Chapter 29: A Month Passes in the Blink of an Eye

Refining a single batch of Inedia Pills required at least ten or so spirit fruits to bring out the flavor. Each spirit fruit started at three contribution points, meaning just the fruit alone would cost more than what Lin Lie was paying him as a commission fee. If he went through with it, he'd be working at a loss.

With that in mind, he shook his head repeatedly and pushed the fruits back toward the attendant. "Thank you for the suggestion, Senior Brother, but the quantity needed is just too much — I really can't afford the cost."

The attendant took one look at his furrowed, conflicted expression and understood immediately. He waved a hand with a smile. "No worries. If you just want to add a bit of fruity flavor as a treat, we also carry ordinary fruit — not spirit plants, but they taste great and are much cheaper."

As he spoke, he raised a hand and pointed to a bamboo basket beside the counter, which was piled high with bright red lychees.

The lychees had vivid, fresh-looking shells — clearly just picked.

"These lychees grow in the mountains outside our sect. They're in season right now and incredibly sweet. This whole basket is only two contribution points. If you want it, just take it with you."

Bai Chen looked in the direction the attendant pointed. Every lychee in the basket was plump and full. He leaned in for a sniff, and a clean, sweet fragrance shot straight up his nose. His eyes lit up at once.

So what if they were ordinary lychees? He only needed the fruity flavor — not any medicinal effect.

And the best part: the whole basket was only two contribution points. What a deal!

He slapped the bamboo basket on the spot. "Senior Brother, I'll take this whole basket!"

Bai Chen unclipped the Outer Sect wooden token from his waist and pressed it against the spirit stone jade tray in front of the attendant.

A faint flash of light passed over it, two contribution points were deducted, and the transaction was complete.

"Done! Two contribution points received — come back again sometime!"

"Thank you, Senior Brother."

Bai Chen slung the bamboo basket onto his back, stepped out of the Dining Hall with a light stride, swung by the Medicine Hall to exchange for the herbs needed to refine Inedia Pills, and then headed back to his wooden cabin with the lychees and medicinal materials in tow, feeling quite pleased with himself.

He had just set down the herbs and lychees and was about to sort through them when a head suddenly popped up at the window — a few stray cowlicks sticking up from the hair — and shouted at him: "Brother Chen!"

"Holy shit, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Bai Chen looked at Fang He outside the window and shot him an unamused glare.

"Weren't you in closed-door cultivation doing Body Tempering? How come you actually came out for some air?"

Fang He let out a couple of cheeky chuckles, then wandered from the window to Bai Chen's cabin doorway and spread his arms wide, spinning in a circle.

"Notice anything different about me?"

Bai Chen raised an eyebrow. "Not bad — so you've succeeded in drawing Qi into the body? Congratulations."

Fang He tilted his chin up, his face barely containing his smugness. "Finally made it through!"

Bai Chen glanced toward Zhou Shi's cabin. "Where's Zhou Shi?"

Fang He planted his hands on his hips and crowed, "That guy's probably still grinding away in his room. How could he possibly match my natural brilliance?"

Both he and Zhou Shi had three-element Spiritual Roots — they were on the same starting line.

He had drawn Qi into his body first, which proved he was better than Zhou Shi.

He could brag about this for the rest of his life.

Bai Chen shook his head with a smile, then suddenly said, "Oh right — that stone pot I gave you before, where did you put it? You didn't throw it away, did you?"

The smugness on Fang He's face froze instantly. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Of course not. That was a gift from you — I've been keeping it in my room."

In truth, both he and Zhou Shi had grown to despise that stone pot and had been itching to throw it out. If it hadn't been for Zhang Wenxuan drawing Qi into his body first a few days ago — which had stung Fang He into going straight into closed-door cultivation the moment he got back, completely forgetting about tossing the pot — it would have been long gone by now.

"Good thing you didn't throw it away." Bai Chen nodded. "Bring it over for me — I'll need it in a bit."

"Huh?" Fang He's eyes went wide. "What do you need that pot for? Don't you have the purple clay pot?"

Bai Chen didn't bother hiding it. "Steward Liu just came by. He commissioned a batch of Inedia Pills for Shifeng, so I'll be using that stone pot to make them."

