Joining the Pill Shop

Alchemists needed not only to condense their own Alchemy Fire, but also to use their divine souls as a guide.

The success rate and quality of pills also depended on the recipes, experience, insight, and the quality of the medicinal ingredients.

Half of the cultivators who aspired to become alchemists were stopped at the stage of condensing Alchemy Fire. Of those who remained, nine in ten were tormented nearly to death by the trial of the divine soul.

Even those who passed these two basic hurdles often fell behind while accumulating alchemy experience and gaining insight, ultimately becoming low-ranking alchemists who merely muddled through.

There was no other reason. The path of alchemy required not only the right personal attributes, but also repeated hands-on practice, personal insight, and accumulated experience. It also placed high demands on one's insight and talent for alchemy.

This hands-on practice consumed vast quantities of medicinal ingredients, making it an expensive undertaking.

Li Ji'an already understood all this.

Even with his powerful divine soul, exceptional insight, and the decade he had spent studying medicinal ingredients at a martial academy pharmacy in his previous life, he still had little confidence that he could go far on the path of alchemy in this life.

More than anything, he wanted to build up experience for his next life.

For any path that relied heavily on accumulated experience, his advantage would be even greater.

If one lifetime wasn't enough, he had two. If that still wasn't enough, then ten lifetimes, a hundred—eventually, he would make it.

Grains of sand could build a tower, tufts of fur could make a cloak, and trickling streams could swell into a great river. In some lifetime, he would surely become a great master of alchemy.

Of course, for now, it was also the most suitable way for him to make a living.

"A first-tier alchemy furnace, twenty spirit stones. No bargaining!"

"An ancestral Grain Abstinence Pill recipe, streamlined process, inexpensive ingredients—only five spirit stones."

"Ingredients for Qi Nourishing Pills, excellent quality at a low price, high pill yield, thirty spirit stones."

Li Ji'an silently memorized the prices. There was no disappointment on his face; he had never planned to shut himself away and make pills on his own.

He was only here to get a feel for things.

With insufficient talent, scarce resources, and no foundation, only a fool would start by shutting himself away to figure it all out alone.

Chen Qingling looked at Li Ji'an, only to be disappointed again. That same calm, placid expression remained on his face, which irritated Chen Qingling even more.

"You've given up now, right?"

"Hmph, I told you you were dreaming. Becoming an alchemist isn't that easy. Even if you have enough talent, you can forget about getting started without a thousand spirit stones to your name."

"Have you even looked at how much effort those cultivation lineages put into nurturing a promising young alchemist? And how many actually manage to produce one? In the end, don't they all have to invite alchemists to serve as their retainers?"

Li Ji'an wasn't bothered. He smiled faintly. "Which places are hiring alchemy apprentices?"

"..."

"Mister, you're already thirty... and you still want to be an alchemy apprentice?"

"Do you think you're the only one who wants to learn Alchemy Skill this way? Let me tell you, the disciples of those truly senior alchemists are packed to the rafters with apprentices. Do you know what people are willing to do just to become one?"

"Some alchemists set higher requirements for their apprentices than the sects do!" Chen Qingling was even more astonished.

Li Ji'an was used to his attitude and didn't mind. He remained calm. "I'm not looking for a senior alchemist, and I don't necessarily have to be an apprentice. I can just do odd jobs."

"Y-you're so naive! Forget working as an alchemist's assistant—even an apprentice has to do odd jobs for three years and serve for five before they might get a little guidance from the alchemist. You're already thirty. Even if you actually learn a bit, you'll be in your forties or fifties by then. And before you can really earn spirit stones by making pills, you'll need at least another twenty years. By then... will it even mean anything?" Chen Qingling was at a loss for words.

"Will it mean anything? Of course it will!" Li Ji'an smiled without answering, simply keeping his eyes on him with utmost seriousness.

Chen Qingling stared back, dumbfounded.

"Y-you really mean to become an alchemist's errand hand?"

"Mm."

"..."

Chen Qingling felt he had made himself clear enough.

"Forget it, forget it. Do whatever you want. I've honestly done all I can. If I try to talk you out of it again, I'll be a dog.

