Chapter 4: Mid-Grade Pills Produced
After saying that, Zhao Zheng felt something was slightly off, but he scratched his head and ultimately decided not to press further.
An elderly person of this age simply had no business appearing within the sect.
Lin Wei knew why Zhao Zheng had abruptly stopped asking, and she did not question him further either.
The original owner's knowledge of the sect was virtually nonexistent.
Back inside the alchemy room.
The alchemy furnace was still glowing red.
All they could do was wait.
It did not take long before the batches of pills Jiang Ya and Li Hui had brewed the previous night were ready to be opened.
The goatee stepped forward to open the furnace, releasing a wave of medicinal fragrance. Lin Wei leaned in to take a look.
Inside a white porcelain plate sat dozens of brown pills of varying sizes.
From Jiang Ya's expression, Lin Wei could tell the results were quite good; after all, the kid's mouth had twitched upward into a stealthy grin several times.
"Not bad. These Bigu Pills are approaching mid-grade."
The goatee stroked his beard and offered praise.
Jiang Ya beamed and bowed respectfully, saying, "It is all thanks to Master's brilliant teaching."
Lin Wei rolled her eyes inwardly. Sycophants were truly everywhere.
The goatee carefully packed the pills into a bottle. Jiang Ya picked out a slightly smaller one to put into his own vial, then tucked it into his robe with great care.
Moving on to Li Hui's furnace, Lin Wei observed that Li Hui was extremely nervous, swallowing dryly at least ten times.
Once the furnace was opened, the yield of pills was noticeably smaller than Jiang Ya's, but otherwise, there was not much difference.
Li Hui let out a sigh of relief, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curving upward into a slight arc.
Lin Wei understood that this kid was also satisfied with the outcome.
"Not bad. These Spirit-Clearing Pills are also close to mid-grade. You two are progressing very quickly. In another six months to a year, you will surely be able to brew mid-grade pills."
Sure enough, the goatee praised Li Hui as well.
"It is all thanks to Master's brilliant teaching."
Li Hui chimed in with his own flattering bootlicking.
Lin Wei rolled her eyes and gave a silent scoff.
She sniffed the unopened alchemy furnace, feeling a flutter of anticipation: what kind of pills would emerge from the batch she had participated in?
The fire beneath the alchemy furnace had long since gone out, and the furnace itself had returned to a dull, cyan-black hue.
"Time to open the furnace."
The goatee glanced briefly at Lin Wei and spoke indifferently.
Lin Wei replied with equal indifference, "Then open it."
If it's ready to open, just open it—why was he staring at her? Weren't the first two furnaces opened by him?
The lid of that alchemy furnace was huge and looked exceptionally heavy; her aging arms and legs wouldn't be able to budge it anyway.
The goatee felt a bit amused, wondering if this old woman was slightly senile and thus lacked any sense of fear.
He walked over, climbed the ladder beside the alchemy furnace, and forcefully levered off the lid. A wave of fresh, crisp fragrance immediately drifted out.
Lin Wei peered inside to see pill after pill, each the size of a peanut, resting in a white jade dish. At a glance, there must have been sixty or seventy of them.
With so many pills, they were only giving her one? That was far too stingy.
"Th-th-this... how is this possible?"
The goatee's voice was actually trembling.
Zhao Zheng, Jiang Ya, and Li Hui were also frozen in absolute shock.
Seeing their expressions, Lin Wei couldn't help asking, "What's wrong? Isn't this quite good? In terms of quantity, it's way more than your first two disciples got."
The fragrance was also much stronger; why were they acting as if they'd seen a ghost?
"Mid... mid-grade pills!"
The goatee's face flushed red with excitement.
Recovering his wits, Zhao Zheng was overcome with regret. Had he known, he wouldn't have tried to pass the task off; otherwise, this heaven-sent windfall would have been his.
"Granny, is this really your first time practicing alchemy?"
Zhao Zheng asked, swallowing hard past his dry throat.
The goatee looked at Lin Wei and blurted out, "Old sister..."
"No, esteemed sister! Where on earth did you pop up from? Have you considered joining our Earth-grade Alchemy Room?"
