Matryoshka

Over the next few days, Zeng Defang instructed Chen Fei in the Refining Technique, and after Hiding One's Strength for several days, Chen Fei revealed Proficient Level skill with Qi Blood Pills.

Zeng Defang laughed aloud, his old heart greatly comforted, and even slapped Chen Fei hard on the shoulder a few times.

"At this point, when it comes to a pill like the Qi Blood Pill, I no longer have anything I can teach you. What comes next will depend on your own comprehension during the Refining process."

Zeng Defang's skill in Refining Qi Blood Pills was naturally not limited to the Proficient Level. But once one reached the Proficient Level, there were basically no problems left with the Refining Technique itself; what was lacking was only some fine adjustment of the heat.

This sort of adjustment was already very hard to express in words. It required the Alchemist to comprehend it himself and practice it himself. Moreover, Proficient Level Qi Blood Pills could already be put on the shelves and sold normally. In other words, Chen Fei could start making money.

According to his agreement with Qingzheng Medical Center, from the Qi Blood Pills Chen Fei refined each month, after the cost of the Herbs was deducted, Chen Fei could take thirty percent of the remaining profit.

Was that little?

Definitely not. Chen Fei was quite satisfied with this result. After all, Chen Fei only needed to refine pills. Herbs, the shop, the pill furnace, Selling, and all those other matters had nothing to do with Chen Fei.

With Qingzheng Medical Center at his back, Chen Fei only needed to focus on Refining pills.

It could be said that for this profit-sharing ratio, Zeng Defang must have put in effort behind the scenes for Qingzheng Medical Center to offer such treatment.

Of course, the profit-sharing ratios of other Alchemists were not much worse. After all, Alchemists were precious. If you did not give them sufficient treatment, they would simply run off.

They were different from Guards. Though Guards were not easy to recruit, the base number of martial artists was there; with money, you could always hire them. But Alchemists—the base number was also there, and it truly was not the sort of thing where you could just say you wanted to hire one and get one.

Zeng Defang no longer continued staying by Chen Fei's side. Chen Fei took the time to go out a few times and raised his Proficiency in Qi Blood Pills to the perfected level.

Chen Fei was in no hurry to grind the Qi Blood Pill to Great Perfection, because perfected Qi Blood Pill skill was already completely enough for Chen Fei's current Refining requirements.

Not only were the pills all plump and full, but each furnace produced many finished pills. It could be said that he squeezed every last bit of medicinal nature out of the Herbs without a single part going to waste.

As for Great Perfection Qi Blood Pills, they would probably mean pushing out the old and bringing forth the new, making the effects of Qi Blood Pills even better.

That was naturally very good, but with a requirement of ten thousand Proficiency points, trying to complete it in a short time was truly not easy. Therefore, Chen Fei was not anxious. Taking it slowly was enough.

There was no one else in the Pill Room, and Chen Fei went all out with every furnace of Qi Blood Pills he refined. The difference between perfected and Proficient Level Qi Blood Pills was the number of finished pills; there was not much difference otherwise.

To the outside world, Chen Fei naturally would not display such a high standard of alchemy, so he directly ate the extra pills.

Qi Blood Pills truly deserved to be pills taken by ordinary martial artists. One Qi Blood Pill could increase Chen Fei's cultivation progress by 1 point. Chen Fei could take five Qi Blood Pills a day, and together with the cultivation growth from his own technique, that was 6 points of cultivation progress in a single day.

"Even if Wind Suspension Breathing Technique hasn't been Simplified, I only need less than a little over five months to break through to the Flesh Refining Realm."

Chen Fei murmured to himself, feeling for the first time the power of pills—or rather, the power of money.

One tael of silver could buy five Qi Blood Pills. The monthly wages of an ordinary Guard at the medical center were only enough to buy twenty-five Qi Blood Pills. Therefore, the Guards rarely bought Qi Blood Pills for cultivation, because it cost too much money.

