The entire room was filled with the fragrance of the medical pill as the lid of the cauldron came off with a small pop.
Isn't this way too much for a rank 1 pill? That was what Yun Lei thought as he peeked into the still warm cauldron. The alchemy books he had read said that the process could be said to be successful if the pill was fragrant.
The pill he had made was way beyond merely fragrant. Is this good or bad? He didn't know, though there was an easy way to determine that.
He lifted the pill, which was still surrounded by the profound energy bubble, out of the cauldron and dropped it on his hand. It was warm to the touch, not hot enough to scald him but not cold enough that it was comfortable to hold.
It wasn't perfectly spherical and the surface wasn't as smooth as the pills he had seen before but there was no doubt, the thing in his hand was a medical pill.
After observing the small brown pill a little more, he placed it as well as the half-used profound crystal in the jade box with the rest of the crystals and closed the lid.
Yun Lei opened the doors and windows, letting the room air out. After carefully lifting the cauldron out of the fire, he set it aside to cool off. The fire had made a bit of a mess but he couldn't be bothered cleaning it up. So, he just pushed the task to one of the maids before leaving the courtyard.
He was walking towards the Medical Hall. Of course, he had already memorised the location of where different faculties were inside the estate but a maid still led him to where he wanted to go.
The building itself was quite simple. Just a three-storied building that had been painted completely white. This was where the injured people that were affiliated with the Yun Family were treated.
The first floor was for simple problems. It also had a pharmacy. The Yun Family didn't have an alchemist of their own but they had a lot of medicinal ingredients as well as various pills that were purchased from the Alchemist Guild.
A lot of the lower-ranking members of the Family explored the forests that surrounded the city to gain experience and many found precious ingredients. Instead of selling it to the Guild, these items would be sold to the Family for a lower price as contribution. All of these items would eventually end up at the pharmacy.
The guard at the door immediately bowed his head after seeing the jade tablet on Yun Lei's hips. Of course, even without the tablet, it wasn't hard to recognise the son-in-law of the Yun Family. It was quite difficult to forget a face that pretty.
There weren't a lot of people in the Medical Hall, which was a good thing, of course. Yun Lei headed straight towards the pharmacy. The woman standing behind the counter bowed at his approach.
"How can this servant help Young Master?" She politely asked.
"Give me a Blood Clotting Pill."
The bowed head of the woman quickly shot up to observe him. She was checking if he had been injured.
"Is something wrong, Young Master? Do you require a healer?" She asked, the concern in her voice was obvious.
"Nothing of the sort. Just give me the pill."
"As Young Master commands."
The woman went towards one of the shelves before returning to the counter and placing down a small plate. Atop it was a brown pill.
Yun Lei picked it up and brought it close to his nose. It had the same smell as the pill he had just made but it was so faint that he could very easily miss it. He closed his eyes and focused harder on his sense of smell, dissecting the fragrance.
After exerting himself, he could even smell the individual ingredients that the pill was made of. He was sure that the brown pill in front of him was a Blood Clotting pill.
His face was perfectly stoic but his heart was full of excitement. He didn't know if the pill in his hand was just a bad piece but the pill he had made was better. Way better.
"You can take this back. Give me another."
The woman wasn't sure about what the Young Master was doing but it wasn't her place to question. She simply did as she was told and another pill was placed atop the counter.
Yun Lei once again picked it up and smelled it, reaching the same conclusion. His pill was better. In fact, the second pill smelled even weaker.
Am I actually an alchemy genius or something? The thought made a small smile appear on his face.
"You can take this back as well." He said and placed the thing back on the same jade plate he had picked it up from.
Yun Lei didn't pay any attention to the bewildered woman before leaving the Medical Hall. He had left as swiftly as he had arrived, a poor maid running behind him.
It didn't take him long to reach Yun Meili's room. He was planning on going out and having fun for a bit. He had been quite bored and needed some stimulation. He picked up the jade box and put it in his pocket before checking the black book as he always did.
When he did so, he found that there were new words on the second page.
"Learn archery."
Why archery? Yun Lei couldn't help but scratch his head in confusion. He was quite weak, physically. He doubted he could even nock an arrow fully, let alone use a bow in any sort of practical scenario.
Maybe it's telling me to get fitter in an indirect way? Perhaps it's a way for the book to tell me to follow a discipline?
The art of archery had been around since the ancient times but it had never gone out of fashion. After all, no matter the era, you always needed ranged troops. Especially in a full-scale war. This was why many profound practitioners chose to learn the way of the bow as did many mortals.
