"My surname is Zhang," the steward said, then stood and walked to the shelves. "Wait here."
"Yes, Steward Zhang."
In terms of status within the sect, a steward ranked higher than an Outer Sect Disciple but slightly lower than an Inner Sect Disciple.
To become a steward, one had to have been an Inner Sect Disciple before the age of sixty. Thus, stewards generally had a cultivation at the late stage of the Qi Refining realm.
A short while later, Steward Zhang reappeared before Fang Yun, holding a pair of milky-white shoes.
"Light Spirit Shoes. They match your description. They'll make your body feel lighter, increasing your running speed, and they don't consume much Spiritual Power." As he spoke, Steward Zhang placed the Light Spirit Shoes on the tabletop and pushed them toward Fang Yun. "They cost twelve Lower-Grade Spirit Stones. Are you paying with Spirit Stones or Contribution Points?"
"Spirit Stones."
Fang Yun placed twelve Lower-Grade Spirit Stones on the tabletop, put on the Light Spirit Shoes he had just bought, and after a brief farewell to Steward Zhang, he left the Artifact Pavilion.
Steward Zhang acknowledged him with a sound but didn't look up.
He was recording the transaction in his ledger. Which Magical Artifact was sold, on what day, and during which two-hour period—all of it had to be written down clearly.
After infusing a small amount of Spiritual Power into the Light Spirit Shoes, Fang Yun felt his whole body become much lighter.
Twelve Lower-Grade Spirit Stones. For a Lower-Grade Magical Artifact, this price was steep, but Fang Yun felt it was more than worth it.
The increased speed would save him a great deal of travel time going forward.
Now, he had to hurry to Dan Cloud Peak to refine Qi Nourishing Pills.
He planned to refine three batches this time as well.
The next day, as dusk approached, Fang Yun emerged from a basic Alchemy Room.
Of the three batches of Qi Nourishing Pills he refined, the first produced three Lower-Grade Qi Nourishing Pills, same as the last batch from his previous session.
The second batch yielded four Lower-Grade Qi Nourishing Pills.
And though the third batch only produced three pills, one of them was Middle-Grade!
Fang Yun was very satisfied with this result; he had managed to refine a Middle-Grade Qi Nourishing Pill after only six batches in total.
A Lower-Grade Qi Nourishing Pill was worth one Lower-Grade Spirit Stone, a Middle-Grade pill was worth two, and the Upper-Grade Qi Nourishing Pills that Fang Yun needed were worth four Lower-Grade Spirit Stones each.
If a batch of Qi Nourishing Pills yielded only a single pill, he could still turn a profit as long as it was an Upper-Grade one.
After leaving the basic Alchemy Room and returning the token, Fang Yun glanced at the steward, who was enjoying a small drink. He then infused Spiritual Power into his Light Spirit Shoes and hurried back to his Spirit Field at top speed.
The trip to Artifact Casting Peak had cost him a lot of extra time.
In the future, even when he came to Dan Cloud Peak to refine three batches of Qi Nourishing Pills, he could still, with rest time included, guarantee he would be able to tend to his Purple Corn at least once every day and a half.
...
Cloud Summit.
One of the five great peaks of the Celestial Cloud Sect, and also its Main Peak.
The cultivators who resided on Cloud Summit were essentially the upper echelon of the Celestial Cloud Sect.
In a cave dwelling on the peak, dense with Spiritual Qi, the stone door slid open, and Song Qiaoqiao entered from the outside.
"Great-Grandfather."
"Ah, it's my dear Qiaoqiao. Come, sit over here." The moment Zhong Yankun saw his great-granddaughter, a wide smile spread across his old face.
"Tell your great-grandfather, has anything happened recently?"
Ever since Song Qiaoqiao had become a disciple of the Celestial Cloud Sect, he made sure to check on his great-granddaughter from time to time.
"I met an interesting junior brother recently." When thinking about recent events, the first person who came to Song Qiaoqiao's mind was Fang Yun.
