Volume One: Days in the Shantytown - The Counterfeit Medicine Factory (Part Two)

"When should I start work?" "You don't need to come in. I'll let you know when there's something to do. Oh, leave me your phone number."

Pei Sefei held her head high and her chest out. After "selling" herself, she marched triumphantly out of Luo Qian's hideout like a victorious general.

Luo Qian chuckled. "That silly girl... Still, she's pretty cute."

Another knock came at the door. The store's delivery crew had arrived with twenty Rice Cookers. The deliverymen found it strange: what did one man need so many Rice Cookers for?

The moment Luo Qian saw the boxes, he cried out, "Pei Sefei!" On each box, a lovely girl smiled as brightly as sunshine, holding a bowl of fragrant rice.

The deliveryman said, "That's right. You chose a premium product from a famous brand. They just hired Pei Sefei, who's been really popular lately, as their spokesperson. This is the new packaging..."

Luo Qian was baffled. Apparently, Pei Sefei hadn't vanished after that competition as he'd assumed. She'd become a huge star instead. If she was so famous, why had she come to work for him as a lowly employee?

Shaking his head, Luo Qian sent the deliverymen away. Then he found a newsstand and flipped through a few magazines. Three out of five carried posters of Pei Sefei. Her changeable air let her represent just about any product. Luo Qian understood her decision less and less.

He set aside what he couldn't figure out. It took ten trips between the Mortal Realm and the county realm to smuggle all twenty Rice Cookers into the Immortal Realm. With the twenty cookers lined up in his storeroom, Luo Qian ran into another problem: he didn't have enough power supplies.

Money was flowing out like water! That was how Luo Qian felt now. He ordered another ten power boxes from Xiao Xiangzi for thirty million standard Immortal Jade!

The ten power boxes from his second order had yet to arrive, so Luo Qian could only experiment with ten Rice Cookers for now. Hard work paid off. After dozens of consecutive failures, he finally combined one portion of Five-Immortal Grain, half a portion of Azure Sea Millet, and one and a half portions of Emerald Silk Bean to refine ten Three-Color Pills!

Those Immortal Pills—wow! As food, they had everything: color, aroma, and flavor. Unfortunately... judged as Immortal Pills, the first successful batch of Luo-Style Lazy Stewed Rice contained far less Immortal Spirit Energy than the Lower-Grade Treasure Pill known as the Jade Water Pill. At best, it was on par with the Red Pupil Pill.

Yet of the three ingredients used to refine the Three-Color Pills, Five-Immortal Grain and Emerald Silk Bean both cost far more than Azure Sea Millet. Luo Qian pursed his lips. He had clearly made a losing deal. It seemed the lower realm's "nutritional theory" didn't apply in the Immortal Realm: a mix of grains offered less benefit than eating one kind of fine grain alone. The Three-Color Pill was proof.

At least his theory behind Luo-Style Lazy Stewed Rice had been half right. Luo Qian was still pleased. A loss was a loss, but he had deep pockets now. This little drizzle wasn't worth worrying about.

Luo Qian measured out another batch of ingredients for the Three-Color Pills, tossed them into a Rice Cooker, plugged it in, and let it bubble away. The other nine Rice Cookers yielded no more surprises, so he had to try new proportions.

Three days later, the Rice Cooker containing the Three-Color Pill mixture held only a layer of gray-brown scorched rice, not the pills he'd expected. Another Rice Cooker, however, had produced a new kind of Elixir.

Luo Qian was astonished. It was exactly the same recipe as last time, so why hadn't it worked? Unwilling to give up, he measured out another batch and plugged the cooker in again.

Only then did he inspect the Rice Cooker that had produced pills.

There were ten dark-brown Elixirs, black and glossy as the eyes of evil ghosts. Luo Qian frowned. The immortal grains in this Rice Cooker had been one portion of Phoenix-Eye Grain, one portion of Emerald Silk Bean, and two portions of Azure Sea Millet. What on earth had it made? He held a blackish Elixir up over his head and studied it. A chill ran through him. Would this thing kill someone if they ate it? He remembered the terrifying rumors about drug factories back in the lower realm, and fear seized him. Why did he suddenly feel like one of those unscrupulous counterfeit-medicine dealers?

