Chapter 56: Who Is That Alchemist?
"Greetings, fellow disciple. My name is Shan Xiong Xin, a member of the tenth elder's Long-Xin Dwelling and his fifty-fourth disciple," Shan Xiong Xin greets Qin Lan with full respect the moment they met.
"Qin Lan, Dan-Xin Dwelling. It was an honor for me to meet you, senior brother," Qin Lan cupped his hands together and returned the gesture.
Shan Xiong Xin was the same as Qin Lan's age, who recently turned sixteen. But in terms of cultivation, he was two levels above Qin Lan. When standing side by side with Qin Lan, Shan Xiong Xin is like a towering giant with his two meters height.
Furthermore, he was a body refining practitioner. This explains why his body seems untapped, with all his potential flowing out naturally.
"Fellow disciple Qin Lan. Let me be honest with you. I am very thankful for your help in refining the Turbulence Pill for me before. Their quality was superb. In fact, it is much better than what the others are capable of refining."
"Which is why I have to make this request. Could you tell me your success rate on refining the Turbulence Pill?" Shan Xiong Xin's question was a sensitive one. That's because the final refining results of a Treasure Master is always kept as a secret.
By asking a question like this, it was no different from asking what color is the undergarment a married woman is wearing while walking on the street.
Lucky for Shan Xiong Xin, the person he's talking to is none other than Qin Lan. As someone living his life the second time, he was no stranger to request like this.
"Heh... By right, I should reject your question and return to the dwelling while throwing a fit. But again, it wasn't an issue at all to answer a question like yours."
"First of all, why would you want to know? I want to hear your reason to do so today." Qin Lan asked.
His way of answering the question with a question silenced Shan Xiong Xin for a moment. He placed Qin Lan's question into consideration if it would be detrimental for him to answer honestly. And after half an incense stick of time, Shan Xiong Xin had his decision.
"It's because of the Body Refinement Art I'm cultivating! It uses Turbulence Pill to inject the Essence from the refinement art into my flesh!" Shan Xiong Xin answered Qin Lan's curiosity after he made a resolution in his heart.
"If I'm not wrong, it's a variation of Sky Dragon Turbulence Body, am I correct?" Qin Lan made a guess.
"How - How can you know about this?" Qin Lan's accurate guess gave Shan Xiong Xin a shock. Not only Qin Lan managed to guess the correct name of the Body Refinement Art he's cultivating, but he also managed to name the specific modification.
"Three pills in each set of medicinal ingredients. That's how confident I am." Qin Lan added without answering Shan Xiong Xin's following question.
"And there's a Xuan-Grade Pill each time, as long the ingredients are up to its standard." Qin Lan smiled. His reply also made Shan Xiong Xin started to count his budget.
(Ten contribution points and five sets of ingredients in exchange for five completed pills. That's almost equivalent to paying two points for each veinless Turbulence Pill)
(As for the market price, the price has hiked up to five Flesh Foundation Pills per Turbulence Pill. Of course, their stock is limited too... This made striking a deal with fellow disciple Qin Lan are better than trying to save some pills and wasting my time!)
"Fellow disciple Qin Lan, would you mind listening to one of my selfish requests?" Shan Xiong Xin asked.
"I suppose it is related to the Turbulence Pill you urgently need?" Qin Lan smiled. With his hand passing through the Purple-Dragon Spatial Jade on his waistbelt, Qin Lan took the remaining five Xuan-Grade Turbulence Pills out.
"Yes. If fellow disciple Qin Lan is willing, I hope you can sign a contract to provide me with a steady supply of Turbulence Pill. Please state your terms in return so we could strike a deal between us." Shan Xiong Xin offered to sign a Refiner - Client contract with Qin Lan for the sake of a reliable supply.
"What can you offer?" Qin Lan asked.
"Three Flesh Foundation Pills for each Turbulence Pill you refined. Six for a Xuan-Grade Pill, nine for a Huang-Grade Pill, and fifteen for an Earth-Grade Pill." Shan Xiong Xin confidently offered a price equals to what the market is offering.
Of course, his rate is on average as the market price varies according to their availability. Furthermore, having a regular order like Turbulence Pill at all times is somewhat better than dealing with all kinds of different pills at a time.
"What do you think, fellow disciple Qin Lan?" Shan Xiong Xin asked.
