Yellow Medicine Master of the Medicine Lodge, Mystic Tortoise Great Toad Form Perfected, Preparing to Advance "Alchemy," an Old Acquaintance Comes Calling!

Fire Kiln, Medicine Lodge.

A carriage arrived from Lu Manor. Hong Jiang, saber at his waist, looked at the little residence deliberately set apart from its surroundings and could not help but feel envious:

"The young lady really does think highly of him. She even secured Ji Xiu the easy post at this 'Medicine Lodge.'"

As he muttered to himself, he could not help thinking of his own work, and his heart instantly soured.

How nice was this Medicine Lodge?

Yellow Medicine Master was unkempt and muttered nonsense all day. So long as you did not refine pills with him, he could not even be bothered to acknowledge you. All he did was order the servants and medicine boys around.

At times like this, all one needed was to find an empty spot in the courtyard. Whether drinking tea or practicing martial arts, it was entirely up to oneself. Before one knew it, the day would have drifted by.

Unlike him.

He oversaw those iron-smelting and coal mine shop districts, where smoke and flames choked people until they could barely open their eyes. Compared to this place, it was simply heaven and hell!

Before long, they arrived.

Hong Jiang still leaped down, intending to serve as a human stepping stool, but Ji Xiu grabbed him and told him to return. Without looking back, he walked into the Medicine Lodge.

Watching Ji Xiu, whose blood and vitality blazed like a furnace, Hong Jiang grew even more envious:

"It really is easier to get things done when you have someone at court. An easy post, endless benefits besides."

"Too bad good looks are inborn. Others cannot ask for them."

"Ah!"

"In barely half a month, he has eaten his way into a body of sinew and muscle like that. Just how many pills did the young lady personally feed him?"

Entering the Medicine Lodge.

Ji Xiu glanced to the side and saw bamboo racks lined along both sides of the spacious courtyard, covered with dried medicinal herbs, Chinese yams, and nourishing joints and parts taken from tigers, leopards, wolves, and jackals.

Every so often, several medicine boys and servants in blue cloth robes, their hair tied up, went back and forth drying and sorting the medicinal ingredients.

Then Ji Xiu entered, clad in fitted black clothes with an iron saber at his waist.

At once, a young man in apprentice garb on the left heard the movement and came over:

"Are you the new Saber-Wearing Retainer at the manor?"

Ji Xiu nodded slightly.

The young man beamed at this:

"Good. I heard the news earlier. You must be Lord Ji Xiu?"

"My name is Zheng Jun. I am an apprentice to Yellow Medicine Master here at the Medicine Lodge. My teacher usually does not concern himself with affairs, so I handle all the receiving and arrangements in his stead."

Hm?

Ji Xiu's eyes flashed with surprise as he looked at the young man named Zheng Jun.

"When I came before, did they not say Yellow Medicine Master had no disciples?"

Zheng Jun, who had been leading the way, looked awkward upon hearing this:

"Er... Yellow Medicine Master truly does not concern himself with such things. But I have admired the path of alchemy for many years, learned a few tricks of the trade, and managed to refine ordinary ninth-grade pills. I have also been a medicine boy for many years."

"Seeing that I could lend a hand, he simply threw all the miscellaneous affairs of the Medicine Lodge onto me."

"Never mind that. Lord, I will take you to meet Yellow Medicine Master. He happens to be free at the moment, so he should see you."

"But ordinarily, whenever you see smoke and clouds swirling around this Medicine Lodge, do not disturb him. If the furnace explodes and the Medicine Master is in a bad mood, he truly will go pick a fight with the Manor Lord!"

As he spoke, Zheng Jun quickened his pace and pushed open an ancient smoked-wood door.

Upon entering.

Ji Xiu saw several medicine boys bustling about inside, selecting medicinal ingredients.

At the center sat an old man with graying hair and a filthy gray robe. He was tapping on a pill furnace while muttering to himself. With his other hand, he ground ink, lifted a brush, and sprawled on the floor recording something.

"Two liang of Twin-Blooming Lotus, one qian of hundred-year Mystic Mountain Ginseng, supplemented by a pot of spirit spring water."

"What should be added next? Spirit Medicine of the same nature cultivated in Spirit Earth? But where could I find materials involving 'earth treasures'? Besides, the furnace exploded once last time..."

"No, no, still wrong!"

"The records in this Half a Page of Remnants are far too limited. How am I supposed to refine a qi pill?!"

Riiip!

He abruptly sprang up and tore the sheet he had just written in half with a swift motion. After his fury subsided, he clawed at his hair. The wrinkles on his face piled together, making him look utterly miserable.

Only then did he notice Ji Xiu, whom Zheng Jun had brought in.

He turned and inspected him a few times, his tone neither warm nor cold:

"A newly arrived retainer?"

"Pick a room outside and live there yourself. Come find me if you have business; do not bother this old man if you do not."

"Enough. Go."

Having spoken crisply and decisively, Yellow Medicine Master returned to his deep contemplation.

