Xu's Pill Shop

"An assessment, then."

"Very well, please follow me."

With the agreement reached, the young master in splendid robes did not pester him further. Wang Yu, however, grew even more curious.

"How long have you been following Steward Xu, Senior? And how should I address you?"

"This old man's surname is Zhu. You may call me Old Zhu.

"As for following Steward Xu, it has only been these past few days. Xu's Pill Shop has opened, and this old man has a modest reputation among shopkeepers. I was invited to manage the pill shop on their behalf."

"I see."

Every trade had its own circles. Being glib of tongue was also a talent, so a circle of shopkeepers was perfectly normal. Still, asking someone else to manage the shop was probably somewhat inappropriate.

Old Zhu led Wang Yu into the rear courtyard and pointed at a room. "Inside is a First-Tier Earth Fire Room. The medicinal ingredients have all been prepared. This old man will wait at the door while you refine pills, little brother."

"Sounds good."

Wang Yu was brimming with confidence, so he naturally feared no mere assessment. After another two months, not only had both basic alchemy recipes been raised to the Perfection Realm.

[Placement Slot 2: Cold Dragon Alchemy (Incomplete Method)]

Cold Dragon Alchemy (35/100): Twelve refinements per day; mastery can be achieved in eight months.

Having reached this stage in alchemy, he could be considered moderately accomplished. Paired with alchemy recipes he had fully comprehended, there was no reason for failure.

Thus, despite it being his first time putting it into practice, he felt exceptionally practiced.

Pill refining was divided into four steps.

Extraction, fusion, pill condensation, and pill nurturing!

So-called extraction was also the most widely known step: removing impurities and extracting the essence.

These impurities were often misunderstood to be toxic or harmful substances, but that was not the case. Spirit herbs mostly gathered the essence of heaven and earth, blessed by spiritual beauty, and contained almost no impurities. They were the purest spiritual substances.

Extraction meant following the alchemy recipe to remove portions of medicinal properties that did not meet the requirements, eliminating the earthy stench as well as the effects Earth Qi had produced during the growth of certain roots and fibers.

Different growing environments required different parts to be removed. This, too, was a field of study.

Other than the medicinal properties required by the alchemy recipe, everything else was impurity.

That was extraction!

The second step, fusion, was just as its name implied: merging the medicinal properties of multiple spirit herbs. This required profound knowledge of pharmacology and a thorough understanding of the principles and sequence behind an alchemy recipe's combinations. One wrong step would increase the difficulty of forming the pill.

Medicinal properties, pharmacology, and methods for processing medicinal ingredients were enough to take an ordinary person twenty or thirty years to learn. Fire-control incantations also played a crucial role in this step and were the core of the Fire Refining Method.

The third step, pill condensation, primarily used the Pill Condensation Seal to gather the medicinal liquid into Pills. This step placed greater emphasis on technique and cultivation, requiring Divine Sense for control and spiritual power for blending.

Therefore, the young master's doubts about Wang Yu had not been unreasonable. The cultivation he displayed was only Qi Refining Third Layer. His Divine Sense could not even leave his body—how could he speak of controlling the details of pill refinement?

The fourth step, pill nurturing, came after successful pill condensation. One still needed to refine the pills slowly over a gentle fire, allowing the medicinal properties to become wholly unified under the blending of spiritual power. Only then could it be considered a success.

If hidden dangers were left behind in the earlier steps, the pills would develop cracks or their medicinal properties would clash and transform into useless pills. The key was order amid slowness, and speed amid steadiness!

Refining a batch of Fasting Pills took only a quarter of an hour—half an hour.

They were refined with Five Essence Grass and Spirit Grain as the main ingredients, supplemented by ordinary first-tier spiritual materials such as Spirit Spring Water, Undecaying Root, Long Fragrance Fruit, and Honey Liquid.

Before it refined a Cold Dragon Pill and condensed a "Cold Flame Fire Seed," Cold Dragon Alchemy was merely an ordinary alchemy art, with nothing exceptional about it.

