Actually, it was not that the disciples of the Xuantian Sect were not interested in alchemy or anything of the sort, but rather that it was simply too expensive!
Take alchemists, for example: to achieve anything, one had to go through countless practice sessions. With the Xuantian Sect being as poor as a church mouse, it was completely unable to provide free herbs for the disciples to practice with.
Then there was the talisman paper and talisman ink for talisman masters, the various materials for artifact refiners, the formation plates for formation masters...
Chapter 18