Chapter 42: Dangerous Profession?
Wei Fang averted his gaze from the earth fire and looked at Zhu Ju.
At some point, the look on her face became entirely different. It was the same look Wei Fang saw when they were negotiating the purchase of healing ointment.
Zhu Ju didn't look at Wei Fang but focused all of her attention on the cauldron before her. She controlled the fire so the heat could spread evenly on the cauldron.
After the cauldron was hot enough, she took something from her chest. It was a small pouch, but as soon as she opened it, many herbs poured out from it, causing Wei Fang, who saw it, to open his mouth wide. It was the first time he saw a dimensional pouch.
Zhu Ju skillfully put the herbs into the cauldron one by one based on the pill recipe she remembered.
After all of the herbs were inside the cauldron, the earth fire suddenly intensified. Causing the temperature of the room to rise sharply.
Wei Fang looked at Zhu Ju, who was full of sweat. He didn't know that alchemy was so difficult.
Wei Fang didn't know how long had passed, but his gaze never left Zhu Ju, who was concentrating on refining the pill.
If it were an alchemist who was in Wei Fang's position, they would learn and analyze the order of herbs put into the cauldron and the technique used to refine the pill.
But he was not an alchemist; even if Zhu Ju refined a pill in front of him, he couldn't glimpse anything at all.
Suddenly, the cauldron started to tremble. As time passed, the trembling didn't cease but intensified instead.
"Back off!"
Zhu Ju suddenly shouted and pulled Wei Fang towards the pill chamber room's door. This time, she used her own token to open the door.
She immediately charged out of the pill chamber with Wei Fang, who was being dragged by his collar.
Boom!
An explosion was heard from inside the pill chamber.
"What happened?" Wei Fang asked after he freed his collar from Zhu Ju's grab.
"Ahem, there was a bit of an accident with the pill refining." Zhu Ju was a bit embarrassed. She wants to show off in front of her new junior brother, so she refines the Tier 2 pill that was effective for someone at the Foundation Establishment.
It was not the first time she refined it, so she thought she could successfully refine it. If she was successful, she could kill two birds with one stone. She could refine pills with minimum cost, as the spirit stones and pill chamber were paid for by Wei Fang. She could also show off in front of her new junior brother. Who knew there would be an accident, causing the cauldron to explode. So she was a bit embarrassed.
"Accident?" Wei Fang said skeptically and looked at the scorched pill chamber.
He didn't think being an alchemist was so dangerous. Should he change professions?
As if knowing what Wei Fang was thinking, Zhu Ju hurriedly said, "Don't worry, it just occasionally happens."
Just as she said that, several footsteps were heard. Three people came towards them: two women and one man.
"Zhu Ju, have you exploded your cauldron again? How many times has it been?" The man said.
Zhu Ju was speechless. She looked at Wei Fang, who stared at her. Then shrinking her neck.
"As expected, like master like disciple, I still remembered how frequently Elder Zhao exploded her cauldron back then."
Zhu Ju shrinking her neck even more. She was too embarrassed to face Wei Fang.
"Thank you for your hard work, senior." Zhu Ju said.
"Don't worry, it was our work to begin with. If there was no someone like you, we would eat blind salaries." The senior said as he entered the pill chamber along with two others.
"Let's go to another pill chamber." In the end, it was Wei Fang who broke the awkwardness.
"Another pill chamber?" Zhu Ju asked suddenly.
"Of course. After all, you still haven't shown me how to refine pills properly."
Zhu Ju turned her head away and suggested, "How about we go to another place first? We spent too much time inside the pill chamber; I can show you the proper refining pill another time."
After thinking about it, Wei Fang finally agreed. It was better to finish the tour in one day.
After that, Zhu Ju brought Wei Fang toward the elder room. It was a corridor like before, but the room on either side of it was the room of the elder. Elder Zhao's room was also in here.
The elder room was the most dangerous place in the alchemy room; not only did the elders have a minimum cultivation of the Core Formation realm, which they couldn't afford to annoy, but the pill they refined was also a high-level one. So, if there was an accident in the refining process, some herb's residue that seeped out of the room could cause various problems for the disciples. Although it was not life-threatening because the formation in place would filter most of it, getting disasters out of nowhere was never a pleasant thing.
It only strengthens Wei Fang's belief that Alchemist is a dangerous profession. After all, it was a profession that involved dangerous substances, poisonous residue, and even explosions.
If it was not dangerous, then what was considered dangerous?
Zhu Ju was desperate; she thought the tour she led would make Wei Fang interested in alchemy. In the end, it had the opposite effect.
Different from the pill chamber, in the elder room, the end of the corridor was not a dead end but another important place in the Alchemy Hall—the library.
Different from the main library, which housed many techniques and cultivation methods. The library here only contained something related to alchemy. From the pill recipe until the experiment note by the senior alchemist.
Wei Fang showed little interest, as he was not an alchemist, at least not yet.
Finally, Zhu Ju led Wei Fang to the front desk. There, Wei Fang saw the familiar mission board. But every mission was something related to alchemy, be it searching for herbs, refining pills, or even fixing an ancient pill recipe. Everything was available.
"Okay, that's the tour. You can ask me if you have anything you are confused about." Zhu Ju said, smiling. But one could tell that the smile was fake.
"It's okay, can I go back to my courtyard now?" Wei Fang asked. He was really curious about how the system would reward him for completing the mission.
"You can go ahead!"
Zhu Ju felt relieved when she saw that Wei Fang was finally gone.
***
Several hour before.
Cloud Manor.
Shen Meng Yao was lying on the sofa. Her seductive face was tainted by laziness and boredom, which gave her more charm than usual.
"If I knew they would be gone for a long time, I would choose to follow them rather than remain here." She muttered, looking at the ceiling with a blank stare.
Ding!
Suddenly, a sound like a notification from her previous life was heard.
"Hmm?" She got up and looked at the source of the sound. "Oh, I remember honey saying he would leave the system here in case I was bored. Hmm, let's see!"
She looked at what the notification was about. "He finished the mission so quickly?"
She looked again, and she finally found the reason.
No wonder he got something that could be used everywhere—connection—no matter what universe one ends up in, it was something that was always useful. Be it a society ruled by strength, money, or even power, connection is always useful.
"Hmm, reward? What should I reward him with? Honey didn't say anything about it before."
She didn't remember Fang Jiuyi saying anything about it.
"Something related to alchemy. Do I have something like that on me?"
Shen Meng Yao searched inside her storage artifact and fished out a green jade. She looked at it and thought for a bit.
"No choice then; I only had this on me. I will reward him with the knowledge inside it."
She started to transfer the knowledge from the jade to the system.
"Alright, done. Let me watch what he was doing. At least it could alleviate a bit of my boredom."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone