"Pill furnace!"
The smile on Wang Yugang's face gradually stiffened. With a stern expression, he asked coldly, "Could it be that Junior Brother is unwilling to part with it?"
"You misunderstand, Senior Brother."
Lin Chang'an's smile was somewhat forced. "The pill furnace Elder Lu bestowed upon me—what ability would I have to keep it safe within the sect?"
Wang Yugang looked at him suspiciously, but Lin Chang'an could only smile bitterly. In the end, Wang Yugang withdrew his gaze, his face gaining a few more traces of coldness.
"Fellow Daoist Lin, while Bigu Pills are easy to refine, the demand is so great that it delays one's cultivation."
Someone had beaten him to the pill furnace first, and the short Wang Yugang was still somewhat unwilling to let it go. His greedy eyes stared meaningfully at Lin Chang'an's storage pouch.
How could Lin Chang'an fail to see it? He hesitated for a moment. "Senior Brother, I still have two Spirit Stones here."
Good heavens. Upon hearing this, Wang Yugang's face turned livid, and blazing fury rose in his eyes. How could he not know that the fat meat he had set his sights on had recently earned a sum of Spirit Stones?
Seeing Lin Chang'an clutching every last hair, Wang Yugang sneered without warmth, "Junior Brother Lin, refine your pills properly. The sect's tasks are rather heavy."
He wanted to pat Lin Chang'an on the shoulder, only to find that he could not reach it. After giving him a deeply mocking look, Wang Yugang chose to leave.
Only after Wang Yugang had left did Alchemist Li, who had been hiding in the distance, approach with a bitter smile. He gently patted Lin Chang'an's shoulder in consolation.
"Fellow Daoist Lin, you'll get used to it." As he spoke, Alchemist Li cautiously pointed toward the innermost Pill Room, which was protected by an array.
"Our chief alchemist's beloved concubine is Alchemist Wang's elder sister."
With that one sentence, Lin Chang'an understood. He then revealed a bitter smile. "Senior Brother, then what about mine—"
"Spend money to ward off disaster."
Watching Senior Brother Li's retreating back, Lin Chang'an wore a vexed expression. Yet the instant he turned around, the corners of his mouth slowly curled up, and a sharp glint flashed through his eyes.
"The Spirit Gathering Array restores spiritual power!"
Looking at the stone room protected by an array before him, Lin Chang'an took the issued token and entered his own room.
Inside the cramped room, Lin Chang'an secretly let out a sigh of relief as he watched the stone door close, then sat cross-legged on the bed.
"Elder Lu, this is the cultivation art you asked me to cultivate."
A cold smile curled across his lips as Lin Chang'an chose to cultivate the Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art Elder Lu had given him.
Aside from its beauty-preserving effects, the Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art was actually a body-tempering cultivation art.
"Use yin energy to temper the body... and the key to reversing yin and yang lies in this section of the mental art for blending yin energy."
The method of cultivating this art echoed in his mind. After frowning, Lin Chang'an directly chose to abandon the most crucial section concerning the blending of yin energy.
After circulating the art, the spiritual energy he absorbed transformed into spiritual power with a restless sensation. The next moment, a milky-white spiritual light emerged from his sea of consciousness and coursed through his entire body, soothing that restless spiritual power.
Having abandoned the key fusion mental art, the Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art circulated gently and nourished his body. Feeling the changes within himself, Lin Chang'an could not help but let out a long breath.
"Without the mental art for blending yin energy, yin and yang will not reverse even after this art reaches great completion. Only then can this cultivation art become a trump card."
A trace of joy appeared in Lin Chang'an's eyes. He no longer had to fear becoming some yin-yang freak, and he could also conceal his strength. After all, the Heavenly Eye Technique judged one's cultivation level by observing a cultivator's spiritual power.
Six hours later.
"Alchemist Lin, this is your quota for today."
When Lin Chang'an, who had come to take over the shift, saw that the number of pills he needed to refine had suddenly increased so much, his expression immediately darkened. Beside him, the exhausted Alchemist Li patted his shoulder.
