Chapter 18 Alchemy 3 Fellow Daoist, would you like to buy some medicine?
"So it turns out that the seven-leaf lingzhi in the gate was obtained because of you..."
After hearing Xu Xing's explanation, Wen Lu felt that bringing Wen Yao to Yaoguang Courtyard was absolutely the right decision. However, the main reason was Xu Xing's character; she could have easily kept such a precious item from her.
Wen Lu carefully took the leaves and immediately put them into the spirit box for safekeeping, intending to give them to a trustworthy alchemist friend to refine the antidote. With this, Wen Yao would be saved!
She took a few deep breaths to calm her excited emotions and solemnly bowed to Xu Xing.
Xu Xing quickly stood on tiptoe and lifted her up, saying, "Senior, there's no need for that. I consider A Yao a friend."
Wen Lu said earnestly, "I owe you a favor. If you ever ask me for anything in the future, I will do my best to help you if it is within my power."
Xu Xing knew that Wen Lu didn't have anything good at the moment, and she didn't expect anything in return. These leaves were medicine, and medicine was meant to save lives. Besides, Wen Yao was so well-behaved; it would be such a pity if she died young.
"That Azure Flame Beast today..."
Xu Xing thought about it and felt that the person behind this matter would not stop there, so he had to remind Wen Lu to take precautions as soon as possible.
“Today, Yao and I were standing at the entrance of Xichen Residence, the furthest away from the Azure Flame Beast, yet it ignored everyone else and charged straight at us. It was really strange.”
Although the Azure Flame Beast is covered in flames, it is only at the second tier. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators can subdue it, yet it ended up in a place like the Immortal Academy, where all the disciples are at the Qi Refining stage...
Moreover, the academy is closed today, and the disciples are not attending classes in the temple. Most of the instructors are also not in the academy. This timing is too coincidental, and Wen Lu has some doubts.
She has been working tirelessly for the Seven-Leaf Ganoderma during this time, which is something many cultivators can easily find out. If the person who wanted to harm A Yao was worried that she would get the antidote, and that's why they used the Azure Flame Beast to make a move, then all the unusual things would be explained.
Thinking of this, Wen Lu's face grew even colder.
Xu Xing wiped the pastry crumbs from Wen Yao's mouth and reminded her intentionally, "This is the first time A Yao has come to Xichenju to see me today."
“She usually hangs out with her seniors. I noticed she seemed a little unhappy, so I asked her what was wrong. She said that I had gone to see ‘bad people,’ and she felt a little aggrieved, which is why she came to me.”
Hearing this, Wen Yao pouted, buried herself in Xu Xing's arms, and muttered, "I don't like it when Mommy is with bad people..."
She was already fifteen years old and tall, but she insisted on snuggling into the arms of Xu Xing, who was much smaller than her. She looked really cute, but Wen Lu couldn't laugh.
Bad guy...
Wen Lu's face was as cold as frost. Could it be that he had tampered with A Yao's body?
Seeing Wen Lu's expression, Xu Xing knew that she already had someone she suspected, which put her at ease. She had no intention of inquiring about Wen Lu's grudges with others, so she pretended not to know.
"Alright, alright~ Mother understands, and will not take A-Yao to see him again." Wen Lu gently stroked Wen Yao's cheek.
Then she rummaged through her storage bag and pulled out several manuals on the Five Elements Techniques, handing them to Xu Xing. "You're not just cultivating the Fire Elemental Root, are you?"
Xu Xing pursed his lips and remained silent, feeling as if he were facing the teacher who had taught him in his past life, with a sense of tension about to be criticized.
"What I said earlier about how difficult it is for fellow cultivators to cultivate with multiple spiritual energy sources is not an exaggeration. There are indeed very few people in the Jade Cloud Sect who cultivate in this way, but... it's not that there aren't any."
Xu Xing is only at the first level of Qi Refining. Knowing too much about certain things would not do her any good. Wen Lu stopped there, saying, "But you are a weak spiritual root with five spiritual roots. You should know that being too different from ordinary people will definitely attract attention."
Understanding the deeper meaning in Wen Lu's words, Xu Xing nodded, "Thank you for reminding me, Senior Wen. I understand what to do."
After a hearty meal at Wen Yao's house, Xu Xing returned to his cave dwelling, completely satisfied.
As soon as she entered, she saw a familiar medicine bottle on the table, which was one of the two bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills distributed by the Immortal Academy.
