Dragon Kui

As one piece of good news after another returned to Qingyuan Sect, a piece of terrible news suddenly emerged.

An elder at the Internal Refinement Grandmaster level had led two Personal Disciples, ten Elite Disciples, and fifty Formal Disciples from Qingyuan Sect down the mountain to surround and kill the Zhao Family of Anyu City. Unexpectedly, they fell into an ambush by the three great sects: Lingyu Palace, Taiyu Valley, and Nanhua Sword Sect.

Of the more than sixty people from Qingyuan Sect, only one Personal Disciple returned, grievously wounded. After revealing that they had encountered an ambush while surrounding the Zhao Family of Anyu City, he fell unconscious and had yet to awaken. Even his External Refinement: Iron Bones cultivation could barely be maintained; the bones throughout his body had been shattered. It was basically hopeless for him to return to External Refinement: Iron Bones.

Yang Chan knew so much about it because Xu Gaocen was responsible for treating that man. His life was not in danger, but whether his Martial Cultivation could be preserved was another matter.

This terrible news thoroughly ignited the fury of Qingyuan Sect's upper ranks. They directly dispatched experts to strike at Lingyu Palace, Taiyu Valley, and Nanhua Sword Sect.

Originally, Qingyuan Sect had intended to deal with the traitorous forces first, then resolve the source that had stirred up this conflict. Now that these three great sects had stepped forward, they would deal with them all together.

Such was the bearing of the strongest force within a province.

Yang Chan had also heard that the sect had sent people to the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, hoping to borrow the dynasty's strength.

But whether they could borrow that strength was hard to say. Natural disasters and man-made calamities were breaking out everywhere—Qingzhou suffered from severe drought, Yuzhou from flooding, Yuzhou from insect plagues, and so on. With disasters occurring repeatedly across the land, people's hearts were unsettled, and many held restless intentions.

The other calamities had nothing to do with Yang Chan for the time being, but the great drought in Qingzhou was impossible to avoid. With Qingyuan Sect going to war against the other three great sects, it meant that all sect disciples would have to participate in the battle.

This was what sect disciples ought to do.

The sect protected its disciples, and at times like this, the disciples had to repay the sect.

Yang Chan considered taking the Pharmacist assessment first, but as soon as the thought arose, he saw several junior Pharmacists being transferred away from Qingyuan Sect.

They were not being sent to fight directly, but they still had to accompany those going into battle, helping treat the wounded and prepare medicine packs. With a physician present, many casualties could be reduced.

After seeing this, Yang Chan abandoned the idea, because the Pharmacists being dispatched had all become Pharmacists relatively recently.

As for whether those Pharmacists had shallow foundations or had volunteered themselves, Yang Chan did not know. In any case, he was no longer in a hurry to take the Pharmacist assessment.

Otherwise, he might pass the assessment one moment and be press-ganged the next, practically delivering himself to their doorstep like takeout.

Another point was that Alchemist Assistants would not be dispatched to participate in battle alone. Instead, they would accompany Alchemists, because at times like this, an Alchemist Assistant could help an Alchemist exert a far greater effect—far better than joining the fighting.

Most Alchemist Assistants were nurturing Jing Power, and few had achieved great mastery. Their combat strength was not particularly formidable, but if they helped Alchemists treat the wounded, the role they could play would be much greater.

At this time, Yang Chan naturally worked seriously, kept a low profile, and improved his strength while continuing to follow Alchemist Xu Gaocen for the time being.

As an Intermediate Alchemist of Qingyuan Sect, Xu Gaocen held a rather high status, comparable to someone at the deacon level. The chances of him being dispatched were relatively low.

During this period, the atmosphere within Qingyuan Sect became much more tense. Even Xu Gaocen, who had always arrived late and left early, began working diligently. Rather than working one day and resting three, he now worked three days and rested one.

Even on his rest day, he had to examine the wounded sent over, so he was busy most of the time.

