Chapter 10: Surprise

Li Zhirui looked at the several dozen Jade Spirit Pills in his hand and, after contemplating, selected the two with the least efficacy and placed them into a jade bottle. Then he hurriedly dashed out of the courtyard.

Arriving in front of Li Shiren's courtyard, Li Zhirui took a deep breath and suddenly shouted excitedly, "Ren Uncle, I've succeeded!"

Li Shiren, who was about to carve Array Flags, upon hearing Li Zhirui's words, instantly realized what happened and, without caring for the Array Flags in his hands, dashed over to Li Zhirui like a whirlwind, urgently asking, "You've refined the Jade Spirit Pills?"

"Mhm!" Li Zhirui nodded affirmatively and then handed the prepared jade bottle to Li Shiren.

"Is this... really a success?!" Li Shiren opened the jade bottle and, seeing the two Spirit Pills lying at the bottom, was full of disbelief.

Li Shiren didn't know that Li Zhirui had practiced dozens of times before succeeding and thought he had successfully refined the Jade Spirit Pills using only those ten sets of ingredients!

Although the quality of these two Jade Spirit Pills was average, regardless, they were authentically first-grade Spirit Pills, meaning that Li Zhirui had successfully refined the Jade Spirit Pills!

"Good lad!" Li Shiren patted Li Zhirui on the shoulder forcefully and excitedly said, "I'll go tell the Clan Leader right away, so he can allocate Spiritual Medicine from the clan for your practice!"

"Eh..." Li Zhirui's face stalled, he had shown the Spirit Pills to Li Shiren not because he hoped the clan would supply Spiritual Medicine, but merely wanted to make his future sale of Spirit Pills and earning of Spirit Stones easier.

But now, things seemed to be racing down another path!

Yet this was exactly what Li Zhirui couldn't explain, so he could only follow behind Li Shiren, walking towards the main hall with a complex expression on his face.

"Clan Leader, Rui is an alchemy prodigy! He refined the Jade Spirit Pills with just ten sets of Spiritual Medicine," Li Shiren entered the room and shouted at the top of his lungs, as if he was afraid others wouldn't hear it.

At first, Li Shiqing wanted to scold Li Shiren for lacking steadiness, but upon hearing his words, he immediately changed his tone, asking, "Are you speaking the truth?"

"This is the Jade Spirit Pill that Rui has refined." Li Shiren held the jade bottle in the palm of his hand.

Li Shiqing probed into the jade bottle with his Divine Sense and discovered that there really were two Jade Spirit Pills inside. His face immediately relaxed, "Very good, very good, since Zhirui has this talent, the family will certainly do its utmost to nurture him!"

"Zhirui!" A trace of affection and excitement appeared on Li Shiqing's face, as he said, "If you ever lack materials, go to the storeroom to collect them, and if the storeroom doesn't have them, the clan will send someone to the Marketplace to purchase them. You don't need to worry about these matters; concentrate on practicing, and strive to improve the success rate."

"But!" Li Shiqing's expression turned stern in an instant, "You cannot let alchemy occupy the time for your cultivation!"

"I won't delay my cultivation," Li Zhirui promised earnestly.

Li Shiqing nodded in satisfaction and said, "Good, take this token and go to the storeroom to collect Spiritual Medicine."

Li Zhirui took the token and left. On the way, he silently sighed, but on second thought, since he already bore the title of a prodigy, having one more as an alchemy genius wouldn't hurt, and he could also use this opportunity to make some contributions to the clan.

"Tell me about Zhirui's alchemy process," Li Shiqing said, not because he doubted Li Zhirui, but because he wanted to understand the matter thoroughly.

Li Shiren started from when the two went to Yunqing Marketplace together, and when Li Zhirui bought two Water Refining Pill Recipes, telling everything in great detail to Li Shiqing.

"Water Refinement Method? No wonder I found the two Jade Spirit Pills to be lacking in quality, yet the pill poison is minimal."

Speaking, Li Shiqing couldn't help but sigh. The clan did have some alchemy inheritance, but it was all based on the Fire Refinement Methods, which may not necessarily help Li Zhirui.

