Cultivation: From Laborer to Immortal Venerable

This ranking, an improvement of four spots from the previously displayed eleventh place, was within the normal range.

Wang Erniu looked at Zhou Xun excitedly. Now he could work with his Big Brother Zhou.

Zhou Xun smiled slightly, meeting Wei Shangyi's disbelieving gaze.

"Impossible!" Wei Shangyi felt his brain wasn't working properly.

He had clearly seen Zhou Xun enter Alchemy Room B-5, a detail he and his elder brother had personally instructed Lin Hongjiu on.

Now, Zhou Xun had still successfully formed nine pills, smoothly becoming a Pill Refinement Apprentice.

As for himself, he had specifically avoided the time of the Earth Fire eruption, yet he was still attacked by it.

"Could it be that Lin Hongjiu and Zhou Xun colluded!"

Thinking of Zhou Xun's meaningful smile just now, he suddenly felt an immense conspiracy closing in on him.

Soon, all fifteen names were announced.

Wei Shangyi was not among them.

At this moment, Wei Shangyi had lost the desire to listen further.

He just wanted to find his elder brother quickly and see how to salvage the situation.

Zhou Xun, on the other hand, was in a very good mood. Everything was developing according to his plan.

Becoming a Pill Refinement Apprentice, then breaking through to become a first-tier Pill Refinement Master in a few years, thereby gaining access to a large quantity of Spirit Herbs and improving his Spiritual Root aptitude.

After that, he would break through to the mid-stage and late-stage Qi Condensation, or even the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Everything was proceeding smoothly.

"Congratulations to all of you for becoming official Pill Refinement Apprentices of our Danbao Pavilion!"

Lin Zhishan smiled slightly and began to introduce the benefits for the apprentices.

"The first thing you get as a Pill Refinement Apprentice is your monthly salary, which has all been increased to 40 Spirit Essence!"

This was much higher than the 30 Spirit Essence Zhou Xun received when he was a Spirit Contract Laborer at the Mystic Talisman Pavilion.

Looking at the numbers alone, the difference might not seem significant.

However, as a Spirit Contract Laborer, one had to work from dawn till dusk, toiling day and night, just to earn those 30 Spirit Essence.

Whereas Pill Refinement Apprentices only needed to complete the most basic alchemy tasks to receive the 40 Spirit Essence.

Furthermore, the reason they joined the Danbao Pavilion was not for this monthly income of 40 Spirit Essence.

It was for the bright future of becoming a Pill Refinement Master.

"The second thing is that our Danbao Pavilion's library will be open to all of you!"

"You must know that our Danbao Pavilion houses more than one first-tier high-grade pill refinement inheritance. Even second-tier inheritances can be exchanged, as long as your contribution points are sufficient!"

As soon as Lin Zhishan finished speaking, the crowd fell silent.

A first-tier high-grade pill refinement inheritance was enough to create a first-tier high-grade Pill Refinement Master.

Such a Pill Master would be treated as an honored guest even by Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Not to mention second-tier inheritances.

These were treasures at the Foundation Establishment Stage level.

This clearly showed the Danbao Pavilion's great generosity this time.

"The Danbao Pavilion's unreserved cultivation of alchemy talents is my opportunity!" Zhou Xun thought to himself.

Grandmaster Yun Ku's status as a second-tier mid-grade Pill Refinement Master, in a place like White Cloud Immortal City, which had True Core powerhouses, made him one of the most elite figures.

As the saying goes, it's good to have a strong backer.

"Opportunities should not be missed!"

Others felt the same way.

If they seized this opportunity, perhaps they too could become figures like Grandmaster Yun Ku.

The faces of the newly promoted Pill Refinement Apprentices flushed with excitement.

As for the fifteen who were not selected, their eyes gleamed with envy.

Especially Wei Shangyi.

He couldn't stop regretting:

"If I had participated in the assessment according to the plan, I would probably be like them now, a Pill Refinement Apprentice!"

Thinking of the second-tier pill refinement inheritance, his heart ached even more.

"After discussing the benefits, it's time to talk about your obligations." Lin Zhishan changed the topic.

"As members of the Danbao Pavilion, the first and most important rule is that you must not leak what you learn to anyone, not even to other Pill Refinement Apprentices!"

"Those who violate this order will have their cultivation abolished and be expelled from the Danbao Pavilion!" As he spoke, he released his aura as a late-stage Qi Condensation cultivator.

Everyone trembled.

Without cultivation, his fate in the dog-eat-dog Red Leaf Square was obvious.

"The second rule is that everyone must complete the tasks assigned by the pavilion each month. Of course, if you have free time, you can also take on other tasks, all of which can earn contribution points!"

"I don't need to repeat what contribution points are used for, right!"

"Of course, it's to exchange for second-tier inheritances!" everyone shouted in their hearts.

Lin Zhishan looked at the excited expressions of the crowd, unsurprised.

He then turned and left. Before leaving, he cast a glance at Zhou Xun with a hint of encouragement.

After that, Zhou Xun began his ordinary life of refining pills.

One year later.

Zhou Xun had completely integrated into the Danbao Pavilion.

Among the fifteen pill refinement apprentices, three had successfully advanced to become low-grade first-tier pill refinement masters.

Zhou Xun was not among them.

For him, a ranking that was neither too high nor too low was more in line with his situation.

It allowed him to avoid attention while still receiving normal training.

In the cultivation room at his home in Green Willow Alley.

Zhou Xun, clad in white robes, sat down cross-legged.

In front of him was a Qi-Inducing Grass.

After a year, he could clearly feel that the essence of the previous Spirit Gathering Grass had been completely integrated.

This time, he had specifically purchased a Qi-Inducing Grass to improve his Spiritual Root.

Zhou Xun circulated the Ningshun Sutra and quickly extracted the essence of the Qi-Inducing Grass.

Then, he guided it towards his body.

This time, the light points integrated smoothly.

Zhou Xun once again experienced that feeling of "sublimation."

The difference was that this time the feeling was extremely weak, barely noticeable.

Zhou Xun frowned, his expression quite displeased.

This improvement was very unsatisfactory.

He then circulated the Essence Cultivation Art, and as expected, the efficiency of spiritual energy conversion had hardly increased. If he hadn't had a keen sense, he might not have noticed the subtle difference.

He had spent spirit herbs worth one hundred and fifty Spirit Essence.

Yet, his Spiritual Root had barely improved.

Zhou Xun had two guesses for this result:

The first was that the Ningshun Sutra's improvement to Spiritual Root aptitude was only effective the first time, and subsequent effects were minimal. This was the outcome Zhou Xun least wanted to see.

The second was that the Qi-Inducing Grass was of too low a grade and could no longer bring substantial improvement to Spiritual Roots of medium grade or higher.

This possibility was also the highest. This phenomenon had occurred before when strengthening the Pigu Pill; the more essence integrated, the lower the resulting improvement.

Only by using essence from higher-grade spirit herbs could significant improvement continue.

However, whether this was also true for Spiritual Roots remained to be verified.

"Next, I still need to earn more Spirit Stones to buy higher-grade spirit herbs!"

Zhou Xun sighed.

Over the past year, by selling Pigu Pills and Qi Induction Pills, he had accumulated about forty Spirit Stones.

Among cultivators in the mid-stage of Qi Condensation, this was considered upper-middle.