"Alchemy, money!"
With the system bringing him renewed hope, Ye Chen was full of energy and no longer considered slacking off.
Having lived two lives, Ye Chen knew one thing very well: Money was a man's courage. No matter which world you lived in, this truth remained the same. On Earth, with money, you could hit the gym, buy a house, buy a car, travel the world, and never be controlled by anyone.
In the cultivation world, it was no different. Without spirit stones, one could only live like Lin Ke'er, acting like a "green tea" to get a little resource. But with spirit stones, one didn't have to waste time working every day. You could rent a better residence, use better pills, and eat better spiritual rice. Once your strength grew, it was others who would try to please you.
And with Ye Chen having the simp system at his disposal, the stronger his power became, the higher the level of female cultivators he could encounter. The feedback multiplier would only increase.
So, Ye Chen's drive was fully ignited. He was eager to experience the full comprehension of First-Grade Alchemy and see just how effective it was.
However, when Ye Chen took the herbs from his storage box, carefully counting and checking them, his brows furrowed. There was a problem with the materials. To refine Qi Gathering Pills, the main herbs needed were withered yellow grass and red rose. But the red rose had some issues.
A few of the plants were clearly not stored properly, and their petals had faintly turned white, though the change wasn't too obvious. Such slightly faded red rose, having lost some of its medicinal properties, could no longer serve as the main ingredient. If forced to use it, the result would only be waste pills.
Ye Chen's predecessor, being a novice, had failed to notice this issue. But now, with his full understanding and comprehension of First-Grade Alchemy, Ye Chen was well-versed in the herbs used for this stage and could spot these issues easily.
Ye Chen pulled out all the red rose herbs and found that at least a third of them had this issue. His expression immediately darkened. No wonder his predecessor's failure rate was so high. Back in the family, the predecessor's success rate was at least around 20%.
For every five batches of pills, at least one would succeed. But after coming here, he succeeded only once out of seven or eight attempts. Now it made sense. Someone had been sabotaging him behind the scenes.
Ye Chen's eyes narrowed as this realization dawned on him. The herbs were provided by the shop. And this was Ye Family's own business. An increase in his failure rate certainly didn't benefit the family. So, who could be behind this?
...
Knock, knock, knock...
A gentle voice called from outside the door: "Nephew Ye, are you doing well?"
Upon hearing the voice, Ye Chen's lips curled into a cold smile. Speak of the devil, and the devil appears!
Ye Chen tossed the red rose back into the storage box, quickly put on a warm smile, and politely opened the door to greet the visitor. "Manager Zhang, what brings you here? Please, come in."
Having worked in a government office for ten years, Ye Chen had learned a few things.
The person entering was Manager Zhang, a plump man with a friendly smile on his face. "I just wanted to check in and ask how your pill refining is going. Did I disturb you?"
Ye Chen immediately shook his head. "No, not at all. The pills are coming along fine. It's just that I'm new to the family and still getting used to things, so the progress is a bit slower than expected. I'm afraid I won't be able to hand in the pills until the deadline."
Hearing this, Manager Zhang, noticing the faint burnt smell lingering in the room and the discarded herbs piled up on the side, smiled even more broadly. "Oh, Nephew Ye, you're being too modest. You're a member of the Ye family, and this shop belongs to the Ye family. Don't worry about the deadline. Even if it's a bit delayed, I can extend it for you. I have enough authority to help you out, no problem. With your efforts, you'll have a better chance of joining the Green Cloud Sect in the future, won't you?"
Green Cloud Sect?
Ye Chen heard this and, although his expression remained unchanged, his heart confirmed his suspicions. The one who had been sabotaging him with the faulty red rose was none other than this man right here.
The Green Cloud Sect was a major sect in the area, with a Golden Core Ancestor overseeing its power. The first-generation ancestor of the Ye family had once been an outer disciple of the Green Cloud Sect. Unfortunately, he was unlucky and never managed to form his foundation. Later, he left and founded the Ye family, which grew and expanded.
The Green Cloud Sect had supported this. Disciples with no future leaving to branch out helped increase the Sect's influence across different regions. Sometimes, tasks would be assigned as well.
The first-generation Ye family ancestor had friends who became Foundation Establishment Elders, and occasionally, former peers would visit. This allowed the family to find help whenever trouble arose.
As a result, after founding the family, the Ye family still thrived. But after the death of the first ancestor, the connection to the Green Cloud Sect faded. There was still a slight connection, but it was faint. By the time the third-generation head took over, the ties to the Green Cloud Sect were completely severed.
However, the Green Cloud Sect had a policy of preferential treatment for these semi-affiliated families. If a family produced a Foundation Establishment cultivator, they would be granted two spots to join the Green Cloud Sect.
Now, the current head of the Ye family, at the peak of the Qi Refining stage, was attempting to break through to Foundation Establishment. But the resources required to support a Foundation Establishment cultivator were immense.
Thus, the Ye family's fifth generation, including Ye Chen, was cast out, sent to work for the family to earn resources to support the family head. It was a sacrifice for the greater good of the family.
Yet, there was still an upside: the two spots for entering the Green Cloud Sect. There were seven members in the current fifth generation of the Ye family. The competition for those two spots would be fierce, depending on their performance in the coming time. That's why the predecessor worked so hard to refine pills, to the point of overworking and dying.
After all, joining a major sect meant a much better future and a broader perspective. It was far beyond the prospects available within the small Ye family. But despite being a small family with no Foundation Establishment cultivator, the Ye family's internal factions were still deeply entrenched.
Ye Chen was the only heir of the third branch. As for the shop, it was managed by the second branch. The predecessor had even learned alchemy from his second uncle.
Upon this realization, Ye Chen finally understood everything. No wonder the predecessor's alchemy skills were so poor, unable to even detect the problem with the red rose. No wonder the shop had secretly provided sabotaged herbs. They had set him up to fail. This was an attempt to prevent him from competing for the Green Cloud Sect spots.
At this point, Ye Chen could only sneer. A mere Qi Refining family, instead of working together to elevate their clan, allowing everyone to rise alongside the family, was instead sabotaging their own descendants over a spot that might not even be obtainable. It was utterly ridiculous.
A family like this, even if the family head successfully broke through to Foundation Establishment, would have no future. Once Ye Chen understood all this, he had no more expectations from the Ye family.
However, the Green Cloud Sect's spot was still something he was very interested in. After all, the system had said it clearly. The higher the quality of the female cultivator, the higher the feedback multiplier.
On Earth, beautiful women always flocked to big cities. The same logic applied in the cultivation world. Outstanding female cultivators were bound to join sects.
If Ye Chen entered the Green Cloud Sect, he might meet women with 20, 30, or even 100 times the feedback multiplier. He could save decades of effort in one go.
Just the thought of it made Ye Chen incredibly tempted. The sects had very high requirements for formal disciples. They had to be pure and untainted by any prior cultivation, with clean backgrounds. For someone like Lin Ke'er, a loose cultivator with no opportunities, joining a sect was practically impossible.
Ye Chen himself was in the same position. So, this spot—he would definitely fight for it.