Chapter 91: Testing Skills (Part One)
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After finishing the official recognition matter, he walked toward the Alchemy Pavilion. Along the way, when disciples who hadn’t reached Foundation Establishment stage occasionally encountered him carrying a sword on his back, they all bowed to him – that feeling was really quite nice. Returning to the mountaintop of the Alchemy Pavilion, because of the story between him and Yan Shu, it had already spread throughout the Alchemy Pavilion with great fanfare. Many people recognized him, and disciples who hadn’t reached Foundation Establishment stage, seeing him carrying a sword on his back, called him “Martial Uncle” with great warmth. Yue Qianchou nodded to each with a face full of spring breeze, thinking to himself that Yan Shu was indeed unpopular!
Speak of the devil and he appears. Yan Shu was standing at the entrance of the great hall. Seeing him carrying a sword on his back, his expression was uncertain. Yue Qianchou originally wanted to pretend he hadn’t seen him and go directly back to the small courtyard, but remembering that his master had said he could freely enter the great hall, and he was also curious to see what the inside of the Alchemy Pavilion’s great hall looked like, he walked toward Yan Shu, waving and calling from afar: “Martial Uncle Yan.”
Legend had it that whenever these two met, there would be a good show to watch. Many disciples looked over here, expecting something to happen.
Yan Shu responded with a lukewarm “Mm.” Yue Qianchou asked: “Is my master inside?”
“Elder Guan is refining pills. You’d better not disturb him,” Yan Shu said.
Yue Qianchou waved his hand: “I won’t. I’m just going to see how the old man is doing.” After speaking, regardless of whether he agreed or not, he walked inside.
Yan Shu’s cheek muscles twitched as he ground his teeth in hatred, but there was nothing he could do – Elder Guan had personally given permission for him to freely enter and exit the great hall. Originally, Yue Qianchou returning to the Alchemy Pavilion was a good thing – he could arrange some dangerous tasks for him and eventually get him killed. Who knew that Elder Guan, who usually didn’t care about such things, would personally speak up to make arrangements? Yan Shu had no choice but to wait for another opportunity to strike.
The disciples outside the hall didn’t see the expected events unfold and were all somewhat disappointed.
The Alchemy Pavilion’s great hall was quite spacious, but unfortunately there weren’t many people to be seen. There were two underground entrances on both sides of the main hall. Yue Qianchou chose one entrance and walked down leisurely. After walking for a while, he felt the temperature getting higher and higher. Walking further, a huge underground space appeared before his eyes. The ground was excavated flat, and people coming and going all seemed very busy. Around the perimeter, many caves had been excavated, with red light faintly emanating from inside – clearly, like the secret chambers by the sea, these were all places for pill refining.
Which secret chamber was his master in? Yue Qianchou grabbed a disciple who hadn’t reached Foundation Establishment stage to inquire. After the disciple bowed, he told him where Guan Weiwu was located. Yue Qianchou patted his shoulder and let him go – the feeling of being a teacher was really good. Walking toward the largest pill chamber, he indeed saw Guan Weiwu concentrating intently on pill refining.
“Master.” Yue Qianchou bowed. Guan Weiwu turned his head to look and smiled: “How did you come here?”
Yue Qianchou said with a face full of sincerity: “Not seeing Master for a day made me anxious with longing, so I came to see Master.”
Guan Weiwu satisfactorily stroked his messy beard and smiled: “Your master is currently testing a batch of pills that restore vital energy. Go play on the side for now – I’ll talk with you later.” After speaking, he focused his attention back on the pill furnace.
“Oh.” Yue Qianchou nodded obediently, but felt somewhat depressed inside. The disciple had come from far away to flatter you, yet you tell me to go play on the side – how impolite!
He didn’t know that Guan Weiwu was already being quite good to him. If it were anyone else disturbing him at this time, he would have already shooed them away.
Yue Qianchou looked around this pill refining chamber. Apart from being larger, there was nothing special about it. Tsk tsk, but that large pile of spirit herbs in the corner was really quite a lot – truly the treatment of the Alchemy Pavilion’s chief elder. Having stayed at Ten Thousand Fragrance Garden for so long, he was naturally no stranger to spirit herbs.
