I extracted the pill from my stomach, the most efficient cauldron I could have hoped to acquire. As I did, I noticed that my heart had continued to refine itself during the alchemy practice.

  Over the course of a few weeks it had only improved by a few percent. Considering that was purely through the excess energy produced during my experiments that was exceptional.

  I heartily anticipated the new effect that would come with refining a third organ. Turning my focus to the pill as I rolled it between my fingers, I considered the information in my head.

  To begin with, I had exceeded my quality goal by far more than I’d hoped. My first pill was the worst of the worst, being Mortal grade, Poor quality. After around ten days of experimentation, I’d managed to produce a Mortal grade, Polished quality healing pill.

  The progress from that first failed attempt was huge. I’d removed most of the unwanted side effects that weren’t useful for a healing pill and also brought the quality closer to my goal.

  Unfortunately there was one stubborn side effect that refused to be removed. This effect was harmless to the person who ingested the pill, but would make their extremities glow luminescent blue in the dark.

  I suspected this effect was from the Sparkcap amanitas, but no matter what I’d attempted I hadn’t been able to remove the side effect at first. Now, five days later, I’d produced my best pill yet.

  What I wanted to create was a Mortal grade, Master quality pill. That was the step above Polished quality and I felt that for a mass produced, low cost product it was exceptional.

  The pill I held in my hands, various shades of dark green across its surface in a marbled texture, had not reached Master quality. However, I wasn’t disappointed with this result.

  In fact, I was elated. Rather than simply improving the quality of a mortal grade pill I’d ended up jumping all the way up to the Martial grade!

  The quality had dropped even below polished, but given that this pill was an entire grade higher I suspected it would be far more effective than any of my previous creations. The name given to it in my mind was Martial grade, Average quality Healing Pill.

  There was a lot more information than that, such as the effects and what kind of afflictions and wounds it could heal. Additionally, if a cultivator with an exceptional appraisal technique examined it they might even glean some information about the alchemist who had created it—me.

  However, despite the many successes of my latest creation, I couldn’t help but curse the heavens. Or perhaps more accurately, the damn Sparkcap amanitas. The mushrooms were absurdly persistent.

  I’d managed to stop the side effect of glowing extremities from slipping into the most recent pill, but instead it would make all of one’s blood vessels glow beneath the skin after they consumed the pill. This would last for four hours, while the pill healed the body.

  At this rate I was going to burn through the rest of my ingredients before figuring out how to remove this damned effect. However, the more I thought about it the more I realised it might not be such a bad thing.

  The effect was strange, but harmless. Having such a unique side effect could actually help to make my pill stand out above other products.

  Also, it was a little crude, but mortals enjoyed such spectacles. To them, these kinds of flashy effects symbolised the power of cultivators.

  I stretched my stiff muscles as I stood up, spreading my senses across the building to see what the other three were up to. I wondered if Yu Chun was still here, almost two weeks later.

  My senses struck one person on the middle floor, who I knew to be Village Head Wei from the feeling of his aura. Continuing downwards I found dozens of presences on the ground floor.

  That wasn’t surprising. Xiao Cui’s business had been booming even before I secluded myself. Yu Chun was still here, standing right beside little Cui. I hoped she hadn’t been teaching my disciple anything offensive.

  I no longer needed to eat, but right now I felt like I could do with a big bowl of noodle soup. Or perhaps some mapo tofu.

  As I reached the middle floor, I knocked on the village head’s door. “Head Wei, I need your help with something,” I called out.

  I heard shuffling behind the door and a second later it swung open to reveal the old man looking a little worse for wear. He coughed twice, covering his mouth, while clinging to the door for support.

  “What’s wrong, Head Wei? Are you sick?” I asked with a frown. “Didn’t Xiao Cui get you some medicine?”

  He waved a hand dismissively, closing the door behind him as he stepped out of the room. “I told her not to. It’s only a little cough, I’ll be fine in a few days. Little Cui needn’t waste her hard earned coin on me,” he replied.