The goatee was so excited he even changed how he addressed her.
Lin Wei remained utterly composed. "At my age, how many days do I even have left to eat and drink? Not interested, not interested. What good is a single pill to me even if I take it?"
She was deeply interested, but she couldn't let it show.
Human nature being what it was, things that were offered too eagerly were never valued.
"Esteemed sister, right now it's just one pill, but if you have talent and brew longevity pills in the future, those will be worth a thousand gold! How about this: I won't take my cut from this batch of pills, and the two that belong to me I'll give to you as well. Whenever you want to come to our place, you come. Whenever you want to brew a batch of pills, you brew them—how does that sound?"
The goatee produced a porcelain vial containing three Hemostatic Pills and handed them to Lin Wei.
He was thoroughly calculating; he didn't ask where Lin Wei came from, only inviting her to return whenever she pleased.
"Aren't you afraid I'll ruin a whole pot of your pills?"
Lin Wei could easily see through the goatee's little schemes, and she asked with amused interest.
"Esteemed sister, you jest. Alchemy is all about talent. Since you are a person of talent, as long as you apply yourself, whatever you make will undoubtedly be top-notch."
The goatee couldn't explain it, but he felt that the elderly woman before him was deeply unfathomable and shrouded in mystery.
He felt as though all his little plots had been seen through, yet the other party showed no anger—whether out of genuine generosity or because she was hiding something even deeper, he couldn't tell. Even if there were risks, the prospect of wealth amid such danger was intoxicatingly attractive.
"What is your name?"
Lin Wei took the porcelain vial, tucked it into her robe, and looked at the goatee.
They had only ever called him Master Liu.
"Esteemed sister, my name is Liu Xun."
Liu Xun replied cheerfully, his eyes gleaming brightly.
"I'll remember you. I'll come back tonight to brew pills with you all again."
Lin Wei gave a yawn, feeling an ache in her lower back and soreness in her limbs. There was nothing left for her here, so it was time to go back to sleep and rest.
"Alright, sounds like a plan!"
Liu Xun personally escorted Lin Wei out the door.
Zhao Zheng, Jiang Ya, and Li Hui all followed them out, watching with eager eyes as Lin Wei slowly ambled away.
None of them chased after her to offer an escort home, which showed a fair bit of tact.
Once Lin Wei had walked far away, Jiang Ya lowered his voice and asked, "Master, why didn't you ask for Granny's name?"
Liu Xun said with a composed expression, "Don't ask about things you shouldn't. In a place of immortal cultivation like this, people like us need to keep our mouths tightly shut if we want to live long enough to go back. No matter who she is, while she's here with us, keep your wits about you and learn from her. People like us shouldn't harbor illusions of achieving great things in cultivation; just earn a bit more silver, and in a few years, we can go home and enjoy our old age."
"Your instruction is well taken, Master."
The three of them exchanged glances and asked no further questions.
Lin Wei returned to the Hundred Herb Garden, went to slaughter a chicken, put it on to stew, and prepared her usual vegetable porridge.
It wasn't that she disliked eating other things; it was simply that the original owner had poured her heart and soul into the spiritual herbs while being harshly austere with herself.
The Hundred Herb Garden contained many spiritual herbs, but the mature ones had all been harvested, leaving only those that had not yet reached full growth.
The spiritual chickens were kept only because the triplets were prone to craving treats, but that fellow Lu Yan never allowed the children to eat very much of it, so they only consumed spiritual chicken meat once or twice a year. However, they ate spiritual eggs every day.
The original owner couldn't bring herself to eat well, subsisting daily on cabbage and rice.
The vegetables and rice here were imbued with spiritual qi, but tending to these spiritual herbs consumed the original owner's vital essence. The spiritual qi from her meals could not make up for what was drained, leaving her physical body severely depleted.
Lin Wei took out the porcelain vial and poured out the pills. Since her body wasn't bleeding, she had no idea if these Hemostatic Pills would be of any use.
There was an old saying in China, after all: since you've already come, you might as well do it; since you've done it, you might as well take it...
Lin Wei tilted her head back and swallowed all three pills in one go.