Chapter 10: Surprise

Li Zhirui looked at the dozens of Jade Spirit Pills in his hand. After a moment of thought, he picked out the two with the poorest efficacy, placed them in a separate jade bottle, and hurried out of his small courtyard.

Running up to Li Shiren’s courtyard, Li Zhirui took a deep breath and shouted excitedly, "Uncle Ren, I succeeded!"

Li Shiren, who was just about to engrave a formation flag, reacted immediately upon hearing Li Zhirui’s words. Ignoring the flag in his hand, he moved like a whirlwind, rushing in front of Li Zhirui in an instant and asking eagerly, "You successfully refined Jade Spirit Pills?"

"Yes!" Li Zhirui nodded affirmatively and handed the prepared jade bottle to Li Shiren.

"This... it really succeeded?!" Li Shiren opened the jade bottle and looked at the two spirit pills lying at the bottom, his face full of disbelief.

Li Shiren did not know that Li Zhirui had practiced dozens of times before succeeding; he assumed that Li Zhirui had succeeded using only those ten sets of materials!

Although the quality of these two Jade Spirit Pills was average, they were, regardless, genuine first-grade spirit pills. This meant that Li Zhirui had successfully mastered the refinement of Jade Spirit Pills!

"Good lad!" Li Shiren patted Li Zhirui’s shoulder hard and said excitedly, "I’m going to tell the Patriarch right now so he can mobilize spirit herbs from the family for you to practice with!"

"Uh..." Li Zhirui’s expression froze. He had shown the spirit pills to Li Shiren not because he wanted the family to provide herbs, but simply to establish a legitimate reason for his future sales of spirit pills to earn spirit stones.

But now, the situation seemed to be sprinting down a completely different path!

Yet, this was something Li Zhirui could not explain, so he had no choice but to follow behind Li Shiren, walking toward the main hall with a complex expression.

"Patriarch, Ah Rui is an alchemy genius! He refined Jade Spirit Pills with only ten sets of spirit herbs." As soon as Li Shiren entered the room, he shouted at the top of his lungs, as if afraid someone wouldn't hear him.

Li Shiqing had originally intended to reprimand Li Shiren for his lack of composure, but upon hearing what he said, he immediately changed his tone and asked, "Is what you say true?"

"This is the Jade Spirit Pill that Ah Rui refined." Li Shiren held the jade bottle in his palm.

Li Shiqing probed the jade bottle with his divine sense and discovered that there were indeed two Jade Spirit Pills inside. His expression immediately relaxed. "Good, good, good! Since Zhirui has talent in this area, the family will definitely do its best to cultivate him!"

"Zhirui!" A hint of kindness and excitement appeared on Li Shiqing’s face as he said, "If you are short on materials, go to the warehouse to collect them. If the warehouse doesn't have them, the family will send people to the market to buy them. You don't need to worry about these things; just practice well and strive to improve your success rate."

"However!" Li Shiqing’s expression turned serious instantly. "You must not occupy your cultivation time for the sake of alchemy!"

"I will not neglect my cultivation," Li Zhirui promised solemnly.

Li Shiqing nodded with satisfaction and said, "Good. Take this warrant and go to the warehouse to collect the spirit herbs."

Li Zhirui took the warrant and left. On the way, he sighed silently, but then he thought, since he already had the title of a genius, having the title of an alchemy genius wouldn't hurt. Besides, he could use this opportunity to make a small contribution to the family.

"Tell me about the process of Zhirui’s alchemy." It wasn't that Li Shiqing doubted Li Zhirui; he just wanted to understand the matter clearly.

Li Shiren started from the time they went to the market together and Li Zhirui purchased two sets of water-refining alchemy formulas, telling Li Shiqing everything in detail.

"Water-refining method? No wonder when I looked at those two Jade Spirit Pills, although the quality was a bit poor, there wasn't much pill poison."

As he spoke, Li Shiqing couldn't help but sigh. The family did have some alchemy heritage, but it was all based on fire-refining methods, which might not necessarily be helpful to Li Zhirui.

