"Alright, both of you. Take care of yourself until we meet next time." Tang Yun Long said to them before returning to his place. Unlike regular disciples, those in the top ten rankings were given their own courtyards to stay in.
These buildings usually have plenty of conveniences, such as their own kitchen, garden, training square, storage room, and many more. Even if what they needed wasn't there, they could simply request it to be added.
But most importantly, was the richer Spiritual Energy in the surrounding. As the ten accommodations were constructed for their comfort, an Energy Gathering Formation Array was set up here to make it more livable.
They could hardly be any disturbance here, which was all the disciples could ask for because it allowed them to enter seclusion at any time.
The place was also assigned to regular disciples to maintain. As long as necessary, the assisting disciples would be here to handle the matter with food, cleanliness, purchase, delivery, and safety. As a matter of fact, the reward for working here is much better than other assignments available in the Mission Hall.
"Where are you going next, junior brother?" Qin Lei asked after Tang Yun Long left their sight. From what he knew, Chen Tu's timetable was very consistent, and it should be about time to tend the Crimson-Tailed Pheasants.
"I'll visit my private land before returning to the room, senior brother." Chen Tu replied. His reply was exactly as how Qin Lei guessed.
"Alright. In that case, I'll leave first. Try to not work yourself too late and rest early. I'll be seeing you tomorrow." Qin Lei patted Chen Tu's shoulder before leaving. Neither of them had any reason to walk with the other to some destination.
Plus, they're currently at the crossroad leading to multiple places.
After seeing Qin Lei gone from his side, Chen Tu went to his private land to check the pheasants. Except for a few additions to the family of chicks, there's nothing much that requires his concern. And without wasting his time, Chen Tu simply ensured the food and water were well provided before leaving.
There is nothing else to worry about. Based on the Crimson-Tailed Pheasant's nature, they wouldn't simply leave the nest unless a predator that threatened their safety existed.
On his way home, Chen Tu noticed that the number of disciples was lesser than usual. Even the crowd that usually accommodated the building's square was less than expected.
(How come there are fewer people around? Did something happen?)
Chen Tu was puzzled but ignored it afterward and returned to his room. His daily life was a repeat of yesterday. Once every few days, they would be called to the elder's workshop to help. But other than that, he was allowed to do whatever he liked.
Without noticing, Chen Tu had been here for a month.
Thinking back on what happened so far was quite entertaining to Chen Tu. But in between, there are a few regrets here and there. One of them was naturally for having too many things on his plate.
Over this week or so, Chen Tu was so busy with alchemy, reading, and other matters, leaving his cultivation stagnating where it was after his advancement. He doesn't even have time to meditate in between to refine the Sun's Essence and Moon's Essence.
Simply to say, he overworked himself.
Although he could compensate for these by consuming the Spiritual Replenishing Pills rewarded by the elder, it wasn't advisable, thanks to the exorbitant cost.
His only option was to amass a number of the pills by exchanging them with Contribution Tokens, but wouldn't that go against his motive in the first place? This method would quickly overwhelm him in the long run unless he came up with an alternative.
Thinking of this made Chen Tu more motivated to start refining some entry-level pills to be exchanged for money and cultivating resources. After all, he already had the Pill Formulas in hand. All he needed was to buy the ingredients and get things started.
Coincidentally, today was the resources distribution day for the disciples. And without further ado, Chen Tu decided to skip a day of work and headed to the Grotto's Main Building to collect his portion of cultivating resources.
A big part of the resources was prepacked, and only a few things had to be arranged on the spot, such as determining their cultivation level for additional provision.
"Your disciple token." the staff asked when it was Chen Tu's turn. And without hesitation, Chen Tu handed his proof of identity to the worker and waited. After ensuring that he's a proper third-level Body Tempering Cultivator, the disciple token was returned to him, along with a small bag.
This indicates that the process was done.
After nodding to the worker, Chen Tu left the building. He only opened the bag after walking for half a kilometer or so.