But didn't she give both bottles to Chen Du?
Xu Xing quickly rummaged through her backpack, and sure enough, the bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills she had refined herself, which should have been in the backpack, was nowhere to be found.
Oh no! She grabbed the wrong medicine bottle!
Thinking of how crude and rudimentary the first Spirit Gathering Pills she refined were, and how they varied in size, Xu Xing felt like banging his head on the ground in frustration.
Could Shen Du really think I gave him fake medicine?!
Xu Xing buried his head in the bed, unwilling to face it.
I originally planned to visit the Beast Taming Grounds in a while, but I'll postpone it for now. Maybe Chen Du will forget about the pills after a while.
After a moment of awkwardness, Xu Xing rallied his spirits. Since he was well-fed and had plenty of spiritual energy, he decided to take advantage of the situation and refine the remaining dozen or so Spirit Gathering Grasses into Spirit Gathering Pills.
Since Xu Xing began cultivating, her daily food requirements have increased significantly compared to before. However, after eating a meal rich in spiritual energy at Wen Yao's house, she discovered that after refining several batches of pills, she still had a surplus of spiritual energy in her body. This shows that she should eat more foods containing spiritual energy in the future.
However, the food provided by the dining hall to the disciples of Yuheng Academy and Yaoguang Academy is all ordinary; only the disciples of Tianshu Academy can eat spirit rice and spirit vegetables.
To ensure she had enough to eat, she would inevitably have to spend more spirit stones on food. With this in mind, Xu Xing's fighting spirit ignited for the upcoming pill business.
Finally, Xu Xing refined three more bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills. Although they looked rather shabby, as long as the price was right, they shouldn't be unsellable.
The remaining Spirit Gathering Herbs were supposed to yield four bottles, but she miscontrolled the spiritual fire in one batch and cooked the herbs...
Looking at the newly added dish "Boiled Spirit Gathering Grass" in the [Cooking] skill list, Xu Xing was both amused and exasperated. After cooking for three years, her cooking skill was the highest level among all her skills, but most of the food recipes she unlocked were strange and unusual...
Adhering to the principle of never wasting food, Xu Xing still ate the Spirit Gathering Grass. And to be honest, it tasted much better than the stir-fried Hemostatic Grass.
The Immortal Dao Academy holds a monthly exchange market spontaneously organized by its disciples. It's a good place for junior disciples who can't afford the items sold within the sect. Although everyone in the academy is at the Qi Refining stage, they still need resources. Who wouldn't want to speed up their cultivation process?
The instructors turned a blind eye to this and did not stop it.
After using most of her spirit stones to buy spirit-gathering herbs, Xu Xing had saved up thirteen bottles of first-tier spirit-gathering pills. She only had a few spirit stones left. Before running out of spirit stones, she finally waited for the day the exchange market would open.
He altered his old clothes into a large cloak, and carrying ten bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills, he arrived at Qixia Forest behind the Immortal Academy.
It was still early, and there were only a few scattered cultivators in the forest. Xu Xing chose a tree in a corner, sat down against it, spread out a clean cloth, and then placed several bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills on it.
As dusk fell, more and more disciples from the Immortal Dao Academy arrived at the exchange market. Xu Xing, his eyes hidden in his cloak, secretly observed and discovered that most of the visitors were disciples from the Yao Guang Academy, followed by those from the Yu Heng Academy, with the fewest from the Tian Shu Academy.
Because she hadn't made any announcements, Xu Xing's stall attracted no customers. Fearing she wouldn't be able to sell anything, she had no choice but to take the initiative.
Xu Xing approached a disciple from Yuheng Academy who had asked about prices at several stalls but hadn't bought anything, and who seemed honest-looking. He lowered his voice and asked, "Fellow Daoist, would you like to buy some medicine?"
The disciple was startled and turned around but didn't see anyone. Finally, his robe was tugged, and he looked down and saw Xu Xing. "You scared me! How can you be so short!"
"..."
Okay, the customer is always right, she's not angry.
Xu Xing, who had already padded his hood and shoes to make himself taller, gritted his teeth and thought that she was much thinner than her peers because of malnutrition in her early years, but she would definitely grow taller in the future!
"First-grade mid-level Spirit Gathering Pill, ten spirit stones a bottle, want some?"
Ten yuan?
Shu Wenshi's eyes lit up, and he lowered his voice as well.