Upon hearing this, Zhong Yankun's heart tightened.
"An interesting junior brother? How so? Qiaoqiao, tell me everything."
"This junior brother only has a Five Spirit Roots talent. From what he said, he was admitted into the sect because of his Planting Talent. I've met him twice. The first time, he came to Dan Cloud Peak wanting to buy the Pill Formula for the Qi Nourishing Pill. The second time, he rented an Alchemy Room to refine them..."
Zhong Yankun listened patiently. So far, he hadn't heard anything he would call 'interesting'.
"...And Great-Grandfather, you know what? For his compensation, that junior brother actually asked to borrow one hundred Lower-Grade Spirit Stones!"
Even as she said it, Song Qiaoqiao still didn't quite understand it herself.
Looking at his great-granddaughter's expression, Zhong Yankun didn't even have to guess; he knew she had given that fellow the hundred Lower-Grade Spirit Stones he'd asked for.
"Qiaoqiao, let your great-grandfather guess... you didn't write up an IOU, did you?"
"Oh, you're right. We didn't." It was only then that Song Qiaoqiao remembered. When her junior brother borrowed a hundred Spirit Stones, the proper procedure would have been to write an IOU.
Zhong Yankun was not surprised.
"Don't worry, Great-Grandfather. This junior brother will pay me back. He's not a bad person."
"You know he's not a bad person after meeting him twice? Qiaoqiao, you need to understand the saying: you can know a person's face, but not their heart..."
Taking this opportunity, Zhong Yankun launched into one of his lectures.
When he finished his lecture, he looked at his great-granddaughter, who was nodding repeatedly, and asked, "Did he say when he would pay you back?"
"He did, he did," Song Qiaoqiao said, continuing to nod. "My junior brother said he would pay me back in half a year at the earliest, or a year at the latest."
"Oh? Now that is a little interesting." Zhong Yankun stroked his beard, his eyes narrowing slightly.
One hundred Lower-Grade Spirit Stones was no small sum, even for an Inner Sect Disciple, let alone a new Outer Sect Disciple who hadn't even broken through to the mid-stage of the Qi Refining realm.
From Song Qiaoqiao's description, he formed a general impression of this junior brother of hers.
'This disciple with Five Spirit Roots wants to see if he has any Alchemy Talent, to take a gamble on his future.'
'Starting out in Alchemy consumes a huge amount of resources. How can he guarantee he'll be able to repay one hundred Lower-Grade Spirit Stones within a year?'
"Qiaoqiao, a year from now, you must tell me whether or not he's paid back your Spirit Stones."
"Okay."
...
「Late December」
Dan Cloud Peak, in basic Alchemy Room Five.
Fang Yun was in the process of refining Qi Nourishing Pills.
This was the third batch he was refining during this session, and his thirty-third batch of Qi Nourishing Pills in total.
By his tenth batch, he had achieved the milestone of producing five Qi Nourishing Pills at once, with no Wasted Pills.
Although Wasted Pills still appeared in subsequent attempts, after his sixteenth batch, he stopped producing them entirely.
His thirtieth batch marked another breakthrough: all five pills were Middle-Grade.
He had managed to refine a Middle-Grade pill as early as his sixth batch—before he had even successfully produced a full batch of five—yet now, even after producing five Middle-Grade pills in his thirtieth batch, he still hadn't managed to create a single Upper-Grade one.
This just went to show how difficult Upper-Grade Qi Nourishing Pills were to refine.
All Upper-Grade pills were like this.
Of today's batches, the first had yielded four Middle-Grade pills and one Lower-Grade pill. The second yielded five Middle-Grade pills, just like his thirtieth batch.
During the refining of today's third batch, Fang Yun handled some of the details even more skillfully.
'To refine Upper-Grade Qi Nourishing Pills, I have to be meticulous down to the smallest detail.'
As the newly formed pills dropped into the Pill Output Port, Fang Yun extinguished the Earth Fire and examined the fresh, still-warm batch of Qi Nourishing Pills.