Short of Money

Jiang Donghua let out a long breath and slowly withdrew his battle qi.

The flames in the medicine cauldron died out, leaving only a wisp of blue smoke curling upward.

Mo Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, a rare trace of approval appearing on his face.

"Not bad. For your first time controlling flames, you managed to keep them stable for a quarter of an hour. Your soul control is indeed far stronger than those mediocrities."

With a sweep of his sleeve, three yellowed prescriptions appeared out of thin air, floating in a row before Jiang Donghua.

"Now that you've passed the basics of flame control, choose the simplest healing medicine and begin practicing."

Mo Xuan spoke calmly.

"Which of these three do you want to learn?"

Jiang Donghua looked closely and saw that the three prescriptions read:

Blood-Stopping Powder—Treats superficial cuts and flesh wounds. Slow to take effect, but reliable.

Muscle-Regenerating Paste—Treats moderately deep injuries. Its medicinal effects are intensely burning and require endurance.

Bone-Mending Pill—Though it is the lowest-grade pill, it can reconnect broken bones and tendons. Extremely difficult to refine.

"What's the difference between these three...?"

Jiang Donghua asked cautiously.

Mo Xuan sneered.

"What difference could there be?"

"They're all the lowest-grade healing medicines. The only difference is their effects."

He raised a hand and pointed.

"The first is for mercenaries, for treating scrapes and cuts. The second is commonly kept by outer academy students of Jia Nan Academy, and can treat wounds from blades and swords. The third..."

He paused meaningfully.

"Though it is the lowest grade, it has already entered the realm of pills. Its refinement difficulty is several times that of the first two."

"Of course, its effects are also the best."

A trace of amusement flashed through Mo Xuan's eyes.

"It reconnects broken bones and nourishes the meridians. It is a genuine First-grade Pill."

Jiang Donghua's gaze shifted between the three prescriptions.

Reason told him to choose the easiest Blood-Stopping Powder, but a voice deep in his heart kept clamoring.

If I'm going to learn, why not challenge the hardest one?

I've got the AFK system. What the hell am I afraid of?

After considering it, Jiang Donghua made his choice directly.

"I choose the Bone-Mending Pill."

Mo Xuan raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

He looked Jiang Donghua up and down, then suddenly burst into laughter.

"Interesting!"

"A little fellow from a Yellow-tier class actually dares to challenge pill refinement right from the start?"

Mo Xuan fell silent for a moment before turning and walking toward the medicine cabinet.

His rough fingers moved through the compartments as he took out ten neatly arranged portions of Medicinal Herbs, each carefully wrapped in oiled paper.

"Take them."

Mo Xuan piled the herbs before Jiang Donghua. The greenish-brown paper packets gave off a faint medicinal fragrance.

"Materials for ten batches of Bone-Mending Pills."

Jiang Donghua was about to thank him when Mo Xuan continued.

"If you fail them all, you'll have to pay for the subsequent materials yourself."

His voice was as calm as if they were discussing the weather.

"Since you've chosen this path, I won't say anything more."

Mo Xuan turned and walked toward the alchemy room, his gray-white hair glinting coldly in the candlelight.

"But remember, if by this time next year—after a whole year—you still can't refine a finished pill..."

He paused and pushed open the heavy stone door.

"Then don't blame me for personally kicking you out of the Alchemy Department."

The sound of the stone door opening startled several apprentices nearby who were sorting medicinal herbs.

They whispered among themselves, occasionally casting looks of either pity or mockery his way.

"Did you hear? Another hardheaded one choosing the Bone-Mending Pill."

"That Senior Brother Liu from last year burned through several hundred portions of materials before he successfully made a pill..."

"Shh, keep it down!"

"But this kid probably doesn't know how many people get stuck on First-grade Pills for two or three years. Some people don't mind spending several years as alchemy apprentices!"

Jiang Donghua slowly poured his soul perception into the jade slip containing the prescription. At once, a wondrous stream of information flooded into his mind like a tide.

"This feeling..."

He could not help holding his breath.

The complex herb ratios, the flame control precise down to the slightest fraction, the mutually reinforcing and conflicting properties of various herbs—all of it appeared with startling clarity deep within his consciousness, as if someone had imprinted a lifetime of alchemy experience into his memories without holding anything back.

