Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

When many major power alchemists refine elixirs, they often hand the medicinal materials over to the medicine boys for handling, while personally managing the heat. Master Zhou’s commentary now implies that among the three of them, the current ’Sun Li’ has the highest talent, and she is not as good as Sun Li.

"Hmph, I will prove to you all that I, Zheng Qi, am no worse than Sun Li!"

Zheng Qi muttered to herself, and took the lead to select a pill furnace and begin refining elixirs.

Su Mu casually chose a three-legged pill furnace and also began refining.

"This White Ginseng does not need to be ground so finely. Coarser grinding can actually better facilitate the refinement of Qi and Blood Pills. You don’t need to handle this personally. The grinding into powder can be done using this tool."

Master Zhou glanced at an alchemy tool, and Su Mu humbly listened to the teaching, stopped his actions, and took the tool Zhou pointed out.

"The raw materials for alchemy are like ingredients in a chef’s pot. When making dumplings or wontons, they need to be chopped finely, but when stewing meat, they can be cut into chunks. Sometimes, you may need to handle the ingredients in a special way depending on the guest’s preferences. If the ingredients are not handled well, no matter how skilled your cooking, the dish won’t taste delicious, and soon you will tie your own hands and feet, making it difficult to progress later."

"I see!"

Upon hearing this, Su Mu’s eyes sparkled with insight, showing no displeasure. He felt that listening to Zhou’s words was more valuable than reading several months of pill scriptures. The last time he had this kind of realization in alchemy was when Baili Ye pointed it out.

This made Su Mu have to admire that Master Zhou not only has superb alchemy skills but also keen judgment.

Previously, Su Mu pondered the pill books by himself, often using the same method to handle medicinal materials across different pill formulas, which was naturally detrimental to alchemy.

Having an experienced alchemist like Zhou Cang pointing out beside him was tantamount to having a famous teacher guide him, allowing Su Mu to avoid detours and achieve twice the result with half the effort!

Watching Su Mu humbly accept the teachings, the joyful expression on his face, Zhou Cang secretly nodded, increasingly favoring Sun Li.

After a few pointers, Zhou Cang turned around, his face’s kindness dissipating slightly, and his tone became three degrees more severe. During alchemy, Zhou Cang naturally exuded a strictness that differed from usual.

"Zheng Qi, are you treating my words as idle talk..."

Zheng Qi was reprimanded head-on, her face flushed, and her fists clenched even tighter.

Throughout the day, Su Mu tried using tools he had never encountered before to handle medicinal materials and deliberately slowed down his refining speed, but still managed to refine two furnaces of Qi and Blood Pills.

Although two furnaces still contained six pills, appearing as if there was no progress compared to the assessment, and even the quality of the refined pills seemed inferior, Su Mu adjusted the heat according to the handling of the materials.

Su Mu knew this was an unavoidable bottleneck while filling in the gaps of his techniques. Once surpassed, his alchemy skills would enjoy significant advancement!

"Well done, Sun Li, you needn’t worry. Just boldly try."

It was evident that Zhou Cang recognized this point, feeling even more pleased, and kindly praised.

"Really picked a treasure... still underestimated this lad’s mastery of heat control, this one is simply born to be an alchemist! Understands with a hint, without needing me to say much more, if this continues, that matter might be able to proceed within half a year!"

In fact, Zhou Cang was quite shocked in his heart, as Su Mu’s progress was almost visibly growing, a truly terrifying comprehension.

Zheng Qi glanced at the pills Sun Li had refined, and inwardly snorted coldly, feeling that these pills were not better than the ones she had refined, perhaps even slightly inferior.

Only when Zheng Qi confidently presented her Qi and Blood Pills did she receive just a lukewarm comment from Zhou Cang.

"Not bad, continue tomorrow."

"Shangguan Miao, you did quite well today too, keep it up..."

Su Mu’s eyes narrowed slightly, with his comprehension panel before him flashing numerous times, having enhanced by a small margin in just one day.

Alchemy Skill (Small Success 16%)

Alchemy Skill (Small Success 18%)

...

Alchemy Skill (Small Success 21%)

A five percent mastery increase in one day is undoubtedly a leap forward, with Zhou Cang’s guidance, a day’s growth compared to spending a month meticulously pondering on his own.

"If this continues, I may be able to attempt refining Middle Third Grade Elixirs within at most two months."

Su Mu felt quite excited and moved in his heart.

This is the benefit of being cultivated by a major power, not only having a famous teacher guiding but also having vast resources tilted in his favor, with medicinal materials continuously provided for practice.