Unless they were the sort who still had potential in martial arts, they would not be willing to invest like this. And this sort of investment had to continue for several years before results might be seen.

In Pingyin County, only the disciples of those Noble Families, or direct disciples such as those of Extreme Mountain Martial Hall, could possibly be like Chen Fei was now, taking Qi Blood Pills at the maximum amount every day to catch up in cultivation as quickly as possible.

"Powerful Alchemists really do make money. And this is only the Qi Blood Pill."

Chen Fei shook his head slightly, tossed a Qi Blood Pill into his mouth to refine it, and could not help revealing a faint smile.

Chen Fei planned to ask the medical center for an advance of some Silver Taels in a few days, so he could Simplify the two Fused techniques.

Although relying on Qi Blood Pills meant Chen Fei's cultivation progress was already not bad, if he could make himself stronger even faster, how could Chen Fei possibly refuse something like that?

Moreover, Chen Fei was always filled with an uncertain sense of unease toward this world. After all, his previous life had been a peaceful, flourishing age, while now he was in a world filled with Weird and man-made disasters. It was very hard to truly set one's heart at ease.

In the blink of an eye, ten days flashed by. Besides focusing on refining Qi Blood Pills and cultivating, Chen Fei would also take the time to go out and grind the progress of Stir-fried Pig Liver.

When Stir-frying Pig Liver in the ruined courtyard, Chen Fei had actually discovered that he was being followed, but he did not pay too much attention to it. After all, who made him the hottest person in Qingzheng Medical Center right now?

Everyone in the medical center could see Zeng Defang's fondness for Chen Fei. He was only one step away from announcing that Chen Fei was his final disciple. Under such circumstances, there were naturally many people curious about how Chen Fei had done it.

Perhaps there was some special method?

It was just that when those people saw him Stir-frying Pig Liver in the courtyard, who knew what expressions they had.

No matter what, Stir-frying Pig Liver had nothing to do with Refining pills. Otherwise, the back-kitchen cooks in Wine Houses would probably all have turned into master Alchemists.

These people could only attribute Chen Fei's Stir-frying Pig Liver to some special personal hobby of Chen Fei's. Because apart from that, they truly could not think of any other reason.

Some people were unwilling to give up and followed Chen Fei for several days in a row. Every time, what they saw was Stir-fried Pig Liver, and every time Chen Fei fried it, he only used a piece of pig liver the size of a fingernail. Those watching were numb.

What kind of bizarre hobby was this!

"Strictly speaking, it's not easy to take Silver Taels in advance, but I also know your situation. So after asking Steward Cui for instructions, Steward Cui has already agreed. This is thirty taels of silver. Keep it well."

The accountant handed the money to Chen Fei. Chen Fei glanced it over briefly, and a smile appeared on his face.

According to the number of pills Chen Fei was now deliberately controlling himself to refine, Chen Fei's monthly earnings were roughly around fifty taels, ten times that of an ordinary Guard. How could that not make others envious?

Now that they had agreed to advance him thirty taels, it was obvious the medical center had seen Chen Fei's potential and also understood that Chen Fei had the ability to repay it, which was why they were so straightforward.

After returning to his room, Chen Fei was slightly excited.

"Panel, Simplify the technique Wind Suspension Breathing Technique!"

"Wind Suspension Breathing Technique Simplifying... Simplification successful... Wind Suspension Breathing Technique → Extreme Mountain Breathing Technique!"

"Hm?"

Seeing the information displayed on the Panel, Chen Fei froze for a moment. How had it been Simplified into the original Extreme Mountain Breathing Technique?

Then Chen Fei thought of something and tried circulating the Great Perfection Extreme Mountain Breathing Technique from before once. Right after that, he saw the experience value of Wind Suspension Breathing Technique on the Panel +1.

Good lord!

Chen Fei's eyes widened all at once. This Panel truly exceeded Chen Fei's expectations again and again. It had actually pulled off a matryoshka.