Joining the Pill Shop

Alchemists not only need to condense their own alchemic fire but also require their spirit as a guide.

The success rate and quality of pills are also closely related to the pill recipe, experience, comprehension, and the quality of medicinal ingredients.

Fifty percent of cultivators with the ambition to become Alchemists are stopped at the stage of condensing alchemic fire, and of the remaining, ninety percent are tormented to the brink of death by the spirit stage.

Even those who pass these two basic stages falter in the subsequent accumulation of alchemical experience and comprehension, ultimately becoming the lowest-tier Alchemists, just getting by.

It's not for any other reason than the path of alchemy, besides personal hardware, requires repeated hands-on practice, personal insight, and experience accumulation, and has high demands on comprehension and talent for alchemy.

And this practice process requires consuming a large amount of medicinal ingredients, which is costly.

Li Ji'an is already aware of these circumstances.

Even with his powerful spirit, exceptional comprehension, and ten years of dedicated study of medicinal ingredients in the Martial Arts Academy's pharmacy in his previous life, he doesn't have much confidence in how far he can go in the path of alchemy in this life.

It's more about accumulating for the next life.

For all paths where the proportion of experience accumulation is large, his advantage will be more apparent.

If he doesn't succeed in one lifetime, then two, or at worst, ten, or a hundred lifetimes will eventually lead to success.

Gathering sand to form a tower, collecting down to make a fur coat, a trickling stream converging into a great river, there will always be a lifetime where he can become a great Alchemist.

Of course, it is also the most suitable means of livelihood for him at the moment.

"First-tier alchemic furnace, twenty Spirit Stones, no bargaining!"

"Ancestral Grain Abstinence Pill recipe, concise sequence, cheap medicinal ingredients, only five Spirit Stones."

"Qi Nourishing Pill finished product, high quality and low price, high pill output rate, thirty Spirit Stones."

Silently noting down the prices, Li Ji'an showed no disappointment. His original plan was not to refine pills himself.

This trip was just for understanding.

Lacking aptitude, scarce resources, and starting from scratch, unless one's brain is faulty, they would start by working in isolation.

Chen Qingling looked at Li Ji'an, only to be disappointed again. It was still the same calm and composed face, which made him even more annoyed.

"Are you giving up now?"

"Hmph, I told you you were daydreaming. Alchemy isn't that easy. Even if your talent is sufficient, without a fortune of a thousand Spirit Stones, don't even think about getting started."

"Have you even looked at how much effort immortal cultivation families put into cultivating an Alchemist seedling? And what's the result? How many have they successfully cultivated? Don't they all have to invite Alchemists to be Guest Officials!"

Li Ji'an was unfazed and smiled slightly, "Where are they recruiting Alchemic Apprentices?"

"..."

"Uncle! You're already thirty years old... and you still want to be an Alchemic Apprentice?"

"Do you think you're the only one who wants to learn alchemy this way? To tell you the truth, the disciples under those truly senior Alchemists are already packed. Do you know how much some people pay to become an Alchemic Apprentice?"

"Some Alchemists' requirements for recruiting Alchemic Apprentices are even higher than those of Sects!" Chen Qingling was even more shocked.

Accustomed to his attitude, Li Ji'an didn't mind and calmly said, "I'm not looking for a senior Alchemist, and I don't necessarily have to be an Alchemic Apprentice. I can just do odd jobs."

"You... you're too naive! Let alone assisting Alchemists, even Alchemic Apprentices have to spend three years doing odd jobs and five years serving before they might get a little guidance from an Alchemist. You're already thirty. Even if you truly learn something, you'll be forty or fifty. By the time you can actually earn Spirit Stones by refining pills, it will be at least another twenty years. By then... will it still be meaningful?" Chen Qingling was speechless.

"Is it meaningful? Of course, it is!" Li Ji'an smiled without answering, just looking at him earnestly.

Chen Qingling was stunned by his gaze.

"You... you're really going to be an Alchemist's handyman?"

"Mm."

"..."

Chen Qingling felt he had made himself clear enough.

"I don't care anymore, I don't care, do as you please. I've truly done my best. If I ever advise you again, I'm a dog.

But remember, if you regret it in the future, don't blame me for not warning you. This is your own choice, and I've done all I can..." In that instant, he wasn't sure if he was touched by Li Ji'an's resilience or if he had truly given up hope.

