Yang Wei's resolution on not trying to rely on external cultivation resources earned some praise from Elder Jing.
However, it was just praise and that was all.
"Yang Wei, although I'm proud that you wanted to rely on yourself to reach a high cultivation base. But that's the most ridiculous and dumb move to do." Elder Jing said, crushing Yang Wei's determination completely without mercy.
Yang Wei's face froze as he lowered his head in shame from Elder Jing's harsh criticism.
"J-Jing Feng… I know I'm dumb for doing that but there's a reason for it," Yang Wei said in a low tone as he decided to come clean.
There was no reason in hiding this secret from Elder Jing and he was sure Elder Jing would not laugh at him.
"The reason better be good otherwise, don't mind me feeding you one of the Stomach Killer since I still haven't punished you for being a thief," Elder Jing replied swiftly as she waited for Yang Wei.
Yang Wei staggered as he didn't expect Elder Jing to be this vengeful to still bring up the matter about him stealing the dual cultivation technique to take a look.
He thought he was safe and sound from the punishment already but it was too good to be true.
Yang Wei sighed softly as he looked at Elder Jing with a bit of nervousness.
"Jing Feng… the reason why I said I would rather rely on myself than external cultivation resources… is because I-I'm extremely poor." Yang Wei said in embarrassment.
He has checked the cultivation resources price in the Treasure Hall and the amount they asked for was enough to make Yang Wei vomit in blood.
The prices for one pill that can improve their cultivation speed by 10% was shockingly at 50 spirit stones or 50 cultivation points.
Such an extravagant amount was not for someone like Yang Wei who was poor to the brim where he could barely enter the sect with his mere 100 silvers.
'100 silvers are nothing to the sect but since it's a third-rate sect that's lacking disciples when compared to others, they decided to lower the amount needed to earn a chance to become their disciples.' Yang Wei sighed inwardly as he couldn't help but feel blessed to have Meng Yan helping him to enter the sect.
After all, his 100 silvers can vanish in a puff without any refunds and all of his hard work is wasted.
Meanwhile, Elder Jing twitched her mouth slightly in disbelief at Yang Wei's reason.
She decided to pinch her hand secretly to see if she was dreaming and that Yang Wei was simply asleep next to her.
Alas, reality struck her as she could feel some pain from the pinching, and Elder Jing could not help but facepalm from this ridiculous and outrageous explanation from Yang Wei.
"You refuse external cultivation resources because you're poor??!" Elder Jing shouted in anger.
She was unable to believe Yang Wei to say something as dumb as being too poor to afford cultivation resources.
He has already become an alchemist officially under her tutelage so how could he still be poor when he can sell those Qi Rejuvenation pills for spirit stones.
Yang Wei scratched his head in shame and said, "Jing Feng… I barely have a few spirit stones from the monthly salary that the sect gave out and I have already used most of the spiritual qi embedded on it to improve my cultivation."
And he continued, "With my current wealth, I can't even afford one cultivation pill that can increase my progress."
Yang Wei was oblivious to the number of spirit stones he could earn by selling the Qi Rejuvenation pill that he managed to refine which is why it never crossed his mind that he no longer belonged in the category of the poor.
Hence, he had no idea how much his current words enraged Elder Jing as she directly gushed some of her spiritual qi at Yang Wei, causing him to crash into the tree.
Yang Wei was unable to resist the pressure as he struggled to get up from the impact.
"J-Jing Feng, what did I do wrong?" Yang Wei asked innocently.
Elder Jing twitched her brows in anger and wondered why she would even spend so much time teaching Yang Wei.
"Yang Wei, do you even know the price for a Qi Rejuvenation pill?" Elder Jing ignored his confused expression as she asked him one question.
Yang Wei was slightly surprised by the sudden question and pondered slightly.
Alas, his knowledge regarding alchemy was too limited so he could only shrug his shoulders in response.
Staying silent was better than giving out the wrong answer in this scenario since it was obvious he would receive more bashing from Elder Jing if he gave the wrong answer.
Yang Wei was correct for once as Elder Jing was thinking about bashing him whether he answered correctly or not.
After all, if he knew the answer then he clearly deserved a beating but if he didn't then he deserved a beating for being ignorant and not asking her.
She wasn't a saint so she doesn't know what Yang Wei is ignorant about and needed him to ask her directly, especially when she considered their relationship, it was obvious she would clear his doubt if he simply asked.
"Hmph, listen carefully Yang Wei, a Qi Rejuvenation pill can go up to at least 100 spirit stones and higher if the purity is at 90% or above." Elder Jing cleared her throat after explaining everything in one go.
Meanwhile, Yang Wei was shocked speechless as he never imagined the pills he managed to refine would be worth these must spirit stones.
'I-I'm actually rich?' Yang Wei exclaimed inwardly as he could never expect a day like this to come true.
He has always been poor, living in ragged clothes and out hunting for food to fill his hunger up. There were times when he couldn't catch any food and had to starve for at least 2 days before resorting to eating some leaves from trees.
Yang Wei stared at the dark sky with a relieved expression as he silently said to his late parents. 'Mother… Father… your son is no longer the same mortal as before who couldn't do anything else but grit his teeth, hoping to survive each day.
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