Hundredfold Ten-Year Ginseng

"Who was that guy just now? He even rejected invitations from Senior Sister Dong, Senior Sister Ju, and the others without a hint of hesitation. Is he even a man?"

"Exactly. Many inner sect senior brothers have tried to join their group, only to be turned away, yet that kid—he gets a personal invitation and still refuses. What a massive ego."

"It seems he's just too cowardly. He's afraid of being killed by demons or monsters, so he didn't dare to go. The senior sisters were quite speechless; their good intentions were completely wasted."

"Haha, he doesn't even dare to slay demons? What a weakling."

Qin Dongcheng, mocked by the crowd, returned home with a calm heart, continuing his cultivation to improve himself.

Facing the attack of the Rat Demon earlier, that single life-or-death struggle had granted him a hundredfold harvest, equivalent to surviving a hundred battles between life and death.

This single harvest alone caused his combat experience and techniques to soar to a level unimaginable for a Martial Artist of the same rank.

To put it bluntly, even if Dong Hongyan, Ju Xiaojing, and Liang Qiyue were to combine their efforts, their combat experience and techniques wouldn't even amount to one-tenth of Qin Dongcheng's.

Although they had fought and killed many times, they hadn't faced even ten life-or-death crises in total, unlike Qin Dongcheng, who had effectively experienced a hundred such battles.

With every move, he could effectively unleash the power of the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist. Once he triggered the Dragon Vigor Tiger Might Strange Phenomenon, even if the five of them joined forces, they would be no match for him.

Even if he had followed them to slay demons, it was unclear who would be protecting whom.

Besides, form is emptiness, and emptiness is form; he was not such a shallow person. Nothing could stop him from cultivating, refining alchemy, and gathering herbs...

A few days later, Qin Dongcheng arrived at the Five Elements Library and spent five hundred sect contribution points to exchange for a third-realm martial arts manual.

Evergreen Flesh Refining Fist!

It was said to belong to the same lineage as the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist and the Diamond Skin Refining Fist. Although it was difficult to comprehend, practice, and improve, it had a high probability of triggering a Strange Phenomenon, and it combined both training and combat methods.

He would be able to practice it once he reached the third realm of martial arts.

Currently, his cultivation was approaching the late stage of the Skin Phase, and it shouldn't take long before he could break through to that level.

Several days later, accompanied by a tenfold critical strike, Qin Dongcheng began his breakthrough.

The blood energy within his body surged, constantly tempering and enhancing the hardness and flexibility of his skin, making it increasingly sturdy.

Layers of blood energy, like a rising tide, tempered his skin with ever-increasing intensity.

With a crisp cracking sound, the bottleneck dam was quickly breached, and Qin Dongcheng's cultivation realm stepped into a new level.

Late Skin Phase!

With every movement, a force of over 1,400 kilograms erupted. Once he triggered the Dragon Vigor Tiger Might Strange Phenomenon, his strength would double, reaching over 2,800 kilograms, further increasing his destructive power.

Qin Dongcheng could shatter a stone the size of a human head with a single punch, let alone a person.

Such a punch landing on a person would shatter their internal organs in minutes.

His strength had surged significantly, especially in terms of defense, which had seen an even greater boost.

After consolidating and adapting to his newfound power, Qin Dongcheng rewarded himself with a grand meal, paying no mind to the cold sarcasm from some of the Official Disciples around him.

The incident that occurred in front of the Mission Hall had eventually reached the Osmanthus Garden, and some of the Official Disciples living near Qin Dongcheng would give him strange looks whenever they saw him.

If not for his status as an Alchemy Apprentice, some might have mocked him to his face.

But as it stood, he wasn't well-regarded by some disciples, who felt he was too cowardly and weak.

Even a group of beautiful women dared to charge to the front lines, yet he, a grown man—even after the beauties offered to protect him—still didn't dare to go slay demons. He had truly lost face for all men.

Some of those mocking him were actually Qin Dongcheng's colleagues, fellow Alchemy Apprentices who also hired others to help them slay demons.

The fact that they had the nerve to laugh at him was absurd, leaving Qin Dongcheng deeply confused. Did these idiots not spend money to hire others themselves?

Fame is like a passing cloud to me. Since the spotlight is a bit intense right now, I might as well take this opportunity to keep a low profile and avoid being targeted.

Qin Dongcheng was happy with this; his life remained unaffected, becoming even more comfortable.

"You have gathered a ten-year-old ginseng. Congratulations on triggering a hundredfold critical strike! You have obtained one hundred ten-year-old ginsengs!"

A calm heart brings natural coolness, and good things come in waves.

Not two days after breaking through to the late Skin Phase, while heading to the Herb Field to gather herbs, he triggered a hundredfold critical strike, obtaining one hundred ten-year-old ginsengs.

A single ten-year-old ginseng was worth over a dozen taels of silver; one hundred of them meant over a thousand taels, which would be an income of over ten million in his previous life.

Even for Qin Dongcheng, this was a massive fortune, far exceeding the meager scraps he earned from guiding the Herb Field laborers.

Although he guided these laborers for free, they had diligently saved the precious herbs for him, which was the reason for his repeated critical strike harvests.

This single haul alone allowed Qin Dongcheng to make a massive profit.

Today was a good day, and Qin Dongcheng worked even harder while gathering herbs, which left the Herb Field laborers quite puzzled.

These weren't even his own herbs, so they didn't understand why Alchemist Qin was working so hard and looking so excited.

Even they, the growers, weren't this happy when harvesting, as the herbs had to be handed over to the sect anyway.

Yet Alchemist Qin was so happy just from the act of gathering them.

They hadn't expected Alchemist Qin to develop such a strange hobby while working as a Herb Field laborer; it was truly bizarre.

After finishing the harvest, Qin Dongcheng returned to the Osmanthus Garden with over a hundred precious medicinal herbs.

The critical hit reward this time was quite substantial; the next time I head to the Bamboo Forest Black Market, I'll be able to buy far fewer herbs.

This way, I can turn in more finished medicinal pills to the sect in exchange for sect contribution points. A cultivation technique for the fourth realm of martial arts requires at least several thousand contribution points, so I must start accumulating them as soon as possible.

During this period, the Mission Hall has also posted many alchemy missions, the most frequent being requests for the refinement of Golden Wound Pill and Detoxification Pill. It's perfect, as I can submit my surplus pills to complete these various tasks, which offer much higher rewards in sect contribution points.

While the disciples who go out to slay demons and eliminate evil are certainly busy and in danger, Qin Dongcheng is just as busy as a logistics member. If I don't take advantage of this opportunity to earn more, I won't have such a good chance later on.

If I were to simply trade pills for sect contribution points instead of using them to complete missions, the points I'd receive would be far fewer. Sometimes, if the sect already has an excess of pills, they don't even allow such trades.

On this day, while heading to the Bamboo Forest Black Market to purchase herbs, I quickly discovered something that piqued the interest of Qin Dongcheng.