(Wow! The grotto is quite generous! I couldn't believe we were given three sets of the four entry-level pills and three Spiritual Replenishing Pills. Furthermore, there's a disciple salary of thirty Spiritual Coins and few expandable amenities...)
He was surprised. If he stayed as a servant of the Chen Family, perhaps he would receive nothing but a beating from other bullies.
Obviously, Chen Tu had more confidence in visiting the Worldly Treasures Pavilion with these assets. But it appeared that he wasn't the only one with this thought. There are over a thousand disciples already queuing at the entrance to enter the pavilion.
After all, he wasn't the only one who suddenly had spare money and resources. At the same time, who wouldn't want to see what new resources are available today? This was a once-a-month shopping day!
When it was Chen Tu's turn to enter the pavilion, he finally understood that he had underestimated the sheer scale of people in this Outer Grotto. It was packed, with even the space outside the pavilion used by the ground-level vendors to peddle their merchandise.
This whole place was a mess, with over a thousand booths and a similar number of disciples trading their goods. But needless to say, there are more items for sale today, and the collection was also quite complete.
(Perhaps... I could collect enough ingredients to refine something from my four entry-level recipes?)
From looking at the disciple's expression, something like this was the norm to them. At least, this is how it appeared to be for Chen Tu.At the same time, the deal is likely driven by the collective power of Worldly Treasures Pavilion and Blood Refining Grotto.After all, who wouldn't take this opportunity to earn back the money inside the disciple's pocket? Even if they don't, the others and outsiders would. And by looking at a different perspective, wasn't this within their calculation?On one side, the grotto was distributing the salary, while on another, the Worldly Treasures Pavilion was earning them back by organizing monthly sales. Through this cycle, they could restrict the money and resources from flowing out of the Blood Refining Grotto.Regardless of opinion, Chen Tu's only concern is collecting enough material for the Pill Formula in his hand. As he was still too insignificant in the eyes of upper-level experts, it was pointless for him to worry.After studying the market
"Wh - Wha - What happened?" Chen Tu removed the rice crispies by using the scooping tool provided. Everything was happening too quickly and ended before he could react. "How can the ingredient burn that quickly? I didn't purchase the fake product, I hope!" Chen Tu's heart was in pain for wasting the portion of Five-Colored Spiritual Grains. Although it only cost him half a Spiritual Coin for that portion, it was still a lot to Chen Tu. The mistake also causes a hint of anxiety inside Chen Tu's mind. Of course, the effect was insignificant for now... But there's no guarantee that it wouldn't worsen from accumulation. Still, the failure in his first tryst made Chen Tu give his ingredients and the Pill Formula another check. And after he adjusted the flame slightly, Chen Tu began with the second attempt. Even after being careful, the Five-Colored Spiritual Grains lasted just fifteen seconds before they exploded into another pot of rice crispies. This result would be amazing if Chen Tu
"Let's compare the Grain Pellets I've refined with those included inside the monthly resources bag. This way, it would enable me to identify the difference." Chen Tu came up with a smart idea. Because this was his first time refining a pill, he was clueless about what to do next.In his case, there's nothing better than comparing his product with those available inside his resources bag. After all, those Grain Pellets had to pass a certain threshold in quality before distributing them to the disciples.The six Grain Pellets were separated into two even sides. The one on the left is his product, and those on the right are from the grotto. Appearance-wise, there's really nothing much to nitpick about.As for the size and smell, the one supplied by the grotto was slightly better than his own. But such disparity was normal, considering this is Chen Tu's first successful batch. Furthermore, the quality of a pill is greatly affected by the alchemist who refined them.With sufficient practic
