Your Medicinal Herbs-I'm Borrowing Them

With Lu Gen's help, Qin Dongcheng only needed to pick the mature herbs each day, spending merely one or two hours in the Herb Field.

He could use the rest of his time to cultivate and improve himself, or to do other things.

Seeing Lu Gen work so diligently, practically taking all his tasks away, Qin Dongcheng felt somewhat embarrassed. From time to time, he gave Lu Gen pointers on cultivation, allowing him to gradually grasp the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist. He was already not far from condensing Blood Qi.

As a Handyman assigned to the Herb Field, receiving a copy of the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist was already generous treatment from the Sect. Why would they send someone to guide their cultivation?

If they wanted someone's guidance, they had to spend a considerable amount of silver or Sect Contribution to hire someone.

Now that Qin Dongcheng was guiding Lu Gen for free, who knew how much silver he had saved him? That was why Lu Gen was so deeply grateful to Qin Dongcheng.

However, this soon caught the attention of the surrounding Herb Field Handymen.

"Hey, Brother Qin, are you guiding Brother Lu in the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist?"

That noon, after lunch, Qin Dongcheng was instructing Lu Gen when another Herb Field Handyman from nearby happened to pass by and spotted them.

This man was named Wang Kun. He had been a Herb Field Handyman for two years, yet he still had not comprehended the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist, much less entered the Body Phase Realm.

It was said that over the past two years, he had saved up some silver and Sect Contribution to seek guidance from others. Yet he had gained little, wasting a great deal of silver and Sect Contribution for nothing.

Now, seeing Qin Dongcheng instructing Lu Gen, he could not help moving closer in curiosity.

Lu Gen hurriedly shooed him away. "Go, go, go. Senior Brother Qin is teaching me cultivation. If you want to learn, bring silver and Sect Contribution."

"Senior Brother Qin?" Hearing Lu Gen address Qin Dongcheng that way, Wang Kun's eyes lit up. He could not help asking, "Brother Qin arrived even later than you, didn't he? Why are you calling him Senior Brother? Could it be... could it be that Brother Qin has already condensed Blood Qi and entered the realm of Martial Artists?"

Qin Dongcheng smiled and nodded. "That's right. If you want to learn alongside Lu Gen, you only need to agree to two conditions."

"Please speak, Senior Brother Qin." Having received confirmation, Wang Kun became much more respectful. He hurriedly bowed, even changing how he addressed him.

Qin Dongcheng said, "First, from now on, you and Lu Gen will help me handle matters in my Herb Field, though I must personally harvest the mature herbs. Second, from now on, let me harvest the mature herbs in your Herb Field. The mature medicinal herbs after harvesting will still be yours. I simply enjoy picking mature herbs. If any are damaged, I can compensate you."

"Good, good, good, I agree to all of it. As long as Senior Brother Qin is willing to give me a few pointers, I'd even be willing to give you my extra medicinal herbs every month." How could Wang Kun possibly refuse such favorable terms? This was far cheaper than painstakingly saving money to hire others for guidance.

Qin Dongcheng could also harvest herbs from Wang Kun's field and receive critical-hit rewards. All he had to do was occasionally offer cultivation pointers. It was a win-win situation.

This way, he no longer needed to buy too many herbs from the Black Market, and he would have more herbs to use in practicing Alchemy.

The success rate for Blood-Replenishing Pills had now risen above thirty percent. It was time to refine a second kind of low-grade pill, and he chose the Golden Wound Pill.

It was not the ordinary golden wound medicine used among common folk, but a Golden Wound Pill ranked among low-grade pills, with astonishing healing effects on a Martial Artist's external injuries.

If used on ordinary people, its effects would be nothing short of miraculous.

Its versatility was in no way inferior to the Blood-Replenishing Pill—if anything, it surpassed it.

The first time he refined a Golden Wound Pill, it failed as expected. Then the second attempt failed, the third failed, the fourth failed... It was not until the fifty-second attempt that he finally succeeded once.

That was with the help of the Heaven Rewards Diligence System. Without it, he would have needed at least several hundred attempts, perhaps even several thousand, before he might succeed once.

By then, Qin Dongcheng would have long gone bankrupt. How could he have had any chance to continue refining?

As his Alchemy advanced by leaps and bounds, the number of students in Qin Dongcheng's little classroom also grew. After the nearby Herb Field Handymen discovered that Qin Dongcheng had entered the realm of Martial Artists and was guiding Lu Gen and Wang Kun, they came one after another to seek his instruction.

Qin Dongcheng welcomed everyone. So long as they agreed to his two conditions, he would occasionally give them pointers. In any case, it did not cost him much time or effort.

Some Herb Field Handymen felt bad about it and sent over quite a few medicinal herbs. Qin Dongcheng could use this as an excuse to refine large quantities of Blood-Replenishing Pills and Golden Wound Pills. Even if his identity as an Alchemy Apprentice was exposed later, he would have a suitable explanation.

Amid all the bustle, it was time to hand in medicinal herbs again.

To obtain enough Sect Contribution as quickly as possible, Qin Dongcheng prepared two additional baskets of herbs this time.

He could use his guidance of the other Herb Field Handymen as an excuse to explain where these herbs had come from.

But what Qin Dongcheng had not expected was that only Liu Yuan came to collect the herbs this time.

When Liu Yuan saw that Qin Dongcheng had prepared more than three baskets of herbs, his eyes went wide. "You cultivated all these?"

"Only some of them were cultivated by me." Qin Dongcheng smiled. "The rest were given to me by the surrounding Handymen. I plan to exchange them for Sect Contribution."

"Why would they give you so many medicinal herbs?" Liu Yuan asked in surprise.

Qin Dongcheng smiled. "I gained a little insight into the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist and taught it to the surrounding Handymen. They gave me these medicinal herbs out of gratitude."

"I didn't expect your comprehension to be decent enough for you to understand part of the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist." Liu Yuan did not doubt him, though he only believed Qin Dongcheng had comprehended part of the fist art. It was impossible that he had fully understood the entire manual.

After hesitating for a moment, Liu Yuan finally said, "Qin Dongcheng, I can exchange these medicinal herbs for Sect Contribution for you, but I hope you can lend them to me."

"Lend them?" Qin Dongcheng frowned.

Liu Yuan said smugly, "You should know my son, Liu Xiao. He entered Body Phase Perfection at only eighteen, and he is now attempting to break into the Skin Phase Realm. If he succeeds, he will very likely become an Inner Sect Disciple in the future."

"Consider your medicinal herbs an investment. Once my son becomes an Inner Sect Disciple, he will naturally take good care of you. He might even secure you an Overseer position. Opportunities like this do not come often, so don't miss it."

He called it borrowing, but it was really nothing more than open plunder through trickery. As for that Overseer position, it was merely an empty promise.

Liu Yuan had worked his whole life and was still only a Handyman Overseer. If Liu Xiao truly had that much influence, he would not merely be an ordinary Official Disciple.

Qin Dongcheng understood perfectly. Though he did not want trouble, he was not afraid of it either. How could he allow someone to seize the fruits of his labor like this?

Once there was a first time, there would be a second. If Liu Yuan robbed him this time, he would certainly come again.