Yang Chan saw that Xu Gaocen handled such matters with great ease. Clearly, he had participated in this sort of thing before.

These days were relatively busy, and Yang Chan's cultivation time was greatly reduced. Yet the Potential Points in his possession were increasing rapidly, because as long as he performed tasks in the Medicine Hall, he received Qi Replenishing Body Nourishing Soup and Foundation Strengthening and Qi Nourishing Porridge every day.

These had been prepared for the wounded, but as conscientious Alchemist Assistants, Yang Chan and the others naturally got to drink a bowl as well.

This caused Yang Chan's daily Potential Points to increase by another point.

At his best, Yang Chan could obtain 0.7 Potential Points in a day: 0.2 from his daily meat meals, 0.2 from Qi Replenishing Body Nourishing Soup, 0.1 from Foundation Strengthening and Qi Nourishing Porridge, 0.1 from Jade Essence Skin Refining Powder, and 0.1 from Bear Gallbladder Skin Tempering Paste. Even Yang Chan had not expected his progress in gaining Potential Points to be so fast.

With a little more effort, he might be able to remove the leading zero and make it start with a one instead.

After Ox Demon Strength Fist entered Second Order: Entering the Hall, Yang Chan had tried adding points to it. Each point only increased it by five percent, which meant that to raise it to the third order, he would need at least twenty Potential Points. Calculated by proficiency, he would need to cultivate it two thousand times.

Though the difficulty had increased somewhat, Yang Chan's speed of obtaining Potential Points had also risen. It was just a little expensive. However, as the workload increased, so did his monthly pay.

After Qingyuan Sect wiped out those traitorous forces, all the cultivation resources, gold, silver, jewels, and other valuables in their possession were sent back to Qingyuan Sect.

As rear-line support personnel, Alchemists naturally received benefits as well. An Alchemist Assistant like Yang Chan was naturally no exception, and Yang Chan liked that very much.

Income exceeding expenses was a virtuous cycle. He cultivated so diligently precisely because he wanted to grow stronger and live longer.

Over these days, through his own efforts and the expenditure of two Potential Points, Turtle Breath Body Nourishing Technique had also risen as he wished to Second Order: Entering the Hall.

His talent increased by another point, and his Lifespan increased by five years. This made him increasingly long-lived, proving that his cautious way of thinking was not wrong.

The only regret was that he still had Potential Points remaining, yet he could not directly raise himself to External Refinement: Bronze Skin.

The reason was that after Martial Cultivation broke through to External Refinement: Bronze Skin, the skin would take on a bronze color that would require one or two days to fade.

Such traces were far too obvious. Yang Chan now appeared before Xu Gaocen and the others practically every day. If he broke through to External Refinement: Bronze Skin, the signs would be too conspicuous.

At that point, he might be forced to leave.

External Refinement: Bronze Skin already qualified as an Elite Disciple within Qingyuan Sect and was considered quite decent combat strength. At that point, he would have to go out and participate in the fighting.

That was not what Yang Chan wanted. He could only accumulate Potential Points, wait quietly for an opportunity, break through to the Bronze Skin Realm in one stroke, and then return to normal once more.

Yang Chan knew of a medicine that could solve the issue with his skin.

Using two taels of twenty-year Dragon Kui as the main ingredient, along with several common supplementary ingredients, it could be brewed into medicine. After drinking it, it could conceal the bronze coloration of the skin.

The twenty-year Dragon Kui could not be dried medicinal material; it had to be fresh. Thus, Yang Chan had been waiting these past few days for fresh medicinal ingredients to be delivered.

He had already learned that someone would deliver Dragon Kui the day after tomorrow. It was being sent from the Sanhe Gang of Qinghe County, which had been wiped out. Dragon Kui was relatively abundant in Qinghe County, and in previous years, the Sanhe Gang had delivered a large batch of it. This year's delivery was later because the Sanhe Gang had already betrayed Qingyuan Sect, causing the fresh Dragon Kui to arrive somewhat late.