The expression on the alchemist in white immediately let Jiang Chen understand why the menial disciple earlier had gone out of his way to warn him.
After all, if he hadn't been given a heads-up beforehand, he probably really would have lost control and punched this fellow right in the face.
Seeing Jiang Chen stand there in a daze without speaking, the alchemist in white frowned, his tone laced with impatience: "What, are you mute?"
"Are you here to deal with the discarded pills? If not, get lost. If you are, answer immediately."
Hearing this, Jiang Chen quickly replied, "I am."
A flicker of anger rose within him, but he quickly suppressed it.
After all, right now was really not the time for him to cross paths with this alchemist in white; otherwise, the outcome would not be pretty.
Even though he was merely a humble apprentice, he still held a transcendent status throughout the entire Xianyun Sword Sect.
The alchemist in white nodded, then said coldly, "Is this your first time here? In light of that, I won't hold it against you."
"Our time as alchemists is precious. We don't have time to waste on the likes of you."
With that, he led Jiang Chen to a room storing discarded pill residue, pointed at the small mountain of ruined pills and dregs, and said indifferently, "Everything in here needs to be cleaned up by you."
"The malefic energy inside the discarded pills will erode and damage the true essence you cultivate after entering the Qi Refining stage. That's why we need menial disciples around the fourth or fifth layer to handle this. At this realm, your true essence is relatively substantial and can withstand the erosion."
"Those whose cultivation is too low naturally cannot withstand it."
"It's easy to leave behind lingering ailments, and by then we alchemists would have to waste medicinal pills to save such good-for-nothings. The loss outweighs the gain."
Jiang Chen: "..."
At that moment, he was utterly speechless. This alchemist's apprentice made no attempt to conceal the contempt and disdain in his heart, laying out these harsh realities so bluntly.
It was as if, in the eyes of this alchemist, menial disciples weren't even as good as livestock.
Still, Jiang Chen didn't pay it too much mind. In this realistic world where the strong were revered, things were bound to be this way.
After rattling off a long list of precautions, the alchemist turned and walked out.
Just as Jiang Chen was about to get to work, out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the earlier alchemist outside.
"Brother Chen, finished explaining the precautions to the menial? Hey, why bother wasting your breath? Just tell him how to clean it up and be done with it. A menial disciple at the fourth or fifth layer of Qi Refining has fairly solid true essence; the malefic energy in the discarded pills won't kill him."
"At worst, it'll just leave him riddled with injuries and ailments, eroding his true essence so he can never advance any further."
Another alchemist apprentice walked up to greet him, speaking dismissively.
It was as if menial disciples weren't worth expending any effort on at all.
Hearing this, the alchemist apprentice in white who had just briefed Jiang Chen replied indifferently, "It's fine. Wasting a little time communicating with these ants is no big deal."
With that, the two men sat down and began to sip tea leisurely, completely unconcerned with Jiang Chen. After all, in their eyes, Jiang Chen might as well not have existed at all.
Jiang Chen: "..."
He suddenly felt like cursing.
Weren't they busy with official business? Weren't they worried about wasting precious time?
Now he finally saw it—they certainly were busy, busy keeping these tea parties from being delayed.
It took him all of two breaths to forcefully swallow down his speechlessness, and he began to focus on the task before him.
"The pill residue is piled up like a small mountain, and so are the ruined pills. The two small mountains are separated—one for residue, and one for ruined pills."
"If an alchemist wishes to successfully form a pill, they must channel their vital energy into it to elevate its spirit. Once successful, it becomes a true medicinal pill. But once it fails, that channeled vital energy is intensified, transforming into... a medicinal pill tainted with malefic energy."
"It seems this really is troublesome."
Jiang Chen shook his head. The malefic energy inside these ruined pills wasn't merely the vital energy channeled into them; more importantly... it was the result of this vital energy devouring all the original power within the pill until nothing was left, thereby turning it into waste.
And once the malefic energy was strengthened by absorbing that power, it naturally became extraordinarily formidable.
Suddenly, a thought stirred in Jiang Chen's mind, and a hypothesis formed: "The reason pill residue is residue is because it's the small part that was used up. It probably still holds a fraction of the medicinal pill's power."
"However, because the quantity is too small and the volume too minute, its effect can be said to be negligible."
"As a result, no one cares, and it seems almost no one is able to extract the power from within the residue."
The reason herbs had to be refined into pills was because most people could not directly extract the power contained within raw medicinal herbs.
Only once a pill was successfully formed could its inner power be directly drawn upon by a person.
As for pill residue, it was obviously not yet a finished pill, so outsiders naturally could not extract power from it.
Yet there was no denying that power did exist within it, though alchemists could no longer condense the power from these dregs to forge new pills.
Naturally, they didn't think much of it either.
After all, the alchemy department of any sect was always the best-resourced and most heavily funded.
With no shortage of resources whatsoever, leaving these dregs behind served no purpose at all.
Just as this bold notion flashed through his mind, Jiang Chen cast a sidelong glance behind him at the two alchemist apprentices. Seeing that their gazes—and even their attention—were entirely elsewhere, he immediately felt at ease.
"With how arrogant these fellows are, they probably won't bother checking what I'm up to over here."
"Since that's the case..."
"I might as well try it in secret. These dregs are meant to be disposed of anyway; if I can repurpose some waste, that would be a good thing."
Jiang Chen thought to himself.
He walked over to the mountain-like pile of pill residue and began to handle it according to the rules. On the surface, it looked like he was merely cleaning up, but in reality, his right hand was secretly executing the Wuji Sword Sutra, beginning to transform and guide the energy within.
At first, Jiang Chen was slightly nervous, unsure whether his guidance would actually work.
What happened next, however, left Jiang Chen immensely excited because... his guidance had truly worked!
The power inside was being drawn out by Jiang Chen, bit by bit!
Following that, streams of energy poured into Jiang Chen's body, flowing through his limbs and bones.
Looking at the small mountain of pill residue, Jiang Chen knew that although each tiny piece of residue contained very limited power, when multiplied by such a massive quantity, the resulting energy was naturally terrifying.
No matter how fast Jiang Chen's cultivation speed was, digesting all of it in a short span of time would still be a difficult task.
Yet he remained completely unfazed.
Given Jiang Chen's current strength and the grade of the Wuji Sword Sutra, storing it was well within his ability!