"All right, I'll be waiting!"
Shen Qianxun chuckled, clearly not taking Ning Chuan's words to heart.
Still, she was also thinking that she ought to refine the Meridian-Continuing Pill as soon as possible. Only then could she try to reconnect the meridians throughout Ning Chuan's body.
After a moment's thought, she said, "Ning Chuan, you were born with powerful mental strength and can control objects with your mind. You might be able to practice alchemy. My Shen family built its fortune on pills, and our Spirit Pill Hall is one of Flame Dragon City's three major pill shops!
"A two-star alchemist presides over the Spirit Pill Hall, too. His name is Duan Qiao, and his mastery of the Pill Dao is extraordinary! I'd like to send you there to become Master Duan's apprentice. Perhaps in a few years, you could become an alchemist yourself. What do you think?"
"Master Duan of the Spirit Pill Hall?"
Ning Chuan froze for a moment and was about to refuse. After all, he had inherited the Demon Emperor Asura's legacy and cultivation experience. Though Ning Chuan currently had no cultivation, when it came to his mastery of the Pill Dao, a two-star alchemist wasn't even fit to carry his shoes.
They wanted him to become a two-star alchemist's apprentice?
"Ning Chuan, don't set your sights higher than your abilities! Even I greatly admire Master Duan's mastery of the Pill Dao. As long as you study diligently under him, your talent for mental strength should allow you to become at least a one-star alchemist. Don't let this opportunity slip away!"
Shen Qianxun spoke earnestly.
"I wouldn't mind going to the Spirit Pill Hall! But could you lend me some silver?"
Ning Chuan smiled.
"Silver? What do you need it for?"
Shen Qianxun paused, then seemed to think of something, and her gaze turned dangerous.
"To buy some spirit herbs and learn alchemy, of course! Don't worry, I'll study the Pill Dao hard and won't disgrace you. Just lend me a few hundred thousand taels of silver, whatever you can spare!"
Ning Chuan chuckled.
He had worked out the costs. The spirit herbs needed to refine the Five-Element Marrow-Cleansing Pill were quite rare and would cost a considerable amount of silver.
Unfortunately, he was utterly penniless. Every month, he squandered all the silver Shen Qianxun gave him on drinking and debauchery.
"Buy spirit herbs? You want to visit the brothel again and curry favor with that courtesan, don't you?"
Shen Qianxun sneered.
"Courtesan? What courtesan?"
Ning Chuan froze for a moment.
"Get out!"
Shen Qianxun gritted her teeth in fury. Seeing Ning Chuan's innocent expression, she immediately concluded that he wanted silver to indulge in eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling again.
"Qianxun, I swear I won't go to a brothel! Just lend me some silver. Don't worry, I'll repay you tenfold in a few days! Or a hundredfold, if you like?"
Ning Chuan smiled bitterly, knowing that Shen Qianxun had misunderstood him.
"Out!"
Grinding her teeth in fury, Shen Qianxun grabbed the jade pillow from the bed and hurled it at Ning Chuan, sending him scurrying away like a rat with his hands over his head as he fled the room.
"Ah, I didn't manage to borrow any silver. How am I supposed to refine the Five-Element Marrow-Cleansing Pill?"
Ning Chuan felt rather helpless.
Whoosh!
Just then, something whistled through the air, and a banknote worth a hundred thousand taels flew out of the room!
"Ning Chuan, if I ever find out you've dared to visit that Zhang Xiaoxiao at the brothel again, I'll break your legs!"
Shen Qianxun's voice came through clenched teeth.
Overjoyed, Ning Chuan hurriedly said, "Thank you, my dear wife! Don't worry, that courtesan isn't even one ten-thousandth as good as you. I'd have to be out of my mind to go looking for her!"
In the end, Shen Qianxun had softened.
With the hundred-thousand-tael banknote in hand, Ning Chuan happily left the Shen residence to buy spirit herbs and refine the Five-Element Marrow-Cleansing Pill.
"That bastard!"
Shen Qianxun's teeth itched with hatred.
