The herbs he managed to gather were all discarded scraps nobody wanted. If he gave those to them to refine, they probably wouldn't even form properly. But if this old woman could actually refine pills out of them, it would prove her talent was truly extraordinary.
Besides, even if the batch failed, it would only waste a bit of flint. Flint wasn't expensive, and in this pill refining room, there was as much of it as anyone could ever use.
"We'll find out soon enough." Liu Xun stroked his beard and said.
During the hour-long wait, Lin Wei fell asleep.
"Granny, wake up."
"Granny, stop sleeping..."
Zhao Zheng gently nudged Lin Wei, his tone extremely respectful.
The furnace was about to be opened, and they discovered that this old woman had actually fallen asleep.
Liu Xun told Zhao Zheng to wake her up.
Zhao Zheng reached out several times, acting with the utmost care.
Lin Wei groggily opened her eyes, looked at the figure in front of her, and slowly stood up.
"Time to open the furnace, is it? Go ahead then."
Lin Wei stretched her somewhat stiff limbs and walked toward the pill furnace.
Heavy physical labor was definitely not her thing.
Liu Xun had already climbed up the frame, biting his lower lip as he exerted all his strength to pry open the lid of the pill furnace. Inside the white jade plate lay only eight pills, each the size of a peanut.
"It worked."
Liu Xun felt it was utterly incredible. Not only had pills formed, but there were even this many.
"Are they all ordinary? No, wait, these are much better than ordinary pills, though they fall far short of mid-grade ones. Regardless, she actually refined them!"
Liu Xun carefully placed the pills into a porcelain bottle, a look of joy plastered across his face.
Where on earth did this old woman pop out from? He had truly struck gold.
His mind raced as he thought about how to maximize his profits.
He forced himself to calm his expression and looked at Lin Wei. Before he could even speak, Lin Wei's benevolent smile gave him goosebumps.
"Little Liu, since you're satisfied, let's dispense with the pleasantries and talk about how we'll cooperate moving forward."
Lin Wei found it immensely amusing; this old boy's expressions were simply too entertaining.
Those little calculations of his—the clicking of his mental abacus was practically audible right before her eyes.
That kind of emotional reaction—*I'm about to make a fortune, but I can't let anyone see it, I mustn't smile, I have to keep a straight face so nobody suspects a thing*—was something Lin Wei could never get enough of, no matter where she was.
This old boy definitely had no idea what micro-expressions revealing the truth meant.
Liu Xun's heart instantly sank halfway.
He awkwardly stroked his beard and said to his three disciples, "You lot, wait outside."
He had miscalculated. This old woman was shrewd to the core; she had clearly anticipated all of this from the start.
His over-calculated scheming simply wouldn't work here.
With things like this, he didn't need his three disciples present.
Once he had chased them away, Liu Xun immediately and respectfully invited Lin Wei to take the seat of honor.
"Please, have a seat, Elder Sister." Liu Xun smiled ingratiatingly.
Lin Wei calmly sat down. She was a natural-born leader, and having dominated the business world for twenty years was no empty boast.
She possessed an innate ability to take charge.
Liu Xun was completely won over. While his heart sank the other half, he felt an even more urgent desire to pull Lin Wei closer to his side. He warmly chimed in, "Elder Sister, you can see it too: a small-timer like me is just an ordinary person with no real vision. As for how we should cooperate, you name it, and we'll settle it right here. Deal or no deal?"
Lin Wei smiled faintly and asked, "How many grades are there in total for the pill rooms?"
Instead of rushing to state her terms, Lin Wei asked about something else.
She needed to gather more information.
Looking at Lin Wei's composed expression, Liu Xun pushed down his little schemes the moment they surfaced and answered honestly, "These pill rooms are divided into three tiers: Human-grade, Earth-grade, and Heaven-grade. Each tier is an insurmountable chasm. Only those who can refine mid-grade and high-grade pills can advance to become Earth-grade pill masters. The herbs used for each grade vary immensely. The Heaven-grade rooms only refine high-grade pills, and all the best herbs are reserved for them to pick from first.
