Chapter 19 – Chemist Intrudes Florida Man's House, Kowtows for Forgiveness
While Leo had a mental breakdown during the waiting, a group of white-robed cultivators returned to the Life Sword Sect. These outer disciples were Gao Yan's bullies, and they were all 19 years old. They gossiped.
"You saw that, right?"
"Yeah, the rumor is real. Gao Yan got immortal grasses from him!"
"There are plenty of spirit grasses around here. Should we go collect them?"
"And get ourselves killed? I'm sure he's growing them. If we steal those, we'll offend him!"
"But Gao Yan got the immortal grasses from him..."
"Remember the rules of survival number one – Run whenever you see a stranger with a superior cultivation base. It's not worth risking our lives for the unknown!"
"But Gao Yan..."
"That guy has an exceptional physique. That elder must have noticed that and decided to help. What about us? We are all Qi condensation stage, but we can only cultivate non-elemental Qi! If we go talk to him, instead of getting anything, he would have killed us!"
"..."
Everybody was dejected. Still, for the sake of contribution points, they rushed to the contribution pavilion to report their findings.
The next mystic realm opening was about three weeks away. They had to get ready to compete for the spot within the sect, and they needed contribution points to earn the right to compete.
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= Alchemy Department =
In this department, there was a custom – Every Monday at 8 AM, a trainee was always randomly chosen by a lottery drawing, and the chosen trainee had to give a demonstration or share their knowledge, research, refining tricks, or insight.
There was also another unspoken rule - The chosen trainee must not present their knowledge half-heartedly. After all, after the presentation, every trainee was free to criticize, chastise, or debate the lecturer if the workshop class was poor and mundane. Therefore, if someone gave a weak or bad lecture, he would be humiliated on the spot.
Gao Yan joined the little gathering of 20 trainees. As he was still a disciple who couldn't concoct a pill, his name wasn't put in the lottery, so he could come here every week to listen to free lectures.
The lecturer today was a 22-year-old alchemist intern, who was also an outer disciple of the Sixth Element Sect. He had been working for Life Sword Sect as a guest alchemist for six months. He had short black hair. His face was full of pimples. His fingernails were black, and his skin was riddled with black spots as he had been exposed to various types of poison substances.
"Fellow alchemists, my name is Jin Yong. As my friends know, I'm from the Sixth Element Sect, which is well-versed in poison element. I'll be demonstrating how to extract venom from poisonous plants and choose the right catalyst ingredients for poison element pills."
Gao Yan's pupils dilated as he was interested in the unknown element. In the books, they only described five elements – Earth, Fire, Water, Wood, and Metal. None of them mentioned poison elements.
"Before I start, I must correct the misconception. Yes, poison is harmful. But when it is correctly utilized, it can become medicine. To prove my point, I'll show you how to make an anti-infection dressing gel with this bone-rotting sap."
"..."
Nobody uttered a word as they focused on how Jin Yong refined the purple sap in a small cauldron on the table.
The lecture lasted four hours.
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Later that day, at 10 PM, Jin Yong left Magpie City and took a stroll in the eastern forest to change his mood.
During the morning, the lecture was a success. Only a few seniors debated with him, but nobody managed to humiliate him in front of the crowd. He managed to get some praise from a senior guest alchemist, who came to see the lecture.
Because of the happy mood, Jin Yong enjoyed the scenery and let his imagination run wild during the stroll. As his brain came up with various impossible scenarios, he suddenly remembered one of the trending rumors around the sect.
In the east forest, a mysterious senior lurked there. He was also the reason Gao Yan awakened Wood Qi and became Wu Buyi's disciple.
Curious, Jin Yong leaped over the tall trees and ventured deeper into the forest.
A few minutes later, Jin Yong finally saw a dense fog at a distance. Unperturbed and confident in his foundation establishment stage's strength, Jin Yong entered the fog area.