"But remember, if you regret it someday, don't blame me for not warning you. This is your own choice. I've done everything I can..." For a moment, he couldn't tell whether Li Ji'an's determination had moved him or whether he had simply given up completely.

He had a faint feeling that this fortunate middle-aged man before him might truly never return to the mortal settlement again.

"Don't worry!" Li Ji'an said with a smile and a nod.

"If you really want to be an alchemist's errand hand, don't look in the market stalls. The alchemists here have enough apprentices already. They get people to work tirelessly and serve them like their own fathers, without even having to pay them. Go to South Street." Chen Qingling turned and walked away, numb with resignation.

"South Street?" Li Ji'an remembered that South Street was lined with family shops and branch stores established by other local powers.

"Only the family pill shops on South Street hire alchemists' errand hands."

"These eight families haven't been established here for very long. Only one has cultivated an alchemist within the family. The other families involved in the pill trade rely on External Alchemists as retainers, and they often put up notices looking for alchemists' errand hands." Chen Qingling explained listlessly.

He hadn't given much thought to the reason.

But after hearing him, Li Ji'an quickly picked out several key phrases.

"Retainer."

"External Alchemist."

"Hiring errand hands..."

After walking seven steps, Li Ji'an raised an eyebrow. He already had an idea.

He had lacked some basic knowledge of the Cultivation World, making it hard to judge certain things correctly. He had assumed that cultivation families had so many members they wouldn't be short of people to do the work.

But after hearing Chen Qingling's explanation, he understood.

Naturally, a retainer alchemist wanted to enjoy the benefits of being retained for as long as possible.

The family, meanwhile, wanted to cut this expense and would certainly prefer to cultivate its own alchemist.

Given this natural conflict, there was a compromise: the retainer alchemist agreed to take on apprentices, but the number was surely limited, and they wouldn't teach their most closely guarded secrets until the very end.

As for the menial work, the alchemist would rather hire outsiders than let the family assign one of its own members.

After all, the key to some Alchemy Skill might be hidden in the tiniest details.

"Good! I'll go to the pill shops on South Street!"

In these circumstances, his age and poor aptitude had become advantages.

Just as expected, three shops on South Street were hiring errand hands, mainly to assist the alchemists. Two of them even had age requirements: they didn't want young people, but applicants over thirty who clearly had no hope of becoming alchemists.

It was as if the position had been made for him.

"Yan Family of Spirit Pearl Mountain... monthly pay of one spirit stone and fifty taels of spirit sand."

"Wei Family of Purple Bamboo Valley... monthly pay of one spirit stone."

"Wang Family of Silver Sand Lake... monthly pay of one spirit stone."

As expected, all three were family pill shops, and all their alchemists were External Alchemists serving as retainers.

The Yan Family's retainer was a first-tier Intermediate Alchemist in his forties.

The alchemists retained by the other two families were both senior, late-stage first-tier alchemists, and much older.

After weighing his options, Li Ji'an chose the Yan Family's pill shop.

"Li Chang'an? From the settlement on the wasteland, thirty years old... first level of Qi Refining... good, good." On the second floor of the Yan Family's pill shop, Steward Yan and the retainer, Alchemist Mo, met with Li Ji'an.

Alchemist Mo was very satisfied.

Steward Yan was also greatly relieved.

As an outsider who had been granted the Yan surname and earned the elders' favor, he had been put in charge of the family's pill shop in the market. The pressure on him was immense.

Especially when dealing with their retainer, Alchemist Mo, he didn't dare slack off for even a moment.

At last, he had found an errand hand who satisfied Alchemist Mo, easing the pressing burden on his shoulders.

"Chang'an, from now on you'll work under Alchemist Mo. Do your best, and the shop won't mistreat you. If Alchemist Mo is pleased with you, there's room for your monthly pay to increase."

Li Ji'an cupped his hands. "Thank you, Alchemist Mo. Thank you, Steward Yan."

The two parties signed a divine-soul contract, establishing an employment relationship.

Except in special circumstances, Alchemist Mo opened his furnace once 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 ingredients as instructed, clean the furnace, and handle the cleanup afterward.

With that, Li Ji'an had more or less established himself in the market, and at least earned enough to cover his yearly rent.

What surprised him a little was that Yan Tong came to visit that very evening, while he was practicing.