Obtaining an Alchemist's Work Badge

Tang Yuan calculated the time and figured the Xi Household would surely send someone looking in the next few days. It didn't matter whether he lived or died, but the fishing boat was the Xi Household's precious treasure. Over more than ten generations, the Xi Household had accumulated fewer than two hundred spirit fishing boats.

Tang Yuan had left Ghost Return Island three days earlier. After traveling for a full day, he had clung to the Spirit-Floating Paulownia Wood and drifted east with the ocean current.

Aboard the fishing boat, Tang Yuan gradually opened his eyes under Kang Cang, Liu Hanchuan, and Xi Yunshu's expectant gazes.

Before Tang Yuan could thank them, Xi Yunshu said in annoyance, "Where's the fishing boat you rented?"

Tang Yuan snorted coldly and pointed to the black iron chain attached to the spirit-floating paulownia wood in the water beside them. "I was lucky enough to find a floating log and escape the wind and waves of the Ghost-Fearing Sea.

"I was afraid the wind and waves would damage the fishing boat, so I put a boulder in it, sank it underwater, and kept it chained with this iron chain..."

Kang Cang immediately pulled on the chain and, sure enough, hauled the fishing boat out of the water. He sighed softly.

"Tang Yuan, you're a spirit fishing worker for the Xi Household. You should know how merciless the sea is, and you should know even better how treacherous the Ghost-Fearing Sea is.

"I heard you came to the Ghost-Fearing Sea to catch Red Spirit Eels.

"Aren't you afraid of the wind and waves here? You must understand, even if you catch Red Spirit Eels and sell them for Spirit Stones, you have to be alive to spend them!" Xi Yunshu shook her head. She thought Tang Yuan was a money grubber.

"Thank you for your concern, Fairy Xi. As a fisherman, I know better than anyone that the bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish.

"Fortune favors those who brave danger. My fate is mine to command, not heaven's." The corners of Tang Yuan's mouth lifted slightly. He took a somewhat battered Storage Bag from his robes and shook it.

Clatter, clatter.

A pile of things fell onto the boat.

"Wow, so many Spirit Stones! There must be nearly three hundred!

"And there's a spirit sword, though it's a little damaged.

"Heavens, there's even a Pill Furnace!" Liu Hanchuan swallowed, his eyes shining.

"Heh heh, there are also two Jade Slips about alchemy in the Storage Bag, but I won't show those to everyone." Tang Yuan looked at Xi Yunshu with a smug expression and explained, "I don't remember which day it was, but anyway, a huge wave slammed me down to the bottom of the sea that day. While I was all muddled, I somehow grabbed hold of a cultivator's Storage Bag, and these things were inside it.

"So you see, blessings lie where misfortune lurks. I went fishing in the Ghost-Fearing Sea and didn't catch a single fish. I nearly drowned, but I got this Storage Bag instead."

"Judging by these things, this Storage Bag probably belonged to an Alchemist at the Qi Refinement realm.

"That Alchemist probably perished in the Ghost-Fearing Sea, and probably within the last hundred years.

"Not counting the Jade Slips for the alchemy cultivation method, the Spirit Stones, spirit sword, and Pill Furnace are probably worth about four hundred Spirit Stones.

"Ah, of the four arts of cultivation, Alchemists really are the wealthy ones," Kang Cang said as he examined the Pill Furnace.

"Hmph, Tang Yuan, you were lucky this time. You might not be so lucky next time." Xi Yunshu pursed her lips, a little envious herself. Four hundred Spirit Stones really could be considered a huge fortune.

A contracted spirit worker of the Xi Household could save only three or five Spirit Stones in a year. Even for a direct descendant of the Xi Household, a year's cultivation resources amounted to no more than twenty Spirit Stones in all.

Xi Yunshu was a direct descendant among direct descendants. Though she did indeed have a superior Spirit Root, it was because her three elder brothers lacked ambition that her father, the household head, had directed all his resources toward her. Only thanks to her allowance of a hundred Spirit Stones a year had she reached the Qi Refining First Layer at sixteen.

The Xi Household's Foundation Establishment cultivator was nearing the end of his lifespan, and the other cultivation Lineages were eyeing them like tigers stalking their prey. Xi Yunshu knew how difficult things were for her father, so she had volunteered to help handle some Lineage affairs.