After entering the fog, Jin Yong couldn't see anything beyond five meters in front of him. Still, he kept placing himself on top of pine trees. When he landed on a tree in the fog, he noticed something odd - The tree bark and leaves were all shining in blue.
Jin Yong silently collected a few nuts and put them in his clothes. He would compare them to the encyclopedia book in his dorm later. For now, he continued traveling further, searching for the source of the anomaly.
After 10 minutes, Jin Yong saw two sources of bright light. One came from the windows of a large cabin while the other one came from the building behind it, but it was dimmer. Jin Yong approached the brightest area first to get a closer look.
The orange light of the building was so bright that it amazed Jin Yong. He had never seen any tool or lamp that illuminated this far. Curious about the source of light, he got down from the tree and stood in front of the building with glass windows.
Jin Yong looked at the weird long bulbs of light inside the cabin at first. Then, his eyes lowered and noticed a dozen transparent containers lining the table.
The round pills of various colors interested him.
"Pills? What pills are these? I've never seen them before."
Jin Yong was frustrated. He wanted to sniff them to check what kind of pills they were, but no scent came out from the glass windows. He turned to the door, wondering if he should knock on it to call the owner.
Hesitated, Jin Yong took a few steps back to look at the building's signboard, which was brightly illuminated by peculiar purple light.
[We Sell Weed]
Jin Yong was astonished. If this was a store, the store owner might have a mental issue. Still, it gave him hope. Since this was a store, Jin Yong tried to open the door.
CREAK
It was unlocked. Jin Yong entered the store and looked inside.
The interior was bright as if it was daytime. Many weird glass containers emitted chilling air. All of them also had a light bulb built-in, illuminating the content inside.
The alchemist trainee was stunned. He didn't know what he should check first. Still, his legs brought him toward the tallest object in the room – The Supermarket Showcase Refrigerator. Then, he noticed the vegetables on the showcase.
There were countless black grasses, blue coriander, mutated cabbages, and gold bananas lining in order. Every item emitted thick elemental Qi.
"I-Immortal grasses?! Yin Cabbage and Sand Banana?! I-Is this an immortal herb pavilion?!"
Jin Yong gulped. He turned to the other fridges to see the other items.
The glass-door refrigerators were also filled with cabbages and black grasses. However, the slide-door chests had something else.
There were meat cuts, buckets of blood, and packages of innards in there.
Jin Yong turned to the meat display fridges. He also noticed beautiful cuts of red meat, but they looked the same as meat in the city's market.
"Commoner's food is here too. What is this place?"
Jin Yong looked around, but he couldn't see any other item. Then, his nose caught a pleasant aroma. He followed the scent and found a transparent pot, containing black water and a blue coriander at the south corner of the cabin.
For an unknown reason, Jin Yong had the urge to drink the water. He approached the pot and was about to open the lid.
CREAK
Suddenly, someone entered the store through the backdoor. Jin Yong immediately turned around and found the store owner. He was an elder with long white hair and a silky-smooth white beard. In his hands, he carried a glass pot full of purple liquid while wearing strange gloves.
Leo stared at Jin Yong, "Is there something I can do for you, mister?"
Jin Yong was surprised for a moment before his eyes were attracted by the purple liquid in the glass pot. His nose caught on the familiar scent of a poisonous substance, telling him that the content was poisonous.
'Poison liquid? I haven't seen that before? What kind of poison is that?'
He turned his attention to the elder. Then, he noticed the colorful aurora around him. Just like the others, Jin Yong was nervous. He gulped.
'A soul formation cultivator, the sixth stage! He's as strong as the sect master! The rumor is true!!'
As an inferior 3rd stage cultivator, Jin Yong didn't dare to offend the senior. He quickly knelt and cupped his fist.
"Please forgive this junior for trespassing senior's abode!"
"..."
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Meanwhile, Leo scratched his head and frowned at Jin Yong. He thought to himself.
'Why do these guys always overreact when they see me? What did I ever do to them?'