Then she seemed to remember something. A trace of complicated emotion entered her eyes, and she murmured, "Perhaps being an ordinary person isn't so bad! The Martial Dao is cruel and cold, and I don't have much time left. I hope you can live out your life in peace!"
There were dozens of spirit herb shops in Flame Dragon City.
Ning Chuan entered a spirit herb shop called Benevolence Hall, but a short while later, he emerged with a livid face and a stack of banknotes clutched to his chest.
"Ning Chuan, you bastard!"
Ning Chuan cursed aloud, his eyes filled with helplessness.
The hundred thousand taels in banknotes he had carried were now ninety-five thousand.
Upon seeing Ning Chuan, Benevolence Hall's shopkeeper had immediately brought men to surround him, then produced his old IOUs and demanded repayment.
Heaven only knew how much money that bastard Ning Chuan had owed!
Ning Chuan had only managed to get away after repaying five thousand taels, and Benevolence Hall's shopkeeper had refused to sell him any spirit herbs, no matter what he said.
Ning Chuan had never imagined that his past reputation was so utterly rotten!
"If I visit a few more spirit herb shops, won't my hundred thousand taels vanish entirely? Heaven only knows how much that bastard owed! Looks like I'll have to think of something!"
With a grim expression, Ning Chuan returned to the Shen residence.
Soon, he left the Shen residence again, dressed in black robes and a hooded cloak that concealed him completely.
This time, instead of visiting a spirit herb shop, he headed straight for the Treasure Pavilion.
The Treasure Pavilion sold all manner of heavenly treasures, earthly rarities, spirit pills, and miraculous medicines, with branches throughout the Great Xia Kingdom.
It claimed to have a branch in every city.
In Flame Dragon City, the Treasure Pavilion was unquestionably the foremost establishment, with the Shen family's Spirit Pill Hall and the Li Family's Earthfire Workshop both ranking beneath it.
When Ning Chuan arrived at the Treasure Pavilion, an elderly man immediately greeted him with a broad smile. The sight of Ning Chuan wrapped tightly in black robes made that smile deepen.
Flame Dragon City stood near the Great Wilderness Mountains. Many martial artists entered the mountains to hunt demonic beasts and search for treasures, then returned to recuperate in Flame Dragon City, where trade flourished.
He had mistaken Ning Chuan for a Monster-Hunting Martial Artist from the Great Wilderness Mountains.
Such Monster-Hunting Martial Artists generally possessed considerable wealth.
"I need these spirit herbs, three portions of each!"
Ning Chuan lowered his voice and spoke hoarsely.
Without wasting a word, he handed the elderly man a list he had prepared beforehand of the dozens of spirit herbs needed for the Five-Element Marrow-Cleansing Pill.
The elderly man examined it carefully, then smiled. "Honored guest, these spirit herbs are quite precious, but our Treasure Pavilion happens to have them all! Three portions of each will cost ninety-one thousand two hundred taels of silver. I'll take the liberty of rounding that down for you. How does ninety thousand taels sound?"
This was a major sale. Just what he would expect from a Monster-Hunting Martial Artist!
"That will do! Also, I'd like to rent an alchemy chamber here. Would that be possible?"
Ning Chuan breathed an inward sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Shen Qianxun had been generous. It would have been embarrassing if he hadn't had enough silver.
"Rent an alchemy chamber? Could you be an alchemist, honored guest?"
The elderly man trembled, and the look in his eyes changed at once.
"You could say that! I want the best alchemy chamber. How much do you charge?"
Ning Chuan gave a noncommittal reply.
"Master, please follow me! Our Treasure Pavilion has three grades of alchemy chambers, from one-star, the lowest, to three-star, the highest. A Three-Star Alchemy Room costs five thousand taels of silver per day!"
The elderly man spoke with the utmost respect.
Despite his own cultivation in the spirit sea realm, he could not discern the depth of Ning Chuan's cultivation at all. Ning Chuan looked just like an ordinary person with no cultivation whatsoever.
This had to be a martial artist beyond the spirit sea realm. Could he be in the Dao foundation realm?
Before you continue