Chapter 98: Chapter 98: Another Place’s Alchemy Skill
They brought the Spirit Wood and placed it under the furnace. In just a moment, the flames roared to life.
This was a Weapon Forging Workshop; they had plenty of Spirit Wood.
Bai Mo could feel the intense heat even from a distance.
He saw that the Pill Furnace didn’t discolor in the flames, yet the water inside quickly came to a rolling boil.
Bai Mo nodded immediately.
"Excellent. Your shop truly lives up to its time-honored reputation. I’ll take this furnace!"
He paid the one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones, and an overjoyed Ah Chong led the workers to deliver the Pill Furnace to Bai Mo’s door.
"If you had hired porters from outside, it would’ve cost you at least another ten Spirit Stones!"
"Not many of those guys are honest!"
Ah Chong explained.
After speaking, he brought over a carrying frame. A full eight men, shouting a work chant, hoisted the Pill Furnace up.
"Fellow Daoist, please lead the way. We’ll get it to your shop for you."
Ah Chong’s face was flushed, and he spoke with difficulty through gritted teeth.
Bai Mo noted the veins bulging on the workers’ foreheads and praised them inwardly.
’You really can’t do this line of work without some serious strength!’
He figured that since they spent their days swinging hammers hundreds of times without rest, they had long since developed their physical power.
"Everyone, please follow me!"
With that, Bai Mo started to lead the way.
Just as they were leaving, a worker remembered something and chased after them. With a powerful leap, he flicked his wrist.
A red cloth unfurled in the air and draped over the Pill Furnace. The worker looked immensely proud.
The massive Pill Furnace immediately drew attention as it was carried out onto Forging Street.
"Hiss! It’s been a long time since something this big has come out of Forging Street!"
"We sell weapons here, not massive things like that..."
"Which workshop is that from? They must have made a killing!"
Ah Chong felt a surge of pride. In truth, their workshop hadn’t made such a splash in a long time.
When their master lost face, they, his apprentices, felt the shame as well.
Attracting many stares along the way, Ah Chong and the others finally arrived at Bai Mo’s street carrying the Pill Furnace.
The Shopkeeper of the bookstore watched the procession pass by.
His old, dim eyes watched for a long while. Seeing Bai Mo at the head of the group, he muttered:
"What is that kid up to?"
Many of the neighbors also came out to see what was happening.
The street wasn’t long, and news of any little commotion would spread from end to end in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
"Whoa, what’s that thing Brother Bai got? A Pill Furnace?"
"That must have cost a fortune, right?"
His neighbor, Sun Qiao, was also leaning on his windowsill to watch. Bai Mo saw him and gave a wave.
Once inside the shop, Ah Chong didn’t dare relax. The men all carefully squatted and set the Pill Furnace down steadily.
Bai Mo laughed heartily and cupped his hands. "Thank you all for your hard work."
"Quickly now, come in for a cup of hot tea!"
He said, preparing to welcome them inside.
But Ah Chong and the others, rubbing their shoulders, declined the offer. They glanced around, packed up the carrying frame, and left quickly.
"Fellow Daoist, you’re a generous one! Next time you need work done, remember us! We’ll give you a discount!"
They had spent many days on the Pill Furnace, and now they were far behind on the weapon orders the workshop had promised to deliver.
’Can’t afford to slack off!’
"Heh, a good group of young men."
Some of the burly men who were renovating the shopfront broke away from their work and came over to the Pill Furnace.
Bai Mo whisked away the red cloth, revealing the tall Pill Furnace. Its heavy, metallic form gave it an imposing presence.
The lead worker, now mostly recovered from the side effects of the Qi Blood Pill, loosened his joints.
He called a few of his "brothers" over to the Pill Furnace and they put their hands on it to test the weight.
"HNGH!"
The men gritted their teeth and strained, managing to lift the Pill Furnace an inch before setting it down with a CLANG.
"Alchemist Bai, we’ll leave the Pill Furnace here for now. Once the platform is ready, we’ll move it inside for you, how about that?"
Bai Mo nodded. "Of course, that’s fine."
"Oh, right, remember to send over a batch of Spirit Wood first. I want to give it a test run!"
"I’ll settle the payment for the Spirit Stones all at once when the work is done!"
"Alright, alright..."
The man rubbed his hands together and agreed readily, a smile spreading across his face.