After looking around and feeling bored, he wanted to go back but was afraid of being impolite. He wanted to say goodbye but was afraid his master would be unhappy, so he could only stand to the side staring blankly at the pill furnace.
“Bang!” The sound startled Yue Qianchou from his daze. Pill fragrance filled the air as a group of shadows bounced out from the furnace top. Guan Weiwu raised his palm and drew them in – the ejected pills were all gathered together and held in his hands for examination, causing him to shake his head and sigh.
Yue Qianchou was also someone with some pill refining experience and couldn’t help but walk over to see what kind of pills his master had refined.
Counting carefully, Guan Weiwu held twenty pills in his hands – thirteen were white, clean, and lustrous, very beautiful, while seven were pitch black and burnt, ugly to look at. Yue Qianchou found it strange – how could one batch of pills produce two different colors? He had never encountered this when refining Foundation Establishment Pills. He couldn’t help but ask: “Master, what kind of pills are these?”
Guan Weiwu looked at Yue Qianchou and was slightly stunned. His own disciple, a dignified disciple of an Alchemy Pavilion elder, didn’t even know what kind of pills these were – how embarrassing it would be if word got out! This was all his own fault – he had never taught his disciple anything. Feeling ashamed in his heart, he said gently: “Qi Recovery Pills for those at Foundation Establishment stage and above to restore vital energy. Starting this month, you can also receive one Qi Recovery Pill each month.”
Damn, only one pill per month – what vital energy could that recover? Yue Qianchou wasn’t interested in it. He pointed at the pills in his master’s hands and asked: “Master, why are these pills both black and white?”
Guan Weiwu shook his head and sighed: “The white ones are successful pills, the black ones are waste pills. Sigh! I’ve been refining Qi Recovery Pills for so many years, but unfortunately the success rate has never improved. The waste rate is too high – out of twenty pills in one batch, there are inevitably six or seven waste pills. In all of Floating Immortal Island, Qi Recovery Pills have the highest usage, and such a high waste rate is heartbreakingly wasteful!” After speaking, he removed the waste pills from his palm, put away the successful pills, went to the corner of the pill chamber to pick out several spirit herbs, assembled them into one set, threw them into the pill furnace, and continued testing.
Qi Recovery Pills? Standing to the side, Yue Qianchou vaguely felt he had seen this name somewhere before – it seemed like it could only have been seen on the pill formula jade disc, nowhere else. Anyway, Guan Weiwu wouldn’t notice him while refining pills, so Yue Qianchou reached into his storage bag, grasped the pill formula jade disc, and injected his divine sense to examine it.
He had only looked at the pill formulas on the third level of the jade disc before, so it should be in there. His divine sense entered the third layer, searching through the numerous pill formulas one by one. Sure enough, he found the name “Qi Recovery Pills,” memorized the names and appearances of the spirit herbs as well as the refining method, then withdrew his divine sense.
Recalling the several spirit herbs his master had just grabbed, they weren’t different from those in the Qi Recovery Pill formula in his mind. How could waste pills be produced? Could it be that his master’s refining method was wrong? But he was an experienced pill refiner – that shouldn’t be possible, right?
In his pill refining experience, he had never encountered the concept of waste pills because he had never encountered them before.
Thinking of this, he felt somewhat impulsive about wanting to refine a batch. If he could successfully refine them, it would prove that his master’s refining method indeed had problems, and it would also prove that the refining techniques on the pill formula jade disc were truly extraordinary – even surpassing the ‘Pill Maniac.’ What kind of concept was that?
Yue Qianchou became vaguely excited, eager to try it out, but unfortunately there was no place for him to refine pills here. Hmm! He’d ask his master for a place later.
Seeing that Guan Weiwu’s batch of pills would still take some time, he walked to the corner of the pill chamber and picked out one set of spirit herbs for refining Qi Recovery Pills. Thinking that he had failed multiple times when refining Foundation Establishment Pills, it would be better to prepare several sets. He picked out three more sets, placing a total of four sets on the ground to the side. Then he stood quietly to the side, waiting for his master’s batch of pills to finish so he could ask for a place to try pill refining.
