One Pill a Day, Hundred Days Foundation Establishment—If Official Aristocracy Can Achieve It, Why Can't I!?

One Pill a Day, Hundred Days Foundation Establishment—If Official Aristocracy Can Achieve It, Why Can't I!?

Gunpowder East Street, Medicine Lodge.

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Zheng Jun stood there with his mouth agape, staring dumbfounded at the six round, clear Leopard Fetus Pills, dark brown in color, revealed as the pill furnace was opened before him.

His head spun, and he nearly fell apart on the spot.

Unable to help himself, Zheng Jun began counting on his fingers:

"One day, two days, three days..."

"No, how many days had he even been here?"

The muscles in his face twitched without cease, and horror rose in his heart.

Zheng Jun was twenty-six this year.

Ever since Yellow Medicine Master had come to this five-hundred-li Anning County when Zheng Jun was eighteen, he had served as his assistant, one of the very first batch of Medicine Boys.

Over a full eight years, he had watched batch after batch of peers get driven away after being berated by Yellow Medicine Master. Only by relying on a bit of cleverness had he managed to remain until today.

Through the scattered summaries of pillcraft Yellow Medicine Master had recorded over the years, like ghostly scribbles, he had barely managed to comprehend the method for refining ninth-grade pills.

He had just been considering whether to scrape together several months' wages in the coming days, buy a full set of ingredients, and borrow the furnace fire to give it a try.

Yet he had never expected to watch with his own eyes as the Saber-Wearing Retainer sent by Lu Manor to guard the Medicine Lodge sat in Yellow Medicine Master's place and refined the ninth-grade pills of his dreams!?

"Your technique is practiced and steady, every step measured. Though it lacks a little spark of inspiration..."

"But if we speak only of refining ninth-grade pills, your pill-forming rate should be around thirty percent. That already counts as entering the door."

"And on your very first attempt, you increased both the heat and the dosage. That undoubtedly raised the difficulty of pill refinement as well."

Yellow Medicine Master bent down, selected one of the six Leopard Fetus Pills, raised it to his nose, and gave it a light sniff. He nodded.

"The medicinal potency remains acceptable. It cannot be called especially good, but it is decent and proper enough to circulate on the market, enough to deal with those low-grade orders that vex this old man to no end."

"Mm."

"Kid, catch."

With a sweep of his sleeve, he plucked up three pills and casually flung them toward Ji Xiu.

Ji Xiu instinctively raised his hand and caught them.

He spread open his palm.

Looking at the three pills he had personally refined—worth ninety taels of silver, equivalent to three months of his wages, or ninety thousand yuan in his previous life—Ji Xiu could not help but feel delighted.

"Pill refining really is obscenely profitable!"

"Unfortunately, a deal without capital like this only comes once by chance. If I want to hone my pillcraft and swiftly pay back this advance, I'll probably still have to buy my own materials and use the furnace fire to refine them..."

As Ji Xiu pondered in secret, he took a paper packet from his robes and carefully wrapped the pills up.

But just then—

Yellow Medicine Master did not slow his speech. Instead, a strange gleam appeared in his eyes as he looked at Ji Xiu, making unease rise in Ji Xiu's heart.

"This old man isn't going back on his word, is he?"

"No, that won't do. With three Leopard Fetus Pills and my superior Pile Stance, I can refine one pill a day. In less than three days, my qi and blood will boil, and I'll gain another dozen or so jin in strength, taking another step toward Forging Tendons!"

"If I had to stand the stance and train on my own, I'd need at least ten days to half a month to make this much progress..."

He muttered inwardly.

Yet he found Yellow Medicine Master acting completely out of character. With a beaming smile, he pointed at the pill furnace.

"Kid, your name is Ji Xiu, right?"

"How much does Lu Manor pay you as a Saber-Wearing Retainer each month?"

"Presumably no more than thirty or forty taels of silver."

"Look, these three pills this old man just gave you are worth two or three months of your wages. Compared to Lu Chengfeng, who do you think can offer you better benefits?"

Yellow Medicine Master placed the three pills into a brocade box, smiling with narrowed eyes.

"From now on, why bother doing work for him?"

"Come to this Medicine Lodge instead."

"This old man, Huang Xuan, has nothing else, but I do have plenty of experience refining pills."

"For a martial man, Sinew Tempering, Bone Tempering, Skin Refinement... each stage is harder than the last."