"Thanks for Master Zhou’s guidance!"

Su Mu quickly cupped his hands in respect towards Zhou Cang, who waved his hand, "No need, I am the former Hall Master of the Cyan Fish Gang’s Alchemy Hall, and it is my duty to cultivate alchemy in the Cyan Fish Gang."

Master Zhou chuckled softly, then respectively handed two Qi and Blood Pills to each of the three.

"Keep these pills well, the rule of taking one of five is an alchemist’s rule, but remember not to harbor any wicked thoughts, otherwise even I cannot protect you."

The three responded understandingly with nods.

A saying goes that cooks don’t steal, and grains are not collected; now, with the three being Seventh Grade alchemists, their monthly salary amounts to one thousand taels of silver.

Of course, this is the salary on the surface, otherwise, such silver wouldn’t be enough to hire a Seventh Grade alchemist.

As the first person in contact with the refined pill, an alchemist has a myriad of opportunities to manipulate.

Taking one of five is not only the rule for alchemists but also the implied consent by the major powers cultivating them; it is an unspoken agreement, setting a boundary so alchemists won’t overstep.

Moreover, with interest bound together, the more pills refined, the more the alchemist benefits personally; thus, they will wholeheartedly pursue alchemy and won’t deliberately ruin the refinement.

This not only guarantees that alchemists can benefit but also meets the interests of the major powers.

Upon leaving, Zhou Cang flashed a spiritual light in his hand and handed two volumes of pill books to Zheng Qi and Shangguan Miao, but did not give any to Su Mu.

"You two take these pill scriptures back and carefully comprehend them over two days."

Zheng Qi received the pill scripture with joy, throwing a provocative glance as she brushed past upon leaving.

Shangguan Miao wanted to console Su Mu but Su Mu just waved it off, not bothered as he had already been given a separate pill book by Master Zhou, not knowing why.

He vaguely felt that the pill book Master Zhou handed him was likely different from the others.

"Sun Li, I can privately..."

"No need, since Master Zhou personally taught you, I shall not venture into it."

"You’re right."

Shangguan Miao nodded upon hearing this and left, and Su Mu did not mention that he too held a pill book in his hand because Master Zhou once stated it was solely for his personal comprehension and not to be disclosed to outsiders, which is why Su Mu had his conjectures at this moment.

After this day.

Su Mu’s days suddenly became peaceful, if not for the people of the Tao Family outside the Commandery City still searching intensely for ’Wang Chan,’ prior events seemed to have never occurred and seemed unrelated to Su Mu.

Everything seemed to return to the days at the Forging Workshop, practicing martial arts daily, followed by work.

Except the previous Artifact Refining changed to the current alchemy, after several days, the three of them received their own exclusive alchemy rooms, and Master Zhou began guiding daily, gradually changing to alternating days, then to once every few days.

Su Mu didn’t mind; thus, he had the time and space to refine healing elixirs.

Entering the alchemy room, Su Mu routinely uses spiritual power to thoroughly inspect the room, confirming no anomalies, then, with a flash of spiritual light in his hand, retrieved a batch of medicinal materials.

These were the medicinal materials Su Mu had looted from Tao Family’s Qinglin Pavilion.

Another five days later, the alchemy room filled with elixir mist, and six smooth, light-blue pills emerged, each featuring three pill patterns, a Seventh Grade elixir.

Alchemy Skill (Small Success 32%)

"Excellent, managed to refine Small Returning Pills in just ten days!"

Small Returning Pills, a type of healing elixir from the Ten Elixir Herbs Manual gifted by Baili Ye, primarily focus on healing and also have some effect in restoring spiritual Qi and attribute power.

Su Mu previously spent nearly a month trying to refine Qi and Blood Pills, but now, with Master Zhou’s guidance enhancing his alchemy skills, he succeeded in refining the more difficult Small Returning Pills in just ten days, with a refining success rate reaching sixty percent!

Su Mu tried swallowing a Small Returning Pill.

Unlike the intense fire-like sensation of Qi and Blood Pills, the Small Returning Pill melted upon entry, becoming soothingly cool, lingering throughout his meridians, making Su Mu feel revitalized as if bathing in spring breezes, while the severed parts of his meridians brought increasingly intense tingling sensations.

"Following this progress, with adequate assistance from Small Returning Pills... the recovery period of half a year can be shortened to within a month!"

Under introspection, Su Mu carefully experienced it and was quite delighted.

"The Cyan Fish Gang’s alchemist job... is really good!"