"A First-grade prescription is already this profound. No wonder alchemists are so rare and valuable."

Jiang Donghua opened his eyes and swept his gaze across the mottled walls of the alchemy room.

In the corner, several shifty-eyed apprentices pretended to organize medicinal herbs, but their eyes kept flicking in his direction.

One tall, skinny fellow deliberately knocked medicine jars together with loud clinks, while another let out strange, mocking snickers from time to time.

"Heh, looks like if I refine pills here, I'll have to guard against people tripping me up."

Without drawing attention to himself, he pulled the herbs closer.

These guys did not dare cause trouble openly, but if they accidentally knocked over one or two main ingredients, or unintentionally switched the order of the herbs...

"I need to think of something..."

Jiang Donghua suddenly thought of Instructor Yan Feng's booming voice.

As the only student from Yellow-tier Class 266 to enter the Alchemy Department, Old Yan would probably value him, his sole seedling, quite highly, right?

"An investment in the future."

The moment Jiang Donghua stepped out of the Alchemy Department's gates, someone suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Donghua!"

Lin Xiuyuan's eyes were bloodshot, and even his voice trembled slightly.

"You... you didn't get rejected, did you?"

Before Jiang Donghua could react, Lin Xiuyuan had already looked him over from head to toe.

The bloodshot veins in the guy's eyes were plain to see. He had clearly been waiting outside for a long time.

"Look at this."

Jiang Donghua shook the packet of herbs in his hand, making the oiled paper rustle.

Lin Xiuyuan froze at first, then stared fixedly at those herbs, his Adam's apple bobbing several times.

Suddenly, he slammed a fist into the stone pillar beside him.

"Fuck! Why do I have no affinity for this?!"

There was a choked note in his voice.

"I'm so fucking jealous of you!"

"Xiuyuan..."

"Don't comfort me!"

Lin Xiuyuan abruptly turned around, his shoulders trembling faintly.

"I'm just... I just can't accept it..."

His voice grew quieter and quieter.

"We clearly entered the academy together."

Jiang Donghua stood silently behind him, looking at this guy who was usually always grinning and joking. Now, even his back radiated loneliness.

Among those hundreds of new students, aside from losing to Jiang Donghua, when had Lin Xiuyuan ever feared anyone else?

But now, they were destined to be left far behind.

The shadow cast by the Alchemy Department gates happened to envelop Lin Xiuyuan.

After a long while, Lin Xiuyuan suddenly turned around and threw an arm around Jiang Donghua's shoulders, gripping him hard enough to hurt.

"Let's go!"

He forced out a smile, though his voice still carried a nasal tone.

"You have to treat me today! I'm eating the most expensive demonic beast meat!"

Jiang Donghua staggered from being dragged along, but he smiled as well.

"Sure, but wipe your tears first."

"Fuck off! Who cried?!"

Lin Xiuyuan viciously wiped his face.

"The wind did that!"

At the Jia Nan Academy cafeteria, Lin Xiuyuan took a savage bite of the golden-roasted Ice Snake Meat. Grease ran down the corner of his mouth, but he did not even bother wiping it away. Then he suddenly set down his chopsticks and began counting on his fingers.

"A First-grade Pill, the Bone-Mending Pill, right?"

"I heard the cost of ruining just one batch is over a thousand gold coins!"

He bent down his first finger.

"Look at what's inside those oiled paper packets."

"Water-element Demonic Core. Its market price starts at four hundred gold coins."

His second finger folded down.

"Moonlight Grass. It has to be gathered at night. One stalk costs eighty gold coins."

His third finger.

"Azure Spirit Bone Powder? That stuff is made by calcining the vertebrae of First-tier Demonic Beasts. One pinch costs two hundred gold coins!"

His fourth finger stabbed heavily into the tabletop.

The snake meat Jiang Donghua had just picked up plopped back into his bowl.

Staring at Lin Xiuyuan's five greasy fingers, he suddenly found even the meat in his bowl had lost its appeal.

"The worst part is the medicine cauldron!"

Lin Xiuyuan swallowed the last bite of snake meat whole and lowered his voice.

"Even the cheapest first-tier medicine cauldron costs a hundred thousand gold coins!"

"You can't possibly practice with the Alchemy Department's public medicine cauldrons, can you?"

"If those Senior Brothers casually tamper with them, that won't be a pleasant matter."