Chương 20: Elder Shoa’s Lecture and the Alchemy Apprentice Title

After finishing his cultivation, An moved on to practicing Alchemy. Rummaging through his pouch, he realized the ingredients for the Qi Enlightenment pill were gone. Without much thought, he switched to the Golden Body Qi pill. This pill was for strengthening the physical aspect of the body. Essentially, it was like a Kavana fruit in pill form, but its effect was much more potent. To make it, you needed four spirit plants: Spring Vine, Seven-Color Berry, Mountain Ivy, and Oviana Seeds.

An had bought all of these, luckily, these spirit plants were very common and cheap, and they grew at the base of the mountain where the Heavenly Soul Sect stood. After preparing and laying out all the ingredients, An calculated that he had only twenty-four attempts. The first attempt was surprisingly very successful, only a 32% potency loss. An immediately tossed the pill at the sleeping, overfed rooster.

Feeling a peck on his beak, the bird didn't even bother to figure out what it was, just clicked his beak a few times and went back to sleep. Eight days of non-stop refining later, having used up all the spirit plants, An held eleven Golden Body Qi pills in his hand. The worst had a 21% loss, the best, 16%. He packed them into envelopes, put them all in his pouch, leaving out only the pill with the 16% loss. Then he took out a Qi Enlightenment pill with a 13% loss, one of his last attempts and his most successful.

Looking at these two pills, he nodded and set them aside from the rest. During these eight days of refining the new pill, An had pushed his dantian to the 39th cell, or to 39% of its volume, meaning he would soon be able to break through to the fifth layer. His body strength had increased to 42%. Finishing everything, An stood up and gathered everything he needed for the day ahead. Today was lecture day. Because of the dungeon, he had missed several lectures.

Exiting the gate, An headed straight for the Alchemy Hall. Arriving and climbing to the third floor, he walked toward the classroom, but suddenly, his face went pale, and his hands clenched into fists involuntarily. Ahead, walking directly toward him, were two women. It was Es Tsu and Ru Meng.' Are you serious? Why them of all people...' An quickly lowered his head, stepped to the side, pressed himself against the wall, and walked past them. Ru Meng glanced at him and thought he looked familiar.

After they passed each other, she still turned around a few times, throwing a few looks at his back.

"Someone you know?" Es Tsu asked in a neutral tone, not even bothering to look at the boy.

"I don't know. It feels like I've seen him somewhere before." Ru Meng said, turning her head back.

"If you want, I can..." Es Tsu didn't get to finish.

"No, Aunt. Even if we do know each other, he didn't bother to show me any respect, not to mention you..." Ru Meng shook her head. In response, Es Tsu nodded, and they continued on their way. Walking down the corridor, An exhaled and relaxed his fists. Blood had even appeared on his palms from how hard he had been clenching them. Approaching the classroom, An sharply shook his head, throwing the obsessive thoughts out of his mind, and walked inside. Glancing at his usual seat, he noticed it was taken.

Without thinking twice, he walked to the very back of the room, the last row, and sat down there. Laying everything out on his desk, he waited for the lecture to begin. After some time, more people arrived, and as soon as the last disciple sat down, Elder Shoa appeared in the doorway. Scanning the room, his gaze lingered for a few moments on the last row, and the corner of his mouth formed a barely noticeable smile.

Walking to his teacher's desk, Elder Shoa waved his hand, and seven spirit plants flew into the air from his sleeve. An could tell they were only first rank from the energy emanating from them, and from their similarity to plants in his book What Grows Beneath Our Feet.

"Today, I will demonstrate the preparation of the Phoenix Fire pill. It is very useful for cultivators with a dominant Fire Element, helping them break through the layers of Qi Condensation without any problems. Many unofficially consider it second rank... all because of its difficulty, on par with second-rank pills. To prepare it, we will need seven spirit plants, which you see above me, and five catalysts!"

Elder Shoa waved his hand again, and five more spirit plants flew out and organized themselves into a separate group.

"Who among you can name all the ingredients we will be using today?" Elder Shoa began interacting with the disciples. Immediately, most of the disciples raised their hands, even Chen Ho and Xia Ji raised theirs. Sitting in the last row, An simply listened, occasionally writing things down.

