In Good Condition

Seeing the parts inside the artifact refining cauldron, Yi Xuan knew his modifications to it had been a great success.

His nerves eased, and as soon as he relaxed, he felt a trace of drowsiness. After all, he had gone a day and a night without rest, which was still somewhat tiring for someone in the Qi Refining Realm.

Yi Xuan checked how many Spirit Stones and how much material the cauldron had consumed, then added some more. After adjusting a few settings on the screen, he returned to his bedroom.

In any case, he had already verified that the cauldron worked. Although it had only succeeded once and problems might still crop up later, Yi Xuan was not too worried.

Or rather, Yi Xuan had considerable confidence in No. 01's design ability.

Yi Xuan slept until evening before getting up.

He had originally planned to go out and treat himself to a meal, but the moment he thought of the artifact refining cauldron in the secret chamber, he lost his appetite. He took a Grain Avoidance Pill from his Storage Bag and swallowed it.

Refreshed and full of vigor, Yi Xuan hurried into the secret chamber. The artifact refining cauldron had fallen silent. He figured it must have automatically entered standby mode after finishing the parts, and a closer look proved him right.

He went up to the artifact refining cauldron and opened the outlet. Seven different kinds of parts were laid out on the flat surface inside, ten of each.

Comparing them with the three-dimensional model in his mind, Yi Xuan found nothing wrong with the parts the cauldron had produced.

He saw no reason to wait any longer and immediately set about assembling the grenades. At the same time, he replenished the materials and Spirit Stones, letting the cauldron continue processing materials.

In less than two hours, ten grenades sat quietly on the workbench before Yi Xuan, identical to the one he had given Mu Anqing.

Yi Xuan nodded in satisfaction, then checked the processing time for ten sets of parts on the cauldron. He concluded that, if it worked twelve hours a day, it could produce thirty grenades a day. Of course, he would also have to assemble them as the parts were made.

In other words, as long as he had enough orders, Yi Xuan could earn 3,300 Low-Grade Spirit Stones a day from the grenades.

Yi Xuan could almost see himself becoming the richest man in the cultivation world, and he felt a little excited.

Seeing that the batch of parts being processed in the cauldron would take another ten to twelve hours to finish, Yi Xuan was in no hurry.

For once, he actually returned to his bedroom and began cultivating.

When the first ray of morning sunlight spilled into his bedroom, Yi Xuan, who had cultivated all night, stretched and opened his eyes.

Although he had not put much effort into cultivating that night, his realm had not fallen behind. Sure enough, he had reached the eighty-first level of the Qi Refining Realm.

At five extra years of life for each level of the Qi Refining Realm, Yi Xuan had now gained 405 years of life from it. He had joined the Azure Cloud Sect at twenty, and it had been nearly twenty years since then. Based on the average ordinary person's lifespan of eighty years in this world, Yi Xuan could still live another 445 years.

Yi Xuan curled his lip and thought with a sigh, Even counting from birth, that's only 485 years. I'm still fifteen years short of the Golden Core Realm's five hundred! Looks like I still need to work hard!

In the secret chamber, Yi Xuan found the parts complete. He replenished the materials once again and continued processing them, then assembled the finished parts.

After finishing the assembly, Yi Xuan noticed something: he seemed to be getting faster at assembling grenades. Before, each one had taken anywhere from ten to fourteen minutes.

But this time, each had taken nine to twelve minutes. Practice really did make perfect.

Yi Xuan left the secret chamber and walked to the mouth of the alley where his courtyard stood, looking out at the street. It was already bustling with vendors selling their wares, pedestrians coming and going, and children running about at play.

Yi Xuan was very fond of this feeling, so full of the sights and sounds of everyday life. Although he had been in the cultivation world for twenty years, he still could not bring himself to leave the mortal world behind as cultivators sought to do.

Perhaps it was because Yi Xuan could not pull himself free of the mortal world that he was destined to become a Rootless Person!

Yi Xuan beckoned to a half-grown boy by the roadside. The boy pointed at himself in surprise.

When he saw Yi Xuan nod, he hurried over and said, "Immortal master! Were you calling me?"

Yi Xuan had not expected the little fellow to recognize him as an Azure Cloud Sect disciple at a glance. He smiled and asked, "How did you know I was an immortal master?"

The little fellow looked at Yi Xuan's waist, and Yi Xuan immediately understood. He had hung his sect disciple's token there. No wonder the boy had recognized him.

Yi Xuan put the token back in his Storage Bag and asked the boy, "What's your name?"

"In answer to the immortal master, this humble one is called Liang Shi!"

"Nice name!" Yi Xuan said with a nod. It was not that the boy's name was really so good, but ordinary farm children in this world tended to have names like Zhang San or Goudan.

"Can you read?"

Seeing the boy nod, Yi Xuan went on, "Why aren't you home? What are you wandering around the streets for? Where are your family's adults?"

Liang Shi lowered his head and shook it. "I don't have a home anymore. The adults are all dead. I fled here!"

From Liang Shi's words, Yi Xuan understood that the boy must have had some unpleasant experiences, but that had nothing to do with him.

Yi Xuan had called the boy over because he could tell from his eyes that he was different from the other children on the streets. Yi Xuan guessed he had studied.

Yi Xuan nodded and continued, "Liang Shi, was it? If I gave you a job, would you take it? Do it well, and I'll give you all this kind of work from now on."

Liang Shi nodded, then asked cautiously, "I'm willing, but please tell me what the job is, immortal master. If it involves ill-gotten gains, I'd rather not do it!"

Yi Xuan had not expected a half-grown boy to know what ill-gotten gains were. He smiled and replied, "Don't worry. I just need you to run some errands for me. How could there be any ill-gotten gains? You're young, but you have plenty of ideas. Even if there were ill-gotten gains, who would come looking for a half-grown boy like you?"

Hearing this, Liang Shi rubbed his head and smiled, inwardly nodding in agreement with Yi Xuan.

Seeing him like that, Yi Xuan handed him the sheet of paper in his hand. It was the order sheet from the earlier grenade orders.

"See? The orders here have names, quantities, and addresses. Starting from the top, go to their addresses and tell them they can collect their goods. They know where to go. Once the quantities beside the names of the people you've notified add up to thirty, you don't need to notify anyone else. Come back here. See the alley behind me?" Yi Xuan asked, pointing to it.

Liang Shi followed his pointing finger with his eyes, then nodded.

"Once the quantity reaches thirty, come down this alley. The last courtyard is my home. Come there to collect your payment! Understood?"

Yi Xuan had spoken clearly, and Liang Shi nodded, but he looked at the order sheet in his hand with some difficulty. "Immortal master, quite a few addresses here are inside the Azure Cloud Sect's mountain gate. I can't get in!"

Yi Xuan realized this too, so he took out his sect token again and pressed it into Liang Shi's hand. "That should take care of it. If the disciples guarding the mountain see how young you are and question you, just say an immortal master sent you on an errand!"

Liang Shi nodded and, clutching Yi Xuan's token, ran toward the mountain gate without looking back.

Yi Xuan, meanwhile, sauntered off to find a small eatery for breakfast.