Just as Zheng Jun was about to lead Ji Xiu away.

He discovered—

This man had suddenly and boldly stepped forward, picking up the torn pill notes. Zheng Jun was immediately alarmed:

"Lord, do not—"

Yellow Medicine Master was sprawled on the floor with his backside raised. Hearing the footsteps, he turned his disheveled head to the side, about to frown and speak.

But Ji Xiu saluted him and spoke first:

"Yellow Medicine Master, when you open the furnace to refine pills, may I assist you and observe from the side?"

His tone was sincere.

The disheveled old man looked at him holding the pill page he had torn up. Ji Xiu's eyes were clear as spring water, full of humble eagerness to learn, without the irritating air of a martial man.

After staring at him with a stern face for a while, he snorted and turned back around:

"Did Manor Lord Lu send another one to learn a trade?"

"He truly never gives up."

"Watch if you want to watch, learn if you want to learn. How much you can learn depends on your own ability."

"This old man was the same in the past. An alchemist who cannot judge grade and assess prospects is destined to spend his life following rules and regulations."

"So long as you can endure the suffering of smoke and flames, do as you please, do as you please!"

In the blink of an eye, several days passed.

That day, at dusk.

The slanting sun spilled its rays.

"Hoo..."

In the brick courtyard, Ji Xiu assumed the Mystic Tortoise Great Toad Form. A breath of white air flowed through him for a full great circulation with every inhale and exhale!

"Ha!"

He expelled a breath.

It stretched more than a zhang and lingered for a long while, like a mystic tortoise breathing out.

Mystic Tortoise Great Toad Form: (30/30)!

Current: Perfected!

Advance complete. Ordination Master may advance martial arts, arcane paths: 1!

"Sure enough, after reaching great mastery a few days ago, I completely digested that dose of Tiger Blood Powder. As my flesh was continuously tempered and lashed by internal force, it grew stronger and stronger!"

"Though I am still thirty or forty jin away from fully 'condensing mercury blood and wielding a hundred jin of force.'"

"With me now able to practice Pile Stance twice a day, morning and evening!"

"The Nourishing Blood section of the upper volume of this Tortoise Snake Great Pillar has already been fully cultivated."

Thinking of Duan Chenzhou's claim that one month was enough merely to get started.

Ji Xiu could not help smiling faintly.

If that master of mine saw this...

Would a second expression appear on that perpetually calm, stone-faced countenance?

"But Pile Stance is Pile Stance. It merely allows my progress in blood cultivation to exceed that of ordinary people severalfold. Sinew and bone do not grow in a day."

"Those Official Aristocracy and disciples of great sects who speak of 'Hundred Days Foundation Establishment, Sinew Tempering at great mastery' rely on superior Pile Stances paired with Spirit Medicine pills and medicinal baths at every meal. How could I possibly have such conditions?"

"Nourishing Blood is already difficult enough. Forging Tendons afterward, without resources, will be even more impossible to advance."

"Only..."

He thought of how, over the past few days, he had assisted and watched Yellow Medicine Master open the furnace to refine pills. A batch of supplied medicinal ingredients was worth no more than the price of a single pill.

Yet if the old man succeeded, each furnace yielded at least three or four pills!

He pocketed the extra profit himself, keeping only one or two pills to hand over to the employer.

Most crucially, he did not even bother hiding it. Assistants like them, or even ordinary medicine boys, could see it all perfectly clearly!

And those seeking the Medicine Lodge's pill refinement services—whether Manor Lord Lu Chengfeng or anyone else—looked as though they were completely accustomed to it...

It made Ji Xiu keenly understand the staggering profits involved.

Damn it!

So all those people selling pills outside were middlemen skimming the difference!

Only buyers like us were the miserable ones, watching piles of silver flow into other people's sleeves.

He did not know about high-grade spirit pills.

But at the very least, if he could refine these ordinary pills for Nourishing Blood and Forging Tendons, open a shop called the Ji Family Medicine Shop, and borrow Lu Manor's name...

Would he not have the resources for his future Sinew Tempering and Bone Tempering?

He had to learn it!

Though his Tortoise Snake Great Pillar was half perfected, his Nourishing Blood had not yet reached great mastery, so he could not yet step into Forging Tendons.

The Soaring Serpent Chasing Cloud Form could wait.

Just in time...

He would first advance "Alchemy"!

Once he got started, he could buy medicinal ingredients with silver and refine three or four pills. Then, after fully reaching great mastery in Nourishing Blood, he could enter the Forging Tendons threshold!

Ji Xiu's calculations for his future crackled loudly in his mind.

Suddenly.

Hong Jiang arrived at the door, leading an old man in steward's attire. The old man's back was hunched, and he looked around everywhere, his face full of envy and wistful sighs.

Once they stepped into the courtyard, Ji Xiu narrowed his eyes and looked closely. Then he suddenly smiled:

"Brother Yao?"

"What made you leave the Lin Residence tonight to come find me?"