Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Second-Grade Alchemist

“Line up first, one at a time, no need to rush,” Rong Shu said. People nearby overheard bits and pieces and pieced together what was happening.

It seemed the new alchemist was not a fraud, and her yields were high.

The onlookers were half skeptical. Could they be shills? Things like this had happened before. A stranger would hire several shills on the first day. On the second day, those shills would show up making a big fuss about how amazing the pills were. Some cultivators would believe them and place orders. Then, on the third day, the spirit stones from those orders would be swept away.

Some continued to watch, but others could not resist giving it a try. On the third day, Rong Shu’s customers increased to twenty.

After she kept her stall open for several more days, the onlookers learned that Rong Shu was not cheating anyone and that her yields were steady; even in the worst case a furnace produced four pills. Those on the fence joined the line to order.

Day by day, as her name spread, more and more cultivators learned that the black market had a newcomer whose finished yields were high and whose quality was excellent, a second?grade alchemist.

Orders continued to rise. In the end, there were too many for her to finish in one day, so Rong Shu had to cap the number of orders per day. Far from cooling enthusiasm, the rule made customers even more certain she was not a fraud. After all, you know at a glance whether a pill is real once you swallow it. Con artists trading on the title of alchemist usually make a single killing and run.

By the twelfth day, whenever Rong Shu appeared at her stall, the available slots were gone in less than an hour.

Every time she finished a round of refining, she faintly felt her control of the dual fire?and?wood spiritual qi had grown a little stronger.

During this period, Lin Dao came by a few times to check on her stall. Seeing all was well, he left again.

Rong Shu ended up staying in the black market for a full month. For that month she refined pills all day, and in her spare moments she sat in meditation to cultivate fire and wood.

As the number of refinings grew, she was able to take on many second?grade pills. Practice makes skill, and in the end she naturally became a second?grade alchemist.

After breaking through, she took a moment to update the notice board, changing the listed success rate for second?grade pills from forty percent to seventy percent.

Beyond the alchemy breakthrough, both her fire and wood reached the eighth layer of Qi Refining. Pushing to the ninth still felt a little out of reach.

Besides fire and wood, she also squeezed in time for the rarely “favored” lightning element. Given that her fake cultivation in metal and earth had advanced quite a bit, she could only add one more attribute to maintain the disguise. Her affinity for lightning, however, was truly low. Over the month she spent time raising lightning to a steady fourth layer of Qi Refining, then stopped. Only after she next “breaks through” can lightning continue to advance.

On the thirty?first day in the black market, that morning, after handing a fresh batch of pills to yesterday’s customers and as she was about to leave the pill room, Lin Dao arrived.

He got straight to the point and said: “Rong Shu, will you keep refining here in the black market, or return to Heaven’s Evolution Sect? The sect selection has reached the second stage. It will be more intense and a better measure of strength.”

Rong Shu thought for a moment and said: “Let’s go back. Senior Brother, did you finish your business?”

Lin Dao nodded and said: “Yes, all done.” In truth, he had finished half a month earlier, but at that time Rong Shu was at a critical juncture in her push to second?grade alchemist, so he had not told her. Instead, he had quietly handled a few cultivators who were jealous of her spirit stones and wanted to make trouble.

Closing the pill room door, Rong Shu said: “Then let’s return to the sect. Once we are back, I can start cultivating Blazing Body.” Refining in the black market was satisfying, and the spirit stones flowed, but serious cultivation time was scarce. To make progress with Blazing Body required high fire?element cultivation and tight control of fire?element spiritual qi. With fire only at the sixth layer of Qi Refining before, maintaining full?body Blazing Body had been extremely difficult. Now that fire had reached the eighth layer, picking up the art again would be far easier.

“Let’s go,” said Lin Dao.

After that, Rong Shu returned the pill room key and left the black market with Lin Dao. They went to the tavern to return the black cloak and black mask and got their deposit back.

Four hours later, Rong Shu and Lin Dao were back at the sect.

She made some inquiries and learned that the day’s challenge matches had just ended, so she set aside the idea of spectating and returned to the training room on Spirit Nurturing Peak.

After a month in the black market, Rong Shu had more spirit stones than she knew what to do with, over three hundred thousand. The black market’s pill trade fetched much higher prices than the outside market; profits multiplied several times. Refining just first? and second?grade pills had already made her flush with earnings.

As soon as she entered the training room, Rong Shu took out a formation disc and set it on the floor. She had bought this in the black market: a high?grade formation that combined isolation, defense, and concealment. It had cost her five hundred thousand spirit stones. For cultivators below the Divine Transformation Stage, it was basically impossible to see through without special means. Even a Divine Transformation Stage cultivator would need quite some effort to break it.

In truth, the formation was worth more than five hundred thousand. It had originally had a flaw and could at most withstand the attacks of a Golden Core Stage cultivator. The seller had tried to cheat Rong Shu, but Lin Dao noticed the trick, made a few adjustments, and the power surged to what it was now.

Even so, five hundred thousand spirit stones was painfully expensive, yet Rong Shu gritted her teeth and bought it. The training room was not absolutely safe; quietly adding a formation would guard against prying eyes. Besides, the sect grand competition was only a month away, and she would be traveling for a long stretch. Out in the world danger could appear at any time. With this formation, she would have an extra measure of protection.