Even though he didn't need to use catalysts for his own pill refining, he still knew which ones were used for all the pills he had worked with, since the book A Brief Encyclopedia of Alchemy included catalysts along with the ingredients. The lecture lasted over two hours. During this time, An learned a great deal. His only disappointment was that he couldn't afford the spirit plants needed to make this Phoenix Fire pill.

Each plant required an age of at least fifty years, and even if he sold everything down to his last pair of underwear, he still wouldn't have enough for even one plant.

"The lecture is over for today! You're all dismissed!" Elder Shoa said and sat down at his desk. Like everyone else, An stood up and began packing his things. <" An, stay behind.

"> He heard the voice in his head. Looking at Elder Shoa, he nodded and waited for everyone to leave, then approached his desk. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. As he got closer, he saw that his personal disciples, Chen Ho and Xia Ji, hadn't left and were staring strangely at An.

"Chen, Xia, you may go. I need to speak with disciple An." The elder smiled and looked at his disciples. They nodded, gave An a strange look, and walked toward the exit. Right before leaving, Xia Ji turned around and threw one last, long look at An. Seeing that he wasn't even looking at them, she cracked both her thumbs, ground her teeth, and immediately left before her master could see.

"Sit down." Elder Shoa waved his hand, and a chair appeared next to An. An was a little surprised, looked the chair over, and immediately sat down.

"Fourth layer... on the verge of the fifth. Not bad, An." Elder Shoa nodded, praising An's cultivation speed.

"At this rate, in about six to eight years, you'll be able to form your foundation... Eh, if only my new disciples were as relentless..." Elder Shoa suddenly sighed.

"Relentlessness has nothing to do with it. I was... where I was, there was nothing else to do but cultivate..." An answered, looking away. A dangerous glint suddenly flashed in his eyes. With his cultivation, Elder Shoa saw it without any trouble.

"I was surprised when you missed two lectures in a row. What happened?" Elder Shoa asked with genuine interest.

"Um... I was... I took a mission from the sect to earn more contribution points and got delayed." An decided not to tell the truth, not wanting to drag anyone into his problems.

"Hmm... My advice: only take missions at the last possible moment, you can even wait until the first notification from the Outer Hall itself. That way, you'll have more time to prepare, which means fewer difficulties you might face." Elder Shoa understood that An had lied to him but decided to pretend he believed his words.

"Thank you. Next time, I'll do that." An nodded his head.

"Eh, youth..." The elder exhaled and muttered almost silently.

"Hmm, look at us getting sidetracked! Show me your results from practice!" Elder Shoa immediately wiped the sadness and longing for his old days from his face, grinning widely in anticipation and rubbing his hands together. An was surprised by his directness but ended up taking out two pills. Placing them in front of Elder Shoa, he opened the envelopes.

"This is a Qi Enlightenment pill. I managed to achieve a 13% loss in effectiveness. And this one, my new one, a Golden Body Qi pill, 16% loss. Maybe I could have done better with both, but I think I need to breakthrough to the fifth layer first, only then would I be able to improve them." An pointed at each pill as he spoke about it. Elder Shoa watched with wide eyes, nodding constantly.

"Excellent! Excellent! Both of your pills have crossed the threshold into high quality!" Elder Shoa examined the pills from all sides.

"Wait a moment." The elder looked toward the door. Instantly, a small chest flew in and landed on the table in front of An.

"Open it." Elder Shoa watched his slightly furrowed face with a wide smile. An froze but quickly snapped out of it upon hearing Elder Shoa's words. Reaching for the chest, he opened it. Inside lay an emblem of a cauldron made of green metal, and a pouch like An's, but much neater in appearance. He glanced at Elder Shoa, raising an eyebrow.

"Heh, I decided you don't need to take the test. The fewer traces you leave, the fewer problems you'll have in the future." Shoa Ediso nodded several times, praising himself for his cleverness.

"Thank you, Elder Shoa." An nodded and took the emblem in his hand.

"Activate the emblem with your Qi, and your plaque will automatically update the information." Elder Shoa guided him. An used his Qi, felt the connection with the emblem, and at the same time, a vibration in his pocket. Taking out his plaque, he noticed a new line had appeared under his name: Apprentice of the Alchemy Hall. An smiled. Looking up, he wanted to ask something, but Elder Shoa was faster.