Thus, Wang Yu's refinement was equally ordinary.

Half an hour later, a batch of Fasting Pills was complete. Five pills had formed, all of medium grade. His fire-control technique was not yet refined enough, affecting the pill formation rate.

In truth, a thorough understanding of an alchemy recipe could improve a pill's quality.

Of course, the depth of one's alchemy arts would also affect pill quality and the pill formation rate. It was comprehensive.

In short, Wang Yu's mind had learned it, but his hands lagged behind. This would gradually change as his alchemy skills improved. The second batch was Spirit Recovery Pills.

It succeeded without a ripple. Six pills formed: two high-grade and four medium-grade. The results were somewhat better.

Looking at the two bottles of spirit pills in his hands, Wang Yu held back one Fasting Pill and two high-grade Spirit Recovery Pills, handing over only four of each.

A reasonable round of fire-loss deductions—otherwise, how was he supposed to get rich?

Even so, when he pushed open the door and presented the pills for Old Zhu to inspect, he still received effusive praise.

"Fine technique. Refining high-grade spirit pills in the future is not impossible.

"This is Xu's Pill Shop's employment contract, certified by the sect. If you agree, you may sign it directly."

Wang Yu took it and examined it. He was immediately startled by an Alchemist's earnings. As expected of a rare production profession, it could make serious money.

Xu's Pill Shop offered two hundred Spirit Stones a month. It seemed little, but Wang Yu had worked at Tantai Medicine Garden for half a year and earned only two hundred Contribution Points. Though the latter were more precious, this was a month's income. In half a year, that would be twelve hundred Spirit Stones—a high salary indeed.

That was enough to buy two High-Grade Cold Blood Pills.

There were also requirements for pill refinement: ten batches per day, split evenly between Fasting Pills and Spirit Recovery Pills. The rate of low-grade pills could not exceed twenty percent, and each batch had to yield no fewer than three pills.

Two and a half hours of refining, plus the time needed for recovery in between, meant working around five hours every day, nearly taking up the entire daylight period.

Once he calculated it, a sudden sense of being squeezed dry arose.

After pondering for a moment, Wang Yu said, "Old Zhu, there is no problem with this contract, but its duration needs to be changed to one year. Ten years is too long."

"That can be discussed."

With a smiling face, Old Zhu invited Wang Yu into the Reception Hall to the side and spoke concisely.

"The pill shop needs to make money, but it will also give you some alchemy recipes for free. In other words, it has the duty of training you. Alchemist Xu will give you occasional guidance, saving you who knows how much time."

Wang Yu still shook his head.

"Ten years is too long. I will only sign for one year."

"Eight years."

"One year."

"Six years."

"One year."

Seeing that Wang Yu would not budge in the slightest, Old Zhu said again.

"Offering high pay means valuing long-term returns. The pill shop makes no profit in this regard; it even loses money training you.

"If you want to shorten the term, your monthly earnings must also be reduced."

Those familiar lines nearly triggered Wang Yu. He took a deep breath before asking.

"By how much?"

"One hundred."

"Farewell!"

Wang Yu yielded neither to soft nor hard tactics, wearing an expression that said he would simply leave. Old Zhu gritted his teeth. "Fine, fine, fine. One year it is. Your compensation will not be reduced, but you will not receive the pill shop's training."

"That works."

After the contract terms were revised, Wang Yu checked them again and again before signing and pressing his fingerprint. There were three copies: one for him, one for the pill shop, and one for the sect's Law Enforcement Hall.

By working at Xu's Pill Shop, he could save enough Spirit Stones to buy a High-Grade Cold Blood Pill in at most one month. Then he would no longer need to worry about his cultivation improving too slowly.

"Pleasant cooperation."

"Pleasant cooperation."

After bidding farewell, Wang Yu returned to the Ordinary Disciple Cave. In another year or so, his strength would undergo a transformation. On the other hand, he could also consider buying a Magical Artifact.