Seeking Support

Early the next morning, Chen Baolan packed his luggage and left.

He left behind a book of his own insights from when he had established his foundation, and also gave Chen Xinglan a Jade Pendant. Its effect was to clear the mind and calm the spirit; worn on the body, it could increase a Qi Cultivation Cultivator's Spiritual Sense by twenty to thirty percent.

That was equivalent to a quarter of the effect after taking Spirit Ascension Powder. It was an opportunity Chen Baolan had been allotted during an excavation of ancient Ruins.

Chen Xinglan did not put on any false modesty either. After all, it was something given by his own younger brother, so he accepted it directly. However, he also said that after his foundation establishment, whether he succeeded or failed, he would return it to Chen Baolan. The latter smiled and nodded.

As for the couple Wang Jianyuan and Chen Yulan, what they gave was a great gift.

It was directly eight hundred thousand Merit Points. Originally, they had planned to buy one item from the Foundation Establishment Trio as a gift, but they truly could not snatch any up, so they could only give Merit Points instead.

However, Chen Xinglan and his wife naturally refused to accept it. Even if they were siblings by blood, such a large sum of Merit Points left them feeling unworthy of receiving it.

That night, at the theater entrance, it had been hard to decline. This morning, Tang Pancui deliberately got up very early, preparing to send the eight hundred thousand Merit Points back.

"Son, go buy some Hangover Remedy for your dad. I'll head to your aunt's place first."

After seeing Chen Baolan out the door, Tang Pancui hurriedly took the bus.

Chen Xinglan had drunk too much last night, and his Alcohol Tolerance was only average to begin with. Even now, he had still not woken up.

"Got it."

Chen Mobai casually ate a little breakfast, then asked his homeroom teacher for a day off.

Chai Deyun was also very responsible. After seeing the message, he specially called over to ask what had happened. After all, the College Entrance Exam was coming up soon, and every day was very important. But after learning that today he was sending his father, Chen Xinglan, to Crimson Cloud Academy to prepare for foundation establishment, he still politely offered a few words of congratulations and approved the leave.

It was still the Evergreen Pharmacy at the street corner.

Chen Mobai had experience this time. He walked in and waited a while, and the girl in the white nurse's uniform came out. However, this time she did not have the big iron kettle in her hands. It seemed she was still busy with the stage of extracting Medicinal Liquid, and fine beads of sweat could be faintly seen on the snow-white skin exposed at the edge of her mask.

"What do you want this time?"

After two transactions, the two of them could count as acquaintances. The girl first removed the medicinal smell from her body, then walked over and asked.

"Hangover Remedy."

"How much?"

"One box."

"30 Merit Points."

Chen Mobai took the dose of Hangover Spirit Water she pulled out from a medicine cabinet drawer and immediately took out his phone to scan and pay.

"I think last time I saw you sealing up 'Qi Replenishing Spirit Water'?"

Seeing that the girl was about to return to the back hall again, he still could not hold back in the end and opened his mouth to ask.

"You mean that? My teacher refined it. All of that is supplied exclusively to Treasure Bottle Pharmacy. Even if you wanted to buy it, I couldn't sell it to you."

Qing Nü clearly knew what Chen Mobai wanted to ask and directly spoke up to block off his thoughts.

"There isn't any extra? I heard online that every alchemist refines an extra ten percent each time, just in case an accident happens and they can't hand over the full amount."

But Chen Mobai still refused to give up. If there was enough Qi Replenishing Spirit Water, with his dad cultivating on a Third Tier Low-grade Spirit Vein, perhaps he could reach perfection at the Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer within these two years.

"There is extra, but teacher sells it all to old customers she has had friendships with for many years. Even I can't get any."

Qing Nü shook her head and spoke words that forced Chen Mobai to give up on the idea of buying Qi Replenishing Spirit Water from here.

"That really is too much of a pity."

Holding the sealed Hangover Remedy in his hand, Chen Mobai thanked Qing Nü, then turned to leave.

"If you trust me, I can actually refine this Qi Replenishing Spirit Water too."

Just then, the girl's slow, soft voice came from behind him, making him immediately turn back.

"You! You can refine it?"

"First Rank should be no problem. Although I still haven't passed the Immortal Sect's formal alchemist assessment, I've learned almost all the basic knowledge."

"But alchemists rely on practice to produce true knowledge. No matter how well you grasp the knowledge, it still has to be refined before it can be used."

"Oh. Then fine."

Qing Nü had only mentioned it casually. Seeing Chen Mobai sizing her up with a face full of distrust, she did not explain any further.

"Wait, you really can refine it?"

Seeing Qing Nü lift the curtain to the rear courtyard and about to turn and leave, Chen Mobai could no longer stand still. With the mindset of treating a dead horse as if it were a live horse, he chased after her with another question.

"Other than the final step of blending the Medicinal Liquid, which has always been done personally by teacher, I've already gone through the other basic steps and processes more than a dozen times. The success rate can reach eighty to ninety percent."

"How can I cooperate with you?"

After Chen Mobai recovered from his shock, his high emotional intelligence returned once more. He did not continue asking how much confidence she had in the final step, but instead very humbly asked what he could do.

"You provide the materials. I use your materials to practice. If it succeeds, it all goes to you. If it fails, the losses are all yours."

Qing Nü's words caused Chen Mobai to sink into thought.

The truth was, the two of them had only made three transactions, and their foundation of trust was not deep.

With Wu Wan's warning cart overturned before him, Chen Mobai now held a guarded heart toward every person who opened their doors to do business.

"I have something to do today. Are you free after school tomorrow?"

Chen Mobai decided to think it over properly. The opportunity was rare, but Qing Nü looked about the same age as him. Even if she had practiced Alchemy since childhood, her level definitely could not be too high. Although he had some Merit Points now, he did not dare waste them either.

Everyone knew that supporting an alchemist's cultivation was the most expensive thing!

If artifact refining failed, the raw materials could still be partially separated out again with machines and reused.

But if an entire furnace of Alchemy failed, then it was completely scrapped, utterly unusable. However, Qi Replenishing Spirit Water was refined through Water Method Alchemy. As long as there were no mistakes in the earlier process of extracting the Medicinal Liquid, even if the final blending step failed the first time, it could be slowly tested. Compared to fire-method Alchemy, its margin for error was much higher.

"I'm not that free either. I have to complete the tasks my teacher assigned."

Last time, Qing Nü had seen Chen Mobai buy the Spirit Measuring Instrument without haggling, and thought he should come from a relatively wealthy family. It just so happened that she had recently planned to apply for the Immortal Sect's First Rank alchemist assessment and needed to practice hands-on Water Method Alchemy in advance. Hearing that Chen Mobai had a need to buy Qi Replenishing Spirit Water, she had tactfully brought it up.

However, this sort of behavior of seeking support was also Qing Nü's first time, and she was not very practiced at it.

When the matter came to a head, seeing that Chen Mobai was not very enthusiastic, she also shrank back a little.

"I still have two tickets to the Jade Phoenix Troupe. Meng Huang'er and Jiang Yuyuan's Stepping on the Moon piece, front row on site. Other than Private Rooms, they count as the best seats."

Of the ten tickets Chen Baolan had given, their family had used seven yesterday, and he had promised one to his younger female cousin Wang Xinying. He happened to have two left in hand. His thought was that the girl before him was around the same age as him, so she should be interested in the Jade Phoenix Troupe.

But he had completely underestimated Jiang Yuyuan's attraction to every young girl in the entire Immortal Sect.

The instant Chen Mobai finished speaking, Qing Nü's eyes lit up.