"You now have access to certain privileges that ordinary outer disciples don't have. First, bonuses to your monthly distributions. You'll find out how much later. Second, access to free rooms in the basement... but that'll be useless for you, since the only special feature of those basement rooms is the formations for containing chaotic Qi during ' forming'. Third, the ability to take orders for pill-making in exchange for contribution points.

Now that you're an official Apprentice, you have the right to take all first-rank pill orders." The elder explained everything in detail, trying not to miss anything important. An put his plaque in his pocket and the emblem in his pouch. Glancing at the pouch inside the chest, An looked at Elder Shoa.

"It's a standard gift from the Sect. Better version of the spatial pouch. Take it! Take it!" Elder Shoa encouraged him, waving his hands. An took the new pouch and checked its capacity. Five square meters of volume, much bigger than his old one. He immediately began transferring everything to the new spatial item. After finishing their business, Elder Shoa and An talked about alchemy for three hours. The elder deliberately spent most of their conversation answering An's questions.

When they finished, An stood up, thanked him, and nodded. The elder smiled in return. Walking slowly down to the main hall, at the very base of the stairs stood Xia Ji, arms crossed over her chest, watching An descend, waiting for him to be right in front of her.

"Don't think you're special. These conversations are nothing compared to what Brother Chen and I receive." Xia Ji, frowning, began speaking in an arrogant, slightly threatening tone.

"Don't think that just because my master is paying attention to you now, you'll have his support in the future! Know your place!" Xia Ji raised her chin higher and stomped her heel. After listening to her, he stepped to the side and simply walked around her without saying a single word. As he drew level with her shoulder to shoulder, he felt a faint, barely noticeable killing intent emanating from her. This alarmed An greatly.' Another problem,' a thought flashed through his head.

Xia Ji stood in place, watching An leave, grinding her teeth. She understood that An was a threat to her and her brother Chen Ho. The truth was, she had immediately sensed that her master had taken them not because of their talents, but because of the families behind them. This had hit her and Chen Ho's self-esteem hard. Unlike her, Chen Ho was more restrained and could control himself. But Xia Ji had grown up as a princess in her family. Every whim, every desire of hers had been fulfilled at the snap of a finger.

Realizing she hadn't achieved the result she wanted with An, she demonstratively spat on the floor, muttered something under her breath, and walked off toward the right corridor leading to the basement alchemy rooms. Stepping outside, An headed toward the Kavana tree. He filled almost his entire new pouch. Calculating, this time he had gathered over 1, 000 fruits, counting what he had left. An secured his new pouch, raised his head, and fully examined the tree.

Taking a deep breath, he realized that even to strip it clean, he would need several thousand such pouches, the tree was that enormous. He didn't actually have such a plan, but for some reason, the thought that he couldn't do it filled him with melancholy. Tying the pouch around his waist, An entered the Outer Hall. Scanning the reception windows, he noticed an old acquaintance: Senior Brother Jo.

"Good afternoon, Senior Brother Jo. I would like to turn in my old spatial pouch and some Kavana fruits." An placed his old pouch, inside which he had already put a hundred fruits, on the counter in front of Senior Brother Jo.

"Oh! So many fruits? Where did you get them? Did they fall from the sky onto your head... Hehe." Jo Oju began checking the quality of the fruits, occasionally glancing at An with a smile. An exhaled when he heard the 'falling from the sky' comment but decided to stay silent. Even though he was sure this senior brother knew that the fruits came from the tree growing right by the main doors, An kept quiet.

"Alright, one hundred fruits in excellent quality, one point per fruit. Even though the pouch is a bit worn, we usually take them for forty points in perfect condition. I can give you thirty. Look! Here are scratches, and here it feels like it's about to tear." Jo Oju immediately started bargaining with An, but An just nodded. The difference didn't matter to him. If he ever needed more contribution points, he could always turn in more Kavana fruits.

"Hmm, good. Total, 130 contribution points. Give me your plaque." As soon as An handed him his plaque, Jo Oju's eyes went wide, and he glanced at An. An understood his reaction, simply smiled, and shook his head, as if telling Jo Oju not to say it out loud. Senior Brother Jo immediately understood. He simply took the plaque and immediately handed it back.

"My congratulations, Junior Brother An." Old man Jo said to An almost in a whisper, with a smile.

"Thank you." An smiled and nodded in return.