Ah, whatever, I'll go try it in the training field or something, Yun Lei thought before pushing the thought to the back of his mind.
It was a chilly autumn day; a pleasant day for a walk. Yun Lei strapped a sword to his hips before leaving the estate. He had told the maids to not follow him so he was alone after a rather long time. Of course, there were a few experts stealthily following behind him but he didn't really mind their presence.
Yun Lei always walked very lightly. Perhaps, he had learned the skill after spending his entire life in the Ren Estate trying not to be noticed. He barely disturbed the ground under his foot as he walked.
There weren't many people around the Yun Estate but the further he got from it, the more people he saw in the streets. Most of them turned towards his direction as he passed them by, some noticed his face, some noticed the jade tablet hanging from his belt.
Ether Cloud was mainly divided into three districts, the noble district, the economic district and the lower district. The commoners lived closer to the walls while the nobles lived closer to the city centre.
Yun Lei had already studied the map of the entire city so he had no problem navigating through it. He strolled through the streets, taking in the sights. He had brought a pouch of money, unlike the other times he was out in the city, so occasionally he would buy something he wanted to eat from the street stalls.
His entire life, he had lived in Ether Cloud but he barely knew anything about it beyond what he had seen in the pages of a book. That thought made a bitter smile appear on his face.
The centre street of the market was as busy as always. When his eyes fell upon the Flower Garden Pavillion, he let out a frown but the thought that they would soon be losing a lot of money calmed his burning anger.
At that moment, several people were leaving the Ren Family's shop. All of them were well dressed, clearly nobles. The lead of the group was a middle-aged looking man and behind him were three young men who seemed to be in their early twenties.
Ren Family's patriarch was not in a good mood. He had long heard rumours about the Yun Family opening an apparel shop which had worried him immensely. But all of his worries had been put to rest when he heard that Yun Lei was the one in charge of the whole affair. It had even been opened under the company owned by Yun Lei, not the Yun Family.
The Ren Family had been in that business for generations and during that time, there had been many would-be competitors. None of them had managed to do anything, what could his incompetent, cripple fourth son even do? Both he and his sons had laughed when they heard about it.
Of course, they weren't laughing for too long. Their long-time business partners, the Zhiwu Family and the Chong Family had both sent them letters stating that they had signed an exclusive contract with the Thunder Cloud Company and could no longer sell them any material.
The laughter of the members of Ren Family had been stifled as fast as lightning and the mocking jeers had been replaced with concern. As if to kick them when they were down, an invitation to the grand opening of Thunder Cloud Apparels had been delivered to the Ren Estate, signed personally by Yun Lei. The Patriarch had been so angry after reading the invitation that he had ripped it to pieces.
Despite everything, they still didn't feel defeated. After all, just because a new shop opened up, it wasn't like all of their patrons would just abandon them. The Ren Family had sold excellent clothes for generations. As for the raw materials, it wasn't as though the Zhiwu and Chong Families were the only way to purchase fabric. They would establish new channels and slowly bounce back from this small misstep.
A fire burned in the hearts of the Ren. They had been slapped in the face by an incompetent cripple. How could they take it lying down?
But of course, the cold water of reality quickly doused the fire. The patriarch couldn't even believe his ears when he heard the report that had arrived at his office on the day Thunder Cloud Apparels had opened its doors.
The quality of the clothes was higher and the prices were lower. Not only the commoners but even the nobles had been drawn to the new shop. They wanted to form a better relationship with the Yun Family. Ren Family's sales were dropping rapidly.
When he looked at the numbers, he knew that Thunder Cloud Apparels' profit margin would be much lower than their own shop. That was finally when the Patriarch realised what was happening.
The new shop hadn't even been opened with the intention of making money. Its goal was to humiliate them. It was Yun Lei taking revenge on the Ren Family.
It was Yun Lei stepping on their heads and slowly driving it deeper and deeper into the dirt.
In the busy city street, two people were looking into each other's eyes. One was the son-in-law of the Yun Family, the other was the Patriarch of the Ren Family.
Yun Lei had a smug smile on his face as he watched his father's face scrunch up in anger. The patriarch had just been told by the shopkeepers that they hadn't sold anything in the last two days. Seeing the culprit behind their predicament right in front of his eyes, how could he not get angry?
The busy market went deathly still in a matter of moments. The oppressive aura of a 9th stage Energy Sensing Cultivator had rushed out, making all the mortals fall to their knees, shaking uncontrollably.
"REN LEI!" The Patriarch's thunderous voice rattled the entire street.