The left-wing courtyard was also known as the Medicinal Fragrance Courtyard within the Wei estate.
That was because it served as the Wei Lineage's base for refining pills.
The person in charge was Wei Yi's mother, Shen Qiulan. She was also the only fourth-grade pill refiner in the entire Wei Lineage.
Fourth-grade pill refiners were already quite rare; only a handful could be found in all of Jinling. As such, Shen Qiulan held an extremely high position in the Wei Lineage.
Wei Tianyang had remained as steady as Mount Tai in his position as the Wei Clan's head all these years. Aside from his own formidable strength, which left no one daring to provoke him, Shen Qiulan's support was another very important reason. After all, the Wei Lineage's higher-ups had to beg Shen Qiulan to help refine any high-grade pills they wanted. How could they dare truly offend the couple? As for replacing the Wei Lineage's young master, they had seized upon Wei Yi's crippling weakness: his inability to cultivate.
"Mother, were you looking for me?"
Wei Yi arrived at the left-wing courtyard.
"Yes, I have something to discuss with you. What did your father tell you?" Shen Qiulan asked as she motioned for Wei Yi to sit down.
"Well... Father didn't really say anything."
At those words, Shen Qiulan's expression immediately darkened. "What, have you made up your mind to side with your father?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Wei Yi smiled wryly.
Left with no choice, he could only repeat what his father had said.
"Hmph, that old fool."
After hearing him out, Shen Qiulan grumbled irritably.
Then she turned toward Wei Yi, a smile returning to her face.
"Here's the situation. I want to teach you pill refining, but your father refuses to agree, no matter what. He's afraid it'll distract you and slow down your martial cultivation instead."
Shen Qiulan gave a concise explanation.
Only then did Wei Yi finally understand what was going on.
He couldn't help asking curiously, "Mother, why did you suddenly decide to teach me pill refining?"
Indeed, Wei Yi was already seventeen this year. If she had wanted to teach him, there had been no need to wait until now.
"After your bloodline awakens, not only does your physical constitution improve dramatically, but your mental power also increases severalfold. Haven't you noticed?"
"Mental power is the most important thing in pill refining. Yours already far exceeds that of your peers. You're absolutely a promising seedling for a pill refiner."
"What do you think? Are you willing to learn pill refining from me? All these years, I've never had a true successor to inherit my mantle. Wouldn't this be the perfect chance to pass everything on to you? Of course, it absolutely won't interfere with your martial cultivation."
Shen Qiulan looked at Wei Yi expectantly.
Although Wei Yi had little interest in pill refining, he couldn't help agreeing when he saw the anticipation in his mother's eyes.
"All right, but I can't say for certain whether I have any talent for it."
As for whether it would interfere with his martial cultivation, Wei Yi wasn't worried.
With the game system, he didn't need to spend much time cultivating painstakingly at all.
"Ding! Player Wei Yi has unlocked the Pill Refining Subclass System."
Suddenly, the game system's notification sounded.
Wei Yi perked up, suddenly coming to his senses. How had he forgotten about the game system?
The game system not only had a main class system for cultivating and leveling up in martial arts, but also various subclass systems. Pill refining was one of them.
Player: Wei Yi Pill refiner grade: none Pill refining: LV0 Pill refining success rate: 0% for pills of any grade
Looking at the newly added Pill Refining Subclass System on his system panel, Wei Yi couldn't help smiling.
With this subclass system, he no longer needed any talent for pill refining. In his eyes, this subclass system was the most badass pill-refining talent of all.
"Mother, take me to see how pills are refined first."
Wei Yi made his request eagerly.
Seeing Wei Yi suddenly become so interested, Shen Qiulan was a little surprised.
Still, she considered it a good thing. After all, interest was the best teacher. With interest, why worry about not learning well?
"Come, I'll take you to have a look first. But remember to keep quiet. You mustn't disturb the others while they're refining pills."
As she spoke, Shen Qiulan led Wei Yi into the pill-refining room in the left-wing courtyard.
In fact, pill refiners generally wouldn't allow outsiders to observe their refining process and learn from it.
But this was the Wei Clan. These pill refiners were practically all Wei Lineage members, and more than half were Shen Qiulan's apprentices and disciples. They were eager for Shen Qiulan to come watch so she could give them some pointers.
"Ding! Player Wei Yi has observed and studied the pill-refining process. Pill refining experience +20." "Ding! Player Wei Yi has observed and studied the pill-refining process. Pill refining experience +15." "Ding! Player Wei Yi has observed and studied the pill-refining process. Pill refining experience +22."
After an entire day of observing and learning-or rather, an entire day of frantically grinding experience-
The data on Wei Yi's Pill Refining Subclass System panel became:
Player: Wei Yi Pill refiner grade: first grade Pill refining: LV7 Pill refining success rate: 70% for first-grade pills
First-grade pill refiners were also known as pill-refining apprentices.
Most of the people in the left-wing courtyard were at this level.
After just one day of observing and learning, Wei Yi's skill in pill refining had already surpassed that of most pill-refining apprentices.
His success rate for refining first-grade pills was as high as 70%, a level that ordinary second-grade or even third-grade pill refiners could not achieve.
Of course, Wei Yi was still a first-grade pill refiner, because he couldn't refine second-grade pills. If he forced an attempt, the result would basically be one exploded batch after another.
The grade of pills one could refine determined one's grade as a pill refiner. This was the universally known standard.
"Mother, I'd like to try refining some pills myself. Would that be all right?"
How could observing and learning yield as much experience as getting involved and practicing himself? So early the next morning, Wei Yi made his request to his mother.
"What? You want to start practicing?"
"Well, isn't that a little too soon? Yi'er, why don't we study for a while longer?"
Hearing Wei Yi's request, even Shen Qiulan, who had always doted on him, couldn't help widening her eyes.
Had it been anyone else, she probably would have slapped them outright.
He wanted to try refining pills after just one day of learning?
Wasn't that trying to run before he had learned to walk?
Even with her own top-notch talent for pill refining, she had studied for several months before she began trying to refine pills.
Her plan for Wei Yi had also been to have him study for a month before giving him the chance to practice. She hadn't expected him to want to start refining pills on the second day. Wasn't he just fooling around? Shen Qiulan didn't know whether to laugh or cry...
"How about this? Let me try refining three batches of pills first."
"If even one of them succeeds, you'll agree to my request. What do you think?"
Seeing his mother's expression, Wei Yi also knew his request was a little excessive. His eyes shifted, and he quickly came up with another proposal.
"I'll give you five attempts. You'll refine the simplest kind, Body Tempering Pills. You watched how they were refined many times yesterday. As long as you succeed with one batch, I'll do as you ask."
Shen Qiulan made the decision on the spot.
One successful batch out of five-a twenty percent success rate. It didn't seem like a demanding requirement, but that actually depended on whom it was being asked of.
For someone who had only studied pill refining for a single day, never mind twenty percent, even a ten percent success rate was an extremely difficult requirement.
Because for such a person, successfully refining pills was essentially impossible.
Wei Yi, however, was all smiles.
Body Tempering Pills were also first-grade pills. With his pill-refining skill and seventy percent success rate, succeeding once in five batches was simply far too easy a requirement.
"All right, no problem."
Wei Yi agreed without the slightest hesitation.
Mother and son exchanged a glance, and both immediately smiled.
But the meaning behind their smiles was entirely different.