  I chuckled. “Damn, you’re a hardass, grandpa. Actually, it’s perfect that you’re a little sick.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me, cocking his head to one side. “Damn brat, are you wishing for this old man’s death!?”

  “No, nothing of the sort,” I snorted, raising the healing pill up to eye level. The village head’s eyes widened when he saw the pill and smelt the powerful medicinal aroma emanating from the pill. “I want you to test this. It is the result of my two weeks of effort. It should clear up your cough.”

  “Cultivator Zhao, I couldn’t! Something so valuable should be saved for someone important,” he refused, pushing the pill back towards me.

  Shaking my head at the stubborn grandpa’s antics, I grabbed his arm and moved it out of the way. Before he could react I tossed the pill into his mouth and clamped his jaw shut. “Swallow,” I ordered.

  He gulped, staring at me with a shocked expression.

  “Stop being so stubborn. It might have taken me two weeks to make that, but now that I know the recipe I can make dozens with ease. In the first place, my goal is making cheap pills for the masses,” I explained as a faint blue glow began to seep through his skin.

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  The village head looked down at his body with wonder, his movements light and fluid as he shook his arms and legs. “What is this, Cultivator Zhao?” he asked.

  “Healing pill. How do you feel?”

  “I feel like a young man again!” he cried, jumping on the spot. “Forget that blasted cough, all my aches and pains have disappeared. This pill is a miracle cure!”

  I waved his praise away. “It’s nothing so grand. I’m glad you feel better, Grandpa Wei. Just uhh… don’t worry about the glow. It’s harmless,” I added, suppressing my laughter at the bright blue blood vessels glowing through his skin.

  “What glow?” he muttered, glancing down at his arms. His eyes widened as he realised what I meant. “DAMNED BRAT! WHAT HAVE YOU FED ME?” he roared, but I had already raced down the stairs with a smile on my face.

  Xiao Cui threw me a curious expression, all the customers staring at me and wondering what the shouting was about. I shrugged my shoulders as I arrived beside her and Yu Chun.

  “Miss Yu, I hope you haven’t been a bad influence on my innocent disciple,” I remarked, my expression neutral.

  She baulked, taking a step backwards. “Of course not! I treated Xiao Cui as if she were my own daughter these past two weeks,” she replied indignantly.

  “Is that true, little Cui?”

  Xiao Cui nodded enthusiastically as she served another customer, tossing the coins into a huge mound on the desk. “Miss Yu has been really helpful, especially when it comes to the business. I think we might have even made enough gold to buy my own house!”

  “That is impressive, well done little Cui,” I replied, tousling her hair.

  “Master! Not in front of customers, it’s unprofessional,” she pouted.

  “It’s great that your business is booming. I will need your help with something later. I’m heading out for a little while,” I told her.

  She nodded and returned to serving customers. Honestly, I wondered if she even needed me anymore.

  Despite everything she’d been through, little Cui had proven herself to be an enterprising and adaptive young woman. If she had the talent for cultivation it would be another matter entirely, but I wondered if it might be better for her future to leave her in this city when I eventually moved on.

  Of course, I would need to ensure that Three River City was a place I could leave her alone. City Lord Teng Shi had assured me that he would deal with Wang Bao and Councillor Gao, but I would check myself that he had followed through.

  ****

  “Hmph, back so soon brat? A good alchemist should spend years perfecting their foundations before rushing ahead,” Grandma Yu harrumphed as I entered her shop.

  “Granny, don’t be so harsh. Thank you for the ingredients you gave me last time, they were incredibly useful,” I said with a shallow bow.

  I still had all of the pills I’d created using the ten year vital spikeroot she’d sold me the last time I was here. I needed a buyer with a lot of funds before I parted ways with them, but I hadn’t gone out of my way to find one.

  My priority had been the healing pills. “Granny, I was wondering if you knew someone who could get me large quantities of Rejuvenating Spirit Grass, Sparkcap Amanitas, Powdered Beast Cores, Pulsing Hibiscus petals, and Ten Year Ash bark on a regular basis?”

