"Master, what on earth did you buy? You've spent all your money." Qinglin leaned against the doorframe, looking mournfully at the gold card Xiao Han had tossed her. The balance displayed on it was zero.
"If you run short of money, just take some from one of my shops. The managers there all know you," Xiao Han said, tinkering with the Medicine Cauldron without looking back.
"Oh."
Qinglin nodded helplessly and turned to leave. Then she remembered that Xiao Han had said yesterday they would set out to train today. But it was nearly evening, and he showed no sign of leaving.
"Um... Master..."
Qinglin turned back, hesitating.
"What is it?"
"Didn't you say you were going out to train today?"
"Oh? That?"
Turning to look at his maid, Xiao Han slapped his forehead. How had he forgotten something so important? "I can feel my Dou Qi cultivation breaking through. I'm going into seclusion to cultivate for a while. Don't come and disturb me during that time. Just remember to bring me meals in the morning, at noon, and in the evening."
"How long is 'a while'?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe a week, maybe half a month. It depends," Xiao Han replied casually.
"Huh? Does that mean Qinglin won't get to see Master for a while?" Qinglin looked at Xiao Han, disappointed and sad.
"Silly girl, your master can't fly away. I'm not going anywhere. Besides, I said ten days or half a month at most. I might not even need that long."
Xiao Han put his hands on his hips and shook his head helplessly. "If you get lonely, you can go spend time with Cousin Xuner. Didn't you say you wanted to practice Dou Techniques with her?"
"Then... all right. Qinglin won't disturb Master."
After hesitating for a moment, Qinglin, who had always been obedient and well-behaved, didn't throw a childish fit.
She was only twelve, but after enduring years of bullying, beatings, and discrimination, her mind was far more mature than those of her peers.
And for some reason, Xiao Han seemed to care a lot about her Dou Qi cultivation and often checked on it. Since that was the case, Qinglin didn't want to see Xiao Han disappointed. Her talent wasn't as good as his, but it was still quite high. She ought to cultivate properly from now on.
After Qinglin left, Xiao Han poked his head out.
Four years ago, when he had first transmigrated, he'd been determined not to reveal that he had taken over the body of the ten-year-old boy who'd also been named Xiao Han. He rarely spoke to anyone and had even asked to move out of the courtyard near the Xiao Family's rooms, choosing a more secluded Separate Courtyard instead.
Xiao Zhan assumed Xiao Han had become withdrawn because he couldn't accept the loss of both his parents and wanted to avoid everyone, so he reluctantly approved Xiao Han's request.
But later, Xiao Han had begun to stand out. He'd shared many astonishing insights and displayed extraordinary ways of making money, helping the Xiao Family overcome a crisis. After that, most of the family began paying attention to the quiet little boy.
Later still, when Xiao Han revealed his remarkable talent, he became the apple of everyone's eye in the Xiao Family. Because of his outstanding talent, quite a few forces around Wutan City had wanted to arrange a childhood Marriage Contract for him.
Anyway, just understand that this world was much like ancient Huaxia. Arranging childhood marriages was as simple as eating or drinking. Some young people even got married before they turned twelve.
If Xiao Zhan hadn't respected Xiao Han's wishes and rejected all those proposals outright, Xiao Han would've been hounded by the matter nonstop.
In the Douqi Continent, making a Marriage Contract with a cultivation prodigy was all too common.
Take Xiao Yan's Grandfather and Nalan Yanran's grandfather, for example. On the surface, they'd said they arranged the engagement because the two old friends got along and wanted to betroth their grandchildren.
In reality...
Ahem, wait, I got that wrong. Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran had been engaged when they were born. It was a childhood betrothal, so it wasn't as if the Nalan Family had arranged it because they admired Xiao Yan's cultivation talent.
Uh, come to think of it, Xiao Zhan was Xiao Han's uncle, and Xiao Yan was his cousin. Didn't that mean... Xiao Yan's Grandfather was also his own grandfather?!