He vaguely felt that this uncle, blessed with great fortune, might never return to the mortal gathering area.

"Don't worry!" Li Ji'an smiled and nodded.

"If you really want to be an Alchemist's handyman, don't look in the market. The Alchemists here are already enough to recruit Alchemic Apprentices. Not only are they diligent and serve like parents, but they also don't require payment. Go to South Street." Chen Qingling numbly turned and walked away.

"South Street?" Li Ji'an remembered that South Street was where family shops and branches of other local powers were located.

"Only the family alchemic shops on South Street recruit Alchemist handymen."

"The eight major families here haven't been established for long. Only one has cultivated an Alchemist within the family. The other families involved in the drug trade use Guest Officials who are External Alchemists. You often see their notices for recruiting Alchemist handymen posted," Chen Qingling explained weakly.

As for the reason, he naturally didn't think deeply about it.

However, after hearing his words, Li Ji'an quickly captured a few keywords from the sentence.

"Guest Official."

"External Alchemist."

"Recruiting handymen..."

After seven steps, Li Ji'an raised an eyebrow slightly, already having a grasp of the situation.

Previously, his lack of understanding of basic common knowledge in the cultivation world had prevented him from making sound judgments. He had thought that with so many members in a cultivation family, there would be no shortage of people to do the work.

But now, after hearing some information from Chen Qingling, he understood.

Guest Alchemists naturally wished to enjoy their patronage for a long time.

Families, on the other hand, hoped to save on these expenses and certainly wished to cultivate alchemists from within their own ranks.

Under this natural conflict, there was a method of compromise. Guest alchemists would promise to take on apprentices, but there would definitely be a limit to their number, and they would not impart their most crucial techniques until the very end.

As for menial tasks, they would rather hire outsiders than have the family arrange for their own members to do them.

After all, some critical aspects of alchemy might be hidden in the smallest details.

"Alright! I'll go to the South Street Alchemy Shop!"

In this context, his older age and poor aptitude instead became an advantage.

As expected, three shops on South Street were recruiting laborers, primarily responsible for assisting the alchemists. Two of them even had age requirements, not seeking young individuals, but rather those clearly without hope of becoming alchemists, over thirty years old.

It was as if they were tailor-made for him.

"Yan Family of Spirit Pearl Mountain... Monthly salary: one Spirit Stone and fifty units of Spirit Sand."

"Wei Family of Purple Bamboo Valley... Monthly salary: one Spirit Stone."

"Wang Family of Silver Sand Lake... Monthly salary: one Spirit Stone."

Unsurprisingly, all three were family alchemy shops, and their alchemists were all guest alchemists from outside.

The Yan Family's guest alchemist was a mid-stage first-tier Alchemist, around forty years old.

The alchemists patronized by the other two families were both veteran late-stage first-tier Alchemists, considerably older.

After careful consideration, Li Ji'an chose the Yan Family's alchemy shop.

"Li Chang'an? From the Wasteland Gathering Area, thirty years old... Qi Condensation first layer... Hmm, good, good." On the second floor of the alchemy shop, the Yan Family's shop manager and the guest Alchemist Mo met with Li Ji'an.

Alchemist Mo was very satisfied.

Manager Yan Tong also breathed a sigh of relief.

As an outsider granted the Yan surname and favored by an elder, he was put in charge of the market's alchemy shop and felt immense pressure.

Especially when facing Guest Alchemist Mo, he dared not show any disrespect.

Today, finally finding a laborer that satisfied him, it could be considered as solving his urgent problem.

"Chang'an, from now on, you will follow Alchemist Mo and work diligently. The shop will not mistreat you. If Alchemist Mo is satisfied with you, there is room for your monthly salary to increase."

Li Ji'an cupped his hands: "Many thanks, Alchemist Mo, many thanks, Manager Yan."

The two parties signed a Spirit Soul contract, establishing an employment relationship.

Barring special circumstances, Alchemist Mo would fire up his furnace every five days, for less than two hours each time. Li Ji'an only needed to arrive at the shop two hours before Alchemist Mo began refining pills, prepare the medicinal ingredients as required, clean the pill furnace, and handle the cleanup afterward.

Thus, Li Ji'an could barely be considered to have truly established himself in the market, at least enough to pay his annual rent.

What surprised him slightly was that that evening, while he was cultivating, Yan Tong paid him a visit