Back in his room, Bai Mo took out the Pill Book and began studying some sections he usually paid little mind to.
The Cultivation Realm was vast. Legends spoke of many dynasties that had existed thousands of miles away, locked in endless wars with one another.
The Alchemy Skill popular there had an unrestrained quality to it, a kind of unrefined mastery that bordered on the arbitrary.
This school of alchemy didn’t pursue refinement, only quantity. The quality of the resulting Pills was, to put it mildly, difficult to describe.
In a place like Immortal Arrival City, producing Pills of this sort would undoubtedly draw criticism. But in a time of urgent warfare, it was perfectly suitable.
Now that Bai Mo was using a large, cauldron-like Pill Furnace himself, this kind of Alchemy Skill had become very relevant.
...
CLANG!!
A loud, metallic clang echoed through the night.
Some people pushed open their windows to look outside, but few bothered to shout any curses.
Bai Mo was jolted back to his senses and put down the Pill Book.
’This Alchemy Skill... it’s really something else.’
’The Cultivators from that region must have learned their Alchemy Skill through some kind of crash course.’
The section of the Pill Book he was reading was full of earnest instructions, yet the entire text was dedicated to teaching shortcuts, and it did so with an almost nagging desperation.
’The flaws within it are simply too numerous to count!’
’Still, it’s not completely without merit...’
Bai Mo mused as he glanced out the window, knowing the sound he’d just heard was the Pill Furnace being set in place.
The Alchemy Room wasn’t finished yet, so the Pill Furnace was still visible from the street.
’But no one would be willing to steal something like this. Besides, those workers are living and eating right next door.’
Bai Mo took a Qi Absorption Pill and swallowed it. Putting the matter out of his mind, he blew out the lamp and let his consciousness sink into a meditative state.
Spiritual Qi permeated his body, flowing through his meridians in an orderly fashion.
After reaching the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, cultivation was different. The expansion of his meridians was more or less complete.
This stage was focused on strengthening several major meridians, which would have a tremendous impact on a Cultivator’s future path.
The first path Bai Mo chose was, naturally, the one for circulating Spiritual Qi required by the Star-Pointing Seven Hands technique.
He meditated for most of the night. It was not until the early hours of the morning that Bai Mo finally tidied himself up and fell into a deep sleep.
「The next day.」
Early in the morning, one of the workers from next door knocked on his door.
"Alchemist Bai, you should come take a look. There’s an old gentleman who’s been watching us work for a long time."
"He hasn’t said a word. It’s a bit creepy."
said the worker at the door.
They had seen passersby greet the man, and they all did so very respectfully, so they didn’t dare to shout at him to go away.
Their foreman was out selecting more Spirit Wood, so with no one in charge, they had hesitated before finally coming to get Bai Mo.
’An old gentleman?’
Bai Mo immediately straightened his clothes.
In Immortal Arrival City, not many Cultivators were addressed with such a common, respectful title; most were reckless and detached from worldly affairs.
He already had a suspicion.
Sure enough, as soon as he stepped outside, he saw the old Shopkeeper from the bookstore standing a short distance away, watching the workers bustle about.
"Oh! Elder, what brings you here!?"
Bai Mo waved to dismiss the worker and hurried forward to greet the old man.
"It’s so damp and cold this early in the morning! Please, come inside with me!"
The old Shopkeeper waved his hand dismissively, then pulled Bai Mo to sit with him on the shop’s threshold, leaning against the doorframe.
"These old bones of mine were quite capable back in the day. I’m not afraid of a little damp air."
"Ah, Brother Bai, tell me, what is all this you’re doing now?"
Bai Mo held a great deal of respect for the old man. After all, the Pill Books he’d gotten from him had been a massive, tangible help.
"Well, let me tell you, Elder."
"Well, you know those Pill Books I got from your shop? I’ve managed to make a bit of a name for myself with them..."
Bai Mo explained in a soft, gentle voice. Until now, he was the only one who knew the full story.
Recounting it to someone else now, it unexpectedly felt like narrating a long and storied past, with not a trace of falsehood in it.
’It seems I really haven’t wasted my time, have I?’
Bai Mo thought to himself.
The old Shopkeeper just listened quietly, nodding from time to time with a gentle smile on his face, his expression showing no great emotional swings.
