Exchange System

Azure Cloud Pavilion was the most popular establishment in the pill refining industry in Xi'an City. Moreover, Xi'an City, the most prosperous area in Shanxi County, could be considered the county's center.

Knock Knock Knock!

"Master Shangguan, I've come to collect today's pills."

A youthful voice was heard from outside, accompanied by a knock on the door.

"Come in. Two batches of pills are already on the table to the left. Take them and leave."

A calm voice of a youngster rang out from inside the room.

"Yes, Master Shangguan," a youth replied respectfully before opening the door. He walked straight to the table on the left with a calm expression, as if he was very familiar with the place.

He quickly spotted the two bottles of pills on the table, grabbed them without further inspection. He then glanced at the room inside and left with a helpless expression.

"It's been a year since I've been here, but I've still not seen Master Shangguan even once. The rumors about him seem to be true," Zu An sighed. After working as a servant in the Azure Cloud Pavilion for a year and coming to collect the pills more than a hundred times, he still hadn't managed to catch a glimpse of Master Shangguan even once.

Master Shangguan was a very mysterious figure, rarely making appearances and seldom seen by many. He remained secluded in his room, tirelessly refining pills for the Azure Cloud Pavilion. Rumor had it that he was a pill maniac, obsessively refining without rest.

However, Master Shangguan's reputation in Xi'an City was unparalleled. Despite being only 20 years old, his pill-refining skills were considered top-notch, earning him the title of the youngest Pill Refining Master in the city. Both older generations praised him and younger generations held him in high regard, recognizing his bright future in the path of pill refining.

"It's been 20 years, and finally, my memory is fully awakened," Shangguan Yi softly smiled. He was a mysterious figure mentioned by everyone.

He was a reincarnator who retained memories from his previous life. However, those memories were not complete. Slowly, as his cultivation increased, his memory began to restore. In his past life on Earth, he had lived for 25 years before passing away due to meditation. After reincarnation, he retained some vague memories, making him quite different from other children. His worldview was also shaped by these memories, giving him a unique perspective on the world.

At the age of 15, Shangguan Yi awakened a system and embarked on a path of genuine cultivation. However, the system was not something he could easily comprehend. There were no sounds to respond to him, no tasks to guide him; it was up to him to study it and understand its functions. After dedicating a year to studying the system, Shangguan Yi gained a rough understanding of it. Meanwhile, he also saw no future in his family and decided to leave, seeking opportunities elsewhere. After wandering for two years, he eventually found himself at the Azure Cloud Pavilion.

It had been two years since Shangguan Yi established himself in the Azure Cloud Pavilion, and his life there was peaceful. In truth, he was not a particularly skilled pill refiner; all his accomplishments were due to the system.

This system proved to be highly practical. After studying it for five years, Shangguan Yi gained a better understanding of its intricacies. It could be said that this system encompassed all paths, providing him with comprehensive coverage.

In terms of pill refining, Shangguan Yi only needed to possess the necessary materials to make a pill. In other words, he could refine all kinds of pills as long as he had the materials. However, the quality, quantity, and success rate of the pill still depended on the quality of the materials. Nonetheless, there were limitations; he couldn't refine pills that exceeded his current level of cultivation.

When Shangguan Yi first awakened the system, he was only at the 3rd level of the Body Refining Realm. At that time, the system could refine only three kinds of pills: Azure Glass Pill, Void Breath Pill, and Eat and Drink Pill.

In this cultivation world, everyone could cultivate as long as they had resources; no one was mortal. Even the most ordinary person possessed the 1st level of Body Refining Realm cultivation. As long as one was born in this cultivation world, they would slowly absorb the world's essence to refine their body. However, progress was extremely slow. A mortal who didn't actively cultivate could reach the 5th level of Body Refining by the age of 50. However, this also meant they would be stuck at this level forever until they reached the age of 100 before passing away.

In the Body Refining Realm, there were ten levels of refinement:

1. The 1st level refined the eyes.

2. The 2nd level refined the nose.

3. The 3rd level refined the mouth.

4. The 4th level refined the ears.

5. The 5th level refined the legs and arms.

6. The 6th level refined the blood.

7. The 7th level refined the marrow and bone.

8. The 8th level refined the heart.

9. The 9th level refined the brain.

10. The 10th level opened the consciousness and marked the beginning of the path beyond.

The first 5 levels were known as outer refining, attainable by anyone in the world through varying degrees of speed depending on resources and hard work. If one lacked resources, it would take more than five years to progress each step. Shangguan Yi indeed lacked resources, and it took him 15 years to reach the 3rd level of the Body Refining Realm.

The later 5 levels were referred to as inner refining, requiring the consumption of substantial resources to progress each step. There were various types of resources to aid in cultivation, with the most popular and common being the use of pills. Each level had its own unique pills designed to aid in cultivation.

The most common and popular pills for each level were:

1. 1st level (refining the eyes): Azure Glass Pill.

2. 2nd level (refining the nose): Void Breath Pill.

3. 3rd level (refining the mouth): Eat and Drink Pill.

4. 4th level (refining the ears): All-Sound Pill.

5. 5th level (refining the legs and arms): Strength Pill.

6. 6th level (refining the blood): Blood Pill.

7. 7th level (refining the marrow and bone): Marrow Pill.