"The price you offered is quite good, but I wanted to add another term into our contract." Qin Lan replied.
"I want you to provide me with all medicinal herbs you're capable of collecting. In return, I'll provide you with tailor-made, Cultivation and Medicinal Pills at a price." Qin Lan added.
"Deal." Shan Xiong Xin agreed without thinking deeply. Furthermore, As a cultivator with a little background in medicinal herbs, what Qin Lan suggested is like an offer to manage his inventory.
"There are five Xuan-Grade Turbulence Pills here. Take it as our meeting gift. If there's nothing else, I'll have to get back to complete my task for today." Qin Lan politely excused himself as he still 150 Demonic Blood Oranges to be refined.
"Then, take care! fellow disciple Qin Lan!" Shan Xiong Xin cupped his hands together at Qin Lan and sent him off.
...contemporary romance
...
...
Returned to his room once more, Qin Lan fired his cauldron with a pleasing expression written on his face. Checking on his Disciple Token, Qin Lan noticed that his contribution point has gone up from zero to twenty points.
It was supposed to be thirty points, but since he took the request without deposit, it would be deducted from here after he fulfilled the request.
(The twenty-five points is likely from the five Xuan-Grade Turbulence Pills I've handed to them. As for the five remaining points, it should be the fee for my refining service...)
(Looks like the request to refine the Demonic Blood Oranges cost me no contribution points to accept. I guess that's where the benefit kicks in)
Qin Lan threw the ingredients inside the opened cauldron and used his own method to refine the Flesh Foundation Pill. With close to a hundred recipes in mind, it was an easy task for Qin Lan to maximize his yield.
Still, it was not easy. Even the most flexible recipe in mind that could refine four Demonic Blood Oranges at a time still took Qin Lan an hour to complete. In total, 150 Demonic Blood Oranges took two days' worth of time out from Qin Lan as he worked day and night to accomplish his task.
The 750 Flesh Foundation Pills were delivered to the hall's reception to be evaluated before handed to the person that made the request.
"What?" the receptionist was shocked by the fifteen medicinal bottles sitting on top of a wooden tray.
"Is this even possible for someone new? Having ten successful attempts from refining fifty Demonic Blood Oranges is normal. But a hundred percent success rate in 150 Demonic Blood Oranges?"
The receptionist selected a few bottles and poured its content out.
"Monster... This new guy is a monster like our two eldest senior brothers and sisters." her voice trembled as she poured the pills back into the bottle.
"Hey, are you ready? What's taking you so long?" Shan Xiong Xin slapped the table because the female receptionist is taking too long to process his request. What he's clueless about is that it was Qin Lan again who accepted his task once again.
"Here!" the female receptionist gave 675 Flesh Foundation Pills to Shan Xiong Xin and separated 75 pills to be returned to Qin Lan later.
"Wait." Shan Xiong Xin stopped the female receptionist from leaving.
"What? Is there anything else? 750 Flesh Foundation Pills is concocted by the alchemist accepting your task, so he naturally gets 75 pills out of the total." the female receptionist explained. She slapped a piece of paper on the table as proof she's not lying.
"Who... Who is the alchemist? This is my first time getting over two hundred extra pills from refining a hundred and fifty Demonic Blood Oranges!" Shan Xiong Xin asked.
His loud voice attracted the others nearby because a simple sentence "over two hundred extra pills" was used.
"Over two hundred extra pills from their minimum requirement of 150 Demonic Blood Oranges? Doesn't that means it was close to a hundred percent success rate?" a fellow disciple with good mathematic skills added.
"What? Close to a hundred percent? Did senior brother Leng Ching took his request?"
"No - No - No... You don't need senior brother Leng Ching to achieve this. It is a simple matter for the Dan-Xin Dwelling's top ten alchemists to achieve this." another fellow disciple shared.
"Heh! Simple matter? Which one amongst the top ten is willing to refine some Demonic Blood Oranges for you? Their service is measured by using Precelestial Essence as a payment currency, you dimwit!"
"We demand that you announce his name!"
"Yes! His name!"
...
"What's wrong with me?" Qin Lan felt a shivering cold out of sudden.
== == == == ==
Readers. From today onwards, the Supreme Emperor of Mist is officially contracted. If you love what you're reading, please vote, leave a review, and drop me a gift to give me some motivation. Thank you.
== == == == ==
done.co