Fang He let out a long sigh of relief at that.

As long as it wasn't the same pot, he was fine.

"Alright, I'll go grab it for you."

He had just turned to leave when he stopped again and looked back at Bai Chen. "So you're starting the refining right away?"

Bai Chen nodded. "Yeah. Steward Liu ordered a lot — if I don't get started now, I won't finish in time."

One batch took thirty minutes, and ten batches would be five hours!

On top of that, there was Lin Lie's order for fruit-flavored Inedia Pills, which would take some experimenting.

If he didn't get moving, he'd be at it all night and still not finish.

Fang He swallowed hard.

Thank goodness he'd successfully drawn Qi into his body today. He'd find somewhere far away to hide this afternoon and come back once Bai Chen was done.

He glanced back at Zhou Shi's tightly shut cabin door, a flicker of smugness crossing his eyes.

Better you than me, buddy. Sorry, Zhou Shi — it's not that I'm not looking out for you, but who told you to be so useless and still not have drawn Qi into your body yet?

"Brother Chen, hold on — I'll go get the pot."

"Sure."

Fang He was back shortly with the pot. After Bai Chen took it, he casually asked, "Should we tell Zhou Shi to go hide somewhere and come back after I'm done refining?"

Fang He immediately waved his hands. "No, no, absolutely not! I just drew Qi into my body — I know better than anyone that this is a critical period. It can't be interrupted."

Bai Chen frowned. "Then I'll go find somewhere else to refine."

"No need!"

Fang He cut him off again.

"When you're in full breakthrough mode, you don't react to the outside world at all. Don't worry, it won't affect him!"

Bai Chen hadn't yet reached that stage himself, so when Fang He said it wouldn't be a problem, he nodded and headed back inside with the pot.

Besides, if he had to find somewhere else to do alchemy for several hours, he honestly had no idea where he'd go.

As long as it wouldn't cause any trouble, that was fine.

Zhou Shi was inside his cabin, fully absorbed in drawing Qi into his body — right up until the moment Bai Chen's stench, which could only be described as a biohazard, seeped in through the gaps in the door. Completely unprepared, he inhaled several deep lungfuls of it.

He stumbled out of the cabin in a coughing fit.

"Holy shit, holy shit! Brother Chen, why are you refining crap again?!"

Bai Chen was at the window, covering his nose and mouth as he stirred the pot, looking genuinely puzzled. "Fang He said it wouldn't affect you."

Zhou Shi's eyes went wide. "Where is he?"

Bai Chen shook his head. "No idea. He left as soon as I started refining and hasn't come back."

Zhou Shi stood there for a moment, then immediately realized that Fang He had deliberately set him up.

He was so furious he started hopping in place.

"Fang He, you bastard!"

* * *

Time waits for no one in cultivation.

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

Over that month, Bai Chen had built up a stable base of regular customers.

His fruit-flavored, tea-flavored, and pastry-flavored Inedia Pills had earned widespread acclaim throughout the sect.

Unfortunately, Inedia Pills simply weren't worth much. After a full month, he had only accumulated five hundred and ten contribution points.

That number looked decent, but in reality it couldn't buy anything particularly valuable.

Take the Foundation Establishment Pill needed for Foundation Establishment, for instance — a single one cost one hundred thousand contribution points.

Still, it hadn't been without other gains.

For one, his alchemy technique had grown increasingly refined. The impurities in his Inedia Pills kept decreasing and the flavor kept improving — they were even beginning to faintly show pill markings.

Regardless of what kind of pill it was, once pill markings appeared, it became a superior-grade pill.

The fact that an ordinary Inedia Pill, hand-refined in a pot, was on the verge of developing pill markings was a testament to just how high his pill-formation efficiency had become.

Beyond that, he had gotten to know quite a few Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters, and had taken the opportunity to check the attributes of quite a number of them.

He had indeed come across a few impressive Talent Traits.

Things like: Spiritual Energy Recovery Speed Increased (Blue quality), High Spirit Plant Survival Rate (Blue quality), Stable Sea of Consciousness (Green quality), and Keen Perception (Green quality).

They all seemed decent enough, but in terms of practical value, Zhang Wenxuan's "Half the Effort, Double the Results" was still the most useful to him at his current stage.