Chapter 5: Advancing Steadily

Although Li Ji'an had truthfully informed Zhao Shuyao of his current level of alchemy and expressed his confidence that his skills would improve further once he reached the late stage of Qi Refining, he had not expected her employer to be so accommodating. This spoke volumes about the employer's trust in Zhao Shuyao, as well as the integrity with which Zhao Shuyao had conducted herself over the past few decades. She had not even bothered to verify his alchemical skills. Nevertheless, Li Ji'an was confident that he would not betray that trust.

After bidding farewell to the employer, Zhao Shuyao intended to take Li Ji'an downstairs to have Manager Wu handle the registration, but the employer kept her behind, leaving Li Ji'an to go down alone. The employer not only failed to understand the sentiment Zhao Shuyao held for Li Ji'an but also strongly disapproved of it. The cultivation world was inherently filled with crises and challenges, a place of shifting winds and clouds where human hearts were unpredictable. Even one's own biological children would not be coddled in a greenhouse indefinitely, let alone someone who was not a relative and shared no blood ties; excessive benevolence was a recipe for disaster. Li Ji'an was already twenty-six, not a child incapable of self-reliance. Most importantly, Zhao Shuyao was a maid who had sworn a vow of celibacy to serve their family; her primary loyalty should have been to them.

Li Ji'an's thoughts mirrored those of the employer. He understood the spiritual reliance and affection Zhao Shuyao placed in him, but he never accepted or demanded it with a clear conscience. After all, in his previous life, he had not provided them with any real help, and the exchange of value was the foundation for maintaining any relationship. His situation as a younger member of the generation was essentially cheating.

After parting ways with the two, Li Ji'an went downstairs to complete his registration and received the guest elder identification token of the Nine Cauldrons Merchant Guild. With this token, his standing in the Immortal City was significantly higher than that of an ordinary rogue cultivator. Before leaving, he took the opportunity to purchase a batch of medicinal herbs.

Once outside the merchant guild, Li Ji'an headed straight to a residential area at the boundary between the inner and outer cities, a location he had scouted ten years prior. The property rights here all belonged to the Biyun Sect. He ultimately selected a small townhouse unit that had just become vacant, situated on a first-grade high-tier spiritual vein, with an annual rent of one hundred and sixty spirit stones. Though called a small courtyard, it was essentially two bungalow rooms with a front yard of about thirty square meters.

This grade of housing was typically something that ordinary, solitary rogue cultivators would have to strive and save for decades to be able to rent with peace of mind. Without sufficient skills and a stable income, living in such a place would be an immense burden. The previous tenant had been a blacksmithing consultant for a small neighboring family who had moved north in search of better opportunities, but after twenty years, he had finally decided to return to his hometown to retire.

After completing the formalities, Li Ji'an closed the gate and released Guagua from his spirit pet bag, letting the creature dig a pond in the yard while he immediately sent messages to Yan Qingwan and Zhang Tiezhu to let them know he was safe. Yan Qingwan replied promptly, comforting him and telling him not to feel pressured, as most of the clan elders did not have any particular grievances. She urged him not to cut off contact, welcomed him to visit when the situation in the wilderness stabilized, and added that if the opportunity arose, she would come to study alchemy with him.

After replying to Yan Qingwan, he sent a message to Zhao Shuyao with his address, tactfully indicating that he would be too busy refining his alchemy to spend much time with her—a gesture intended to prevent her from spending too much time on him and making things difficult with her employer.

"Hoo..." After finishing his messages, Li Ji'an lay on the bed, feeling a sense of relief. Fifty-seven years ago, in his first life, he had arrived in the cultivation world knowing nothing of the power dynamics or the logic of the realm. He had integrated locally, fumbling through bit by bit, relying on his extraordinary aptitude to enter the Yan family, which allowed him to survive safely and accumulate more favors and skills than expected for that lifetime.

