A Small Show of Skill (1)

After settling the matter of his official title, he headed towards the Alchemy Pavilion. Along the way, he occasionally encountered disciples who hadn't yet reached the Foundation Establishment stage. Seeing him carrying a longsword, they all bowed to him, which felt quite pleasant. Back at the summit of the Alchemy Pavilion, his story with Yan Shu had become the talk of the Alchemy Pavilion. Many people recognized him, and those who hadn't reached the Foundation Establishment Realm addressed him affectionately as "Uncle-Master" upon seeing him with his longsword. Yue Qianchou nodded to them all with a beaming smile, thinking to himself, "It seems Yan Shu is indeed unpopular!"

Speak of the devil, and he appears. Yan Shu was standing at the entrance of the main hall, his face showing a mixture of emotions, as he saw Yan Shu carrying a long sword. Yue Qianchou initially intended to pretend he hadn't seen him and return to his courtyard, but then he remembered his master saying he could freely enter the main hall, and he was also curious to see what the Alchemy Pavilion's main hall looked like. So he walked towards Yan Shu, waving and calling out from afar, "Uncle-Master Yan."

Legend has it that whenever these two meet, there's bound to be a good show, and many disciples are watching, hoping something will happen.

Yan Shu gave a lukewarm "hmm." Yue Qianchou asked, "Is my master inside?"

"Elder Guan is refining pills, you'd better not disturb him," Yan Shu said.

Yue Qianchou waved his hand and said, "No, I'm just going to see him." Without waiting for his agreement, he walked inside.

Yan Shu's cheek muscles twitched, his teeth clenched in hatred, but there was nothing he could do. Elder Guan had personally given the order for him to freely enter and leave the main hall. Originally, it was a good thing that Yue Qianchou had returned to the Alchemy Pavilion, giving him a dangerous task to do, which would eventually kill him. Who knew that Elder Guan, would personally make the arrangements? Yan Shu had no choice but to wait for an opportunity to strike.

The disciples outside the hall were somewhat disappointed when they didn't see what they had imagined happen.

The main hall of the Alchemy Pavilion was quite spacious, but unfortunately, there were hardly any people around. There were two underground entrances on either side of the hall. Yue Qianchou chose one of the entrances and strolled down. Before long, he felt the temperature getting higher and higher. As he walked further, a huge underground space appeared before him. The ground was carved out flat, and people coming and going seemed very busy. There were many caves carved out around the area, with faint red light emanating from them. Clearly, like the secret chamber by the sea, it was a place for alchemy.

"I wonder which secret chamber Master is in?" Yue Qianchou stopped one of his disciples who hadn't yet reached the Foundation Establishment Realm to ask. After the disciple bowed, he told him where Guan Wei Wu was. Yue Qianchou patted him on the shoulder and let him go. It felt so good to be a teacher. He walked towards the largest Alchemy Chamber and, sure enough, found Guan Wei Wu completely absorbed in refining pills.

"Master," Yue Qianchou greeted. Guan Wei Wu turned his head and laughed, "Why did you come here?"

Yue Qianchou said with a sincere expression, "I missed my master terribly after not seeing him for a day, so I came to see him."

Guan Wei Wu stroked his messy beard with satisfaction and said with a smile, "I'm currently testing a batch of pills to restore vital energy. You go play over there for a while, I'll talk to you later." After saying that, he focused his attention back on the Pill Furnace.

"Oh." Yue Qianchou nodded obediently, but felt a little annoyed. His apprentice had come all this way to flatter him, and he was told to go play somewhere else. How rude of him.

Little did he know that Guan Wei Wu had been incredibly kind to him; if it were anyone else disturbing him at this time, they would have been chased away long ago.

Yue Qianchou surveyed the alchemy room. Apart from being a bit large, there was nothing particularly special about it. Tsk tsk, but the huge pile of spiritual herbs in the corner was truly impressive. It was indeed the treatment reserved for the head elder of the Alchemy Pavilion. Having spent so much time in Myriad Fragrance Garden, he was naturally no stranger to spiritual herbs.