"Old Luo, I'm back..." Luo Qian hadn't heard Du Lengning's voice in ages, and he needed someone to run an errand. He promptly grabbed him. "Quick, take these two kinds of Elixirs to your uncle and have him examine them. See if they're any use." Luo Qian pressed two Immortal Pills into Du Lengning's hand. Du Lengning beamed. "Not bad, Old Luo! I've only been gone a little over half a month, and you've come up with two more kinds of Elixirs. That gives our shop five kinds to sell. Our selection's nearly doubled—we can open for business..."

Luo Qian shoved him toward the door. "Go on, and come straight back. I'm waiting for an answer." "You got it. Leave it to me." Du Lengning stepped into empty air, soared upward, and headed straight for his uncle's Jiefang Alchemy Cottage.

"Hm—" Du Bo'an's expression turned grave when he saw the two pills. He carefully took the unusual pills from his nephew, placed them on a Jade Tablet, and scraped a little off each with a jade knife. Impatient by nature, Du Lengning stood beside him and kept urging, "Uncle, how are they? Uncle?"

Fed up with his chatter, Du Bo'an swept out a hand. The scene before Du Lengning changed, and he found himself in the Wilds Maze Forest outside Jiefang Alchemy Cottage. Cold sweat broke out down his back. He knew how dangerous the Wild Wasteland Maze was and dared not move an inch or utter another word.

Du Bo'an used some method or other to study the pills for half a day before summoning Du Lengning back. With a stern face, he asked, "Lengning, where did you get these two pills?"

Du Lengning was too embarrassed to tell his uncle that they were stealing the old man's business and had come to him for an appraisal besides. He hemmed and hawed, asking only, "Uncle, how are they?" Seeing that he wouldn't answer, Du Bo'an didn't press him. "If you don't want to say, that's fine. I was merely curious. As for the Elixirs, their grade isn't high. They're about Superior-Grade Spirit Pills."

"Oh." Du Lengning was disappointed. Du Bo'an continued evenly, "But while the pills themselves are ordinary, their effects are quite unusual." Du Lengning's ears pricked up like a rabbit's. "Hm?"

"This Three-Color Pill wards off poison and dispels miasma. Hold one in your mouth, and ordinary poisonous fog won't touch you. This dark-brown pill may look rather poor, but it increases the Immortal Spirit Energy that accumulates in the body. The effect is slight, yet little by little, day after day, it would add up to quite a lot!"

Du Lengning let out a strange cry. "Ha! Good stuff!" "Good stuff indeed. That is why I'm curious. Judging by my analysis, the person who refined these Elixirs had little skill. Otherwise, they would never have turned out to be mere Spirit Pills. If..." He glanced at Du Lengning. His meaning was clear: if an alchemy master like his uncle refined them, their grade would naturally be much higher.

But saying so outright would amount to lowering himself before his junior and asking for the recipes. Given his standing, he simply couldn't bring himself to say it.

The person who had refined the pills was indeed unskilled. He had never even touched the rim of a pill furnace. Producing Spirit Pills at all had taken an extraordinary stroke of luck.

Du Lengning missed his uncle's hint. He snatched the two pills from the Jade Tablet and swept out of Jiefang Alchemy Cottage like a whirlwind. He was so excited that as he flew through the sky, his heart thudded as though it might leap from his throat. "Hahahaha..." His devilish laughter streaked across the heavens, startling a whole flock of crows into flight!

Du Bo'an sighed regretfully and murmured, "Lengning... All the affection I've shown him has been wasted." He smacked his lips, still puzzled. "The alchemist was plainly a beginner. How could he have such brilliant recipes? If I judged correctly, both Elixirs were made from extremely common ingredients. That's why neither has any distinctive scent. How did recipes this ingenious end up in a beginner's hands..."

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