"I've taken the pill formula and the medicinal ingredients. As for this cauldron, find a worker to help me deliver it all the way to River-Facing Sect."
Shen Mo paid the bill, put away the receipt, and addressed the shopkeeper.
He had a Qiankun Pouch.
But the Qiankun Pouch he used was the lowest-grade kind issued by the sect.
Its interior space was only a few dozen centimeters across. It was fine for carrying some medicinal ingredients and materials.
But it was nowhere near enough to fit this pill cauldron.
So he could only ask the shopkeeper to have someone deliver it up the mountain.
"No problem."
The shopkeeper nodded, then called into the shop, "He Er, get out here and help me deliver something!"
As soon as he spoke, a short while later, a burly laborer emerged from the back courtyard.
"This customer ordered the Red Cloud Cauldron. Go with him and deliver it."
The shopkeeper pointed at the cauldron and gave his instructions.
"Mm."
The laborer immediately hoisted the cauldron onto his shoulder and walked out of the shop.
Seeing this, Shen Mo left Treasure Pill Pavilion with him and headed out of the marketplace.
At the marketplace's checkpoint, Shen Mo checked the items he had sold and the Spirit Stones he had received against the guards' records.
Once everything was confirmed, the middle-aged man guarding the marketplace said, "Forty-one Spirit Stones. According to the marketplace's rule of taking one part in a hundred, this is what's left for you."
As he spoke, he took out five and a half jin of spiritual rice and handed it to Shen Mo.
Before entering the marketplace, Shen Mo had paid one Spirit Stone as a deposit.
Now that the marketplace's commission had been calculated, about half of that Spirit Stone was still owed to him.
Naturally, they weren't going to break a Spirit Stone in half.
When settling a transaction of this size, both sides often used an equivalent value in spiritual rice as payment.
Though spiritual rice wasn't as widely useful as hard currency like Spirit Stones, it still held its value quite well.
Five and a half jin of spiritual rice came to exactly half a Spirit Stone.
Shen Mo took the rice and stored it in his Qiankun Pouch. Then, with He Er carrying the cauldron, he set off.
Back at River-Facing Sect.
"You're back!"
At dusk, Shen Mo returned to his residence.
He tidied the room from top to bottom before taking stock of his belongings.
"After all that running around, I've spent nearly all my Spirit Stones again."
Shen Mo looked at the mere five Spirit Stones he had left and sighed.
He had earned forty-one Spirit Stones selling talismans at the marketplace, which came to forty after the marketplace's cut.
Adding the twenty low-grade Spirit Stones Chen Mengze had brought him yesterday, along with his original savings, he had had a total of sixty-six low-grade Spirit Stones.
But after a round of shopping at Treasure Pill Pavilion today, he had spent most of them. More than sixty Spirit Stones had dwindled to just five.
"Still, the Spirit Stones were well spent."
He had the pill cauldron now, and he had bought all the medicinal ingredients he needed.
He could start trying his hand at alchemy at any time.
"But before that, I need to inspect this pill cauldron."
Shen Mo recalled the flash of light he had seen when he first laid eyes on the Red Cloud Cauldron at the marketplace.
I hope there really is a surprise!
At that moment, Shen Mo felt as if he were opening a mystery box—both nervous and expectant.
He lit the candle in the room and began carefully examining the cauldron, searching for anything hidden inside.
He searched every inch of it, but found nothing.
"I'll wash it and take another look."
He fetched a vat of water from the back courtyard, washed the dust off the Red Cloud Cauldron, and searched it again. Still, he couldn't make heads or tails of it.
"I'll heat it over a fire and take another look."
Shen Mo lit a bonfire in the room and set the cauldron over it. After it had been roasted for a while—
The cauldron finally showed signs of change.
Whoosh!
The blazing flames danced as wisps of smoke gradually rose from the Red Cloud Cauldron.
When the thick, swirling white smoke dispersed, tiny characters seemed to appear and disappear at the very bottom of the cauldron's interior, revealed by the flames.
Just as he'd thought!
There was a hidden secret inside!
Shen Mo's heart leaped. He hurriedly made out the words above.
[Alchemist Red Cloud's Sixty-Year Alchemy Journal]
Shen Mo gradually made out the writing and read it aloud, one word at a time.
[I began practicing alchemy at seven, officially became a certified alchemist at twenty-three, and finally became a second-grade alchemist at sixty. Half my life has been devoted to the Alchemy Dao.]
The words in the first section recounted the life of an alchemist.
According to the account, the alchemist was named Red Cloud. He had lived to seventy-two, had been a second-grade alchemist, and had been deeply devoted to the Alchemy Dao.
So Alchemist Red Cloud must have been the former owner of this pill cauldron.
Shen Mo continued reading.
[Now my lifespan is nearing its end. My only regret is that I never took on a disciple in this life. With no successor to inherit the insights I gained from sixty years of alchemy, I leave them here. If anyone finds them, may they be granted this chance and blessing.]
The words in the first section ended there. The second section was packed with countless words recounting all kinds of experiences and insights into alchemy.
Shen Mo studied the writing and committed it firmly to memory.
[You studied Alchemist Red Cloud's Sixty-Year Alchemy Journal. Your Alchemy Dao attainment has improved.] [You studied Alchemist Red Cloud's Sixty-Year Alchemy Journal. Your Alchemy Dao attainment has improved.]
Only after he had studied all of the recorded insights did Shen Mo notice that the information panel had been sending him a series of prompts.
"Alchemy Dao." Shen Mo hurriedly opened his status panel. His Alchemy Dao cultivation, which had been nonexistent before, had already grown by a considerable amount.
[Alchemy Dao (Unranked): 124/500.]
"I haven't even refined a single batch of pills, yet I've gained more than a hundred experience points out of nowhere!"
Looking at the numbers, Shen Mo couldn't help but feel pleased. "Alchemist Red Cloud's Sixty-Year Alchemy Journal really is the best possible guide for beginners to the Alchemy Dao."
The improvement the journal brought Shen Mo hadn't ended yet!
This was only the beginning.
Shen Mo guessed that the insights of a second-grade alchemist should keep granting him bonus experience until he advanced to second-grade in the Alchemy Dao.
He'd bought a pill cauldron, and inscribed on it were the former owner's insights and experience from a lifetime of alchemy—a second-grade alchemist's, no less.
It was practically a buy-one-get-one-free deal.
It might not count as some great stroke of fortune.
But for Shen Mo, who was just about to enter the Alchemy Dao, having Alchemist Red Cloud's journal to guide him was an enormous help. It would make it much easier for him to set foot on the path of alchemy.
"So it really wasn't my imagination. When I come across a treasure, my special Destiny, Keen Eye, really does give me a prompt."
After firmly memorizing all this knowledge about the Alchemy Dao, Shen Mo took his special Destiny, Keen Eye, a little more seriously.
Good thing I trusted my judgment and didn't think I'd imagined it.
Otherwise, I would have missed out on this chance to learn about the Alchemy Dao!
After a moment of reflection, Shen Mo rubbed his hands together and laid out the medicinal ingredients he had bought, one by one.
"Let's begin. Tonight, I'll refine my very first batch of pills!"
He murmured, full of anticipation.
Before you continue