Holy crap! This joke had gone too far!
So who was engaged to Nalan Yanran in this timeline?!
Come to think of it, I was only a month older than Xiao Yan!
WTF?!
"No, no, it can't be. Xiao Han, you have to believe in your luck."
As if he'd just thought of something awful, Xiao Han shuddered and forced himself to stop thinking about it.
He hung a sign reading "Cultivating. Please Do Not Disturb" on the gate of the Separate Courtyard, then closed it.
He went to an empty room he rarely used, shut the door, and locked it.
His hand trembled as he sent a stream of Dou Qi into the Storage Ring on his finger. The Sapphire ring glimmered faintly, and a yellow Medicine Cauldron, nearly half a meter tall, appeared out of thin air in the room.
The cauldron was copper-yellow all over, shaped like an upright oval egg. A faint sheen covered its surface. At the bottom were two fierce-looking heads of unknown beasts, both with their jaws stretched wide. Their mouths formed two connected Fire Ports. The openings curved inward and grew narrower the deeper they went, as if concealing some hidden intricacy.
At the top of the cauldron was a bowl-shaped, semicircular lid, with a special opening in one spot for adding medicinal ingredients.
The lid was dotted with tiny holes made of Cold Iron to dissipate heat and prevent an explosion from excessive temperatures. In the middle of the cauldron was a transparent panel made of Ice Essence. Through it, one could clearly see everything happening inside during alchemy.
Apart from the two beast heads, the surface of the cauldron was smooth, as egglike as the rest of it. It seemed the craftsman hadn't wanted to spend much effort on its appearance, so the overall look was rather rough.
And since it was an oval cauldron, it naturally needed three claw-shaped legs modeled after the claws of some kind of beast to support it.
Looking at the cauldron, which seemed like something he'd picked up on Pinduoduo, Xiao Han didn't mind. He was a pragmatist and couldn't care less about flashy embellishments.
Besides, since Master Guni had offered it as a gesture of goodwill, the cauldron he'd chosen couldn't be bad.
Xiao Han picked up Beginner's Guide to Alchemy. He'd already read it once, but the complicated list of alchemy taboos still made his scalp tingle.
Having a teacher guide you and figuring everything out on your own were two entirely different things.
After glancing through the alchemist's notes and comparing them with the cauldron's design, it was obvious that Gu Ni had picked out a relatively low-grade cauldron for him.
According to the notes, cauldrons came in different grades. The more Fire Ports a cauldron had, the higher its grade and the rarer it was. The Fire Ports were the essence of a cauldron and required extremely precise polishing. Even the slightest mistake during the crafting process would turn the whole cauldron into a failure.
So the more Fire Ports a cauldron had, the more it could assist with alchemy. Of course, controlling multiple Fire Ports required strong Soul Perception. With Xiao Han's current ability, he'd be lucky to control two!
In other words, a good cauldron was as important to an alchemist as a fine sword was to a Swordsman. It also increased the chances of successfully refining pills.
But he was still a complete novice. Even the best cauldron wouldn't help him. The important thing was learning to control the timing, heat, and medicinal properties.
"Let's see. Put my hand against the Fire Port, then send in Dou Qi and turn it into alchemical flame... Hmm, the flame summoned at this point isn't an alchemical flame... Focus on controlling that thread of Wood Attribute inside my body, then channel it into the cauldron..."
Holding the book in one hand and sending Dou Qi into the cauldron with the other to turn it into flame, Xiao Han felt as if he'd gone back to his school days, opening a textbook and working through problems.
It was just too damn similar. This miserable feeling was exactly like trying to work out how to solve a math problem in class.
"If only I had Energy Value right now. Based on what the system said, I could learn alchemy just by reading a pill formula and the refining steps all the way through, then spending a certain amount of Energy Value."
"Sigh. I've got my work cut out for me."
Staring at the complicated alchemy steps, Xiao Han groaned. Now he was about to attempt alchemy for the first time in this life.
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