contents of the Jade Piece, she basically did not find anything strange with it.
Ning Cheng hurriedly gave the Jade Piece back to the old woman and said, “This junior does not dare to covet the Jade Piece of the senior, if senior wants to enquire about something, then please by all means go ahead and ask, this junior will talk about anything as long as I know about it.”
Ning Cheng was not a fool, he had already understood the technique in the Jade Piece, and letting the old woman give it to him, wouldn’t it mean that he owed her a favour? Even if she wanted something, he could pretend that he never saw the stuff.
The old woman did not know that not only did Ning Cheng had such a powerful memory, but he even had the ability to correct even a Cultivation Method, because of which she was actually surprised and asked, “You really do not want it?”
Ning Cheng said in a resolute and decisive tone, “This junior had only come to ask senior for her help in refining an Artefact, if one also wanted the technique in the Jade Piece, then wouldn’t it be me being greedy, senior can just go ahead and ask what you want.”
The old woman surprisingly took and put away the Jade Piece with much appreciation and said, “Such being the case, I will also not ask any more questions. This One Horned Flood Dragon had just advanced to Class 4, with your trivial cultivation of the Qi Gathering Realm, for you to get such a thing, really shows that you really are not simple. Moreover, aren’t the Flood Dragon’s skin and the Flood Dragon’s Core not with you?”
Ning Cheng actually did not hesitate, he directly took out the Flood Dragon’s skin and piled it up in the room and said, “I was not able to find the core of the Flood Dragon.”
The old woman’s eyes revealed that she was pleasantly surprised, she did not continue to look at the Flood Dragon’s Skin, she did not even enquire about the Flood Dragon’s core, and directly asked, “What thing do you want me to refine?”
“I want to refine a thin needle shaped Artefact which also has a concealing effect, the thinner the better, while at the same time it should be able to help me perform Ice Type Attacks with it, can you….” Ning Cheng was no longer polite, he suspected that this old woman should not be a simple person, and simply spilled out all the characteristics of the 7 Pleiades Ice Needle.
“You want to refine the 7 Pleiades Ice Needle? Does a Qi Gathering Cultivator like you really have a Profound Grade Technique? It appears that the secrets on your body are not small.” The woman said while staring at Ning Cheng as if implying something else.
Ning Cheng was immediately startled awake from his sub consciousness, this old woman was really quite amazing, she even knew about the 7 Pleiades Ice Needle Technique. What if she also knew about the Mysterious Yellow Bead, wouldn’t that mean certain death for him?
Seeing the worried look on Ning Cheng’s face, the old woman smiled and said, “Although a Profound Grade Techniques are good, I do not put them in my heart. However, for you to use the single horn of the Flood Dragon and refine it into the 7 Pleiades Ice Needle, even if the refining was successful, the effect would be far from being satisfactory. This Flood Dragon’s horn and the other materials have a great use for me, I have a stinger from a Class 4 Shadow Bee that is more suitable for refining a needle like Artefact. These materials are not as good as the stingers from a Class 4 Shadow Bees to refine the 7 Pleiades Ice Needle, would you like to exchange them for the horn and materials of the Flood Dragon for these?”
When Ning Cheng heard about it, he knew that he would definitely suffer a loss, however he did not even consider about it even once and said, “Whatever senior wants you can have it, this junior only wants the 7 Pleiades Ice Needle.”
The old woman nodded, apparently she was satisfied with Ning Cheng’s attitude, and immediately said, “Although I am not a Crafting Master, but I am a Pill Master, if you have any pills that you need to be refined, you can always come to me. At least for a year, I will not leave this Nan Yuan City.”
When Ning Cheng heard this, his heart was immediately filled with joy, he did not even think that this old woman was actually a Pill Master. When hearing this news for the first time, he almost immediately went ahead and asked the old woman if she could refine a True Condensing Pill. However, Ning Cheng immediately refrained from executing his idea, he felt that to even ask the old woman to refine a True Condensing Pill, it would not be possible today, he at least would have to wait till he gets his hands on the 7 Pleiades Ice Needle before anything else.
“Of course, if you want me to help you refine pills, then you need to bring your own Spiritual Grasses, as an old woman, I usually do not go out, so I do not have any Spiritual Grasses for you.” After getting the horn and the hide of the Flood Dragon from Ning Cheng, the old woman’s attitude towards Ning Cheng changed greatly.
Ning Cheng knew that he had the Golden Cicada Fruit, but for refining the True Condensing Pill, he would need 10-20 different kinds of Spiritual Grasses. In such a short time, he simply would not be able to collect all the Spiritual Grasses needed, so looking for this woman to help him refine pills was a bit unrealistic at the moment.
Thinking of this, Ning Cheng hurriedly said, “Does senior have any Jade Pieces that have an introduction to Alchemy, if there are any, would you let this junior take a look at them.”
“You want to learn Alchemy.” The old woman immediately understood the viewpoint of Ning Cheng, she did not believe that someone would ask her such a question.
Ning Cheng sheepishly scratched his head and said, “Yes, if I could refine my own pills, wouldn’t it save me a lot of trouble later?”
This old woman mouth revealed a hint of smile for the first time, looking at Ning Cheng she could tell, although this old woman did not ridicule him, it meant that laughing or ridiculing him did not make much difference to her.
“Since time immemorial, there were tens of thousands of cultivators who wanted to become Pill Masters, but for one to actually become a Pill Master, is very rare. In addition to talent and perseverance in Alchemy, you also need great luck. Even if you had Pure Spiritual Roots, even if you had amazing perseverance, if you are not destined for it, then you would never become a Pill Master.” The old woman turned back, her tone felt a little lonely, as if she was speaking to herself while sighing continuously.
Ning Cheng knew that he had an opportunity in front of him, he could no longer could help himself and exposed his own tail, while he eagerly asked, “This junior is certain that he would definitely become a Pill Master, this junior does not need to be taught by senior, as long as senior can give this junior a Jade Piece that contains the basics of Alchemy, that is all that is needed for this junior.”