"Tomorrow, go to Yunqing Market and scout out the business of the grocery stores."

Li Shiren didn't react for a moment and asked, confused, "What is this for?"

"The family now has you engraving formations, Zhirui refining spirit pills, and we can also refine some simple magical artifacts and talismans. Soon, the spirit rice will also be ready for harvest. With such a variety of spiritual items, it is enough to open a grocery store."

There was another reason: the family was currently training spirit chefs, and before they succeeded, the family needed another way to earn spirit stones, and a grocery store was a good choice.

"But is there any news from the White Jade Sect?" Li Shiren asked with some concern. If the White Jade Sect refused to let go of the Beast Taming Sect and its vassal forces, opening a grocery store could very likely bring danger to the family.

"I just received news from my fifth brother. He said the White Jade Sect has not issued a kill order. It seems they won't take action against us small forces that fled." Li Shiqing had only decided to open a grocery store after receiving this news.

"That’s good then." Since there was no danger, Li Shiren naturally accepted the order gladly.

...

The news that Li Zhirui went to the warehouse to collect spirit herbs for alchemy quickly spread among the clansmen. While everyone was envious, they were also somewhat excited.

Because the family having an extra alchemist meant the family could earn more spirit stones, and they, as clansmen, could also receive some benefits from it.

The family’s original two alchemists couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. With Li Zhirui, the pressure on them would be reduced a little.

One must know that before this, the entire family of over seventy cultivators consumed a large number of spirit pills every month, and they also needed to sell a portion of them. With only the two of them refining, it was impossible not to feel pressure.

However, Li Zhirui, who was currently unaware of these things, spent his time every day doing nothing but alchemy and cultivation; he hadn't even stepped outside.

Five days later, Li Zhirui brought dozens of Jade Spirit Pills to the warehouse to hand over to the internal affairs elder, Li Shile, and prepared to collect another thirty sets of spirit herbs from him.

"Zhirui, what is your success rate now?" Li Shile inquired.

"It has stabilized at forty percent." But in reality, Li Zhirui’s success rate was already at sixty percent.

"Good, good, good!" Li Shile exclaimed repeatedly. Li Zhirui’s current success rate was enough to cover the costs; anything beyond that was pure profit in spirit stones!

"Zhirui, before, the family was cultivating you in alchemy and didn't set a quota for how many spirit pills you had to hand in. But now that you have stabilized, we must follow the rules."

Seeing Li Zhirui’s look of agreement, Li Shile found him even more pleasing to the eye and said with a smile, "According to the family rules, you must hand in five spirit pills for every set of spirit herbs. You can keep the surplus for yourself. Whether you sell them or consume them, the family will not interfere."

"Good!" Li Zhirui agreed without hesitation. In fact, if he weren't worried about offending people, he would have been willing to hand in even more.

Moreover, as a family alchemist, besides this benefit, he could also receive an additional amount of contribution points.

In the Li family, contribution points were more precious than spirit stones because they could be used to exchange for various techniques accumulated by the family over hundreds of years, which spirit stones could not do.

"The family only has forty sets of spirit herbs for Jade Spirit Pills left. Just hand in two hundred spirit pills in half a month," Li Shile said with a smile.

Li Zhirui took the storage bag, bowed to Li Shile, and turned to leave.

Soon, the news of Li Zhirui’s success rate reached Li Shiqing’s ears. "It seems Zhirui’s talent for alchemy is indeed quite good."

Li Shiren, who was discussing the opening of the grocery store with him, couldn't help but show a bright smile on his face.

"With this, are you still worried that the shop’s business won't be good?" Li Shiqing laughed.

It turned out that Li Shiren had observed the market for several days and found that there were many similar shops with fierce competition, so he was worried the family wouldn't be able to earn spirit stones.

"Not worried anymore," Li Shiren said with a smile. "After all, the advantage of water-refined spirit pills is too great. If the prices are the same, other shops definitely won't be able to compete with us."

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(End of chapter)