In a courtyard.
The youth named Senior Disciple Chen was sitting down on a table, his sharp eyes directed towards his subordinate.
"How goes the matter on the assassination?" The youth had not returned to his courtyard for quite some time as he was occupied by a few matters of the Sect.
"Young Master Chen, I am unable to receive any information from the killers we have dispatched. And our men have seen Long Chen within the Inner Court. It seems like he have already passed the promotion test." His subordinate lowered his head and reported with a seemingly calm voice, the only thing that had betrayed his emotions were the tips of his fingers that were faintly trembling.
"What did you say?! The assassination failed?" The youth lost his sense of calm and abruptly stood up, his eyes filled with shock.
Shortly afterwards, he nodded his head, as an indiscernible smile rose on his face, "5 Elementary Realm cultivators, and they were still unable to kill him. How great is your cultivation right now, Junior Disciple Long?"
"Continue to keep watch on him. Remember to update me with all the latest news about him!" The youth ordered in an authoritative tone.
"Yes, Young Master." The subordinate bowed and hurriedly left the courtyard, leaving the youth all alone again.
The youth looked out of the window, into the sky, as he muttered with an insidious smile on his face, "So I can't kill you in an assassination. But what if, you died in the Hunting Competition?"
Imagining as if that was Long Chens neck in front of him, he lifted his hand into the sky, then made a grabbing motion, before he crushed the air within his hands,
"1 month. There is 1 month left."
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On the other hands, Long Chen was quietly sitting in his courtyard.
Now that he was all alone, he could now start to begin refining pills.
Taking out the cauldron from his storage bag, it heavily landed on the ground with a 'thump' sound. He placed the medicinal herbs beside it, and positioned himself in a cross-legged position, before he started.
The pill he had planned to refine was a Grade 1 Qi Gathering Pill. This pills was not very hard to make, and is quite commonly sold within the community.
However, although it is easy to create, it is not easy to make a high-quality one.
Most Qi Gathering Pills sold on the market were at the Low-Tier standard, with some at the Trash-Tier.
This was what Long Chen planned to monetarize on. He was confident in his alchemy skill, especially with the knowledge from the Great Way of Alchemy imbued in his mind.
The alchemy techniques he had learn from that ancient book were all unconventional, as compared to the ones the general alchemist would use.
And along with this, they were also more effective, allowing him to dispel off more impurities during the pill refining process and refine a purer pill.
The lower the impurities, the higher the Tier.
He controlled the fire within the cauldron with some inexperience. After all, one try of alchemy was not enough for him to directly become a professional alchemist.
With every minute that passed, he felt his control on the fire to be rising, and when it reached an acceptable rate, he began to throw a few herbs within the cauldron.
A faint sizzling sound was produced as the herbs were burnt, slowly leaving behind the useful medicinal properties.
As he caught a glimpse of this, he carefully placed a few more required herbs within the cauldron, and according to the pill recipe of this Grade 1 Qi Gathering Pill he had gotten from the ancient book, he began to move his fingers and manipulated the fire.
Tens of minutes had passed, and Long Chen was staring in utmost concentration at the cauldron, his hands moving swiftly, while his eyes were locked on to the changes of the cauldron.
Suddenly, the pill furnace started to lightly shake, releasing a series of buzzling noises.
Long Chen did not panic, on the contrary, he even revealed a sigh of relief.
This was the indication that the pill refinement was about to complete. He handled the fire within the cauldron and compressed the liquid substance, and with a faint 'pop' sound in the air, a small blueish pill appeared within the cauldron.
[Host has successfully refined a Grade 1 Mid-Tier Pill.]
[Host gains 3 Proficiency in Alchemy]
This was truly a sign of double happiness.
Not only did he managed to refine a Mid-Tier Qi Gathering Pill, he also found out that refining pills can help increase his Alchemy proficiency.
The reason why this did not happen the first time he refined that Mid-Tier Injury Healing Pill was probably because that refined pill was used to promote him from a Grade 0 to Grade 1 Alchemist.
Thus, it did not count.
Long Chen slowly took the blueish pill out of the cauldron. Within his hands, he could still feel the heat radiating out of it, but instead of hurting him, this instead relaxed his sense, and soothed his nerves.
A pill scent wafted out from the pill, filling his nose as his mind was filled with fulfilment. A pill only had pill scent when its quality reached Mid-Tier and higher.
And the higher the tier, the stronger the pill scent.
Long Chen held the blueish pill up to his eye level, and glanced at it with literal stars sparkling in his eyes.
This pill alone should probably be worth a few crystals! He didn't know of the exact number, but he definitely knew that this was not cheap.
He then placed the pill at the side, and refocused his sights onto the warm furnace. One pill was definitely not enough for him.
He had bought ten sets of ingredients, which would be equivalent to the consumption of 10 Qi Gathering Pills.
If he had a 100% success rate, then he would get 10 Qi Gathering Pills out of this 10 sets of ingredients.
To Alchemists, even the experienced ones, achieving a 100% success rate 10 times is simply a pipe dream. You can only hope for it, but this will never happen to you.
No matter how great Long Chen was, he also could not manage this.
However, his success rate was still astounding.
After spending a long while, he finally managed to complete his refining process. The sets of ingredients that were placed at the side of the cauldron was no more, and replacing it was 9 blue pills that shone with a slight glitter.
There was one among these pills that stood out the most. It was shimmering with a light brighter than the rest of the pills, and was considerably a higher shade of blue than the rest.
This, was Long Chen's current proudest creation. A Grade 1 High-Tier Qi Gathering Pill!
He had never expected such a result at all, so you could imagine how shocked he was when he saw this slightly different pill and received a notification saying that he refined a High-Tier pill.
Long Chen looked at the line of pills beside the cauldron, his expression shimmering with glee and satisfaction.
8 Mid-Tier and 1 High-Tier pill.
These pills emitted an alluring scent that made Long Chen have the urge to eat them up, but his logical reasoning stopped him.
Although they looked and smelled attractive, they were of no practical use to him.
These Grade 1 Qi Gathering Pills only worked for those in the Qi Refining Realm and below, and as for a 6th Elementary Realm cultivator like himself, it was totally useless.
If he went to sell them, he would be able to fetch a hefty price for these precious pills.
And what was this reason? Because these Qi Gathering Pills were especially popular amongst the younger generation, particular with the geniuses from the Great Families, because they were able to increase cultivation speed to a certain extent for a period of time.
For geniuses who value every single bit of time and cultivation, these pills were basically their best friends, and the big families behind them would also provide them with the necessary financial resources to purchase such pills.
Long Chen already knew where to sell this pill. Not at the Alchemy Association, but at the Trading Chamber Commerce, where he would be able to earn a greater profit through their auctions and intricate marketing schemes.
Night had already fallen, and he took a rest, and decided to visit the Trading Chamber Commerce tomorrow.