Learning Alchemy

Lin Ye returned to the Herb Repository.

Chen Feng was taking inventory of the herbs, and seeing him return, he whispered, "Did Zhou Bapi look for you?"

"Yeah." Lin Ye nodded, "We reached an agreement."

"Reached an agreement?" Chen Feng frowned.

"He wanted contribution points, so I gave him a safe path." Lin Ye said calmly, "Following the rules won't keep you alive for long. To break the rules, you need a method to do so."

Chen Feng gave him a long, deep look: "You are bolder than I thought."

Lin Ye smiled and began to count the herbs.

His movements were still meticulous, but deep within his eyes, there was a newfound sharpness.

In the days that followed, Lin Ye began to "operate."

When counting the Qingling Grass, he marked twenty stalks with slightly poorer quality as "leaf edges slightly withered" and recorded them at an eighty percent discount.

When drying the Chiyan Flower, he "accidentally" over-dried thirty of them, recorded them as "color slightly dark," and processed them at a seventy percent discount.

When organizing the Hanyu Ginseng, he marked five stalks with slightly broken roots as "quality damaged" and recorded them at a sixty percent discount.

All in all, after a month, the losses on the books were perfectly reasonable, but in reality, he had "intercepted" fifty-eight contribution points.

Lin Ye finished the accounts and handed them to Zhou Bapi.

Zhou Bapi checked them carefully, confirmed they were correct, and a smile appeared on his face: "Not bad, you did it very cleanly."

"You flatter me, Steward." Lin Ye said.

"This is yours." Zhou Bapi took a small bag from his drawer and tossed it to Lin Ye.

"Thank you, Steward."

"Do it like this every month from now on." Zhou Bapi said with satisfaction, "Work hard, and I won't treat you unfairly."

Lin Ye exited the room and returned to the Herb Repository.

Chen Feng was waiting for him.

"How did it go?"

"Twenty points, a three-seven split." Lin Ye transferred ten contribution points to Chen Feng, "Yours."

"I don't want them." Chen Feng shook his head, "You took the risk to get these."

"Take them." Lin Ye insisted, "We are partners; we share the risks and share the benefits."

Chen Feng looked at him and finally accepted them.

"What now? Continue like this?" Chen Feng asked.

"No." Lin Ye shook his head, "This is just a stopgap measure. Zhou Bapi is insatiably greedy; something will go wrong sooner or later. We need to find an exit strategy before he gets into trouble."

"What exit strategy?"

"Alchemy." Lin Ye said, "How is that alchemy manual I asked you to get?"

"I got it." Chen Feng took a thin booklet from his robes, "Basic Alchemy, every outer sect disciple of the Alchemy Hall has a copy."

Lin Ye took it and began to flip through it quickly.

Basic Alchemy recorded the refining methods for three low-grade mortal pills: Body Tempering Pill, Hemostatic Powder, and Qingxin Pill.

It also contained basic fire control techniques, herb processing, and the secrets to forming pills.

"This is enough." Lin Ye closed the booklet, "Starting today, I am going to learn alchemy."

"Learn it here?" Chen Feng frowned, "Private alchemy is forbidden in the Herb Repository."

"Not in the Herb Repository." Lin Ye looked out the window, "We'll find a spot in the back mountains."

Midnight.

Lin Ye and Chen Feng quietly left the Herb Repository and arrived at that hidden cave in the back mountains.

Inside the cave, Lin Ye had already prepared a simple alchemy furnace.

On-site, there was also a batch of herbs—scraps he had "reasonably lost" while counting inventory. They weren't worth much, but they were enough for practice.

"Are you really going to refine pills here?" Chen Feng asked.

"Yeah." Lin Ye nodded and lit the furnace fire.

Following the records in Basic Alchemy, he began to process the herbs.

The main ingredient for the Body Tempering Pill was Blood Qi Grass, supplemented by Ninglu Flower and Iron Bone Vine.

Although this was Lin Ye's first time refining pills, he had "points" to cheat with.

"How many points are needed to deduce Basic Alchemy?"

[Deducing Basic Alchemy (low-grade mortal), requires 50 martial arts points]

[Do you wish to deduce?]

"Yes."

A phantom image appeared and began to demonstrate the art of alchemy.

The details of herb processing, the subtlety of heat control, the timing of liquid fusion, the secrets of pill solidification...

Countless pieces of information flooded into his mind.

