Be Prepared for Danger in Times of Peace

Medicine Hall's Prescription Courtyard.

Yang Chan had delivered medicine before, but he had never entered the inner courtyard.

Security within the inner courtyard was extremely tight. Rows of disciples stood guard around the Prescription Hall, for it stored most of Qingyuan Sect's medicinal ingredients.

The various medicinal packets needed by the entire Qingyuan Sect all came from the Prescription Courtyard, where Pharmacists prepared them.

Pharmacists combined medicinal ingredients according to their properties, medicinal aura, and other qualities, bringing out the best effects while avoiding clashes between their effects. Thus, Pharmacists held relatively high status within Qingyuan Sect.

The Pharmacists of Qingyuan Sect were divided into three ranks: Junior, Intermediate, and Senior.

Xu Gaocen was an Intermediate Alchemist. Yang Chan had learned this later through inquiries.

The ranking of Pharmacists was simple. A Junior Alchemist could prepare the medicines needed by Formal Disciples, including medicines such as Qi Replenishing Body Nourishing Soup.

An Intermediate Alchemist could prepare medicines needed for external refinement and could also refine some basic pills.

A Senior Alchemist could refine advanced pills needed by internal refinement experts. Their medical skills, medicine preparation, and other abilities were all exceptionally outstanding, and reaching such a level was extremely difficult.

What Yang Chan knew was only the bare surface. The people he asked did not know the specifics either, but it was enough for Yang Chan to see the path ahead for a Pharmacist.

In the whole of Qingyuan Sect, there were only two Senior Alchemists and ten Intermediate Alchemists. Xu Gaocen was one of them. Yang Chan had simply been lucky: Xu Gaocen's former Alchemist Assistant had happened to leave, opening up a vacancy.

Otherwise, they would generally only recruit Alchemist Assistants for Junior Alchemists.

While making inquiries, Yang Chan also heard people mention him. They did not say his name, only that during the Medicine Hall assessment, Pharmacist Xu Gaocen had taken on a new Alchemist Assistant, leaving several people who had wanted to become Xu Gaocen's assistant greatly disappointed.

Some people had even tried to investigate his identity, but Yang Chan did not reveal himself. He had no intention of making himself known. Having gained an advantage, he naturally had to make a fortune in silence.

Xu Gaocen was an Intermediate Alchemist, which meant he would certainly prepare medicinal ingredients for external refinement and might even refine pills. While assisting him, Yang Chan could also gain benefits.

He might receive a portion of those external refinement medicines or pills—not by stealing them, but as gifts from the Pharmacist. Of course, that was only a possibility.

But Qi Replenishing Body Nourishing Soup was a tangible benefit. He would certainly receive it, and that alone was well worth it.

At Xu Gaocen's side, the future could only be said to hold promise. Even if he could not obtain external refinement medicines, he could watch the man prepare medicines and refine pills, learning some knowledge in the process. That would also be of great benefit to Yang Chan.

Although Yang Chan's Ox Demon Strength Fist had not reached one hundred percent, it could already be considered greatly accomplished. Once it was fully perfected, he would begin external refinement. After tempering Copper Skin, he could advance to become an Elite Disciple. Of course, he could also continue lying low in the Medicine Hall and become a Pharmacist.

By then, Yang Chan would have far more choices.

Within the Medicine Hall's Prescription Courtyard, countless medicinal ingredients met Yang Chan's eyes, along with a dense medicinal aura and so many busy people.

Inside the Prescription Courtyard stood countless warehouses storing medicinal ingredients, as well as densely packed shelves filled with even more ingredients. Before Yang Chan alone, there were at least a thousand varieties. Altogether, there had to be far more.

Various labels had been carved onto these shelves, marking the medicinal ingredients within. The ingredients piled up here surprised Yang Chan somewhat, because there were more than a dozen such rooms for storing medicinal ingredients. He had not expected the Medicine Hall's Prescription Courtyard to contain so many.

Compared to this vast quantity of medicinal ingredients, the herbs he had seen drying during the Medicine Drying Task back when he was still a Steward Disciple had only been a tiny fraction. The Medicine Hall surely had other channels delivering dried medicinal ingredients. After these ingredients were prepared, they would be sent throughout Qingyuan Sect, distributed, and consumed.

Yang Chan did not know how long they would last, though he assumed it would not be very long, since the daily replenishment was considerable as well. Yet the shelves throughout the Prescription Courtyard were not full, clearly showing that the ingredients had been consumed.

Qingyuan Sect's Formal Disciples consumed a batch of medicinal ingredients every three days. Elite Disciples, elders, and the like naturally consumed even more.

Task rewards, disciple assessment rewards, and so on all consumed these cultivation resources.

There were also Steward Disciples inside the Prescription Courtyard. These Steward Disciples looked rather old, and Yang Chan had never seen them before. Presumably, they were Steward Disciples exclusive to the Prescription Courtyard, permitted to remain here only after meeting special conditions.

Yang Chan had heard that as long as one met certain conditions, one could remain in Qingyuan Sect even without comprehending Jing Power within the three-year limit. However, he did not know those conditions, nor did he need to.

These Steward Disciples merely followed instructions to arrange medicines onto the shelves, box after box, in great quantities.

Many of these medicinal ingredients could not even be found within Qingyuan Sect. They grew deep in the mountains and ancient forests, in dark and damp places, or upon sheer cliffs.

The methods for gathering such ingredients were far from simple. They took time and effort, and might even cost one's life.

On those cliffs, one misstep could mean falling to one's death. During the gathering process, one might even encounter venomous snakes, fierce beasts, and other dangers. It was exceedingly perilous.

The original owner had harvested a century-old ginseng root within the territory of a Striped-Eyed White-Browed Great Cat. Risking his life, he had entered its territory while the great cat was out hunting and only then managed to pick that century-old ginseng root.

The entire process had truly been a gamble with his life. The original owner had won that gamble, but there were no few who had failed.

Those medicinal ingredients in Qingyuan Sect that required special growing conditions must likewise have been harvested at the risk of life.

"Be prepared for danger in times of peace. I must remember it at every moment."

Seeing these medicinal ingredients, Yang Chan silently reminded himself.

He continued onward and saw that Pharmacists had already entered. One took his place at the head seat, and several Alchemist Assistants immediately appeared beside him, quickly laying out the commonly used medicinal ingredients. Then, as the Pharmacist spoke, they swiftly selected the required ingredients one by one and placed them on the table. Following the Pharmacist's instructions, they weighed them out, placed them on kraft paper, and delivered them before him.

The Pharmacist picked up several medicinal ingredients, smelled them, and inspected them. Then he began selecting and sorting, and before long, a packet of medicine was ready.

Yang Chan's eyesight was excellent. He could tell that the medicinal packet contained the ingredients for Qi Replenishing Body Nourishing Soup, because he also knew what ingredients were needed to prepare it. He simply did not know the exact proportions.

Much less did he know how to prepare medicines according to the properties of each ingredient. That required a certain amount of experience.

Yang Chan would either have to spend time learning or use Potential Points to increase his Pharmacist profession. Once he raised it to Second Order: Entering the Hall, he too would be able to do these things.

A Pharmacist's medicine preparation was more reasonable than following fixed proportions, because he understood the properties of the ingredients he prepared like the back of his hand. Naturally, he could prepare medicinal packets with the best possible medicinal effects, their results far surpassing those of medicines prepared merely by proportion.