"Go to Yunqing Marketplace tomorrow to inquire about the sundries shop business," he said.

Li Shiren didn't react for a moment and asked in confusion, "What's this for?"

"Now the clan has you carving formations, Zhirui refining Spirit Pills, as well as the ability to craft some simple Magic Artifacts and Talismans, and soon the Spirit Rice will be ready to harvest," Li Shiqing explained. "With so many types of Spiritual Objects, it's enough to open a sundries shop."

There was another reason; the family was currently training Spirit Chefs, and before they succeeded, the family needed another source of income to earn Spirit Stones, and a grocery store seemed like a good choice.

"But has there been any news from the White Jade Sect?" Li Shiren asked worriedly. If the White Jade Sect refused to let go of the Beast Taming Sect and its vassal forces, opening a grocery store could potentially bring danger to the family.

"I've just received a message from my fifth brother; he says the White Jade Sect hasn't issued a kill order, so it seems they will not target us small forces who have escaped," Li Shiqing explained. It was only after receiving this news that he thought of opening a grocery store.

"That's good." Since there was no danger, Li Shiren naturally accepted the command with pleasure.

…

The news of Li Zhirui going to the storeroom to collect Spiritual Medicine for alchemy quickly spread among the clansmen, who felt both envious and excited.

For the family, having an additional Alchemist meant earning more Spirit Stones, and this meant that the clansmen could also benefit from it.

The two existing Alchemists of the family let out a sigh of relief. With Li Zhirui's help, the pressure on them would be reduced a bit.

You see, prior to this, the seventy-odd Cultivators in the entire family consumed a large number of Spirit Pills monthly, and needed to sell a portion, yet only these two were making them, so it was impossible to say there wasn't any pressure.

However, Li Zhirui was unaware of these details at the moment; besides alchemy, he spent every day cultivating and had not left the house at all.

Five days later, Li Zhirui came to the storeroom with dozens of Jade Spirit Pills to hand over to Internal Affairs Elder Li Shile and prepared to receive thirty batches of Spiritual Medicine from him.

"Zhirui, what's your success rate in making pills now?" Li Shile inquired.

"It's now steady at forty percent," but in actuality, Li Zhirui's success rate had already reached sixty percent.

"Very good, very good!" Li Shile praised repeatedly. Li Zhirui's current success rate was already enough to recover the costs, and anything beyond that would be earning Spirit Stones!

"Zhirui, although the family was training you in alchemy without mandating a specific number of Spirit Pills to contribute, now that you've stabilized, we must follow the rules," he said.

Seeing that Li Zhirui agreed, Li Shile became all the more fond of him and said with a smile, "According to the family rules, you must hand over five Spirit Pills per batch of Spiritual Medicine; you can keep any extras for yourself, whether you sell them or consume them, the family will not intervene."

"Okay!" Li Zhirui agreed without hesitation; in fact, he was willing to hand over more Spirit Pills if it weren't for the fear of offending others.

Besides this perk, the family's Alchemists could also receive an extra amount of Contribution Value.

In the Li family, Contribution Values were even more precious than Spirit Stones because they could be exchanged for various methods accumulated by the family over hundreds of years, something Spirit Stones could not do.

"We have only forty batches of Spiritual Medicine for Jade Spirit Pills left in the family; just provide two hundred Spirit Pills in half a month," Li Shile said with a beaming smile.

Li Zhirui accepted the storage bag, bowed to Li Shile, and then turned to leave.

Soon, the news of Li Zhirui's pill-making success rate reached Li Shiqing's ears. "It seems that Zhirui really has a gift for alchemy," he observed.

Li Shiren, who was discussing the opening of the grocery store with him, could not help but show a bright smile on his face.

"With this, are you still worried about the shop's business not doing well?" Li Shiqing laughed.

It turned out, Li Shiren had been concerned about the intense competition among similar shops in the Marketplace after observing for several days and was worried that the family would not earn Spirit Stones.

"Not worried anymore," Li Shiren said with a smile. "After all, the advantage of Water Refined Spirit Pills is too great. If the prices are the same, other shops definitely won't be able to compete with us."