To become an Alchemist, one first had to possess soul power beyond that of ordinary people.
Alchemy was a tedious process that required enough patience and perseverance to deal with spirit herbs and pills day after day, year after year.
At the same time, controlling the fire was especially important during alchemy, and that required powerful soul power.
Mind Masters specialized in cultivating soul power, eventually developing Mind Power that could be used for both attack and defense.
With his mind made up, Chen Shi'an got to work.
Apart from visiting the border every three days, his unwavering cultivation routine, and Di Ting Badashan's guidance and instruction, he spent most of his time studying alchemy and practicing it himself.
With Jing Yuan's identity as cover, obtaining alchemical knowledge and pill formulas within the Earth Pill Sect was easy.
The slightly more difficult part was practicing alchemy.
Disciples of the Earth Pill Sect had to provide their own spirit herbs if they wanted to refine pills.
The Earth Pill Sect had a treasury with ample supplies of spirit herbs, all clearly priced.
The prices, however, were somewhat unfriendly.
Take the golden thread grass Chen Shi'an had used to lure Jing Yuan, for example. The Earth Pill Sect bought it for three taels of silver a stalk, then sold it to its disciples for four.
Simply passing it from one hand to the other earned them a whole tael.
The Earth Pill Sect had hundreds of disciples, and any who wanted to improve their alchemy had to buy spirit herbs.
Even if each person bought only one stalk a day, selling spirit herbs to its own disciples alone brought the Earth Pill Sect hundreds of taels of silver a day.
And the Earth Pill Sect's main way of making silver was selling