Many items in the market are cheaper than outside, since no one knows how these things were obtained, and lower prices make them easier to sell. For example, the Jade Cloud Sect's pill shop sells a mid-grade first-tier Spirit Gathering Pill for twelve low-grade spirit stones, but if the quality is the same, it only costs ten, saving a considerable amount of money.
"Buy three or more bottles and get 20% off, or return them if you're not satisfied."
Since this was Xu Xing's first time trying to sell pills, he could only attract people with the price.
"Fellow Daoist, please speak over here."
Unexpectedly, Shu Wenshi looked around, worried that someone else would snatch the deal, so he took Xu Xing to a corner.
"May I take a look at the pill first, my friend?"
Xu Xing took out a bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills.
Seeing that she was wrapped up tightly from head to toe, with not even her hands showing, and that the price was so low, Shu Wenshi had a hunch that the pills were probably not from the right source, but that was none of his business.
But when he opened the bottle of pills, his expression changed, and his voice rose, "Are you kidding me?! Can this be called a elixir?"
Knowing that the pills he made in the medicine furnace were indeed a bit ugly, Xu Xing calmly said, "I can give you one for free to try. If there are no problems, you can buy more."
"Do you think I'm a sucker? You think I'd let you test medicine on me? Who knows what this pitch-black mud ball is? What a waste of my time!"
Shu Wenshi threw the medicine bottle back and walked away with a sullen expression.
"..."
The campaign got off to a bad start.
Seeing that the disciple's shout had already attracted the attention of several other disciples, Xu Xing was afraid of causing trouble and dared not continue searching for anyone. She could only sit back down under the tree.
No sooner had he returned than one of his disciples came looking for him.
"Fellow Daoist, are you selling Spirit Gathering Pills?"
Xu Xing looked up and saw that the person who came to ask was a young man. He was fairly good-looking, but his face looked very haggard. She lowered her voice and said, "You want to buy one? I can give you one for free so you can try it first."
Xu Xing recognized the man; he was also a disciple of Yaoguang Academy, named Tong Yuanbai, one of the few disciples who had not yet achieved Qi Induction. Although Xu Xing had never spoken to this man, she still quietly tightened her cloak.
"Does that 20% discount still apply?"
Seeing that Xu Xing remained silent, Tong Yuanbai quickly explained, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just have naturally good hearing, and I happened to be nearby just now, so I overheard your conversation."
After thinking for a moment, Xu Xing handed over a bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills.
Upon seeing the appearance of the pills, Tong Yuanbai remained silent for a moment. No wonder that disciple hadn't bought any earlier; the appearance of these pills was truly...
But he didn't have much time left. He only had a dozen or so spirit stones left. If he could no longer draw qi into his body, he would have to leave the Immortal Academy. Anyway, he would be too ashamed to go home, so he might as well take a gamble.
Tong Yuanbai closed his eyes with a look of resignation and swallowed the pill that Xu Xing had given him.
"..."
Xu Xing was somewhat helpless. Although the pills she refined were a bit ugly, they shouldn't look like they had been poisoned, right?
Do you know how discouraging this is for novice alchemists?
Due to limited resources, Xu Xing had tried his best to make the pills more round, but they still reacted with suspicion. The bottle that he mistakenly gave to Senior Brother Chen Du was even worse than the others because it was the first time he had made the pills and he hadn't intended to sell them.
She thought dejectedly, "I really don't know how Shen Du will react if he sees this..."
A moment later, Tong Yuanbai opened his eyes in surprise, "Fellow Daoist! I want this pill!"
A note from the author:
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[Mini Theater]
When Shen Du returned home and opened the medicine bottle, he fell silent upon seeing the strangely shaped pills: What... does she mean by this?
Later, upon learning that Shen Du had kept that bottle of pills all along, Xu Xu thought: This was the first bottle I had ever refined, I didn't expect my senior brother to have kept it so well!
Shen Du, who suspected it was fake medicine and didn't dare to take it (⊙_⊙): That's right, I saved it on purpose.
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[I occasionally write some potentially out-of-character (OOC) skits in the author's notes. These don't represent the actual plot and are purely for entertainment. If you don't like them, you can click the upper right corner to close the author's notes~]
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I'm so happy to have received the nutrient solution! Thank you to Chenchen, Sera, Gengewuxuduoyan, and 48327367, my lovely readers! [Sprinkling flowers][Heart]
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