"If your background is lacking, and you have no side trade to support you, no means of raking in silver..."

"The road ahead will be like a heavenly chasm!"

"But if you become a qualified ninth-grade pill master, it will be different."

"Do you know how many medicine masters in this five-hundred-li Anning County can refine ninth-grade pills? Including those of the government, the Three Great Gangs, and those hired by the Four Great Halls, there are no more than a dozen?"

"As the saying goes, things are precious when they are scarce."

"As long as your skills mature, it will have far greater prospects than being some Saber-Wearing Retainer!"

"Then again, do you know how many pill masters in all of Anning County can refine mortal-tier seventh-grade pills to supply Skin Refinement martial men in their cultivation?"

Huang Xuan flicked his sleeve, his bearing proud.

"Only this old man!"

"If not for the Fire Kiln's earth fire being strong and beneficial for pill refinement, this old man would never have built his lodge here. How many powers in all of Anning County are eager to fawn upon me!"

"Once you come here, you will no longer need to do the work of a Medicine Boy and wait on anyone."

"Here, pills such as Leopard Fetus Pills, Tiger Blood Powder, Deer Tendon Pills... ninth-grade pills that aid Toughening Tendons Realm martial men in cultivation, need to be refined in several furnaces every day. They are simply a waste of this old man's time."

"Kid, once you come here, refine three furnaces a day."

"If a furnace explodes, I'll cover the material costs, so long as you do not blow up every single furnace."

"This old man will bear the profits and losses himself and open for you a great gate to pillcraft!"

"Are you willing?"

Huang Xuan was rich and imposing, giving a grand wave of his hand.

On the surface, he did not seem to be offering Ji Xiu any direct benefit.

But at the side, Zheng Jun's eyes were fixed wide open, and he nearly began drooling.

Pillcraft. Pill masters!

Getting started was difficult.

But if one wanted to truly refine something worthwhile, ensuring the materials did not go to waste—

Experience mattered even more!

Without refining several hundred furnaces, where would one get a seventy- or eighty-percent pill-forming rate?

Once the theory was sufficient, it became a matter of familiarity through practice.

Take the Leopard Fetus Pill. Each pill sold for thirty taels, while the ingredients alone cost fifteen taels.

In other words, one needed to ensure a fifty-percent pill-forming rate just to break even. That required pillcraft at Minor Accomplishment at the very least.

How could one forge a pill master without throwing several hundred taels of silver into it?

A fool's dream!

Bearing the profits and losses himself, providing the pill furnace and ingredients, letting you refine however you pleased!

This was the opportunity Zheng Jun had dreamed of, yet could never obtain.

At this, Ji Xiu's eyes gradually brightened.

What did it mean when a pillow arrived just as one was nodding off?

This was exactly it.

"I expected these mere ninth-grade pills to be nothing more than a waste of time before Elder Huang, who spends every day painstakingly pondering and studying qi pills."

"Before, no one could share his burdens, so it could not be helped."

"But now that I am here, I will surely help Elder Huang shoulder some of them, freeing up time for him to study the pill scriptures and achieve the rank of Qi Path Pill Master as soon as possible!"

Qi Path Pill Master!

Huang Xuan's breath caught, and he thought inwardly:

"Qi Path Pill Master? If that day comes, then when this old man returns to Jiangyin Prefecture, I too can hold my head high and no longer need to watch others' faces."

"Only, that 'Spirit Pill' formula is incomplete, damaged. If I could restore it, perhaps this unlucky predicament of mine might yet see a turn for the better..."

"Alas!"

At the thought, his gaze dimmed. But when he looked at Ji Xiu again, appreciation surfaced in his eyes.

"The kid knows how to talk."

"As long as you refine pills well every day and can fulfill the orders..."

"No matter what, this old man will leave one pill for you, so you will have pills to eat for Nourishing Blood and Forging Tendons alike!"

"If your Pile Stance digests them quickly, you can replenish the medicinal potency in one or two days. One pill a day—with such capital, tsk tsk, even some wealthy young masters in the prefecture are no better off."

One pill a day?

Hiss!

What extravagance!

Others could only eat one a month, while I could eat one every day?

"If that is the case, then the Hundred Days Foundation Establishment Master Duan spoke of—if Official Aristocracy can achieve it, then I..."

"May not be unable to achieve it either!"

Huang Xuan's promise made Ji Xiu clench his fists, his heart surging with emotion.