Xi Yunshu glanced at the Pill Furnace in Kang Cang's hands, then frowned slightly and looked at Tang Yuan. "Tang Yuan, since misfortune brought you a blessing and you obtained a Pill Furnace and an alchemy cultivation method, why not try to become an Alchemist?

"First, obtaining these things shows that you have an affinity with alchemy.

"Second, becoming an Alchemist would be a tremendous help to your cultivation.

"Third, if you really do become an Alchemist, you'll be better able to do your part for the Xi Household. In the future, you might even become a guest elder of the Xi Household."

Tang Yuan smiled inwardly. My self-injury ruse has achieved its purpose. Now I can improve my cultivation quickly without raising suspicion.

There were only a few direct descendants among the Xi Household's direct descendants, so Tang Yuan naturally knew Xi Yunshu. He just hadn't expected her to come this time. But this was even better. Since Xi Yunshu had suggested he become an Alchemist of her own accord, it spared him the trouble of applying in the future.

"Thank you for your kindness, Fairy Xi, but as a spirit fishing worker for the Xi Household, I still have a monthly fishing quota to meet." Tang Yuan deliberately looked troubled.

"Foolish! To the Xi Household, an Alchemist is worth far more than a fishing worker." Without considering Kang Cang and Liu Hanchuan's feelings in the slightest, Xi Yunshu patted her chest confidently. "As long as you want to become an Alchemist, I'll take care of everything involved in handing over your work."

"Then many thanks, Fairy Xi." Tang Yuan immediately cupped his hands in salute.

After putting away the things he had "picked up," Tang Yuan rested on the fishing boat for a little under an hour. Then he took twenty-two Spirit Stones from his Storage Bag and gave six each to Kang Cang and Liu Hanchuan, and ten to Xi Yunshu. He explained that this was a custom in his mortal hometown: if you found money, you had to spend it as soon as possible, and everyone who saw it got a share.

"Tang Yuan, I knew I was right about you. How generous!" Kang Cang happily accepted the Spirit Stones. He had worked for the Xi Household for over sixty years and had only managed to save a hundred and five Spirit Stones.

"Tang Yuan, we were classmates. Although I was born a few months before you, from now on you're my own big brother. I'll be at your beck and call from now on," Liu Hanchuan said with a sincere expression. If he followed Tang Yuan, perhaps he could save enough in five years to buy the Spiritual Qi needed to break through to Qi Refinement.

"You said these Spirit Stones were a lucky share for everyone who saw them, but why did you give them six each and me ten?

"Is it just because I'm a direct descendant of the Xi Household? I'll only take six too." Xi Yunshu pursed her lips.

Seeing Xi Yunshu suffer from the psychological hang-up common to second-generation rich kids, Tang Yuan hurriedly explained. Six were lucky money for being there to see the find; one was payment for operating the fishing boat; and the other three were compensation for Xi Yunshu's efforts. After all, changing Tang Yuan's status from a lowly Xi Household spirit worker to a Xi Household Alchemist would take quite a bit of time and effort.

Xi Yunshu was, after all, a Qi Refinement cultivator and the Xi Household's eldest young lady. Her offer to help him become an Alchemist might have been nothing more than a passing fancy.

But if he paid Xi Yunshu in advance, then as an eldest young lady who had never earned so much as a grain of spirit sand for her Lineage, she might actually put her heart into helping, if only to show she wasn't a freeloader.

"Oh, so these extra three Spirit Stones are my payment, compensation for my time. I've earned them.

"All right, I'll take them.

"Hehe, I can earn money for the Lineage too...

"Don't worry, Tang Yuan. I'll make sure you get an Alchemist's work badge from the Xi Household.

"If it comes to it, I'll cry, throw a tantrum, and threaten to hang myself in front of my father, the household head." Xi Yunshu lifted her chin proudly.

Tang Yuan and the other two exchanged glances. All they could do was chime in with praise...

Sure enough, things were easy to get done when you had money and connections. The young Xi Yunshu worked quickly. In less than seven days, the Xi Household head approved Tang Yuan's change of status to Xi Household Alchemist, on the conditions that Tang Yuan would bear all costs and keep any profits from his alchemy, including the materials required; moreover, he had to refine a Spirit Gathering Pill, the most common pill used by Meridian Opening cultivators, within a year. Otherwise, he could only return to being a fishing worker...

In the early hours of the sixteenth of that month, Tang Yuan was in the cellar beneath his bed. With a thought, he used the mysterious spoon in his sea of consciousness to take two hundred live Red Spirit Eels with him to the Demon Realm...