  She raised an eyebrow quizzically at my request. “What do you need large quantities of those for? Are you planning to start a damn pill factory?”

  “Something like that,” I chuckled.

  “Well, it depends how much you need and how often. There are a few reliable fellows in this city who would have what you need. You might need to deal with more than one of them, though. Feng Tao would have the grass, petals, and amanitas in huge quantities. As much as you need. However, he doesn’t stock rarer ingredients like the ash bark and I don’t think he deals in beast reagents, either. Give me a day or two and I should be able to figure out an arrangement that suits you, brat,” Grandma Yu began rambling as I stood there.

  She really was well connected. As I’d suspected, there was more to her than she let on. With a supplier for my ingredients secured, one of my potential issues was solved.

  “Thanks, Granny Yu. I’ll see you soon,” I called as I left her shop and headed back into the streets of Three River City.

  That left me with just two more obstacles to my plan. The first was the easiest to overcome. The issue of distribution. I already had an idea of how to start, which was the reason I’d asked Xiao Cui for assistance.

  Her business was thriving. At this point most of the people in Three River City knew about her particular brand of stamina boosting concoctions. Actually, now that I thought about it, Yu Chun would benefit greatly from such a drug…

  I would need to ensure she didn’t take advantage of my disciple. Though if little Cui played her cards right she might end up a very rich woman indeed.

  I wouldn’t think about that until it became relevant. In order to rapidly spread the word about my healing pills, I would piggyback on Xiao Cui’s success.

  Offering free samples to a select number of her customers would allow people to test the effects and see that my product worked. It was similar to the strategy we’d used when we first arrived in the city.

  The most difficult obstacle for any new product was overcoming people’s suspicion. Letting them use it for free at first would mean they could have proof it worked. Once that was achieved, I could then use the clinic to sell them en masse.

  The benefit of this would be that people with minor injuries and afflictions wouldn’t need to seek out healers or expensive medicines from the other alchemists. My time would be freed up to focus my talents on pushing the bounds of my techniques so that I didn’t stagnate at five-star Qi Gathering.

  That left only the final obstacle, which I expected to be the most annoying one to deal with. The other alchemists and herbalists in the city.

  There was no way they would stand by idly and allow me to establish a competing product to their own without resistance. I would need to keep an eye out for any sabotage or false rumours spreading.

  My guard was raised, especially after the strange encounter with the alchemist out in the Silent Wind Glade. Someone was watching me. At first I believed it was Councillor Gao, but it didn’t make sense for him to use an alchemist’s association to do his dirty work.

  With all of this sorted for now, I needed to return to seclusion and continue practicing. I’d perfected the recipe, but that was only the beginning.

  Ensuring I could replicate it with perfect precision each time was essential. All of my pills needed to be identical. If I could push the quality up another step that would be amazing, but I wasn’t holding out much hope on that front. It was enough as it was, anyway.

  Even more important than that however, was attempting to produce more than one pill per batch. Right now, I was using my stomach as a cauldron. While it was more efficient than any external cauldron, it would be a problem for replicability.

  If I ever wanted to leave the city or take on a new project, I wouldn’t be able to sit there all day churning out pills like a human refining machine. Being able to produce huge quantities in a short time so that I could focus my efforts elsewhere was a great first step towards that.

  Making it so that other alchemists could recreate my pill while following the recipe, regardless of the equipment they used, would be the final step of perfection. Though I would need to take things one step at a time.

  First, attempting to create two pills in a single batch. Once I’d accomplished that, I could gradually increase the quantity until I reached my limits. Being able to focus on a project with such single minded dedication was a joyful experience.

  The chaos of my early days in this world had taken that from me as I was thrust into battles and bloodshed. It was a wonderful change of pace to be working on something that would help so many.

  I separated out the ingredients I would need as I sat down on the floor of my room. I had a few days until Granny Yu would be ready for me, which was enough time to push my skills to their limit.

  Taking a breath, I tossed the stalks of Rejuvenating Spirit Grass in my mouth and focused as they began to dissolve. Soon, Three River City would be the seed from which I grew the revolution of the healing arts.