In his second life, he had started with the support of the Yan family, particularly the favors from Yan Qingwan, which allowed him to smoothly nurture his spiritual roots. His aptitude had exceeded expectations, leading to an unexpected contact with the sect—a process he had been ill-prepared for at the time. Because his knowledge of the sect, which sat at the top of the food chain, had been limited during his time in the wilderness, and because he had been rushed into the sect trials by Yan Qingwan, his initial engagement with the sect had seemed somewhat dim-witted.

But now, benefiting from the favors left behind in the Yan family from his previous life, he had spent his mid-stage Qi Refining phase exactly as he had planned, finally taking a step forward to establish himself in the Immortal City. Whether in terms of broadening his horizons or accessing resources and opportunities, his starting point was several tiers higher than in his previous life. He had to take every step firmly and steadily, rising life by life; he could not afford to be hurried or chaotic.

After three days of rest, Li Ji'an began refining pills. At the sixth level of Qi Refining, he had never consumed low-grade pills to accelerate his cultivation, ensuring the purity and condensation of his Dantian's mana. With no accumulation of pill toxins, his alchemical fire was stronger than that of many late-stage Qi Refining cultivators. His alchemical skills had further improved upon the foundations of his previous life, with the high-quality yield rate for first-grade mid-tier pills reaching seventy percent, and a guaranteed sixty percent high-grade yield for late-tier pills. Once he ascended to the late stage of Qi Refining and his alchemical fire improved further, his high-quality yield for late-tier pills would likely exceed sixty percent as well.

Three hours later, the first batch of mid-tier pills was completed. Compared to the practice-grade herbs he had used at the Yan family, the quality of these herbs was several times higher. The cost of one portion was ten spirit stones, and his success rate reached eighty percent: five high-quality pills, one mid-grade, and two low-grade. The theoretical maximum yield for a single batch was ten pills.

According to the local market prices for high-grade pill acquisitions, mid-tier Qi Condensing Pills were priced at two low-grade pills for one spirit stone, one mid-grade pill for one spirit stone, one high-grade pill for three spirit stones, and one high-quality pill for five spirit stones. Generally, a first-grade alchemist who could achieve a fifty-percent success rate with mid-tier Qi Condensing Pills was considered skilled, but if they were to purchase herbs of this quality, they would essentially operate at a loss; they usually only refined more common pills with higher success rates. A veteran alchemist with a seventy-percent success rate and a sixty-percent high-grade yield could make a fifty-percent profit on this batch. Li Ji'an's profit, however, was more than double that. Combined with his status as a guest elder, which granted him higher acquisition prices for his pills and discounts on herb purchases, his profit per batch was nearly two hundred percent.

In order to ensure high-quality yields, one must squeeze the medicinal properties to their limit, so apart from the high-quality ones, the other pills would not be of the best quality. As a first-grade alchemist, earning twenty spirit stones per batch was a terrifying level of profitability. Most importantly, while ordinary alchemists would deplete their mana and spirit excessively—making a standard batch every three days, or every other day for the diligent—Li Ji'an, with his spiritual sense comparable to that of an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, could easily handle two batches a day.

However, his expenses were also high. At the very least, he needed to consume two of his own high-quality Qi Condensing Pills from each batch to boost his cultivation. Together with his need to study Talisman Crafting and maintain his own training, he planned for one batch per day. Overall, he could earn over two hundred spirit stones a month from alchemy, which basically covered his expenses for talisman research, daily cultivation, and living costs. If he were to push himself slightly and refine more, he would have a surplus to provide high-quality feed for Guagua.

Yet, he had no intention of becoming wealthy through mere toil; he hoped that once his talisman arts and cultivation reached a higher level, he would achieve prosperity through his expertise and the superior quality of his work.

A month passed in the blink of an eye. On this day, his guest elder token vibrated. Manager Wu's message carried a hint of an unusual tone. Normally, the bottom line for a guest alchemist was to sell no less than three hundred spirit stones' worth of pills to the shop each month. This served as a form of audit for their skills; otherwise, they would be dismissed.

"But there are still three days left before the deadline," Li Ji'an mused, raising an eyebrow. He understood this, of course; it was his first month, and they were still unfamiliar with his true level of skill.