[Deduction complete]

[Basic Alchemy optimized: pill success rate increased by 30%, pill quality increased by 20%]

[Deduced "Flame Silk Yuan Control Method": allows for precise control of flame temperature and reduces waste]

Lin Ye opened his eyes, a flash of realization crossing them.

He started again.

He refined the Blood Qi Grass to remove impurities, extracted the dew from the Ninglu Flower, and snapped the fibers of the Iron Bone Vine.

With the herbs processed, he tossed them into the pill furnace.

Controlling the fire, raising the temperature, melting the herbs, condensing the liquid, and forming the pills.

The entire process was completed in one smooth, continuous motion.

Half an hour later, the pill furnace opened.

Lying at the bottom of the furnace were three round, milky-white pills, their fragrance hitting his nose.

"You succeeded on the first try?" Chen Feng was astonished.

"Yes." Lin Ye took out the pills and examined them carefully.

The pill patterns were clear and the medicinal potency was full; they were indeed of superior quality.

According to market prices, one superior Body Tempering Pill was worth fifteen contribution points.

Yet the cost was less than ten.

Lin Ye did not stop; he continued to refine.

Hemostatic Powder, done! Superior quality.

Qingxin Pill, done! Superior quality.

In one night, all the herbs were exhausted, resulting in fifteen Body Tempering Pills, twenty packets of Hemostatic Powder, and ten Qingxin Pills.

The value of these already exceeded three hundred contribution points.

"This..." Chen Feng looked at the pills scattered everywhere, unable to speak.

"This is just the beginning." Lin Ye packed away the pills. "These things can't be sold directly. We need to find a place to offload them."

"What kind of place?"

"The black market." Lin Ye said, "The Miscellaneous Affairs Hall has underground dealings; I know the way."

Chen Feng gave him a deep look. "You seem to know everything."

Lin Ye smiled and sorted the pills. "Tomorrow, I'll go handle it. You keep watch over the Herb Repository and don't let Zhou Bapi get suspicious."

"Alright."

The next day, Lin Ye took a half-day leave, claiming he was going to the Miscellaneous Goods Hall to exchange some items.

After circling around a few times to ensure no one was following him, he arrived at a dilapidated small courtyard on the west side of the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall.

The courtyard gate was left ajar, and the faint sound of conversation drifted from within.

Lin Ye pushed the door open and entered.

In the courtyard, a few miscellaneous servants were conducting trades; they were all stunned to see someone walk in.

"A new face? Who introduced you?" A man with a scarred face walked over, his eyes wary.

"Zhao Xiaosi." Lin Ye reported the name.

The scarred man's expression softened slightly. "Xiaosi's person? What do you need?"

"I'm here to sell some things." Lin Ye lowered his voice.

"Come in."

The scarred man led Lin Ye into the inner room.

The room was very simple, containing only a table and a few chairs.

"Where is your stock?" The scarred man sat down.

Lin Ye took out three small bottles and placed them on the table.

The scarred man opened them, poured out the pills, and examined them carefully.

"Body Tempering Pill, superior. Hemostatic Powder, superior. Qingxin Pill, superior." The scarred man looked up, his eyes filled with surprise. "These are all good goods. Where did you get them?"

"I refined them myself." Lin Ye said calmly.

"You know how to refine pills?" The scarred man was even more surprised.

"I know a little."

"Fine, I'll take it," Scarface said. "I can only offer eighty percent of the market price here. If you agree, we trade; if not, get lost."

"That's acceptable, but I don't want contribution points. I want medicinal herbs," Lin Ye said.

"Medicinal herbs?" Scarface raised an eyebrow. "Which ones?"

"Fifty portions each of Blood Qi Grass, Ninglu Flower, and Iron Bone Vine. Also, add one recipe for the Qi Gathering Pill."

The Qi Gathering Pill was a mortal-grade mid-tier pill, suitable for cultivation during the late stage of Body Tempering, and it was quite valuable.

"You want to learn the Qi Gathering Pill?" Scarface stared at Lin Ye. "You kid, you've got quite the ambition."

"Just giving it a try," Lin Ye said calmly.

"Fine, I have the herbs and the recipe, but the price isn't cheap," Scarface said. "The total value of your pills is two hundred and forty points. Exchanging them for the herbs and the recipe works out perfectly."

"Deal."

Lin Ye took the herbs and the recipe, then left the small courtyard.

He returned to the Herb Repository, hid the herbs, and burned the recipe after memorizing it.

Then, he went back to continue working "by the book."

Zhou Bapi came over to inspect, found everything in order, and left satisfied.