Chen Tu felt his blood boil slightly from surrounded by all these disciples. Although their attention wasn't directed at him, their concentration was somewhat contagious, especially to someone with a keen sense like Chen Tu. Furthermore, being capable of reading normally now allowed Chen Tu to understand the Supply Office's operation and overall structure. As a faction with three cities and more than twenty town-level settlements affiliated to them, the Blood Refining Grotto had responsibility over the commoners concerning their safety, protection, and interest. This means there would be over a thousand types of requests posted on the Assignment Board for the disciples to participate in. There are all kinds of assignments available, ranging from the smallest reward of a few Spiritual Replenishing Pills to some that pay hundreds. Obviously, the Blood Refining Grotto supported this practice. But a stable flow of manpower was necessary to keep the operation ongoing. Hence, nothing wa
The story had to be reversed back to yesterday night. It was right after Chen Tu discovered something odd about the Five-Colored Spiritual Grains. (Did nobody notice something like this before?) Chen Tu asked himself. Thanks to the heightened Spiritual Sense after half a cycle of the Sun and Moon Condensation Art, he could observe the Spiritual Energy hovering around the grains. And through this discovery, Chen Tu noticed that out of the thousand or so grains in that portion, a small number of them are no longer "alive." Of course, when this [living] concept was applied to these seedlings, they were no longer capable of sprouting. Although the existence wouldn't cause further damage to the final product, there's always an "if" moment applied. This discovery gave Chen Tu a creative idea. Since the first part of the Pill Formula was to remove the impurity from the Five-Colored Spiritual Grains, does that means it was actually a process of removing these dead grains? To confirm his
The verdict stunned Chen Tu. To Chen Tu, nothing hits him harder than being told there are no Two-Star Pills found in the seventy Grain Pellets. And with this result in hand, doesn't that equivalent to telling him that the modified recipe doesn't work as intended? But at the same time, there's no doubt that his newer recipe had a greater yield and higher success rate. The only regrettable part concerning this recipe is the questionable medicinal potency of the concoction. It might be safe to assume that the mixture was too diluted to achieve a greater yield. Thus, the end product ended up slightly meeting the minimal requirement of a standard pill. Although this concern could be handled with enough patience, there's no shortcut for Chen Tu to use here. In Alchemy, a shortcut is akin to a double-edged sword. You could uncover the essence or go astray from your primary intention. Hence, it was also why such a thought was considered taboo in this profession. It also wasn't a secret
"Is there something bothering you?" Qin Lei asked during their dinner. As someone older than Chen Tu by a few years, he naturally sensed something in Chen Tu's head. He had no reason to dig into his matters unless Chen Tu was willing. Anyway, there's a limit to being helpful to his junior. Furthermore, he hates guessing. If there's something he wanted to know, he would simply ask. "It is something related to pill refinement. I am thinking about asking the teacher the next time we're called to help." Chen Tu politely replied and brushed over the topic. Although there's nothing wrong with sharing things with Qin Lei, Chen Tu feels it was slightly irrelevant to share this with Qin Lei. As a matter of fact, there's a reason for this. While sharing what he experienced over these two days with Qin Lei wouldn't hurt him, Chen Tu felt that he shouldn't bother Qin Lei too much concerning Alchemy. After all, the latter did share with Chen Tu that the study in Alchemy wasn't his priority. T
(What a joke!) Chen Tu's refusal was like a slap to the owner's face. Even if he could afford it, why would he spend the money on buying a piece of rock that had no specific uses? Of course, it could have been different if the owner had been sure about the content inside the stone. But obviously, he doesn't. If he did, perhaps the price of whatever was inside could be worth more than five mere Spiritual Coins. Since he couldn't deliver some trustworthiness in his words, who would be willing to pay his asking price? Even in the eyes of passersby, this thing here was simply a useless rock. Chen Tu's expression remained firm and collected. Although the stall owner only asked for five Spiritual Coins, wouldn't Chen Tu have a better place to spend his money? For example... Buying five more sets of ingredients to refine the Grain Pellets? Of course, it would be great if there was really [True Essence Obsidian Ink] inside the stone. Otherwise, he would have wasted the money for nothi