"There are several hundred masters like me in the Human-grade rooms, only a few dozen in the Earth-grade, and even fewer in the Heaven-grade—just how many, someone at my level has no way of knowing.
"With Elder Sister's talent, I reckon promotion to the Heaven-grade is only a matter of time. I don't have any grand ambitions, nor do I harbor any dreams of immortal cultivation. I only hope Elder Sister can guide us a bit. Learning even a little from you will be enough to benefit us for a lifetime."
Liu Xun was being entirely sincere. He had considered many things internally and ultimately abandoned any thought of scheming against her.
He wanted boundless wealth, but he wanted to live even more.
The skill of pill refining grew increasingly difficult the higher one went, and anything that relied on talent simply wasn't something an ordinary person could control.
Compared to a momentary flash of dazzling glory that could cost him his head at any second, he preferred to keep a low profile and act prudently.
Just learning a little bit would be more than enough for him when he eventually returned to the mortal realm.
"I'll come over every night. Outside of pill refining, you'll teach me how to read and write. You're a straightforward person, so I won't beat around the bush with you either: I want thirty percent of every furnace of pills. As for how much you manage to learn, that's up to fate."
Lin Wei looked at Liu Xun as she spoke. She had no idea why this old boy had suddenly decided to play the honest man, but since he had put his cards on the table, Lin Wei saw no need to mince words. Let's lay all our cards on the table.
Liu Xun gasped. "T-Thirty percent?"
How dared this old woman ask for that much?
"Isn't thirty percent a bit too much..."
Liu Xun still wanted to put up a fight. He had been so sincere—wasn't this old woman moved at all?
Lin Wei smiled lightly. "Little Liu, you must realize that tuition fees don't come cheap."
She was merely probing. There were people above Liu Xun, and taking thirty percent right off the freshly baked pills was likely the absolute ceiling of what he could manage. Merchants chased profit, so naturally, she wanted it all.
Liu Xun didn't know her bottom line, but she had already figured out his. Therefore, in this negotiation, this old boy had lost right from the start.
Thinking of the future benefits, Liu Xun gritted his teeth and said, "Fine! I only hope Elder Sister will teach us without holding anything back!"
"Rest assured, I'm a person of my word."
Lin Wei broke into a smile.
With Liu Xun answering every question without reservation, over the next five days, Lin Wei gained a much deeper understanding of the Shangyuan Sect.
As it turned out, the sect master of the Shangyuan Sect was not omnipotent.
Her enemies weren't as hard to defeat as she had imagined—this was good news.
The master of Spirit Medicine Peak was a madman whose mind was entirely consumed by pill refining.
Going out to fight and kill for resources had nothing to do with Spirit Medicine Peak. Most of the disciples on Spirit Medicine Peak lacked good aptitude, so they either farmed or refined medicine.
The Spirit Medicine Peak trading grounds were where privately cultivated herbs could be bought and sold.
There were tens of thousands of pill formulas, and pill refining had no end; once one stood high enough, one could formulate their own recipes.
Depending on the grade of the pill room, different pill formulas could be accessed.
Lin Wei grew increasingly eager to explore this vast world.
She would arrive at the pill room every night after dark and wouldn't return to the Spirit Herb Garden to cultivate until dawn.
As for those immature, top-tier spirit herbs and plants, Lin Wei didn't even spare them a glance. None of her business; she couldn't even eat a single one of them, yet she was supposed to expend her heart's blood caring for them? That was sheer wishful thinking.
A month slipped by unnoticeably. Relying on popping pills, she had twenty-four days of lifespan left. Just as she picked up her bowl to eat some meat that day, a gust of wind swept into the room, and Lin Wei stared blankly at the celestial-like figure for a full two seconds before recognizing who it was.
The dog of a man who had drained the original owner's life force: Lu Yan.