8. 8th level (refining the heart): Heart Pill.

9. 9th level (refining the brain): Brain Pill.

10. 10th level (opening the consciousness): At this level, one needed to have a Cultivation Technique to study and learn in order to progress further.

Having spent two years at the Azure Cloud Pavilion, Shangguan Yi had naturally accumulated enough resources to purchase a Cultivation Technique. As the youngest Pill Refining Master in Xi'an City, many sought to build a good connection with him, enabling him to acquire a high-grade Cultivation Technique at a lower price. While it might not have been the absolute best in the city, it was undoubtedly top-notch. With the Azure Cloud Pavilion backing him up, who would dare to play tricks on him?

Despite being the youngest Pill Refining Master in Xi'an, Shangguan Yi's cultivation level was not noteworthy compared to others in his generation. Many youngsters from Cultivation Families had already reached the 6th level of the Foundation Establishment Realm, while the geniuses had even reached at least the 9th level. It was indeed a pity that Shangguan Yi had only reached the 1st level of the Foundation Establishment Realm a month ago and had just recently stabilized his cultivation.

Now that his memories were fully awakened, Shangguan Yi didn't feel pressured at all to catch up and surpass others. Firstly, he had already overcome the most challenging part: the transformation from a mortal to a genuine cultivator. Secondly, with his memories fully awakened, he could further solidify his foundation. And most importantly, he possessed a system, which meant he would be able to refine higher-grade pills and access genuine cultivation resources from now on.

"Let me thoroughly examine the system I possess," Shangguan Yi murmured as he closed his eyes, entering a state of heightened consciousness. Through this method, he could perceive the presence of the system. He began by assessing his current condition.

Name: Shangguan Yi

Age: 20

Cultivation: Foundation Establishment (1st level)

Cultivation Technique: True Sun Flame Technique (high-grade Elite technique)

Combat Technique: None

Location: Xi'An City, Shanxi County, Changan Province, Cloud State, Blazing Wind Country

Occupation: Pill Refiner (level 1)

He then delved into the inner space containing his wealth, which included pills, weapons, herbs, essence stones, and gold coins.

In this cultivation world, mortals used gold coins as the basis of exchange. A 100 gold coins were enough for a mortal family to spend in a year, while for a martial arts family, 100,000 gold coins sufficed. As for a cultivation family, they required at least 10 million gold coins. However, cultivation families no longer relied solely on gold coins; instead, they primarily used essence stones.

Essence stones contain world essence, which assists cultivators in absorbing this vital energy. They also play important roles in creating arrays, refining weapons, refining pills, and more. One essence stone was equivalent to 100,000 gold coins, but cultivators often preferred possessing essence stones over gold coins.

After two years of accumulating wealth, Shangguan Yi had acquired ten kinds of pills specifically tailored for Body Refining Cultivators, totaling around 20,000 pills in all. During this time, he indeed refined pills for the Azure Cloud Pavilion. Each day, the system could refine 5 batches, with each batch containing ten pills, resulting in a daily production of 50 pills. However, in reality, he only handed over two batches to the pavilion.

The Azure Cloud Pavilion remained unaware of this, as each refinement carried the risk of failure. Therefore, they would prepare five batches of materials for the Pill Refiner each day. It was considered good news if they could produce 10 to 15 pills from these five batches of materials. Shangguan Yi's ability to produce 20 pills was why he was revered as a Master by others.

After inspecting the pills, Shangguan Yi turned his attention to the gold coins, finding he possessed around ten million of them. This wealth was equivalent to what a normal cultivation family would spend over a year. However, it wasn't surprising given that he received a salary of 10,000 gold coins. In addition, he earned 30% of the income from the pills he refined. Considering that each pill started with a price of 10,000 gold coins, this meant he could earn 3,000 gold coins per pill. It's no wonder he could accumulate 10 million gold coins in just two years.

He also possessed 10 essence stones and a warrior-grade sword and boots, both of which were valuable assets. While it might seem modest to some, for ordinary people, it represented a substantial sum of wealth.

He also retained a 100-year-old Ginseng, Thunder Wolf's horn, two bottles of Night Bird's blood, a heart of a gold turtle, and a bottle of Dark Lion's marrow. These were all precious materials for refining that he had secretly kept from the materials sent to him.

He then examined the functions of the system. Initially, there was only the pill refining function, but now there were two additional functions: cultivation and technique functions.

The cultivation function provided information about his current cultivation level, guidance on how to progress from the 1st to the 10th level, instructions on breakthroughs, advice on what to avoid, and recommendations regarding techniques and weapons. There were no shortcuts available; he needed to cultivate step by step, advancing himself through diligent effort.

The technique function operated similarly to the pill function, but here, Shangguan Yi needed to accumulate enough cultivation techniques in order to create a sufficient technique. It was akin to donating many high-grade cultivation techniques to the system in exchange for one supreme-grade technique.

After some contemplation, Shangguan Yi decided to focus on the technique first. To progress quickly, he needed not only sufficient resources but also a good cultivation technique. With the system for refining pills, he no longer lacked resources; what he needed now was an exceptional cultivation technique.

"Alright, first, I need to recreate a Cultivation Technique. The current one doesn't satisfy me," Shangguan Yi made his first plan.