"Sometimes, taking a step back and spending money to ward off disaster is also for the sake of living better."
Alchemist Li said no more, merely offering a reminder as a colleague. Just then, a figure passed by outside the door, and he hurriedly lowered his head and dragged his exhausted body outside.
"Greetings, Senior Brother."
"Mm."
Alchemist Li's respectful voice came from outside the door, accompanied by Wang Yugang's short figure.
Wang Yugang had deliberately passed by, while Lin Chang'an inside the room lowered his head to look at the greatly increased number of Bigu Pills.
"Hmph!"
A cold snort came from outside. Seeing the scene within the Pill Room, Wang Yugang's face turned livid. "Kid, I'd like to see just how hard your bones are."
As the door shut, Lin Chang'an, standing before the pill furnace, curled his lips. "I don't know whether my bones are hard, but I do know that without this, where would the opportunity come from?"
Others would likely get nothing but a headache upon seeing so many pellets needing to be refined, but when he saw them, his heart was filled only with delight.
Flames flickered within the pill furnace, while the Spirit Stones embedded in its walls shone with specks of spiritual light. Lin Chang'an feigned exhaustion as he stared fixedly at the pills being tempered in the fire, but his palm secretly and greedily absorbed the Spirit Stones' energy.
For several days in a row, Lin Chang'an's quota of refined Bigu Pills was nearly half again as much as everyone else's. Just as Wang Yugang waited with a cold smile for him to come and bow his head, Lin Chang'an indeed paid a visit—but not to his door.
With bloodshot eyes, Lin Chang'an respectfully saluted. "Greetings, Senior Brother Zhang Qing."
Zhang Qing was not surprised by Lin Chang'an's visit. As Elder Lu's confidant responsible for handling affairs, how could he not know who among the lower ranks had been targeting whom lately?
"So it is Junior Brother Lin. Have you grown accustomed to things these past few days?"
Zhang Qing clearly understood yet pretended otherwise, wearing a casual smile. Lin Chang'an also forced a smile and clasped his hands. "Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother."
There was not the slightest anger visible on his face. Instead, beneath his smiling expression, he lightly flicked a finger. A spark of spiritual light flashed from his storage pouch, and a pill furnace appeared before him, spinning round and round.
"Senior Brother."
Lin Chang'an now wore a fawning smile. "Recently, Junior Brother has felt that he is nearing a bottleneck, but I have not had much time to cultivate."
Hearing this, Zhang Qing could not help but smile bitterly and sigh. "Junior Brother, it is not that Senior Brother is unwilling to help you. There are so many people in the sect, and even Elder Lu works tirelessly every day."
Although the Low-grade Artifact Cauldron before him was good and stirred his interest somewhat, it was not enough to make him lose his head.
But upon hearing this, Lin Chang'an repeatedly waved his hands with a smile. "Senior Brother, you misunderstand. It is simply that Junior Brother has no use for this while refining pills in the sect."
Pointing at the pill furnace before him, Lin Chang'an smiled broadly. Why use his own pill furnace when the sect provided them for free? Who would cover the consumed Spirit Stones?
"Junior Brother wishes to trouble Senior Brother to help exchange it for a few cultivation pills."
When he heard that Lin Chang'an wanted to exchange the pill furnace for pills, Zhang Qing could not help but relax. With a smile, he said, "Junior Brother, you also know that because of the Purple Copper Mine recently, countless cultivators have flooded into the Market, and pill prices have all risen greatly."
"Junior Brother understands."
Cursing inwardly at him for raising prices on the spot, Lin Chang'an nevertheless revealed a determined expression. He directly clasped his hands and said, "Senior Brother, Junior Brother wishes to exchange the pill furnace bestowed by Elder Lu for several Blood Spirit Pills!"
"Blood Spirit Pills!" Upon hearing this, Zhang Qing's expression immediately changed as he stared at Lin Chang'an in shock.
Ahem, ahem. If you have any opinions about this book, feel free to mention them in the comments.
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