He looked around and felt bored. He wanted to go back but was afraid of being impolite. He wanted to say hello but was afraid of upsetting his master. So he just stood aside and stared blankly at the Pill Furnace.

With a loud "bang," Yue Qianchou, who had been lost in thought, was jolted awake. The air was filled with the fragrance of pills, and a group of shadows popped out from the top of the furnace. Guan Wei Wu raised his palm and inhaled, gathering all the pills that had been ejected together. He examined them in his hands, then shook his head and sighed.

Yue Qianchou, who also had some experience in alchemy, couldn't resist going over to see what kind of pill his master was refining.

Counting them carefully, Guan Wei Wu held twenty pills in his hands. Thirteen of them were pure white and lustrous, while the other seven were pitch black and burnt. Yue Qianchou found it strange; how could a single batch of pills produce two different colors? He had never encountered this before when refining Foundation Establishment Pill. He couldn't help but ask, "Master, what kind of pills are you refining?"

Guan Wei Wu looked at Yue Qianchou and was slightly taken aback. He, a disciple of an elder of the Alchemy Pavilion, didn't even know what kind of pill it was. It was truly embarrassing. It was all his fault! He had never taught his disciple anything. Feeling ashamed, he said gently, "We provide Qi Replenishing Pill for those at the Foundation Establishment Realm and above to recover their vital energy. Starting this month, you will also receive one Qi Replenishing Pill every month."

"Damn it, only one pill a month, what kind of energy recovery is that?" Yue Qianchou wasn't interested in it and pointed to the pill in his hand, asking, "Master, why are there black and white pills?"

Guan Wei Wu shook his head and sighed, "The white ones are successful pills, and the black ones are unsuccessful pills. Alas! We've been refining Qi Replenishing Pill for so many years, but unfortunately, the success rate has never been able to be improved, and the failure rate is too high. In a batch of twenty pills, there are bound to be six or seven unsuccessful pills. Qi Replenishing Pill are used in the largest quantities on the entire Fu Xian Island. Such a high failure rate is a heartbreaking waste!" After saying that, he removed the unsuccessful pills from his palm, put away the successful ones, picked out a few spiritual herbs from the corner of the Alchemy Chamber, put them together, threw them into the Pill Furnace, and continued to refine them.

Qi Replenishing Pill? Yue Qianchou, standing to the side, vaguely felt he had seen this name somewhere before, but it seemed impossible to find it anywhere else except on the Pill Formula jade disc. Guan Wei Wu, Yue Qianchou reached into his Storage Bag, grabbed the Pill Formula jade disc, and injected his Divine Sense to examine it.

I had only seen the pill Pill Formula disc, so I figured they must be in here. I entered the third level with my Divine Sense and searched through the many Pill Formula one by one. Sure enough, I found the name "Qi Replenishing Pill". After memorizing the name, appearance, and refining method of the spiritual herb, I withdrew my Divine Sense.

Thinking back to the few spiritual herbs that his master had just picked, they were no different from those in the Qi Replenishing Pill formula he remembered. How could he have produced a bad pill? Could it be that his master's refining method was wrong? He was an experienced pill refiner, so it shouldn't be possible.

In his experience with alchemy, the concept of "waste pills" was not yet present, because he had never encountered it before.

Thinking about this, he felt a strong urge to refine a batch. If he could succeed, it would mean that his master's refining method was indeed problematic, and it would also mean that the refining techniques on the Pill Formula jade disc were truly extraordinary, even surpassing those of the 'Alchemy Fanatic'. What kind of concept was that?

Yue Qianchou felt a surge of excitement and couldn't wait to try it out. Unfortunately, there was no place for him to refine pills here. Hmm! He would ask his master for help later.

Seeing that Guan Wei Wu's batch of pills would take some time to finish, he went to the corner of the pill room and picked out a portion of spiritual herbs for refining Qi Replenishing Pill. Remembering his own numerous failures when refining Foundation Establishment Pill, he decided it was best to prepare a few more. He picked up three more portions, making a total of four, and placed them on the ground. Then, he stood quietly to the side, waiting for his master's batch of pills to be ready before asking for a place to try his luck with pill refining.

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